Conference Weekend was filled with spiritually uplifting messages, lots of snuggles, some Pokemon sorting (Colby), and yummy food! Cinnamon rolls, wedge salads, steaks, air fried potatoes and zucchini, and corn on (and off) the cob.
I had a sweet lunch date with Brooke at school, which is one of my favorite things to do.
We were so happy to have a visit from the Duffs, who moved away about a year and a half ago. Tiffini taught the kids piano and is so incredibly special to them. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer, my kids prayed for her every single day, without fail. To see and hug her in person was such a blessing.
The annual "Bike to School" was pretty anticlimactic this year since the Daulton Dragon didn't even show up, but it felt good to get some fresh air first thing in the morning. And Brooke and I saw some great Halloween decorations on the ride home.
One morning, as we pulled into the parking lot, we saw Brooke's friend Sidney. We greeted them, then his mom suggested that we get a pic :)
I got the porch (and house) all ready for Halloween...
I was dealing with some sort of skin issue, which took forever to heal!
Brooke is a total monkey and wanted to hang upside down from the soccer goal. She has calluses on her hands from spending every recess doing flips on the playground, so I shouldn't have been very surprised.
Brooke has mentioned that she didn't like the hair on her legs, so I ordered a crystal hair eraser. I kept seeing them on ads, and was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked.
She was amazed how smooth her legs felt (except along her shins-it didn't work well on those), but I didn't know how I felt about her taking this big girl step.
Colby decided to try Daulton Dashers for the first time. He doesn't love running, but when he found out that several of his friends were doing it and that they already had 5 miles, he was motivated to give it a go.
Colby decided to share his testimony at the beginning of the month and I loved that he wrote it down on the back of a sticker sheet. He asked me to go up with him, so I shared my testimony as well.
After Brooke was sick all weekend, it was nice to have Monday off school to do something fun. The pumpkin patch in Ennis was super cute!! We definitely missed some of the acitivites of the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch (which isn't happening this year), but it was nice to get some fresh air and into the Fall spirit.
I loved how my new sneakers looked among all the little pumpkins...
We also ventured over to a park where the kids crammed themselves into a two seater airplane...
We ended the night with a friendly game of street hockey with friends.
We had an impromptu playdate turned baseball game with the Nesbitts and Claire, and I even joined in on the fun since they needed me to even things out.
For Activity Days, Joanna came to help Marlie teach the girls how to make banana bread. We're trying to have the girls each take a turn teaching the group a new skill.
Colby was SO tired the morning of Dashers, but I am so proud of him for sticking to his goal. Getting to school at 6:50 AM is no joke!
Grandma invited Melanie and I over to her house for a belated birthday date (me) and an early celebration for Melanie. (Emery was also there since it wasn't her preschool day.) She gave us both a Food Nanny Kamut cookbook, kamut flour, french gray salt, dough hook, and a baguette pan. We then learned how to make our very own baguettes, which were delicious! You can't beat hot bread out of the oven.
It was such a fun gift and I really enjoyed our time together. We're usually busy with the kids or preparing family meals together, so it was nice to do something completely out of the ordinary.
Papa did a great job entertaining Emery while we baked, but we ended the afternoon outside together. It's hard to resist when she asks me to play with her outside, or push her in the swing.
It's rare that we get time just the three of us, but we'll definitely need to plan another baking day to work our way through the recipes.
One Saturday we had to divide and conquer for soccer, which meant that I snuck in a mama/daughter date after Brooke's game. She had been dying to go to Claire's, so we found some new earrings and a ring (pictured). I regretted the earrings about two days later when I took them out and her ears were totally infected, but we loved shopping together, ate a late lunch at Panera, played with makeup at home, and went for a scooter ride around the block.
She is the cutest lunch date!!
Her ears a few days later:
Colby actually skipped his game to attend the BYU vs. TCU football game. It was a rough game for BYU, but they still made some great memories together. And they snagged a picture with Cosmo, so Colby was pretty pumped.
