Fall Flew By!

Wow.  I have been very much behind on blogging, because life has been so busy!  We have been working on finishing the bedroom and bathroom in the basement- which is coming very close to being finished!  (Although I've been saying that for at least a couple of weeks now!)  We have also been busy just keeping up with these 4 crazy, wonderful kids!  Thrown in there we have church callings, holidays, outings, etc.  It's all been great.  I love fall!  It seemed different to me this year, however.  The beauty of the leaves didn't seem to last quite as long as last year.  We enjoyed it while it did last. 
Here's a rundown of our Fall with pictures!

• General Conference- we always enjoy listening to the Prophet and other General Authorities of the Church twice a year.  What a blessing to receive such inspiring words!  I am so thankful.  My children are really starting to enjoy Conference weekend; we always eat cinnamon rolls, have fun snack bowls for them to choose from when they hear certain subjects talked about.  And we print out great packets to keep them busy!   

• Primary Program- The children did a great job singing and saying their speaking parts in the annual Primary Program at church. 
• Temple trip- we went to Kansas City in October and stayed overnight in a hotel so Kenneth and I could take turns going to the temple and taking care of the children.  The kids love sleeping in the hotel, of course, and love eating breakfast there, and swimming!  And Kenneth and I are grateful for the chance to be in the temple.  What a peaceful, inspiring place!  We also were able to meet up with some old friends from our time in Potsdam, NY who live in the KC area.  It was great to see the Hassels!
• Trunk or Treat- We weren't going to go to the Trunk or Treat Activity at church because last year there were WAY TOO many sweets and scary costumes (and I hate that stuff!), but the kids worked so hard creating their own costumes this year and they knew there was a costume contest, so we decided to go for the costume contest part only.  Glad we did- Grant won cutest costume!  He was a little cowboy! 

  

  Arianna did her very best to make her own Ana costume- I was pretty impressed with what she came up with in the house!  Grant was a cowboy, Emma a cowgirl, and Kate a Dalmatian.

  
  

  

  Grant, the cowboy-  Emma made him a belt- so sweet.

  
  

  

  Hello, sweet puppy!

• Fall Family Fun Party- since I really don't like traditional Halloween, we have decided to throw a party instead.  I made pizza for dinner and we had a fun activity.  It was a blast!

  

  We went around to 4 neighbors, so they could see the kids in their costumes.  How do you like my zebra costume?!  Kate was a ladybug this day.

  
  

  

  Awaiting the activity!

  
  

  

  Each child had a different color string to follow.  It leads to a treasure!

  
  

  

  Oh the focus!

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  Hooray!  He was delighted with dried mangoes, pistachios, and fruit leather. 

  
  

  

  Here they all are after they 'cleaned up' my room!  (They thought it was cool that they got to clean up my room with this activity

• Carving pumpkins- I resist this activity, mostly because it is too messy and you can't even use the pumpkin after it's sat around a few days as a jack'o'lantern.  I know, I am such a Halloween Grinch!  Well, the kids really wanted to do it and I told them Daddy would have to be in charge of it.  Kenneth went the day after Halloween and got screaming deals on pumpkins.  They really did have a fun time.  No jack'o'lanterns around here, though.  Animals.  Anyone surprised?
  

  

  Ready to go!

  
  

  

  Kate wanted to eat the raw pumpkin.  Go ahead, little lady!

Cheese!

The finished products: unicorn, horse and alligator.

Arianna was especially excited about this project and was delighted to see them lit up on the front porch.

• Fun in Fall leaves-  The kids had such fun in the leaves this year.  They have the best Daddy ever!

  

  Grant loves to help Daddy.

  
  

  

  I'm missing that green grass as I look at these pictures!

  
  

  

  He figured this out all on his own!

  
  

  

  raking

  
  

  

  Playing in the leaves with Dad.

  
  

  

  Where did Daddy go?

  
  

  

  Dump!

  
  

  

  Whoosh!

• Moving Chicken Coop onto Garden Patch- after the garden is finished, we move the chicken coop back over the garden.   Hooray for chicken manure!
• Missionaries for dinner- We have 8 missionaries serving in our not-too-big ward, and Kenneth is Ward Mission Leader, so we try to have them over regularly.  The kids love it and are getting really good at setting the table and getting everything ready. 
• Thanksgiving- We hosted Kenneth's cousin's family (minus his cousin and daughter who were visiting family in NY) and another family in our ward.  We had a lot of fun together and it was nice to share the dinner prep with others!  I did make the turkey and it turned out awesome!  Kenneth told me it was the best Thanksgiving dinner he had ever had!  Thanks, babe!

