Aunt Sandy Came to Visit

In the middle of November, Sandy flew out from San Diego to spend a few days. She had time off from work still, because of some recent surgery on her hand, and had some studying to do - so it was just a "hang-out" weekend, instead of a lot of sight-seeing. The kids loved it, though, because they got to spend lots of time with her.

I'm still taller!

McKenna is pretty much the same height as Sandy now! Next time we see her, McKenna will probably be ahead, with the way she's been growing.

Ivy poses for the camera (as usual). We did take Cooper and Ivy and toured Harvard and met Richard for lunch. We didn't spend much time,, because we had to hurry back to pick up Maia from school.

Cooper discovers what the railing is really for on the front of the church/memorial building in Harvard Yard. I tried downloading a movie clip of his sliding down it, but it doesn't seem to have worked.

Sandy and Cooper on the bus ride into Harvard. You can see his recent get-rid-of-the-spider shave. He was bummed his dad wouldn't let him keep the spider to show his friends at church.

Aunt Sandy was a favorite for reading stories!

And playing Monopoly!

Ivy likes to play Monopoly too - she just sorts and stacks the money by color, and demands more if she doesn't have enough in a certain pile. She also always HAS to be the horse figure. She does like to shake the dice too.

Click on the arrow to play the video clip.

Harvard Games

In October Richard took the McKenna, Tessa, Maia and Cooper to watch some sporting events at Harvard. I was home with Ivy - one of us was sick, but I don't remember who. Anyway, they watched part of the Head of the Charles - a famous regatta that people from all over the world come to watch. They also saw some football and soccer. It was a beautiful day, obviously. Harvard is less than 4 miles from our home, and the Charles River is one of my favorite sites as we drive through town. It's gorgeous. It's typical to see the crew team practicing on it as we drive by.

OBVIOUSLY!! the mother wasn't with them because she would NOT have allowed Cooper to sit up on the railing!!!!

Tessa - aka Bug Girl - took this shot of herself.

There's my happy boy. (As I type this, he is anything but happy. He's sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast, COMPLAINING that he has to be awake. He wants to be in bed sleeping, not getting ready for school. News flash: his mom wants to be in bed too!)

Outside of the football stadium

Austin

This one was e-mailed to us so I could download it. This is the one he chose to go in the yearbook. So nice. It's hard to believe he's not my always-talking, sword-weilding, Barney-loving toddler anymore!

Belmont Temple

Last month we had Austin' senior pictures taken on the temple grounds, but unfortunately you can't see them. Our CD drive isn't working, but I'll figure something out soon. Meanwhile, here are some pictures of Maia. While the photographer was taking shots of Austin, I was taking some of Maia.

HALLOWEEN

This little baby went trick-or-treating with friends tonight and brought home a huge pillowcase of loot. Richard will be imposing the "Daddy Tax" on the candy tomorrow when he sees it all. He already taxed the little ones as we were collecting the goodies.

The Pirate Maiden. Tessa borrowed two costumes from a friend and had such a hard time deciding which one to wear! This won out and she certainly looked cute!

The Snow Princess. I had grand plans of making her a snowflake crown, but couldn't find snowflakes in the stores yet. (Plenty of Christmas lights and such, but nothing frosty.) Maia held out pretty well tonight, but she has the flu and so gave up before the rest of the kids. She really wants to go to school tomorrow for the program, but we'll have to see. -- She's still as sweet as can be. While the rest of the kids were counting and sorting and labeling their candy, she was filling plastic bags with her candy and marking them for "mom," "dad," and "Austin." I keep telling Richard that I don't know what I'll do if she catches the usual teenager disease.

"Fweepin' Booty"! Ivy got lots of "oooh, look how cute" comments. I put makeup on her and did her hair pretty for the the Primary Halloween Party -- but she would have NONE of that tonight! Just the dress (with warm pj's underneath) - even the crown was stuffed in the candy bag after a few houses. -- Her trademark at each house was to take FOREVER choosing which candy to take. She'd pick one kind up and consider it, then place it back and pick up another. Everyone thought she was so cute that they didn't mind. She said "trick-or-treat" the loudest and remembered to say "thank you" just as loud! When I told her she was "so good at saying thank you" she said, "yes, I am!" She definitely got the hang of Halloween this year. As we left each of the first dozen or so houses, she would ask "are we going to go to another house to get candy?" I would tell her yes, if she wanted. She always said, "Yes, yots more houses." And each time she walked away she'd say, "Isn't this fun? I yike trick-or-treating!" So cute! She didn't understand why some people didn't (wouldn't?) open their doors, or why the one lady came out and said she didn't have candy - but she enjoyed the night anyway. And, she's a very good candy sharer with her mom and dad!

