monkey see, monkey do

I made a yarn wreath yesterday.  I started it at a church thing with friends in the morning, and then spent nap time trying to finish.  Gavin and Lexi were so enamored with rolled fabric flowers that they wanted to try some themselves.  They were incredibly persistent, so before bed I let them try.  They were thrilled.

Then Gavin and Lexi begged to make their own wreaths.  I must have been feeling ambitious (or slightly crazy) when I agreed to this plan.  This morning while I manned the Littles' soccer games, Garry took the other kids to Michael's and rounded up supplies.  And thus today's nap time was devoted to another wreath project.

As it turned out, these kids had amazing attention spans and dexterity.  I operated the hot glue gun while Gavin and Lexi cut and rolled flowers and wound yarn around their wreath forms.  I was quite impressed!

The finished wreaths make me smile.

I kind of like mine, too, but I think it's still a work in progress.

Sunday afternoon

Last week I poked my nose into a photography book and learned a little about ISO, exposure, and aperture.  Since we own a nice camera, I'd like to learn to use it properly. But there's sure a lot to learn!

One of the exercises in the book I'm reading required taking still shots and action shots using a bunch of different settings.  I'm not sure I learned what I was supposed to learn during the exercise, and the photos aren't fantastic, but I sure had a lot of fun watching Garry and the kids play.

Gavin volunteered to be my subject for the still shots, which is hilarious.  He bailed after the first one, so Garry stepped in, and then Lexi jumped on his lap.  I kind of wish they had been wearing coordinating clothing, because I took several shots that I just love...but their clothes clash.  Haha.

It was easy to find a moving target: three boys on a trampoline.  Zach can land a back flip, so now he's trying to add a spin.  Tyler is an expert at striking spazzy poses mid-air.  And Gavin has perfected his front flip ("I can LAND it, Mom!").  Sometimes it's amazing to see how high he can travel on his brothers' bounces.  Lexi would only jump with Garry.  Her fear of her brothers is completely justified.

After the trampoline show, Garry wrestled kids in the grass and tried to lift them off the ground.  Everyone was joking and laughing and helping each other, which is a far cry from their usual agitation.  

For a few minutes, I basked in my heaven on earth.  I'm glad I have the photos to prove that it actually happened.

Moms just wanna have fun

Today I dusted the cobwebs from my fun-o-meter and joined some friends at The Color Run in town.  Garry and I had planned to run the 5K together--a pretty fun activity for The Couple Who Never Dates--but his persistent cold/cough/flu got the better of him this week and he had to back out.  I was going to skip it, too, but decided late last night to go anyway.  Clayson, a teenage boy in the ward, took Garry's spot, and Lisa, Angela, April, and I all had a blast.

We arrived at the race venue (Pikes Peak International Raceway) around 7:45.  We met up with Clayson and his parents and joked about the run being an official ward activity because Clayson's dad, our Bishop, was there.  He was kind enough to take a "before" shot of us in our pristine white shirts.

Lisa, Angela, April, Heidi

The race began in waves at 8:00.  Groups were released every couple of minutes.  The crowd was pretty fun as we waited in line.  We saw people in white wigs, tutus, knee socks, headbands, and florescent sunglasses.  Everyone was rocking out to the music, and the race DJ was hilarious.  Our group (the ladies, at least; Clayson found friends) ended up right at the front of our wave.  We set off at 8:20.

We were in the middle of the pack...maybe even the front third.  Tons of people ran!

At every kilometer mark we ran through a color station, where race volunteers sprayed the runners with chalky color.  I tried my best to get completely saturated, and I think I succeeded!  I also tried to run the entire 5K.  I did have to walk after about 3 kilometers, but just for 30 seconds or so.  Angela and April finished ahead of me, I crossed the finish line in about 35 minutes (I'm thrilled!), and Lisa finished shortly after me.  Clayson ran the 5K loop twice in less than 40 minutes.

We took some ceremonial photos at the end.

Before we found everyone else, Angela and I went into the "party zone" for some colorific fun and came out completely plastered.  Sweet!

Angela

Lisa

In the party zone

April, Lisa, and I went to breakfast at Denny's on the way home.  We got lots of weird looks (understandably), but had a great time!  As we left another Color Run group walked in to eat.

