Bryn's FHE Lesson

     Brinley had the lesson for Family Home Evening this week and as usual, she did a great job.  She shared a sweet article from The Friend magazine about a young girl who had some problems with her hips.  She had to be in a cast and then a brace for over two years. She had a positive attitude through the whole process and her parents were amazed because she never complained. It is short, and if you haven't read it yet, here is the link.
     Brinley then related the girl's positive attitude to our own lives.  What traits do we have that we like about ourselves?  She put every one's name on a lined notepad and after we wrote down a trait about ourselves, we passed the sheet around for other family members to write on.  (She had this activity in her G.T. class at school and really enjoyed it.) It took a little bit for the younger kids to "get" the activity, but what everyone actually wrote ended up being pretty cute.  I think the activity captured a little glimpse of our family in what was said and even who said what.

DAD
"He has a good family." from Dad
"He is awsome (sic)." Tanner
"Dad makes me laugh." Aubrey
"He is good with his hands." Parker
"Understands me." Mom

MOM
"Creative" from Mom
"Momma makes me feel hape (happy)." Aubrey
"I like your cooking." Bryn
"She is cool."  Tanner
"Takes care of her family." Dad
"She won't tell me her passcode. She is a good cook." Park
(He wants my phone passcode and I am holding strong.  He already takes random pictures at every chance he gets b/c you don't need the passcode to do that.  The turkey boy!)

BRINLEY (12 years old)
"I am good at sports." from Brinley
"Very kind to all people." Dad
"Let's me dance with her and listen to music with her." Aubrey
"You are a good big sister.  (kind and patient with your siblings.)" Mom
"She is coll (cool?)" Tanner
"She is intelligent." Parker

PARKER (10 years old)
Ummmmm, can't find his sheet?  I will have to ask him about it when he comes home from school!?  I must blog on b/c it is things like this that stop me for weeks!  On Sunday I was trying to add some new posts and pictures and it says I am out of storage???  So frustrating b/c again....I may never post a picture on this blog again.  How boring would that be!

*Update March 5, 2013...the little pink sheet we wrote these on turned up!  So here is Parker's official list.

"I am awsome!" Parker
"You are good at sports." Brinley
"Helpful outside." Dad
"He is good at football." Tanner
"Helps me with things." Aubrey
"I love when you give me hugs and neck rubs."

TANNER (8 years old)
"I like that I am good at sports." from Tanner
"You are good at remembering interesting facts." Mom
"Tanner plays with me even when he doesn't want to." Aub
"You are funny." Dad
"He is sharing." Parker
"You make me laugh." Brinley

AUBREY (5 1/2 years old)
"I make good friends." from Aubrey
"You love learning." Mom
"Prety" (sic) Parker
"You are good at art." Brinley
"Cute Smile." Dad
"Awsome" (sic) Tanner

Our Last Turkey Project

     Our kids have each had to do a family turkey project in Kindergarten.  They come home w/ a turkey drawing on a sheet and we are supposed to save "Tom the Turkey" by disguising him. Well, this is our final turkey project because we have our last little Kinderbear.
     At their school, they display all of the kids turkeys and they are AMAZING and really fun to look at.  We usually have so much going on with piano, homework, sports, church and four kids that we just try to get-er-done.  Honestly, the kindergartner is happy.  We are happy, and it's a fun little project.  Brinley disguised hers as Santa Claus.  Both boys went the football option and had him in a BYU jersey, helmet and cleats.  Aubrey chose a gymnast.  It was great because Brinley was available and willing to help Aubrey.  I got out a couple of bags of stuff (fabric, buttons, googly eyes etc....), and they went to town creating. 

Men in Uniform

Parker and Tanner both enjoy scouts.  It is cute to see them get their uniforms on each week.  (Well, does it count if they are still wearing shorts?)  They enjoy seeing their friends, working on projects and especially love it if I will take them 10 minutes early or pick them up late.  They want to use those extra minutes to play football or just mess around with the other scouts.

Carving Pumpkins for FHE

     It is a tradition for us to carve pumpkins a Monday or two before Halloween.  Brian and the kids create and carve.  I clean the seeds and roast them.  It is fun to all be in the kitchen busily working together.  
     This year Bryn and Aubrey worked on one pumpkin and the boys on the other.  It was cute listening to both groups plan out their jack-o-lanterns.  One child would choose and carve the design for the eyes and the other for the mouth.  They chose the nose together.  I loved watching them compliment each other and accept each other's ideas.  They were proud of their finished products too.
     I am always impressed with Brian's patience in the midst of chaos.   He is patient and helpful.  He teaches the kids how to use the sharp knives and lets them carve away.  I married well!

Enjoying FHE snacks.





The girls pumpkin is on the left and the boys on the right.

.

Not So Festive Halloween?

