Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! I just love Thanksgiving - I love the craziness of preparing tons of food and "entertaining" loved ones. I love mashed potatoes (with corn in it!), yams, succotash, wild rice, pumpkin bread and cranberry sauce. Yum. I'm eating some leftovers as I type! I love watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles (edited version). And I especially love this time to pause and reflect on how blessed we are and all of the things Heavenly Father has given us. President Hinckley said, "Gratitude is the very essence of worship." I'm so grateful for my family, my home, Quentin's job, this beautiful world, the opportunities we have, the gospel, and my life! I try to seek the "little blessings" in my life each day - by living with awareness and enjoying each moment! Happy Thanksgiving!

You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown

So...after seeing Rodgers Memorial Theater's "Stone Soup" production a couple of months ago (performed by children), Makenna has been talking about how much she wants to be able to do that - to be up on stage dancing and singing and acting in front of an audience. I know, it sure doesn't sound like Makenna does it? But she has been so excited about it that we checked into musical theater classes at RMT. For Kiera and Makenna to attend the class weekly for 7 months, it would be $550. Ouch. So we decided to wait, and I'm so glad we did. Just a few weeks later we got a flyer from the school that said they would be putting on their first annual play! The girls were so excited and "tried out" on Monday. All the kids learned 2 lines of a song, practiced it over and over, and then each person was asked to sing it solo! I was so proud of the girls - they did great! And they each got cast as a little bird in the play - Kiera as Needy Bird and Makenna as Petty Bird! It was fun to see lots of our friends and neighbors cast in it as well. It will be fun going to weekly rehearsals and finally seeing the final production in February!

Leaves

Yep, 'tis that time of year for lots of pretty, fluttery leaves that crunch beneath your feet as you enjoy walks in the crisp air. 'Tis also that time of year for raking up all those little buggers! Quentin spent nearly two hours last Saturday, mowing and sucking up all the leaves - it looked like our lawn had been vacuumed. But by today, not even a week later, it looked like we hadn't done anything! The girls and I got to work this afternoon and spent over two hours raking and bagging - oh, and throwing and jumping! They were (for once) happy to work! I guess now it can snow!

New Specs!

Kiera got her new glasses today! She was so excited she could hardly stand it. Doesn't she look cute?!

Piano Lessons!

More big changes for Kiera - she started piano lessons! Of all the things my girls can learn, I think piano (music) is at the top of the list. I think it is so important. We checked into lessons over a year ago and found a lady in our ward who is rumored to be excellent. When I asked about starting Kiera, she said she likes to wait until they are at least 7 years old. She also mentioned that she wouldn't have an opening until January 2010. But then she called us a few days ago, said she had a cancellation and could fit Kiera in starting this week! Kiera's first lesson was yesterday and, though the teacher seems pretty strict and rigid, Kiera is excited and anxious to learn!

Winner!

We got a letter about a week ago saying Makenna was selected as a Reflections Contest winner! (see "Reflections Contest" post from October 23). Last night was an official awards ceremony at the school. Makenna was especially excited to receive an awesome trophy with her name on it! She was so excited and proud - and so were we!

Big Change

Quentin and I knew our kids would be doomed. I got glasses when I was in fifth grade, and Quentin was only in first grade when he got his, so we knew that our offspring would most likely have the same issues. Sure enough - after the school nurse tested the student's eyes, we got a note saying she recommend we get Kiera tested by an eye care professional. Yesterday was the day, and Kiera was so excited to find out that she does indeed need glasses. She tried on glasses for about an hour and narrowed her choices down to 5. Actually, she knew which one was her favorite - a gold, wire-rimmed pair with a "cheetah" pattern on the sides. She thought they looked like princess glasses, but Quentin and I thought they looked a little Grandma-ish. We wanted her to pick out ones she loved and we didn't want to sway her, but we were nervous that she would quickly get tired of those glasses. With the help of one of the staff members, Kiera soon changed her mind about the Grandma glasses, but still wasn't convinced about any other pair. Then the lady helping us said she just got in a pair but hadn't put them out. She brought them out, Kiera tried them on, and Kiera instantly fell in love with them - and I have to admit they were the cutest ones she had tried. She said, "I HAVE to have these glasses!" She was so excited and can't wait until she gets them next week!

