Little Pumpkins

My first set of pumpkins came on Saturday. The women of the stake were blessed to be able to attend a 3 1/2 hour meeting so I was blessed to be able to watch our neighbors 3 little girls in the morning. There are few kids that are as compatible with ours as these three are. They never fight or argue and the girls laughs are contagious. I let them play the Wii for the first hour then decided it was time to go outside. Our yard isn't really prepped for children's play yet so we walked to the park. So there I was, walking to the park with 6 kids ages 9, 6, 5, 4, 1, and 1.

Bella



Lilly (I called her Lillehammer)



The four olders: Ayva, Parker, Carson, and Bella



Lots of long hair!



Very cute...



The wind picked up and the freezing temperatures set in so it was time to go home. The walk home was painfull with 2 tired one-year-olds. I picked both of them up and walked for much of the way but even with all my muscles I couldn't do it all the way. Dogs started barking and sucked the kids' attention away from the goal of getting home.



This is Cameron's defense mechanism...



Ohhhh, another doggy!



Every year my sister, Fern, offers to paint our pumpkins in whatever way our kids desire. While Carson was throwing up I was outside with Cameron and Parker. I came across the following creatures, the subject was interesting, the lighting was good, and I had to take a couple pictures:

Poor Old Jack,



B.O.B.,



...and friends...

Meltdown

The past 4 nights I haven't been getting to bed until around 1:00 for one reason or another. I've been falling asleep on the bus every night on the way home and I have some wonderful friends and coworkers who have kindly woken me from my slumber when my stop was coming up. Friday was no different. When I got home I was greeted by my wife and kids and we discussed some options of things we could do that night with no clear resolution. Cameron has been total cranky pants, plus Carrie works from home, which has its good and bad points. I laid on the couch and Carrie told me that if we don't do something she was "going to have a meltdown". I got up, told the kids to get their shoes on and get in the van, with no idea of where we were headed. I just knew if we started driving that would tide Carrie over until we came up with something. After the recent Pinewood Derby I remembered Roberts had a bunch of craft stuff for kids to do so I suggested we take a look at that. Finally, some success! We let the kids pick out a craft to do and, in pure Sweet fashion...started and haven't finished yet!

Carson chose a treasure chest to paint...



And Parker chose a rescue helicopter...





I didn't get many pictures of Carson painting because he woke up early Saturday and painted his while we were asleep. Carrie got up to see what they were doing so early on a Saturday morning. Parker was at the table swinging his legs and said, "We're just waiting for dad to get up and help us with our crafts". Very cute but it wasn't even light outside yet!

In other meltdown news...the Colts lost the Superbowl. Not even us all dressed in blue and white could bring them good luck...



In the end, the Saints were just too much for Manning to predict. The Colts were just plain ole' beat. Laaaaaaaaame....