October: everything elllllllse!

Ahhh, sibling bonding where no one is getting hurt - oh wait, I forgot about the pictures on the slide. Someone definitely got hurt there if I remember the tears and wailing correctly:

One of my legit favorite things is when someone else does Carma's hair. Paola is the cute girl who runs the playroom at BioLife and we love her - she's SO good with the kids and her talent with hair is an awesome bonus:

I always try to get a good picture before we get into the car because Girlfriend rubs her head against her carseat and messes it up basically every time 😩😭.

Grandma Pam got a new bike in October!! Her old bike had some rust issues so Chuck scouted out a nice cruiser on craigslist and Sam and Quinn and I chipped in and gave it to her for a... Halloween present? Early Christmas, I think. She loves it!

If you don't know Abram, you should. Kid is the most natural flirt and his eyelashes are incredible and if I was like 27 years younger, I would marry him...

Jackers won Sorry! one night and was SO SO cute signing his name on the inside of the box.

Carma and Jack channeled their inner artists and did some watercoloring. We now have a whole row of black ovals for the next time we attempt some painting!

Okay, this resonated a little too much haha:

Thrift store fun! I've been debating when to get Carma a dollhouse, but when she saw that one she immediately started climbing it and it started to tip, and I was like, "Well, not today!" I did pick up that Mr. Darcy poster and it brings me immense joy every time I see it. AND I found that Fight the New Drug shirt for Clyde at Savers and he loves it!

Girls' Night. Oh my heck. So much good food. So much drama as Kara read us out a text conversation so we could painstakingly psychoanalyze every response she got hahahahaha.

There's a chance that we go through more chocolate chips than is necessary or healthy - Will is a notorious sneaker of them, and Carma is a willing recipient anytime someone hands her off a couple.

So, seriously my mom is amazing. My kids love going over to her house (which is good, because they end up over there a lot!) and it's no wonder why - while Chuck and I were at the temple, the kids got to have a Teddy Bear picnic with all of my mom's eight thousand bears. She also has obscure collections of old books, like the 'Noddy' series? that each of my kids has had Grandma read to them and loved - currently it's Jack's turn. Having my mom so close and accessible has been such a blessing.

And after saying all that, it's okay if I poke a little bit of fun at her, right? ;). This is from September - my mom got to go to "Grandparents' Day" with Clyde and Will at school. A couple days later, this picture popped up with some others on the school PTA Facebook page - Grammy Pammy and the boys taking a selfie! I'm so proud hahaha! (P.S. Mama, text me the pictures you took so they can be documented as well please 😘)

Family bonding time at the bike park! Clyde switched back and forth between his yellow bike and the mountain bike:

Willy Boy was a champ as always.

Jackers was a superstar:

Carma was crazy; she ran and ran and ran around chasing the boys and having a merry, merry time.

She loved getting a ride from Daddy on the mountain bike:

Chuck took a few spins around the park on various bikes...

I succumbed to peer pressure and went on some of the nice smaller bumps/hills:

We wound up at the playground where Will wisely kept his helmet on haha.

Carma was supposed to dress up one day for dance class, so I stuck a witch hat on her and it was sooo cute! During dance they played a game and became mummies, also so cute:

Parent/teacher conferences started in Will's classroom, meeting with Mrs. Wallin. We loved hearing about what a curious, respectful learner Willy Boy is and how much he helps and reaches out to other kids.

Next we went down to Clyde's classroom for a student-led conference, meaning Mrs. Keene was there if we needed her but Clyde showed us all of his work and reflections on how he's doing so far in 5th grade. It was really neat to hear his honesty on what he needs to work on more, and his pride as he shared what he's done well.

More Clyde pictures from throughout the month: racing bikes after school one day, falling asleep reading Harry Potter, reading to Carma at bedtime, earning awards at Scouts and helping Andy with his last minute merit badge haha, dr check-up where he was so cute and grown-up and articulate, aaand the best post share and tell note ever from a super sweet girl in his class!

Will.i.am pictures - I honestly have no idea why I photographed him holding some... yarn?... but he's cute! Also he generously offered to teach Chuck about basic music theory ;). And I loved this paper from school that came home; I thought it was a pretty good summary of things this cute boy is good at!

My Jackers! He likes being a shoulder angel (thanks Studio C, grrr) and is also probably my snuggliest kid at this point. Love love love him.

Aaaand a million Carma pictures because she's the littlest and the cutest ;). 

Farewell October! You were pretty stellar! Onto November!

October: Trunk or Treat

We abandoned our 'every other year family group costume where Mom slaves away for months and then cries when someone won't wear their costume' tradition, and instead each kid got to pick. Minus Carma, because she was blessedly still too young to care. I foresee that not being the case this year.

Carma was a little hula girl with a coconut bra because it was the cutest thing I've ever seen at a garage sale and therefore couldn't resist the purchase: 

Jack actually dressed up for Halloween! He got this Finn costume for his birthday. I think the Batman socks really add to it - I mean, we never saw Finn's socks, so they COULD have been Batman...

