Festival of Trees

Now that Rebekah is a full-fledged member of the middle school band, she gets to experience all the perks. One of them is getting to miss class to play songs at the local Festival of the Trees (November 13).

 Playing her baritone among a sea of adolescent musicians.

In case you were wondering, it's really difficult to get a clear shot of a kid surrounded by music stands, instruments and children. 

Grandpa Dennis, Grandma Susan, Seth and Winnie all came to hear the music. So did Grandpa Scott, but he was also shooting pictures.

Meridian Temple

With cousins at a new temple site, we couldn't pass up the chance to visit and go through the open house. Unfortunately, I was incredibly lazy while we were there, so I didn't take any pictures of the girls' cozy sleeping accommodations (Winnie, Miri and Ellie on the floor of Libby's room and Bekah and Ana on the floor of Shelby's room), the shenanigans in the basement (me riding around on a pump scooter while Jon helped Winnie shoot me with Nerf guns; Ana and Annie constructing a PVC fort) or the playing that went on (Jon and Seth checking out the gun store; Annie and I playing Five Crowns; Miri, Libby, Ellie and Winnie playing with Littlest Pet Shops; Shelby introducing us to her incredible card tricks; Shelby schooling me in a game of tetherball).

But I do have a few pictures of us at the temple.

Analee, Rebekah, Winnie and Miriam outside the Meridian Temple after our tour. 

Checking out the pond. 

Seth and Andrea outside the temple. 

The "official" picture they shoot in the tent following the tour.

We spent less than 24 hours in Meridian as we arrived shortly before bedtime on Friday, November 10, and left the next afternoon before 4. But we certainly made the most of our time with the temple and our cousins.

Idaho Falls aquarium

Just a couple miles down the road is Idaho Falls' new aquarium. It's not complete yet (the shark tank wasn't finished when we went), but when we went for Family Home Evening on November 6, our admission fee included tickets for that night and one other day of our choosing so we can go back when they have everything in place. The interactive exhibits were a hoot, and we can't wait for them to be done so we can return.

Seth and Winnie at the touch pool. 

Seth helping Winnie with the 3D interactive computer. 

Seth with an armful of parakeets with Analee and Miriam watching. 

Bekah, Miri and Analee petting sting rays. We also got to feed them.

Fall catchup

More random happenings, this time closer to now.

Sunday, September 10

Miriam and Winnie dressed up as Mom and Dad. 

Thursday, September 14

 Winnie sporting a lovely mask at the local craft store.

Saturday, September 16

Seth and Analee with their painted ceramics while on a daddy/daughter date. Seth painted a Zelda-themed stein. Analee painted an owl mug.

Thursday, September 28

Winnie's feet poking out of her top bunk. 

Thursday, October 12

Miriam, Winnie, Rebekah and Analee enjoying some froyo after getting their flu shots.

Sunday, October 22

Winnie and Miriam playing Guitar Hero guitars in their rock band. 

Wednesday, October 25

Seth and Rebekah playing Frisbee golf in Freeman Park for their daddy/daughter date. 

Miriam making herself into a walrus with the help of a couple of Twizzlers.

Monday, November 6

Winnie reading books on the floor of a department store while wearing rain boots and swim shorts. 

Tuesday, November 7

Winnie taking a nap in my bed after I had just woken up from a nap. 

Summer catchup

Yeah, I realize it's time to deck the halls and all, but I just realized Seth and I both had pictures on our phones that hadn't been blogged about. So it's time for a summer flashback!

Pine Basin

Monday, July 24 - Friday, July 28

Rebekah and Analee outside the Pine Basin lodge. Seth and I had promised the girls they could each go one time during their years of eligibility (4th-6th grade), so Rebekah chose to do it in 6th grade so she and Analee could go together. They spent a fun week at the camp learning about plants, the water cycle, how to embarrass your mom during a skit, how late you can humanly stay up and how weird preadolescent boys can be.  

Miriam and Seth's LEGO creation

Saturday, July 29

Miriam and Seth pose next to their massive creation. Seth bought a huge bag of LEGOs from D.I. for $4. The bag was part of a Mission to Mars kit that had instructions for this space station. Miriam and Seth spent hours constructing it before an errant nephew ripped it apart.  

