Which Smurf are you?

Elliot is definitely "Vanity Smurf."  It is not uncommon to find her in the bathroom looking at herself in a mirror.  And when I take her clothes shopping with me, as long as there is a mirror close by she can occupy herself for a long time.  This particular night she wouldn't eat her carrots until she discovered they could double as lipstick when dipped in ranch dressing.  So of course... she had to grab the mirror!  

I'm not complaining, she ate all of her carrots.

Snow, No Problem

Since winter decided to start early this year, our fall sports were interrupted.  Which meant soccer practice still happened in the snow.  Well, at least for the other teams.  We showed up for practice, and our coach didn't.  But Griffin and the few players that did show up practiced for a half an hour then we called it quits.   We are sooo dedicated.    

October Fun

October flew by (like witches in the air).  We were busy with our usually routines, but enjoyed some Halloween fun.  The kids had a special costume cartoon club.  They dressed up, then drew each other in their costumes.  They have such a great time, we look forward to this every month.  It helps that the all have great friends in the club, except Griffin who is the youngest member.  

And of course the ward trunk-or-treat was very fun.  Our ward was recently combined with the other ward that attends our building.  So we are now members of the Somersworth ward, instead of the Rochester ward.  This was the first activity with the new ward.  The gym was packed with all of us.   It will take us a little while to get used to a big ward again.

 
Mother Nature threw in a trick of her own.  It snowed 8 in The Saturday before Halloween.  So we had snow for trick or treating.  The kids bundled up in the winter coats and snow boots and had a great time.    Caleigh even build us a trick-or-treating snowman (he has melted before I could get a picture, but he was so cute.)

Quilting Queens!

This young women's project has changed my life!  Seriously I hardly ever touched my sewing machine before we started our quilts, but now I am sewing 2 to 3 times a week.  I have never quilted before (not really) and Mary had not either, so we decided to learn and teach the girls along the way.  Mary found these great pattern that was so easy and we took the girls fabric shopping.  It was so much fun!  We all learned the basics for machine quilting, and I hope the girls will do it again and again, like I have been doing.

Soccer 2011

I have thoroughly enjoyed soccer season this year.  Mostly because Griff is the only one playing, so our schedule isn't too crazy but, I also love his team.  He is the only boy, and he feels like a superstar.  The girls on his team are great but somehow Griff always ends up with the ball.  The other 3 teams in his league are filled with boys and their team usually looses, but they are all learning so much and Griff has improved so much.  I hope he continues to play in the future, I love watching him.  I think he'll always look back at the year with the girls and remember it fondly.

Uh Oh, Spagetti-O

Of course I let Elliot play with my stamps.  I totally trust her.  She's almost 5 after all.  That is until I saw this...

Elliot is no longer allowed to play with stamps unsupervised.  She'll grow out of this right?  

Preschool Bound

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Okay, I might have gone a little overboard with the photos, but it was Elliot's FIRST day of preschool!!!

She has been looking forward to this day for weeks.  The preschool is through our towns Park and Rec department.  There are only 4 other kids in the class, including her friend Dallin Hunting.

We are looking forward to a fun year!

This collage has one of Elliot's classic looks (top left hand corner)  She is so funny.  Bottom left she is screaming, "preschool, yea!"

 

Projects

Now that I've lost 3 kids to school, I have a little time to do some projects.  My sewing machine is getting some good use, and I'm trying to tackle some projects that I've been wanting to do for a while.

 Like finishing this quilt.  I found this adorable hedgehog fabric a while ago and I just waited to find the right quilt pattern.  This one seems to fit it perfectly.  It's only a toddler size but it's the perfect blanket for my living room for extra kids to use.  Now my kids can't say, "that my blanket" to their friends.

My craft cabinet has been a growing mess for a while, and I hated how I couldn't find anything.  After a day of de-junking and putting things where there supposed to go I was able to buy some storage containers and put it all back organized.

It makes me so happy to grab what I need.  Now I have to tackle my coat closet...

School, Summer, repeat....

