Glamour Shots by Grace

Because I know you're all DYING to see the fruits of her labor...

{#FALL!  Hahahahaha}

 

 

 

Freebie Friday

So, as I mentioned in the last post, I was supposed to take it easy and lay low this past weekend.  Mission {mostly} accomplished!  Hahaha.  Especially on Friday.  After getting back from the doctor's office, and knowing Scott was working from home, I thought the easiest way to ensure that I could lay down and do nothing for most of the day was to give the kids a "freebie" day, since they didn't have school.   Unlike the last Freebie Day I gave them -- wear messes galore and chaos ensued -- they really knocked it out of the park last Friday!  Lots of TV was watched, the computer was played on, and iPods were used aplenty.  BUT, there were also some really crafty and creative moments going on throughout the day {and weekend}.

Selfie at the doctor's office.  As you can see, I was super stoked to be there.  Hahaha.  :)

Like for instance, when Grace turned the vanity area in their bathroom into a photo booth.  Complete with props and ready for glamour shots.  Hahahaha.  At one point or another throughout the course of the last few days, Grace has photographed every single kid in the family except Ethan.  She's now exclaiming she wants to be a photographer when she grows up.

#FALL!  Hahahahaha.

Our tripod has a gimpy leg.  Grace solved that problem. 

Ethan, meanwhile, decided that he didn't want to wait for October to start getting the Halloween decorations out, and -- towards the end of the day -- hauled up our pumpkin can army from the basement, to grace our mantle for the next several weeks.  Alex was too young the last time around that we created these pumpkins, and REALLY wanted to get in on the action.  Ethan was inspired as well, and after cleaning out a few cans from the recycling bin and waiting a whole day for me to get to to the store to buy paints and whatnot, Ethan, Jane, and Alex created some masterpieces.  And after a few fights over the cans and who they "belonged" to and then scrounging up some extras, Grace and Sophie concocted some creations as well.

Grace's creations -- she and Sophie decided to add some ghosts to the mix.  And just in case you're wondering, she promptly brought these up to her "studio" to use as props.  Hahahaha.

Sophie's handiwork.

Jane's...

... and Alex's.

Nothing, however, was cuter than Jane asking me midday on Friday if she could search Pinterest for Halloween decorations.  Unless you count the actual creations she made.  She is one Krafty little Kid.  :)  Just give her some mason jars and a sharpie and she's all over it.  Hahahaha.

A pumpkin and a ghost.  Using mason jars, sharpies, oranges, and toilet paper.  She wanted to make a frankenstein, too, but I told her we didn't have green paint to paint the oranges with.  Hahaha.

All in all, it was kind of a PERFECT day.  I think everyone needs the luxury of doing nothing/whatever they want every once in a blue moon.  :)

Bonus shot of me and the girlie bugs before the Women's Broadcast on Saturday night.  This was before Grace consumed four helpings of raspberry shortcake and Sophie ate a mound of Oreos.  It was also the calm {if you could even call it that, with Grace and Sophie hopped up on goofballs and doing "The Whip" and "The Nae Nae" in the gym while waiting for their food} before the storm of Grace's EPIC meltdown at the end of the meeting because she was "starving" and wanted me to stop and get food on the way home.  Which I refused to do.  It was quite the drive home, with Grace SCREAMING at me the entire time, and Sophie crying in the backseat because she was scared that Grace was going to cause me to get in a wreck.  Parenting is not for the faint of heart I tell ya.  Luckily we made it home in one piece, and Grace finally snapped out of it and calmed down when our power went out along with the rest of the neighborhood's, thanks to a tree falling on some power lines on the main road.   Silver linings?  Hahaha.

In the Bag

{Can you guess which bag belongs to Grace and which bag belongs to Sophie?  Hahaha.}

Wednesday night Grace and Sophie had a "Recognition Night" for Activity Days, and the whole family was invited.  The theme was "In the Bag," and all the girls were supposed to bring a bag that represented them, and contained 1 item for each of the following Faith in God categories they've completed in the last several months: 1.) Learning and Living the Gospel, 2.) Serving Others, and 3.) Developing Talents.  They also each created a poster telling a little bit about themselves, including their testimonies, and they helped to make some bunting banners for decorations around the room.  It was great!

Oh Grace.

{The refreshments were so fun and delicious -- an assortment of different flavored popcorn.}

Grace was one of the first ones up to showcase her bag of items, and she was a character as usual.  Her items were shoelaces (to represent Developing Talents -- because she's a runner), a whisk (for Serving Others -- we've started a "Cookie Crusade" to bring cookies to families in the ward each Sunday), and a prayer rock (for Learning and Living the Gospel -- because as Grace said, "we learned about prayer at some point this year.").  As a side note, another "new talent" Grace has been developing lately is the ability to cry on demand.  I'm not sure why she thinks this is so cool, but she's been practicing REALLY hard.  Mostly it involves a lot of prying her eyelids open with her fingers until her eyeballs get so dry that tears are produced, but she's really proud of this.  Hahahaha.  And apparently, she's developed quite a fan club amongst the younger Activity Day girls who think she is so hilarious.  That's my girl!  Hahahaha.

