Halloween 2017

Halloween 2017 is in the books! We had a chef, superman, Captain American, and Herminome from Harry Potter. 

Our day started early with a school parade at Cape. Sadly Spencer was out of town (depositions in Salt Lake) so I was on my own. We actually had to stop by Boppi and Grandpa Al's early before school so Grandpa Al could do Madi's tie for her. 

The school parade was long but I sure loved every second I got to see my cute kids walk by. I wanted  to follow them around the whole parade, but didn't want to look like a total goof! 

Calvin's class was first to lead the parade and Madi's was last so we stuck around the entire time. 

Calvin just happened to have the same costume idea as his buddy Wells. Too cute not to snap a picture! 

James really mastered the stink face this Halloween! I guess that's life with a  20 month old!

Elle and Ella came up with twin costumes all on their own. Some people think they are twins or even just sisters. They are happy to be in the same class again this year. 

It really is so fun to have cousins at the same school. And makes it easy on Grandpa Al and Boppi. They got to see 9 of their grandkids at the parade this morning! So fun!

It was a busy day with early out of school. James and I picked up the kids at 11:30 and drove over to  to visit Adrienne at work and bring her some Halloween pumpkin bread. Then home for nap, piano practice and quiet time. Madi had a make-up tennis lesson at 4pm but I didn't want to stick around until 5pm. Instead we headed off to hit up some of the free Halloween  offers around Camarillo. NO luck at Jamba Juice, but Ihop was giving away free scary face pancakes to kids 12 and younger. Made for an easy, fun dinner. 

Then we stopped by to say hi to Boppi and Grandpa Al. Corinne and the girls were over there so we invited them to join us for trick-or-treating the Thunell's neighborhood. We went last year and it was a lot of fun!

James was hands down my favorite to watch this year. he was totally into it and thrilled about just having to knock on doors to be handed candy!

He'd work his way to the front of a crowd and hold his bucket high. Then he'd sign "please" (just cause he doesn't have thank you down yet), and yell "BYE" as we walked away. 

After hitting up the Thunell's neighborhood, it was getting dark and we headed over to our neighborhood with the Bowen's. It was fun to have the company. We only did half of Fremont circle and ended up getting overflowing buckets of candy!

Elle and Ava had fun sorting and trading. 

Then I got the boys into bed and stayed up to watch Hocus Pocus with the girls. Elle was tired and ready for bed by 9pm (I think the movie was a little scarier than she wanted), but Madi stayed up until after 10pm when I called it a night and said we could finish the movie later.

It was a fun Halloween despite not being with Spencer, 

Halloween Piano Recital

On October 28th the kids had a piano recital at the Camarillo Healthcare Center. It was Calvin's first recital which made it extra exciting! Sister Watson held 2 recitals this month because of everyone's busy schedules. We fit in the Saturday recital time before Elle's tumbling and Cal's soccer game. Some people just played and left. We were the last on the program, making it a pretty small group by the end.

Calvin played Hey Mr. Mummy!

Elle played Snake Dance and Ghosts of the Piano

Madi played Halloween Night and Graceful Ghost Dancer

We are so grateful for our amazing piano teacher who brings the joy of music into our home!

It was fun to have Grandpa Al and Boppi there to watch! 

Trunk-or-treat

Our ward Halloween party was on Friday the 27th this year. Loved these kids cute costume choices this year! 

Primary Program 2017

These 3 did such an amazing job in the primary program on Sunday! The had their parts perfectly memorized and belted out every song. Madi and Elle did the harmony for "Choose the Right" and sang like angels.

 Speaking parts this year:

Calvin: "We are encouraged to fast on the first Sunday of every month. We will go without eating or drinking for 2 meals." 

Elle: "Good friends are important to have. At school, my friends and I look for kids who need someone to play with. We want to make sure everyone one feels loved and accepted. I love having an older sister as one of my best friends."

Madi: God sent us prophets and apostles to tell us everything he wants us to know and do. I want to share a story with you that President Hinckley told of what happened when his parents followed the counsel of a living prophet.

