C is for Curious

Conrad is on a mission to explore and learn everything he can. What better way to learn and discover than by experiments right? Well Conrad sure thinks so. Here's just a sampling of some of the more messy clever experiments he's run in the last few weeks...

Gravity does pull the eggs to the ground every time. He completed this one two days in a row to verify the results.

Peanut butter tastes better when you grab it out of the jar with your hands. 

Yes, I can climb that!

Since Daddy hid the step stool after the egg experiments, I had to engineer a new ladder. It works! 

The lid comes off when you pull it and bright colors look best on me and the floor. That paper stuff seems superfluous.

 Gravity also works with the dog's water!

Not pictured: 

Gravity still works with the Christmas tree! He also completed this one twice to verify his results. (Thankfully we were smart enough not to hang any nice ornaments this year. Conrad's not the only one learning new things here). 

The toilet is a readily available source of water. It even works for brushing your teeth. (So gross!)

Most importantly: If I make a face like this, all is quickly forgiven!

Oh sweet Conrad. To say that you're keeping us on our toes at the moment is a bit of an understatement. You certainly aren't trying to be naughty, there's just so much to explore and you're determined to discover it all. We sure love you even if you leave us all feeling a bit like this:

Halloween

It's after Thanksgiving, but I'm just now getting around to Halloween. Such is life right now. My kids always LOVE Halloween, and we had lots of fun this year. For the first time in a long time, we did a family costume for the ward party. Orson got the Chewbacca hoodie from Grandma for his birthday, so we decided we had to do Star Wars costumes. I pieced them all together from things we had around the house, and they turned out great! The force is strong with our family! Sadly not strong enough to get us all in the same place at the party for a group picture.

Princess Leia

Yoda

Ewok

Old Luke

C3PO on skates! This is my favorite! 

Chewbacca 

Rey

The kids and I visited a pumpkin patch one afternoon. The corn pool is always a hit!

For Trick-or-Treating, Conrad and Orson wore the Batman and Robin costumes from last year. Conrad has changed so much! Good luck getting them to hold still long enough for a picture though.

Sadly the pumpkins we planted in our garden didn't do well. They kept growing to about 5 pound then rotting on the vine while they were still green. I have no idea what caused it, but we didn't get a single pumpkin. Luckily, store bought pumpkins are still lots of fun to carve. Both Hazel and Eliza designed and carved their own Harry Potter themed pumpkins. Hazel's was a Polyjuice potion pumpkin with half Hermione half a cat, and Eliza just did Hermione. They both were great! 

Lenora's Owl

Eliza's Hermione (it's hard to see her hair in the picture)

Hazel's Polyjuice pumpkin

Orson's Owl

Conrad's pumpkin that the older girls made Harry Potter

Orson at Three

Where do I even start talking about this cute little boy? Orson is such a fun, wild, joy-filled kid. He wakes up each morning and cuddles next to Michael or I in bed as sweetly as can be... for a few minutes before he's trying to jump all over us. Sweet then wild, loving then crazy. That's how this little guy rolls.  Overall, he is an incredibly kind, well-mannered little boy.

Orson loves to be outside. He loves exploring! Just like daddy, cmpfires are one of his favorite things in the world.

If Orson knows you're taking his picture, here's what you get...

 Every time! Some day I'm sure we'll look back in fondness at his crazy-face stage.

Orson also has some of the best sayings. He still struggles to say the letters s and f so he'll say things like "do-da" for soda, "bish" for fish, etc. I love it! Here are a few of his other great saying from the last few months...

"All the super heroes are strong like Me!"

The little kids made simple crowns at our homeschool co-op. The girls kept saying things like, I'm the queen or princess when Orson excitedly told us, "I'm the man-queen!"

He will talk about something he likes then end with, "It's amazing!"

Orson will look at any word with an O and say, "It says O for Orson!"

Sticking his pencil behind his ear haha!

One Sunday at church Orson was sitting by my side stroking my knee. He looked up at me and said in the sweetest, most sincere voice, "Mommy, you look so handsome today!"

Yesterday we were looking at a coloring book with a picture of Jesus. I pointed and asked him who that was. He replied, "Jesus!" then in a very reverent and reflective tone he said, "I love Jesus."

Orson is still Michael's little mini-me in so many ways. He LOVES spending time with his daddy!

Sweet boy, we all love you so much! Thanks for the fun, laughs, smiles, hugs, and even the chaos you bring to our home!