Halloween decorations

Here are the fun Halloween decorations we made while Blake was gone. We made the Scarecrow for FHE. It was actually Remi's assignment for school. All the kids in her grade were assigned to make scarecrows for their East Feast. They grew a garden and we all got to come eat soups and other food they made from the things grown in their garden. It was a fun day!

Alissa, Remi and Broden with our scarecrow "Parker"

Remi and her scarecrow

Our yarn monsters

Alissa made this frame in school, so I cut out some silhouettes to go in it.

The Halloween garland Broden made

The fireplace mantle- Remi made the long garland and I cute out the bats

Of course I love doing everything for cheap and without leaving the house, so while Blake was gone we did just that. We made the garland with yarn I had for previous projects and the black paper I had from something else too. I also already had the flowers from another year when Remi and Alissa wore them. For the scarecrow I used some old dowels from the craft room and some of the kids clothes, with Blake's hat. We all had so much fun together listening to Halloween music, watching movies and decorating.

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!

London Temple trip

Friday night we put everyone to bed early and got everything ready to leave by 7am Saturday morning. This is how these 3 were sleeping when I came to bed:)

Saturday morning we woke up early, even the kids. They were all awake by 6:15, and Parker by 6:45! We ate and got dressed and loaded up in the car. It was cute how excited the kids were to go to the temple. When we got there we walked around the little book store for a couple minutes, then left the kids with some friends while Blake and I went into the temple. We got to go through a session with a couple from our temple prep class. What a special day! We got to also see them sealed to each other and her to her mom and dad. It is amazing the joy that you can feel in the temple. I don't know of any other place where I can feel so much peace and joy.

Blake, Alissa and Remi

London, England temple

Remi in front of the temple

So a few weeks ago I finished the Book of Mormon and decided to study by topic for a while instead of reading straight through. I wanted to study love and find ways to show more love to my family. I have really struggled in the last few weeks with feeling and showing love, especially towards the kids. I have just felt like I have no patience and been annoyed by the smallest things they do wrong. I know part of the problem is I just haven't felt good, but they deserve better. So I have studied in the topical guide, read scriptures that have to do with love, discipline, charity and on and on. I haven't really had a good answer. Then when I went to the temple yesterday as I was listening the thought came to me how patient our Father in Heaven is with us. We are told things we need to be doing again, and again, and again. We are supposed to go to the temple often to remember the covenants we make there. We take the sacrament every week to remind us of our baptismal covenant. There are so many things in church that we learn through repetition. We hear the same things over and over and over again throughout our whole lives and one day it might make all the difference in the world. It might cause a change of heart for us. Maybe that time when we hear it we are ready. Through all this repetition, and hearing things over and over again, whether it is the Prophet in General Conference, or our Bishop or the Sunday School teacher they always teach with love. They never start yelling at us because say, we don't read our scriptures every day. I have been taught from the time I was born to read my scriptures and sometimes I don't. No one has ever yelled at me for this. Or when I don't do my visiting teacher the Relief Society Presiden isn't here yelling at me saying what were you thinking? Then I started thinking about my own children. They are just that children. They are children of God. So, he is allowing me to have the experience of raising these children, his children. If he were here raising them is he going to yell at them for every little thing they do wrong, or remind gently again and again and again. I don't think this means they can walk all over me, but I can say no, or remind gently and calmly and maybe they will react better. I hope this makes a difference in our home. I sometimes hear the way our kids talk to each other and I cringe. I think they learned it from me and it breaks my heart. I hope that I can change my example and we can fix this problem and show more love in our home and make it a heavenly home. I am so grateful I can go to the temple, even if I don't get to go as often as I used to be able to go. I am also so grateful for a Father in Heaven is so patient with me. He loves me no matter what and is so patient as I am learning in this life.

More birthday!

It is sometimes hard living so far from family, but I guess one fun thing is we get to celebrate birthdays for a few weeks. We never know how fast or slow packages will get here, so whether we order something or family sends gifts we usually get them at random times and just keep the celebration going! We got Alissa's birthday presents from both grandmas and grandpas on Wednesday, so after soccer practice we came home and let Alissa open them, with some help of course.

Alissa opening her ballerina doll with Remi and Broden's help

Alissa getting a glimpse

Alissa so excited and hugging the doll, Remi and Broden admiring!

Alissa all dressed up and dancing!

