Star of the Week

Connor is the "Star of the Week" in his kindergarten class this week!  He was so excited to come home on Friday with this poster to fill out.

He wants to be a chemist when he grows up.  His "likes" include snakes, snake books, baby chicks, dinosaurs, legos, and his favorite website "Pebble Go."  His dislikes include enchiladas, fire ants, flu shots, carrots, and bananas.  His 3 Wishes are to see his grandmas and grandpas, have his very own lego set, and visit China.

 You know your kids are well-versed in Dr. Seuss when they bring you this and say "Look Mommy!  I made a whisper-ma-phone!"  (The Lorax)

Savannah's 2nd Grade Field Trip

Savannah's 2nd Grade Field Trip was on Friday.  My awesome visiting teacher watched Landon for the day so that I could go with her.  Other than a couple of the buses not showing up and the kids getting there an hour late it was great!  Savannah didn't mind though.  She said they got to play tag on the front lawn of the school.

We went to the Elgin Christmas Tree Farm.  During the fall they have all kinds of pumpkin-themed stuff for the kids to do.  

 They learned about how a pumpkin grows from just a seed.

 We went on a wagon ride through the farm.

 Savannah and one of her best friends in her class, Audrey.

 After lunch Savannah decided to be "queen of the haystack."

 She's not very adventurous, but after some coaxing I convinced her to jump off.  And she loved it.

 We saw a bunch of animals, including Larry the Llama.

 The kids got to pick out little pumpkins to decorate.  Savannah chose the tiniest one she could find, and it actually looked more like a tangerine than a pumpkin.

I had to leave a few minutes early, but Savannah said one of her favorite parts was at the end when they ran through the "Crazy Maze."

Halloween 2012

We did our annual pumpkin painting on Monday night.  I forgot to take the camera to the pumpkin patch after school.  Landon calls pumpkins "apples," and it was so cute watching him run all around shouting "Apples!  Apples!  Apples!"  Connor and Savannah both chose small pumpkins this year.  Landon was very adamant about which pumpkin he wanted, and he carried it around for two days solid.  He tried to sleep with it too, but Dallin convinced him to leave it his dresser.  This is the only picture I got of Connor because he had a big meltdown when the paint from one snake dripped onto the other snake he was painting.  I could tell he was tired so I just put him to bed.

 Jacob painted Ninjago guys all over his pumpkin.

 I knew Landon would be really upset if he wasn't allowed to carry his pumpkin all around anymore, but I didn't want a painted pumpkin all over the couch and carpet.  I gave him a bowl of water and he was perfectly happy to paint with water.  It was a lot less mess anyway!

 Lucky too for Dallin that it was only water...

 Zach specifically chose a "warty" pumpkin because he wanted to make a witch.

 

 Landon and his "apple" right before bed

 Halloween night we went trick-or-treating on our loop in our neighborhood.  Landon was so cute.  He ran straight up to each door and immediately grabbed the bowl the person was holding, pulled it down, and chose out a piece of candy.  Then "tank you!" and he'd run back to me and drop it in his bag and take off running for the next house.  He did great until we were about 3/4 done and then asked me to hold him in between each house.  I was impressed with his stamina because many of the houses in our neighborhood have sloped driveways and stairs up to their porches.

 Just as we left to begin the kids saw their friends down the street and we ran up to join them.  We spent the rest of the evening with them and had one of Jacob's friends join us about halfway around too.

Happy Halloween!

Connor's First Field Trip

Connor's class had their first field trip a few weeks ago.  They walked to the fire station near our house.  Connor has already been there a few times, but this time was exciting because it was for "real schoool!"  I was supposed to go along to help, but Landon was sick so I had to stay home.  A friend took a few pictures for me though.  This is Connor and his buddy from down the street, who is also in his class.

 We've never gotten to spray the hose before!

 Connor with most of his class.

