Mrs. Rush's Dr. Seuss Review & Chloe's School Christmas Concert

Carter's 4th grade class put together this great little performance.

They wrote and performed several little plays. 

Carter participated in the following...

Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are

- He played the part of Harry Potter

The Grinch Who Stole Education

- He played the part of "Who People"

Try To Remember the First of Noctember

- He played the part of Kids

 

This was a fun evening spent with Carter. These are some pretty talented kids in Mrs. Rush's class.  It was fun to see how creative they were with rhyming and coming up with plays that were similar to something Dr. Seuss would have created.  They loaded up on refreshments afterwards.  

Right after this performance, we had to rush to the Auditorium at Twin Falls High School so that we could watch Chloe perform in her Christmas singing concert for Oregon Trail.  That was a lot of fun as well. 

Halloween Weekend 2011

This year was another great year for dressing up!  I think we all would agree that dressing up is one of our most favorite things to do.  We all came right out of the movies this year...

Harry Potter

Wyatt Earp "It all ends now!"

Dorothy & Toto

Groovy Girl

Saturday night we went to the 16th Ward Trunk or Treat Party.  It was fun and there were lots of great costumes...including several Dorothy's.  Shaylee and Josie were among them. 

Josie and her little friend Sariah were happy to see each other all dressed up.

The Allen's trailer (my dad's old goose neck trailer they bought from us) was all decorated like a haunted house.  Josie made mom go with her because "it was soooo scary!"  There was a cat in a cage and a few cobwebs...ooooooohhhhh!  They had a little slide to go down on the way out...it was a little small for mom.

There is Maycee, Chloe, Josie and Preston (Aunt Kim's grandson) all begging for candy from the Halloween Statue of Liberty, Josh Knowlton.  Just kidding.

Pictured here is Russell from the movie Up.  His balloons had floated away by now...but there was still candy to pass out.  He was a real hit and the kids all loved seeing him with his balloons.

It was rather chilly and that sleeping bag looked very cozy.

After trunk-or-treating several rounds, we headed home to dump out the bag-of-treats...so mom and dad could pick out their favorite candy, make sure the treats were safe.

Mark and Memaw even dressed up for the occasion.  They were a Rodeo Clown and his Rubber Chicken...oh wait, I think she was a Puffer Fish.  :)  Either way, a lot of people had a hard time recognizing her and she was a real hit at her work party a couple nights before. 

Isn't it fun dressing up???

There is Russell and Alice in Wonderland.

Here is the loot...

On Monday, Halloween Day, each of the kids dressed up for school and participated in their school costume parades. 

Mom got to participate in Wyatt Earp's classroom party where they made bats and had lots of treats.

While at the party, I found out that Mason has a girlfriend, Savannah, and that they have kissed.  (I am taking a breath so I don't panic.)  Her mother had heard all about Mason, and I am grateful that I know Savannah's family because her mom is Carter's scout leader.  She is a pretty cute little fairy. 

Wyatt Earp...the kissing ends now!

Here is the rest of the Gang. 

Mason, Dillon, Brayden and not sure...

After Mason's party, I was able to go help Carter's class at Morningside.  (I will have to help in Chloe's class next time.)  There were 3 Harry Potter's in his class.  Of course, I know who the cutest one is and of course I am partial....  :)

The Winner of the Harry Potter Contest

I love the timing of this picture.  :)  I was just trying to get a picture of Carter at his table and I caught Elizabeth with a shocking expression.

I had to take this picture because Carter is officially no longer afraid of the witch in Snow White. 

 

Carter's class party consisted of some games.  One of which was the Mummy wrap.  Who's the Mummy?

This is Carter's friend Claire.  She is adorable.

One of Carter's friends, Parker, all mummy-wrapped. 

I love the peaking eye.

Later that evening, we met at our friend's, The Knowlton's, for trick-or-treating.  It was a lot of fun.  Josie decided that she didn't want to be Dorothy again, so she was the Wicked Witch from the West who stole Dorothy's shoes.  She was a cute little witch. 

Russell found some more balloons.

Alice in Wonderland was tired of her itchy hairdo, so she dressed up like the Witch from Blackbird Pond...much more comfortable! 

Up, Up, and Away!

We ended the evening having doughnuts and apple cider, just to top off the sugar rush and then headed home for bed.  It was another successful candy trip. 

Happy Halloween!

(The next day, Mason and Josie snuck their candy bags while dad wasn't looking...Half their bag disappeared into their bellies and Mason threw-up twice.  I wish he would have learned a lesson...but I am afraid he didn't.  No more candy for a week!)

