E is for Egg

This year I decided to start a little preschool/playgroup for Sophie and her friends. It's been so fun. All the moms rotate weeks with the kids, as well as the letter for the day. Since we had the letter E for our last turn, we decided to go on a real live field trip to visit some eggs (and chickens). They were not your normal chickens! A lady in our ward keeps these exotic chickens as pets and was kind enough to let us visit. We fed them bread and even got to feel a warm egg that had just popped out of a chicken. Then we came home and colored our own eggs. It was eggcellent! (sorry, I had to say it!)

Triangle Hair, Eyeballs, and a Girl's Prerogative

I know were a little behind on Halloween, but I still wanted to post our fun times we had. This first picture isn't actually of Halloween, but it might has as well have been! It just so happened that red ribbon week was the same week leading up to Halloween, so this is Gracie's "crazy hair day" creation. We used lots of wire-I liked it. By the way, red ribbon week had quite the effect on my children. We found them leading the neighborhood in a parade as they marched around the cul-de-sac chanting "WE HATE DRUGS! WE HATE DRUGS!" Pretty funny.

Triangle head Grace

So on to Halloween....we had a super holiday. It was a beautiful day, and my parents even came up to celebrate.

Carving pumpkins on the driveway...why didn't I think of this before?

Ben and grandma cruisin' the sidewalks.

Grandma Shaw taught us how to make these spooky eyeballs. You can read all about them (for next year) on her food blog.

Jake freaked all of us out this year. I've never known him to be creepy, but he surprised us minutes before we were to go trick -or-treating with this lovely face. Yikes!

Poor Ben. He was a sick little puppy. There is an unwritten law in this universe that one of my kids has to be sick on Halloween. We took him to one or two houses, then called it quits for him.


On a good note, Sophie and Gracie had a great time this year. They opted to be princesses (their respective favorites, by the way), and I was just fine with that. We had a whole dress up bin in our basement just waiting to be worn. Sophie chose to take full advantage of the bin, as you can see. Why wear just one costume per year?

Trick-or-treating princesses

1st grade Halloween party Tinkerbell (and Briar Rose)

Story time mouse

Preschool cat

Family Pictures

My cute friend Lacie took some family pics for us last week during the peak of the fall leaves. She did a great job. Here's some (actually, a lot) of the favorites...

Silly Billies

Gracie: "Grandma Garlock said that she has read Little House on the Prairie." (we just started it)

Me: "Yep, lots of girls have read it. It's a good book."

Gracie: (pause) "Has anyone ever finished it?"

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Gracie runs into the bathroom with a flashlight and looks at her throat that is sore.

Gracie: "Mom! Mom! There's a big hole in my throat!"

Me: "Come here-let's see"

Gracie: (still yelling) "See-it's like THIS big"

Me: "It's your throat...you know...where your food goes down"

Gracie: "Oh."

Like mother, like daughter-another generation of worriers!

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Sophie: "Mom! Mom! You painted my room pink! Thank you! Thank you! Gwacie, come here! Come and see! Mom painted our room pink!"

Me: "You're welcome."

(Note: I painted it almost 2 years ago. Glad she likes it, though.)

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Sophie: "Mom, I want to be ballerina when I grow up."

Me: "Sounds good."

(20 minutes later)

Sophie: "I changeded my mind. I want to be rattlesnake."

Me: "O.K. then"

Recent Discoveries

Discovery #1: My mom (finally) started her own cooking blog! It's about time, becuase just about every recipe I have ever made has come from her. Check it out here.

Discovery #2:
My girls actually miss winter. This is how I found them the other day. They told me they are ready because they are tired of all the bees. Interesting.

Discovery #3:
My kids are getting to be helpful in the kitchen. For years they have wanted to help me, but it took a lot of extra work and patience on my part. These past weeks we've been doing a lot of canning and jam making and they were actually a lot of help. Gracie peeled peaches like a pro and Sophie is really good at stirring until the timer beeps. Love my little helpers.

