The Tale of The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew: November 2009

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving was lots of fun this year. We had Nany and Papa and Uncle Andrew come and visit us. It was a lot of fun to have them here. But, the best part was the fact that we went on a family excursion to cut down a Christmas tree. It was tons of fun and I think that this will be the beginning of a new family tradition.

This is our 12 foot tree. It was bigger than our car, but we really liked it.

Dallin cut down his very own Christmas tree. Just the right size. He was really proud and has it in his room right now.

Justin, Andrew and Papa all carried our tree up the mountain. What strong guys!

What Makes Our Heart Say Thank You.

This month we have been talking about what makes our heart say "Thank You". We have a thank you chain that we write something on every day and are trying to make it as long as Daddy and Dallin lying down side by side by Thanksgiving day. It has been fun. Every morning we write down something new. So far Elise has been thankful for princesses, princesses and Dallin, princesses and Eliza and for cheese. Jayden has been thankful for bananas and balls. Dallin has been thankful for our house, Carter and Jayden and his Daddy. Mommy always says she is thankful for You and You and You and You (just for fun). I am also thankful for many things that you will see upcoming.

I am thankful that Dallin is starting to read. He has been doing such a good job this month and I have been able to spend extra time with him this month to practice reading. He is such a smart kid. I am so grateful for all the time that I can spend with him building legos, baking, doing science projects, doing art projects and reading. We have had great times together and even though he might forget these years, I will always treasure them.

I am thankful for Daddy and Elise. They are so great. Elise is such a girl. I love her imagination. I love it when she sings "I Love to See The Temple", I love when I turn on music and she'll say , "It's time for me to do ballet". She does Plies and Jetes, and is so cute. She also loves her mommy. The other day she said Mommy "I don't love you", I said, "Elise that is not very nice", she said "actually I do love you". What a great little girl.
As for Justin, I am so happy to have a Hubby that always makes me laugh. He tries to always do what is right. He is such a great Daddy and tries to spend as much time as he can with his kids. He is very concerned about others and is great at being a lawyer. He is very organized and very precise in everything he does. Oh, and he is SOOOOO HOOT. What more could I ask for.

My little Jayden. I am so thankful for this little munchkin. Everyone looks at him with his blonde hair and blue eyes and wonders where he came from. He is all over the place and I am exhausted by the end of the day. But, he is so smiley and fun that it is all worth it. He just started folding his arms when we pray and he can do the actions to "Once There Was a Snowman", it is so amazing to see him pick up on things.

We visited the temple last week, because I told the kids that I was grateful for the temple and wanted them to see the temple. The kids loved the temple and they love to sing "I Love the See The Temple".

I am so grateful that we can be an eternal family and that we have eachother. This year the primary theme has been about families. We have talked about "The Proclamation on The Family". We have learned that "families are central to our creator's plan". What a great thing that we have families and are here to help eachother learn and grow. They are definately the greatest blessing in my life.

I cannot finish posting about what I am thankful for without talking about me parents and Grandparents and sister and brothers. They are all so great. I am so grateful for the things that my parents have taught me and for their desire to share the gospel and serve others. I am so grateful for my Mama Nelda who is so strong and faithful and I always know that she is praying for me, because she is always praying. I love my little sister who is such a great Mom and brothers who are such nice boys. It is so fun to get together with them and hang out. I miss them and the days when we were all at home. I am thankful that we have eachother to count on.

Last but not least I cannot talk about being thankful for family without talking about my grandparents. They have shown me how important families are. We have a family reunion every year because of my grandparents. I have so many wonderful memories with them and my cousins and uncles and aunts. I am so grateful for such wonderful grandparents who love their family.

November Creations

Dallin is in Year Round School So we have been doing several things to keep us busy. Each week I decided to pick a theme and then et books from the library, do a craft and a science project. Here are some of our creations.

One week we talked about dinosaurs and made fossils with noodles and mixed dirt with glue.

One week we talked about planets and aliens. Dallin made his own planet and aliens.

One week we talked about Thanksgiving and turkeys and made these Thank you turkeys.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

I cannot get away without writing about some crazy things that have happened at our house this week.

First, Dallin lost his 2nd tooth this week. However, the tooth fairy forgot to leave anything under his pillow two nights in a row. It is hard work being a tooth fairy. We had to do some serious convincing that the tooth fairy was really busy. Hopefully, this won't be too damaging.

Second, Dallin was doing some math homework and counting black beans. Elise thought it would be very interesting to stick one of these beans up her nose. I could not get it out and she and Dallin were not very happy with the thought of going to a hospital. I was going to take her to urgent care, but then the thought of paying $120 and showing up at urgent care by myself with 3 kids did not sound like fun. So, I decided to wait until Justin got home to decide. Lucky for us Elise fell asleep. Justin got home and decided to use some tweezers to try and get it out. He did it!! What luck, He did think about using our friends very powerful shopvac. Crazy things.

California Pumpkin Patch

We got to spend Halloween with Grandpa, Cody, Jenny and Preston. We went to a really fun Pumpkin Patch and rode on a train. fed animals and panned for marbles. Here are some pictures.

Playing in their hay trampoline was a lot of fun.

Dallin and Elise rode in the animal car. They thought that it was really fun.

October has Come and Gone

This year we decided to paint our pumpkins. We came up with an alien/robot pumpkin and a button/butterfly pumpkin.

Halloween was great. Guess what Dallin was?

A Gargoyle!!! Everyone commented on his costume. He was too embarrassed to wear this to school, even though he insisted that this is what he wanted to be for Halloween.