Tenley

We had quite the busy, fun day celebrating our sweet Tenley girl! Kade’s football game was this morning and then she and I spent the afternoon together. We went to Brush Crazy and painted ceramics. Tenley loved it but I definitely felt out of place. I’m not much of an artist! But it was so much fun to have one on one time with her. The weather was beautiful so we walked around down town for a little bit and shopped. Then we picked up pizza, watched a movie, opened presents, and ate cake! We love our sweet funny girl!

Birthday Weekends

Tenley is celebrating her 8th birthday tomorrow so we had to start the party today! Well, maybe we technically started the party yesterday. She had donuts in her classroom and we took her out to dinner a restaurant of her choice. She got a special dessert and loved being sung to. She’s a special girl and we’re lucky to have her!

Family Promise

This afternoon was a bit crazier than normal. Tenley had activity days, Kade had football practice, and I had a church meeting. I dropped Tenley off with a friend who took her to the church, then I dropped Ryder and Luke off with Brad at his office, then I dropped Kade off at football practice and headed to my meeting. My meeting was all about taking care of the homeless families in our community. It was with a number of different church congregations in town. It's neat to be a part of a community doing so much good for those with less. I came home feeling even more grateful for my children, our warm home, our opportunities, my husband who earns all the money around here, and chances like this to help others.

Hot Chocolate

I’m beginning to think that Montana only has two season; spring and winter. I think we had fall weather for one week and since then we’ve been getting hit with winter storms. This morning was 60 degrees and then right around noon the temperature plummeted to 40 and then a few hours later it was snowing. If nothing else, it makes me laugh. I wonder how many years of this it will take before I stop laughing.

After picking up the kids from school they begged for some hot chocolate at home. It was the perfect after school snack for today.

Life and Feelings

That sounds like a really deep title. But I’m not about to get deep on here. Not today anyway. I’m just grateful that Ryder and I were able to play the game of Life today. He was adamant all morning that we play it so I finally got it out after lunch.

I’m also grateful for our feelings chart. Ryder often changes it to what he’s feeling. He’ll even come and show me what he changed it to so I can know how he’s feeling. Like he did this morning when I wasn’t playing Life with him. He came and showed me that he was sad. But after we played life he was happy! Our days are filled with different emotions and I’m glad my kids don’t feel like they have to be happy all of the time. The sad times make the happy times more meaningful.

Cinnamon Rolls, Kade's Lessons

I am the worst at making cinnamon rolls. Brad's mom always made delicious homemade cinnamon rolls and I have tried so hard to do the same so Brad can have them on weekends like this. It's general conference and also the 6 year anniversary of her passing. I knew I needed cinnamon rolls. But I've tried several recipes and have failed time and time again. So I bought frozen ones from the store... Brad saw them in the freezer and was pretty disappointed. He even commented that he might make them himself! So I decided to scour the web for a new, hopefully amazing, recipe. I am so happy to say that I found one! Thank you Mel, you are a life saver for sharing such an amazing recipe that even I couldn't mess up it's deliciousness! They turned out so yummy and I am so relieved. Now I have a go-to cinnamon roll recipe. Yay!

We had a great day as a family. It was sunny outside with no snow to be seen. It was technically my night to lead Family Home Evening, but Kade asked me if he could switch me night instead because he had a great lesson idea in mind. He never told me what it was and I was excited to see what he had come up with. He started his lesson with the newest Book of Mormon video and then he told us of an analogy he had come up with while we were moving rock this past weekend-side note, we got 4 yards of rock delivered to our driveway for our backyard garden area. We had to shovel it into a wheelbarrow and drag it to the backyard. The rock needed to go on either side of our sidewalk. He told us that the sidewalk is like the covenant path that we need to follow, and if we fall off, we'll slip away in the rocks and it will be hard work to get back on the path so we need to try hard to stay on the path. This actually happened a time or two while he was pulling the wheel barrow, so he was speaking from experience about the hard work that it takes to get back on the path!
It was the most simple and beautiful message from my smart and deep thinking 10 year old. He is a wise boy and he is exactly right. I loved what he shared. It was a great message.

He then asked us all what our favorite talks from conference were. Brad loved Elder Bednar's talk, Tenley loved hearing the prophet, Ryder loved the "every day, every day, every day" talk, I loved Elder Holland's talk, and Kade loved Elder Uchtdorf's talk (the reference to The Hobbit helped I think!). It was a great conference and I'm looking forward to reading and re-listening to the talks.

Conference Weekend

We had a great start to the conference weekend. Kade had two football games which Brad was nice enough to take him to. It was way too cold and windy to take Luke out in so I stayed home with him. It was a bummer to miss Kade’s games. But he did a great job! He had a few good runs and was able to okay quarterback as well.

Tenley and I watched the General Women’s session of Conference tonight together while we ate Cafe a Rio and ice cream. It was fun and she was very talkative. I think she enjoyed the girl time.

Everything!

I found so much to love today! The sunshine, puddles (you really had to hear Luke's giggle and Ryder jumped in the puddles! Watching him see things for the first time is amazing!), lunch with Kade, the hot wheels cars track, happy kids, short work days, breakthroughs on research, and neighborhood walks. It was such a great day.
Each night when I ask my kids what their favorite part of the day was I usually have to list out everything that happened that day so they can remember and then choose their favorite. But more often then not they end up saying that they loved everything. I agree with them on that today. I loved everything!

