4th of July

This is us in our van watching the fireworks.  We drive just a little down the road where we have a great view but are also really close to home so we can get to bed quick! We had a great 4th.  We went to a ward breakfast in the morning, Daddy made chili and corn bread in the afternoon, went to the park where there were jump houses and crafts, and then watched fireworks at night.  It was a great day! We are so blessed to have this great nation to live in and to have so many freedoms.

Benson in his new swim shirt! Benson is always excited to have something new to wear, this is him with some goggles on as well.
Also over the 4th of July weekend we got a piano. I have wanted a piano for a long time but Michael and I had decided that moving one around would be difficult so we would wait to get one until we were settled.  We aren't exactly settled but I decided it was time anyways and found a cheap one off of craigslist. Our home feels so much more complete with a piano!
 I love having music going often around the house. Someone is always jumping on the piano to play a song or write a song.  Alden and Calvin are big into writing songs lately and are often playing us there new songs they have written. It feels nice to be playing on a real piano again!

Halloween

We started the week of Halloween off by visiting the pumpkin patch.  I had debated going but I was glad that I went, we all loved it! There was a lot to do and was the perfect Fall activity.

They had a petting zoo with lots of different animals, a jumping area, corn mazes, train rides, tractor rides, pig races, duck races, and other little activities.

I think we rode the train three times.  The boys all loved it!

Benson loved the big sand box, top right is us going through the smaller corn maze..after that we didn't even attempt the large one.

For preschool we learned about the letter M so all the kids made masks, this one above is the one Calvin made. The other pictures are the boys dressed up for preschool story time at the library.

Halloween morning! I am not going to lie I love having a day to make special.  The last couple of years I have scared the boys in the morning by dressing up like a cat and then making a special breakfast.  We had ghosts, pumpkins, and witches stew! (bananas, oranges, and homemade applesauce.)

These are pictures of Benson and I on Halloween during Alden and Calvin's soccer game.  (I decided to have the cat stay home.)

Halloween night! We had a monkey, superman and a knight in shining armor!The boys enjoyed trick or treating and came home with lots of candy! We did our counting and graphing on Halloween night so we were all exhausted by the end.  Next year I think we will save that for the next day!

(Note:  Every year we sort, count and graph our candy on these charts I have made.  It is fun for the boys to compare candy with each other and from previous years.)

Having Alden home from school!

 One day we were out shopping and Alden found a nickel. He was so excited to do something with it. We talked about its worth and how we needed more to get anything. We went home he and Calvin found some change so they could use the nickel. With it they were able to ride the helicopter at the 99 cent store.

 Playing cars down the driveway! It has been nice being able to stay in our PJs and just play around the house. We love that the sunshine is still shining strong here in Tucson!

 During the year Saturdays we have a history lesson/ activity but having no school has allowed us to do history lessons more often. Here Alden played the people of Greece and Calvin played the attacking barbarians. We had fun building swords and shields.
We have also done our mini Olympics and built some musical instruments! I love having the time to just do fun history lessons.

Christmas Activities

We usually go to the temple in the morning on the first Thursday of the month.  This month we decided to go at night so that we could walk around and see all of the Christmas lights.  It was beautiful! Also this was the first time Michael and I have been able to go in together for a long while, some of Michael's cousins live near the temple and watched the boys!  It was a nice evening.

For our ward Christmas party the theme was the Polar Express.  They did a great job with everything.  We came in our pjs which was wonderful, so nice coming home and having everyone including me all ready for bed!

At one point they had all the kids go get on the polar express train, the chairs were all lined up next to a lite up train.  On the train they sang Christmas carols for all of us to listen just as they did in the Polar Express.

Then they finished with going to see Santa and getting a special Christmas Bell.  The whole activity was great! We all really enjoyed it!

This last picture was a few nights later we decided to drive around and look at Christmas lights, we came home to eat some freshly made hot apple sauce.  We all loved it!  I think that might be a new tradition, I like it so much more then hot chocolate because not only does it taste yummy, smell yummy but you feel good after eating it rather then sluggish. It was a perfect end to a nice night!

Thanksgiving!

 

For Thanksgiving many of my family members came and joined us.  We loved having them all in our home and loved playing games and going places with them. In the picture above we had gone to the park and played a game of baseball.  It was a big hit and I think we all enjoyed it.

We had people travel from Las Vegas, St. George and Provo.  We were so glad that they all made the trip, so nice to have so many of the people I am Thankful for all in one spot. It was a great Thanksgiving and I indeed do have much to be thankful for.

Benson loves to play in the sand (wheat, oat, and rice) box.  It was even more fun since cousins where there to join him!

We had Thanksgiving dinner inside and the kids all ate, one thing nice about living in Tucson is on Thanksgiving day it is still usually between 70-90 degrees outside. Later on Alden put the chairs in this formation saying it was his roller coaster for people to ride on.

Just Dance on Youtube was a big hit.  We would pick a song and all dance to it.  So fun having a room full of so many dancers!!

These guys were all in their spiderman pj's the last night before Grant left.  Fun to have them matching.