More Bonding Time

Jr. Jr. is really enjoying his bonding time with Mommy lately.  Today we managed to build an unending train track.  It's always great when we can get all the pieces to make one big track without having to worry about backing the train up or running into barriers at the end of the track.

Changing the subject- One thing I wish I had taken a picture of today was of the leaves falling off the trees.  We had enough of a wind today that leaves were just showering us as we went to pick up the kids from school and on the way home.  It was gorgeous but I didn't have the camera with me.  I did get to explain to the kids this is why the season is called "Fall."

Pumpkin

Three years ago, Nichole went on a school field trip to a local farm (it also happened to be Hat Day at school).  She got to do things like pet animals, go on a wagon ride, and walk through a corn maze.  She even got to pick out a pumpkin to take home.

Today, she went to the same farm for a school field trip.  This time neither Jeremy nor I were able to chaperone like we usually do.  She was okay with it since she got to be in the same group as her best school friend, that group chaperoned by her friend's mother.
She got to do a lot of the same activities as before, including picking out another pumpkin.  When she slowly walked out of school, I could see her carrying her pumpkin.  It was not the tiniest pumpkin.  I offered to carry it home for her and Jr. carried it up the stairs once we got home. 

Jr. Jr. also wanted a turn carrying it.

He's a ham.
I love my family.

Bonding Time

Jr. Jr. remembered the muffins from yesterday.  While the kids were at school, he requested muffins again.  This time, instead of from a package, we made them from scratch.  Jr. Jr. did a great job.

And afterward, we were able to sit down together and have some nice bonding time while eating strawberry muffins.

And some silliness, as well.

It was good bonding time.

We Got Some Things Done

After sleeping in this morning, I got up to see one child in her own bed,

one child on the couch,

and one child in my bed. 

I slept on the side next to the clock.  Yeah, that's how much room I had this morning.

Since we all slept in, we didn't get as much done as I would have liked, but hey, I made muffins... from a package.

The kids did help out with cleaning.  

Nichole cleaned most of her room herself, cheerfully, then helped me sort through books.

Turns out we have multiples of several Berenstain Bear books.

I told you, Mom, that we had more than one of these books.

Oops.  We missed one.

So, now we've got a pile of books to take to D.I., including some Berenstain Bear books.

We got some things done.  Now it's on to the rest of the week.

Fall Break

Here we are again.  Fall Break from school.  We had plans for this break but they didn't all work out.  First, after school let out at the beginning of Fall Break, we were going to go to a fire department open house in Orem with demonstrations and popcorn and cotton candy.  Unfortunately, I was too whiny and didn't want to deal with the parking and walking the distance to the fire station.  The rest of the family gave in to me and we grabbed some cotton candy from the store on the way home and ate it and popcorn while watching DisneyNature's African Cats.  It was a cool video.

The first full day of Break, Jeremy and I were going to take the kids to Big Springs to see the Fall colors since the weather didn't cooperate when we were going to do it soon after the official start of Fall.  Well, the weather didn't cooperate this time, either.  It was a rainy day.  Instead of going to Big Springs, we drove in the rain to Thanksgiving Point.  We hadn't been to Farm Country yet (and they have some indoor parts), so we decided to check it out.  They have Halloween themed activities going on there right now.  Great for little kids.  

 

Jr. with Frankenstein's brains and Boo Bowling (he got a strike).

 

Crafts and story time with Millie the Witch.

Face Painting

And when there was a break in the rain, we got to see some of the animals outside. 

The kids got to go on a pony ride and we all got to go on a wagon ride.

That evening, we went to a friend's house so she could teach me how to cook Indian food.  It was great.  The kids got to play with friends, I got to take notes and pictures, and Jeremy got to enjoy it all.

The food was so yummy.  And now I know how to make it!

The next day, the kids were content with watching movies all day as I built a large sculpture for a balloon gig.  Jeremy helped.  He's my hero.

 
It's been a good break.

KAT's Kreation

Jr. has a pair of pants that he really likes but he tends to get holes in the knee.  Then he tends to stick his fingers in the holes and make them worse.  I've tried to just stitch them up but that only lasts so long before the holes come back and he's sticking his fingers in them again.  Finally I was looking at a friend's blog one day and saw that she put patches on her sons' pants when they wore out the knees.  I'd never really done that before, but figured I could try it.
Jr. calls this particular pair of pants his "Batman pants" since he got them with some other Batman-themed items one time.  So of course I needed to put a Batman-themed patch on them.  I couldn't find any fabric I liked at the store (we have plenty of scrap fabric at home) so I finally decided I could be creative... with Jeremy's help.
He drew out the shape I wanted on black fabric.  I cut it out along with a yellow oval and a black oval to cover the hole on the inside of the pants.
Then it was simply applying iron-on adhesive to stick the black symbol and yellow oval together.  I stitched around the outside of the black symbol so it wouldn't fray.  I applied the yellow oval and the black oval to either side of the hole with the iron-on adhesive and again stitched around their edges to keep them from fraying.

Something I learned:  Next time I need to make sure the fabric on the outside and the fabric on the inside match up better.  After stitching up the outside oval I realized that if I poked the needle through from the back to the front, I would have these random stitches in the middle of my yellow.  I was able to adapt and managed to get the needle through so it didn't go all the way through the yellow part, but just the pants part.  And it didn't have to look as pretty on the inside, just keep the inside patch from coming off (I wasn't using the heavy duty iron-on adhesive), so I only had to make a few stitches here and there.
It turned out and Jr. was happy with the result.

 

Now my little boy can keep being a little boy and hard on the knees of his pants.

National Taco Day 2013

Yesterday, October 4, was National Taco Day.  To celebrate, I had a Primary Presidency Meeting.  So I left the kids with Jeremy and took off.   Oh and I helped make tacos before I left.
Apparently the kids ate a lot of tacos. 

As I headed out the door to my meeting, I heard my children sing their traditional "taco song."
"I had a taco.  Its name was Paco."
Simple celebrating, but unique family traditions.