The Little Things

A move right before Christmas means we've been super busy. But we've still managed to have fun doing the little things here and there...

The kids were able to help paint (a little bit) the living room. They really enjoyed it!

Violet loves to feed birds in the Sams Club parking lot. She's really become an animal lover.

Peek-a-boo! Ginger wakes up from a nap in her car seat.

Jaxon gets into some trouble...this was a particularly bad day. I made him write an apology letter to his teacher.

I thought I'd get a photo of our last pizza/movie night at our condo. This night's movie was "Rudolf".

 Ginger finally met her great-grandma, her middle name's namesake.

And plays a piece for her. :)

I volunteered at Jaxon's class Christmas party

We're all just about settled in now, a few boxes and lots of tools still hanging around, but we'll get there! But not till after Christmas. :)

Meanwhile this Fall...

We're moving! Yes, it's time. I can't believe we've been here for over 9 years. I'd say we should make it an even 10, but let's not. ;) The new house is still in our stake, and we we'll still be in the Spanish ward so that's nice and easy for our social circles. Travis and his dad have been working on the house making it ready to move in. It was fine to begin with but we wanted some upgrades.

Refinishing the kitchen cupboards

I usually don't take pictures at church, but I thought this would be fun for posterity- Jaxon listening to Spanish translation during stake conference.

We also have a family tradition of making doughnuts stake conference Sundays. Maple glaze is our favorite.

Violet so proud of the tower she built while waiting for Jaxon at Lego Club. Her hair looks like that more often than not.

And of course, more jumping in leaves...

Halloween 2017

So after getting all cleaned up from jumping in leaves, it was time to get ready to go to Mamie's to eat and trick or treat with cousins. Jaxon's kindergarten class had a costume theme of fairy tales that the kids were to follow. Little tough for a boy. I'm not creative enough to make him lederhosen, so this was the next best thing- a woodsman from Red Riding Hood. Super easy. He's got an axe, it's just behind them. Violet was Snow White, and Ginger was a cowgirl.

 Laykin reads a Halloween story to Violet...

 We had chili dogs, homemade root beer, and corn bread muffins. After we roasted smores it was time to go trick or treating around the block!

Mamie and Papa's house is the final stop.

 It's fun to see the kids get more and more excited about trick-or-treating every year. :)

Shoveling Leaves

It's technically not raking leaves if you don't have a rake and only use a snow shovel. But a snow shovel works great too, so who needs a rake?

It was Halloween, so that's why Violet's hair is in curlers, for her princess costume later on.

  And the best part is that we have an HOA to come clean up our pile! Yay! 😁

They would reshovel the leaves every time it got low...

Jaxon has the kid sized shovel, Violet has the adult sized...she prefers it.

After the kids got tuckered out, it was time for apples and caramel dip. We're really living it up this fall. :)

Yes, they're unpeeled. They're going through this no-skins phase...ugh...

Mamie's Halloween Party

My mom and my sisters threw a spectacular halloween party for the cousins a couple weeks before Halloween. These kids had SO much fun, they're already talking about next year's party. Each mom was in charge of a fall activity (or two)...

We had doughnuts on a string...

 Violet refused to participate unless she could use her hands.

Decorating Rice-Krispy treat Frankensteins...

Gluing tissue leaves onto a bare tree (this was Jaxon's favorite out of all the activities)

Much needed trampoline breaks (aka adult breaks)

And Monster Mash musical chairs (which I didn't take pictures of because it was my activity). Mamie even gave each kid a goodie bag to take home with more Halloween surprises.

The best part was just seeing the cousins have so much fun and making fall memories together. We'll definitely do this again next year!

At the Pumpkin Patch

We always go to the pumpkin patch every fall, but I especially love taking a baby for the first time. Ginger's birthday is December, so she's almost not a baby anymore for her first time. But it doesn't make it any less adorable. :)

 

They were so concerned about her falling off.

We met up with my good high school friends Natasha and Lis and their kids. The more the merrier!

Going crazy in the corn pit

Violet loved the little piglet.

It was so much fun, as always. Can't wait till next fall when Ginger will be old enough to stop putting corn kernels in her mouth!

Fall Is Here

Fall is finally here! Here's what we've been up to so far...

We love harvesting grapes and making grape juice. It's definitely a favorite fall tradition for our family, and it's oh so yummy!

Jaxon's school had their school fair. It was unusually cold and rainy which meant that while everyone was inside they got the whole tractor ride to themselves! They just kept going for another spin over and over...

There was a cute petting zoo. Violet loved the bunny, but was terrified of the chickens. Jaxon has zero interest in any kind of animal, and is even scared of a few so he opted to sit outside the pen.

Early this year we decided to make a new family tradition- the first Saturday of each month is family pizza/movie night. Here Jaxon sticks with a traditional shape and Violet opted to make "The Magic School Bus".

We always love to feed the ducks and play at the park. Trying to spend as much time outside as possible before the cold comes...

Hello Ginger cakes! :)

Jaxon loves Lego Club. He's pointing to his project in the display case.

She still loves her "perro".

Can't wait to enjoy other fun fall festivities!