Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving week was full of opportunities to visit with family and eat. And eat. And eat. (I'm not complaining.)

First of all, we had a prep day followed by "pie night" at Grandma Scott's on Wednesday.

Bekah, Ana, Grandma (in the background), Winnie and Miri preparing food for Thursday. Bekah and Ana each made a cobbler; Winnie and Miri tore bread for stuffing.

Then we met around 1 p.m. on Thursday for the first feast.

The family (except Grandpa Scott the photographer) gathered around the table to eat. Uncle T's family, Aunt Jessica, Grandma and Grandpa and our family were all able to attend.

Followed by pie at Aunt Anne's house in Rexburg that evening.

The girls enjoying their pie.

The next day we went to Grandma Susan's to decorate the tree and enjoy another day of feasting.

Miriam helping with Grandpa's tree. It later fell over and had to be rescued. 

The Wilde/Grover cousins at the table ready to eat.

The holiday, as usual, was a great reminder of everything we have to be thankful for.

Halloween

We thought we'd do our traditional family pumpkin carving the afternoon of Halloween (I even picked up the older girls from school so we'd have more time), but our pumpkins that had been sitting on the front porch were frozen solid. The girls were sad, but we managed to have a good Halloween anyway.

Seth took the younger two girls trick-or-treating on a couple of the streets in our neighborhood. Ana invited a few friends over to go to the church trunk-or-treat, then go door-to-door down her grandparents' road. Bekah had Idaho Falls Youth Symphony rehearsal. I managed the door and operated as the family chauffeur.

 Seth won third place in his office costume contest as Yoda. I dressed up as a scarecrow to run Winnie's second grade class party and hand out candy at home. Rebekah was Rosie the Riveter for school. Ana was a mermaid. Miriam was a light-up stick Newsie (below you can see how the lights worked). Winnie (along with a million other little girls) was a unicorn.

Miriam in the dark garage so you can see her lights.

Samantha, Ana, Lili and Addy with their candy haul.

Family concert

We love the Idaho Falls Symphony's family concerts, so while Rebekah competed with other marching bands in Pocatello on Saturday, October 19, the rest of us went to the Colonial Theater to participate in the instrument petting zoo and watch the symphony play the "Carnival of the Animals."

 Miriam the raccoon trying out the trombone while Ana watches. This was the first instrument they all wanted to try since it's what Bekah plays.

Winnie the unicorn learning how to hold the trumpet.

 Ana the tiger blowing on the clarinet while the symphony member fingers notes.

Miriam blowing into a flute.

 Winnie trying out the tiny violin.

 Ana on the cello.

Ana in her seat ready for the performance to begin.

Seth, Miriam and Winnie waiting.

Bekah goes marching (and plays in a concert)

Rebekah has been thrilled to participate in the marching band this year even though it meant leaving for school by 6:45 for her zero-hour class. We had a particularly cold October, and one morning her trombone slide froze in first position. Even though she commented on how cold it was sometimes, she never complained.

The band participated in three competitions (one at Highland, one at Madison, one at ISU) and played at four football games. (They would have played at a couple more, but it was too rainy for the reed instruments.)

Playing with the pep band before halftime.

Marching at halftime during a home game. It was very cold that night. 

Kneeling in formation. 

Our trombonist. 

Seth and Winnie eating popcorn, reading on the Kindle and watching the football game.

Miriam hunkered down on the bleachers. Seth took the younger girls home after the halftime performance.

They ended the season with a potluck dinner, slide show and awards. Rebekah received an award for being the "outstanding freshman."

Bekah was holding a bowl of ice cream when the director called everyone to attention, so she held her bowl in the ready position.

Bekah also had her fall concert. She played bassbone with the jazz band and trombone and French horn with the concert band. The band director announced which kids had made all-state band, with Rebekah being one of them. She will go to Nampa for rehearsals and the performance at the end of January/beginning of February.

 All of I could see of her during the jazz band's performance.

The only time I saw her with the trombone was before concert band started playing. 

But hallelujah! When she plays the French horn, she moves to the side where her mom can take pictures!

Winnie is 7!

This sweet, spunky gal turned 7 right after the beginning of October. She opened a present on her birthday (a unicorn fingerling), then we had a joint Cooper-Winnie family party with the Grovers on Saturday between sessions of General Conference, and a family party with the Scotts on Sunday after all the sessions were finished.

At the Grover party, she received a carton of Hatchimals from Aunt Rachel's family and an LOL Doll from Grandma Susan and Grandpa Dennis.

At the Scott party, she received a unicorn dress from us, a fun towel and 3D sticker kit from Grandma and Grandpa Scott, and a Disney necklace-making kit from Aunt McKall's family.

Seven-year-old Winnie with her unicorn cake. Ana made and decorated both the cake and cupcakes.

