Destroying Angel

Sophie turned 11 months old today!  I can't believe how fast she's growing!  She has several nicknames right now, including Destroying Angel, Little Monkey and Busy Body.

Her favorite thing to do is climb.  She knocks the shoes off the shoe shelf and loves to climb on them.

 She'll either just sit there and jabbers.

 Or she'll yell down the stairs at whomever's down there "aaah".

 She can climb all the way up the stairs and has even figured out how to go down the first two.  

I like that there's a bend in the stairs in case she falls.  One day I put the banana chair there to help keep her from falling all the way down, but she's yet to fall.

 A safer thing I've discovered she likes to climb on is the couch cushion.  

I'll just take it off and she can climb up and down and I don't have to worry about her falling and getting hurt.

 She also loves to help unload the dishwasher.  Here's a video of her "helping". 

I love my little busy body!

Magic of the Moment

I like to encourage my kids to participate in the Reflections program.  Of course, we always wait until the last minute to do it.  Since the deadline is tomorrow, we worked on these all day yesterday.

The theme is "Magic of the Moment".

Lily did a photography collage of different pictures of the first snowfall.   

 Here is what she said about her picture entitled "The First Snow"... "The first snowfall of the season, to me, looks like a magical moment.  It's magical because it is a winter wonderland mixed in with the colorful remains of fall.  There's no moment more magical!"

Jefferson decided to do a visual arts picture using computer generated art (he didn't want to be in the photo).

His picture is titled "Ocean Treasures".  He told a story for his description. "One time when I went to the ocean I saw something big and brown and I thought it was a rock.  But it wasn't a rock.  It was a treasure chest!  It had lots of gold inside. When I discovered the treasure, it was a magical moment!"

Last year both kids moved onto the next level.  We'll see how they do this year.  I'm sure proud of them though!

Halloween 2012

This year for Halloween we had quite the potpourri of characters... 

Cedric was Tigger.

 Lily was a Raggedy Ann doll

 Sophie was a spider.

 And Jeff was a zombie

Halloween this year was on a Wednesday, but the Friday before we started the celebrations.  Friday afternoon the kids came home from school and we got into costumes and headed down to Tom's work.  They do a little trunk or treat and then a whole bunch of games for all the kids.

They also take a photo of your family.  It was a fun 15 minute party with lots of candy.

 That evening was our ward Trunk or Treat/ Chili & Soup dinner.  I brought homemade mac and cheese and labeled it "kid soup".  It was a huge hit and all gone in about 15 minutes.  I think that'll be my annual contribution.  The only picture I took there was of Cedric and his little friend, Tessa.

Sunday night we carved pumpkins.  These were from our very own garden!

Here's the final results.

Monday I took the kids to do the witch hunt at Gardner Village.

After finding all the witches on their list they get a discounted cookie.  The wonderful aroma of the bakery where the cookies were smelled stinky to Cedric (I thought it smelled wonderful!).  In fact, it was so bad that he was gagging, so I made Lily wait with him outside while Jeff, Sophie and I got the cookies.  Well, I didn't take in the stroller in, so I had Jeff  (who needed to use the bathroom at that moment) carrying Sophie out and I had three cookies, a loaf of bread and three drinks, plus the diaper bag that I was trying to juggle.  I was so worried about Jeff and Sophie that even strangers were asking if we needed help.  Luckily we made it back around the building to where Lily and Cedric were, Jeff ran in the bathroom and all was well.  It was such nice weather that day too!

 Tuesday was Cedric's (and my) preschool Halloween party.  Here he is dressed as a T.P. mummy. 

 Lily and Jeff had their parties and parade at school on Wednesday, but I had to miss it because of preschool :(  A friend was nice to text me pictures of them though.

That night was the night!  Tom and Sophie stayed home to pass out candy ant the three oldest and I went trick or treating around the neighborhood.  It was so nice out!  Cedric lasted about a half hour, but the older kids and I were out for almost two hours!

Trick or Treat!

Funny thing is, Sophie never even wore her costume on actual Halloween day.  It was a fun Halloween this year!  Having older kids and nice weather makes a world of difference :)