St. George and Halloween

We just got home yesterday from St. George after staying there for 12 days. It was great to get away for a while while the kids are off track, but it is nice to be back now, and will be really nice when the kids go back to school next week! I am sure that mom and Bill are glad to have their house back too!
We had a good time in St. George, except that Anela had a major terrible two attack. She wasn't feeling well pretty much the whole time we were there, and she made sure that everyone knew how she felt! I got a couple pictures of her mean face that she makes. She crosses her eyes when she's really mad, I got one of that in Kirah's camera, I will have to get it from her and post it later.
We were there over Halloween, which was fun. My mom made Gerry's Harry Potter costume, I really like how it turned out. The kids had a lot of fun, but I was disappointed. It seems that if you want to do the traditional trick or treating from door to door, you are now in the minority, and hardly anyone is home. We do trunk or treat here with the ward, so I was excited to do the door to door down there, but it was kind of a bomb. Probably about 75% of the houses near my mom's were empty when we went out. The kids didn't seem to mind though, so I guess it was OK.
Aneal was very emotional while we were there, and would cry anytime anyone said "no" to her. My mom told her that if she acts like that she would have to go the the back room till she could be quite and play nice. One time when she was in the back, my mom when to get her and see if she was ready to come out. She was mad at my mom so she wouldn't come out of the room, so my mom just left the door open and left. Later we went to see what she was doing since she still hadn't come out, and she was asleep in the closet. I thought it was kinda funny, so I took a picture of her. The next day she got upset again and was about to cry, so she just ran off to the back room by herself!

A couple of examples of her mean face (with Ariana's sweet face in the back!)

Cute little back cat out trick or treating. She put her bag around her neck because it was easier for her to hold (even though it didn't get very heavy!)

At the mall trick or treating earlier in the day on Saturday.

I wish that I had gotten a picture of Anela at the store where the guy giving out candy was dressed as a gorilla. He was crouched down on the floor, and when Anela got to him and he reached over to put the candy in her bag, she jumped back. As we were walking away she kept looking over her shoulder giving him her mean look.

Ready to go!

Not so ready to go!!

Cute Disney fairy (love the Halloween socks!)

Harry Potter. Yes I am dumb and for got to give him the scar! It's OK though, he said that he wanted to be a wizard, and I was the one who said that he would be Harry Potter.

Before trick or treating on Saturday we went to watch Grandpa Bill do some roping with his buddys. When they took a little break he gave Ariana and Gerry rides on my mom's horse Jazzy.

Doesn't Ariana look thrilled to be on a horse?

Gerry did a lot better, he wanted to go faster, and loved it when they got up to a trot.

Of course while we were there we had to go to the burger place. I think the kids love it as much as I do. They kept asking to go there. We went twice while we were there. I got the turkey guacamole BLT, it is SOOO good!!

Must Read!

For all of you Lord of the Rings fans out there who have not read the books, you HAVE to read them!! (Start with the Hobbit) Of course we all know that books are better than movies, and this is no exception. I have liked all the movies since they first came out, but it took me a long time to get around to reading the books. Most of the time I prefer to read a book before watching the movie made from the book, but if I had tried that with LOTR I don't think that I would have been able to get through them! J.R.R. Tolkien had an amazing imagination! Without the movies, I don't know if I would have understood a lot of the things that he described. At least not nearly as clear as they are depicted in the movies. I am not quite done with the books yet, I am almost done with The Two Towers, and then have The Return of the King. Even though I am not done yet, I am already planning on reading them again! I know that every time I read them I will get more out of it. Everyone I know who has read them, read them more than once. And I have never talked to anyone who said that they didn't like them, just a couple who said they were kind of hard to get through the first time.

I am a major book worm. I love to read, and hate it when I don't have a good book. Most of the time I will be reading a couple, or even several books at a time! I know that not everyone gets into books the way that I do, so you will have to forgive me for trying to push books on you if you feel this way! I am just really enjoying these and I could not keep it to myself.

Reading

I am so glad that my kids have inherited my love for reading. It is especially good now that Ariana and Gerry have both been assigned by their teachers to read at least 20 minutes a day 5 days a week. They all love to read, and love being read to. They are all showing progress in reading as well. Anela is recognizing most of the letters, Gerry is getting better and better at figuring out how to sound words out, and Ariana is just amazing at how well she is reading. I am very proud of all my kids!
Here are some pictures of them enjoying their books. Whenever we go to D.I. I let them each pick out 3 of the 50cent books (because they are 3 for a dollar) they love picking out there own books.

Babies

I didn't realize until after I did the post on Ariana's birthday that I left out the picture of the babies, and I wanted to put in the picture of Ariana's picture frame that she made, with the picture in it.

Ariana's frame and picture to always remember her 7th birthday. I should have gotten a picture of all the kids holding their frames, there were some very cute and clever ones, but I didn't think about it til it was all over. I should have gotten more pictures of the whole thing, but you stay pretty pre occupied with that many kids!

All the babies at the party. Anela, Dilyn (Lauren's youngest 1.5 years), and Kimberly

Birthday Party

Sorry this has taken so long. Ariana had her birthday party on her birthday, Saturday the 4th. It was a lot of fun, but not many of her friends came. Luckily my good friend Lauren was able to come with her 3 kids, and Kirah came with Kimberly as well. Otherwise it would have been terribly small. Of all the kids we invited from her old school, and her new school, only 2 came. Maddy and Zac from her kindergarten class. With my 3, Laurens 3, Kimberly, and Maddy and Zac we had just the right amount of kids for a fun party. The kids all made picture frames out of card stock and we took their pictures with Ariana to put in their frames. We had pizza and cupcakes, and let the kids play at the park. I think they all had a lot of fun, and consider my first "kids party" a success. Of course now Gerry is expecting to get a party, so I have to figure out what to do with him!

