Field Trip, Halloween Carnival, "Play Date"

Another busy couple weeks! I actually have a lot of pictures this time so I can do two separate posts. The week of October 17 was full of school activities. Benjy had a field trip on Wednesday to Anderson Farms (aka "the pumpkin patch"). I had signed up to go as a chaperone, but on the morning of the field trip, my babysitting fell through and I thought I wouldn't be able to go. Benjy's teacher, Mrs. Erwin, said to just bring Emmeline, so I ended up being able to go after all. We carpooled with Nolan's mom, Jen, whom I have gotten to know through waiting at drop off and pick up every day.

Benjy getting off the bus after his first school bus ride. :)

 Jen, Nolan, and Fisher rode on the trailer with us out to the pumpkin fields. The kids and chaperones each got to pick out a pumpkin, and they had some cool looking pumpkins out there. Benjy chose a white one, and I picked a green and orange striped one. I really wanted a warty one, but I couldn't find one small enough to carry easily.

 The kids each got to do a barrel ride

 And play in the kids' area.

Thursday I got to volunteer in Benjy's classroom during their morning literacy block. It was fun to see Benjy in the classroom and how he acts with his teacher and friends. It's also fun for me to learn who his classmates are so I can understand better what he's talking about when he tells me about his day.

Friday I met up with some friends from Kansas who also live in Denver-- Amor Pearce, Roseanne Young, and Erica Mills. Roseanne and her family just recently moved here from Utah and her husband Zach now works with Amor's husband, John. They came up to my house this time to visit and let the kids play for a while, and then we all went to lunch at Yak and Yeti. It's great having these fantastic ladies live close by.

Friday night was the school Halloween Carnival. I spent a lot of time during the week making mice to contribute to the Mouse Walk, and they turned out pretty cute. It was hard to give them away...

 I may have saved a few for the kids.

 The kids dressed up as a vampire, dragon, and Elsa. 

Dracula Eli with his friend Solly.

 Benjy and Emmie with Nolan and his little sister, Haley.

On Saturday I went to our Relief Society's Super Saturday activity and made some sugar scrubs. 

 One lady made all these desserts for the activity. They were so amazing I had to take a picture.

 Later that afternoon, Benjy and I went on a date to see a play at the Arvada Center. The play was Junie B. Jones, and it was about a girl in first grade and all the adventures/mishaps she encounters. It was a cute play and it was fun spending one on one time with my sweet Benjy bear. He is such a loving, sweet presence in our home and we are so blessed to have him in our family.

 Sunday Emmie let me do a pretty braid around the back of her head, but when she looked in the mirror she couldn't see it so I had to take a picture to show her what it looked like. It lasted until we got to church, then she pulled it out. :( 

The kids and I go to church about an hour early for choir practice, and I have been busy the past few weeks trying to get the Christmas program nailed down and music copied. Justin goes to church three hours early for meetings, so by the time church is done on Sunday, we're all exhausted. We get a few hours rest and then it's time to start another week!

Random Pictures

Here are some pictures that don't really fit into a particular post but I wanted to include on the blog anyway. Here is Emmie in her kitty ears... she can't decide if she wants to be Elsa or a kitty for Halloween. Since we have both costumes, she will have the luxury of making up her mind at the last minute, as long as she doesn't choose something else entirely...

Eli found a leaf bug a few weeks back when we were playing after school. He went around to all the kids on the playground to show them. It was pretty cute.

The boys have made some lego duplo structures lately they have wanted me to take pictures of. They worked really hard on this zoo/swimming pool. The swimming pool is on the left, and the zoo is on the right.

View from the other side.

Benjy's robot

This is Mrs. Delevoryas, the boys' violin teacher. Benjy likes to mess with my phone when it's not his turn for lesson, and he takes lots of stealth pictures. 

I know this post is brief and the comments are spare, but I'm so excited to be caught up on the blog for the first time in months! Now I'm off to get some other stuff done. :)

Circus, Pumpkins, Temple Celebration

I'm going to blog about the past two weeks and be caught up. Yay!

