October Love #5

Counting down the days to a day full of pretending and candy.

The countdown is on for one of the kids favorite holidays. Halloween is way more fun with kids and I love feeding off of their excitement. This year since we have the house up for sale, we didn't do too many decorations. (Don't think it would be a good selling point if I had creepy, gross things all over the house.) But the kids shouldn't suffer so instead we made a 13 day count down to Halloween. It has been so much fun to see them get excited about it.

Corbin comes home from school and heads straight for the countdown and pulls out the tag that tells us what we are going to do that day. Somedays have been harder because after he reads it I tell the boys we have to wait until daddy gets home. It's been a good lesson on patience.

I have really quite enjoyed it because it hasn't been overwhelming and helps me to focus on the fun of it all.

This night in particular was hilarious.

We had a trick night.

We each had to pull out a slip of paper and do what it said on it.

Whistle "I am a Child of God"

Play patty cake

Write your name and draw a self portrait in 15 seconds

Howl at the moon

Pat your head and rub your tummy at the same time

Waltz with someone

Yodel

to name a few.

We were laughing so hard. It was hilarious, although Corbin didn't love Waltzing with me. Can you beleive it? He's already embarrassed by that and we were in our own home! And someone's certain husband purposely picked yodeling for her.

It was a good night.

October Love #4

Halloween Party with Cousins.

We love our cousins and we love every chance to get together with them. (and I love the chance to see their moms and grandma)

It was the perfect day and ALL the kids looked so cute in their costumes. I have not finished the boys costumes yet so they got to pick from the costume box for the party.

Power Ranger

Night in Shining Armor

Batman rescuing the baby.

Little Red Riding Hood.

Miss America.

Adorable, shy, baby batman.

A Halloween Party is not complete until the dry ice comes out.

The Mummy Game. Boys against Girls.

Boys won for being the fastest. Two rolls of toilet paper

Girls won for actually making a mummy. One roll +

one more. Good job girls!

And lastly, decorating Halloween cookies. It was a VERY good thing that Mandi had plenty of frosting, sprinkles, and candy!

It was such a fun day. Thank you Mandi for allowing 16 energetic, adorable kids to come to your home and play! (which happens to be the most beautiful home) It was so memorable.

Now, a little humor from my dad.

"The Olive Garden"

October Love #3

Homemade Donuts when it's chilly outside.

And better yet, giving the boys some baking lessons. I really love to bake, it's so relaxing for me, Justin can tell you that I bake WAY more than when we were first married. When Corbin was old enough to stand on a chair and watch me, he was old enough to help me. When we were bored during the day, we baked. (Which is not a good habit to get into, trust me.)

When this time of year rolls around, I find our oven is on quite a bit more than usual. We go through flour, sugar, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, pumpkin, chocolate chips, apples, and nuts so much more. When we make these, oil seems to go fast. But it's ALL worth it!

(We don't have a donut cutter, but we get along just fine)

It's hard work, but in the end, it pays off.

Sinking our teeth into these is heavenly.
(Taylor did not want his picture taken while enjoying each and every bite)
(thanks Nicole and Abe for the recipe, we have had these every year since you gave it to us three years ago)

October Love #2

Football Game and Birthday Party with Cousins on a crisp, cool October Day.

Huddle Time

That birthday boy has got an arm. Impressive.

What a catch!

Get him Jords. (And that of course is our kiddo, just chillin.)

What a play, so close Corbin.

The only girl cousin was holding her own. Trying so hard to tackle the birthday boy.

After a great game of football,we had a treasure hunt that led to these cupcakes. It is tradition in the Morris Family to let all the kids have a candle to blow out. They LOVE it. (in case you were wondering, those are ghosts.)We love Cousins...and football...and cupcakes....and being together!! (they just moved back two months ago after being gone for three years. We LOVE it!)

October Love #1

My sister-in-law is taking this month to write the reasons why she loves October. I thought I would follow in her footsteps and do the same.

There are so many reasons why I love October and this year it started out so right. And this is why.

General Conference was so great this year. (but when isn't it?)