Idaho History Project

One of Carter's fun projects for the year was making a cake (or extra-large cookie) to show all the Native American Reservations in Idaho.  I hope they tasted good.

Scouting for Food

Our whole family had the opportunity to help Carter with his cub scout project.  We met at the church for breakfast and then headed out to a large neighborhood with a ton of bags labeled Scouting for Food.  Each bag had to be hung on the doors in the neighborhood.  People can fill the bag full of canned food to be donated to food banks.  The boy scouts collect the bags of food the following week.  It was a fun adventure with little legs that got tired after walking and walking, but we were grateful to be able to serve our community.  We love Cub Scouts!

I Can Be Honest

I have the opportunity to be Josie's Sunbeam teacher.  It has been a lot of fun dealing with a lot of handfuls...of children.  They are so cute and so full of energy.  This particular Sunday, we talked about Helaman and the Stripling Warriors and how they were valiant because they were taught by their Mothers to trust and have faith in the Lord.  These little Sunbeams were so excited to wear a headband like the Stripling Warriors.  I know that as we trust in the Lord and live with honesty and integrity, Heavenly Father blesses us in ways we can't even imagine.  I love these sweet little spirits that grow up relying solely on righteous parents and teachers to teach them the truth of our purpose here on earth.

Mark's Funny Glasses

All the kids love Mark Russell! 

Mark is Memaw's friend and he is a kid - magnet. 

Today, the girls took turns trying on his glasses.

Crazy glasses with some very cute girls!

General Conference October 2011

We just finished watching another whole session of General Conference.  Each one of us really looks forward to being spiritually uplifted as the week moves toward the weekend.  Of course, there is always candy to get the kids excited as well.  Chloe is always saying, "I wonder what kind of candy we are going to get...but I know, it's not about the candy!" 

Saturday morning session was my favorite and usually always is.  It started out with Richard G. Scott talking about the importance of the scriptures and how they will change our lives as they open the channel to heaven.  I know this to be true.  I need to do better at really studying my scriptures so that everything that isn't going quite right in my life, will get better.  I am excited to improve.

My most favorite speaker this conference was Boyd K. Packer.  One year ago he delivered the most amazing talk about morality and the importance of the Family Proclamation.  He was verbally stoned, like prophets of old, for being so bold and stating the truth.  Because of his testimony, he has become one of my favorite apostles.  He is a hero, to me, like Samuel the Lamanite.  This year he stood back up, not physically~because he is 97 years old and had to sit down to deliver his message, and delivered a brief but direct message about the Family Proclamation again.  It proved to me that he knows the truth and will not back down because what he said is not "socially acceptable" these days.  His talk was about wars and rumors of wars and  how we live in a very literal spiritual war while there are physical wars going on around us.  He talked about how gender was established in the spirit world and all beings who have bodies have power over those who do not.  I have always taught my children that there are only two teams in this spiritual war of good and evil.  There is Jesus's team and Satan's team.  We also know who will win and who will lose, so it is up to us to make sure we are always fighting for the winning team.  I almost burst into tears when Boyd K. Packer said, "The outcome of the battle is not in question...Lucifer will lose!"  This will be a quote in our home from now on.  I believe that Satan knows he is going to lose the battle and the war and so his only desire is to take as many souls as he can down with him.  It is so important that we now prepare ourselves more than ever to continue defending the truth and protecting our families. 

I love General Conference and when it is over, I have a feeling like when you get home from vacation and you have to get back to reality.  But, I am renewed and it is time to get to work making improvements in my life and in our home. 

One sad thing that did happen this morning was that one of my mom's dogs, Popeye, tried to kill a porcupine last night and his whole entire mouth and face was covered with quills.  When she took him to the veterinarian, it was going to be so expensive to take them out and it was one of the worst cases the vet had seen.  So they decided to put him to sleep.  The kids have had a really hard day and I have to admit that it is really sad to have to put an animal down because of financial reasons.  But, we think if it happened in the great wilderness, he wouldn't have been able to eat and would have starved to death or been eaten by another animal...so that makes us feel better.  Oh, what a sad day to see the kids crying endlessly, the older ones writing their feelings in their journals and the younger ones drawing pictures of themselves with tears coming out of their eyes.  It breaks my heart to see them so sad, and I feel guilty because I wasn't really attached to the dog.  These experiences are good for us to go through because then we can talk about the purpose of life and what happens after death and how we need to treasure our relationships with family, friends (and animals) because we never know when it will be time to say goodbye.  Honestly it made me think about my Dad and Uncle Mason today and how we miss them, but we will get to see them again someday.  What a happy day that will be.  Oh, the circle of life...