No Rolling Your Eyes, Carter!

Okay, so I went to see Twilight on Saturday, and I haven't seen or talked to anyone since then, and I want to know what everyone thought.
Personally, I was a little nervous to watch it. Once you've seen a movie, those images are forever stuck and it changes the way the story looked in your head. I was afraid to hand over the reigns to a story that I really liked in my head. But anyway, I was very relieved, because I liked it. I thought it wasn't perfect, but better than I thought it might be. I wasn't sold on Robert Patterson as Edward, but by the end I was okay with him. And parts of the movie felt too rushed to me. What did you think? I guess you have to condense some things to fit it into a two hour movie. Overall, I approve, but I think I'd better see it again to be sure:)
Shout out to tell me what you thought.

A Pumpkin Poem - by Makenna

Halloween '08

What a fun Halloween!



Grandpa dressed up as a scarecrow to hand out candy. He looked great!
Our ward had a fun carnival with games and cotton candy. Thanks to our 24th ward buds for the invitation to trunk or treat.

Brennan's First Haircut (sniff, sniff)

Dad was throwing a fit about the adorable little curls around my baby's ears. I put it off as long as I could... As you can see, Brennan did not love the experience. I don't think he got a very good cut - I'm not too slick at offensive haircutting. Brennan put up some pretty good moves. But in the end, his adorable curls wound up in a plastic baggie, and my baby instantly transformed into a little boy. (sniff, sniff). It breaks my heart. No babies were injured in the filming of this.




I hope no beauticians are out there laughing at my "scissors in the mouth" technique. I know it's not professional, and it gets hair in my mouth, but it's the best I can do.

And he's all done. I really should have taken an after-shot so you could see what I mean about him looking so grown up. Maybe I'll take a picture in the morning and add it to this post as a P.S.

Mommy Preschool

I am happy to be in a preschool co-op with a bunch of fun moms. Kyler and Shaylie are both participating and having a ball. The last three weeks it was my turn to teach. It took a healthy chunk of time, but I had a good time, too. I took a few pictures of some of our activities when I remembered. Below, Brennan is waving the flag wildly during the Pledge of Allegiance.



P is for Pumpkins! We explored pumpkin innards and then cooked up the seeds.



F is for Fall and Friendship. We took a Fall walk-about collecting leaves for crafts and science stuff.

J is for Jack-O-Lantern, which came to our Halloween Party!







Ghost, Ghost, WITCH!

My favorite was reading the kids storybooks and watching their little faces so absorbed in the story. It was a good reminder how much fun it is to have little cuties at this age. I want to be better at playing with and enjoying them every day.
So, we cut and glued and colored, we sang and danced and played, we practiced writing and counting and sharing. We were busy!

Jayden's Last Pinewood Derby

DRAGONFIRE!


I'm pretty sure that if I asked Jayden what is his favorite part of Cub Scouts, he'd say it's the Pinewood Derby. He worked very hard and came up with a cool-looking car which did very well in the races. He spent a lot of time drawing sketches with designs for his car this year. Jayden borrowed Grandpa Robinson's tools and he cut the car out himself! I'm glad I wasn't around to see that. My little (big) son operating a power saw is enough to make my heart stop. But he did great and still has all his fingers. He spent hours sanding it to perfection and painted and decorated it himself. Dad helped with the wheels and, viola! Jayden's car won first place out of the Weeblos and third place overall!


Grandpa Mawson came to support Jayden, too. I love this picture of Grandpa holding Brennan.


I know Jayden treasured the time he got to hang out with Dad while working on the car.

Jayden also earned his Weeblo Scout Award at this pack meeting, and he is all set to achieve his Arrow of Light next month. We are proud of you, Jayden!

Goodbye to Soccer

Jayden and Makenna both played soccer this year. They both had wonderful coaches and fun teams. And both of them worked hard and showed terrific improvement throughout the season. I am very proud of you guys! It was a grueling season for Mom, with practices every night of the week, and I welcome the thought of family dinners once again. Sorry I didn't get more pictures. I watched most games with one eye on the game and one eye on Brennan who was running the other way. But these were my favorite shots...


Makenna turned out to be really quick, and tallented at ball-handling. I loved the orange and blue uniforms - they called themselves the Broncettes.


Jayden actually was dribbling the ball here, I just managed to cut it out of the picture. He usually played back as a defender, but he scored his first goal in the last game! Way to go Jayden!

Mountain Home Air Show

Kind of a flashback to summer, but I didn't want to forget one of our summer-time traditions. We love to take the kids to the airshow. The Nampa show is great, too, but this year we hit the one in Mountain Home. Carter loves the jets that rip the sky open like thunder. I love the loop-dee-loop trick flying (Greg Poe is AWESOME). The kids love the parachuters and all the hands-on activities, like walking through HUGE cargo carriers, climbing around in tanks, and peering in helicopters. They are always fascinated with the "real soldiers" all around. I try to teach them a respect for our servicemen and women. Carter and I decided our kids need to see the movie Top Gun!







And McDonald's on the way home was a big hit, too! Thanks Daddy!