Coming Soon!

Fall Field Trips

October was chock full of field trips.

Kobe was the first with a trip to the zoo- I didn't get to go. Somehow he had fun without me ;)

(picture from mrmuffoletto.com)

Jackson had many outings as a part of his unit on "Community Helpers." Since his preschool is located right in the center of the village these were mostly walking trips.

Our first community helper was a chef at a local Mexican restaurant.

The kids were fascinated with the ice maker and the walk in fridge. Brrrr...

They ended their tour with chips and quesadillas. YUM! Jackson loved those!

Another day was the tour of the village and our community helpers with walk- by's to places like the post office, fire station, doctor office, dentist office, gas station, barber shop, courthouse and the pharmacy.Finally we made it the police stationfor a chance to sit in a jail cell,
learn about all the things a police officer does, how to be safe, and take a picture with him and his police car.

That trip left me with a real sense of community as we walked around looking at all the community helpers that make our town run smoothly.

One community helper, a veterinarian came to Jackson's class. I was sure to be there too since Jackson is very afraid of animals and the vet brought her dog.

The vet asked the kids who else had a dog at their house. Jackson looked at me and said, "We don't have a dog, we have a TV." Great.

Jackson got more comfortable as he saw how obedient and well behaved the dog was. He said to me, "That's a good dog!! He's like a boy- a good boy like me!"

He still didn't want to be anywhere near the dog, but at least he didn't run out of the room screaming- which was a real possibility!

Next it was off to Zittels to learn about what farmers do for us

and have some fun too.

Finally the last Community Helper outing was to the Fire Station. Jackson was initially very nervous about this one. I think he thought there would be actual fire at the fire station. Once we were there he was very happy though.

(Gotta love the OP Quaker man logo on the side of our fire trucks)

I was very surprised that Jackson volunteered to try "Stop, Drop, and Roll" with the fire fighter

He even got in the fire truck by himself and put on the fire fighters mask too.

Good times. :)

Last but not least this month the whole family got to go on a field trip of sorts with Kobe. Kobe's teacher nominated himself for a local news channel contest called "Make Your Teacher a Celebrity Clown." The class created a video with their teacher who transformed himself into "Mr Funny Bones."

(picture from mrmuffoletto.com)

They won! We won! Every kid in the class won tickets for their whole family to the circus and their teacher won the opportunity to perform at the circus pre-show.

Kobe (in the glasses and nose Mr. Muffoletto gave each of the students), Reagan, and Jillie with "Mr. Funny Bones."

Jackson enjoyed the entire circus the most. I caught the rest of the family looking pretty bored and tired after a while. We had a nice time together though. Big thanks to the most fun teacher anywhere!

October's been a busy month... but November and December promise to even busier!!

Here we go.....

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Apparently Greg has been hijacking my blog with links from his site SkunkPost .

Guess I'd better get something on here from me finally!

Happy Halloween to all!

pumpkin carving late into the night

Trunk or Treat at our ward- and we brought our friends Superman (Cole), a football player (Blake), a skeleton (Connor) and cute little monkey (Braden- not pictured)

And tonight... for the real deal...

Jillie (mustard- to go with her friend Corinne who is ketchup)

Reagan (Hippie)

Kobe (Michael Jackson)

Jackson (Woody)

Strange tonight- the girls are off trick or treating with their own friends. Our friends (pictured in the trunk or treat) agreed to come over and go out with Kobe and Jackson.

So we're off to load up on the sweets out in the cold, windy, rainy night....

TRICK OR TREAT!

Ribs and...ghosts?

Check out the haunted rib joint in East Aurora -- Tony Rome's

The Haunting of the Eagle house

SkunkPost - News

The Eagle House isn't just popular among the living. SkunkPoster Christie Weber goes on a haunted journey with supernatural historian and author Mason Winfield, to find out what's lurking behind the doors.

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Those 3 precious hours

I LOVE my kids.

I LOVE being a mom.

I LOVE and appreciate that Greg works so hard

so that I am able to be an at-home-mom.

It is a busy job. It has been 13 years since the first child became attached to my hip, and then the next one came, and the next, and the next. Thirteen years around the clock, day and night. Hardly a moment alone, unless they are asleep, but then so am I (if I'm smart).

Now that Jackson is in preschool every day of the week, I have 3 precious hours on my own each morning. They fly by, but I have been able to squeeze in some enjoyable activities lately.

Most mornings I have been walking with some good friends from church.