Our friends, the Claysons, were also at the game. They are big BYU fans, so Colby enjoyed seeing Staley there.
They high-fived all the players at the end of the game, and one of them gifted Colby his little belt towel. His day was made! He asked me to wash it that night so he could take it to church the next day, and then he couldn't find it as we walked out the door. Thankfully, he found it when we made it back home.
I love that the guys had this experience together.
The kids participated in the Primary Program, which is always one of my favorite Sundays. The songs were so powerful and I loved watching my kids share their speaking parts in front of the congregation. One song in particular had me in tears. It's called, "Always Remember" by Angie Killian and the chorus says...
He will bless me with His spirit
And fill my soul with peace
I will always remember Him
And He will remember me
As they sang these words, I felt such a strong conviction of their truthfulness. He knows my little ones, He knows me, and He loves us more than we'll ever comprehend.
We went on a Sunday afternoon adventure to Cedar Hill State Park. Sometimes I love a quiet Sundays at home when I can catch a nap, but sometimes I love Kevin's ideas of taking our dinner to the park for family time in nature. And I really love when Fall weather starts to creep in!
We shed a few layers on our 3 mile "hike", but it was a beautiful day as a family. Gotta love fire building (Colby and Kevin), yummy food, hammock snuggles, and throwing the football with my girl.
I loved swinging with Brookie and looking up at the trees while the clouds floated by. It was so peaceful and relaxing!
Shawna planned a fun "pumpkin painting" night and I loved seeing their creativity. Brooke was trying to paint Hermione (complete with a wig at home) to enter into the school contest, but she never ended up submitting it.
I was never able to stay with Brooke for Daulton Dashers since I had to rush home and get Colby ready, but now that Brooke starts after him, I'm able to stay and join in on the running fun. So proud of this kid who doesn't like running, but still ran 8 laps for the third week in a row. Maybe it's growing on him??
Our next adventure in kamut: pizza crust! Not only was it delicious, but the whole process with the kids was a lot of fun. They really enjoyed being able to form their own pizzas and customize the toppings.
We celebrated Grandma's birthday with a family party at the Peacock's house. I love this picture with al the grandkids.
And I REALLY loved it in black and white :)
We love you, Grandma!
Emery usually finds her way over to me when she's done playing with cousins, so we enjoyed a little snuggle.
Red Ribbon Week is always a lot to keep up with, but the kids enjoy the dress-up days. They don't, however, always enjoy taking pics, so I only documented Sports Day and Crazy Hair Day for Brooke.
Lillard hosted a literacy night and Brooke was adamant that we needed to go. She was most excited about reading to the service dogs, but then didn't want to actually do it because it was kind of awkward.
I planned an evening of Halloween games for Activity Days, and I had no idea that the spider game would be the biggest hit!
We also played the human knot game to fill some time.
Colby was the Star Student the last week of the month, which meant that he brought Beau, the class pet, home for the weekend. He was supposed to take pictures with Beau, so we started off with another round of homemade pizza dough.
Beau was there for every step of the process, haha.
We took a pit stop at Hobby Lobby after an orthodontist appointment and Brooke wanted ALL the flowers. We settled for a picture instead :)
I finally caved and let Colby buy some Nerf guns with his own money. I may really regret this, but hopefully we don't have any issues.
We realized Halloween night that Colby hadn't completed his "All About Me" poster, so he frantically did all the writing during breakfast and Brooke, Nay Nay, and I helped him add some color. It was definitely a team project, but it turned out great.
We had Parent Teacher conferences later that week, so I snapped a few pictures of his work that hangs outside the classroom.
Second Grade had a "Create Your Own Instrument" assignment, which turned into a power struggle between Colby and I. He wanted my help, but didn't actually want my help and was getting easily frustrated. He insisted on cutting the cardboard independently (with a box cutter), so thankfully he wasn't injured in the process.
It was such a busy month, but it's fun to look back on all these sweet memories and remember the details.
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