 Ana taking pictures of the cake with Seth's phone so she can send them to her cooking teacher.

The perler bead unicorn Ana made for Winnie. This girl loves unicorns, by the way. 

The unicorn dress Winnie received from us. 

Ana and Bekah helping Seth get the pinata rope over a branch of the Russian olive tree.

Everyone showing Easton the pinata, which was just a fruit snacks box with the words "fruit snacks" crossed out and "pinata" added. 

Winnie with her pinata prize. 

 Rebekah holding Easton as we work on breaking the pinata.

Miriam holding the chicken that decided to take up residence in our yard. It slept on the front porch every night until we found a new home for it.

Ana lighting candles on the cake. I had forgotten to buy more candles, so we scrounged up a "6" and one lone candle. Six plus one equals seven, right? 

Eating her cupcake.

Andrea is 37!

I don't always post about my birthday, but I had to because of the incredible cake Ana dreamed up and Bekah and Ana made happen.

The girls know I share a birthday with Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, but they just recently learned that my birthday is also the anniversary of when Joseph Smith received the gold plates. So they made this:

Ana made the cake and the fondant. Rebekah helped engineer the kneeling Joseph Smith.

And then we went to Palisades for a picnic and a walk.

Birthday family selfie.

Eastern Idaho State Fair

Way back in September (September 4, to be exact), we took advantage of Wednesday early release and spent an afternoon and evening at the Eastern Idaho State Fair. Fun was had by all.

Checking out the poultry exhibit. 

 Miriam and Winnie posing. Winnie MAY have requested that she have her picture taken in several of these cutout photo ops.

Miriam petting a goat at the petting zoo. 

 Ana pretending she has food so the goat will love her.

Winnie with her treat of choice: cotton candy. This girl loves cotton candy.

The great escape

"I think there's something in here!" I loud-whispered to Seth around 1 in the morning.

Abruptly yanked out of his peaceful slumber, Seth jumped about a foot off the bed and exclaimed, "What?!"

"I think there's something in here. I heard it scratching in the corner. I think it's a hamster. I saw it."

"But the light is off."

"I saw it!"

Seth dutifully came around to my side of the bed. "Where?"

"Behind the boxes."

"If it's anything, it's probably a mouse."

He moved one box. There was nothing behind it. He moved another box.

Nothing behind it, either.

"I'll go downstairs and make sure Bidoof is fine."

"Sh! I hear it!"

Obviously skeptical, he ignored me and turned away to leave the bedroom when I said, "It's a hamster!"

"It's a hamster?"

"It's Bidoof!"

Seth returned to my side of the bed and stared most disbelievingly at our lovely pet hamster who had just come out from under our bed and was sitting on his hind legs in the corner of our bedroom.

"Hey, little buddy," Seth said after he had shaken off his stupor. He knelt down and picked Bidoof up.

Our cute hamster in a laundry basket. That's the only place I could corral him for a photo.

I heard Seth go downstairs, put the hamster back in his cage, then use copious amounts of packaging tape to seal the top compartment of the hamster's cage. The part with the broken latch. That the hamster had completely ignored for months, and we figured he would ignore for the rest of his existence.

Seth returned to bed, and we had a good laugh at the absurdity of the entire situation ("I was sure you were dreaming!" Seth told me), then realized what a journey our sweet little rodent pet had gone on during that early morning.

First, he had to lift the lid of his hideaway and climb out.

His hideaway at the top of his cage. Now with lots of packaging tape!

Then he had to drop down from the cage to the floor.

It's quite a drop from the shelf on the entertainment center to the ground.

Then he had to climb one set of stairs ...

Stairs leading from the family room (where the hamster cage is) to the living room.

... followed by another.

Stairs leading from the family room to the bedrooms upstairs.

Then he had to enter our bedroom and go to the far corner.

Our bedroom, with the far corner visible from the doorway.

And then he scrambled around the boxes I keep in the corner by my head of the bed. 

The boxes Seth moved to find nothing since the hamster had moved from the corner to under the bed while I was turned away.

Which is the unlikeliest place we figured he'd go. He could have ended up in the crawlspace, and we never would have seen him again. He could have ended up in one of the girl's rooms and had a heyday in there since none of them sleep light enough to have heard him ("Especially me," Rebekah commented since she removes her hearing aids before bed every night). He could have ended up in the mouse trap under the family room fireplace that is a mere 10 feet from his cage.

The mouse trap (and dust bunnies) under the fireplace.

We figure heaven must be watching out for the little guy, because instead of him going missing and causing a lot of heartache for his owners, he came straight to us and allowed us to pick him up and put him back. And since he's named for this guy:

Bidoof the Pokemon.

I guess we had our own little game of Pokemon Go in the wee hours of Thursday morning.