Marilyn, Jody, Wendy and I get to enjoy some great conversation for about an hour

AND get a little exercise. We've been loving the nice fall weather with walks around Marilyn's neighborhood. Now the weather is turning cold and wet, but thankfully everyone is committed to keeping this up. We're moving it to the mall as the cold weather hits.

Exercise and I have not been good friends, but the chance to visit with these gals makes it something I look forward to everyday.

Marilyn still has 2 not in school so they get to join us on our walks and are too cute not to picture here...

I have also been spending some of those precious 3 hours in my kids' schools. PTO Meetings, volunteering in classrooms, shelving books in the libraries, going on little field trips... all things I haven't been free to do for a few years, but make me feel helpful and happy.

Of course some days it's walking and then chores. Not the fun parts of life, but necessary, and easier to do without kids in tow. I recently was introduced by Beth to this:

Spring Clean Year Round

It is a very cute and organized cleaning program that helps you organize your cleaning chores so that it's all do-able. It's been helpful for me to feel like I'm getting some cleaning done during those child free moments, even if it's not all done at the same time.

(***And before anyone thinks I have tons of energy or am disciplined at all- I have a confession. There are days where I come home from my walk and just eat breakfast, read blogs, and watch The View until it's time to get Jackson!)

Just think, next year I'll have the youngest in all day kindergarten and the oldest in high school. AHHH!!

But that will leave me with 5 whole precious hours a day! I might even fit in consistent-possibly daily- blogging by then! {Maybe even consistent- possibly daily- showers! } ;)

Crop Circles?

This is what happens when you finally get a nice fall day without rain, and you try to find some way to pry your preschooler away from the Wii and get some fresh air.

You tell him he gets to drive... like Lightning McQueen.

I hopped on the lawn mower with my Jack Jack, turned it on, hit the gas, and held on while I was driven around the yard... only taking the wheel when we were headed for the road or flower beds.

He took his job pretty seriously, but really enjoyed going in circles- hence the holding on.His technique is reminiscent of how Greg used to mow the lawn. ;)

Took at little longer to get the front yard mowed this way,

since I had to even things out when he finally tired of driving.

Good times though!

Screams in the halls of the school

It's musical audition time at the middle school again.

This year's production is

Jillie tried out again this year having enjoyed being in the chorus of the 2 previous musicals. Her goal this year was to get a speaking part.

She practiced her singing.

She practiced using courage so they could see what she is capable of doing on stage.

She got a call back. We were cautiously hopeful.

Reagan tried out too even though the odds were against her.

Apparently there were 200 kids trying out for the musical.

There are about 10 parts and 60 chorus spots.

There was a better chance a 7th or 8th grader would get in the cast over a 6th grader.

She practiced her singing.

We hoped.

Friday the cast list was posted.

There were screams in the halls of the school.

REAGAN made it into the CHORUS!

WOO HOO!!!!

JILLIE will now be referred to as

PEPPERMINT PATTY!

She even has a solo!

AHHHHHH!!!

These are the happy faces that got off the bus Friday after school.

They called their dad, grandparents, aunts & uncles

and of course posted the news on Facebook.

Daddy sent them a chocolate covered strawberry bouquet

within an hour of getting the news.

Looks like the calendar is gonna get filled up pretty quick

between now and the weekend before Thanksgiving!

Congratulations girls! We are so proud of you.

Remembering September 17, 1991

A long time ago in a college town far far away, Greg and I celebrated our 8 month dating anniversary. We had just returned to BYU a couple of weeks prior and decided to go out to dinner at The Tree Room at Sundance up in the Provo Canyon to celebrate. It had been a long summer apart.

{leaving on our date 9/17/91}

Greg came to pick me up that night and he was SO nervous. We sat at the Tree Room having a delicious (and expensive) meal and Greg could hardly eat. I knew he had a gift for me and that was the source of his uneasiness . (I didn't dare think it was an engagement ring!) I kept saying, "just give me what ever you got for me so you can at least enjoy this meal!" It was so strange because even on our first date we were not the least bit nervous.

After dinner we walked around the grounds for a short time, but it was chilly and we headed back down to Provo. On the way I noticed that Greg seemed to have a cold. I said we should go to my apartment so I could get him some Sudafed. But he said no and kept driving around Provo like he was looking for some place to go. Eventually I realized he was looking for the way up the mountain to a look out point. I showed him the way while thinking, this is what he planned?! To go make out (I mean look at the lights of Provo)?!

