Murder

Marissa was pouring out her affections toward me the other day. She hugged me and said,
"Mom, I love you. I never want you to die. If you ever get murdered, just know it was not me."

Tooting

I was getting ready to tell the kid a story, but I warned them first that I would be "tooting my own horn" during the story. Garett said, "That's okay, Mom. I toot my own horn all the time. Almost as much as I toot my own butt."

Clean Plate Club

Kevin led an awesome discussion tonight about food waste and the billions of tons of food that is wasted throughout the world and the starving people in underdeveloped countries. So glad to see the kids NOT waste even a bite of their dinner tonight!

Cloud Chamber

Cookies

We had a Superhero Night for the Young Women at church and I got assigned to make cookies. Here they are. I thought they were sooooo cute!

Adler Planetarium

Piece

I love this restaurant in Chicago. New Haven style pizza in Chicago. The pizza is fantastic! I have no idea  why the kids struck this pose. They must have been contemplating thick or thin crust.

Halloween 2013

I took Marissa and her friend, Emma, trick-or-treating.

Gorilla Man

Nope. I didn’t make this one.

Cleopatra

No seamstress here. But it worked. Don't laugh. I did my best. The fabric was hard to work with.   Marissa is beautiful though, and totally pulled it off!

Halloween Party Decorations

I was put in charge of decorating for our Halloween party at church. This was the centerpiece I came up with for the tables.

Tate's Selfie

Tate tied an awesome new tie and took a selfie on the way to church. He looks a little bit high.

Secret Forest

Marissa discovered a hidden park in our neighborhood.

Wrestling

Wrestling with Dad

They took time out of wrestling to pose for me.

Pinning Mom

Tate would rather not be seen in the same room with his mother, so this was a bit AWKWARD for him.   He had to act like he knew me in front of a room full of people!

Life Rank

So proud of Tate! He is a Life Scout. He can now begin working on earning Eagle! He has learned and grown so much!

Garett had to "pin" me at the Court of Honor

Garett's Court of Honor

Garett is now officially a Boy Scout. He earned his first advancement to 1st Class.

Heading down to Jackson's House

Garett and Jackson

I realized that we don’t have a lot of pictures of the kids' friends on our blog! 

They will one day look back and wonder why we have no pictures of people 

other than Buttons! So here goes. This is Jackson. Garett’s best friend who lives right 

down the street. He is homeschooled, too.

Ribbons

First Horse Show

Marissa participated in her first horse show in October. She dazzled the judges and took home several ribbons.She was soared through the air like an equestrian princess! So proud of our little jumper!

Craft Day

I was asked to teach a little how-to class on making this Advent Tree.  It was very fun and inspired me to do advent with the kids this December!

Settling Down for a Good Book

Frozen Yogurt with G

Lunch

Marissa packed her lunch for school one day last week. So cute what she decided to take.   Kevin says I need to have a discussion with her about protein! I agree!

Trash

My Husband's Shake

Glad it is not scratch-n-sniff?

Rainbow Loom

Marissa made 17 bracelets tonight with her new Rainbow Loom. :)

Garett's present to Marissa

Rollerskating

Not the best picture, but it'll have to do for now. I'll have to get pics off Kevin's phone. Tooks had a rollerskating party and it was SO MUCH FUN! Kevin even got them to play YMCA!  Awww- the 80s!  Buttons participated in speed races and did quite nicely I must say.  Marissa was only slightly horrified to see her mother racing another mom on rollerblades.

Rainbow Cake

Marissa said she wanted a layered vanilla cake. She also told me her favorite color was rainbow.  Little did she know that I would combine it all into one massive cake!

Cake

She never knew! Whew!

Cake

It got so heavy, that it fell. More than once. So we tried to patch her up before Marissa came home.   We weren't all that successful, so we tried to hide the flaws with birthday presents!

The Leaning Tower of Cake

Fat Cake

My birthday cake for Marissa got a little pudgy around the middle. Perhaps it was all that butter!

Happy Tenth Birthday, Marissa!

Critical Thinking

Tate is taking a Critical Thinking class this year. I am totally loving it and have read all of his material.  I’m trying to do all the exercises and take the tests, too! Here are his notes to help us sort out “arguments”.

Treasure Hunt

Kevin left Marissa a billion little notes in her desk at school when we went to Curriculum Night.  She was discovering little love letters from Dad for weeks.  She finally found the last one and brought it home.