October in a Nutshell

Food Coloring does NOT come out easily.  We like to make our food fun when daddy is out of town.  He was gone lots this month.  He went to Career Conference in Orlando, Florida for 3 days and then did a week in Peru again.  We miss daddy when he's gone.  :(  Playing single mom is hard.

Home Depot activities are the best.  They made firetrucks.

I made breakfast casserole, sweet rolls, and a relish tray for General Conference.  We also did listening treats for the kids.  If they heard one the key words they got to pick a treat out of that bowl.  They had to be good listeners to get treats.  It helps.  Conference was amazing.  There was a lot I needed to hear.... like stop thinking about how amazing my life will be when this or that happens - Enjoy the Journey right now.  I can find something to be thankful about in every situation. Wow!  There were so many good talks.

We had lots of fun at Tolmachoff Farms Pumpkin Patch!

Did you notice anything fishy about this picture?

 

We spent a good portion of this month with at least someone being sick.  I felt so bad because the kids had their fall break and we had so many fun things planned but Brooke got sick with Fifth's Disease and we just had to stay home.  Fifth's Disease is similar to chicken pox.  She had this crazy rash that came with it.  Later, when daddy came back from Peru, he got sick with stomach issues.  Brooke caught strep throat and had Croup at the same time mid-October.  Then Ty got Croup ... and to finish the month off Craig and I caught a HORRIBLE virus/ headcold/ flu.  Boo!!  I hate being sick and having sick kids.  

Brookie date to Nothing Bundt Cakes to get a free Bundlet.  So YUMMY!!

Talking to daddy in Peru while we eat lunch. Ty is the only person alive that loves canned peas.  

Skype isn't quite the same as having him here but we'll take it.  

 This girl LOVES to swing.  We like to stop at the park on the way home school.

Hey, I just cleaned that room.  Ty is really good at making messes.

Aunt Katie had some time off of work and came to visit us.  We LOVED having her here.  She came with us for walk to school day.  It also happened to be Olympian day of spirit week for school.  I love Brooke's expression as Jace tries to snatch her gold medal.  She's full of sass.  She was an Olympic Gymnast.  Jace put on a medal for a picture only.  He's too old and too cool to dress up for stuff anymore.  Sad :(  

Katie did lots of special time with Brookie who soaked it all up.  She brought all of us presents.  Jace got The Avengers movie, Brooke got Anastasia, Ty got a cute new outfit, and she even got me a $25 gift certificate and offered to babysit while I spent it.  What a sweetheart!  How weird am I - I'm going to use it to rent a Rugmaster to deep clean my carpets ... and I'm SO excited about it.  Thanks Katie!!

Girls day doing manicures/pedicures, watching Anastasia, and hitting up Yogurtology.

 We take all of our visitors on a Cerretas Chocolate Factory Tour.  You can't go wrong with free samples.

 On Friday's Oakwood does 50 cent snow cones for sale after school. Jace has been begging me for weeks so I finally remembered.  Look who lost another tooth at school.  He looks like a cute little homeless person with that toothless smile. :)  Ty turned into a snow cone addict after the first taste.

 Bye Aunt Katie.  We loved having you here.  Come visit us again!

 My little cuties did great in the Primary Program at church.  Brooke looked like an Angel and sang her little heart out.  Jace made faces at us and didn't sing but he looked cute.

Nani and Grandpa drove in to see us the day before Katie left.  They took us out to Sweet Tomatoes.  Yum!  They got to be here for the Primary Program and for Jace's soccer practice.  We love visitors!!

 This cracked me up.  I put away the kid's tents in the toy room because they never really  played in them.  They were just collecting junk and Ty started getting into all their things so I took them down, washed them, and put them away.  I went through all the toys and got the Toy room organized.  When Jace got home from school he was sad that he didn't have a space of his own anymore so he took over one of the kids tables in there and put a "private"sign on it.  lol.  He's so funny.  He loves collecting things and has a special drawer full of his 'stuff'.

Brooke in the Dr. office with news that she had Strep throat & croup and would not be able to participate in our wards trunk or treat.  That's like the worst new ever for a kid.  :(

Ty loves to pick his nose.  That pointer finger fits perfectly in his nostril and he's so excited that he discovered it.  He has finger up there all there all the time now.

Family night pumpkin carving.  I was totally going  to forget about the pumpkin carving on purpose this year but two days before Halloween Brooke asked about it. She cried to me about how it was her favorite part of Halloween ... maybe even more than trick or treating.  What!?! That's crazy .. how could that be.  So we carved pumpkins ... correction, I carved pumpkins.  I had the kids draw a design on a piece of paper then I used that as the template so they really are their designs.  :)