It's been such a wonderful, busy, full month! Halloween, Grant's birthday, Seussical the Musical, visitors in town, trips to the zoo, and plenty of school activities, soccer games and music lessons!
We were so excited towards the beginning of the month to have the Calls in town visiting! Fun to see them and the kids and spend the day together. So glad they live close and that it's convenient to pop in on each other. We were sad to witness a family friend pass away this month-- Brother Orr from our Del Norte ward- the grandfather to Anna's best friend Nora. It's so hard to see people you love suffer. We were able to help with flowers, displays and music for the funeral but still have been thinking about the Doud family so much and wishing there were more to do to help ease the pain of a loss such as this. I'm grateful Anna has been a good little friend to Nora and Millie. We haven't seen them over as much since they have had so much family in town but the times they have come over-- it's sure been sweet to spend time with them. Dane continues to be my number one helper in this area! The girls adore him and missed him when they took a couple week break.
This month we played hooky one day from school and headed to the Wild Animal Safari Park! Anna had never been and the boys hadn't in such a long time and since kids go free in October, it seemed like a great plan. We had such a nice time with friends- the Barthalomeuz- walking around and enjoying all of the various animals. Because it was a nice overcast day- they happened to be out and about. Our favorite animal for sure were the gorillas! SO cute to watch!! There were teenagers, children, grandpas, and mamas. LOVED it. Of course the boys had many a soccer weekend which meant many trips up to Orange County! We are so lucky that Grandma and Grandpa live there and we can spend the night or even just meet up with them after or before games! The boys have really enjoyed having them there to support at the games.... such a blessing!
Grant, Dane and Anna participated in the school's fun run for Tierra Bonita and raised about $15 each. Grant was into it much more than the others and ran the most laps for his grade. He was pretty proud of himself! I have a wad 6 inches thick of all the character counts awards he receives every day at recess. He is such a good kid and makes really good choices at school. So proud of him and his maturity this year. I can hardly remember that last year was tricky! He's loving life this year and all is going so well!
Had a wonderful with Anna and her classmates at the Wild Animal Center in Del Mar for their field trip this month. Anna was so brave wanting to touch each creepy crawler and snake! I didn't realize she would be the type to get excited about these things- but she does love animals. And I love watching her interact with her buddies and seeing what a great kid she is. Love that she is now a Girl Scout! Actually a Daisy Scout. She has been working hard to earn her petals and she adores attending the group every other week. Such a cute, sweet group of girls and leaders. Love it!
Anna was thrilled to have Grandma come to lunch with her this month at school! Each child was able to bring an adult and Anna loved every minute of Grandma's attention. After school, she even got to see the new "My Little Pony" movie too! It was a fun day! Of course, Grandma's real mission that week was coming down to help me assemble about a million candy bouquets for Seussical the Musical! Ha! It was so nice to have a crafting partner and we got a lot accomplished!
Anna continues to be my little helper and errand assistant. We love baking together, shopping together, coloring together while the boys practice. Anna is the greatest fan to her brothers and she is looking forward to starting soccer herself next month! If I can pull my act together enough to sign her up and get her to the classes, that is! I'm excited to see if she enjoys soccer! She's eager to try it out!
This month Dane has been interested in writing stories, reading stories, texting and playing games on his phone.... much to my chagrin. I don't mind him writing stories, or even reading stories and texting a little here and there with friends- but I don't enjoy the game playing! We have a system where he only gets phone time on weekends, but it seems he begs daily to earn a little bit of time to play games. I love technology but sometimes it seems it was put on the earth to torture me as a parent! It's so much monitoring and so much arguing! I wish I didn't have to worry about it!! But alas, that's my job and Dane and I and Evelyn work constantly on finding a good balance in this regard. My greatest wish is to raise responsible, kind, competent adults who know how to spend their time wisely! Screen time complicates this goal and it's frustrating. However, it is pretty cute to see how Dane is so interested in texting his cousin Adam. Loved receiving this text back last Sunday of all the cousins playing together. And love that Dane is building relationships with friends and feeling much more social than I've ever seen him before! In fact, on Halloween night, we walked past a huge group of kids screaming- "DANE" and wanting him to hang out with them! He chose to do that instead of trick or treat with us! That's growth right there! Last year there's no way he would've wanted to do that. He is really thriving in this new school and making many great friends. I'm so happy!
Evelyn has had a super busy month wrapping up on Seussical. She even had to skip trick or treating in order to do tech week. And of course, the night before tech week- she was stung by a bee on her foot:( ACK! It was scary as she wasn't able fit her shoes on or put pressure on her foot for a couple of days afterwards. Sheesh. But then all was well and things looked good for the actual performance. But THEN.... one day into the shows, she came down with a fever and terrible horrible sore throat! It was so scary. I raced her in to the doc and had her examined for strep. She was clear, and so we prayed ALL day for a speedy healing so she wouldn't have to miss Saturday and Sunday shows. And our prayers were answered. She only missed the Friday school performances and not the big shows! IT was such a miracle and we were so grateful for her health. She is one that certainly has to spend time nurturing her health or she gets sick very quickly. Food, sleep and too much exertion causes her to become ill. It's hard when you are a performer! ha! But a performer she is! Not only did she have her musical this month, but also she did a solo in the Youth night Variety Show-- she sang Circle Of Life and blew it out of the water! Everyone was so impressed and she felt like a star. I was so happy she took the leap and did it. Lately she's had more confidence in her performing abilities and has accepted more invitations to sing. In fact, she is singing "what child is this?" on Christmas eve in a three-ward event! So proud of her. Ev continues to be a wonderful big sis to Anna. Constantly teaching her fun things and playing with her. Snap chatting with her! Singing with her! Lately, Evelyn is more interested in going places with us too (miracles happen). And whenever she does grace us with her presence, she is a huge helper. She helped take photos and tend to children at Hannah Ashcraft's birthday party, she helped me run the booth at the Boogie Bash, and helped set up at the funeral. So grateful for her! I think Ev's fav treat these days is Nektar's acai bowls and she would eat these every day if she could!
So grateful for a wonderful, full month of parenting and activities. The kids are at such awesome ages and it makes life very busy but very amazing as well.
