Emily's birthday week

We started Emily's birthday week with a family party at G & G Shields house. We celebrated all the October bday's; Becca, Emily and Turner. Emily designed and helped make this orange cake with reeses pieces on top. It was fun night.

The kids got their school pictures back, and they all turned out cute! Taylor had a big smile on his face because I didn't make him wear a nice shirt. I let him wear his favorite Nike hoodie and he was thrilled! Emily did a small smile because she didn't want her braces to show. And Isaac insisted on combing his hair to the side for his pics....very handsome.

I took the kids to Wheeler Farm this week for Lizzie's play school field trip. We had fun seeing the animals and spending time in the warm sunshine.

Lizzie has been saying and doing the funniest things lately. She keeps me laughing all day long.
She loves to read books in her room. I found her one evening laying on the floor with her crown reading all the Halloween stories.  She reads out loud and I  love listening to her.
We were gearing up and getting ready for Emily's birthday which was Thursday October 24th. She had a friend party this year and decided she wanted a Halloween Costume Party- which I thought was perfect.

She started her day with Lucky Charms for breakfast. She had a fun celebration at  school and then after school we had her Birthday party!
Emily decided to dress as a witch this year and she looked fabulous!!!

She invited 10 friends over for her party. We played lots of games, had a scavenger hunt, at treats, popcorn and soda, and had a glow stick dance party in the basement.  It was a lot of fun and an exhausting day for me.  Here are some pictures of the party.

We were happy cousin, Mary could get here for the party. She was a scary, crazy zombie.

One of the favorite games was the Mummy Game. The girls all wanted a turn to get wrapped up as a mummy. 

Here's the whole group on the slide. They are a cute bunch of girls and very nice.

After the games we sung Happy Birthday, ate cake and opened gifts.  She got a lot of arts and crafts stuff, earrings, etc... from her friends.
I can't believe Emily is 8- she is growing up too fast.
She is such a good girl, and I feel so grateful to have her in our family! Emily is very kind, sweet, unselfish and funny. She brings so much joy to our family! 
I love you Emily!

Friday while all the kids were at school I took Lizzie to the park to play.  She swung in the swing for a long time. She kept yelling "higher mommy, higher!"
The weather has been warm and sunny this week, perfect autumn weather.

Friday night was the Halloween Carnival at the kids school. The kids played games, got their face painted, bought popcorn and treats, and danced. It's a fun event, that we look forward to every year. Taylor missed it-he was at the BYU vs. BSU football game with Grandpa Shields.

Isaac scored his first goal of his soccer season. I told him I'd buy him a slurpee- and he was happy about that. After he scored he yelled "that was easy, I can do that again."
It was pretty cute.
This week will be wild and crazy. Full of lots of Halloween parties, and Emily's baptism.  I better get more sleep!

This week we had Fall Break, so the kids were home from school for 3 days.  We had a lot of fun and did some exciting things; Gateway museum, Zoo with friends, saw a movie, Taylor spent the day with his friends and went swimming etc... and we ended it with a fun cousin sleepover. 
Here are some pictures from our week.

We had Mary and Jeffrey sleep at our house and Isaac spent the night at Spencer's house.  The kids love spending time with their cousins.
Another big event this week was Emily got a different cast; she got her waterproof cast on Wednesday. It's blue and so much easier to deal with. Especially because she's getting baptized in two weeks! 

Here's an adorable pictures of Aunt Nat and my dad at her Cross Country Meet in Wisconsin.  I guess there's no question who the favorite child really is!? Ha Ha!!

This week is back to school, schedules, homework, etc.. It was so great to have a break.

This was another busy, crazy week-full of lots of adventures.

Last Sunday night we had a family dinner at G and G Shields house. We ate a yummy dinner and then had fun spending time with cousins etc..

Natalie and I had a wrestling match.  I won.  here are the pictures from our wrestling match, it was hilarious! 

