Arabella turns 8!

On Monday, November 21st this sweet, kind, tenderhearted, amazing, loving, creative girl turned 8! 

It is hard to believe she is really that old! 

Arabella is a huge part of what holds our family together. 

With the whole week of school off for Thanksgiving, she got to sleep in a bit and then started her day with her breakfast of choice- Monkey bread. 

 She was excited for her chocolate making kit and several new clothing items. 

 

 She has really wanted a bathrobe and slippers and thanks to her cousins her wish came true! She has worn them both so much this past week. 

 And finally, after much waiting and anticipation she was able to get her ears pierced. It hurt a bit more than she thought it would and her ears were really sensitive for the first day but she has toughened up since and remembers to clean them all by herself. 

We finished her big day by attending the city library's really big Harry Potter Party! 

There was an animal show, wand making, quill making, scavenger hunts, lightning bolt tattoos, photo booths, trivia, owl origami, and more. 

Arabella  has read the first two Harry Potter books this year and has started on the third. She is loving them! I love that she loves to read so much!

And for her final request, we had ravioli for dinner with spaghetti squash.  Her birthday dessert was tiger striped fudge with Blue Bell Hot Chocolate flavored ice cream! 

She had a great day! We love you so much Arabella! 

Concert Time

Joseph has been practicing and working hard on his viola. 

He sounds really good at home when he rehearses but it was really fun to hear all of the instruments for the songs he has been practicing. I hope he sticks with this for a few more years. 

 Jon had his 5th grade program about the same time as Joseph. 

For the first song of the evening, Jon was the one to set the rhythm and keep it going- he did a great job. This year he is doing choir and Jagspiel  which is a percussion type music group at school. 

Jon striking a pose for one of the songs- love the intense look! 

We are so proud of our boys and the hard work they have put into learning about music and preparing to perform. 

Tough Mudder

One of my friends from Ragnar invited me to do a Tough Mudder race.

I am so glad I agreed! I was worried because I do not have great upper body strength but I put for the effort and followed their training schedule and I survived the 12 miles and 20+ obstacles. 

 Above the before picture and 

below the after pictures. 

 The shot of my legs is in case the picture above made you think there was not actually mud.

There was plenty and there was a lot of water and even some electricity. 

 Here is our team after. This was the 3+ race for 3 of the guys. 

The picture before the race before we got muddy! 

I loved this race because it was not timed- it was all about finishing and getting through the obstacles. I did so much better on some of the obstacles than I thought I would. I had some crazy bruises for the next 10 days after but they were well earned and totally worth it. It is a team event because you could not make it through most of the obstacles without the help of other people- just like life really. 

Trunk or Treating and Trick or Treating

We hosted our annual Unofficial Ward Trunk or Treat and had a great time.

We moved the location to the elementary school by our house- it has a much better parking lot and still has a playground.  It was a great location. 

 The kids all ran and ran and played and played. 

Lily was our princess, fairy, ballerina.

 I was showing my true colors as a witch (or a cooking witch - that is what Lily called me due to the apron I wore).

 The whole crazy crew!

 Jedi Jon

 Pippi Longstocking- Arabella 

 Hans Solo

 He had a rough night with the generator and cotton candy machine but he looked good in his not costume costume. 

On Halloween, I took the kids around while Peter stayed and passed out cotton candy to the trick or treaters that came to our door. Our friends the Schmidts joined us for the fun. Joseph opted to stay home and invite some youth from our ward over and they watched Ghostbusters the original. We all had fun and had plenty of sugar! 

Peter Celebrates Another Birthday!

That ball of fire atop the apple fritter is not 38 candles but a sparkler candle- fancy! It was impossible to blow out but it was fun to watch! 

We were able to surprise him with donuts for breakfast and an unexpected gift of a indoor trainer for his bike. 

Peter is so good to all of us. He is hardworking, handy, handsome, helpful, happy and much more. The Sunday after his birthday he ended up making his own birthday dinner because I had church meetings. He wanted spaghetti and meatballs with homemade french bread and cauliflower. He ended up smoking the meatballs and they were delicious! 

Here is to many more birthdays my dear!