Will was a scientist! (Unlike last year, when he was an animal scientist ;) ). His 'caution' t-shirt was found THAT DAY at D.I., and the 'Minion' goggles were also a D.I. purchase. The lab coat was borrowed from Dan the Man Swenson.

Clyde's almost to that stage of being "too" "cool" to dress up, so he went for a minimalist costume as a BMX biker - all I had to buy were the knee pads at D.I.!

Chuck and I pulled out every Hawaiian-type article of clothing in our closet to coordinate with Carma and we all headed down to the church for the trunk or treat! I found some pretty cool people to take pictures with - Sister Jensen, Brother Murphy, and Raquel!

Isn't Raquel the most amazing peacock ever? Those are REAL feathers people! Also Mikey and Seth were cute, the Coopers were awesome as a cop and robber, Sister Marsh is such a cool lady and I loved her clown costume, and the Merritts had a pretty legit trunk decorated for the event.

Some group picture attempts, first with Will not wearing his glasses:

And with the glasses. Carma's hands on her head expression is a pretty good reflection of how I look/feel trying to take pictures of these crazies, grrrrr.

We'll call this one a winner! Happppppy Halloween! I mean, Scary Halloween! (per Will, who is consulting on this post....)

October: Adventures with Grandpa

As I brace myself for a hotttt July day, let's remember how beautiful fall in Idaho is by looking at all the fun stuff we did with my dad in October, starting with Linder Farms!

We went on a Saturday afternoon and the kids had sooooo much fun. We spent some of the time all together and then divided and conquered so the older boys could do some of the big stuff.

That tractor driver was possibly overly concerned about the well-being of his pumpkins. 

Will's 'taking a selfie' pose makes me laugh every time I see it. 

The boys attempted some bull-ridin' which was pretty hilarious to watch!

We were in my dad's neighborhood one day after picking up a craigslist bike (I finally talked Chuck into letting me ride a "cute" bike) so we stopped by to say hi.

Our next adventure was to Farmstead! This evening was a bit chillier, hence Jack sporting Grandpa's vest :). One of our favorite things at Farmstead is the little fishing hole, where you're basically guaranteed to catch (and release!) a fish if you stay there long enough.

I'm squeamish so I try to stand as far back and take pictures whilst reminding my kids that I will not be jumping in after them if they lean too far over and fall in the water - that's why Chuck is there ;).

The boys headed in for some farmin' warfare:

We all took a ride on the cow train, which I honestly love. If there were a ride like this at Lagoon where you just sit and get driven around and it's a little bumpy (which is the highest level of exhilaration I'm comfortable with), I would be all about that.

The burlap sack slide! Another favorite there, even if its exhilaration level is slightly outside my overly cautious comfort zone ;). 

We can verify that the jumpy pillow thing IS slippery when wet, as it was sprinkling slightly during our time on it and my kids couldn't stay on their feet to save their lives haha.

Corn pit! I literally have no idea why Will stuck his head in (is it an ostrich that does that?? Some kind of bird that prefers ignorance to bad news...) or if it even felt good, but whatev!

One of the last activities we hit up was the apple shooter, which the boys all loved. Grandpa ate a bite of each apple for good luck ;).

Chuck and Dad embarked on some friendly competition in football and basketball:

Tough break about Carma and Will ending up in jail :(. We took quite a few rides on the "Bee Line" zip line which is always fun and only slightly alarming when you almost scrape the ground towards the end (I feel like I always get the low seat... there is a low seat, right?). The boys and I tried to take Chuck down in a tug-o-war challenge and while I'd like to say we put up a decent fight, that's probably not super accurate haha. 

Our last adventure with Grandpa in October was a beautiful bike ride along the greenbelt by his house:

It's so crazy to see that spot with the bench by the river and realize how flooded it's been over the last few months after the crazy winter snow and spring rain!

We biked a ways and then pulled off to explore the river banks a bit:

Naturally a lot of rock throwing occurred - Grandpa got the closest to the other shore, I think!

My dad found a cool idea about using rocks to spell out LOVE so Clyde and I attempted some recreations - I think we did pretty well! Clyde's 'sour lemon' picture on the left is when (in an effort to get him to smile) I asked him if he looooved any girls haha.

Here's my love 😍

Clyde and Will were total champs, of course. I'm so so so glad they love riding bikes so much and I'm so so so grateful that Chuck is a superstar about fixing flat tires and spending the money on good, reliable bikes (even if I complain about his craigslist addiction...)

Jackers was definitely the MVP though - he lasted almost the whole ride on his wee 12" bike (his little legs had to pedal so much and so fast to keep up!!) before calling it a day and climbing in the bike trailer with Carma Junie. We traded around my bike and the bike trailer a bit - Chuck took a turn, as did Grandpa. I love the picture of my dad pulling the bike trailer - if you look closely you can see that he's also carrying Will's discarded sweatshirt. My kids love love love making memories with Grandpa and we're so grateful we got so many chances this month! 💕