No Halloween decorations this year.  I am not sure why...I just didn't get to it.  We are closing on a home at the end of November, so I think my focus has been clearing out and planning for the new-to-us house.  (choosing carpet, paint, tile etc...)

Well, we did have one lone decoration, from my faithful visiting teachers!  Thanks Kelly and Emily for brightening our month!

Trunk or Treat

We attended the ward Trunk or Treat on Halloween night. It was weird for me because I felt somewhat out of place. I didn't have an assignment other than bringing cupcakes, and Brian was working the Bishopric booth. Aubrey is a capable and independent 5 year old and was more than fine on her own. I was somewhat of a loner!

The Young Men and Young Women were in charge and so Brinley was helping run a booth. The boys, well, Tanner loved the ring toss booth and earned several Gatorades with his tosses. We were told by more than one person that Parker would probably be up all night due to the excessive amount of sweets he was inhaling as he made the rounds. Overall, we had fun celebrating Halloween with our growing children.

Our cupcakes for the cake walk.

Uncle Adam w/ his boys Braddock and Hudson.
They were awesome Transformers.

 

C.J. King, our 2nd cousin, and Aubrey

Brinley (a baby) w/ her friend Tasha.

Park and Charity Vore  One fun thing about Ward
activities is we have so many cousins in the ward!

Ouir cousin Lauron (6), She is so beautiful.

More Vore Cousins: Joseph and Erin

Aunt Angelique w/ baby Isaiah.

Aubrey LOVED that she won a Barbie at the
fishing pond.  (Go Dollar Store treasures!)

Another cute cousin: Stevie (9)

Cub Scout Push mobile

This October Tanner was able to compete in the push mobile with his pack.  It was exciting because he has only been a Cub Scout for a few weeks.  This was also our first push mobile experience.  (Parker had a playoff game in football this year and last that conflicted with the schedule.) 

Tanner had a blast.  He is fast and competitive and really helped his team.  They had to "race up" to their oldest boys so they were racing against Webelos.  Even though his team only had two Webelos, they placed 3rd out of 15 cars and were able to participate in many races.  I wish I had a picture of his actual car, but I failed there.  Owell, this is what I have:



Nico Crissinger, ? Tilley, Tristan Ormsby, Aiden Campos and Tanner

  

Tanner was a champ.  It was freezing.  It started two hours
later than expected and lasted for hours.  He was grumpy until
after that first race, then, he was hooked.  As a side note,
isn't our window cling cool?  It looks like
we have a skeleton for a passenger from the outside. 

Yea, Daddy-o saved the day w/ a fun picture of Tanner in action!
He and Parker came for a couple of hours in the afternoon
to watch, after Parker's football game.



Tanner and I hanging out in the car together until things started happening
and it started getting warmer!  He wore his helmet faithfully for hours.
Sure love this kid!



Fun Day at Reagan

We had Fun Day at school and the theme was "The 70's."  The kids found costumes that somehow were connected to the 70's.  Brinley and Tanner went with Star Wars.  Parker was a soldier during Vietnam and Aubrey was Minnie Mouse because Disney World opened sometime in 1970.  (You have to get a little creative at times in order to follow the theme and have happy kids at the same time.  This year actually wasn't so bad, but some years are harder than others!) 

Each year the PTA does an amazing job of putting on a great carnival.  There are jumpers, an obstacle course, a life size Operation game, a photo booth, a huge maze on the stage and several other booths available each year.  The kids get to go to Fun Day during their P.E. time at school.   I worked the fishing booth all morning, hung out with Aubrey and Tanner during their time for Fun Day in the afternoon, and helped clean up after school.  The kids LOVED the after school clean up because they got to do the awesome maze again and again while I took down booths and took out trash.  Overall, a very exciting day.



Tanner and Brinley (I asked Tanner to be sure and have
his picture made at the photo booth at school.  He did...
with his mask on....kind of adorable!)



We were trying to get Aub to pose w/ a hand on her hip and she
wasn't getting it, so Tanner was showing her how!



Bryn w/ her three best friends from school.  Maryam, Daisy and Breana.
When they decided to be vampires, we had already bought Brinley's costume.
Brinley, being the sweet child that she is, didn't even mention this to me until
a day before the big event.  I think it wasn't a big deal to her and she didn't
want me to worry about it one way or the other.



Our amazing principal.  She was Ms. Earth Day.  (Just a side note,
the man in the picture is the owner of the house we will be closing on this month.)



Parker and three of his football buddies who also went as Vietnam soldiers.
(Donovan, Joshua and Ayden)  Parker had a button up camo shirt, a vest,
and a hat....but he was hot and sweaty.  His make up, which Brian did, pretty
much was gone by this picture too!


 

Aubrey w/ her good friend Avery McKown. (The genie)



I slipped into Tanner's classroom to see how lunch was going.  There were
two other boys with his same costume, so we snapped a picture.


 

Aub enjoying the obstacle course.