Packsaddle Lake

Monday, July 31

Miriam and Winnie hiking to Packsaddle Lake. Andrea took the girls and Peach on the 1-mile hike to the lake to play in the water. It took a while to find the right place (apparently the lake is accessible from more than one direction, but I wanted the shortest walk to the lake), but the girls were very patient. By the way, Winnie's overstuffed backpack contained two life jackets, in case you thought I was weighing my 4-year-old down with rocks.

Rebekah and Peach on the trail. Peach had a great time. She hasn't gone hiking with us before. The only drawback was the other people. She loves them so much and just wants to be friends, but not everyone likes a wet dog giving them kisses.  

Analee on the hike. 

 Going back up the trail to the car.

Library space party

Monday, August 7

Bekah and Ana used eyeliner to draw celestial shapes on their faces for the library's theme party. 

Miriam dressed up as her own version of Queen Amidala.

Winnie wore sparkly clothes and made a diagram of the solar system.

Rebekah, Analee, Winnie and Miriam.

Library unbirthday party

Monday, August 14 

Rebekah wearing her homemade party hat. You can tell she is very enthusiastic. 

Winnie dressed up as a white rabbit. Even though the librarians told us it wasn't an Alice in Wonderland party, the "unbirthday" aspect of it made us think otherwise. 

Analee with her party hat. 

Rebekah, Analee, Winnie, Andrea and Miriam posing. 

Miriam's homemade mad hatter costume is on point.

Trampoline sleepover

Thursday, August 17 - Friday, August 18

 Miriam, Seth and Winnie prepared for a night on the tramp.

 Girls bouncing around Seth.

Miriam, Seth and Winnie the next morning. 

 The moon as seen from the tramp.

Library sleepover party

Monday, August 28

 Miriam, Winnie and her splint in their pajamas. 

 Seth taking a nap on the moon.

Analee and Rebekah. 

Analee, Miriam, Winnie and Rebekah.

Miri-ism #42

While Andrea is helping Miriam's 2nd grade class with Winnie in tow. Miriam is using a laptop to participate in literacy exercises. She has to sort the list of words that start with the letter G into those that have a hard G sound (as in "goat") and those that have a soft G sounds (as in "giraffe").

Miri: Mom, look! (She points to the word "German.") You're part German!
Andrea: So are you!
Miri: What?!? I am? (Thinks about it for a second.) Is Winnie?

Gwenism #21

Gwen: Mississippi is coming to town! And Mister Sippi is coming with her!

Bonus: Winnie wearing swim shorts and rain boots while lying on the floor of Kohl's and reading a Star Wars book.

Halloween doings

Halloween just wouldn't be the same without our annual pumpkin carving. Seth helped Miriam and I helped Winnie while the older girls helped themselves.

Winnie and Miriam pulling out pumpkin guts while Seth dances to the Family Halloween station on Pandora. 

Rebekah delighting in the squishiness. 

Analee carefully extracting seeds and pulp. 

Family pictures next to the completed pumpkins. Rebekah freehanded a silly face. Winnie chose the ominous eye from A Series of Unfortunate Events. Miriam chose a silhouette of Count Olaf from the same series. Analee used a pattern to create her spooky ghost.

Silly faces.

Pumpkins a-glowing.

The next day I took Winnie to the public library to participate in the Halloween parade.

A little ballerina with her Elmo bucket.

I helped Miriam's class with their Halloween party, and then everyone came home and prepared for trick-or-treating.

Seth the farmer, Andrea as Katniss, Rebekah as Indiana Jones, Analee as Marion Ravenwood, Miriam as Count Olaf and Winnie the ballerina.

Even though Analee had to explain to everyone who she was dressed up as ("I'm Marion." "Marion who?" "Marion from Indiana Jones.") and people kept mistaking Rebekah for a cowboy ("Howdy!" "I'm not a cowboy! I'm Indiana Jones!"), they had a fun time with their partner costumes.

 When Miriam declared she wanted to go as Count Olaf, I despaired. How could we transform a beautiful 7-year-old girl into a devious old man? Despite our limitations, I think we did well. Analee drew the eye "tattoo" on Miriam's ankle.

And bless this child for choosing something easy and generic.

We left a bowl of candy out on the front porch so I could go with the girls (something I haven't done since we only had one kid), and the older two canvassed the neighborhood and then went trick-or-treating with friends while Seth and I took the younger two around. We had to put on layers and layers of clothes (Winnie was wearing three pairs of tights), but we managed to stay warm and have a good time.