My birthday was last Tuesday. It was a pretty low key day- I practiced a song with Cyndi for a funeral we were singing at, and I got some calls and messages from friends and family wishing me a happy day. After Justin got home, my sister watched the kids and we went out to eat at an Italian restaurant in Broomfield called Scalzotto's. It was super yummy and a fun way to celebrate.

Thursday morning we sang at the funeral. It was a family friend of Cyndi's in the Arvada Stake, so I was not acquainted with the deceased or his family. It was a very nice service though and we sang an arrangement of "Amazing Grace" that I had been unfamiliar with but ended up really liking. That evening our family went to the circus at the Denver Coliseum. I have been to the circus several times throughout my life, but this was nothing like the circus I remembered. It was a FANTASTIC show! Justin and I were both blown away by how high quality of a production it was. They had the expected circus acts, like trapeze artists, tightrope walkers, a lion/tiger trainer, horses running around the ring, an animal show, and motorcycles in a metal cage, but they took it to a new level with the outer space theme "Out of This World." The tightrope walkers were dressed as astronauts and they walked on a revolving figure-8 type shape, there were contortionists in spheres hanging from the ceiling which were supposed to be planets, there was a live band playing all the music, and there were ice skaters! I know it's not cool in some circles to like the circus, but they put on a first-rate show. Definitely worth saving up for next year, in case we don't get free tickets again.

Saturday we bought a new minivan! We found a 2004 Toyota Sienna that fit with our needs and our budget. It's a pretty sweet ride, with all the upgrades of our previous minivan (except stow-and-go seats and the six CD changer... I do miss that), and even has some features the other one didn't have, like video backup assist, heated seats, a drop-down TV screen, and self-adjusting cruise control. It's been a blessing to find a van so comparable to our Town & Country, may it rest in peace/piece. Later we went to Benihana's for a birthday meal with my family, but unfortunately my mom and grandparents were not there because Grandpa Herb fell while playing tennis that morning and broke his femur up near the ball. He had surgery that afternoon to set it. We went to visit him the next day, Sunday. His surgery had gone well and he was feeling as well as could be expected. 

One thing that has been going on for the past three or so weeks is that Emmie is potty training. She is doing great with it-- we stayed home a lot of the first week but were able to get out and about after that with her wearing undies. It's definitely gone better with her than it did with either of the boys... whether because she's a girl or because she's a little older, I don't know.

Wednesday Emmie and I went to a birthday brunch for my teaching partner in Primary, Elizabeth Runyan. She turned 50 so a few of us got together to celebrate her special day. 

After that we went to the museum with Cyndi and Joey. 

 Thursday we had parent teacher conferences. Both boys' teachers said they are doing great in school. We talked about Eli's projects he is working on and Benjy's teacher said he is doing great in both math and reading/letters. We are thinking about having him GT tested in the spring, but we'll see how he's doing. The test is quite long and we may wait until he's a little older to do it.

Friday the boys had no school, so we spent some time at the park. Both boys climbed up in some trees and I told them they reminded me of the Von Trapp children.

 That day we also went to visit Grandpa Herb. He was transferred to rehab on Wednesday evening and is expected to spend 10-14 days there. He had some cracking when he tried to put weight on his broken leg, so they have slowed down the pace of his physical therapy and put him on toe touch weight bearing. He seemed in much better shape than when we saw him Sunday.

Friday night we went to the pumpkin patch. We picked out our carving pumpkins and went through a corn maze (not haunted).

Saturday Justin taught an SPHR class in the morning and I took the kiddos to violin. That afternoon we picked up Brad and drove up to Fort Collins for the temple cultural celebration. We were lucky enough to get tickets for the event, and it was an awesome experience. The youth from the temple district did an amazing job of performing in the various dances and choreographed movements out on the field. The songs were beautiful and it was a wonderful, uplifting experience.

Sunday Justin and I got to attend the temple dedication. It was really neat to attend the dedication live in the temple. President Uchtdorf was there to dedicate it, and Elder Rasband was also there. Elder Uchtdorf was in a different room so we watched the speakers broadcast to us, but he came in personally before the session started and said hello to everyone. It was a great experience to be present in the temple for the dedication and to feel the Spirit there.