Halloween

3 costumes this year.... $30-75 dollars?  Nope!

Cooper-Harley baby....$0.00  (Thank you dad for giving this outfit to Julien when he was a baby...a "for real" outfit that made for the perfect costume:)).
Jonah-Skeleton............$0.00 (Jonah wanted to be a skeleton because Julien was one 2 years ago.  I still had the costume and it happened to be just the right size for him-with a bit of a wedgie).
Julien- Ninja Turtle......$12.00 (This is all he wanted to be and after looking online and finding Ninja Turtle costumes to be somewhere around 35 dollars, I told him he would need to choose something else...until...I found this one at Walmart for 12 dollars.  Yea, it's cheapo and the mask is the quality of a cheap plastic cup, but let me tell you, he was ecstatic when I brought it home!  It worked!
GRAND TOTAL: $12.00!  Do-able! 

Last night we went to our ward's trunk or treat.  It was nice to have Rich there with us.  Last year he had to work.  I like to have a meal that I didn't make!  I like being around the great families in our ward!  I love to see the excitement on my kid's faces and see them enjoying themselves!  And I love that it is a short and sweet night at Trunk or Treat and Halloween is done now!  Here are the pics....Oh, and it's picture overload.  I was going to put them in a slide show but it wasn't working.  I went a little crazy last night editing since my sore throat was keeping me up. Happy Halloween!


Cooper was really tired!  I hurried and snapped some pics right away because I thought he would rip the bandanna off, like he does with all hats, but he never noticed and kept it on all night!



I'm going to put these on Facebook with captions, so if you are wondering about a few of these, see them there.

At last!

It takes me forever to get posts up these days.  I have spent time every day this week trying to complete these, but it never happens.  I finally finished, so scroll down because I put a few new ones up.

*not sure why my last post "memorization" is not showing the video.  I can't even get on the site to fix it, but will try to get it back soon.*
 Update: it is working again!

Soccer games

I haven't posted any pictures of Julien and Jonah in their soccer uniforms or from their games.  They have games every Saturday.  It's a lot of fun to be out on the fields cheering on my little guys.  They are definitely not the star players on their team, but they are having fun.  I wanted them to learn what it takes to be on a team, to make some new friends, get some exercise, and to have something to learn and have fun with.  I've always tried to limit the activities we do so our lives are not always on the go and too chaotic (I'm just not cut out for that).  It's amazing how just adding soccer practice twice a week and games every Saturday have made my weeks feel a lot more busy...and sometimes I really don't like it because I already feel like I have so many demands to meet as it is.  But I remind myself that it is for them and I do enjoy it once I'm there watching.  But one thing I have learned and hopefully will not do again is:
If I can avoid it, I will not be putting the boys in a sport at the same time again unless they are on the same team.  They play on different fields and sometimes at the exact same time.  Rich isn't always able to make the games because of work.  My dad makes as many as he can, but sometimes it is just me, having to be in two places at once.  I really hate that because I want to see both games entirely.  But luckily it hasn't been that bad.  So in other words (hopefully this will work in the future), for example, Julien can play soccer in the fall and Jonah can play baseball in the spring. 
  I have yet to get a really good action picture. I seem to miss just about every cool picture but I've been playing with my camera this week and am trying to figure out how to use some of the features that may help me capture the action better (hopefully!).  Anyway, they are fun to watch.  Like I said, neither one of my kids are the star players (or even close to it).  See, Jonah, well, he likes to get tangled in the net and he basically just follows everyone where ever they go.  He is not aggressive at all.  But he sure is cute to watch!  Julien is a crack up because he is just so thrilled that we (Rich and/or my dad, Jonah, and myself) are watching him that he just looks at us more than the ball and keeps giving us a thumbs up and big smiles.  And we give them right back and point and say, "watch the ball!!"  It is way funny.  After Julien's first game he came up to us afterward all proud of himself with his chin up, pumping his fist and said, "Was I awesome or what?!!"  I like his attitude!  Actually Julien did score a goal once, and of course I missed it.  Luckily Rich was able to see it. I was over on another field watching Jonah's game and Rich ran over and told me.  He was so proud and he said Julien was so excited!  I was so bummed I missed it, but so happy Rich saw it.  I LOVE when Rich is at the games, I wish he was able to be at all of them.  It's also great time with my dad as well!  Just 3 more games and then they get their trophies and they are very excited about that!


