Our awesome October!

I just love my kids and the things they do.  Pictures are the best.

We love lizards around here.  Parker and Sarah have bent the screen in our front window and in spite of my best efforts to unbend it and keep it in place, the lizards climb between the screen and our window.  If we open the window we have friends.  The kids think they are awesome and I love them too.  I would much rather have a lizard in my house than a cockroach.

Riley is also getting pretty mobile.  It's funny to see him get into stuff and watch what the other kids do.  I can't believe how big he is.  He now has four teeth and two more are coming in.  We had to move Sarah into the room with Parker and Kelly because he is pretty unhappy at bedtime and has learned what screaming will do (because we didn't want him to wake up Sarah).  A few more nights and I think he will be over the screaming habit.

Sarah loves being in the room with Kelly and Parker.  Sarah still loves Riley and is always taking care of him.  She is surprisingly gentle with him unless she is mad. For her birthday she got two babies and they now go everywhere with her.  It's pretty cute to see her make food for them.  I just wish she wasn't so good at finding the baby wipes to change her babies.  Tonight JP found the perfect description for her.  She is our Tonka Princess.  She loves trucks and being in the dirt but she also loves dressing up and playing with her dolls.

Parker LOVES spider man.  Spider man can somehow find a place in every conversation.  He is having a really hard time with the fact that he has to wait so long this month for his birthday.  He's so sad it's last in the family.  We are going to try to make it extra fun for the poor boy.  He is also learning to play MarioKart on the Wii.  He is pretty good and can beat Kelly on a few tracks and she doesn't like it.  She thinks she is older and should be better at everything.  Parker is expanding his vocabulary.  If he doesn't know the name of what something really is he will make one up.  It's pretty hilarious.  We are also working on not calling names with him too.  The other day he was really mad at me and yelled "You're a genius!"  It's a good thing it was really funny.  He still was in trouble for yelling at me. Most of the time what he calls people aren't real words.  I love him. 

Kelly is my sweet heart. She is very much a little mother and so wants to be a princess.  There are always times we have to remind her of how a princess acts.  Once we do she generally toes the line.  It's a very serious goal that she wants to be a princess, a missionary and a mom.  She is doing great in school.  I love that she comes home and teaches us all about the things she has learned.  Some of which lately has been Johnny Appleseed, Christopher Columbus and matter.  She has songs for most everything she learns and loves to teach us.  She has a great memory.  I also love that she is not afraid to share the gospel. It gives me a good example to look to.  She told her teacher all about conference.

Last night someone in our ward "booed" us and gave us Halloween treats in a bag.  Tonight we passed it on.  The kids loved it and each got a turn taking the treat to the door, knocking and running.  The only time I went was with Sarah and we got caught!  I guess I'm not very sneaky.

We hope you all are enjoying this wonderful October.  Wear some warm clothes for us and drink some hot chocolate!  Love you all.

(Sorry I can't find the pictures of Sarah's birthday.   They must be on JP's phone.  I will post them when I can find them.)

 Anything is better dipped in ranch.  Even if it's peanut butter and jelly.

 Sarah was helping me color.

 Taking care of Riley so he won't get wet while in the living room.

 No words needed. 

 Yeah! Dad's home.  He's a kid magnet.

And let it begin!

For some reason Kelly finally figured out that she needed to wiggle her loose teeth and just went crazy yesterday.  By the end of the night the two bottom teeth were pretty loose.  This morning they were even looser. (Hmmm...... someone must not have gone right to bed.)  She was so distracted with one in particular this morning I knew she wouldn't do as well in school today if we didn't pull it, SO WE DID!  She is so excited to put it under her pillow tonight.  We took a before picture.  We will have to take and after picture and post them tonight.  She will probably lose the other bottom tooth by tomorrow.  Then on to the two top that are loose!  This Christmas she will be able to say, " All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!" ( It may end up being four front teeth.)

Latest update

Just wanted to show you all what we have been up to.  (Sorry so many words.)

Kelly loves school.  She is the teacher's helper (and is so excited to help).  She loves riding the bus and having her independence from me.  She specifically ask Dad to take her to the bus stop alone.  I miss her tons but it is good for Parker and Sarah to become better friends.  It has also let me spend more one-on-one time with Parker while Sarah and Riley are asleep. 

Kelly has a best friend at school.  His name is Landon.  She came home the other day and said Landon couldn't stop smiling at her or looking at her.  He then told her that he has fallen in love with her.  :)  I had to laugh.  She hasn't quit talking about him since.  We have grilled her that she doesn't kiss boys.  She followed up with, "not until we're married."  It's a good way to think.  We keep it that way for as long as possible.

Parker is truly a boy.  It amazes me the difference that is born into him.  He always wants to be wrestling,  making face, standing on his head, throwing things......he's pretty much always moving!  Poor Riley doesn't like the wrestling and we are trying to teach Parker that he's too little.  It's still an illusive concept.

Sarah is growing so fast.  She is such a big girl and loves to help me.  She is good with Riley and soft with him too.  I want to potty train her because she is ready but I can't keep her hands out of the toilet.  Hmmmm....  So for the mean time we still keep the bathroom door closed.

Riley is such a sweet heart.  He loves to smile and is very happy.  He now has two teeth and is eating solid food.  I can't believe it.   He does the army crawl and makes his way to where ever the kids are.  He does pretty well sitting up and shocked himself the other day by going from crawling to sitting up.  It's funny to see the look on their faces when they discover they can do something new. 

JP is very busy with work and church.  He is doing the job of the manager here although he doesn't have the title.  It's good experience for him and he's good at it.  He comes home and tells me how much he has done that day and I'm always impressed with how organized and efficient he is.  He is the same with his calling.  It's nice to see our wards auxiliaries working together to take care of the ward they way they do.  I love our ward. 

I'm busier than ever.  I love me kids and they keep me busy and teach me so much.  Heavenly Father is blessing me so much.  I'm not a morning person but I'm trying really had.  Lately the kids have been sick, teething, up for the potty and on average I'm up twice a night.  I'm pretty tired during the day but through saying prayers and reading scriptures I have still managed to keep the house up and play with the kids.  I feel a huge difference if I miss a morning of prayers or reading my scriptures.  That's my soap box for the day.

We love you all and miss you so much!  The kids love skyping and seeing everyone.  They talk about you all, all the time.  Hopefully one day we will be closer so that it is easier to see everyone more often.

                                 Daddy made a gingerbread house with them in July. Oh what fun!

                            Sarah loves the tub.  She had just finished her bath and gotten dressed.

                                                             She loves this elephant.

                                              Cousin Blake teaching Riley to play basketball.

                                               It's hard being a kid, it will wear you right out.

                                                       Good thing there was no water.

                                                                Riley is a funny sleeper.

                                                                   We love popcorn!

                                                            The best part of baking.

                                                                 My big helpers.

                                                 Watch your speed or Parker will know it.

                                                        I just love this boy!  He is so cute.

                                                                I'm a crazy driver, watch out.

                                                   This is a basketball hoop she climbed in.

                                                                      I love the ball pit.

                                                     Putting on my own picture show.

                                                    Audrey and Kelly putting on a play.

                                                               Riley loves to be held.

                                                               Sarah telling secrets.

                                                                 ...and more secrets.

                                                  Bet you can't tell where she learned it.

                                                                      I love the straps!

                                                               Telling even more secrets.

                                                     I like dressing up just like my big sister.

                                         Parker has now discovered how to make lots of faces.

                                              I didn't want to do silly faces, just a pretty one.

                                                               Kelly's first day of school. 

                                               Parker's last time seeing his best friend Danielle.