It's already that time for back to school.  Summers fly by when there only 2 months long.  Luckily we were able to make the most of them, and the kids love school so...

Have a great year Miles, Caleigh and Griff!!  The kids are proud of their back to school shirts.  They picked them out themselves.

13th Anniversary and counting...

On the 22nd, Mike and I celebrated our 13th Anniversary.  Mary generously offered to watch our kids for as long as we liked ( I know, she's the best right!) while we hit the town for lunch and a movie.  It might sound boring to some but Mike and I love to go to movies together and we never get to anymore.

We ate lunch in downtown Dover, at Kelley's Row an Irish pub and Restaurant.  For you fellow foodies out there we dined on fried pickle chips, lobster clam chowda, and an open faced turkey sandwich.  Yum...  (Thanks for the suggestion Brother Kane, we'll  be hitting this place again, especially when family is in town.) 

Since I got to pick the restaurant, Mike picked the movie.  No surprise, we saw Capt. America.  I was assured there would at least be kissing, but for the most part it was a pretty good action flick.  It was just fun to be out of the house, and spending time with Mickey.  I love hanging out with Mike laughing, venting, reminiscing, and talking about all the worlds problems.  Love you Mike.  

Don't you think Capt. America looks kinda like Mike, just not as cute?  I know right?  That's why I married him.

Final days of Summer

 We are counting down for school to start on the 30th, but until then we are trying to make the most of our summer.

Most of our days are lazy, with plenty of play time with friends in the neighborhood, but we've fit in a few activities.

 One was a hike with the boy scouts and activity days girls.  One of the great things about NH is there is no shortage of good hiking trails.  We hiked Blue Jay mountain (I think that's what it's name was).  It was a pretty good hike, not too long.  At the top is a cell phone tower and a fire lookout.  The kids loved climbing up it when we stopped for lunch.

 Hello down there......

And Tuesday we lived it up at Water Country a awesome water park.  It brought back my days of playing at Roaring Springs in Idaho.  The kids aren't really thrill seekers right now, so we only hit a few big slides.  Most of our time was spent in one of the 3 kiddie areas, or the lazy river.  The two pools were a big hit too.  We went with our friends the Huntings and the kids had so much fun.  Elliot surprised me when she volunteered for the "mat slide" a pretty impressive slide, that requires you to lay on a mat.  She didn't even blink an eye when I held your mat at at the top and told her to lay on her tummy.  She laughed the whole way down and asked to do it again.  She never got to, they switched life guards between turns and the second LG claimed she was too short.  Oh well, we snuck one in.   

Now it's back to lazy days till school starts... 3, 2, 1.   

Standing in Holy Places

I'm so thankful for our ward's tradition to take a field trip to the Temple every year.  The kids look forward to it and always have a great time.  I love to see them all dressed up walking around the Temple grounds.  It was a beautiful day not too hot, but the sun was still shining.  We had a great picnic in the shade after we walked around.  I always use the opportunity to take some photos of the kids, we got a few extra kids in a few of the shots.  

 Ooops we got an Oliver in our photo, good thing he's pretty cute.

 Can't believe how big my "baby" is getting, Elliot is turning into a beauty, inside and out.

I'm so blessed to have these four little people in my life.  I'm grateful we get to spend eternity together.  They make Mike and I laugh, and they keep life interesting.

Nature

We had a visit from this little prince the other night.  We had just come home from the beach and Caleigh notice him sitting on a flower!  He looks big, but he was only about the size of my thumb.  He hopped off and stayed for a few photos.  

What a handsome Prince.  Too bad no one was brave enough to Kiss him.  But we did name him "Froggie."

Putting the Kid to work

Miles has no desire to work in the yard, but that didn't stop me from having him mow the lawn last Friday.  He did the whole front and side by himself (if me following him the whole time counts as "himself").  He felt so proud of himself when he was done.  Good Job Miles, we'll do it again soon!

I love this picture because it shows his little fan club in the background.  Miles always has a few kids waiting to play with him.  It makes for a great incentive to get him working.