Grandma and Grandpa Jones got Alissa a cute skirt, slippers, a wand and a Ballerina doll that attaches to Alissa's feet so they can dance together. She was loving dressing up and dancing! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Jones!

Modeling her necklaces from Grandma and Grandpa DD.

More jewelry!

Excited about all the gifts!

Grandma and Grandpa DD sent a box full of necklaces, bracelets, dress up clothes(some for me thanks Cindy!), and a purse full of all kinds of goodies. I'm pretty sure we spent about 2 hours opening and playing with toys Wednesday night and another couple hours Thursday morning before school. I'm still not sure if Remi and Alissa have discovered all the pockets in the purse. They will still come out showing me something new they have discovered in the purse:) Thanks Grandma and Grandpa DD. What a fun birthday month!

She's 4!!!!

Yesterday, September 15, 2012 we celebrated Alissa Renee Jones' 4th birthday! Everyone was up and in our bed bright and early, before 7. We played in bed for a while, then Blake took Alissa to the local grocery store to get donuts for breakfast. They even had chocolate filled donuts. We think it was especially for her birthday because we have never seen them before. So for breakfast we had chocolate and jam filled donuts and chocolate milk and Alissa even got to eat her kit kat she picked out at the store. She was in heaven with all that chocolate and sugar.

Alissa getting ready to blow out her candle

Alissa enjoying her kit kat

posing

Showing us how old she is

 When Blake and Alissa got home from getting donuts she said where is my party and my friends. I guess she remembers last year when Blake took her for a walk down to the store and when she got back we had a surprise party for her. I guess she was expecting a party on her birthday. Our kids struggle with the idea that birthday parties are different than actual birth days!

We had talked about doing a party Sunday afternoon, kinda low key with our family/friends here, but decided we could do one later that night. So, we did what we do best, last minute plans:) We spent the morning shopping, then dashed home so Blake could head to his football(soccer) match. Then me Remi and Broden put away groceries, made a cake, swept, mopped, vacuumed, ate lunch, decorated the living room, blew up balloons and decorated a cake all in 2 and a half hours. Then we headed to the park to play volleyball and let the kids play. After that we got pizza and brought it home and hung out with friends, ate pizza, had cake and ice cream and opened presents.

The tinkerbell flower cake

Alissa blowing out the candles

Everyone taking a turn to blow out the candles

Alissa opening presents

everyone watching the doll sing "peekaboo I see you"

Alissa and her bestie Alivia or "Livi"

Alissa enjoying her new bike we got her

 Near the end of her party Alissa ran out with chocolate all over her face. I took her in the kitchen and asked her what she did and she said Livi lifted her up on the counter and she was really hungry, so she took a bite of her cake. This is her smile while she was telling me this story. It was too cute!

Alissa and her messy cake face

Alissa has such a fun personality! She is a lover of chocolate and all things sweet. Some of the funny things she has done recently, are:

• In the car she was hitting Remi with a water bottle and I told her to give it to me. She threw a big fit and was screaming,"Noooo, I tooo hungry!"
• Any time she wants candy or a treat and I tell her no, she says, but I sooooo hungry.
• She is so used to snacking and sneaking treats all the time, and at school she doesn't get to. I can tell she is hungry because every day I pack her half a sandwich and some fruit and yogurt. When she gets home the first thing she asks for is a peanut and butter and honey and wanwich(peanut butter and honey sandwich)
• She attaches herself to some adults and loves them! Her sunbeam teacher and one of our good family friends is one of them, then another one is Sister Taow. We have done a few things with her on Saturdays and Alissa loves her. She calls her sister Towel and gets so excited when we see her, or ever pictures of her.
• I have been trying to teach Alissa to spell her name for a while now and she just wasn't getting it. She couldn't even remember past A-L. So the first day of school the teacher showed her the little tag with her name on it to put on a bin to put her stuff in. She can now find that all by herself. I am starting to think she was tricking me about spelling her name. Tonight I had her spell her name for Blake and she copied me and said A-L-I then after me again S-S-A. No problems, it was like it was easy for her and she had been doing it forever. She will also point out all the m, s, and a, sounds and say mmmmmm, sssssssss, aaaaaaaaaa when she sees them. We did a few lessons in the reading book a couple months ago and she remembers. I think she doesn't want to grow up:)

We love our Alissa and all the joy she brings to our family!