Prepping for Halloween

Ashten, AJ, and Ayden Ashty cutting off his lid

AJ scooping out the guts

Ashten making his pattern

Ayden marking his pattern

The finished pumpkins

Ayden and his pirate

AJ with his snowman

Ashten went traditional My boys

Today we started Halloween weekend by preparing for the holiday. We turned on some Halloween music that they play on cable. Then got ready to carve pumpkins. Grammy and Papa had grown pumpkins in their garden this year and they were nice enough to give one to each of the boys. The big boys picked out their designs from a book, and I helped them tape them onto their pumpkins. They marked the outline and cut them out, for the most part, by themselves. Anderson's pumpkin after he and I scraped the insides, turned into a snowman. While the kids were cutting their pumpkins out. I made dinner. We had Halloween shaped macaroni, the kids LOVED it! Today, Ayden was the first time Ayden got to bring a book home from the library. He chose one called Halloween Pie. So while they ate, I read to them. After dinner, Ayden and Ashten finished their pumpkins and cleaned up. We had so much fun:)

Ashten and AJ

AJ loved standing here for some reason, he spent a lot of time here over the weekend Dad doing dishes, lucky them (and us) they had a trailer
Aj, Wes, and Kristin

Ashty, Armand, Dad, and Mom playing games

The weather cleared up for a little bit today. The ranger came over and taught the kids about some fungi, trees, bugs, and animals. This and picking up litter certified them as Junior Rangers.

Ashten and Ashley listening to the Ranger.

Ayden learning about fungus that grows on trees

AJ lost interest after about 2 minutes

Picking up litter to become Jr. Rangers

Receiving their certificates

Presenting the newest Junior Rangers

Ashten and Ashley playing with play dough Ashten, Armand, Mom, Ayden, Dad, Toni, Wes, and Kristin

It was a long day for Ayden

and Ashten

Armand, Mom, Ashten, and Toni

We went to Potlatch State Park over Labor Day Weekend. The forecast: RAIN, RAIN, and more RAIN! Tent camping in the rain is ridiculous. We actually stayed dry the first night, the second night was a little wet, and by the last night everything was soaked. We had to run a load of blankets in the dryer. Anyway, we had a great time nevertheless. We played a lot of dice and card games as well as a game of croquet in the middle of a down pour! It was a blast. The kids spent time making bead necklaces and bracelets, playing with play dough, and coloring. We will never forget this trip.

The Bus...Day 2

Since yesterday did not go well as far as the bus is concerned, I decided to go over with him today and get pics. He was a little nervous, but once he saw his friends, Andrew and Angelina, he was fine. I was a proud mommy to see him get on the bus like a big boy.

First Day of Kindergarten

Ayden on his first day of school
Today is the day we've been waiting for for months ... or maybe years? Ayden has been so excited to start school especially over the last few weeks. Last week he was so worried that he wouldn't get to go because we had told him that he had to finish his Kindergarten workbook before he went to school. He sat for hours (despite me trying to persuade him to go play) working on his workbook and finished it after completing 65 pages!After he went to bed last night I went grocery shopping and got lots of yummy lunch foods, then packed his lunch. How exciting!

PB&J cut into a dinosaur shape, Root Beer (which you aren't allowed to bring to school oops), apple sauce, string cheese, carrots, grapes, and cookies. And most importantly...a noodle!
This morning, everyone got up at 8am. Ayden started getting ready for school. He was SO excited to get on the bus, and get to school. We walked over to the bus stop, but when the bus came he would not get on. I even carried him on, but somehow he managed to dart right past me leaving me on the bus. The bus driver said to drive him, so that's what I did. I left the little boys with Armand so I could go on the class tour with Ayden. He was a little clingy, but after a few minutes he was fine.

Waiting for the bell to ring and Mrs. Sharp to come out of the class Putting his lunch and backpack in his cubby

Making his name tag

Sitting on the mat to take roll

Talking about how lunch works. Don't they look so little at the big lunch table.

Good boy, listening to his teacher Mrs. Sharp talking about how the kids will get home.They made their name tags, took roll, and then went down to see and talk about the lunch room. Afterwards, it was time to say goodbye. He was tearing up, (I was trying to think of something to say to make him feel better.) Then I remembered the NOODLE! Before I had gone shopping for lunches, I asked Ayden what he wanted in his lunch. He said 'peanut butter and jelly and noodles'. I said that I wasn't sure how to get noodles in his lunch cause they would get cold'. He informed me that he meant the 'skinny long stick noodles'. Translation: Raw Spaghetti noodles. Luckily, at the last minute last night I decided to pull his lunch box out of the fridge and stick a noodle in it. So I said to him: 'Ayden, there's a surprise in your lunch box, and I'm not going to tell you that it might be a noodle.' He started to laugh, then hugged and kissed me, and went on his way to tell his friend Gunnar about the noodle. Phew!

Ashten, AJ, and I went to wait for Ayden at the bus stop. The kids were sooo excited to have Ayden come home.
AJ waiting for "AhEee's bus"
There was nothing more exciting to see this big boy jump off the bus, rush up to me, and almost knock me down. What a sweet boy. I know in a year or two he will be begging me not to come to the bus stop.
Andrew, Angelina, Ayden, Ashten, and Anderson
We are so proud of our big Kindergartner!! We love you Ayden!!!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Tomorrow is my Mom's birthday, but they are going camping. We decided that we would make dinner for her and then have some cake, which Wes and Kristin brought over. It was fun getting to visit before Mom and Dad went out of town.

Anyway, Happy Birthday Mom! We love you so much!!

10 Kids vs. Me

Kelsey, AJ, Angelina, Andrew, Ashten, Ben, Josh, and ZachZach and Josh Zach loved the game that his big brother made up to play with him. They pushed him across the kitchen floor in this beach toy.
The kids fought over who got to 'receive' Zach next. It was pretty entertaining.
Today my friend Valerie had a dentist appointment, so I watched three of her kids. Plus, she was watching her niece and nephew. The age range was 11 months to 10 years old. Then, two of the neighbor kids decided that they should come over too (who wouldn't with that many kids in one house.) Needless to say, it was a house full. Surprisingly, I was able to get the house cleaned up despite the 7 extra kids in the house.

Silly Boys

These boys are SO funny!