Boys's Holiday Sing

Richard's 8th birthday

 Ben 'wearing' the pinata Darth Vader

 I made the cake and frosting from scratch, and then Ben designed the pictures.

 Alyssa came to the party, a friend of Richard's from school.

 He got a Lego batman Wii game from my parents, a Star Wars lego set from his brothers, and a Darth Maul watch from me and Ben. We played Dinosaur Monopoly, pin the light sabre on Darth Vader, and had the pinata outside-and it didn't snow!!!!

Waiting for the festivities to begin: I love catching them reading!

Getting ready for a birthday party

Richard really wanted to make the invitations for his party this year. So here is some of his artwork. Guess that theme. :)

And Spencer talking on the phone with "Bampa" Grandma Gayle. He really had a good conversation with her. She was surprised he could talk that much. He is a good talker when he wants to be and he is always talking about going to "Bampa"'s house.

More Christmas stuff

 I cross-stitched Richard and Garrett each a stocking when they were really young. Then I started one for Ben before Spencer was born. Uh, I just finished Ben's stocking last month. :) My friend Carole let me use her sewing machine to sew it completely together and then she made each of the boys a dinosaur stocking. (To show me up) :) Just kidding. They are so cute! Since I couldn't decide which ONE to hang for everyone, I hung them all up! Carole made me the snow lady one to match Ben's snowmen family stocking and my sister Shannon made me the kitchen theme one years ago, which is why I started making some for our family in the first place. Shannon always inspires me. :) I asked the boys which one they want Santa to fill and of course they said 'both'. Hmmm.

 At the ward Christmas party last night all the boys loved seeing Santa. I am glad Spencer is over his fear of Santa. I mean, I know most little kids are nervous around Santa, all my kids went through their phase also. But I'm glad we've passed that mile stone. :) I tried uploading an adorable video of them here, but blogger didn't like it, so I put the video on my facebook page. Please go see it!!

But he was ok afterward. They didn't even begin to start the kids' games until after 8:30pm though and Ben and I wanted to leave, so then Richard got upset again. Poor guy. Never gets what he wants.

Christmas at our House

This was Sunday morning breakfast. The boys LOVE sausage and bacon. And they are broadening their tastes by having strawberries and cream instead of syrup on waffles and such. 

 See the Christmas witch, Mom?

 Mr. Goody is still around!

 Garrett's Santa's toy shoppe house. It was harder than it looks! But this is me we're talking about; I have very little creative skill.

 Richard's gingerbread house. I tried to convince him this could take the place of the edible kind but he wouldn't have it.

I did have a video of me and the older boys putting together their foam Christmas house kits, but Spencer was coughing in it and didn't think anyone wanted to hear that. ;) He has croup...:( And he loves oranges, but will only eat them with a fork.

Richard's past times

Richard has been big into reading "The Magic Tree House" books lately. He reads one in about 2 hours. Yesterday on Black Friday (yes, I braved it for the first time ever!) I got him a beginning crosstitch kit because I stitch and he likes watching me. Here he is trying it out. He is enjoying it even though it is a challenge. I finished Ben's stocking with Carole's help. I started on Spencer's; it will be ready next year. :)

Boys and their Leaves

Ben spent alot of energy raking up our front yard. He even borrowed leaves from a neighbor's yard to make this great leaf pile. Into which he fell. From a tree. He is fine. I mean, he didn't get hurt. :) All of them were outside a good portion of the afternoon while I cooked inside for our Thanksgiving dinner. We had turkey, homemade mashed potatoes, gravy from the turkey drippings (Ben's specialty), green bean casserole, homemade stuffing, homemade rolls, homemade pumpkin pie, and homemade apple pie brought by Sarah. Oh and homemade whipped cream and sparkling apple juice. It was awesome! We love food!

Turkey cookies

Cate shared a Thanksgiving treat with us that her family always did when she was growing up.

Richard at Karate

Richard joined the Karate club at school this semester. Here he is at the showcase where all the kids demonstrate or display what they have learned during club. He paused at the end of the 2nd video because he was waiting for the Sensae to do number 10. But he didn't for some reason and that's what Richard wanted to tell me when he came off the stage. I got a kick out of watching him!

Recent events

 Spencer in a new outfit that my Mom sent him.

 Garrett wearing the robot helmet we made. Richard perfected it of course.

 First snow (luckily most of it is gone already) and Richard quickly made a snowman all by himself. We later put on a carrot nose and the helmet as its head.

 Our first ever UVU basketball game. It was really fun! Spencer wasn't a big fan though. He likes the chips and that was about it.

just a quick brag

Richard likes talking about cells, and how small they are...and tonight he was trying to explain it to Garrett, who is 5. He kept saying they are a quarter and a quarter and a quarter the size of certain objects. Ben interjected that Richard really ought to be saying they are a tenth of a tenth...just to exaggerate their tininess to help Garrett understand better. So then Ben asks Richard "What is a tenth of a tenth?" And GARRETT replied "a hundredth". I gasped and laughed out loud at the unknown genius of my five year old.

And the picture is from when Richard recently guessed Ben's color combination at Master Mind. Little bit of luck involved, but still...

Our Halloween adventures

We started off our Halloween adventures by joining Ben at his office and trick or treating around to various desks and departments. Most people at Ben's office are always surprised when he says he has three kids; he just doesn't look that old I guess. :) Here they are in the flesh! 

 Garrett wasn't a fan of wearing his Darth Vader mask, but it's still pretty obvious I think.

 Baby Yoda

 Here we are Sarah's house in south Provo. She joined us for some trick or treating after we left Ben at work.

 Storm Trooper Richard.

This was awesome. We really got a kick out of some of the decor that people obviously put a lot of time into. The house next door had a fog machine, music blasting, a couple different colored strobe lights, spooky stuff hanging from the trees, the works!

Thanks for coming with us Sarah!

Halloween in Provo right near our house. 

This morning Garrett decided to put this on. I love how he says 'punkin'. Have I said he likes to play the piano and is getting to be a good reader? That's happy!

Nose tricks and pumpkins

I love laughing with Richard. He has a fun sense of humor. He also lost his 5th tooth this week. The tooth fairy forgot to come two nights in a row...but she finally made it. 

This is the scary spider Ben helped rig up at his office this week.

Sunday evening at our house

Spencer has always played with my hair-at church, at home, before naps, cuddling on the couch, it's my favorite thing he does. Finally caught it on tape. :)
  Also, we played tickle trooper. Garrett didn't like it though...Enjoy!

Ward Halloween Party

Saturday night we attended a Halloween party at the church.   The boys were dressed as a Storm Trooper, Darth Vader, and Yoda. Ben made the ears. :) First there was a trunk or treat. Very fun and the trunks were all decorated. Ben always likes to get dry ice to make it look spookier. Then we had a chili cook-off and voted on favorites. Spencer liked the corn bread the best. The boys, including Ben, participated in a donut eating contest.