The Pied Piper

Every year Ray brings his guitars, banjo, and mandolins into the kids classes.

(I swear Avril was right behind me when I was taking this picture, but now I can see where she got ink all over her face from)

He teaches them a little bit about each instrument.

Then they all rock out to the kids requests.

The word has gotten out about Ray and his musical talent. The principal of the school has requested that he do an assembly! This kind of makes us laugh because an assembly when I was growing up was a HUGE deal. And whoever was holding the assembly was just plain AWESOME. It makes me smile to think that is how Ray is viewed through these children's eyes.

Especially our kids

To My Little Helpers

Thank you Avril and Will, for being so thoughtful in helping me keep the house clean for potential buyers coming to look at our house. Will, the extra touch you gave the house by throwing all the shoes we own all over the place, just before we walked out the door was genius. And the way you thoroughly spray the toilet and wall with pee is amazing.

Avril, you have such a great eye for the details. Like the way you spread ashes from our wood stove all over the floor and chaise lounge to give the room extra flare really touched my heart. You always seem to know when someone is coming the way you give your room that "stinky diaper" smell 10 minutes before they arrive. Just breathtaking. (literally)

Thanks for all of your help!

Hugs, kisses, and lots of love,

Mommy

Our Halloween

Benny was Captain Jack Sparrow for Halloween. (I don't think he has ever even seen the movie)

Hannah was a witch for the second year in a row. (Don't you just love it when they want a costume repeat)



Will was Buzz Lightyear. This is his preschool parade. (Ray was very excited to be a part of it)



Our Trick or Treating crew. (Will couldn't wait to start busting open his candy)




Hannah and Benny trying to pose before school.



Avril getting the hang of getting "free candy" from every house.

This is at our ward party. I was the Sunmaid Raisin Lady, and Ray was none other than the J0lly Green Giant. All of the adults knew who he was right away, but the kids had no clue. Their guesses where: a head of lettuce, broccoli....... pretty much any green vegetable.

(I told Ray not to drink that night!)

And so it begins..........

This is all so surreal to me.

I just wonder if we had photographs of what was actually happening in the scriptures, would it look like this?

Did it feel like this?

Was the hate this strong?

On Saturday, I had to walk with Hannah through this protest to take her to a birthday party in downtown Santa Rosa. The hate that filled the air was indescribable. We walked past signs that read, "Utah, keep out of my family" and "Latter Day Liers" and my personal favorite, "No more Mr. Gay Guy!" I kept thinking, "What if I told someone here that I was Mormon." I honestly think I wouldn't be safe. It was the weirdest feeling. And yet, at the same time I felt total peace. I came home and researched the words of our prophet and apostles on this subject and found this quote by one of my favorite apostles Boyd. K. Packer from a General Conference talk given in 2005, it read:

We live in a day when the age-old standards of morality, marriage, home, and family suffer defeat after defeat in courts and councils, in parliaments and classrooms. Our happiness depends upon living those very standards.

The Apostle Paul prophesied that in our day, these last days, men would be “disobedient to parents, … without natural affection, … despisers of those that are good, … lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God” (2 Tim. 3:2–4).

And he warned: “Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived” (2 Tim. 3:13). He was right. Nevertheless, when I think of the future, I am overwhelmed with a feeling of positive optimism.

President Hinckley in a Conference talk given in 2001 said:

Are these perilous times? They are. But there is no need to fear. We can have peace in our hearts and peace in our homes. We can be an influence for good in this world, every one of us.

Reassuring words like these from our leaders about these times are endless.

Sigh......... I feel so much better.......

Rock Band Party

We recently had a rock band party

And can I just say....

WE ROCKED!!!!!

We had enough couples to split up into 4 bands to compete against each other.

Two boy bands against two girl bands.

As you can see Ray (aka Barry Manilow) took the competition very seriously.

Our all girl band was totally rockin! Jeanie, as you can see, was awesome on vocals and Emily shredded it up as lead guitar!

Heather worked the drums.

Jeanie again getting crazy on the vocals

Jason, Matt and me ROCKIN OUT to Metallica. (they tried their best to keep the song going despite my vocals)

Me rocking out to none other than the Beastie Boys. (those guys just bring out the crazy in me!)

It was an AWESOME night!

The fourth child

Being the fourth child definitely has it's perks

You get to lounge around in a stroller drinking OJ straight up!

You get front row seats at the Library magic show

You get to experience brain freeze before you can even walk.

(Your Grandma is SO proud!)

You get more love than you can handle.

You get to tag along to every birthday party your siblings go to, and you even get to eat the cake!

You get to be a ragamuffin all day and still be cute.

And your parents don't even Freak out when your first words are:

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Sponge Bob Square Pants

You Go VAVA!

**If asked who lives in a pineapple under the sea she belts out Spa Ba Spa Pa. When we put her down for a nap the other day she was singing the intro song as loud as she could over and over. We are SO proud!

Our Mii's

I just wanted to make sure to document our Mii characters from our Wii. They just crack me up!

Vava Lou

Will with his sly smile

Benny Roo Hoo

Hannah Marie (she made sure she had make-up on)

Sara B

Raymond

We even made the grandparents some characters:

My Dad

My Mom (Hannah picked out everything for my mom and made sure that she had sunglasses on)

Granny

And Pa.

Ray and I are in constant competition, trying to beat each others scores. I will work all afternoon trying to beat one of his records with the kids cheering me on. Only to have Ray walk in the door and beat all of my scores in 5 minutes! I swear he doesn't go to work, but just goes to a friends house to practice the Wii all day!

No Toys???? No problem!

We packed up almost all of the kids toys to help de-clutter the house, and to make it easier to keep it clean. I get asked all the time, "What do your kids do without their toys?"

Well, let's take a look:

They play in the rain for hours on end

There is no fighting over who gets what toy, because their is plenty of rain for everyone!

Even VaVa gets her share of the fun!

Pillowcase races has become a new sport to play.

And a basket has become the latest hat for playing dress up.

So, when asked, "Don't your kids miss their toys?"

Not one bit!