Baking with Boys

One Sunday morning I found myself making bread with all three boys as assistants. It's rare for all three of them to help me, but all the girls were still sleeping/reading downstairs and the boys needed something to do. As we were baking the following conversation ensued...

After we added the yeast Conrad starting chanting: 

 "Come on, fart yeast, fart!"

Orson of course joined in and then I hear Walter saying: 

"Fawrt! Fawrt!"

After laughing, I explained to them that the yeast isn't farting, it's just breathing out and that's what causes the bread to rise. Conrad looks at me and asks, "Then, am I eating living things?" 

"Well, they're living. But once we bake the bread they die from the heat," I explained. 

Orson then pipes up, "Wait, you wake them up and feed them just to kill them in the oven? Do you at least warn them they're about to die!?!" 

Oh boys! You are hilarious! Thanks for making Sunday morning bread such an exciting time. 

Did I mention that our baby is also a boy!?! It seems we only parent in eras. First we had our girl parent era, now our big girls and little boys era. Someday all the girl will be grown and we'll be firmly boy parents. Here's to loving and enjoying each and every stage! 

Candy, Candy is What Bwings Us Together Today!

The kids thought up the BEST group costume this year! And if you know the Princess Bride, you'll know how awesome it turned out. Most of the credit for the costumes goes to Eliza who used what we had around the house to put together their outfits.

Walter - ROUS, Eliza - Inigo Montoya, Conrad - Prince Humperkink, Lenora - The Priest,
Hazel - Buttercup, Orson - Wesley

They also roped Olive and Ruby in to our costume so we could have more characters. 

Olive - Fezzik the Giant, Ruby - Vizini

Walter made the cutest ROUS (Rodent of Unusual Size)

"Rodents of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist."

Of course they had to act out parts of the movie and take pictures...

"My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father- prepare to die."

"Mawige, mawige is wat bwings us togewer today."

These costumes will live on in family legends I'm sure! 

Even outside the epic costumes, we had tons of fun on Halloween this year. Lenora, Olive, and Ruby do a tumbling class together. They didn't want to wear their Princess Bride costumes for that, so they brought back the Sanderson sisters. So cute!

Halloween also fell on a Vanguard day, so the kids had tons of fun celebrating with friends. The moms all dressed up as M&Ms which was a blast. 

The older kids had a normal day (minus costumes), but the younger kids did some Halloween crafts and learned some songs. They performed for the teens at lunch. It was adorable because by the end of the last song everyone had joined in. I just love this group! And I love homeschool teens who make little kids feel so special by getting excited about their songs. 

After school we carved pumpkins. Walter LOVED it (because fire was involved!)

Walter was also in heaven when he figured out the purpose of this holiday - going door to door and getting candy! What could be better!?!

While the little kids had Olive and Ruby join them for trick-or-treating, Hazel and Eliza invited the Vanguard youth over for a fire and fun. They played a few night games at the school, then sat around the fire doing all manner of silliness and having a blast. 

A super fun day, followed by a perfect evening. Yay for Halloween! 

October Fun

This year the weather stayed SO nice well in to October. We loved getting outside and enjoying the fall colors, plus a ton of other things.

The kids are LOVING Vanguard (our new homeschool group) so much! It's been a great challenge for the two oldest girls, and so much fun and learning for everyone. In addition to core classes, the older girls are doing a world conflicts class, photography, sewing, and public speaking. The little boys have a cooking class once a month and it's been a huge hit! 

My dad volunteers with a railroad club to help run this small train in the park a few times a year. He's done this for a while, but the younger kids and I finally made it up to ride his train. We got to be the test riders and the kids got to help him a bit on the track. 

Fall Forest School is always the best. The girls also hosted a book club up the canyon on the most perfect day. The wind was blowing leaves from the trees, but it was warm and so sunny. 

Matching bed heads 

Hazel and Eliza helped with a car wash to earn money for girl's camp. Eliza in the wobbly man suit was priceless! 

Eliza has been taking aerial silks this fall and loving it! With all her strength from gymnastics, she's been able to pick it up quickly and has already moved up to the intermediate class. She had her first show, and we loved watching her! 

We enjoyed a Vanguard field trip to the fall festival. This one had all sorts of carnival rides which was really fun, since most of the kids have never been to a carnival. 

The big kids ran off with friends, so I spent most of the morning with Walter. He loved the mini Ferris-wheel and the corn pit! 

Hazel, Eliza, and I worked concessions at several BYU football games to earn money for their choir tour this summer. They're long, exhausting shifts, but it's also lots of fun. 

After working one game from 11am-6pm, these two still found the energy to go to a friends mascarade ball party. 

Eliza celebrated Ember's first birthday with a nice sun-bath on the front porch (complete with a candle). She also made her several Halloween costumes. The first was a crocheted frog costume which Ember refused to wear, so she made her dragon wings. 

One night during dinner clean up, Hazel plopped Walter on her shoulders where he proceeded to "help" her by tugging her hair. It reminded us SO much of Ratatouille.

Another evening these four turned in to "Nerds." (As in the Nerds candy which they said they resembled). They then proceeded to have Nerd Battles. Crazies! 

A huge highlight of the month for Michael was hunting! He finally drew a tag and was so excited to try for a buck. It was a busy week juggling huntings and work, but he spent as much time up the mountain as he could. He enjoyed snow camping, huge hikes, beautiful views, and hanging out with his friend Matt. Sadly, they didn't have any luck finding bucks. There were just too many people (and the area is fairly close to town so many of the deer had moved down). It was a great learning experience though and lots of fun! 

While Michael was off hunting, Gabby and I met one evening for a campfire dinner. I'd been to this area before and thought it was beautiful. But, I didn't realize the fire pits in an area with only super dry dirt (and no cement pads around them). We had a blast, but the kids were FILTHY! 

My little Grub

One Sunday before church we went on a walk/hike to burn off some energy. I snapped this picture and love it so much. It just sums up little boys so well.