The Life of Landon

So often I look at Landon and wonder what he would have been like had he been born as the first child instead of the last.  I think having older brother and sisters has defined him so that I can't really picture what he would be like, except maybe really bored.  When they get home from school you'd think it's Christmas, every single day.  I know they love how excited he gets when he sees them.  Landon's new favorite activity is playing "big kid" legos with all of his siblings.  (Jacob is still the favorite though if he has a choice.)  Jacob pulls out the lego drawer and the kids all go to town.  Sometimes there is fighting, but it's not a perfect world.  Landon mostly just likes collecting his favorite pieces out of the bin since he doesn't really know how to build with them yet.  

 

 Landon has gone to visit the kids and help at the school since he was a month old.  Most of the staff and teachers know him, so it will be fun when he actually starts kindergarten.  A couple of days ago we made a special visit to see Connor.  We went to recess with him and then ate lunch with him.  Connor had the biggest smile on his face the whole time, so I need to make more of an effort while he still wants me there.  Landon just thought he was one of the big kids.

 

 When we were sitting by the kindergartners Landon would take a bite, then stuff his fingers in his ears.  This coming from the child who screams for the fun of hearing how loud he can get...it was THAT loud.

Luckily this year all of the kids' lunches overlap.  Just before Connor's lunchtime finished we went over and sat with Savannah for a while.  She still likes to have us there too.  When Zach came in we sat by him for about 2 minutes, and after having gotten about 2 words out of him in those 2 minutes we decided to go home so Landon could take a nap.

Trunk-or-Treat

On Friday night we had our church Trunk-or-Treat.  It ended up being pretty chilly that day (high in the 50's with lots of cold wind) so the party got moved indoors.  But we went out at the very end for some trunk-or-treating in the cold.  Landon was not too excited about wearing his costume until everyone started saying "Oh Landon, you're a cute Scooby-Doo!"  Once he saw that people knew he was "Doo" then he was okay with the costume.  Savannah was Barbie and Connor was a fireman. 

Landon had no clue what was going on, but once we got outside I told him to say "treat" at the first car and he caught on real quick.  "Treat!" and then "Oh tank You!!!"

 

 Jacob was Obi-Wan Kenobi and Zach was a Hogarts Wizard from Ravenclaw (from the Harry Potter books).

 

 All of the kids love passing out candy almost as much as getting it.

I hate spending money on costumes, so I was really excited about finding their costumes for good deals this year.  I got Landon's costume last year on clearance after Halloween for $2, and he just happened to start loving Scooby Doo a couple of months ago.  Jacob's & Connor's costumes I got at yard sales for $2 each, in almost perfect condition (I LOVE yard sales in Texas!!!).  Savannah's & Zach's costumes came from second-hand stores for $5.

Dinosaur Exhibit

This past Saturday Dallin and Connor had a special outing together.  Connor loves learning about dinosaurs lately, and there was a traveling fossil exhibit that came to the high school down the street.  Connor enjoyed seeing all the "bones," but especially liked that he got to do something fun alone with Daddy.

 

 

 

Around the house...

Here are some random happenings around the house in October.

Landon enjoyed getting the house decorated for Halloween.

 Connor and Savannah built themselves a "fort" in the playroom one day.  Connor is always so happy to be included in anything the older kids are doing.

 Landon likes to build towers, with anything and everything.  He built this tower with the toy buckets, and right after this picture it fell over, buckets opened, and it made a ginormous mess.

 Landon idolizes Jacob.  Whenever Jacob is sitting down Landon is immediately right there next to him.  He loves to "talk" to Jacob because Jacob is so sweet about responding to him, even though you can only understand about 15% of what he is saying.  It is nice that they have such a good relationship because Jacob is getting to the point where he can babysit, and Landon totally loves that.

Like I said, Landon always wants to be right next to Jacob and involved in whatever he is doing.

 

 Savannah's hair is finally getting long enough to do some fun stuff to again.  I'm so happy because one of her good friends at school always has her hair braided and Savannah has decided that she likes me to fix her hair cute again sometimes.  Yay for me!