Discovery #4: Putting a chip clip on the end of a burrito holds in all the filling for a three-year- old. (This was actually my mom's idea.) Sophie used to cry every time we had burritos because all her filling would end up on her plate or on the floor. I really does work!

Discovery #5: Life is different with a little boy who has learned to walk this week! Keeps me on my toes. He's so cute, though. He still walks like Frankenstein. I love it.

Sophie will be Sophie

I just wanted to post this thought that I had about Sophie today...

Sophie was carrying around her "scripture purse" all morning while we were getting ready for church. I thought it was sweet that she really wanted to remember her scriptures. I was asked to substitute as the chorister today in Sacrament meeting, so I took off for the stage while Jake found a seat right up front with the kids. As I was leading the opening song, I glanced down at Sophie and saw this thing on her head:

I'm thinking:
"What!?! I thought we have a strict no toy rule for church! She must have snuck that thing in her 'scripture purse'. (Grumble, Grumble, Grumble) Why doesn't Jake see that? Jake! Jake! Turn and look at Sophie. I'm sure the whole ward has seen her now. It's too late. I'm sure they all think we are lackadaisical parents. (More Grumbles)"


As I am thinking all this, Sophie is sitting up just as straight as can be and smiling a big huge royal smile, as if she knew she looked beautiful. I really don't think she thought she was doing anything wrong. Suddenly, a thought came to my mind that said 'Sophie will be who Sophie will be'. She truly, in her heart, thinks she is a princess-so much so that she can't even bear to be without her crown for three hours on a Sunday. And what better thing for a daughter to think-she is special and precious and beautiful, just like a princess. That's what I want for my daughters, isn't it? She knows who she is. I just need to let her be herself.
Sometimes I get so caught up in the details of parenting that I forget to just enjoy how wonderful and unique my kids really are. And as long I am trying to do what the Lord wants me to do with my kids, then I really shouldn't care about what others think. So I let her keep her crown on for a while. She looked beautiful.


You just keep being your royal self, Princess Sophia.


And I'll keep trying to be a better mom.

The Last Hurrah of Summer

Oh, summer....I can't believe it is going to end soon! But what a great summer it has been....lots of driving, but lots of fun. We had our 'farewell to summer' celebration this past week at Bear Lake for the day. It was SUPER crowded...we were packed in like sardines on the beach, but the water was spacious and wonderful. I still can't get over how shallow the water is around the beach. It's so perfect for kids. Even Ben was able to walk around in the water. We decided to make this late-August trip a tradition, so anyone who wants to join us next year it welcome!

Jake and Ben catching some rays to hide their farmer tans.

Beach Babe Gracie

Sophie rolled in the sand right after I finished applying all her sunscreen. It reminded me a little of making glitter valentines.

Ben is already flexing his muscles for the camera

Doesn't Ben look old? What happened to my little baby boy?

More glitter valentine decorating

The next weekend, we drove down to P-town to visit my family (no photos of this-sorry!), with Jake's siblings, and even his extended family for the Utah chapter of the reunion.

First we visited Leigh (Jake's sister) and Matt and cousin Henry. What a cutie! He has lots of smiles and personality. Can't wait for those boys to be friends.

Benry and Henry

The G-lock reunion was held in Provo Canyon. It was so beautiful and fun to see all the family that we have missed. We just hung out for a few hours and enjoyed each other's company. Thanks to all who traveled so far!

Here's some scenes:

First day of first grade

Gracie had her first day of 1st grade last week, and boy was she excited. As soon as she saw the early kids arriving at the school from our front window, she was jumping up and down and saying "let's go! let's go! let's go!" I was all geared up to have an emotional and bonding farewell with my big first grader who was going to be gone all day, but she sure made it easier for me by running as fast as she could and just yelling "bye, mom!" over her shoulder.

Lots of Gracie posts lately....but stay tuned for Sophie's first day of preschool next week!