Busy November

Wow. Where has November gone? I can't believe today is the last day of the month and only 25 more days until Christmas.

The boys are super busy lately and are really in the terrible twos, times three. They are always climbing and getting into trouble. They are really starting to say alot of words. Some of them I understand, others I can't translate. We'll figure it soon, I hope. This is them the other day eating their snacks. They always copy one another, so when one went and sat on the steps, the other two followed.

Two weeks ago, I was able to get away for 4 days. I went to St. George and Las Vegas and just shopped and did whatever I wanted. I was also able to go to the show "Mystere." It was incredible and something I would definately do again. It was a nice break from the kids, but I was glad to see them again. Grandma and Grandpa Nielson watched the boys and Matt and my mom watched the girls. I was a little delayed getting back to Rexburg because of the bad weather, but we made it home. I was really glad to arrive safely.

The kids got two extra days out of school last week because of the awful weather. The wind and blowing snow, cold temperatures and blizzard like conditions were to thank for that. It was nice having a couple of extra lazy days to enjoy with the kids before we headed to Utah for Thanksgiving.

We left on Thanksgiving morning and had Thanksgiving with Matt's family. We were able to spend a couple of days with them and then we made it back home before any more storms hit. Matt and I hit some of the Black Friday sales and I am glad to say that I am nearing the end of my shopping. Only a few more gifts to go. Yeah!!

Driving to Utah, Brock (middle) fells asleep, Collin (left) was faking sleep, and Aiden (right) didn't want his picture taken.

Thanksgiving dinner with some of the Nielson cousins

Sunday night the kids were building tall Lego towers. They do this quite often and it is something they all do well together. The challenge is keeping the boys away from it, so they won't knock it down once it is built. When Matt got home, he helped them put the final touches on and this is the end result.

We put up all of our Christmas decorations and tree yesterday and I must say that it is really "beginning to look a lot like Christmas." I am starting to feel more in the holiday mood and am feeling the excitement of the kids.

Happy B-day Matt

I am a day late posting this, but as my motto goes, "Better Late Than Never." Matt turned the big 33 yesterday. We didn't do much exciting since he had to work all day and then go to school last night. He got home earlier than normal and we did presents and cake. Hopefully he had a good day.

The boys and I did go and get him balloons yesterday morning and then we went to his work and the boys each carried a balloon into his office to give to him. That was fun for the boys.

We love you Matt and hope you had a fun birthday.

Halloween

What a fun Halloween we had this year. On Friday night we went to the Spookfest at the girl's school. This was the first year we took the boys. I wasn't quite sure how it would work out, but they did super. After an hour and a half, I don't know who was more ready to be done, the boys or me. We had fun though.

For the Spookfest Brock was a Policeman, Paige was a pirate, Aiden was a pirate, Kayla was a pirate and Collin was a Fireman.

Saturday morning was Paige's last soccer game of the season. She had a lot of fun playing and learning the game and it was fun for her to have her Dad as the coach.

That night the kids were so excited to get all dressed up to go Trick-or-Treating. We took all the kids around our neighborhood and then the four boys stayed home and I took the girls to fill up their baskets. Then we went to see Grandma and Grandpa. The weather was great and the rain held off until later that night. I was so glad, because there is nothing worse than getting soaking wet on Halloween.

For Halloween, Kayla changed into a princess and Collin was a Dragon, Brock was a Monkey and Aiden was a Tiger, Paige stuck with being a Pirate. If you are thinking the boy's costumes look familiar, well you're right. I recycled them from last year, because they still fit and they don't care or remember what went on last year.

Carving Pumpkins

Last night for Family Home Evening we carved our pumpkins. It was a lot of fun. The girls even helped clean the inside of their pumpkins out. That was a first. There were a lot of gross and sick comments, but they survived. Here are the finished products.

The girls spent a lot of time arguing over this giant pumpkin, so in the end we gave it to all three boys to share.

The girls thought it would be fun to put some of their Sunday shoes on the boys and dance with them. The boys thought this was super fun and were dancing and having a good time. The only one who didn't like it was their dad. Oh well, get used to it Matt. I'm sure there will be many more of these girly moments to come.

Brock, Collin & Aiden

Karate Video

The movie I was going to upload for my previous post is being stubborn. I will try to get it on some other way.

I love Fall!!

Fall this year has been incredible. The weather has been so nice and I am keeping my fingers crossed that it lasts for a couple of more weeks. I was thinking yesterday how nice it would be to not have to wear a winter coat Trick-or-Treating.

Paige is playing fall soccer. Matt had asked her if she wanted to do this and she was hesitant at first, but now that she is actually playing and learning the ropes, she is really enjoying it. It might help a little that Matt is her coach. She has a couple of more games left and then hopefully she will have liked it so much that she will want to play again next summer.

Kayla, Aiden, Brock and Collin watching Paige play soccer.

Kayla has been loving Kindergarten. She loves learning and it is just the right length of time for her. A half a day is ideal for any 5 year old. After school she comes home, eats lunch and then plays outside all afternoon with the neighbors. I don't know who loves this more, me or Kayla. I think I am going to die when it is cold and snowy and I have to entertain her all afternoon. We will have to get creative and come up with some entertainment.

The boys are such characters. Last weekend we watched "The Karate Kid" for movie night. Afterwards, Matt decided that he needed to show the boys how to do karate. It was quite humorous and thought I would share the humor with you. They just continue to grow and change all the time. Some days it is really hard to think that they started out so little and are now in the 90th percentile for their age. Amazing.

Harvest Break

Last Friday was the 1st day for Harvest Break for the girls. We headed down to Logan to stay with my sister for the night. She had kindly agreed to watch all of our kids while Matt and I went to the BYU vs. Utah State game. We wore our BYU shirts and my sister, who is an Aggies fan, decided to dress our boys in Aggies t-shirts she bought for them. It was pretty cute. We had a fun time, although Utah State beat BYU.

Aiden, Collin and Brock sporting their Aggie shirts.

Saturday morning we woke up and headed to Willard Bay. Matt's brother called and they were going water skiing. Matt was so excited. He had waited all summer for a chance to go, and here it was the 1st of October, 90 degrees, and we were boating. We took all the kids, and Brock and Collin absolutely hated it. I think they cried 75% of the time. Aiden on the other hand just sat and enjoyed the ride.

Aiden, me, Collin and Paige

Paige, Brock and Kayla

After water skiing we headed to Bountiful to stay and Matt's mom and dad's. We had a fun weekend and the kids were glad because they got to play with several of their cousins.

Sunday after we got home, the kids were running around the kitchen having races and we had a casulty. Collin ran right into the counter. At first I thought he might need stitches, but after a few minutes we decided to let it go. His eye was all puffy and sad looking, but it is looking pretty good now.

Collin showing off his owie.

Brock, Aiden, and Collin

Luckily the weather has been cooperating so the kids have been able to spend time playing outside. We have all enjoyed that. I'm sure our days are few, so we will take advantage of what we have left.

Luckily we only have a few more days left until Monday. Hopefully we will all survive.