Tophams on Parade: October

Hayden complained, one day, about having a splinter in his foot. I looked, but his foot was so dirty, I couldn't see what needed to go. I told him he probably needed a bath. As soon as he got in there, he took right to washing his sore foot off.

We went to music time at Thanksgiving Point. Hayden...didn't love it.

We've been practicing writing letters. I've taught Hayden most of the letters in his name, but he mostly will only actually write H's. Even before the school year started, he was able to identify H, O, M, T, L and sometimes R and P...but H's are definitely his FAVE!

Some of the super cute art work that Maliya has brought home, this year.

We went to Jakers with the Burke's! Love that place!

Maliya and Brian ran races climbing to the top of this hay stack and then back down. It was pretty cute! Brian beat her going up every time, but most of the time she was able to make up the lost time and beat him coming back down!

Hay ride.

TONS of pumpkins!

Corn maze.

And we picked out one funny pumpkin (squash?)

We had a Dalton party, complete with cookie decorating!

The kids built a fort!

We got a glass top for our new table.

Hayden started wanting to watch Demolition Ranch in the mornings...

Brian got to hold a first edition Doctrine and Covenants in Sunday school.

When you have a full couch, a love seat, and an individual coushy chair in the living room, but the whole family sits on the love seat for family scripture study...

The girls tied all these ribbons together to make one long string. Then tied one end to Maliya's hair and one end to Rachel's hair, so they could be the conjoined by hair twins on Trolls! Haha!

Hayden and I having more fun at the Curiosity Museum while the girls are at school...

I got a bunch of tomatoes from my garden, this year. I experimented with salsa making, making home made tomato sauce...more salsa...and I still have a ton of tomatoes that I need to use up...

Bryn and her kids come over to play, often...Hayden and I love having visitors during the day! Trains and cars are staples for our entertainment.

Shopping for birthday presents. This girl...she's like a tiny adult...

The big unicorn birthday party! Wow! Look how she looked when I picked her up, afterwards! Someone is SERIOUS about unicorns! And parties...

Then we went to the Pumpkin Smash party that Edge was putting on. There were bounce houses/slides/obstacle courses, hotdogs, soda, free pumpkins, etc...BUT...it was SO crowded! And kinda cold. We didn't last long.

My little tiny lady, again.

Another gem that Katie brought home from school. I love seeing her grow and get better and writing things all by herself!

The kids took over decorating for Halloween, this year. This skeleton never was terribly scary. But, somehow, he looks noticeably LESS scary when he's relaxing on a bench, legs crossed, using an arm rest...

I get a lot of love from these girls.

And some love for Dad too.

Katie's class had a pajama party!

Fall Break! A month or so before Fall Break, Katie had started asking to go visit her cousin Traeger. I told her that we couldn't visit Traeger, because he lives too far away. Being the problem solver that she is, she said "We can just drive there, and then sleep there, and then wake up and play!" So, we decided that we would! We took off right after school on Wednesday. Candy Corn colored rice crispy treats for a road snack!

They might have been a messy road treat. Oops.

We got to Pasco late Wednesday night and Brian drove us around his old neighborhood, pointing out his old houses, schools, etc., before finally pulling in to Trina's house.

Thursday, was our day for true farm experiences (as requested by our kids, especially Rachel). We toured the Hawkins/Rowley family farm.

Learned how apples are processed and turned into apple cider.

And even got to sample some apples! So yummy!

And got to sample some cider, too!! Super yum!

Climbing around in a big cherry pit pile.

Then we had lunch with Tyler's parents. Tyler's family were all VERY gracious hosts! Both at their home and at the farm. There were lots of fun things to play with both inside their house and out. And, of course, Katie found the cat!

Then we had the chance to go milk a cow!

We had lots of opportunities to snuggle our new cousin Sandra!

Hayden woke up, one morning and started yelling that he needed coffee!!! And this was the picture Brian got of him!!! Turns out he was hungry and wanted coffee CAKE!

Friday we went up to the Rowley family lodge. We "released the turtle", apparently a family tradition for them. My girls ate that up!!!

We got to ride on the carousel that Tyler's Grandpa built himself! So cool!

And on the train that he built! It was a surprisingly long and cool track! Including going through a tunnel and over a bridge with fun animal silhouettes to watch for. I'm super impressed!

More baby snuggles!

On Saturday, we went back down to Tyler and Trina's house. Sunday, we went to church with them. Katie made this lovely picture at church. She said that it showed Brian sick in bed, and that she loves the scriptures and loves the commandments. :)

Brian flew from Pasco to Seattle for a work thing.

Maliya and Rachel taught an FHE lesson. :)

Monday morning, we got loaded up and hit the road!We stopped halfway to hit up the Meridian Idaho Temple Open House!My girls were not fans of the booties, as they rubbed on their bare skin around the ankles. Katie was frustrated enough with them, that it ruined her entire experience and was cranky about it the whole time and refused to be in any pictures at the end.

She let me take one selfie with her on the way out, as long as no one else was around to see.

We grabbed some pizza and donuts and then continued on our way. We rolled in at 9pm Monday night! I was tired and could feel that I was starting to get sick and didn't want to have to unpack our mess of a car by myself. So, even thought it was already an hour past bedtime on a school night, I told the kids to take everything that they could find from the car into the house and just throw it into the living room. Meanwhile I unloaded all the suitcases and sleeping bags. This was the result.

I'm just glad that we made it home safe and sound! It was a great trip!
The next morning, it was the beginning of Red Ribbon week. Maliya and Katie had to wear red, Rachel had a field trip and had to wear "Performance Dress" and have her lunch packed in a paper bag with all throw awayable containers.
The next day was crazy hair day, so that took time. Plus Rachel had to bring in a small white pumpkin.

The next day they were supposed to dress up like super heroes. The next day they were supposed to dress in their Halloween costumes. Plus they all needed donations for their class parties on Friday, and I needed to make sure Katie's party was all coordinated, and make sure we had food in our house after our trip and get us unpacked and laundry done and pick Brian up from the airport at about 1am on Thursday night. All the while, I felt like this:

And drank a lot of lemon/vinegar/honey tea.

Yep. I was sick as could be. It was a crazy week.

Some pictures that Rachel's teacher put on Instagram from their Friday Halloween celebrations.

Saturday was the Primary Program Practice, complete with ice cream, afterwards!

Sunday morning. Hayden is never really a fan of wearing church clothes. Or going to church. But he was especially offended this week when I actually fixed his hair, too! Haha!