So we get up there, car parked at the mountain's edge, and he asked me to get out and go in front of the car. Luckily I trusted him enough I figured he wasn't try to push me off a cliff. I heard him fidgeting around in the car and then our song, Unforgettable by Natalie Cole. He came to me and asked me to dance. So there we danced overlooking the Provo lights with no one else around. During the song he stopped to kiss me. I could tell he was reaching into his pocket. I thought, "Finally. Whatever it is, he's going to give it to me and then we can go back to being comfortable."

He told me he loved me and asked me to marry him. I had to look at the ring in the box to be sure he was serious. He'd joked that he'd fake propose to keep me guessing. But it was the real deal. I started to cry. I thought, how silly to cry, but there I was with tears of joy. Soon Unforgettable ended, but since it was on a mix tape, all of a sudden the mood was broken by "dun-dun-dun, da-da- dun-dun, ice ice baby." :) We got in the car to turn off Vanilla Ice and take a good look at the ring. Then Greg said we should go because my parents were waiting for me to call. He called them earlier in the day to ask their permission to marry me. We first went to Shannon's (his sister) apartment. She knew already and was very happy for us. Mom and Dad were happy for us too. Yes, I was still only 19 years old (about 2 months from my 20th birthday)! But Mom said she figured I'd marry young since I was an "old soul."

He took me home to my waiting roommates, who were camera in hand ready since they too knew.

{after our date 9/17/91}

Needless to say it was a great night- spontaneous on Greg's part too. Apparently he decided on his way home from class that day that he wanted to propose that night. He said a little prayer to let Heavenly Father know is plan and ask for a confirmation that this was right. In true Greg style off to the jewelry store he went with Shannon I think. Bought the ring, called the parents, and by the night's end we were engaged to be married! YEA!

I think I got pretty lucky. No one could love me more than Greg does and I couldn't be happier that we found each other.

Happy Engagement Anniversary!
I love you!

previous Greg and Nikki posts:

Our first date

One week after our first date

Michigan '09: Part Two

The story of our July trip continues... (Part one here)

On Monday Holly and family came down to Grand Rapids to see an old friend who was in town. Ann used to lived in the same townhouses we did about 8 years ago, but has since moved to Utah. It was so nice to see her. Her daughter was born around the at the same time as Kobe (along with about 6 other kids at church) and she brought her daughter with her. Fun to see her again too.

Back at Holly's house we dropped off the kids with Nathan and headed out to dinner with the girls. Sadly Beth and Caity couldn't make it, but we had fun with Leanne and Leslie.

It became an interesting evening when the waitress told us that the original chef had quit and if we would tell her what we wanted from the menu, she would let us know if the current chef made it very well or not. We felt like we were taking big risks when ordering, but it turned out OK- not great, but OK. By the way I did get to visit with Beth (and her kids) for a little while the next morning which was very nice.

We returned home to find the kids having a ball under Nathan's watch.

As is the tradition when the moms have a GNO, Uncle Nathan creates a delicious dessert with the kids help. Oh my goodness, the frosting he created was AWESOME!! I couldn't stop eating the leftovers the rest of the week. Chocolate, fudgey, peanutty, kind of a no bake cookie taste. Right up my can-not-resist alley.

We turned it into an impromptu birthday cake. Jaleigh and Jackson almost always celebrate their birthdays together. (Jaleigh is 3 days older than Jackson.)

Jaleigh was excited about her present!

Jackson loves his new Curious George DVD from the Averys.

The next days were spent either at the beach or on the 'set' of Wipe Out. The older kids spent all of their time at the house filming and editing their own version of Wipe Out. Reagan and Jillie have become pros with iMovie ( I still have no idea how to use it) They've been making all sorts of movies. Holly is so grateful that this film is too long to post here or on YouTube because of some of the costumes Ethan chose to wear. :) She'd much rather the world did not see that. It was great though to see them all working together and being creative. The best part is that they were so busy creating this film there wasn't any time left for bickering and competition. They just got along.

The beach was fun as usual though it wasn't extremely hot weather. Dad joined us for the day, Mom came up after work to join us for dinner and a beach sunset.

And I can not forget to mention blueberry picking.

I don't think I could ever have enough blueberries!!

LOVE THEM!

The strangest part of the trip was that I didn't get to clean or organize any of Holly's house. (I did try to do some reorganization in Mom and Dad's newly remodeled kitchen.) I kind of missed organizing with Holly though. Hol, plan something for me to do next time.

Overall a great visit with the family. It always feels a little too short,

and too long til we get to do it again.