Take Candy From Strangers Day

I totally forgot to take pictures today! Well.....Jorja and Preston dressed up as frogs. Stockton wore his copter cap and was a helicopter. Maysen made quite a cool costume. She was Cackletta from Mario's Super Star Saga. I have no idea how to spell that, but I am quite impressed I remembered where it was from.

Anyway, Preston kept calling today 'take candy from strangers day'. He was so cute trick-or-treating. He would march right up to the houses (sometimes in the houses), say 'trick-or-treat' and 'thank-you....happy Halloween'. That boy is not shy at all. We only went down two streets, but it was enough. One house had awesome cotton candy. The house two doors down from us had a whole bunch of chairs for people to sit on. They were cooking scones, serving cider and handing out full size candy bars. Makes our tootsie rolls look pretty pathetic.

Stockton's friends were the first ones to come to our house. They asked Stockton if he wanted to go trick-or-treating with them. He was gone for a LONG time and came back with a ton of candy.

Maysen had a lot of math homework today. A LOT. Her teacher said that she knew it was Halloween and she didn't care. I find that quite annoying. I don't think they need to not give any homework, but hours of homework for one class on Halloween? She should be able to enjoy these last few Halloweens she has as a kid. Anyway, that is my opinion. She worked with Mike for a long time on her math. They didn't finish....more to do in the morning.

Pumpkin Carving

We brought our pumpkins to Steve & Shannon's house. We bought two regular size pumpkins. Steve & Shannon grow their own pumpkins and had 6 or 7 giant ones. At least we let the kids carve them this year . . . last year I did not want to even try. It seems weird that a year ago we didn't have a real place to live. I guess it's so weird because it feels like we have been in this house forever . . . well, not forever - but a long time. Then again, it also feels like we just got here.

Diving Again

Mike and I took Stockton up to a diving competition in Park City. Stockton hasn't been diving for a couple of months, but his diving coach sent us the information anyway. Stockton wanted to go. Both of his diving coaches were there. Also Aiden was there. Stockton and Aiden started diving at the same time. They dove together at the U during the entire school year. It was pretty cool. Stockton did great for not diving in such a long time. He had seven dives. Three off the three meter and four off the one meter. He took 2nd place. I think there were three boys in his division. Aiden is a year younger than Stockton, so he is in a different division. Anyway, it was great to be back at the pool. Stockton will dive one day a week at the U. He would do two, but they moved scouts to Wednesday. I would be tempted to have him miss it, but they put Mike in as one of the assistants. I don't really want Mike to be there without Stockton.....

Stockton also was invited to a Halloween party at Isaac's house. He had a great time. They played lots of games. When they were playing Sardines, only one boy could find Stockton. I guess all the other boys gave up because after a long time they noticed that everyone was outside trying to eat a donut off of a string. He was quite proud of himself for his excellent hiding place.

Chili and Chocolate

Stockton was excited about today. Maysen had middle school, but the elementary school had the day off. That meant Stockton went to math, then got to go home. He thought that was pretty cool. He went to school, took a math test, then went home. Nice day for him. Stockton also had friends come to the door and ask him to play. This was the first time that has happened since we moved from Georgia. Stockton was out with Isaac, Jordan and Logan for quite awhile. Stockton had a very good day.

Jorja was excited about today. She got to go to the aquarium with my dad. He called me last night and said that they had Max unexpectedly. He was going to need to take Max with him on Jorja's special day. I wasn't about to let that happen. I asked him if we could watch Max here while he took Jorja to the aquarium. It worked out great. Preston had a great time playing with Max. When it was time for him to leave, I asked Preston if he had fun with Max. He said no. When I asked why, he said, "I thought Max was going to sleep over."

Jorja came back with a new frog and a giant serving of cotton candy ice cream from Cold Stone. She was so excited about this trip with grandpa. It is pretty awesome living in Utah.