Jonah doing a center kick off (or whatever it's called:))



He loves the snacks at the end!



Jonah after one of his games, watching Julien's.  He loves to pose for pictures.






Go Tiger Sharks!



Cooper chatting with a girlie.



Go Little Feet!
This is what it usually looks like...they run in a pack all over the field.  They don't play positions at this age.



   

Just because...

Cooper likes to say, "num, num, num, num.." while he eats.  Lately he is liking chunkier things over pureed.  And as you can see, Cooper's teeth are coming in and he has also been blessed with my wonderful gap (thank you braces), poor baby.  Love him and can't get enough of him!!!!  I absolutely love having a baby in our home again!

Memorization

I have this adorable niece named Brecken. She has blown our family away with what she can memorize (parts for a primary program, church talks, and even a commercial to promote business for her dad). Oh and she did all of this at age 4 and 5 (maybe even 3). I'm telling you this because it made me realize that we should never underestimate what children can do. So this year when Julien got his little part in the primary program (a program that takes place during the first hour of church with all of the young children ages 3-12, where they sing and most of the kids will get to say a part or give a short talk to go with the theme) I thought I would help him memorize it. Most kids will have their teacher break up their line and whisper it to them piece by piece, and while that is still great and cute, why not have them memorize it? I also made it a goal that the kids and I would memorize scripture masterys together. I haven't been very diligent about learning new ones, so all we know are 2 so far. But I want to try again soon. Jonah got attached to the first one we learned so he prefers to say that one over the 2nd one, but he has both memorized. I've tried a few times to practice a new one with him but he just "loves the old one."  Silly kid.  Not trying to brag here, try it with your kids, you'll be surprised. We actually made this video for Rich's mom who requested a video of their primary parts that she would miss. Jonah didn't have an individual part so I threw in his scripture mastery.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Cute stuff

Here are a few things I had around the house that the kids made recently.  I have a huge pile of letters and art that they make that I really cherish.  It's mostly Julien, but Jonah is catching on to it quick.  Julien likes to praise Jonah's work, and say, "Oh Jonah, that is so amazing!  You are such a great artist because you learned from me!"  Lol.  

Julien made this while watching General Conference earlier this month...   



"Julien's park"



This one reminds me of a little still life art piece...(by Julien)

Here is one of Julien's recent coloring jobs.  I know I'm his mom, but I think it's pretty good for a 6 yr. old!:) This is all him, no help.   

The other night Julien and Jonah sat at the table for over an hour, just working together.  Moments like that (where it's really quiet and they are working as a team) don't happen every day, so it's sweet to see.  Julien made this little worksheet for Jonah and helped him with the answers.

That same night (after the worksheet) they worked together to draw, color, and cut out this Caterpillar.

This is a note I got from Julien the other day.  He writes notes like these to Rich and I all of the time.  It never gets old to me.  I will cherish these forever.  Some days he isn't this fond of me;).  He is so expressive and writes notes to people all of the time.  Sometimes Julien can really test me and give me attitude and get himself into trouble, but lately he has found that if he goes off and writes a little note to Rich or I (whoever the bad guy is that day), he will end up feeling better. And I'm sure he has figured out that his letters melt our hearts too.  I really like that he can write his feelings down.  This one below was a random one, not one from getting in trouble and then kissing up (although, I have to say, I love them all).

The other day I was away for the day and when I got home, Rich and the kids were at soccer practice and I found this note Julien had written Rich and laughed out loud.  He was really sick that day with a stomach bug.

This last one Julien made in art class at school.  I thought it was really good.  He didn't trace it, but he said his teacher showed him how to draw the seahorse and he copied it.  

Julien is really good at paying attention to detail and being able to draw things, even if he isn't looking at them. If I'm not looking at something, I pretty much have no clue how to draw it, so it impresses us to see his work. 

I'm done having a proud mommy moment now:).