Praying for Amen

So, the person saying the closing prayer went on longer than Mikaya is used to on Sunday, so she says out loud, "What about Amen!" She was wondering when the "Amen" part was coming and why it was taking so long. Curtis and I laughed for awhile about that one.

Santa to the Rescue

So, I haven't had to use the "Santa Might not Bring any Presents" discipline strategy before; if you can call it a strategy. But, this year I had to pull it out. So, I phoned Santa as Avery watched and told him that Avery was being a little naughty. (Yes, it was a bad enough tantrum to resort to this strategy and nothing else was working!)
So the funny part is, Avery, Coral, and I went to the mall to find Coral some boots for her birthday present, and low and behold, there he was. Santa. Not in his normal fake looking set up, but just walking around outside. It seemed as though he had been waiting just for us, because he walked right up to us and said (no joke), "I heard somebody has been being a little bit naughty lately", and looked right at Avery. To say the least, she was stunned and the look on her face was priceless! Coral and I took the opportunity to say, "See....I did call Santa and he does always know when we are being naughty or nice."
He looked so much like the "Real Santa" and said just the right thing, that I had a bit of a hard time not believing in Santa, myself, for a split second.

Avery posing for a photo in her Christmas dress. Do you see why it is so easy to take pictures for my business. I don't know why, but they love to pose for pictures, which makes it a little hard when I just want a normal picture. Oh well!



Mikaya in her Christmas dress.




Avery helping us pack.




Coral painting her bathroom in our new house. It was a lovely blue sponge paint with duckies on it before we painted it red. Maybe you guys already know this, but I had forgotten. If you ever paint with red, make sure to use a gray or pinkish primer. Then you won't have to do three coats, like we did. We just finished painting, so I will load those pictures soon.







Drew and our good friends, the Blattman's, came over again this Thanksgiving. Once again, I took very few pictures. I will have to ask Jessica & Will for some of theirs and post them later. We actually got to bring out our china, which was fun. Anyway, here is a picture of the kids at the kiddie table. We only had two stools, so two of the kids had to use paint cans to sit on.




Making peppermint sugar cookies.




I couldn't find an angel that was light weight enough for the top of our Christmas tree, so Avery and Mikaya and I made this one. We used a recipe for paper mache. They thought the whole process was really gross and didn't want to touch the gooey mess. I thought it was funny, because they usually don't seem to mind getting dirty.




Coral, Mikaya, and Avery have learned that if they happen to match, they have to get their picture taken. (This is our back patio/yard in our new house.)







We just celebrated Coral's birthday with Yaki Soba, presents, and brownies. Avery made the cute picture of Coral with streamers on the wall (in first picture). Coral went on a group date for her birthday. They went out to eat, to the new Narnia movie, back to our home to play games, and then tried to go swimming. All I know is that they were laughing the whole time they were at our house playing games, so I think they had fun! We love our sweet Coral who always helps to brighten our day with her beautiful smile.

Trunk or Treat

Here is a picture of Word Girl and Captain Huggy Face from PBS in case you haven't heard of them.







Last night we went to a Trunk or Treat Halloween party with our ward. We went as a shark attack victim, PBS Word Girl, a nerd, and Minnie Mouse. Coral was at an amusement park with a bunch of good friends because they decided to avoid the Homecoming dance this year, because it gets pretty raunchy at her school dances, these days. They located a huge van for the occasion and one of the girls' brother and his wife took them up to the amusement park. They had a blast.

Happy Halloween

Mikaya joined right in, with all the Halloween party activities, today at Avery's school. Coral came in to help also. I'm so glad she was there! We needed her help! Avery was "Word Girl", a super hero from PBS and Mikaya was Minnie Mouse.



Avery is loving Kindergarten and has a sweet and very talented teacher. My visiting teacher is the PTA president at Avery's school and asked me to be the room parent volunteer for Avery's classroom. I have loved being able to do some teacher stuff again, without the whole responsibility of being the teacher.



So, the other day, Avery comes home from school and says, "Do you know what a zombie is? It's a dead person who walks around like this", as she showes Curtis what a zombie does.

Curtis: "Where did you learn that?"

Avery: "From my teacher because I'm learning lots of things at school; like Spanish!"


A little while later Avery offers us this little piece of wisdom...............

Avery: "If you get bitten by a spider, hurry and run and tell a human, or your mom and dad."

(I like how she said OR your mom & dad....what does she think we are......zombies?)







I thought I'd put a few Halloween photos up before October is over! We carved pumpkins the other night.




A baby quilt that Coral made for personal progress. Isn't it pretty! She is going to give it to charity.





Avery getting up in the morning before she reads her Book of Mormon, prays, eats breakfast, brushes her teeth, makes her bed, and of course gets herself dressed. On some mornings, Curtis volunteers for a morning read program in Avery's classroom, before he goes to work. We like to walk the five or six blocks (over the bridge, through some secret pathways we've found) to her school.

Halloween again

We made cookies as a family, tried on Halloween dress-ups, and watched A Nightmare Before Christmas. This monster cookie was Avery's.



Curtis's monster cookie.



Mikaya's home preschool program. She gets to be the only girl and she fits right in with these cute boys.



Coral working on her quilt.

Beach Camping

Kids & Money:
While we were beach camping, we walked down the block to get some pizza. While eating, Curtis was telling Avery about interest and that if she puts some of the money she earned away, it will grow and get bigger. She said, "Wow, is that magic?"



Kids & Food:
The other day Mikaya said, "Can you burn that for me?" What she meant was, "Can you cook that for me?" I was thinking, "What does that say about my cooking?"

















"Pirate Day" while camping at the beach. Avery loved swinging from the branches of this cool palm tree in our camp. The kids also loved going on a treasure hunt all around the campground, prepared by the older kids in our group of friends.

The Mormon Battalion Museum

Mikaya panning for gold. Maybe she will find a large nugget so we can afford a house around here.




We went out to the Mormon Battalion Museum again to take family pictures. Here are a few pictures from that. The girls got to dress up, pan for gold, and see the views of "Old Town" from a tower.










Avery's 1st day of Kindergarten! She has the most sweet and capable teacher. I am in awe of her classroom, with one full wall of brightly painted characters from books, dress-up clothes, train sets, and a puppet theater. They work hard and play hard every day it seems. Mikaya and I walk Avery to and from school each day, which takes about 15 minutes each way. Mikaya also loves playing at the playground at Avery's school each morning, for a few minutes, with her friend Dalton. Avery is happy to have three of her friends in her class this year. She is also meeting some other nice friends as well.