Jorja and Preston decided they wanted to rake leaves outside. Of course, before that could be done, the leaves needed to be raked in a pile and played in. They were outside for a couple of hours. They did fill four bags of leaves.....then we ran out of bags.

Jorja - her new frog she got with my dad is in the tree

Beautiful Porgie

Preston

Preston & Jorja

Preston

I love Preston's face!

Preston with his Porge

Jorja attacking her dad

Jorja, Preston & Stephanie

We had our ward Chili and Chocolate party today. I tried to prepare my kids by telling them this was going to be nothing like the Halloween parties in Georgia. The Halloween parties in Georgia are pretty crazy....bouncy houses, cotton candy, trunk-or-treating..... The highlight of this party for the kids was talking in the microphone. The bishop was asking the kids if they had any Halloween jokes. Preston was pretty cute. He walked up to the bishop when there were not any kids around. He waved his hand in the air like he was asking for the microphone. The bishop asked him if he had a joke. He nodded and was handed the microphone. In a voice as clear as a bell he said, "Why did the chicken cross the road? . . . To get to the other side." It was so cute. Later he told me, "I was hoping no one else would say my joke."

Stockton also liked to talk in the microphone. He would say weird things about crackers and make commentary about how Christmas decorations should not be up yet. Anyway, my favorite costume was by Isaac - a boy Stockton's age. He dressed like a hobo with a sign asking for money. He had a cup and I'm wondering how much money he had in there by the end of the night. Also, my chocolate placed third. Not sure how many votes were from my own kids.....

Missed Bus

I took the boys to an early dentist appointment today. I dropped Maysen off at school on the way. I gave Jorja the garage door opener with specific instructions about when to leave and what door to go out of. I guess Jorja lost track of time while she was playing the piano. She hurried to the bus stop, but was too late. I am not good at remembering my cell phone. She tried calling me, but I had left it home. Once we were done with the dentist, I stopped and let the boys get a donut, then I dropped Stockton off at middle school. He only had ten minutes left of class, so I waited for him. I then took him to his elementary school and Josh to his school. When I finally got home, there was a note taped to the door. It said, "Mom I missed the bus. I've been trying to call you. I've been crying the wole time you have been gone. Please take me to school. --Jorja" Man I was frustrated. I was frustrated with myself for forgetting my phone, and I was frustrated with Jorja for missing the bus. I wish she would have thought about calling her dad. I wonder if she knows his number. Guess I better ask.

Jorja is NINE!

Busy, busy, fun day. Jorja brought frog pops to school for her birthday. She made them and they turned out so cute! She had such a fun, froggie day.

Jorja

Before school, we let her open one present. It was a webkinz. I'm glad she still loves webkinz. She picked the one she wanted for her birthday. She chose a winter fawn. She named her Flake.

Silly picture

After school was piano lessons. Jorja was really excited to show her teacher that she had memorized her entire recital piece. She only needed to have a few lines memorized. While the kids were doing lessons, I made more frog pops. Once Jorja was done with her lesson, she decorated them. She even made a puppy pop for Preston.

Once piano lessons were done, we watched Jorja open presents. She got LOTS and LOTS of frog things. She loved it. One would think she would get a little tired of having so many things that are frog related . . . one would be wrong.

Maysen

Stockton

Mike

Preston

BIG smile!

Maysen, Stockton, Jorja

Preston, Maysen, Stockton, Jorja

We got Jorja a really cute frog hat. She loves it. After presents we went rollerskating. Jorja wore the frog hat and looked absolutely adorable. It was funny because it would kind of glow when the lights were off, so she was really easy to find. Maysen also wore the birthday hats at the rollerskating rink...exactly like you see in the pictures. She thought it was funny that her shadow looked like she had horns.

Maysen, Stockton, Jorja

Maysen with horns

Preston made Jorja a birthday card by himself. I love it!