THE MODERN, COMPUTERIZED EYE TEST

THE MANUAL TEST

SEEING ONE OF THE EYE DOCS

TRYING OUT ONE OF ABOUT 400 PAIRS OF GLASSES . . .

HERE'S THE NEW SPECS - WE'LL WAIT TILL SHE GETS THEM TO SHOW YOU HOW SHE LOOKS WITH THEM ON! (P.S. Sorry for the blurry pic - we didn't take our good camera)

Halloween - Finally

So Halloween finally came. We visited Granny and Nana at Nana's house in the afternoon then got ready to go trick-or-treating. We took the girls around the block and caught up to their good friends Chloe and Sophie. When we reached our house again, I took Kasidee in and Quentin continued with Kiera and Makenna and their friends (and their dad). They were gone for 2 HOURS and came back with their buckets full. Yay. At least they had fun.

(P.S. I'm not sure if you noticed, but in the 3 Halloween postings I've done, Makenna has been wearing a different costume in each. About a month ago, she found a green M&M costume, fell in love with it, and begged for me to buy it. She thought it was cool that it had "M for Makenna" on it. She wore it that whole day and even slept with it for several nights. But when it got closer to Halloween, she decided she wanted to wear Kiera's old ladybug costume. Then for the next event she chose an old princess costume from our dress-up box. Finally on Halloween night she decided to pic the M&M costume! Silly Makenna - she has a mind of her own!)

(P.P.S. Oh, and poor Kasidee suffers from the Third Child Syndrome. While Kiera and Makenna chose new costumes for this year, I figured we have enough leftover costumes from previous years that Kasidee could choose from. Oh well - at least they're new to her!!)

Halloween Week (cont.)

What was I saying a couple of posts ago about Halloween Week? Well, yeah - it's the day BEFORE Halloween and we've already just about had our fill of Halloween activities. Quentin and the girls didn't have work or school today, so we went to Quentin's work for their Halloween Festival for kids. They got to dress up and go trick-or-treating down a long hall with dressed-up employees handing out treats. Then they got to play games - pumpkin bowling, rat toss, storytime (Books with Crooks), ring toss on witches hats, etc. They had fun and were happy with their stash of treats and toys.






After that, we had dinner at Sweet Tomatoes (kids in costumes got to eat for free!), then we went to the Rec Center in Bountiful for yet another Halloween "Spooktacular." We saw Corbin, Roman and Isaac there and did a few activities together. Ducky Catch, Pirate Fishing Pond, and Sandy Candy (they got to fill tubes with colored sugar - that's all they need). They had fun and though they're tuckered out now, they can't wait for the "Real" Halloween tomorrow!




Kiera, Roman and Makenna trying to touch the weird bubble from the mad scientist's magic potion (hot water, dry ice, and dish soap)...



Poof!

Pretty Girls

A few quick pics of the girls that Quentin took. So cute!

Halloween Week

What ever happened to Halloween Night? Around here it seems we celebrate Halloween all week long! Kiera and Makenna had their little class Halloween parties today. I was able to help with both of them - each time I helped with the "craft station." For Makenna's class, we did foam pumpkin cut-outs with Halloween stickers (pretty simple, but they loved them), and for Kiera's class we did finger pens (complete with a fake fingernail in an assortment of colors!) They were both stoked about the parties and can't wait to celebrate for the next 2 days as well. We enjoyed our first night of the "holiday weekend" (Quentin and the girls all have tomorrow off work and school) by getting pizza and watching the new Tinkerbell movie. Fun fun!

All is Well . . .