The gang. We spent a couple hours out - and it was a beautiful night. A little bit chilly, but they all had warm clothes under the costumes. Not one complained of being cold. It wasn't a bit uncomfortable - which is such a great change from the usual Utah trick-or-treating weather.

The REAL Spider Man! This bannister is the original - 120+ years old. Since the day we moved in, he has leaped, slid, swung, climbed, and hurdled it. Doesn't matter how many times we say "don't," Cooper simply can't WALK down the stairs. So tonight I had him "perform" his usual Spider tricks on it for the camera.

This is shot while he's sliding down at full speed. He usually drops from the bannister above at the landing, onto this one and slides down to the bottom with no hands. I'm used to it, but my visiting teacher who was over a few days ago just about went into cardiac arrest. I honestly don't know what to do. It is so in his blood!

Maybe we could interest Hollywood in a "Young Spider Man" movie. No acting classes required.

p.s. Cooper had fun showing off his spider head today at school and while trick-or-treating (his mask got hot so he took it off quite often). Every one just loved it. Our crossing guard went on and on about it, the principal said it was a hit, a dad at school couldn't stop talking about it. Everywhere we went people oohed and ahhed. -- I'm only a little bit worried about the shave fest coming up because, although BEFORE the spider, I explained how we'd have to shave all his hair after, he seemed confused (AFTER the spider) about the fact that he wouldn't have any hair for a while. He keeps saying, "but I'll have short hair, right?" -- One guy who gave him candy teased and said, "You know that will stay forever, right?" Cooper questioned me about that as we left the house. Stay tuned for pictures of the shave. Hopefully I'll get to it tomorrow after school. (at least before church on Sunday!)

Getting Ready for Halloween

So... I had an idea today. Cooper's going to be Spiderman for Halloween, so I decided to give him a haircut to match his costume.

A Day at the Orchard

It was day off from school today - teachers' curriculum day or something. So, we went with a group of moms and kids from the ward to Honey Pot Orchards out west a bit. It was a BEAUTIFUL drive. The leaves are changing! Anyway, the Orchard is more than trees. It has a farm store with yummy cider donuts, fresh cider, fruits, carmel apples (thought of my mom when I bought them and will think of her again when we EAT them!), and jams, jellies, and honeys. Outside there's a pasture with a pony and baby animals - even three little pigs and their respective homes of straw, sticks, and bricks - and a large wolf lurking behind greenery! My camera temporarily stopped working so I don't have pictures of that - but Ivy loved it. There were also lots of pumpkins to choose from - and Ivy couldn't choose just one. She ended up with three "baby" ones. There is a hayride to the orchards (although we walked) and a hedge maze that is an exact replica of one at a court in England. Very fun day! Would have been better if Richard had been with us, but he's at a conference in Washington D.C. with TigerLight. -- Austin was working. He's a cashier/bagger at Shaw's (like Albertsons) and is often annoyed that people have a preference about their bags. Because so many people walk here, they request their groceries put inside plastic (fewer leaks) then inside paper (for form and holds more) then with another plastic bag stretched over the bottom (in case the bottom of the paper bag bursts). Needless to say, Austin doesn't have a lot of patience for that kind of thing.

This is about the only time Cooper held still. He was running through the grass with friends, climbing trees WAY high, and jumping from fences. He went through the maze 3 or 4 times - was just dripping in sweat when he finished because he RAN the whole way.

Every time Ivy saw another little animal, she would coo "ohhhhhh" and talk so sweetly to it.

Couldn't decide if this was a chicken or duck! Perhaps a Chuck? Maybe he's ready for Halloween.

Little Farmers

Couldn't get Ivy out of the driver's seat!

Found one!

Ivy would pick up one, and then spy another and try to pick it up too. She just couldn't decide. When we were inside buying, she found the tiny decorative pumpkins and had to have one of those too!