A playground for the Ratatouilles

Griff took these photo's with my phone so they are not the best.

  

Griffin and Caleigh (mostly Griff) put together this playhouse for Mouse and Crumbs(not pictured).  It is so cute how the rats play in it, they love it.  It amazes me that they will play in it for hrs without running away.  Griffin will just put them in it and go do his homework, and the rats will just play and explore.  

These rats have been a blessing to our home.  They are teaching my children responsibility and teamwork.  Twice a week Griff and Caleigh have to work together to get their cage cleaned and the rats bathed.  It's so nice to see them taking care of them and caring about their welfare.  

Pumpkin day, Parade, and trick-or-treating

On Halloween Elliot's class had Pumpkin Day.  It was a whole day dedicated to pumpkins.  We broke up in groups, then estimated how much our pumpkin weighed, how many seeds were inside, how wide it was, if it would float, and then finally we cut it open and counted the seeds.  It was a fun day.  But I think everyone's favorite part was tasting pumpkin pie!  Then the kids all headed over for the Julia Morgan Halloween parade...

That night we went trick or treating with Mrs. Swehla-Garcia (Elliot's teacher) and her son Daniel (who is in Griffin's class and his best bud).  Their friends always put together a Star Wars Haunted House.  It's not really Haunted or scary it's mostly just super cool with all the Star Wars characters.  I think Miles and Caleigh were the only ones not to go through...maybe next year.

 

 Happy Halloween 2012

Laura and Kid's big October trip to Boise

With a week still off of school the kids and I headed to Boise.  The kids were great, they kept themselves entertained.  Miles and Caleigh were great front seat helpers, and we had almost no drama.  

The kids kept busy in their own ways.  Miles had fun texting Gpa.  Gpa would ask the kids to look for landmarks then Miles would take a picture of them and text it to Gpa.  How fun!  There is not much between Reno and Boise, but Gpa made the trip exciting.  

A few weeks before our trip Griffin and I had a conversation about Disney movies.  Apparently he has not seen many of the classics (Dumbo, Pinoccio, Pete's Dragon, etc...) but his way of telling me was, "you wouldn't let me see them."  Like I was punishing him, or keeping him from seeing them!  What?!  It was funny to all of us and it became our big joke, "everyone can watch this movie, but Griffin, he's not allowed."  So when we got to Mom's she had a whole pile of movies for Griffin to see.  He set himself up (yep those dolls were all Griff) and started watching... 

We had so much fun seeing family, hitting the discovery center of Idaho to see cadavers, laughing, playing, and general mayhem.   

We had dinner one night with Gma and Gpa Peterson.  The kids each got a box of "boogers" a gummy candy treat.  Elliot didn't care for hers, so she tried to give it back to Gpa Tom the next day when he picked the kids up for a Gpa Tom and kid play date.  We all laughed.  She is so logical, I can just see her brain working, "well, I don't like these, but Gpa Tom and Gma Frankie bought them so they must like them, so I will give them back."  Ha ha ha.  Funny.

Another day we spent touring Uncle Chris's new firestation.  How cool is it to have an Uncle as a firefighter?  Almost as cool as having a Brother as a firefighter.  Chris gave us the grand tour.  The kids got hats, toured the truck, tried on the equipment, and met the crew.  It was so fun for all of us.  Thanks Big Bro!

The last day in Boise we celebrated my Dad and Sam's birthday.  These guys are two of the best men I know.  Sam is the oldest grand-kid in our family and he is just the best example ever.  

We started off the day with a tour of the recently remolded Boise, ID temple.  What a great experience to walk through with my family and children.  I was 8 or 9 when the temple was first built and dedicated and I had walked through then, but now I was able to walk through it again with my children.  How cool!  

Then we headed back for cake and ice cream and yummy food.

Finally, we all got ready to trunk-or-treat at the Firebird Raceway.  The kids scored so much candy it was unreal.  And we got to see some cool races too!  Next time I'm bringing earplugs for all of us though.  

 It is so nice to be so close to family.  A 10 hr. drive is so worth it to see my kids playing with cousins and spending time with our family.  

On the way home we had a great time talking about all the memories we had just made, and the kids wanted to know all about temple marriages, and how Mike and I met.  I love these precious conversations and road trips are the best places to have them.  Can't wait for the next one!

UT Petersons come to Cali

 In October we got a visit from Matt, Shannon, Carter, and Ashlynn.  We love when we can get together.  The kids have a great time, and we always have so much fun.  It was a quick trip but we squeezed in Six Flags.  My kids were no comparison to Carter and Ash's bravery when it came to rides.  Griff got sick and Miles refused to go on most rides.  Maybe next year?  Maybe it could be because we made them do Superman ride first?  I thought if they got a big one out of the way first then they would go on everything.  Not so much.

But we still had a great time.  We ran from ride to ride, watched a dolphin show (note to self...the front row people get wet, don't sit there next time), and watched an elephant show.

Our little Elliot loves elephants.  Her stuffed elephant is a constant bedtime companion.  Mike was worried seeing an actual elephant might disillusion her, but she loved the show.  Meet Valerie and African Elephant.  So Cute! 

Elli and all of us got to pet this big girl.  What a fun thing.  And what a fun visit.  Can't wait to see the UT Petersons again.

NFL Flag Football

We love this sport!

Miles and Griff have been playing flag football for the past several months.  This session just ended but a new one begins again next week.  We have been having the best time watching these two boys learn this sport.  They are in different leagues so Griffin is the oldest one on his team, and Miles is one of the youngest.  Which means Griff plays alot and Miles doesn't play quite as much.  Griff usually plays center, or QB when needed.  His last game he scored 4 touchdowns and 1 2-point conversion.  It was Awesome!  Miles is on a full 10 player team and has been put on defense.  He is getting so good at pulling those flags!  At first he just loved being out there and running around, but now he is really getting into it and diving if necessary to try and pull a flag.

 Miles in white shorts above, and Griff in red shorts below.  This game Griff got to play QB for the first time.  Way to go boys!

I missed out on Miles team photos, but here's our Griff.  He is on the Titans, and Miles is playing for the Chargers.   

We can't wait for next session to start.

Movie Night

We are enjoying Julia Morgan Elementary school.  The kids love their teachers, their making new friends, and JM has some great activities.  One of them is Movie night.  They showed "Pirates:band of misfits" which was very funny.  The kids loved sitting with friends and enjoying the movie.  

a few tidbits

Our neighborhood park is so fun except... when you swing from the monkey bars and hit your shin on the stairs on the way down.  Ouch!  Poor Griffin, he's shins are always getting hurt.  This one landed him in the doctors office just to double check that it wasn't broken.  It wasn't.  

Also the boys are proud of their "Future Missionary" tags from Brother Street.  Brother Street has them made for all young boys in the Creekside ward.  Griffin and Miles both wear theirs proudly each week.  What a great reminder to them about their goals to serve missions someday.  

Ending the summer

Just because school had started doesn't mean we couldn't finish up summer with some pool days.  We are so fortunate to have a neighborhood pool.  If only the life guards weren't so strict we would  really love it.  Darn safety rules.