The kids thought I looked pretty crazy when I got home.  (Of course they were correct.) Most of the color came off in the shower, although my skin is still quite dyed between my fingers, under my arms, and around my eyes.  I'm still not sure about my hair.  I might be quite an entertaining choir accompanist during sacrament meeting tomorrow.

We sat on towels as we drove home but forgot to protect the seat belts. Oops.
Good thing Garry's car is 13 years old.

I would say that this was a morning of good, clean fun...but I guess that's not entirely accurate.  I am glad to know that in spite of my crazy/stressful/wonderful life, I can still let go and have a good time.

Family bike ride

Remember when I got a bike last year for Mother's Day?  Well, today I finally used it.  

I haven't ridden a bike for any appreciable distance since high school.  And as we all know, high school was a really long time ago. (Sidebar: One time in high school I joined my brother's Boy Scout troop on a 50-mile bike ride because I thought Young Women activities were L.A.M.E.  That was before Young Women got to do cool stuff like rappel and hike.  It seemed like all we did was tie quilts and practice dinner etiquette, and I mostly hated it.)  We also know that my appearance and fitness level are pretty much the same as they were last Mother's Day--when I was 24 weeks pregnant and deathly ill--so it was a little silly to assume I could actually participate in a family bike ride, but I did it anyway.

Today was a gorgeous Colorado day.  We set out around 4:00.  Zach and Tyler led the pack.  Garry followed with Gavin behind.  And I brought up the rear pulling two little girls.  We covered 2.5 miles in about 25 minutes.  The boys could have covered that distance much faster, but I was pretty slow on our hilly route.  That said, we all had a great time.  It was so fun to do something active as a family of seven!

The kids are already asking when we can go again.  Since I probably won't be able to walk tomorrow, I'm not sure what to tell them.  But "again" is definitely possible.

Holiday bucket list

The kids are out of school until January 5, and with a week left until Christmas it feels like we have a lot of time on our hands.  This morning we planned a menu for the next week and made a list of the things we'd like to do over our long break.

* Make and decorate sugar cookies

* Drive around town to see the Christmas lights (again)

* Go sledding (if it snows!)

* Read every picture book in the house to the Littles

* Deliver the rest of our neighbor gifts
* Have friends over to play

* Donate to the Cub Scout book drive

* Go skiing with Dad

* Fix Gavin's bean bag

* Eat lasagna for dinner

* Go out to eat

* Make paper stars (like the ones at the ward Christmas party)

* Decorate a gingerbread house

* Watch "Joy to the World"

* Watch new Life of Jesus Christ Bible Videos

* Complete more indexing batches

* "Camp" in the basement

I'm not sure how much of this we'll accomplish, but it's a good place to start!

The Halloween Post

Our Halloween celebrations were many this year.

We began with a spooky dinner sponsored by Granny.  We visted a pumpkin patch twice. We attended the ward Fall Festival.  We carved jack-o-lanterns.  The big boys attended a costume party on Saturday.  All three boys had class parties, too, and the girls and I participated in Gavin's.  Then, last but certainly not least, our four ambulatory children went trick-or-treating.  The result is four happy, wired kids, four bulging bags of candy, and three goldfish.

Are you tired yet?

My instinct is to relate all of these fun and exciting events in detail, but the reality of my life demands a post that takes ten minutes start to finish.  So here are the highest of the highlights.

Carving pumpkins was much less harrowing than buying pumpkins (remember this?). Garry and the kids gutted them, I drew on all the designs, and Garry, Zach, Tyler, and I wielded various sharp implements to craft the jack-o-lanterns.  We should have taken pictures on Saturday, because by Monday the pumpkins were all dried out and curled. (Sometimes I forget we aren't in lush Oregon.)  From left to right we have a monster with many eyes and teeth (Gavin); a skull in flames (Zach); Kate's name (Kate); a cat (Lexi), and a howling wolf head (Tyler).

Gavin's preschool party was spectacular.  Lexi went in costume and trick-or-treated around the district office (she received a treat from the superintendent himself!) like she was one of the preschoolers.  Then she sat at the table with Gavin and his classmates for a feast of orange food.  She also participated in circle/song/story time with the class.  She was in heaven!  Gavin was so happy for his little guest to be there.  And I was thrilled to finally have a two-year-old who knew how to behave at a school function!

Kate made her Halloween debut as a bunny at the ward Halloween party.  She was perfectly darling and slept the entire time.  I stole her bunny ears for the preschool party, but she didn't seem to care.

