26 October 2014

Gibson helped Becky make his Halloween costume by stenciling his favorite animals onto blue fabric.  He tried to pick animals that thrive in different habitats: a koala, a sea turtle, a peregrine falcon, a draco lizard, a flying fish and a dragon.

Brandan ordered family history booklets from the distribution center for each person in our family.  The booklets have spots to record personal information and stories about our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.  We've worked on them for a couple of family nights.  This week we added family photos. 

 Abe competed in the district championships this week-- his last cross country meet for the year.  He had a great time and finished well in his race.

 Becky picked Sofi up from school so she could come to the meet, too.  This was the high school's Spirit Week and it was superhero day so Sofi came dressed as a comet.

 We went to the elementary school carnival on Friday night.  Helen went as a pirate.  Abe wore his Scottish dude costume from last year and Gibson wore his dinosaur costume from 2 years ago.

Abe had his last soccer game of the season on Saturday.  Brandan coached his team.  The weather was pretty iffy and a beautiful rainbow appeared whenever there was a break in the rain.

L to R: Calvin, Ben, Kelden, Jude, Kristopher, Abe, Malakai, Adam, Ashton, Spencer, Ryan, Jake.

Unfortunately, there were no rainbows at Gibson's soccer game, just pouring rain.  Gibson is the one wearing a red hoodie under his uniform.

Abe also wore his Scottish dude Halloween costume to his Halloween piano recital.  He played "The Tempest" by Nancy Faber.

 Sofi invited some friends over Saturday night to celebrate her birthday.  They watched her favorite movie, "The Scarlet Pimpernel."  Sofi cooked a French themed dinner to go along with the movie: quiche, French bread and fruit.

 Sofi made creme brûlée for dessert and each guest got to torch their own serving to create the caramel topping.  The kids were pretty timid about using the torch until one brave girl showed them how easy it was to do.  Sofi is an amazing cook!  Her quiche and her creme brûlée were some of the best dishes we've tasted lately.  She also cleans up after herself-- a great combination!

19 October 2014

Happy Birthday to sweet Sofi who turned 17 today!  We celebrated her birthday with triple chocolate mousse cake.  Sofi couldn't eat a bite since she was still stuffed from the steady stream of treats at church today.

 Becky found a tiny house in a corner of our yard this week.  Helen and Gibson play outside constantly and Becky was pretty sure they had built this house for some magical creatures.  The flat rock in front of the house looked perfect for a tiny dragon to land on.

Another rock nearby was spread with a delectable feast for imaginary animals.  Becky asked them about the setup when they got home from school and learned they had been playing "cooking show."  What she thought was a house was a cupboard and the rocks were counters for preparing the food.  Becky still thinks it looks like a fairy house.

 Helen used sidewalk chalk on the patio instead of scratch paper as she worked on her math homework one day.

Brandan received the "Spirit of Emilie" award for 2014.  Emilie Gamelin was one of the nuns who founded the Sisters of Providence in the 19th century.  Her last words were, "Humility, simplicity and above all, charity."  The Spirit of Emilie award is given to employees who continue her legacy and who embody the mission of Providence -- "As people of Providence, we reveal God's love for all, especially the poor and vulnerable, through our compassionate service."

 The elementary school is having a health awareness month at school.  The kids were challenged to eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day this week.  Three of our kids eat a wide variety of healthy food every day.  Gibson usually gets by on goldfish crackers and toast (made from white bread.)  Gibson worked hard to complete the challenge, eating foods he usually avoids like broccoli and squash.  Hopefully he'll keep eating his vegetables even though the challenge has ended.

There's a popular poem we've received many times, usually as part of a Mother's Day or Father's Day gift sent home from school, that talks about missing sticky fingerprints when our kids grow up.  Becky is 100% sure she will not miss sticky fingerprints.  However, as she put a few things away one evening after the kids were in bed, she realized she will miss the kids' overstuffed lockers when they've moved on and the lockers stand empty.  Our kids are so much fun, it would be nice to slow the next few years down.

12 October 2014

We made a new family home evening chart this week, mainly because the kids thought their photos on the old one were hopelessly outdated.  Family home evening is a consistent bright spot in our week and everyone having a responsibility every week is a big part of having a great night.

 Brandan and Helen went to a scarecrow festival at a local farm.  They took this photo on the hay ride.

Helen painted this pumpkin with a mustache and a goatee.

 Our ward had an auction last spring to help pay for youth summer camps.  Becky donated a Halloween costume to the auction.  The buyer would provide the idea and Becky would provide materials and labor.  The buyer picked a Nacho Libre costume for her son.  Becky finished the costume on Saturday and Abe modeled it for a photo before we delivered it.

Nacho Libre is the main character in a very funny movie with a tender heart.  Nacho is a monk who fights as a Mexican wrestler to earn money to buy food for an orphanage.

5 October 2014

Here's an update on the solar hot dog cooker Abe and Gibson built last week.  It works!  The photo shows the cooker in action.

 Abe built a fancier solar oven at school.  He used a goldfish cracker carton painted black, the glass out of a photo frame and lots of foil, cardboard and duct tape.  He used it to toast marshmallows at school and to cook a hot dog at home.  If the electricity goes out on a bright, sunny day, we now have more options to heat our food.

We celebrated general conference this weekend.  It kind of feels like Christmas, especially the stay in our pajamas and eat all day part.  Our kids loved having a concession stand again.  The concession stand sounds ridiculously complicated when we explain it to people, but since the kids run it themselves, it's actually very easy for Brandan and Becky.  Abe is enjoying a treat in the photo.

Becky made bingo cards for her Primary class to help them listen to conference.  Abe, Helen and Gibson used the cards and it helped them keep listening through all 4 sessions.  Helen got blackout on her card!   Gib got 2 bingos all on his own.

 This is Helen singing along with the choir while she colors a paper project and takes notes.

Sofi loves conference for its own sake and doesn't need the bells and whistles.  Maybe someday we'll all listen to conference this way (nail polish optional!).  Helen's favorite part about conference was the beautiful music.  Abe liked Elder Bednar's talk and Gib liked Elder Gavarret's.  Sofi liked Elder Godoy's talk the best.  We all were excited to hear languages other than English.  Brandan liked President Uchtdorf's talk from priesthood session.  Becky's favorite talk was President Monson's talk about following the Savior and any talk with a list (Elder Klebingat, Elder Scott, Elder Godoy.)

We went for a walk after conference ended.  It was a warm, sunny Sunday afternoon.  The kids practiced carrying each other.  Abe and Sofi even carried Brandan a short distance.