Primary Program

Today was the annual Church Primary program, one of my favorite Sundays!  Julia and Ethan are part of our Church's primary, and once a year the Sacrament meeting is set aside for the primary children to teach about Jesus, giving talks and singing songs.  Julia and Ethan memorized their parts and did a wonderful job saying them by themselves in front of the whole congregation.  They both wanted to wear their "future missionary" name-tags, and I couldn't wait for Christmas to bust out Julia's new Christmas dress (courtesy Grandma Little) to wear for the occasion.  We are really proud of them and their testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and willingness to share them.

This guy still has another year before he starts Primary.  Christian would have loved to participate though.  At least he got to go to the program practice yesterday and sit up on the pews with them.

The whole crew before church.

Julia's 6th Birthday

We celebrated Julia's birthday last weekend, and it was the first time she wanted to have a party with friends.  She invited a few from her school, some from church and one from the neighborhood.  Her main concern for her birthday party invitations was making sure no one felt left out, including her brothers.  Joshua headed up the games, which included pinning wings on Tinkerbell, popping balloons, doing a scavenger hunt, going to Jerusalem, and a few more.  It was so fun to watch the kids interact with each other and to talk with some of the parents of kids she mentions from school.  I think the kids all had a great time, and Ethan and Christian really loved participating too.

Her actual birthday fell on a school day, so we sent her to class with oatmeal raisin cookies, since there is a rule in the school district against bringing cupcakes or unhealthy snacks for birthdays (sad!).  That afternoon Joshua took off work and Julia opened presents (thanks Grandmas and Grandpas for the wonderful things you sent!), and we went shopping and came home and, at her request, did some family tackle and painting (not at the same time).  She has been really into drawing and painting and dancing and anything art related, so she loved having a new easel and art/craft supplies to try out, and a dance instruction video to dance to.  After cake, we let her stay up after the boys went to bed for some one-on-one checkers and painting with Mom and Dad.

We feel so lucky to have Julia in our family.  She is so smart, considerate, caring, unselfish, affectionate, creative, and has a desire to always choose the right.  She is a wonderful sister, and a great helper in our home, and always amazes me with her complex thoughts and ideas.  She loves beautiful things, but at the same time loves to roughhouse with the boys and play pirate ship with them; and she loves to read (about any topic).  We love you Julia!

October

October went by really quickly around here, ending with the first layer of snow on the ground and way too much candy!

Elliott is 10 months old now, and crawling everywhere.  He is pretty much the cutest thing we have ever seen (spoken like a true mother, right?).

The kids had their first face painting experience--and LOVED it--at the Fall Festival hosted by Julia's school.  Christian requested Batman, Ethan Spiderman, and Julia a cat.  They held still for the whole painting and were bitterly disappointed when they found out they could not leave the paint on overnight.

This is Julia's pumpkin--she drew a cat face pattern for me to carve out.  Joshua did a scary face for the boys.

Everyone with pumpkin faces!

Joshua and the kids (minus Elliott) heading out to trick-or-treat, Alaska style.  We stuffed them in as many layers as possible, so they looked like little marshmallows with a costume pulled tight over the top, then with hats, gloves, and boots on top of that.  It was in the mid 20s after all, which gets chilly after staying out for an hour and a half.  Christian's bat costume, which was heavy lined fleece, best lent itself to the bundling process because it was roomy on the inside.  I am always surprised at how many kids venture out every year in the weather, but they still seem to.  I got the lucky job of manning the candy post at home with Elliott.