Fright Night

Duke found a cat skull outside.

Such a perfect find on halloween!

For costumes, Duke was willing to wear his Army guy suit again. He kept saying he already wore it for preschool so he needed a new costume, but in the end, he put it on.

Hoss is getting to the stage where dressing up is a bore.  So we convinced him that being a farmer wouldn't be so bad.  He humored us and went with it, not sure how much longer he will.

Grit, our cute little tiger.

And Boone, the football player.

Then we got a big surprise when we received this picture of Lilli dressed up. Makes my heart happy!

October Continued

Getting ready for Super Saturday.  Lots and lots of snowflakes will be made!

 The boys insisted I take a picture of this broken tractor that was making a traffic jam in the middle of the road.  Not a person around that knew anything about its cause.  We hoped the owner ran after parts.

I snuck in and joined Hoss' classroom for his halloween party.

A year later, I added the final pictures to Hoss' baby book.I go through spurts of organization when it comes to these things.  Duke and Boone's books are pretty up to date but poor Hoss.  I worked when he was a baby so keeping up the baby book was not on my priority list.  I'm hoping to be better with the younger boys.

Duke got to hang out with Dad one day.  I love getting pictures like this, and I love that I married a man that captures and lets our children do kid things, even on the job.

They also shot a coyote!

Primary Program

Again, I am so proud of these boys!  They both memorized their parts for the primary program.

Duke's part: "I treat my body as a temple by eating nutritious food and reading good books"

Hoss was asked to speak on the Scripture Hero challenge that has been in this year's Friend magazine.  I think he's really the only kid that is working hard on memorizing every scripture, every month.  He's been working so hard on writing and memorizing his part.  And he NAILED it!

October Preschool Adventures

I love that Duke's teacher sends pictures of the kids activities in class.  With Grit being so small, I'm not able to volunteer, so pictures are a great way for me to still feel involved.

He was so excited that his plant sprouted!

They made a human square!

He speaks of these block things all the time.

For his birthday snack, we mixed up some monster munch and made some boo juice tags.

October Pack Meeting

This month's pack meeting was pretty cute.  Awards were passed out as usual, but our cubmaster made an obstacle course.

Duke had a great time.  I'm glad they let siblings join in on the fun too.

Adventure Loops

Bear Claws

Other Awards

Whittling Chip

Bear Shooting Sports Award

Bear Archery Device

Bear BB Gun Device
100% October Uniform Award

Preschool Halloween Party

One thing that I'm trying to work on in my life is being too busy.  This is a perfect example.  Too much going on that I miss the Halloween costume parade.

I'm grateful for people that take pictures, so that I can still be part of the action that way.

Duke has made good friends with these two.  Tyler Ruf and Winston Peterson.  He will probably never rub shoulders with them again after preschool since one lives in Ontario and the other in Nyssa, but for now, it's great!

The entire class looked great!

Monthly Scripture Hero - The Queen (Lamoni's Wife)

Another One of October's Scripture Heroes is The Queen.  The trait for her section of the month was "Believe" and the requirements were..

1. Read Alma 19:2-5, 8-10

2. Watch a conference talk from President Monson. Do you believe that he is a prophet of God?

3. I challenge myself to...
Hoss - I believe that Jesus will come again.
Duke - not make messes for the fun of it. 
Boone - work on speaking kindly.

What they learned about The Queen...
Hoss - She believed that her husband was not dead.
Duke - The Queen loved her husband.  She wasn't going to let him be buried.  She wasn't ready for him to be dead.

Preschool Pet

We tried to be diligent about taking the preschool pet with us everywhere we went.

It went to the dentist.

Celebrated a birthday

Opened gifts

Enjoyed being sang to like it was it's own birthday.

Then it came time for chores.  We didn't let it out of that.

And Family Home Evening.  He had to help teach the lesson, since it was Duke's turn to do so.

Shooting Sports

Brandon took the boys, and Eli Belnap, to the shooting sports activity in Ontario.  

 They really enjoyed the BB shooting.

 Archery was a bit harder for them, but they still had a good time.

Duke actually did pretty well for his first time.

Duke's 5th Birthday

Right on the heels of Boone's birthday comes Duke's birthday.  He was chosen as spotlight for preschool and we were provided with a poster board to decorate. 

He asked for streamers and balloons, just like Boone, so I decorated for him as well.

He's much better about smiling for the growth chart picture.

He also go to see the dentist for his birthday!  He also has the class pet for the weekend, so it joined us too.

Brotherly love.

He requested spaghetti for his birthday. 

He got a new tractor set and some much needed new jammies.

He insisted his tractor be stuck on his cake.  So, we buried it in frosting. Even the class pet got to wear a party hat.

Monthly Scripture Hero - The Maidservant

Another one of October's Scripture Heroes is The Maidservant.  The trait for this section of the month was "Speaking Up" and the requirements were..

1. Read Alma 50:30-31

2. If someone bullies you, or if you see someone getting picked on, tell an adult you trust.

3. I challenge myself to...(same as previous)
Hoss - NO pestering for 1 week.  He had great motivation for this one because he was invited to go on a backpacking trip during spring break and we told him that as long as he finished his challenge, he could go.
Duke - not make messes for the fun of it. 
Boone - work on speaking kindly.

What they learned about The Maidservant...
Hoss - She spoke up for the servant that was getting beat up.
Duke - She was brave to tell on mean people.

Boone turns 3

I tried a little extra this time for Boone's birthday.  I hung streamers on his door and then hung balloons above his bed for a morning surprise.  I snuck in right as he was waking up and got this cute reaction, all without him seeing me.

It was also the pumpkin patch field trip day, so he felt like we picked pumpkins for his birthday.  It was perfect.

He really was happy in this picture.  They got to attend the weekly cow sale with Grandpa Johnson.

Then it was time to open presents.

And eat his requested dinner of pizza.

Blow out candles.

And take the yearly growth measurements.  He's hated this since he was one.  Maybe one day I'll get a smile from him.