Stockton, Jorja, Preston

Stockton & Jorja with an orange froggie swim cap

Stockton & Jorja with a Sponge Bob book written in Chinese

Jorja got a card from my dad. It said, "This card is your ticket to go with Grandpa Millburn to the Aquarium to see many weird frogs (and other aquatic lifeforms, pick a prize from the gift shop, and then to go to Cold Stone to get your fill of ice cream." Jorja LOVED that gift! She is so excited. The entire time we were rollerskating she would whisper to me, "I can't wait until Friday!" She asked Maysen how come grandpa didn't give her a birthday gift like this. I told her, "I told him Maysen would like a book. I thought of this idea and suggested it to my dad after Maysen's birthday." Someone, I'm not sure who....it might have been Jorja said, "Maysen got hosed."

Stockton & Jorja reading Grandpa's card

Preston & his puppy pop

What a fun, long day we had. I hope Lincoln had as fun of a birthday as Jorja did! Can't believe my little Porge is nine already. I am so thankful she is in our family. I love spending every day with her. Love you Porgie Porge!

Porgie Loves Frogs

I made picture frames with the Young Women today. Jorja helped me make an example frame. What cute little froggies I have.

Jorja & Preston

Jorja also helped me make froggie cake pops for her birthday tomorrow. This is what she is bringing to her class. She is quite excited.

Porge and pops

Jorja & Preston

I can't believe my little girls is almost NINE! Slow down time! Slow down!

Pools Closed

Mike officially closed our pool today. The water is lowered, the pipes are emptied and the antifreeze is in. It was sure a fun summer. The first of many!

Infinity

We had a regional stake conference at the Conference Center today. Our stake was invited to attend live. Mike and I thought this would be a great experience for our kids, they have never been to the Conference Center before. The kids were GREAT during conference. I kept glancing over at Maysen and Stockton, they were really paying attention. I was so pleased. There was a lot of talk about the youth, how they need to know what they believe in.

After conference, I wanted to look around. We went to the visitors center at the temple. There were a lot of people there. We got a few pictures, but no prize winners. My favorite is the kids in front of the statue of Christ. Preston is holding his shirt out because he just drank from the drinking fountain. Water is all over his shirt....

Stockton, Preston, Jorja, Maysen

Preston & Stockton

Maysen & Jorja

Steph, Preston, Jorja, Maysen, Stockton

I would love to come back here to have a good look around. Hopefully when there aren't so many people, and it would be nice to enjoy everything when my kids aren't about out of patience from sitting through a two hour meeting. It was a great day though, and the weather was fantastic! What a nice October!

A quick Preston exchange I want to remember.

Preston: I love you infinity times infinity times infinity times infinity blocked times infinity times infinity times infinity times infinity blocked.

Me (Stephanie): What does blocked mean?

Preston: It means three times squared and one thousand cubed.

Haha! I loved how he thought 'blocked' might do the same thing as squared and cubed. What a clever boy! Not to mention, super sweet. Preston then drew a heart on my paper with lots of infinity signs inside. He told me that was my 'love meter'. How do I stop time with this little boy? He is growing up too fast! I'm not ready!

Squeaky Floor

In this house, there are a lot of spots on our floors that squeak. The big ones are in the hallway (over Maysen's bed) and our room (over the boy's bed). Maysen mentioned today that when she goes to sleep she hears squeaking sounds over and over. She finds that annoying. I told her it is because after we get the kids to bed, Mike and I jump on the squeaky spots just for fun. Jorja kept saying, "Do you really do that?" Of course we didn't do that . . . but now we do. The first thing I did when I got upstairs was bounce on the squeaky spot. Mike laughed and started bouncing too. I was so amused with myself that I had tears running down my face. I could just imagine Maysen rolling her eyes as she read her book. How easy I am to entertain.

Bed

I stayed in bed all day. Everyone has taken a turn being sick (except Mike). Well, Jorja had pneumonia, so it wasn't the same thing. Stockton was sick all day yesterday. On his day off of school. Poor boy. We were suppose to go to Idaho to clean the cabin, but I was not fully confident we could get up there without major sickness. Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow, with everyone else it has only lasted a day.

