Rocking Out!

My kids love listening to tunes while we drive. We've done our best to make sure they have an appreciation of the classics.

C's Favorites:

Green Day

Foo Fighters

Garbage

S's Favorites:

T.N.T. by AC/DC

Born to Be Wild by Steppenwolf

The best part is that MK totally gets into T.N.T. and yells "Oi!" along with the song as well as "explode!" at the top of her lungs.

MK just loves to dance around. And yes, she dances in her her car seat by shaking her shoulders and arms and head.

New Family Pictures

Babcock Family

Babcock Family

Babcock Family

Babcock Family

Babcock Family

First Place for My First Quilt

I finally finished my first quilt. It took me forever and a day, but I did it and love it.

I made it for C. I named it "Stars of Glory."

Here is a close up:

Stars of Glory Quilt

Here is the entire quilt, well, as much as I could get with the camera:

Stars of Glory Quilt

Mom convinced me to enter into the Eagle Mountain Quilt show and I won First Place in the Beginners Category. WOW! At first, I wondered just how many were entered. Did I win 1st place out of 2? But, there were actually quite a showing. I couldn't believe it.

C was so funny about the quilt. When I found out it won, I told him about it and that we'd go and see all the quilts. Later that day, C called R and told him, "Dad. The quilt mom and I made won First Place!" Yes, he's taking credit for the win.

I've made a quilt for S as well. Same fabrics, just different pattern. I haven't figured out what to name it yet. Haven't completely finished it yet.

Barbed Stars Quilt

Don't worry. I didn't forget about MK. I've found an AWESOME quilt pattern of butterflies (her favorite) but in the meanwhile, I'm doing this pinwheel one for her.

Pinwheel Block

I'm having fun with my new hobby. I've set up my "sewing room" in a small strip of house between the kitchen table and the back of the couch. I have to commandeer the table when I sew.

Yellowstone

I know. I know. You all thought I dropped off the edge of the earth. But I didn't. I went to Yellowstone.

We took the kids for a trip to Yellowstone in May. It was still VERY cold, but so incredible. R's dad lent us their RV and little car to tow. The kids did great and enjoyed all the sights and animals. The rangers gave us a paper for the kids with pictures of animals that they can check off when they see them. They loved that and being able to check things off. We saw A LOT of buffalo (including babies), deer, elk, eagles, bear (and her cubs), and even a wolf.

This is a picture outside our car window. The Buffalo roamed wherever they wanted.

Yellowstone

When we went to see Old Faithful, it was SO COLD. We could tell it was going to erupt soon, so we stood out in the cold to wait for it. MK was NOT happy to be out in the cold. She was tired and cold and hungry. She finally yelled "I don't wanna see it!" Then, she buried her face into my neck and passed out. She slept through it all. I finally put her down in her stroller as we walked around and went to eat. This is what she looked like:

Yellowstone

All you can see of her is her nose! It was so funny. She slept for a couple of hours.

We went on a lot of walks/hikes around the area. One of our favorites was the Artists Paint Pots and Mammoth Hot Springs. Here's a picture of all three kids at Mammoth.

Yellowstone

We had a blast. R took a million pictures on his super duper camera. The boys even took some and really got into it. Love vacations!

Thanksgiving Pie Feast

On Tuesday, I was able to help out in C's 2nd Grade Class with their Thanksgiving Pie Feast. I basically helped cut and serve pie to C and his classmates. The boys had made pilgrim hats and the girls made pilgrim collars. The teachers laid out a long piece of red paper in the hallway for a "table" for all the 2nd graders to sit at. They sang Thanksgiving songs and ate pie.

Here is C's class. He's in the middle wearing the red long-sleeved shirt and the cool pilgrim hat.

Thanksgiving Pie Feast

After their pie feast, his teacher turned on a Thanksgiving Cartoon for them to watch before they went home. It gave us parents and teachers a chance to clean-up. MK pulled out a chair to sit next to her big brother.

C & MK

S came along with me as well. One of his Kindergarten friends was there with his mom, so they sat at a table in the back to play with each other.