Sophie went the demure route for Wednesday's performance, and sweetly showed everyone all her objects.  For Learning and Living the Gospel, she brought an apple (representing eating healthy foods, from the Word of Wisdom); for Developing Talents, she brought her ballet slipper (because as she said, "I'm really good at ballet"); and for Serving Others, she brought an envelope (representing a thank you card she wrote for Teacher Appreciation week for one of the activities in the Spring).

It was really cute to see all the girls get up and showcase what they've learned this year.  Once they were done, the Activity Days leader spoke for a few minutes, and then the Young Women came in to talk a little bit about the Young Women's program, and what they have to look forward to when they turn 12.  The evening was finished off with popcorn and socializing, and we were able to head home before it got TOO late to get all the kids in bed.

So that was Wednesday night!  Last night was a little bit crazier, as I started having some pretty regular contractions around 10 o'clock.  They petered out around midnight, but I gave my doctor a call just in case, and she told me to come in to the hospital to be checked out if I felt like they were becoming more frequent or intense.  They never did, and I drifted off to sleep and managed to get a couple hours under my belt before waking up to use the bathroom and then experiencing the same thing all over again around 2.  This time they only lasted for about an hour, but never got stronger or more frequent, and once they stopped I fell back asleep because I was so tired.  This morning I woke up feeling great and like I imagined the whole thing last night!  Hahaha.  I gave the doctor's office a call and went in this morning to be checked out, just in case, and was thankful that the doctor was aligned to my mode of thinking, which is essentially to not be worried.  I'll be 34 weeks on Sunday, and she said that they wouldn't do anything to stop me if I started real labor from that point on.  She also said there was no need for bedrest -- apparently studies of late show that it doesn't really do much anyway -- but that I should definitely lay low and take it easy this weekend, even though she's not overly concerned that I'm in imminent danger of having this baby right now.  I'm not overly concerned either, so I was happy to see she agreed.  Obviously, if regular contractions start up again at any point and actually progress and become MORE intense and painful over time, I should call the doctor/head to the hospital, but other than that she said to stay hydrated and make sure I'm listening to my body.  That I can do!  So yeah -- that's how our week has gone.  Have a happy weekend!   I for one am super excited to attend the Women's General Broadcast with my girlie bugs tomorrow night.  :)

For Your Amusement

This past Saturday was the best day of the year for the kids!  They look forward to Dividend Day all year long and the only wrinkle in Saturday's fabric was that Ethan had a cross country meet at noon.  Which he was NOT happy about.  We worked around it the best we could and, in the end, split things up.  I took the younger 4 in the morning, and Scott and Ethan joined up with us later on.  We intermingled for a few hours in the afternoon before I left with the younger 3 around dinner time, and then Scott stayed with Ethan and Grace until closing.

Hahahahahaha -- look at that face.

As I have documented before, I am not the hugest fan of amusement parks, but being almost 8 months pregnant was the perfect excuse to not have to ride on any rides.  Hahaha.  Alex followed in my footsteps for the majority of the day, but by the end, he was brave enough to try a few "big" rides with Scott sitting next to him.  :)

The bumper cars were the first thing he chickened out on.

And you can forget about him even THINKING about going on the space buggies.  :)

We ran into family friends while there.

And we finally have a rider!!  The "race cars" were the first ride Alex would brave.  

And the train is always an Alex favorite.  Hahaha.

Even more exciting than the rides, was the petting zoo!  Hahaha. At least to Alex.  He went through 3 rounds of feeding the animals before the girls caught on to how much fun it was, too.  To be honest, I was quite surprised that Alex was terrified of rides, but NOT scared at all to have random animals eating {and slobbering} out of his hand.  Hahaha.

Unlike last year (where it was really chilly and cold), the weather for the day THIS year was perfect, if weird.  Hahaha.  It's like we experienced 3 different days all in one!  I was worried it was going to be too hot, but when we first got there it was windy and overcast and not hot at all!  Around lunch time -- when we were finally all together -- it started drizzling and turned cooler, but by the end of the day we had sunshine and blue skies and delightful weather all around.  :)   All in all, it was quite a lovely day.

 THIS turned out to be Alex's favorite ride.  He kept laughing through the whole thing.  It was quite adorable if I do say so myself.

And that was our day!  An added bonus to a full day of walking around an amusement park, was that once we were home, Alex and Jane fell asleep rather quickly at bedtime, and STAYED asleep all night long!  Hip hop hooray!!  Hahahaha.  I was nice and worn out, too, and fell asleep quite easily that night as well.

 My super people.

 And a family photo after lunch.

If you've stuck with the post this long, you deserve a medal!  Thank you and goodnight.  It is officially past my bedtime.  :)