Yuck!

It's been another week!  I was pretty excited to get grades in on Wednesday after a great half-day Inservice on Writing.  Our kiddos had a great time with their dad while I was working too!
Ben is doing pretty well with his (probably broken) pinky toe.
Kira is learning a ton in basketball and loves it!
Emma is doing well in school and loves reading lots of minutes, usually a little too late.
Leah was super excited about her AR party where she got a ton of candy!  One happy little girl passed out candy to everyone, so I know our family appreciated her hard work too!
Cecilia is doing great writing her name and recognizing letters!  She loves preschool!
Josh loves his preschool too and especially likes telling his friends about things he finds at home!
Samuel is saying "Yuck!"  It cracks me up!
Daniel likes to move like crazy when he's hungry!  The other kiddos love to feel him move!
Our family is healthy and doing well!  In general we are very blessed with awesome family!  My kids were super excited that two of my sisters brought my Dad for the Primary Program!  They did a great job!  I was glad they were able to make it safely and help Dad!
Our kids love being outside and going for bike rides!  I'm glad the temperatures are staying nice so they can!

On our weekly date night walking around at the mall.  Our kids do great watching out for each other!  I love that our oldest are old enough to babysit!

Creativity

This week was great, because I got to create!  We made angel ornaments and a Gratitude garland at church on Tuesday night.
Thursday was Ben and Kira's last Cross Country meet, so we went to that and two of my sisters came too!  Ben and Kira tied for time-both got 7:58, although Ben was half a second ahead of Kira!
We headed up to Olathe to see family and two of my sisters and I went to the Build-it-Herself workshop and built something super cool!  We didn't quite finish it, so my sisters got the rest of the stuff we needed and I was able to finish it yesterday!  I love it!  I'm not allowed to post pictures yet, but after the holidays I can!  My sisters like it so much, that they want to make them for Christmas presents!  I think it's a great idea!
We spent the weekend at home and still didn't get a whole ton done.  It's sad how quickly hard work disappears around here.  At least we're teaching our kiddos hard work!

 Samuel

 They wanted to be read to on the stairs.

 Leah's creation

 My way of getting to sleep in on Saturday morning!

 He fell asleep at the end of the lesson.

 Me and my Scott

 From the parade a few weeks ago.

Emma's Baptism

It has been a long week!  Ben and Kira had their Cross Country meet on Tuesday and Ben passed Kira again.  Her ankle is bothering her a lot more than she is willing to admit.  She's been icing it lately to help.  Poor kiddo.  She works so hard!
We had two assemblies on Wednesday and Leah won a bike license plate.  She was super excited!  Cecilia won a $10 gift certificate at the Preschool Parent night.  That was after PTO, so I was at work for 12 hours.  The next day Kira won a huge pack of Sour Straws.  My kids were feeling super lucky!
Yesterday Emma was baptized!  She was a little worried initially, but she did well!  My mom spoke about Baptism and told the story about her having to be baptized three times before she was done!  She even brought a copy of my Papaw's baptism certificate!  Scott was pretty excited to baptize Emma!  He has worked hard!  His mom gave a great talk about the Holy Ghost using different objects, which was fantastic too!  We have great moms and dads!  I was thrilled that most of my family was able to make it!  I was missing my brothers, but I completely understand that they couldn't make it!  We had treats after at the church and then my parents bought us Braum's for lunch!  Yum!  I love meat right now.  This baby boy is definitely a carnivore!
Speaking of my baby boy in my belly, today he was moving around a ton and both Leah and Josh were able to feel him kick!  Josh looked surprised and said:  "There's something in there!"  Yes, there is!  He's so funny!  He has been talking about Daniel Tiger being in his belly.  He is going to get big like a big dad and then Daniel will dig his way out with his pinkies.  Bwahaha!  Totally not how it happens, but I'm not explaining it to my three-year-old!
Now, pictures!

 At home before

 Outside of church

 Ready to be baptized

 Matt, my brother-in-law took this one.

 Then my uncle did this one.

 Our fun family!  Kira was on her tiptoes!

 At Braum's, half of the family

 The other half, although my mother-in-law was cut out.  Sorry!

 I found this shirt a while ago, but just gave it to him!

My silly Samuel and I!

Lots of fun this week!

We had a busy week this week!  I had a Tech Conference on Wednesday.  Then on Thursday was the 1-4 Field Trip to the Zoo.  I'll have to add those pictures later, they're on my school iPad.  The Cross Country kids didn't get in until 9:30pm.  Yikes!

 Staying up super late after the meet (Kira got 12th out of 30 girls and Ben got 20th out of 40 boys) to finish punishment homework.  This was at 11:45.

 At the Homecoming Parade

 Kira marching in her first parade

 My class won the opportunity to march in the parade!

 Kira ran fast to join the 6th graders!

 Our little guys were excited to see her!

 My middle schoolers, before Ben moved.

 Ben hiding under the table, instead of participating in the Pep Rally Festivities.

 Kira holding Samuel as her friends play with him.

 Kira and one of her best guy friends.

 He's working on potty training.

 "Fishing" in between sessions.

 Making pumpkins

 Biking back after Samuel fell on his head.  Poor little guy!

He's totally fine today!  Phew!