Fun while Dad's gone

Blake went back to the states for 12 days to go hunting and to a Dental Conference. We miss him, but are trying to make the best of our time together. We have actually been having a lot of fun!

We made Halloween decorations one night and the kids were having so much fun they didn't want to go to bed. They hand knitted some chains to use as garland around the fireplace, then we made some little "monsters."  One for each of them. They loved them:)

Parker, Remi, Alissa and Broden with their little monsters

 One night we went to an open house at the fire department and the kids had a blast playing on the bounce houses and playing in a real firetruck. They had a drawing and Alissa won a Barbie and I wond a bottle of wine. I wasn't quite sure what to do with it so I just set it on our table. Remi asked me what it was and I told her wine, that I was going to give it away. She was very concerned all evening until I gave it to one of the firemen:) It was pretty cute.

Saturday we went for a bike ride and run, then met some friends at the Pumpkin Patch and went through a corn maze. Then we went to the movies(which I was nervous about doing alone with all the kids). Parker fell asleep on the way, so I just kept him in his carseat and carried the whole things in and set it on a chair:) It worked out pretty good. He stayed in it sleeping and eating candy and popcorn until the last 10 minutes. We saw Ice Age 4 and the kids loved it!

After the movie we went to some more friends house for some yummy dinner and good company. We are so lucky to have such good friends here to take care of us when Blake is gone!

Broden playing with the Pumpkins

When we were at the Pumpkin Patch Broden was going from pumpkin to pumpkin sitting on them. I was talking and just watching all the kids play. Broden walked over to me with big tears in his eyes. I asked him what was wrong and he said he sat on a pumpkin and it broke. I had him show me and sure enough. It caved in when he sat on it. I told him it was ok and he asked if we needed to pay for it. I told him it was ok. It wasn't his fault, it was just a rotted pumpkin. It would have come apart if anyone tried to pick it up. It was cute how concerned he was about breaking something.

Remi and Alissa

Broden, Alissa, Remi and Parker

Alissa, Remi, Me, Parker and Broden

Rilyn, Parker, Remi, Alissa, Broden, and Shaylee

Remi chasing Parker in the corn

Parker gathering corn

Alissa made this frame in school, then we cute out the silhouettes to go in it

Our Garland

Our mantle and bats

Our little monsters!

We are excited to do more fun things this week to pass the time until dad gets home! The kids miss him so much and ask all the time when he is coming home. Poor Alissa doesn't have a concept of days, so she doesn't understand how long he will be gone and thinks he needs to come home right now. I agree:)

Feeding horses

Blake and the kids discovered some horses near our house that aren't in a field. They have ropes just staked into the ground. So he called me and Parker and I met them with some carrots and we picked apples off the tree on the walk down to feed them. The kids had a blast! I think there were like 6 horses and they weren't huge horses, the perfect size to feed, without a fence for protection:) One of the horses wasn't on a rope. I think it was a baby. It would follow us all over and kept nudging the camera trying to eat it, or it would sneak up behind Blake and try to nudge the bucket to get apples and carrots. It was cute, made me a little nervous though around the kids.

Parker enjoying Blackberries on the walk

Remi picking blackberries

Remi petting the horse

Broden feeding the horse carrots

Remi in heaven, she looks so grown up in this picture

Alissa and Broden feeding the horse

Remi and Alissa petting the horse

Alissa concerned about something

Alissa loving the horse

Alissa being cute:)

 I must have been on Alissa duty, since most of the pictures are of her!

The little things

We have been enjoying the last week without any big trips. Remi and Broden started soccer the week before we went to the temple and Blake is their coach, so that is every Monday and Wednesday. So far they have had 2 games and they have done awesome. Remi scored a goal in the first game and Broden scored in the 2nd game, this week. Broden was dribbling down the court all by himself and he almost dribbled to the left past the goal, but he shot with his left foot and it went in the goal, it was a pretty sweet shot!

Other than that, Remi and Broden have school and piano and Alissa has school. I have started being pretty strict with the kids with homework, piano and chores and I'm already seeing the results. The last 2 days they have done everything I asked them, without any fits. Their friends were even here yesterday and they still did what they were supposed to, before they played. I was so proud of them.

There have been a few things in the last couple weeks that made me think I need to enjoy the little things in life. I need to enjoy the time I get to spend with Parker, when Alissa is at school, and the time I get with Alissa when Parker is sleeping. So I have done little activities, or just played with them and had tons of fun.

Parker LOVES playing with balloons. He will get a balloon and blow and blow for hours. It is pretty cute. He has started saying things when it blows out of his mouth. He will laugh and laugh and say,"Funny," or "Silly." I love it. He also likes to play with our stacking cups. He will carry them around and unstack them, then work hard until he gets them all stacked up again so he can carry them someplace else and repeat the same thing.

Alissa still loves her sweets! We enjoy making things like pumpkin bread, banana bread, cookies and anything else sweet. She also always asks for cookies and candy all the time. One day we enjoyed some Oreos and milk when we were the only ones awake. She thought this was a huge treat, probably because I actually let her have them(she didn't have to sneak them) and I sat down and ate some with her.

Her and Parker have so much fun playing together too. They are playing right now under our table and having a blast. Alissa is talking to him and occasionally she will say something with a British accent, which I have noticed in the last few days. She is already picking it up from school. Pretty cute.

I joke a lot about med going "TDY" in the military and that women should get to go TDY someday too. I know they work while they are there, but they get good food, stay for free, usually in nice places, have tons of fun and it seems kinda like a break for them. Well, on Saturday there was a Stake Relief Society activity that has been on the calendar for months. I was getting ready to go and it hit me, this is my TDY! No, it wasn't over night, but it was a Mommy TDY! Blake had the kiddos for the day and they mowed our lawn(after picking up all the garbage, toys and other junk that had accumulated out there), then the neighbors yard, then he took them to the park and they all had a blast together. For my TDY I got just the break I needed. We learned about how to be better moms, then we did a service project of wrapping Christmas presents, followed by learning how to dance and a yummy lunch. I had fun at the activity and especially had fun with the company. It was a fun little break and I even fell asleep on the couch when I got home and Blake took the kids out for a walk so I could sleep. That night we had fun together eating and playing games. I'm glad I went. I love my family!