I really enjoyed sitting back and really paying attention to every talk. Of course every year there are some talks that stand out more to me than others, but all of them have such great things to say and are meant to be said at this time.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland: I have loved every talk of his in the last couple of years. This year, I appreciate how humble he was and how grateful he was for every member of the church. And then how grateful he was to his sweet parents who sacrificed so much during his mission so that he would have all the money in his bank account when he got back. When I heard this, tears were rolling down my cheeks because this is exactly what Jusin's parents did for him. And he had no idea. This gave Justin such a great start to his life when he got back and especially when we got married. Ever since I heard that Justin's parents did that, I said that is exactly what I want for our children and now hearing Elder Hollands talk just renewed my excitement to do this. Especially since we have three future missionaries.

Elder Dieter F. Uchdorf: I love this man so much. He makes me smile every time I see him. And the amount of optimism he has, I want to be that way so much. His talk probably hit me the most this time. Ever. single. word. was perfect and just what I have longed to hear and just how I want my life to be. If you are feeling down or frustrated, read this. If priorities are not feeling right, read this. If you need to get away from worldly things, read this. One of my favorite lines that I will definatly print out is:

"In family relationship love is really spelled t-i-m-e, time."

President Thomas S. Monson: I am so grateful to know we have a prophet. I love our prophet. I love his words. I love this talk. It has taught me to be more thankful and not be so caught up in things that really don't matter (even if we can't sell our house, we have just what we need and that is what matters). There are so many great things taught to me in this talk. I love how President Monson ended:

"Let us follow Him. Let us emulate His example. Let us obey His words. By so doing, we give to Him the divine gift of gratitude."

There were so many other great talks (this one was quite good, thank you President Packer!) and I can't wait to listen to all of them over and over to remind me that we only have one chance at this life and I want to do it right and not look back with ANY regrets! These talks help get me there.

What a great start to a great month!

Wither Away

When I was little, I was the most awful eater.

I would never eat.

I would 'try' to be sneaky and hide food on the little shelf that was under our table. (I remember finding dried up peas and carrots weeks later)

I would push aside the ground beef from spaghetti because I felt so bad eating an animal.

I would fall asleep at the table and wake up when everyone was done and gone.

As a result my dad grabbed his belt and I got 'belted' to the chair until all my food was gone. But I had the advantage. After my parents left the dinner table, I had brothers who cared deeply and would eat the food for me.

I got away with it.

Now twenty years later, food is NOT an issue for me. I love food. There is nothing like a yummy home cooked meal to warm the soul. I appreciate it now and can't believe I was ever that way.

However, twenty years later I have some boys who can be the exact same way. I have yet to buckle them to their seat (if you don't count a high chair, which did work great), but that day may come. Sometimes getting them to eat their dinner is a struggle. However, sometimes they CAN hold their own, usually when meat is involved (they obviously don't care about the animals).

Last night was a night where Corbin claimed he was SO full after three bites. I told him if he stopped he would not get anything later. "Okay", he said and ran off to play.

We then got teeth brushed, jammies on, books read and boys tucked in. Corbin came out and said he was SO SO hungry and he needed to eat. I told him no.

"But mom, I need to!"

"No Corbin, go to bed."

"Fine, do you just want me to wither away?"

And now he got away with it.
(I figured he could use the calories.)

Taylor Lately

I have been thinking

lately,

how big this boy has gotten. Is he really just a few months from turning five.

Unbelieveable.

Lately,

we have been having such a good time with mommy school.

It is so fun to be the one to teach him the very basics. He is getting to be so grown up and I love the time spent with him.

I have been impressed by his artistic ability. Last night he drew a great picture of R2D2. Adorable.

Lately,

he has been building lots of these lego guys. I love when he makes one just for me and then asks me to sit down and play heroes with him.

Simple.

I have loved hearing about his nightly dreams

lately.

My favorite has been,

"Mom, you know when you cover up your eyes with your hands and then a movie comes on. Last night my hands played spiderman!!"

Cuteness.

I have always enjoyed hearing this guy laugh, but

lately

it has been music to my ears.

Happy.

Lately

the two older boys have been thinking they are hilarious. They come up with silling games and jokes and get a big laugh from themselves.

Last night this was what happened between the three of us.

Taylor asked me to close my eyes.

I did.

He came up and spanked me (softly) and runs off laughing

I teasingly told him,

"okay, I am never closing my eyes again!"

Corbin said,

"Yes you have to when you go to sleep"

I told them,

"nope, I'm not going to sleep."

Corbin said,

"OH, you have to or you'll be so so onery!"

Then they go away laughing.

Yes, they do think they are so

funny.