Saturday, November 17, 2018

William's birthday!


William turned 14!  I think he got just about everything he wanted... and he was especially glad that he wasn't sick on his birthday this year like he has been in the past.



I love when William smiles!


 He was pretty happy to get this hat.



William was pretty easy to please this year and asked for a chocolate pie.


Happy birthday William!  We love you!

Thursday, November 15, 2018

14 years ago...



Fourteen years ago today William made me a mom for the first time!  It's always hard to believe that my kids have gotten a year older.  This year William passed me up in height (not too hard to do) and has continued to grow and mature into a great young man.  He is (and always has been) so responsible and a wonderful friend.  It's a huge payday as a parent when another parent praises your kid and lets you know what a great friend they are to their child!



We love to joke with William that he's got hair like Steven Harrington from Stranger Things.

Image result for steve harrington


I mean, look at that volume!



William took tennis lessons for several months last year and took a break but has decided to start up again.  I guess he decided that he needs to live up to the rumors.  (Apparently it's rumored that William is so good that he can beat the seniors!)

This past year he has served as the Deacon's Quorum (West) President, spent lots of time hanging out with friends, played a lot of Fortnight and watched way too much YouTube.  He is a great helper around the house and I am excited for all the new things he'll get to experience in the next year.  We love you, William!


What is your favorite...
color? red
food? hamburger
toy? playstation
show? The Odd 1s Out
animal?  bear
book(s)? comic books
song?  Thunder by Imagine Dragons
hymn? Joy to the World
What do you like to do? hang out with my friends
Who is your best friend?  Lydia (Lydia was helping William with the interview and suggested this answer)
What do you want to be when you grow up? a dad (Lydia also suggested this answer and then laughed and said "I thought you were going to be a mom!")
Do you have a girlfriend/crush? no




I am -  14
I am afraid of - 
I like - chocolate
I like to eat - food
I don't like - school
I know - how to tie my shoe
I want to be -  better
I like to watch - YouTube
I like to go to - my friend's houses
My hero is- Dad
I cry when - I get super hurt
Mom gets mad when -  I don't clean my room
Mom is happy when - I clean my room
Dad gets mad when - I don't listen to Mom
Dad is happy when - I listen to Mom
I can't wait for - Friday
Something Mom says to me - "hi"
Something Dad says to me - "I'm home!"
My favorite place to go is - Oklahoma
My Mom and Dad make me laugh by - tickling me
I know my mom loves me because - I would not be in this house if she didn't
I know my dad loves me because - I still live here

Thursday, November 1, 2018

October Happenings



We kicked off the month of October by watching a wonderful weekend of General Conference.  This Conference was another historical one... it was announced that we'd move from 3 hour church to 2 hours.  Pretty crazy.





In between sessions we treated the kids to USwirl.  They earned treats as part of our Crane University this summer.



Lydia and I got together all the pieces for her ladybug costume and she couldn't wait to try it on!



William had a Halloween concert for advanced band.



Lydia has had so much fun with her stuffed animals and babies lately.  One day she gathered them all together so they could watch a show on the ipad with her.




Alex went on a field trip to the state museum.


We had to squeeze a few trips to the Gilcrease Orchard in during the month.  The first trip was just to get donuts and a tractor ride.







We spent lots of time this month beginning to harvest our pomegranates.  There are just so many but I feel lucky that our backyard is big enough that we can have so many trees.


Lydia snagged a picture of me one morning while I was reading my scriptures (lots of reading and marking to finish the Book of Mormon by the end of the year!)



More of Lydia with her babies.  This time she was sharing her blueberries.



She also loves to turn on the music from my phone and have dance parties at the park with her friends!



By the middle of the month it seems that we are overwhelmed with Halloween activities.  First up was the Heckethorn Fall Festival.





Henry's actual costume was ready by the next Halloween activity which was the Ward Trunk-or-Treat.




We made it back to the Orchard at the end of the month to pick out our pumpkins.







We tried the hay maze and visited the chickens as well.





Our roses were just beautiful this month!



I found this picture on the Instagram of one of William's friends.  They are just too weird.



We had a great time carving pumpkins.  Every year gets easier as the kids can do more themselves.




Our finished pumpkins!!




Preschool was cancelled one day and Lydia was really bummed.  So, Lydia and I took a day to visit the Springs Preserve.  They had a mirror maze exhibit and it was so fun but really hard! Lydia really wanted to make sure we took the boys back later.




The kids were going to dress up for preschool that day so Lydia wore her costume to the museum.  We had to get a picture of the ladybug with the Lydie-bug.



It was a really fun day.  The fox was up and moving around instead of sleeping.



And Lydia loved playing at the park.




The kids had a great time on Halloween!  James went with his friends to trick-or-treat and watch a scary movie (The Quiet Place) and William was walking the neighborhood with his buddies so I just got a picture of the 3 youngest.




William came home later and I grabbed a picture of him in his mask.



It was a great month and we can't wait for the adventures in store for November!