October

Laurel is obsessed lately with being 'pretty'.  So she's constantly dressing up in old dance costumes, play dress up clothes, and even pulling skirts out of all the girls' drawers.  She takes off her pants almost as soon as I dress her every day because pants aren't pretty.  Funny girl!

Last week, we said farewell to some dear friends who have moved halfway across the country.  We crammed in a lot of extra time with their family during the weeks before they moved.  We're going to miss them!

Brigham is smiling now!

 

On Wednesday, we had a field trip to a local pumpkin farm.  The best part was that Jim took half a day from work to join us.  It was much more fun (and way easier for me) to have Daddy with us!

Jim's Birthday

Jim's birthday was this month, so we celebrated with a little family party. 

 We played 'Heavy, Heavy, Hangover' with the gifts, had root beer floats, and played a game.

Jim wanted pizza for his birthday dinner, so while the 'normal' half of the family ate Papa Murphy's, Logan, Laurel, and I had homemade pizza on a cauliflower crust.  At least I could say my meal was half vegetable!  :)

Brigham's Baby Blessing

We had Brigham's baby blessing a couple of week's ago.  Jim Sr., Audrey, Cami, and Alan were all able to come.  We had a really great weekend with them!

Jim blessed Brigham in church that Sunday.  His dad, Alan, and a few friends were able to be part of the circle.

Cami was here less than 24 hours, so we crammed in as much fun as possible. 

We played a lot of games that weekend.

Wellness Challenge

We started a wellness challenge with some friends this month.  Jim and I have both developed some bad habits recently and are wanting to work on changing them.  It's going great so far! 

One day, Annie and Logan were inspired to have a plank competition during my workout.  Logan lasted for over 3 minutes and Annie for over 6 minutes!  Wow!

Showing off her side planks.

Showing off his ridiculous couch to bench planks.

Before the last pregnancy I had a good habit of eating lots of fruits and veggies every day, but that went by the wayside once I wasn't feel well in the first trimester.  It feels good and tastes great to be back at it.

Beginning of October

This little cutie takes a lot longer to eat than everyone else, so I often walk away while she finishes.  Lately, she's decided that her empty dishes are fun to play with.  They make great hats and even cell phones!  Her hair is never clean anymore...

The kids started art and science classes last week with a little homeschool co-op here.  The first art class was about Van Gogh, and the kids had the chance to mimic his technique.  I think Annie's turned out pretty fantastic!

Alex's

Abby's

I realized that I hadn't taken pictures of Brigham in a few weeks, so I attempted to get a good one.  He's seven weeks in this picture.  (And it's the best one I managed.)

This face was too funny. He looks startled or surprised.  :)

While I was upstairs, Abby came to me, "Mom!  I'm teaching Laurel to use the potty.  She's all the way naked!"  So, I came downstairs to discover this.  Laurel really liked sitting on the toilet.  Later, while I was showering, she stripped herself again and had a #2 accident in a carpeted area.  She was really sad when I told her she was all done going potty.

September Stuff

We spent the month of September re-establishing normal routines and adjusting to the busy life of six kids.

Brigham stayed in the sleepy newborn phase for about six weeks.  Jim was attempting to keep him awake in this picture. 

I walked into our mudroom one day and walked back out again without noticing Laurel.  She was laying in a big pile of brightly colored bags and my brain registered her clothing as another bag.  Ha ha!

Sweet sleepy baby.  One month old here.

We've continued participating in Bountiful Baskets for much of our produce.  One weekend I took a before picture.

I brought home 84 pounds of produce that day! Isn't it beautiful?

Amazingly, everything that needed to be refrigerated fit!  (Including ALL of the apples and peaches.)  Since we'd eaten almost every scrap of produce in the house before this haul, I was able to fairly accurately note how much we consume in a week.  We really do eat about 50 pounds in a week!  Wow!

 Jim has been AMAZING with this baby.  Brigham is my first baby that doesn't nurse to sleep; he wants to be snuggled.  He falls asleep best for Jim, so Jim has been the one putting him to bed quite often. 

I tried a new recipe with cauliflower this month: buffalo cauliflower.  

My first small batch was so amazing, that I immediately made another larger batch (with slight variation).  Yum!

I took my girls to have their hair cut with a friend.  She offered to style their hair as well, so Annie and Laurel came home with cute braids (Abby declined having her hair fixed).

Cheeseburger soup!  Yum!  We'd forgotten how good this was!

My little girls love to dress up.

Abby was holding Brigham one day and she called me over.  She'd dressed him up.  Ha!

 Sweet Abby.

I was taking a lot of food pictures to share in our baskets group to help boost numbers.  This was showing a way to use frozen produce.

Kids Say

Abby looking at the sunset, "It's pink and purple and blue!  It makes my heart fixed!"

Me, "Put some clean underwear on."  Abby, "But my brain isn't working!"

Abby, "Did Jesus say you could put mousse in my hair?"

I was nine months pregnant and we were standing in the grocery checkout. Alex looked at me and said, "You look a little bit pregnant."

The kids were asking Jim how his belt buckle broke off and Jim said, "I don't know.  It just broke."  To which Alex replied, "Maybe you just grew!"

Unnamed older child, "I've actually been changing my underwear lately." Pause.  "I know I'm nasty."  (Shocked mother moment.)

Abby looking at our wedding picture, "You're beautiful in this picture, but Dad's not beautiful.  Only boy babies are beautiful."  Then with an assuring nod, "Heavenly Father said that."

Me, "Go to your room; you're crying."  Abby, "No, I'm WHINING!"

Abby whining about something small, "I don't want to do it anymore!" Me, "Oh brother."  Abby, "I'm not a brother!  Stop calling me a brother! That's only boys!  BOYS!  BOYS!  BOYS!!! BOYS!!!"

I sang 'You Are My Sunshine' to Abby.  Her response was to sing her own thoughts back at me, "I want to keep you.  If you die I will be sad.  If you die I will be saaaaaaaad!"

Me, "Who taught your (church) class today?"  Abby, "Lizzie's daddy."  Me, "What did you do in class today?"  Abby, "Eat marshmallows and fruit snacks.  That's all."