In 1915 President Joseph F. Smith asked the people of the Church to have family home evening. My father said we would do so, we would warm up the parlor where Mother's grand piano stood and do what the President of the Church had asked. We were miserable performers as children. We could do all kinds of things together while playing, but for one of us to try to sing a solo before the others was like asking ice cream to stay hard on the kitchen stove.  In the beginning, we would laugh and make cute remarks about one another's performance. But our parents persisted. We sang together. We prayed together. We listened quietly while Mother read Bible and Book of Mormon stories. Father told us stories from his memory. Out of those simple little meetings, held in the parlor of our old home, cam something indescribable and wonderful. Our love for our parents was strengthened. Our love for brothers and sisters was enhanced. Our love for the Lord was increased. An appreciation for simple goodness grew in our hearts. These wonderful things came about because our parents followed the counsel of the prophet.

From this experience I learned that if I follow the prophet, great blessings will come to me and my family. I challenge all of you to try harder to carefully listen to all the prophet and apostles have to say and I promise great blessings will come to you.

Sure love these kids of mine! I am one LUCKY mama!!! 

General Conference weekend

I LOVE conference weekend! We didn't make cinnamon rolls the weekend cause we had just made them 2 weeks earlier, so the girls helped me figure out another treat . . . 

Conference listening treat bowls! These kids were such good listeners, making sure they didn't miss one word to cash in on their reward at the end of each speaker! I took notes and wrote on the papers hanging, to remind us of the messages we heard.

Even James got a little conference listening in and and was excited about his snack plate! 

One of my favorite things about conference is the General Women's session the weekend before. Now that both my girls are old enough to go, it makes for an extra special event. This year we went and got our nails done, then picked up Subway for dinner and Ice Bar Cafe for dessert.

The whole evening was a lot of fun, but my favorite part of the night was sitting between my girls during women's conference, watching them take notes of the things that spoke to their hearts. My heart was bursting with love and admiration for these 2 amazing girls I get to have for daughters!!

19 months

This past month has been a tough one! Mr. James has entered a whole new stage. It's like he flipped a switch and changed overnight. He's got so much sass and attitude now. "No" has become a favorite word and he's all of a sudden very opinionated about everything! The other day at the park I was shocked when he went up and pushed another kid! I refuse to have a mean boy so now I have to watch him extra carefully and make sure he's not bullying other kids! I want to blame it on teeth coming in, but I think it's all just part of growing up. He gets angry about the littlest things and will sit and scream in his car seat. Thankfully he's easily distractible and sometimes I can get him to calm down by pointing at things to look at outside.

James definitely knows what he wants and has become very independent. He's totally testing all limits with us.

Thankfully, I can still get him to bust a smile through his scowl. He will also give hugs and kisses per request and snuggles before bedtime.

James' newest obsession this month is rocks. Whenever he's outside, he's always looking for rocks and has at least one in each hand or pocket (he collected a bucketful of rocks in the pic below)!

I'm fine with him having rocks, until he wants to throw them.... or bang them against the glass window which he's done numerous times.

One thing's for sure - he definitely adores his big brother and I've loved watching their relationship develop as they get to spend every morning together after the girls head off to school. 

Despite all his shenanigans this month, James is still such a love and will always take out his binky and smile for a picture.

He's SUPER awesome in our book!! 

18 months!

Happy HALF Birthday to our big 18 month old!!! 

He makes us all sorts of happy!!! He's got the best smile and is just such a playful, silly little boy. 

He's been going to nursery since before he could walk but this Sunday he was officially legal! 

Sister Whetten tells us James is quite the nursery pro and acts more like the class president! 

He's total boy and loves cars, trucks, balls, rocks, bugs, dirt, and just recently busted out Cal's sword and amour and insisted on wearing it. 

He loves my protein shakes and anytime I'm drinking one, he's begging for some!

We love our sweet boy who is quick to give hugs and kisses, and loves giving high fives and fist bumps to total strangers! He's happy and friendly, and always has a smile!