And here's the crew just before they embarked on trick-or-treating.  Ron Weasley, Harry Potter, a purple dragon, and a little green frog haunted the neighborhood just long enough to have a great time but still go to bed at a reasonable hour.  Back at home, not a single trick-or-treater knocked on the door!  (I'll spare you my commentary on the neighborhood.)

This year we are instituting a candy buy-back program.  Zach and Tyler are still mulling over our offer, but we hope they accept a cash contribution to their trampoline fund!

I {heart} fall

October gave a party;

The leaves by hundreds came - 

The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,

And leaves of every name.

The Sunshine spread a carpet,

And everything was grand,

Miss Weather led the dancing,

Professor Wind, the band.

{George Cooper, "October's Party"}

...

Today's joys:

*Enjoying the breathtaking fall scenery

*Playing a piano duet at church
*Five incredible siblings
(and four incredible siblings-in-law)
*Sitting by a friend in Relief Society

*Waking up from a bad dream
to realize it was pure fantasy
*Lending a hand outside my home
when it was really needed

Spook-tacular

A few days ago I told the kids we were going to have a spooky dinner to celebrate Halloween.  You'd think I had told them they had won the lottery.  Their eyes lit up with wonder....and they have been pestering me ever since.

Well, today was the BIG DAY.  Spooky Dinner Day.  For all the "oohs" and "ahhs" it got, I think the dinner was a smashing success.  We actually had so much fun that we might make this an annual tradition.  And maybe we'll eat silly food for all holidays.  I guess it depends on how ambitious I feel.

The kids dressed up in their new Halloween duds.  Matchy-matchy and super fun.  I love it.  Last night I spookified the house with a few Halloween decorations, which we didn't photograph today, but suffice it to say that tables and walls and children were all sufficiently festive.  [Many thanks to our sweet Granny, who gave the kids their fun clothes and all the tableware shown below, which was the inspiration for our fun "party."]

We sat down to a feast concocted from recipes found on OurBestBites.com.  We enjoyed Mummy Dogs, Bones 'n Blood, Monster Jaws, and Spooky Juice.

The ice cubes floating in the juice were supposed to glow in the dark, but our tonic water failed under the black light (bummer!).  The kids did love finding plastic bat-shaped rings frozen in their ice cubes, however.

For dessert we ate Dirt and Worms.

All in all, it was a fun family meal.  I'm not sure how it happened, but we ended up discussing The Dixon Fairness Doctrine over dinner, which always makes me smile.

It was a good night.

Fun run

Last night at dinner Zach shared his anxious anticipation for the school's annual fundraiser, the Fit 'n Fun Run, which is happening today and tomorrow.  As we discussed how many laps he might expect to run in the 20-minute period, Gavin wanted to know when HE could have a fun run.  He was quite disappointed to discover that preschool doesn't have fun runs, and he wouldn't even be able to watch his brothers participate in their own.  I suggested that maybe we could have a family fun run -- sometime.  (You know, that mystical "sometime" that never quite materializes?)

Gavin isn't one to let Mom off easy, so when Garry suggested a bath after dinner, Gavin screechingly reminded him of the family fun run that was to take place RIGHT NOW.  It was a night when we could be flexible (no soccer!), so the entire family laced up tennies and adjourned to the cul-de-sac.  As the self-appointed time-keeper, I set my phone for five minutes and everyone started running laps.  It was a sight to behold.

Tyler led the pack for several laps.  He was a blur (especially to my phone camera in fading light).

Zach was consistent and fast; he eventually overtook the lead.

Lexi tripped a few times, so Garry offered his assistance.

And Gavin was a running machine -- a machine that ran full blast or not at all, which was perfectly hilarious.  I laughed and laughed.

When the timer rang at the end of five minutes, Zach had run 10.5 laps; Tyler, 9; Gavin, 7; and Lexi, 5.  The family then ran a staggered race from the bottom of the cul-de-sac to Garry's car in the driveway.  With the staggered start, everyone arrived at just about the same time.  Watching Garry sprint with Lexi in his arms was awesome; he and Zach were neck-and-neck!  

But Gavin wasn't quite satisfied.  Through his screams we eventually figured out that he intended to complete 12 laps, so everyone else went inside and Gavin happily ran five more quick laps.  Then he was content to come inside and take a bath.  That boy sure knows how to put the FUN in fun run!