October!
It's already the end of the month. Here's what we were up to:
Cross-Country
This was our family's past time for the month of October. Kameron was running for his middle school and we really enjoyed going to the meets and watching him run. He thoroughly enjoyed this season of cross-country. He loved his coach, teammates, and the whole experience. It was a great way to end his middle school XC career. He's had some pretty enthusiastic cheerleaders too.
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| They are enthusiastic little huggers of their favorite runner!! |
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| Typical day. You get home from practice and Mom's is your face with her IPhone because you are so darn cute!! |
Fall wouldn't be Fall without a couple of trips to Greenbluff for pumpkins, donuts, and all kinds of fun. One weekend Elle was staying with us, so we thought it would be the perfect time to head on up. The kids (and Tyler) were dreaming of Hot Pumpkin Donuts!! Tyler and Kameron stood in line and waited for nearly an hour and a half for them and they STILL said that it was worth it. It would not have been for me!! Kameron bought his own bag and snarfed his dozen down in record time. The sugar buzz made for some wild pumpkin picking!!
Kameron was a great sport and fueled by donuts; dragged those girls all over in the wagon.
Photo bomb by Kam #1
Photo bomb by Kam #2...You gotta love 13 year old boys!!
By the end of the outing there were four crazy, hyper kids!! But like I said on Instagram... (Instagram has pretty much taken over my blogging)...Tyler bought all those donuts and stuffed the kids full of them. On a side note...doesn't he have the most startling blue eyes? Even in a weird picture those blue eyes shine through. Guess how many of my kids have inherited those beautiful blue eyes? Nary a one!! Sad. Let's hope for red-haired and blue-eyed grandkids!!
Reilly had to work that weekend and wasn't able to go with us. She ended up going later with Justin. She gave him the whole Johnson Greenbluff experience. The poor kid hadn't picked a pumpkin in years.
Sunday Drives
While the weather is nice, we have been channeling my Grandma and Grandpa McKinnon, who used to love to go for Sunday drives out in the country, and we have been doing it ourselves. We live in such a beautiful place and autumn just kicks it up a notch. On one particular drive, Tyler took me to see a dam that he inspects and that he had been working at that week.
So pretty!!
I am dreading the arrival of winter as usual. I hate being cooped up indoors and so I am trying to be out and about as much as possible in the great outdoors before we are undoubtedly snowed in. Snow makes me feel completely claustrophobic. I know. Add it to the long and lengthy list.
Going to Church
This month has been a month of a million and two EXTRA meetings. This is us at one. It was late and the meeting was LONG. On another note...Reilly's boyfriend has been coming to church with us every week, attending mutual, and going to all kinds of extra meetings, and service projects too. That has been a lot of fun for our whole family. Have I mentioned that he is really a great kid?
Stolen from Reilly's Instagram account. I know...the cheese is a little overwhelming at times. Such is teenage love.
Can I just say that the mere fact that Tyler likes this kid is a miracle from God. Seriously. Tyler has thoroughly loathed everyone Reilly has even thought about liking. This is a far cry from last year when the boy that Reilly liked said this to her:
Boy: I think your dad hates me.
Reilly: Why?
Boy: Because he is always glaring at me.
Reilly: I don't think he is glaring at you. That's just his face.
Boy: No, he's glaring at me.
Later:
Reilly: "Insert name" thinks you hate him.
Tyler: Why?
Reilly: He says you are always glaring at him.
Tyler: I am.
Me: You are seriously glaring at this kid?
Tyler: Correct
Reilly: He thinks you hate him.
Tyler: That would also be correct.
See how far we have come? Given that Tyler smiles, laughs, and actually allows Justin to hang out here is pretty darn miraculous and Ailey and Bryn have hope for the future.
Kindergarten Field Trip
Oh yes... we returned again. Tyler and I were chaperones on the Kindergarten field trip to Greenbluff. It worked out pretty well in that one of us had Bryn, and one of us had Elle, and we also kept tabs on another crazy kid. It was freezing cold, rainy, and pretty much thoroughly miserable but these two cuties made it worth it.
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| Lunch time |
Chivalry isn't dead...even in Kindergarten.
After 4 kids and including preschool and Kindergarten field trips... I was on Greenbluff field trip #7 and Tyler was on Greenbluff field trip #2. Even we were Greenbluffed out that day!! We pass the field trip torch on...
The Dentist
I am smiling because all four kids were cavity free. (Thank goodness our appt was PRIOR to Halloween) Reilly is smiling because she was told that from now on if she has a cavity she pays what our insurance doesn't herself and, lucky for her, she was in the clear. By nearly 18 years old you should be able to brush, floss, and take care of your teeth right?
Costume Choosing
Again Kameron refused to be Charlie Bucket for Halloween much to my great dismay. When his hair is in need of a haircut he really is Charlie Bucket's twin. It took much coercion, bribery, and some threatenings but I was allowed one photo. Was I right or what? Kameron is so rapidly growing and changing into a man-boy that I fear that his Charlie Bucket days are numbered. So with a borrowed turtleneck and DVD proof...he relented. He would like the record to state that he is EXAGGERATING his Charlie Bucketness for his mother's amusement. :)
Pumpkins Were Carved
This year I came up with the scathingly brilliant idea of having the kids carve their pumpkins out on the deck after school and thus eliminating the pumpkin mess in my house. Brilliance!! That fact that it has taken me until my oldest was nearly 18 years old to come up with this idea is sad. The kids loved the pumpkin carving/hot chocolate party. A new tradition is born.
Onto Halloween...
