November

Here is Quinton at his first scout event - Pack Meeting! Grandma Packer gave him his uniform and he looks pretty spiffy when he's all decked out.

These boys are a riot together sometimes. They were playing and singing together one day.

Me from the other room - "Kids, what are you doing?"

Kids -"Just doing some crafts!"

Me thinking - It will probably be a little messy, but at least they're being nice and quiet.

Me when I walk in the room - "AHHHH!"

I didn't get many pictures from Thanksgiving spent in Rigby, but the moment we got there Sawyer jumped into Grandpa's arms and claimed him for his own. We spent some good time talking, playing, and eating so it was definitely a Thanksgiving success! The day after we went to Oakley to get a tree and go sledding with Barry's family. (Sawyer and I stayed at the house.) They had a lot of fun!

Amy and Jared were the only other family to visit so things were pretty quiet at Grandma and Grandpa Jenks' house. We made pretzels to make up for it.

Sawyer and His Breakfast

Sawyer discovered one day that he really likes Rice Krispies.

Trying.

Tasting.

"They're mine."

And he came back a little later to claim the whole bag.

Quinton's 8th Birthday

Quinton turned 8 years old this week! What a big kid he is. He is such a tenderhearted, focused, stubborn, loving, smart boy and has definitely broken us in as parents. We had a lot of fun celebrating this year since it is the big 8! He is looking forward to his baptism next month.

Quinton is really into Minecraft right now and asked for a Minecraft birthday. Here he is with a creeper pancake for his breakfast in bed. 

We let Quinton have a friend party this year and he was so excited to invite a few of his friends over to celebrate Minecraft style.

They made Minecraft masks as they came in. It was fun watching them run around being crazy and bumping into walls, hehe.

Then we played pin the tail on the pig. 

 Next the kids had to dig through different materials like shaving cream, beans, water marbles, cloud dough, and noodles to find ore so they could go to the crafting table and earn prizes.

Barry and the kids made a ghast pinata that got smashed to smithereens. (Shhh, don't tell anyone we recycled the Halloween candy.) 

Quinton was so excited about his presents and cake!

The next day we also went bowling at the ISU student union and out for pizza. Happy Birthday buddy!

Growing Up

Sawyer has earned himself the nickname of Sawyer the Destroyer lately. He finally started walking at 15 months old, but even before that he loved emptying drawers and cupboards, getting into the garbage can and toilet, and wrecking his siblings' projects. He sure is cute, though.

He is a very snuggly little guy, especially with his aunts and grandmas.

Warren has a love/hate relationship with Sawyer. Sometimes they get along great and other times Warren just wants him out of his space!

Reading

The teachers at Gate City Elementary must really know how to get kids excited for reading. Quinton and Clara come home a lot of days, pull out a book, and will read for hours sometimes. It's so fun to see their love for books grow and their reading skills improve. They even get Warren and Sawyer in on the action.

It's Autumn Time

I love Fall. It's my most favorite season with the cooler weather, changing colors, and holiday anticipation. Here are a few random things we've been up to.

On October 24th we went on a short hike up City Creek trail in Pocatello. This was one of the reasons we wanted to move back here - to have easy access to beautiful hikes like this. The kids loved it.

Ready for bed

Clara's first time roller skating at a birthday party!

Puzzle time

Barry and I got to spend a weekend (and many days after) scraping our popcorn ceilings and painting them and the walls of our living room and hallways. It was a lot of exhausting work, but it feels much newer and brighter in our house. 

We had to live with the sofa in the kitchen for a few days, but it helped Barry with his food selection.

Getting cozy without a dining table

Fun picture we sent to Daddy

During spirit week at school, on dress as your favorite book character day, Quinton dressed as Buzz from Fly Guy and Clara was Fancy Nancy

While I was painting one day I distracted the boys with this peanut butter play dough. They were at it for quite awhile!

This is just one of many beautiful sunsets we've enjoyed seeing from our back deck. We love where our house is so we can enjoy them.