October

It actually feels like fall again! I hope winter doesn't come for a few more months. Tenley finished decorating our calendar and I can tell it's going to be great month! She is SO excited for her birthday and for her baptism. It is definitely a very special month for her!

My Budding Artist, Gratitude

Tenley’s new favorite way to relax when she gets home from school is to draw. I love that she’s choosing to do something other than electronics and I really love her artwork! This sweet girl is pretty talented to me.

Kade had a pretty tough day today. His class was loud, obnoxious, and not listening to their teacher. Disappointing adults really affects Kade and even though he was trying hard to be good, his whole class was punished. This is the third day this week that he’s been so overwhelmed with school. He seems unhappy and it breaks my mom heart to see him so distressed. All I want to do is keep him home from school and away from the things causing him pain, but I do not want to teach him to runaway from his problems. So we let him talk it out, I made his favorite pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for dessert, and we watched a shark show because he loves sharks. Things may not be so fun outside of our home, but I’m committed to making our home a happy, loving safe place.
I gave Kade a notebook tonight that said:
“To: Kade
Find something to be grateful for everyday and know that I love you so much!
Love, Mom”
I hope he starts his own little gratitude journal and is able to find and see the joy around him every day.

Luke's Giggles

Luke was laughing like crazy this morning! He loves to tease and so he was teasing Ryder in the bathtub and gigging about it. It was so funny! His favorite way to tease me is to yell, "Dada!" To which I'll say, "Mama!" And then he says "Dada!" again and laughs. He is the biggest tease.

The sun came out today and it warmed up! Beside seeing snow on the ground it felt like a real fall day. I think fall may return for a little bit!

The Excitement of Little Kids

We woke up to a whole lot more snow this morning! Our little city has even made national news with the record 14 inches of snow we’ve received. Tenley and Ryder couldn’t wait to go outside and play in it again this morning. They made a lot of snowmen which Keen quickly destroyed, but they had fun. I’m happy to be surrounded by kids that are excited to see this much snow this time of year because honestly, for me I wasn’t that excited.

Home

Home again, home again, jiggity jig. I'm not even sure what that is even from, but it goes through my head every time we come back from a trip. It is good to be home! I love our bed and all the other comforts that come with being home. Unfortunately we arrived just in time for a crazy early winter storm. I woke up to snow on the ground! We have been warned that we'd see snow every month of the year at some point living here, so September can be checked off for that unfortunate event now. I think it will be a crazy day when I see snow in July! We are supposed to get up to another foot of snow tonight. I'm going to avoid actually having to go outside and shovel as long as possible.

I so wanted to be a fun mom that was so excited to see the snow that I just threw my snow clothes on with my kids and ran outside for a snow ball fight, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Seeing snow this time of year does not bring out excitement in me. But Tenley and Ryder shared some excitement and had fun playing in the snow together. I'm glad they have each other.

Portland, Savannah

Brad and I have been in Portland the last two days looking at new equipment for the dental office. It was a busy, quick, fun trip! Portland’s weather was beautiful today. It was nice to enjoy the fall weather as we toured the A Dec campus. And we both tried calamari last night for the first time ever. It was an interesting experience!

We made it home tonight around 10 PM and the kids had waited up for us. They had the best babysitter ever, as they say. Savannah just graduated from high school this past May and is going to turn her mission papers in in a few months. I was so happy that she was willing and able to be here with the kids while we were gone. After we waved goodbye to her Tenley and Ryder started to cry. “I love Savannah so much! Whenever you get a babysitter it HAS to be Savannah! I want to go visit Savannah tomorrow and play with her,” they kept saying through their tears. I cuddled with Ryder in his bed until he fell asleep-which took about 5 seconds-and Tenley kept popping up out of her bed with new fun stories to tell me about. They went to the Children’s museum, the Candy store, McDonalds, Cold Stone and the park. They made crafts and she taught them how to okay the ukulele. She definitely is the best babysitter ever!

Picture Day

While I drive the kids from place to place I sometimes daydream about living on a farm far out of town. We’d get up early and work and have peaceful, quiet afternoons. A simple life like that sounds so nice. But then I see how much the kids love their activities, their school, and their friends. Maybe we can have a simple farm life later on...

It was picture day at school. My kids looked adorable!

My Webelo

I had forgotten how busy afternoons are after school. I know my kids need some time to wind down when they get home, but often it’s the only time we have to work on homework and practice the piano. Tonight Kade had football practice and then straight from there he headed to scouts. He and Brad didn’t even get to eat dinner until 8. The daytime is getting busy with all of Ryder’s activities as well. On Tuesdays he has gymnastics and a play date, so Luke getting two full naps is near impossible.

I think the challenge for me is finding calm through all the chaos and enjoying all of the friends and activities we are blessed to have in our lives. It’s all about attitude and perspective!

Kade earned his next rank in the scouting program tonight. He was excited and wants to work hard to earn his next tank before the end of the year.

Flag Football, Perfect Spelling Tests

Fall is here and it is obvious! It was really windy and chilly today and we have snow in the forecast for the weekend! Regardless, we still had a lot of fun at Kade’s football game and so did he. Ryder and I mainly played football on the sideline the whole time but I did see Kade make a good run on offense. We got home late and had leftovers for dinner. It wasn’t a normal family night for us, but we still had fun!

Also, each Monday at school Kade's class takes a pre-spelling test and if anyone gets 100% then they don't have to take the actual spelling test on Friday. This is the second time already this year that Kade got 100%!