Carving our Pumpkin

We carved a pumpkin, this is what it looked like:

Lilly was more interested in coloring than carving.

 

Lilly was momentarily interested in the pumpkin.

I had Bart draw the face on with a Sharpie before he cut it.  He hates it when we do that because he says you can see the sharpie after it's carved.

He's right.

 

And she's back to coloring.

Voila, our pumpkin.

They're Adjusting

Yesterday was the first day of kindergarten, but it also happened to be an open house for the twins' preschool.  So after we dropped Hannah off, we headed over to meet their teachers and see their classroom.  We also had a few other errands to run, so the twins didn't have much time playing on their own before it was time to pick up Hannah again. 

Today was much more of a normal day.  We came home, cleaned a little bit, and then they were complaining that they were bored (and hungry).  They helped me make some oatmeal cookies for a special treat when everyone got home from school.  That distracted them for approximately two seconds, and then Maya said, "I'm bored mom!"  I told her to go and play something.  She told me, "I don't like playing anything.  I only like to watch T.V."  Lovely.

Apparently Hannah was the initiator of all things play-related in their little trio.  I told Maya that her not liking to play anything and only wanting to watch T.V. just told me that I shouldn't let them watch T.V. any more.  She wasn't particularly happy about that, but then Lilly reminded her that we had twister, and that ended the complaining for the day (well...the morning at least). ;)

Now they've been playing puzzles for almost an hour, and it's about time to pick up Hannah again.

Not having Hannah home is an adjustment, but I think they're going to do just fine.  :)

Hiking in Moab

So this past weekend we headed to Moab to visit Bart's family.  Bart and I have been to Moab in late May for the Art's Festival before, but this is the first time (in a long time at least) that we came down with no particular event/activity in mind.

I suppose that's not entirely true.  His Brother Jacob just got his mission call to Bolivia, and was ordained an elder and went through the temple on Saturday, so we technically went down for that.  But we went down early so we had a couple days to just do whatever we wanted.

We decided to go on a hike and go fishing.  For the hike we went to Moonflower Canyon and it was such a perfect hike for kids...well...minus the poison ivy.  It's short, not strenuous at all, and dead ends into this little pond type thing that was perfect for exploring.



Addison was very intent on documenting our adventures in her sketchbook.





And Bart (and his brothers) spent a lot of their time chasing lizards and looking for antlions. (I included that link because the first time Bart told me about them, I didn't think there was such a thing...apparently I was very wrong).





Someone was playing some sort of recorder and then horn for almost the entire time we were on the hike.  It made the little canyon echo, and gave the whole hike a very surreal feeling. 



Hannah proved to be quite the little trail blazer, and was always up at the front of the line of hikers.  Bart commented that she was just like him when he was her age, so I thought it was cute...that was until her dad had to help her navigate around poison-ivy-infested rocks. 



Charles probably won some best uncle votes while showing the kids all sorts of different insects/animals.











And giving the kids drinks from the Camelbak.  (Lilly later told me that was her favorite part of the trip).





Lilly discovered a newly hatched dragon fly that hadn't even completely stretched it's wings.







Ben just wanted to play in the water. 



The boys (and Addison and Hannah) liked climbing on the rocks.

And then we were on our way back.




After the hike we went to check out the petroglyphs.



There is also a log ladder that goes up this narrow gap in the rocks.  But none of us braved the climb.  That may have been partially because someone was up there the whole time we were there and the kids were ready to go.



This is seriously like one of only three hikes I've been on in Moab.  Ten years of marriage and we've only been on three Moab hikes!  Part of the problem is that Bart doesn't like doing any of the touristy hikes.  But still...three hikes?  That's pathetic.  I'm determined to make sure there are more Moab hikes in our next 10 years. 

Our Family Circle

I've said it before, and I'll say it again...I SERIOUSLY love my kids!  Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of fights/whining/crying/annoying each other that happen in our house, but I swear, when things like this happen, it just makes me feel like I'm living in some sort of surreal world.

Today Bart and I thoroughly enjoyed some peace and quiet, as the girls played outside.  After a while they came in and announced that they had something to show us.  When we got out there, this is what greeted us:

It is a family circle.  Addison drew it with the help of the other three girls.  Around the outside it says, "Families can be together forever" and "I Love my Family."  Then, it's split into six pieces, one for each member of our family.  Each section is filled with a picture of the person, and things that person likes.

While we were out there, the girls remembered a few more things that dad and I like. 

Starting with the baby:

Lilly likes:
Sunshine, Flowers, Bananas, Shark-o (a stuffed animal), Butterflies, and Her Snowman.

 


Maya Likes:

Squid-O (her stuffed animal),  Perry the Platypus, Her Snowman, Ladybugs, Butterflies, and Sunshine.



Hannah Likes:

Rainbows, Sunshine, Flowers, Fishing, Bananas, and Her Blankie.



Addison Likes:

Rainbows,  Butterflies, Flowers, Art, Fruit, and Sunshine.

 

Mom Likes:

Taking Pictures, Flowers, Her Kids, The Beach, Sunshine, and Gardening.

 

Dad Likes:

Sunshine, Art, Reading, Playing Video Games, Playing Board Games, and Fishing.