Living Life Day to Day

My kids are wonderful. They are growing up into wonderful children. I love them so much. We've been very busy with this and that recently. This will be a long recap of some of what's been going on. :)

The Primary Program was Sunday Sept 22. (I forgot to get a picture of them on that day but I did get pics of them the previous Sunday.)

All four of them memorized their parts and stood at the microphone to say them without any hesitation at all. They were cute to watch singing the songs. Aidan was funny to watch with his gestures and making a heart with his hands through some of the songs. My parents and grandparents were able to come and watch. It was a special treat for the kids to have them there. 

The Sunday this picture was taken there were hundreds of yellow butterflies all over the purple flowering bushes. It's hard to see them but on the left you can see one up close. 

Tyler had his first talk in primary the Sunday after the program. He stood up to the mic for his talk and said his part from the program, "I love Jesus because he died for me." Then got down. Jaime stopped him and told him he had a different talk to give. Too cute. :) He still has his part from the program memorized and will say it randomly. He used to say "I love Jesus because he died for me. But he's still alive!" Even at such a young age they can understand these important things. 

Ahhh canning season! 

Tyler smashing tomatoes.

I canned stewed tomatoes and salsa this year. I also canned a lot of pears and some peaches. Not everyone likes the peaches so we don't eat as many of them. I made strawberry freezer jam too. I still need to do applesauce. 

 I also froze corn. Elizabeth was awesome to pick up giant bags of corn for all of us. I went to moms early one Saturday morning to help. It's true, many hands make light work.

shucking the corn

boiling the corn

slicing the corn, scraping the creamy corn off, then bagging all of it!

I counted how many bags of corn and creamy corn I got but I don't remember. Over 45 each though.

I enjoyed visiting and working with my family.

After I was finished with my bags of corn I had to head out because I had a party to host. I felt bad leaving everyone to keep working. I wanted to stay and help. 

The girls have wanted to have an American Girl Party for quite some time. I finally just set a date, helped the girls make invitations and deliver them.  I was surprised that everyone on the guest list was able to attend. I was so glad they could all come. I loved watching them get there and look at the dolls we had and get out their own dolls so they could all play together.

I made treats simple. I had Oreos and mini Oreos, Goldfish crackers and mini goldfish, Nilla Wafers and mini Nilla wafers and a huge platter of fruit with fruit dip. 

Let me tell you, these girls can eat! They put it all away.

They had doll play time

Games: AG bingo and AG hot and cold

They could choose candy when they won a bingo. Then they had snacks.

I put on the new AG movie Saige Paints the Sky. The girls played with their dolls and watched the movie off and on. The older girls pretty much sat and watched the movie the entire time while the younger girls played off and on. 

They had so much fun. I had fun! Because I knew they'd want to play that was the majority of the party. It was easy for me to plan. I just supplied the snacks and a couple games and then the girls were on their own for the rest. 

Sophie, Tye, Shea, Daphne, Lindsey, Emily, Hayley, Olivia, Adallyn, and Naomi (running out because she didn't want to have her picture taken. )

The first week of October was my turn to teach preschool. The first day 3 kids weren't able to make it. The next day I had all 8 plus Tyler. 9 kids definitely takes more work than 6 but I still enjoyed it and I could tell they did too. 

Aidan is still enjoying preschool. He shows so much interest in writing anymore. He likes to write letters all the time. He still could care less about coloring. He's more into the technical stuff I guess. He likes to read books, and still do anything involved with electronics. 

Aidan still has the tender heart that I love so much about him. He's so willing to help me and do what I ask. I like the moments I have when I can get to know this little guy better. I'm lucky I was able to catch some of our time on camera one day.

Tyler got quit the bump on his head one day. Kids don't listen when you tell them not to jump off furniture. Tyler still hasn't learned his lesson. Even after this I can still catch him jumping off of it. 

 He hit the corner of the ottoman. It really hurt but he still wanted to smile for the camera. Poor thing.

Aidan was so kind to let Tyler hold Bunny to help console and make him feel better. This bunny has helped console my boys many times. Just like in this pic of Aidan and bunny over a year ago.

I love these pictures.

Lindsey can surprise me at any time it seems. This girl ran for student council. Wrote her own speech and everything. There were quite a few students who ran. It was a tie between her and a friend so they did a revote between just the two girls. She lost by one vote and is now the alternate. It made her day! 

She's already been able to step in and sub when the other girl couldn't go. 

She has just been nominated another award at school too. She will be getting another Starship McGee award later this month. She doesn't know it yet until she sees me at the assembly. I'm so proud of her. She's gotten a couple of these every school year. She's definitely a good student/person. 

Olivia is a sweetheart. This girl amazes me every day. She gets up every morning on her own, makes her bed, gets dressed, and some days she's able to do her hair on her own. I don't have to tell her to get dressed or make her bed every day. She just does it. Now, getting her to eat breakfast quickly and brush her teeth to get out the door for school seems to take more time. Hahaha

Olivia loves to play the piano.

I like to come listen to her when she sits at the piano all on her own. I don't have to make her practice. She enjoys it and doesn't need to be told, or if I do ask her to play, it only takes once. :)

I've been busy with projects at home. I wanted to stain our playground before it got too cold. It sure takes a beating from the weather and looked very faded.

Ta-dah! It looks so much better. These two pictures were taken just weeks apart. Look at the color change of the trees already. Fall is here! Glad I got the outside painting done.

 I'd been working on a 'new' old desk for Jaime to put in our office. Diana had it and decided to part with it so I could refinish it. 

I hadn't touched it yet in this picture. It looks like I had started sanding, but I hadn't. That's just how worn it was! I decided to do this the right way. I sanded the desk down, wiped it with a clean cloth, then painted three coats of paint. I used Floetrol to prevent brush strokes. The desk sat in the garage all painted for a few weeks till I bought polycrylic to put on for a protective coat. Jaime and I moved it into the office ourselves. That was a project in itself! Maneuvering this large desk through the house was NOT easy. For a while we didn't know how to get it through the door to the room after trying a few different ways. We sat it down and looked at it for a few minutes. I knew it had to fit. Yes, it did! I wanted it inside when I painted the poly on it because I needed better light than the garage provided and I didn't want the garage door open to allow dust to blow in and get stuck in the poly. I wanted a nice smooth finish. I applied the poly with an expensive brush (as it says) and used a foam brush to catch drips. I let it dry 24 hours then I lightly sanded between each coat. The desk has 3 coats and the top has 4. It looks awesome! A nice smooth finish. I bought new hardware that would fit the existing holes. 

The finished product. So smooth and shiny! It's missing one of the pull out tables on the side. I'm hoping to get a board to match the size of the other table and paint it. Then the desk will be complete. We now have the computer on it. There's still so much more to do in the office. It'll get there. I know it. Just little by little. 

Oh yeah, I made the curtains for the office a few months ago. ;) Lined and everything. 

Eventually I will get to post a finished office... Just not yet. 

Yes, we've been busy and there's still more to come.