When we had our garage sale last Saturday, Kiera and Makenna were excited to be able to set up their own table with a few of their things they wanted to sell. Among all the stuff, there were 2 toys that were debatable - 2 identical toys, one belonging to each girl, that they hesitated about. They've had them for about 4 years and never really used them or played with them. When I suggested they go in the "sell" pile, they'd each go from "Sure!" to "Well, I don't know - I think I want to keep it." They kept pulling it off the table, then putting it back on, etc. Anyway, the agreement was that anything that didn't sell at the garage sale would go to the DI. We loaded up the car, went to the DI, handed the guy our stuff, and at the last second Kiera grabbed her toy, hugged it, and said, "I just want to keep this." Fine. At least a decision was finally made. We asked Makenna 3 times if she wanted to keep hers as well, but she said no - so we handed it to the guy. Well, we should have known, but as nighttime came, Makenna kept looking at Kiera's toy, tears welling up in her eyes. Kiera began crying as well.

Now, here was a teaching moment. It should have been that Makenna made her choice (we had asked her THREE TIMES if she was sure, for crying out loud!) and that was that. Now she had to live with the consequences. But when you look at your daughter's sweet round face with tears streaming down her pink cheeks and her lips curled in an upside-down bow, well, you cave. At least Quentin and I did. And she reminded me of myself when I was little. I knew in my head that "things" don't have feelings (obviously), but at the same time, I wanted to take care of and love the things I was responsible for. And I think that's how Makenna was feeling.

So, to wrap up an already long story, I called the DI this morning, told them the situation, took in a photo of Kiera's identical toy, and about 4 hours later, the VERY nice DI workers gave me a call and said they found it. Makenna's little shoulders shook as she sobbed and hugged the toy. All is well. And maybe a lesson was learned after all.

Jack-O-Lantern House

We saw this idea in Family Fun magazine and got excited to do it. Kiera drew the face, Quentin cut it out, and we all helped put on the tissue paper. Check out our nifty Jack-O-Lantern house!!

Garage Sale

So...we had a garage sale this morning. I've done a few in my life and am not a huge fan. I love the getting rid of part, and I even like the chatting with new people part. But I don't like all the work that goes into it. But I've spent the last few weeks cleaning out Quentin's shop area. We have a nice, organized storage room, but everything else that still needed to be gone through and organized got shoved in the shop area when we moved in, what, nearly 3 years ago. It's mostly Quentin's stuff - math papers from fifth grade, random menus, trinkets, just stuff. Junk. Well, we sorted through it, pared it down to what we (meaning Quentin) really wanted or needed and gave a lot to the DI, then had a garage sale with the rest. Now our shop (the future preschool / theater room!!!) is cleaned out, our storage room is still nice and organized, and we're a few bucks (just about 100!) richer. The girls were so excited to participate and were able to sell a few of their things as well. It was a fun experience, but hopefully one we won't have to do again anytime soon!

Gardner Village

My sister-in-law and I have a tradition (I think this is our third year...?) of going to Gardner Village in October to check out their witch displays, take pictures of our kids in their costumes, eat pumpkin cookies, and just enjoy being in such a charming place during our favorite season. We met there this afternoon and did all of the above! Here are a few cute pictures:

Reflections Contest

I'm sure most of you have heard about the Reflections contest. I entered it several times in sixth grade and junior high and really enjoyed it - and even won a few awards! When this year's contest information was sent home with Kiera and Makenna, they really got excited about it. Makenna wanted to enter the photography division and Kiera wanted to enter the visual arts division. Makenna wanted to take some pictures of Kasidee - she knew exactly what she wanted to do. She took Kasidee in the bathroom, closed the door, dressed her up in a "princess dress," freshened up the bow in her hair, and started snapping away. The only thing I did was stand there to make sure she didn't drop Quentin's $400 camera! Check out these cute pictures she took:






But after (not) much deliberating, this (for some reason) is the picture Makenna chose to enter. She was adamant about this being her favorite one. Go figure.



Here's the proud girl:



And here's the other proud girl, showing off her paper flower picture. I'm just so proud of both of them for working so hard!