I did get to talk to Brett today. That was the highlight of my day. He was heading out to lunch with Rachel for her birthday. Rachel's birthday isn't until tomorrow here . . . but it was her birthday there. Happy early/right on time birthday Rachel!

Health Juice

Look at these cute little froggies. When I was taking their picture, Jorja said, "It's just like we're getting married. The boy frog is on top of the girl frog, then they hop away." Mike and I about died laughing.

Preston & Jorja

Mike got a new toy in the mail yesterday. He has a juicer and loves it. He wants to make lots and lots of apple juice....surprise. The apple juice is quite good. He also made carrot juice and grape juice. The carrot juice is strong, but quite good when mixed with apple. Preston and Jorja were excited to make 'health juice'. Just like on Webkinz. On Webkinz, when you mix watermelon, carrot and apple in a blender, you get health juice. They tried it, but didn't really like it. I thought the watermelon taste was too strong. Probably if we put less watermelon and more apple it would have been good.

Mike & Jorja making health juice

Jorja

Preston

Tutorial

One day when Matt was here he was looking for a tape recorder. I didn't know where ours was, or even if we had it anymore. I said, "I don't think my phone has a recorder, I know the newer versions do, but I don't think this one does." Preston overheard me and said, "Yes it does." I asked him how. He took the phone and gave Matt & I a tutorial on how to use it. He had to show me a couple of times before I understood. It was so funny to have a four year old teach Matt & I how to use the iphone. I wish I had a picture of the two of us hunched over listening to Preston's every word. Priceless.

Amazing Things

I apologize if I have already written about this story, but Stockton told me I hadn't . . . and Stockton is usually right. Anyway, Preston and I were at Walmart. I was looking for Dinosaur Egg Oatmeal for him. They didn't have any. I told Preston he could pick out any cereal he wanted. He picked out Reese's Puffs. He kept saying things like, "Amazing things are going to happen." He was so excited about it. When we got home and he took a bite he said, "I think they were just trying to get us to buy the cereal." It was so funny!

Maysen came home sick from school today. Poor girl. She said she tried to stay until math, but just couldn't make it that long. There was a stake miamaid/teacher activity. It sounded like so much fun. Too bad Maysen had to miss it, she sure didn't look good enough to go.

I had my first Young Women activity that I was in charge of. We passed off Virtue #3. Reading Alma Chapter 5 and writing down all the questions took longer than I anticipated. I thought we would have about 30 minutes to play a game. Oh well, maybe next week. The girls were great, so that was wonderful. I made Apple Streusel Bars and Gluten-free brownies. That about took up my day.

Apple Picker

Mike made an apple picking contraption. He took a wire hanger and bent it in a loop. He then attached it to the end of the pole we use to get leaves out of our swimming pool. Mike and I filled up another bucket with apples. I liked being in charge of the pole, not the catching apple part. Some of those apples were bullets! Jorja was smart, she went and got a bike helmet on. Now we are trying to think of more things to make with apples.

MiaMaids

Maysen's first Sunday as a MiaMaid was today. I think she enjoyed it. I thought in honor of this occasion I would post a picture of the rose Sister Staker brought her. It really is beautiful.

Matt Has Hit the Road

Matt left early this morning. Well, he left at 8:45. My dad came over this morning and made french toast. Mike had no idea he was even here. He was up all night working. (He is on call this week.) The kids will be sad not having Matt around. It was fun having him here for a week!

Matt

Sam, Matt, Stockton, Jorja, Dad

Sam, Matt & Jorja, Stockton, Maysen, Preston

Same picture but with me (Stephanie) in it.

Preston....why do you pull faces in my nice pictures?

Dad, Matt & Jorja, Stockton, Maysen, Stephanie, Preston

Matt & Sam

...with the GPS

Bye Matt! We miss you already. Can't wait to see you at Christmas....and can't wait to find out when you are getting married! Love you!