Taylor and Jeffrey also had a wrestling match.  Taylor got crushed.  I need to teach him some moves. Cute little Henry was happy in his bucket. He's adorable.

The kids had their Parent/teacher conferences at school this week. I met with each of their teachers and talked about their grades etc.. Isaac, Emily and Taylor are all doing fabulous! Taylor got a perfect score on his CRT's, and we are proud of him.
We saw their art projects displayed in the hall, and stopped off at the Book Fair to reward their excellent grades with a new book.

Wednesday night Taylor had his "Arrow of Light" ceremony.  He has worked hard in cub scouts to earn his Webelo and his "arrow of light"award. I have been the cub scout den leader for over three  years.  It was a fun calling and I enjoyed working with the boys and spending time with Taylor and his friends.

We had a great ceremony planned for the boys.
A few men in our stake came and shot real bows and arrows into the targets in the gym. The arrows had lights on them and the boys loved watching it! Then we had a ceremony about the seven virtues of cub scouts followed by the boys walking over the bridge from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts.

I worked with the best leaders, Mary Jo and Margaret.  We had great experience planning activities and working to get the boys to earn their Bobcat, Wolf, Bear, Webelo and their Arrow of Light.
I will miss all these cute boys, but am a little happy I don't have to find a babysitter every Wednesday afternoon anymore.
I am serving in the nursery now, which is great!

Elizabeth is obsessed with cats this week. She crawls around on the floor saying " Meow, meow" over and over.
She insists on having her kitty at the table with her to eat her meals, and her kitty needs her own bowl of milk with a spoon.
It's a cute little phase she's in, she loves playing pretend and has a wonderful imagination. It's one of my favorite stages.

Emily had a sad accident on her scooter Friday afternoon.  She was riding her scooter in the front yard. She was riding fast and got a little out of control and fell. She landed on the sidewalk and hurt her left wrist. Emily broke her arm and chose to have a green cast on it.
She was very brave and such a good sport through it all. I felt so bad for her, and wished I could make her feel better. She says it feels good with her cast on and it doesn't hurt anymore.
She was even smiling after we left the Dr. office.

Saturday night we had a fire and roasted Smores in our front yard. We had some friends and neighbors come over, and it was a fun night! The kids love having a fire and spending time outside. Lizzie was all happy when we told her  She said "I want marshamallows on the fire"

Here's some pictures of the kids playing before we had the fire.  Also the back porch project that Danny has been busy working on. He built this porch cover and it turned out fabulous! We use our back porch all the time so we decided to make it nice and have a roof etc.. We are excited for it to be done.

This week we have Fall Break, it will be nice to spend time doing some fun activities!

Another busy week has come and gone. 
Danny and I attended an event at the U of U Business School and Mitt Romney was the speaker.  It was a great event, and wonderful to see him  and hear him speak. 
I didn't get any pictures of him- oh well.

Here's Lizzie at her play school. She thinks she's all grown up going to school, doing crafts, eating snacks and playing with her friends.  Now she asks:
"I go to school today?"

The kids had school pictures at their school this week, Emily looks super cute in her outfit. She is really looking grown up.
I didn't get any pics of the boys, they would not cooperate.

Here's Elizabeth sitting in the back of the car singing "Demons". She loves this song and knows all the words! It's adorable to hear her sing it, I've got to catch her doing it so I can record her cute, sweet voice.  It's her favorite song right now, along with "spooky Loo" from our Halloween CD. 

We had a fun weekend.
Danny and I went on a date Friday night, which is always a great start to the weekend!
 Saturday was busy with three soccer games, watching General Conference, chores, yard work etc.. We hung out at G & G Shields house while the boys went to the Prieshood Meeting.
The kids made forts and played, while we got take out food. It was a great Saturday!!

Sunday we slept in and made a big  breakfast for Conference. We made waffles with fresh peaches and whipped cream! Yummy.
In between sessions we took a walk to the park. It was a sunny, warm day and perfect for a walk outside.
I love General Conference Weekend. It's just what we need to hear!