Cville happenings

(aka "camera dump")

It's officially fall and I am LOVING it! Fall is my favorite season for many reasons--good food, yummy smells, cool weather, and tons of holidays to look forward to. School is in full swing, much to Lance's dismay who likes to tell me every morning that if he were in charge, he wouldn't have to go. Hate to break it to you, kid, but first grade is as good as it gets. I guess that's still better than the "this is the worst day of my life!" I get every night when I tell him it's time to turn off StarCraft and get ready for bed. Oh, Lance. 

We officially haven't made it to Church on time this entire year. Not even once. Okay, maybe once but that was when we were visiting family and Church was at 9 a.m. and not 1:30 p.m., right in the middle of nap time. I tell you, I can't wait for our meeting time to change to 9 a.m.

Speaking of Church, I'm beginning to realize that parents with children between the ages of 6 months and 3 years old go to Church solely to set an example for said children. It certainly isn't because we're getting a whole lot out of the service while we sit in the foyer or walk up and down the hallways with a toddler that can't understand why he's not allowed to run, talk loudly, or climb all over everything. It is a workout every time. I hope we're getting "effort" points in our Heavenly tally, even if I can't for my life remember what any of the talks or lessons were about each week.

Lance is playing soccer for the second (and probably last) time this fall. He didn't want to, but I told him he had to try at least one more time before I let him quit, so he's plugging grudgingly away. He's getting better and I think he's starting to enjoy it a little more, so I guess we'll see if there is yet another season of soccer in our future. For now, we're just trying to make it to the end of this season with as little tears as possible.

The coach was gone one week, so George subbed as coach for one game. He did a great job, especially when you realize he's had zero soccer experience at all. It was cute to see him on the field with these boys. Way to go, George!

Cole is crawling like a pro now and loves to try to keep up with everyone. He's also decided that he likes dogs and will giggle whenever he sees Vera or Diesel. 

Cute boys. :)

We got to go bowling this year with the Family Housing. For free! And with our friends! Awesome.

This was the first year that Jude knew what was going on. He thought it was the neatest thing every, but had a hard time understanding the "taking turns" concept. 

Cole was a trooper.

Killian and Kendall were there and got to be on the same lane as Lance.

These kids are best friends.

My mom and Grandma were able to travel to Hawaii for a week with Aunt Linda and Aunt Cherryl in September. It was the only of the the 50 states that Grandma had never visited, so her daughters took her for her 75th Birthday. We drove up for an evening after they got back so we could we could see Grandma Brewer before she flew home to Florida.

Mom had a gift for Lance for his Birthday.

Brain Quest! I remember loving these as a kid.

And an awesome BYU football jersey. Lance prefers to wear athletic clothes every day, so this was perfect.

Lance is becoming quite the reader and read the whole Cat in the Hat book to us that night. 

Aunt Linda came over to visit for a bit, too. The boys think Aunt Linda is great!

Especially since she does fun things like give them airplane rides.

My boys are so lucky!

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

4 generations.

The other night, Bennett had his 3rd Birthday! He is Jude's best buddy, so we were excited to celebrate with him. 

Big three-year-old.

Cupcakes!

It was a super hero party, so the kids all got masks to wear. 

Jude thinks his mask is the best thing ever and has worn it to the store and around the house ever since. Love it!

Stay tuned for Sarah's Baby Shower and some kiddo updates!

Party Time!

We celebrated Lance's 7th Birthday on September 22nd. George had to work all day, so he missed the festivities, but Amy drove down and spent the day with us which was a treat!

Lance had a soccer game that morning that we were late to (we arrived at the wrong field on time) so Lance only got to play 3/4 of the game. He wasn't too heartbroken.

The Elmers were there, much to Jude's enjoyment. :)

Yum!

My kids LOVE their Aunt Amy. You can see why.

Lance did a good job bringing some energy to the game, something that he struggles with.

After the game, we hurried back home to put the finishing touches on the party. Thank goodness Amy was there to decorate and wrap presents as I gathered last-minute supplies.

We of course had to take one last picture of our pinata we worked so hard on.

I think he turned out really cute!

Lance had asked for a crab cake for his Birthday (he actually wanted several small cakes in the shape of crabs, but I managed to talk him down to one big one), so this was my best attempt:

Lance wanted me to take his picture pretending to punch the crab. I think the cake turned out pretty well. The table cloth I made by appliqueing some fabric onto a bed sheet. It's supposed to look like the ocean. That "sand" is blonde oreos I put through the food processor.