This picture is from this morning, I just had to take a picture when she came out in all this pink. It reminds me of myself at that age. I even had pure pink keds!

Ariana's 'abstract' artwork. She has been having a great time with her birthday presents. She got art kits from both Zac and Maddy, and I had gotten her some paint too. Since she loves art so much, she is definitely getting much use out of them!!

Ariana with her friends at the party.
Gerry, Camden, A.J. Ariana, Maddy and Zac

Pictures with each friend

Camden (Lauren's oldest 1month younger than Gerry)

A.J. (Lauren's 2nd, 4 years old)

Zac (The one she says she is going to marry, because he asked her to!!)

Maddy

Birthday Girl

On the morning of Ariana's birthday we let her open presents from us, and the one from my mom before we got ready for her party. She got some clothes and new pjs (that I bought on sale in February!) She got a lot of books. We have been buying books at DI, since most of the children's books are 50cents, and 50 cent books are 3 for a dollar. I got her 9 Barbie books for $3! She also got some other books that I just thought looked cute to read, also Peter Pan because she loved the Disney version so I thought it would be fun to read, and The Secret Garden because I loved that when I was little. I also got her a few "homework books" she loves the little work books, and I found 2 different ones about the U.S. that I knew that she would love because they have maps of the country, and of all the states, and she loves maps. She didn't have any Barbies but has wanted them for a while, I found a Barbie suitcase at DI that was full of Barbies and clothes, she LOVES it! I have wanted to find a nice kitchen set for her for a long time but have not found a nice one that I would afford. My favorite one that I have ever found was in a catalog, it was pink wood, and in 2 separate pieces, it was $99 for each piece! Well I found one almost identical to that one at DI for $8 a piece! It's used of course, but in pretty good shape. I got a some cups and bowls, mixing spoons, whisks, and hot pads at the dollar store to go with it for now. She really loves that too, that is another thing she has been wanting for a long time.

My mom was not able to come for her birthday, but she knew what she wanted to get for Ariana so she just gave me the money to get it here so that Ariana could have it on her birthday. It is a really nice Disney art kit. It has a projector with over 80 images of princesses and fairies to trace and color. It came with paints, markers, glitter glue and magnets to hang the pictures on the fridge.

Art projector set

tons of books

Kitchen set

Playing with the Barbies

First couple weeks of school

I know that I said that I would get pictures up of Ariana's first week first, then of Gerry's, but I just slack when it comes to keeping up on posts! Ariana has been in first grade for 3 weeks now, and Gerry has been in kindergarten for 2! Wow, I can't believe how bad I have been slacking! Not much has gone on in school, mostly still just getting to know the school and routine. They haven't even gotten homework, except for that they are supposed to read every day. They both love their classes, there teachers and the school in general.
Ariana loves that she gets to stay for a full day now, and gets to have lunch at school. They have both made quite a few friends, I was surprised that Ariana has actually made a several friends who are in different classes too. She was worried that she wouldn't have friends since it's a new school, but she is such a friendly girl, she makes friends where ever she goes!
Gerry is doing really well in school, he has had so much fun! He is learning a lot already, and just having a ton of fun with all the work and his new friends. His class does show and tell every Friday, but they get assignments for it. The first week they had a theme of 'gingerbread man' the whole week. So for show and tell, the teacher sent home a full page outline of a gingerbread man that he had to decorate and bring back on Friday. This week, the show and tell assignment was that he had to bring something that starts with the same letter as his name. I asked him what he wants to take, and he immediately said "Genasee!" We have pointed out to him several times that not only does her name start with the same letter as his, but that it is a 'G' that says the 'J' sound. I thought that it was cute that he wanted to take her, but thought that a picture of her would probably be better. Genasee came over yesterday morning and brought us some cheese cakes and cup cakes for Ariana's birthday party (which is today) and she brought some pictures of her and her husband Rich playing with a baby lynx and some baby tigers. So he took the pictures to show and tell, he thought that was really cool.
Anela really wants to go to school with them, but has been really good about not getting mad that she can't go, and she hasn't been really clingy to me when they are gone. When Ariana went to preschool, Gerry was so clingy to me for months! And when she went to kindergarten he was upset that he didn't get to go too. So I am glad that I don't have to go through that with Anela. She just asks a few times a day where they are, but has gotten to were she doesn't ask as often, and when she does she answers the question herself.

Gerry posing in his new Buzz Light year shirt, new pats and new shoes

Another shirt from Toy Story 3 (they were on a good sale, what can I say)

Ariana showing off her new school clothes

She loves her Barbie lunch box!

Her very first day of first grade. She hated getting up early the first 2 weeks,

but this week she has been getting up before me. You can't really tell in this

picture, but she wore the same outfit to her first day of first grade that she

wore to her last day of kindergarten.

That's it for now. Today is Ariana' s 7th birthday. She is having her first 'friend party' this year, and is very excited. I am a bit nervous, we have always just spent her birthday with our extended family, now I have to entertain a bunch of kids. We will see how that goes! I will post in a couple of days to let you know if I survived, and pictures of the event.