T and S

It was a fun afternoon and I was glad I was able to go help out. Because of my weird work schedule and the abundance of helpers, I haven't had a lot of opportunities to help inside the classroom. C was very glad to have me there and show off his little sisters to his friends. I should take advantage of this while I can before he realizes he should be embarrassed by me.

Hello Gorgeous!

R and the kids play "Cut the Rope" on the iPad all the time. It's funny. A cookie is on a rope that you have to feed to a monster after collecting stars. Well, R had gotten pretty far on the game but then MK came along and erased it, so they've had to start all over again. The other night, R and the boys were playing, and R was having a difficult time with one level. He finally got it and C said "Hello Gorgeous!" S then said, "That's when a girl's lovin' you."

Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical

 

I don't know if you are familiar with the book Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems, but it's hilarious. (He also wrote Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.) C & S brought this book home from their Preschool library on a regular basis. Well, apparently the book has been made into a musical. Who knew? I sure didn't. Not until R received an email from a local Arts Center with show times. Last night, I braved the storm and took C & S to see it. It was pretty funny, and the boys loved it.

Here are C & S waiting for the play to start. Like the VERY big smiles? They were excited. We sat up on the balcony, which they said was "so cool."

C and S before the show

The play was only an hour long, which was perfect for the kids. It was very well done and very fun. I was impressed by the solo Trixi sang when she realizes that Knuffle Bunny is missing. The entire song is gibberish. I can't imagine trying to remember a song like that. The puppeteers brought out a life sized Knuffle Bunny that she danced with. It was hilarious.

After the play, they had a cupcake dessert. S was loving his cupcake. Can you tell?

S enjoying his cupcake

C enjoyed his cupcake as well. He's just being silly. Not surprising.

C enjoying this cupcake

We had a great time. I was really impressed by the staff working at the venue as well. They made a point to greet each child and talk to them like grown-ups. I heard them call the children "gentlemen" and "ladies." They made a point to make the evening an event to remember for each child.

After the show, we had to pick up the next 2 books in the "Knuffle Bunny" Series and a stuffed "Knuffle Bunny" for each boy.

S and C cuddling the Knuffle Bunny

I'm so glad I got to go with them to the Play. Usually, R takes the boys out on big things since he doesn't always get to spend so much time with them. But, R wanted to have a "Daddy-Daughter Date" with MK and let me have a special night with the boys.

Halloween

I know this is late in the making, but the only pictures I got of the kids in their Halloween costumes were on my phone, and I was having trouble getting them off. It turned out to be some data problem that R had to call our service provider about and they fixed it right away. So, now I'm able to get to those photos. Now that I'm looking at this funny picture, I can see that they are all squinting in the sunlight. But it was like nailing down a shadow trying to get these three kids to stand still long enough to get a picture, so I'll just be glad with what I have.

Superman, Bumblebee, Pizza

S is Superman. He will even flex his muscles for you. MK was a bumblebee. She loved to show off her stinger. She'd push her bum out and point to the stinger there. C was a slice of pizza. He said his classmates chased him around the playground wanting to eat him. They all loved their costumes and practiced a lot during the month in preparation for the big day, which was a marathon of sorts. C & S celebrated Halloween at school on Thursday, Oct 28th since they had no school on the 29th. Then, on Friday I took the kids by my work briefly to show them off before heading to the big bash at R's work. That was a party! Each department transformed their work areas into fun....I don't know what to call it....places to tour. There was a traditional haunted "house", Shrek, a winter wonderland complete with slide (That was R's team), disco, mario kart, Sesame Street, Nintendo, etc. It was crazy. We all had so much fun. We took the kids trick-or-treating on Saturday (living in a religious area, everyone celebrates on Saturday instead of Sunday.) Sunday, we went to visit Boppi for his birthday.

I love this picture of MK. It was taken at R's work party while we were waiting to enter one of the buildings.

MK the Bumblebee

I've always loved Halloween. It's fun to dress up and play. As a kid, I loved the candy and spending time with my dad as he took us trick-or-treating on his birthday.