For several days the kids were often to be found like this playing with their Thanksgiving Village- I guess it's becoming a yearly tradition!

Posing for the camera!

Thanksgiving breakfast- green smoothie, fruit turkey and cranberry breakfast cake.  Yum!

Watching Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  They loved it!

Afternoon snack: vegetable turkey!

The Thanksgiving table

The little boys' table in the front entry way

The girls (with my help) make these place cards for each guest.  One of the other families also has a Grant.

We're ready to feast!

 

• Horseback riding with Methvins- some good friends in the ward invited us to their place for lunch and horseback riding a couple of days after Thanksgiving.  We had such a great time- good company and good fun! 

  

  Andy helping Arianna on Old Gray

  
  

  

  Grant is loving life!

  
  

  

  He looks so little and so grown up all at the same time!

  
  

  

  The kids had so much fun just hanging out- and the weather was gorgeous!

  
  

  

  Emma really enjoyed being on a horse again after having a couple of lessons in California before we moved here.  It had been a while, but she did great!

  
  

  

  I loved how she just jumped right out of the saddle when she was done!

  
  

  

  Grant had some great boy time building with sticks. 

  
  

  

  Even Kate and I got rides!  She wasn't so sure at the beginning, but she really ended up enjoying it.

  
  

  

  Arianna's second ride- this time with Dad leading.

• Kenneth's Birthday- We celebrated here at home.  I got up early to make cinnamon rolls.  We had a great Sunday at church and a relaxing afternoon.  Arianna and I left for a little while in the afternoon to attend a choral concert honoring a neighbor of ours and with other neighbors performing.  It was beautiful!  For dinner- Swedish meatballs and triple berry torte for dessert. 

  

  The kids insisted we used the '1' candle.  I must admit it was easier than the appropriate amount of candles!

  
  

  

  Kenneth tried to let the kids light the candle.  It didn't so much work- he ended up doing it.

• Christmas decorations- We love Christmas!  We actually cleared our schedule the weekend after Thanksgiving and scheduled an entire day to put up the Christmas decorations.  Kenneth acquired 2 more Christmas trees (1 for free and 1 for $15) and ornaments at yard sales this past summer and insisted we put them all up- so we have 4 Christmas trees up this year!  It was a lot of work, but it is always so special to be in the glow of those magical trees symbolizing the Son of God, the Light of the World and the evergreen of eternal life, the gift he offers.

  

  New to us this year-a family Christmas gift. It makes me happy!

  
  

  

  Our biggest tree, which can be seen from our front window.

  
  

  

  Family room tree- tree skirt made by my mom.

  
  

  

  Arianna checking out her stocking- they were also all made by my mom.  Thanks, Mom!

• Farm's New Era - Sale of dariy cows- After years of milking, Kenneth's parents sold the herd this month.  It was hard for me to even imagine the farm without the cows.  I, who am relatively disconnected from the farm, shed a few tears.  I can only imagine how difficult this transition had been for my mother-in-law to whom the cows were dear friends. 
• Family Pictures- Kenneth is really good about scheduling times for us to take family pictures.  I kind-of drag my feet in this area, just because it is so much work for me to coordinate clothing, help everyone be happy at the same time and actually use my brain to try to figure out the camera to take the best picture.  But, I am so glad he motivates us to do this so that we will have these pictures in the future.

Here area a couple at home:

Merry Christmas!

Love these happy kids!

At the college campus right near our home.

This one is taken at the train station in our town close by- this is a railroad town that we live in, and Kenneth wanted to remember that!

Here we are up close.

•  Saying goodbye to 6 chickens, plus 2 more- not planned.  We finally arranged with some friends to move some our chickens in with their flocks.  We really had too many chickens in the little coop Kenneth had made.  We had not planned on loosing 2 more in the same week to a predator!  It was very sad.  There were holes dung under the coop and feathers everywhere.  Sad day. 

  

  Gathering the chickens to say goodbye.

  

  Goodbye chickens!  (Grant has Moonlight, Arianna has Flower and Emma has Cartwheel)

• And an extra just for fun:

  

  Kate wearing mom's shoes

Arianna lost her first tooth!