Firestation... Again!

 Between school and scouts, my kids get ample opportunities to visit the fire station- they really never tire of it either!  When I told Jace where we were going, he quickly donned his fireman boots, shirt and hat without even telling me!

Dallin was either too cool, or too embarrassed to smile for a picture... *sigh*

Last year, cousin Matthew came with us to our cub scout fire station tour, and coincidentally, this year, Jesse came along!

Thanksgiving

We had an amazing opportunity to serve Thanksgiving dinner at an inner-city Church this year.  It was a really neat experience- 

Afterwards we went to the Whalen's where Kim had made a FEAST, pretty much single handedly.  It was d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s.  I was too busy eating to take any more decent pictures than this... *sigh*

Wild Walls

We went bouldering at Wild Walls with Scott and Dayna's family over Thanksgiving break...

His tiny climbing shoes were adorbs!

Bryson:

Apparently he'll pose for a picture when he's 15 feet off the ground... 

Jesse, Jace and Hailee:

Hanging out:

 Hailee:

They switched up the grips and routes tremendously since we'd been climbing last.  It was considerably less 'kid-friendly' this time.  Previously, my 3 older boys were able to climb up lots of different routes... not so much this time.  Dallin got so frustrated that he could NOT get past this point:

He tried over and over and was close to tears more than once.

His perseverance paid off:

A great way to get out some energy on a gloomy day!

Couples Massage

Being stomped on by a 4 year old is about as close as we're going to get to a couple's massage anytime soon... 

Math is Cool

Because 7th graders have after school activities, practice for Math is Cool happens during lunch time... which is a pretty big sacrifice and one that plenty of the kids aren't willing to make.  As a result, a lot of kids drop out of the program in 7th and 8th grade.  Bryson wanted to keep with it again this year, which makes me happy *grin*

The college bowl:

There was a sixth grader on his 7th grade team this year who is pretty stinking good at math, but lacked a little in the confidence department, so many of the answers Bryson gave were actually ones that his teammate figured out! That's 'team work' =/

Awaiting results:

Freeman's team took first place again!!

With their coach Mr. Steed:

We're so pleased that he wants to continue with this great program despite the inconvenience/sacrifice that it is.  He commented the other day that he *almost* aced his math PRE-test because he'd learned about linear equations in math is cool.  An added bonus *grin*

Other October-

Not sure what was going on, but he was singing his little heart out up there on the counter with two bowls over his face:

Bryson's football pads continue to be a source of great fun:

After teaching Bryson to use the sewing machine to sew patches on his scout sash {score!}, Eli begged for me to teach him to sew- he wants to make a teddy bear...

A pretty neat double rainbow before one of Bryson's football games- 

We were so distracted by the rainbows that we missed the faux funnel cloud directly behind us over Mica Peak :/

Happy Birthday Daddy!

The remains of Jace's quesadilla... 

It reminds me of one of our favorite books, Just For You by Mercer Mayer... "I ate all of my lunch, just for you... but not my crusts!"

Twin day at school turned into quadruplet day for my kids- they all wore their 'Cam over Cancer' shirts:

Pumpkin Carving

Bless Cub Scouts and the pumpkin carving activity- which means the associated mess is somewhere OTHER than my house!  I still did most of the cleaning-out-of-the-guts part because the kids strangely don't like that, but Dallin and Eli did their own carving:

I love Dallin's disgust in the background here:

I *helped* Jace of course... he wanted a "mad" face:

Hailee was off running around the whole time, so I just carved hers.  Naturally, she still claimed ownership though.  And I don't know how I failed to get finished products of them all, but sadly, I dropped the ball once again.  Dallin carved a dog face and Eli did a pig- they really turned out pretty cute for being free handed!