Advent Day 2....Neighborhood Hayrides

Sophie the Elf is dreaming of a white Christmas, it seems.

Today's Advent adventure is going on a hayride through the neighborhood to see the lights. It was cold! But it was beautiful and we had a fun laughing about the stinky horse farts.

Poor Ethan had to work (sad face)...I know he would have loved those big Belgian Draft horses.

This neighborhood really does a great job of lighting things up.

We came back to the house and watched the new video about Christ's birth that the church put out. It's so fantastic. I love the way they portray Mary and Joseph. It reminds me that they were a young couple and they got a brand new baby too, not "just" the savior...but a sweet little baby to care for.

Our favorite part is the wiseman. He does a wonderful job and the expression on his face when he meets little Jesus is unforgettable.

We watched and dipped pretzels in chocolate for our FHE treat.

Naturally, Megan's were neatly organized.

Armor of God 2.0

Once upon a time, we taught our little pups about putting on the armor of God. There were handmade props. There was forethought and themed snacks...

This time around we know that fuzzy helmets are just as loaded with Salvation...

Wrapping paper tube swords are brimming over with the Spirit.

A 5 lb plate with duct tape handles makes a most faithful shield.

And mom's lightweight purple puffy coat zips right up in the warmest of righteous breastplates.

We've also learned a thing or two about FHE treats....oh dear yumminess.

NourishKC FHE

Now that all the kids are in school, I have time. So much time!! I am blogging and cleaning and reading and lunching with the ladies. I'm going to the temple and crafting and repairing and visiting and volunteering! It's nothing short of miraculous. 

I knew that when it came to volunteering, I didn't want to bounce all around. I wanted to find a place where I can help and really get involved. After my first time serving the homeless at NourishKC, I knew this was it. 

I go downtown once a week to help out with lunch and I love it so much. It seems to help make sense of all the rest of the stuff I'm doing.  It's hard work and it gets me off of my stupid phone.  Miracles.

Monday nights just happen to be a food prep night, so I signed us up as a family and we headed up. Austin Stecklein and Kylie Flynn tagged along because they are super awesome kids. 

Everyone got to rock a hat or a hairnet.

Even Mark!

My hairnet turns my hair into a perfect lima bean shape. Not attractive. But that's not the point, right?

Right?

Even the little girls got to slip on some plastic gloves and get to work. The did an excellent job deconstructing some donated vegetable shishkabobs.

Kylie and Megan were given the great honor of using the super sharp knives to decob the corn. Austin stuck with the shucking in the background. Oh, we are going to miss our Kylie when she leaves for her mission!

Mathew prepped for the next day's continental breakfast.

The boys pitched in and things went pretty smoothly.

When they were done with their veggie duties, the three littles masterfully wrapped the forks for the next day. These guys are experts with details.

Kenny is the orchestrator of all the madness that comes with delegating dozens of tasks to dozens of people in a short amount of time. Here he is giving the girls a pep talk and reminding them to use their charming personalities to get others to come and help. uh.....ok.

It was hectic and busy and my favorite part was that the kids didn't bother fighting with each other because they were working! I love it! I think we'll make this a tradition.

Ethan's first job

Ethan has a job! He is a checker at our local Neighborhood Market. We couldn't resist going in to give him a little bit of a tough time. But it's okay, it was the activity for our Family Home Evening...so it's righteous.

Down by the banks....

Our Down By the Banks tradition runs deep. It was bound to spread to innocent bystanders. 

Carving Pumpkins 2016

This year we went to our local Walmart pumpkin patch. The scenery leaves something to be desired but the speed and price can't be beat.

We invited Flynns and Guenthers over for carving a treats.

Ethan..my favorite of his pumpkins to date!

Mathew's said "Studio C"....he loves the written carved word!

Megan went for a pumpkin with a pumpkin.....deeeeep.

What is featured on Laney's pumpkin? I'll give you one guess.

That's right! A wolf! And it was her own design.

Mari helped Anna with her pumpkin. As a seasoned mom, she know when to sit back and when to offer assistance.

Anna carved one big EYE and what appears to be a mustache and tiny mouth.

Everly wanted a very complex monster face with peeled white teeth and intricate details. Martin showed her a spider pattern and luckily she changed her mind.

Where does she learn to pose like that??

Todd and Aidan worked on a "Five Nights at Freddy's" character. I have no idea what that is, but from what I've heard, it's scary and I prefer my ignorance, thank you.

Courtney pitched on on Megan's and Kylie made an adorable sunflower. 

Done!

left to right: Megan's pumpkin within a pumpkin, Anna's big eye, Maren's smiley-mean, Laney's wolf, Everly's spider, Ethan's best ever, Mark's unibrow, Mathew's Studio C, Kylie's sunflower and Todd still working on Aidans....lol

Gearing up.

For a few minutes, I convinced myself that one of the kids probably just got into their baby book and opened one of their little envelopes of baby hair. 

Then I found Everly and confirmed that she is missing a good chunk of hair on the left side. 

I haven't decided what to do about that yet. 

We also had "Pop a Peek" tonight. This is where you get to go in and meet your teacher and drop of all the supplies and fill out paper work and have a chat with the school nurse because you still haven't turned in your child's school physical or vaccination records...you know, the usual.

I actually really appreciate it because the first day of school is already going to be nutso. Why add 30 lbs of glue sticks and highlighters to the mix?

In other news, I was under the impression that Anna wasn't supposed to go to school until Thursday and Laney only had half day on Wednesday....which was WAY off. Anna would have been a no-show to her first day of school!!

Crisis averted, folks.

I'd just like to remind you all that when we moved here, she wasn't born yet.

I anticipate that this rock is going to be a hoppin photo spot on Wednesday morning...so we'll grab it while we have a chance.

What do you get when you think you are having company for dinner and then they cancel at the last minute?

A huge stack of rolls. On a Monday night, that's what.

Also, no guests means no need to remove your lego cake from the table.

Win-win.

We are trying to get back into the habit of holding Family Home Evening again. Spring baseball completely derailed us. Although, I still think that counts.

In honor of "getting back on track" we did one of our family favorites...

Down by the banks!

Mark and Ethan were the final two:

And you can see the determination to win in Mark's eyes. Ethan got that nervous laugh because he knew he was about to go flying. 

All in a day!

Bedtime and pumpkin rescue

1. Every evening I go out to the pumpkin patch and spray the leaves with a milk and water solution. Google told me that this will help fight the powdery mildew and I'll be danged if I let our first ever pumpkins die without a fight! We want those pumpkins....we want them to live to see Halloween!

2. Tonight our family home evening activity morphed into an ALS ice bucket challenge video shoot. 

3. Everly is sleeping pretty good at night. We are slowly making progress towards her going to sleep on her own and staying asleep through the majority of the night. She has discovered the starlight ladybug and it is turning out to be a lifesaver. She also likes the summertime primary song and the birdie song and the 3 little ducks song. She occasionally asks to "bah bye" (rock a bye) and I am more than happy to oblige. When she is ready to go to sleep, she lays down and reaches her soft little hand through the bars for me to hold....I could die from sweetness overload. 

4. As I was doing laundry today, I had the strongest urge to insist that my kids pick out their favorite 7 outfits, a couple pair of pajamas and let's donate the rest.

5. After Everly fell asleep, I went in to lay by Anna and she was telling me about all of her ideas and adventures and she was lightly stroking my face and hair with her fingers. I loved that. What will I do when they all get big and don't need me to lay by them and I don't get to hear their thoughts on life and listen as they fall asleep and feel their sweet little feet tucked under my legs?

What in the world will I do then?