My big Birthday boy!

Eye.

When all the kids came over, we got started with a craft project. I had 8x10 canvases for each of the kids and tons of paint. The idea was to paint an ocean scene and then mod podge on fabric fish/dolphins/turtles/sharks I had cut out onto their ocean.

Jude had been waiting and waiting to paint and was so excited he got his own little canvas and artist palate.

Lance opted to paint his own sea creatures instead of using the fabric ones.

All in all, it was fun and successful. The kids all thought it was great, especially Lucy and Caroline who painted very elaborate ocean scenes complete with rainbows, sand, and sea weed.

More of Lance's sea creatures. He's really into manta rays right now, which is what that blue guy is in the middle.

Cole was eating up all the attention from Aric and Rod.

You can see the little fabric fishies in the bowls. They took a LONG time to cut out, but it was worth it.

I was so grateful for all the extra hands, since George had to work and wasn't there to help out.

While the paintings dried, we went bobbing for rubber duckies.

I ended up having to use our cooler because I couldn't fine a baby pool. The kids didn't mind and I'm pretty sure the water-filled cooler was the best part of the party for some of the younger kids. Many little bodies went home very wet.

Finally, the pinata!

Lance got to go first. He wanted to punch it instead of hit it with a stick.

I just like this picture because you can see the underside of the dolphin.

Good job, Lance!

Next up was Jude:

He did a great job, even blindfolded.

We went youngest to oldest, each kid was blindfolded and got to get in a few good whacks with a broom stick.

Here's Lucy.

Killian managed to stab a hole right in the side!

I made sure when I was constructing the pinata to make it a little bit weaker than last year's. Last year we had to have the men break it because the kids just couldn't do it. This year was perfect. Everyone was able to get a turn hitting the pinata and Lance got a second chance to break it.

He opted for the stick this time and after a few good hits, he broke it right in half!

Quick! Get the candy!

Woo!

Love the head band/blindfold. Don't you feel a little bit sad for that cute dolphin?

Then it was cake time!

7 candles! Can you believe it?

"Happy Birthday to you...!"

Yay!

I let Lance cut his cake. No surprise he opted to cut right down the middle of the crab. :)

Jude was in heaven with chocolate cake and Starbursts. Please just ignore his nasty nose. We've all had cold after cold.

And last but not least, present time!

Slushy Magic! Lance has been begging for one of these for a good year now. Thanks, Killian and Kendall!

Nano speed racers. These cars are so super cute and tiny.

A torpedo from Aunt Amy, plus a voucher for an animal hat of his choice.

Kirby's Epic Yarn. This game is so fun to play.

Candy! Thanks Jaclyn!

Edible boogers and bugs. That has Lance written all over it! Thanks, Lucy and Bennett!

Scott came down for the party, so after Lance opened his gifts, Scott got to open his Birthday present from Lance. Their birthdays are only two days apart.

Lance picked out a couple Lego Star Wars sets that they didn't have yet. Scott did a great job being super excited about it.

Good job, Lance! Great presents!

See that little stuffed manta ray on Lance's hand? Each of the kids got a little goodie bag with a sea creature puppet like Lance's (we had sharks, dolphins, a lobster, startfish, sea turtle, and whales). They were a huge hit!

See what I mean about the cooler being so great? Jude and Jake played in it all afternoon.

Once the party was over, Lance and Killian broke out the Wii game Kirby's Epic Yarn while the rest of us relaxed.

Poor Jude missed his nap, but managed to catch a few good winks snuggling with Aunt Amy.

We were all hungry but didn't want to cook, so I asked Lance where he wanted to go. He picked Bone Fish Grill. Great pick, Lance!

Can you tell Jude was still pretty tired? It was a great meal, although Jude ended up eating too much and threw up right at the end. Poor kid.

Amy spent the night and drove back home the next day. It was fun to have her with us and I was soooo grateful for all her help.

Lance had one more Birthday surprise that came in the mail a few days later:

An awesome gift from Callie and Bryce! Lance is one lucky kid.

Happy Birthday, Lance! You light up our life with your laughter and your crazy antics. Thank you for teaching me to be a better mother--more patient, more loving, more kind. You are a blessing and I wouldn't trade you for the world! Thank you for being mine. I love you!