Pumpkin Patch 2015 (and Sarah has a birthday)

This week was my birthday...this is not really the highlight of the blog, but I thought I should at least mention it.  I ended up watching my friend's daughter during the day, but my mom still took me out to lunch to celebrate.  Later that afternoon I picked my mom up downtown (she had been at a meeting down there) and she took my kids home while I stayed downtown to have a little alone time shopping and then met Jeremy for dinner.  It was a great day with lots of gifts and well-wishes from family and friends.  As I mentioned though, my birthday it not really what I wanted to talk about today and you will be relieved to know I don't have any pictures to go with this section of the blog.

Yesterday was the last Saturday before Halloween and our last weekend to squeak in a pumpkin patch trip this year.  Thankfully the weather was cooperative and we has such a good time.  We had purchased unlimited ride bracelets and the kids did slides, cow train, hay rides, bounce pillow, and "go-carts" (they were more like recumbent bikes) to their hearts' content.  Merrick was particularly loving the bounce pillow and he and I spent about an hour and a half in there together (about an hour longer than C.C. lasted).  I really need to figure out how to get one of those in our backyard. And, since no trip to the pumpkin patch would be complete without apple cider doughnuts, we made sure to gorge on those.  The real interesting part about that is that we let C.C. eat them, despite the fact that they contain egg.  Thankfully she didn't have a reaction and we are really thinking/hoping/praying she has outgrown her egg allergy.

Also, as a side note, we also finally got around to decorating our pumpkins today.  Those pumpkin push-ins are the best invention ever.

Change is in the Air

Changes are taking place all around us, both inside our house and out.  Out, fall is finally in full swing and despite fairly warm and dry weather, the leaves are changing and fall activities have begun.  At Merrick's school, large trees are dumping their leaves and while someone is blowing them into a pile, no one is collecting them, leading to every child's dream situation.  At pickup time each day I have to budget in time for frolicking in the leaf pile.

It is also the time for pumpkin patches.  Merrick took a school field trip to one pumpkin patch and we had our ward primary pumpkin patch activity, complete with face painting.  We are still hoping to make it to another pumpkin patch as a family, maybe next weekend.

Inside our house changes abound as well.  This week C.C. decided she would no longer sleep in her bed.  She would sleep on the floor, in Merrick's bed, or on her mattress on the floor, anywhere but in her crib.  One night I asked her why she would not sleep in her bed and she said "it's disgusting".  So, this weekend we took down her "disgusting" crib and she now she is on the bottom bed of Merrick's day bed.  So far this seems to be making her happy.  We just need to figure out how to get her to actually stay in bed and go to sleep at bed time.

Growing, growing

This week I have been struck by the rapid acceleration of time as my little boy is becoming more and more anything but little.  Since starting kindergarten a few weeks back, it seems like everyday there is a new milestone, a new accomplishment, a morphing from the little boy I once new.  How does this happen?

On Tuesday this week I went to his first parent/teacher conference.  I just have to brag here a little bit.  It was so nice to sit across from the teacher and have her rave about your child.  She said he was so kind, so respectful, so smart, she wished she could have a classroom full of Merricks.  I was so proud to hear about him already having accomplished all his math standards for the year and that he is reading at a mid to end of first grade level.  Most of all I was proud to hear her talk about how all the kids are drawn to him and that he is a natural leader without even trying to be.  These are all things I already knew, but it was so nice to hear them from another source.

It is silly, but the other thing that really impacted me this week is that Merrick's first permanent tooth broke through.  He has been complaining for a few days that one of his bottom, front teeth was hurting him.  I had asked him if it was loose and he said no, but when he was still complaining on Saturday I decided to investigate a bit more.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered his permanent tooth already having broken the skin and growing in behind the baby tooth.  Why has this impacted me so much?  It is just a tooth and the baby tooth has not even fallen out yet.  I think it is just the straw that broke the camel's back.  I now have have an almost 4 1/2 ft tall giant of a kid who is no longer a baby and he has the teeth to prove it.

I know I am being overly sentimental I need to embrace change, but I am having a really hard time reconciling the strange mix of pride and heartbreak that I am feeling.

P.S.  See for yourself just how big he has gotten in his school kindergarten picture.

Conference Weekend

This has been a very low key week with not much to report and a weekend taken up almost entirely by conference so I really don't have much to say tonight other than a few random tidbits from conference...

First off, watching conference with kids is always a balance.  How much do you encourage them to watch and how much do you just let them go do their own thing so that you can actually watch?  Every time I try some new system to keep the kids quiet and attentive.  This time we had bowls of candy with words on them.  When they heard the words they got a piece of candy from the bowl.  This was a good idea, but I learned a few tips for next time; pick harder words, make sure the candies are small, and make prayers a "no candy" time.

As I am sure you can surmise from my tips, my kids ate LOTS of candy and Merrick circled and collected candy even during prayers.

My favorite part about this system though came later this evening after dinner.  Merrick wanted dessert and decided that he would "just have a little Jesus" (a mini Starburst from the "Jesus" bowl).

Bottom line is that conference was wonderful and uplifting.  I am so grateful to be lead by a prophet of God who literally uses every fiber of strength in his being in serving the Lord.