Happy Halloween

We are enjoying all the parties and events this October and finally carved the pumpkin for FHE. We went to the library Spook Story this week and already started our collection of candy.

Life

Last night McKee stopped by and we haven't seen him in months. He was filling us in on things and then asked me what I have been up to. I laughed and just said "life". He quickly came back with a serious, "that is the best, just regular life." I thought about things this morning as I was going through the regular tasks of my life and how happy I am to have the life I do. This lovely mess was left this morning after getting everyone fed and off to school. I rode the bike for a while this morning and came in to have a tea party with Lyla before finishing up the cleaning of the mess. We will probably play cars at some point this morning, clean the bathrooms, think about putting away the laundry I folded two days ago, eat lunch, go to the park with friends, pick the kids up from school, stop a few fights, force the kids to practice piano, do homework, make dinner, clean up dinner, play Daddy The Monster, get ready for bed, watch Lost with Phil and go to bed. I have a fantastic life. Not too exciting to tell others about, but it is happy and I really enjoy the people I get to spend most of my time with.

FHE

So Phil is a big believer in doing fun stuff for FHE and the kids love it and the kids love to capture the fun with the camera. Here are some of the pictures of the kids.
Monday night we made donuts and the kids loved eating them. They tasted great that night, but didn't fair as well the next day. Does anyone know the secret to making them last longer?

They do look pretty though. A few weeks ago we got out the big ball for the kids to play on before we made waffle cones for ice cream. Lyla needs a little more help on the ball than Miya and Cannon do, but she thinks she is pretty big.

Miya and Lyla got dressed up in their new clothes from Bangladesh from Aunt Andra. I just had to put this one in because they look so pretty.

Cannon can get on the ball by himself and balance until we start kicking the ball out from under him.

Miya can do it as well.

Last night Phil was outside playing with the kids while I finished dinner. Once I had dished everyone up a plate I called outside for them to come in. I waited and waited and finally, mad, I just started to eat my dinner without everyone else. Miya came in to tell me that Cannon had invited the neighbor girl over for dinner (she is our babysitter) and they were waiting for her. Phil came in and asked for another plate. I really don't know why, but the whole thing bothered me. I felt like no one appreciated the work I had put into dinner and then just to invite someone over without checking to see if I had made enough food.

We sat down to dinner and we were all talking (me trying to force myself into a better mood) and the girls said that her dad was still out with her younger sister and her mom is currently deployed. She raved about how good dinner was and couldn't believe I had made it from scratch. Meanwhile, my kids are questioning how many bites they have to eat to be done. While I was cleaning up the dishes Phil went outside with the kids and started playing volleyball with the neighbor girl. I had an overwhelming feeling of guilt knowing that I should know better and not get so upset about dinner when having his girl over meant so much more.

By the end of the night I was able to feel so appreciative that I get to stay home with my kids and make them dinner each night. That I have a husband who makes time to sit with us at the table and talk about the day we all had. Elder Uchtdorf said in conference this last weekend that love in a family is really spelled T I M E and I realized tonight from Phil inviting this young girl over that I don't appreciate all the time we do have together. Plus it was really nice having someone rave over my sweet and sour chicken.

Chainsaw

The sun was out last week and it was warm while Phil was in Portland so I decided to take out the chainsaw and do a little pruning. The first picture was taken almost 2 years ago, but I couldn't find another picture of the front of the house. Anyway we had two LARGE Camellia bushes out front that were very Alice-in-Wonderlandish so I cut them down.

All the other bushes have been forced to grow in directions over the last 10 years we will have to correct by staking and tying them down, but it does show a lot more of the house. I love fall weather when you can be outside working and cleaning up the yard.