October Recap--Part 1

I'm pretty sure the first of October was just yesterday, but here it is the end of the month! Here's a re-cap:

Zane walking onto the field as one of the team captains at the last home game.

  Zane finished his last year of Junior High football.   Each game I had to almost do a double=take trying to find him on the field.  I had a hard time remembering that he was one of the "big guys" on the field.  

He did a great job playing center!

 My parents came over on Monday the 10th and stayed until Wednesday morning.  We loved having them here.  It was a busy week (but when don't I have a busy week?) and they got to meet 6 of my piano students.

 The kids love having Grandma and Grandpa here.  We walked to the post office on Tuesday.  They brought about 50 mini pumpkins they had grown in their garden.  Emmalee shared them with her 1st grade class & I used them later in the month for scouts.

When my parents left Wednesday morning (after I gave my mom a haircut), they had no idea where they were going, but I later got a phone call from them that they were headed towards Sun Valley.

 Wednesday, the 12th was the Performing Arts potato bar fundraiser.  I made a few desserts & Brienna & Zane both made desserts too.  

Brienna plays the flute

(I forgot my camera so these were taken with my phone) 

 and Zane plays the trumpet.  The band has consistently shrunk over the past few years, and they are down to 8 students in band.  But they sounded great.

The PTO sponsored the potato bar this year, so I helped set up, serve and clean up. 

Thursday evening I attended our ward Temple night.  My friend, Jill & her husband were kind enough to give me a ride since Rusty needed to get ready to go hunting.  I played the organ that night.  I love attending the temple!

Friday I helped a lady in our community with her yard sale--set up & attend--for a couple of hours.  Then I went to Idaho Falls with just Emmalee to get our shopping done.

 Saturday the boys went hunting.  Rusty said it was so beautiful.

 Gotta love that Callum!

 See anything, Zane?

 YES!!  Zane's deer.

 It is a 3 by 4.

 And it took allllllllllllll  day to get home.  He shot it at 9:30 am and they didn't get home until 5:30.  

 Rusty, Zane & Callum with Zane's deer.

 The school is offering a taxidermy class next month, so Rusty & Zane prepared the deer so Zane could use it for the class.  The deer had 2-3 inches of fat--I have never seen so much fat on a deer!

While the boys were hunting, I was at Snake River at University of Scouting learning more about all the scouting programs.  I took classes about integrating Faith in God with Cubs, the 11-year old scout program, being a merit badge counselor, Cub Scout magic, and using pre-openers at den  & pack meetings.  They were all great classes and I got to have a mini-reunion with about 1/2 of the people from Wood Badge!

I left home at 6 am and got home just a few minutes before the boys got home from hunting.

 I had won tickets to the IF symphony opening night, but since Rusty and I were just getting home, and Rusty had the deer to take care of (and he was quite tired from trying to get it out all day!).So we decided we would stay home.

I'm back--at least for today!

Can I just say that my life is busy, busy, busy!!  I have attempted to update my blog numerous times, only to fall asleep at my computer (sitting on the couch with the computer on my lap).  I guess that's what happens when I get up at 6 & try to post at 11 pm (or later).

So now it is Sunday afternoon, and I'm sitting on the couch with the laptop on my lap, and I can feel my eyes getting heavy.  But since I am actually typing, I think I will at least get one post in!

Thursday the kids did not have school (there was no school in the state of Idaho Thursday or Friday because of state-wide in-service.)  It started to rain, which quickly turned into snow. 

 And the flakes were big and wet!

 It kept snowing, and snowing and then it started sticking.  Meanwhile, we were inside switching bedrooms.  Benjamin's toddler bed came down (& out of my room---YAY!), Brienna moved into the front bedroom by herself (even though it is the smallest room), Callum moved into the other room so he could share the full-sized bottom bunk with Benjamin and Emmalee moved to the top bunk in that room. Oh--and the sewing desk went from the front bedroom (which did I mention is the smallest room) into my room (where Ben's bed was).

Zane didn't have to move rooms, so he moved his dresser to the opposite wall.  Although we got a ton of moving, dejunking, and cleaning done, we still have a long way to go!

 As it continued to snow, and stick, and be very, very wet, Zane found out that his football game scheduled for 6pm was cancelled.  I wasn't too disappointed because I really didn't want to dig out the long johns, find my boots and  stand in the wet, cold snow videoing his game.

