Laura's Two Front Teeth

Laura lost her second of her two front teeth a few weeks ago. She knocked the first one out when she fell running around outside. The other came out after a lot of wiggling and some help from Lia tying floss to her tooth and tying the other end to the door. Because they came out a little early, I think she'll have this smile for a while. I love it!!

Halloween

We know how to do Halloween at our house: party, party, party. This was on our way to our first one of the season at my mom's house.








And then we had Nate's mom's party...

We started at her house and then went to This Is The Place State Park.



The week before Halloween we carved pumpkins...and had a couple more family parties (which I don't have pictures of).




And finally the day came, which started with a parade at the girls' school.


We let our neighbor Tanner borrow our duck costume, so we had to get a picture.


The kids, as always, had a lot of fun this Halloween! By the time the day rolls around, I'm usually pretty tired of getting everyone in their costumes. But Nate and I had a lot of fun too, and next year I know we'll be wishing we were here for all the festivities.

Amelia and Laura

Lia and Laura were both chosen (along with several other kids) to have lunch with the principal for showing respect at school. They got to go on the same day and were so excited! I am so proud of my girls for being good students and good friends. Lia looks out for Laura at school and they play together at recess almost everyday. I don't know what I would do without them--they are such great helpers, and more than that, great daughters. Megan and Josh love them and I know I can count on them to help with Megan and Josh. Whenever we leave them with a babysitter, Megan is always curled up next to Lia or Laura when we get home. I am so grateful for them and hope I tell and show them enough.

Megan and Josh

Megan is changing so much these days and I want to write a few things down before I forget. She loves to help in the kitchen and and runs to find a stool whenever she sees me starting something (this time the counter was just much more effective). She is really good at saying "sawee" after everything, even things she didn't do. She's also good at taking responsibility for things, like a mess she made or when she's stinky. When I ask who did something, she'll say "me!" and raise her hand. She ends anything she wants to do with a "kay?" as if saying that will make it okay. Most of the time that involves going outside to play with her friend Leah, they are two peas in a pod and are really cute together. She loves it when dad comes home and she loves her grandpa. Megan also LOVES babies right now. We have three new babies in our extended family and she can't get enough of them. My sisters and sister-in-law have been very patient to let her hold them. One of my favorite things she does is when she gets really excited about something she yells "yea!" like, "Ashee baby yea!" or "bath, yea!" Because she is my baby, I want her to stay little for just a little bit longer...I love how snuggly she is and I love the cute way she says things. I hope that doesn't change anytime soon.

This is a bug Josh made for preschool. He was really excited about it. He's not as excited about going to preschool, but he comes home happy every time and yesterday he sang me two Halloween songs he learned at preschool. He's learned how to whistle and whistles all the time. When he's playing outside I can hear him whistling as he opens the door to come in. We had our primary program a few days ago and he did great! He knew all the songs and memorized his part. Josh is always asking questions. The other day in the car he started talking about people who can't see and he asked me what their eyes look like. As I was trying to explain he said, "well can't they just get a magic potion and wash their eyes in the pool?" I asked him if he meant the pool where Jesus healed the man who couldn't see and he said yes. He's seen that painting and we explained to him what it was about, but I was surprised he remembered it! (I did tell him Jesus didn't use a magic potion.) That conversation was followed up by a conversation about beer...it's too long of a story to explain, but I love the questions he asks. I love his hugs, and I love the time we spend together.