So instead, I sent the kids outside to harvest all the tomatoes from the garden.

 It looks a bit like winter--I really enjoyed the 2 days of fall we had last week! (thankfully the forecast is for mostly sunny days in the mid-50's for this next week.)

 And Emmalee's poor sunflowers--when she saw them, she said, "Oh no!  My sunflowers have died and are buried!"  We had hoped that they would recover, and even though they are alive, they are still bowed very low to the ground.

 Friday morning we woke up to a foggy day.  The fog stayed most of the morning into the afternoon.  At first I thought it was raining again because I could hear water drops.  But as I investigated a bit more, the snow was melting/dropping off all the leave-filled trees.

 And the creek by our house was 3/4 of the way full again--about as high as it was while it was running during the summer.  It had dried up, then started running with the last big rainstorm.  It was almost dried up again when this storm came through.

Friday we worked on the rooms some more, and I dug the Halloween totes out of the shed, although we still haven't opened the totes to decorate the house & sort through the costumes.

Later half of us went to the church to set up tables and chairs for Grandpa Stewart's 80th birthday celebration on Saturday.  While we were setting up, Brienna, Emmalee, & Benjamin were scrubbing 70 potatoes & getting them wrapped.

 Saturday morning I made 2 double batches of banana bread/muffins.  One batch was a "regular" one (followed the recipe), and the other batch was my sugar-free, whole-wheat recipe (that I modify & use honey, applesauce, etc.).  Then I put 50 of the potatoes into my electric roaster & cooked them for a little over 2 hours.  The 20 that didn't fit in the roaster I put into the oven.  

 We had about 50-60 people there (I'd have to stop and count to figure out how many showed up).  We also celebrated Grandma Marge's birthday since hers is Nov. 5th (same as Ben's).

 Brienna holding her cousin, Kassidy's newborn son, Tripton (Trip).  There were a lot of kids, and it was fun to see so much family at a fun event.

 Grandpa Stewart, Grandma Marge & Veronica (Pat's wife).  Notice Marge's birthday present of a new recliner that has a remote to help her get in and out of the chair.  She is recovering from a fierce (and so far very successful) fight against cancer.

 I think she loves it! (Pat showing her the ins and outs of how the chair works)

 This was the 2nd time in the last 16 years that all 8 siblings were together at once.

 Rusty, Gordon, Ken (who put this all together--thanks!), Tammie, Pat, Dad Stewart, Reed, Bill & Skeeter (aka Keith Jr.)

 The group getting ready for a big group picture.

 And more of the bunch.

We were almost ready--but I didn't get a big group picture with my camera, so I hope that Pat or Gordy gets a  copy to me!

I did take a few hours last week to download 2 months worth of pictures, and now I need to edit & get them ready to post & print.  

My plans are to post more often here on my blog, but if I'm missing, then you'll know that I am getting some sleep!

1st Day of School

September is the month that I plan on working on my blog (since it is a piece of my family history).  I have been gone or away from the computer & am getting ready to go again this afternoon.  (I am on staff at Wood Badge for Scouting.)

I was able to be home for the last few days & got the kids ready for the first day of school

Brienna is a sophomore this year--wow!  She looks beautiful!

She will be taking Driver's Ed this semester!  Wow!  It will be nice to have another driver.

Zane & his "Parry the Platypus" shirt.  Doesn't he look excited to be going to school!?

There I got a smile from my 8th grader.  Last year in Jr. High!

Callum is ready for 5th grade.

He is so lucky--he gets his dad as his teacher!

And can you tell I have a very excited 1st grader!  Emmalee couldn't stop grinning!

 She is so excited to be in 1st grade!

Breakfast at school--I might have to feed them before they leave since it doesn't look too filling! (donut, oranges & milk)

And of course Ben needed his picture taken too--at school!  He really wanted to go to school too, but when he found out I was heading home, he quickly joined me.

He has been doing puzzles & playing games for the last hour.  I think he is enjoying having all the attention again.

Now I've got to go & finish getting ready to leave for Wood Badge.  I'm not even packed!

Family Pictures Camping

Our family pictures while camping in Montana:

I'm still working on getting the pictures from camping edited and organized (I'm "down" to about 800 pictures)

I don't know if I'll post much in the next 2 weeks.  I am getting ready to leave for Wood Badge--I'm on staff & working hard to get everything ready & packed.