Parent Day

 Look at Tony's face…this act of camaraderie is painful :)

In groups we were to build an edifice of noodles & marshmallows in order to vie for the titles 'strongest, prettiest, & tallest'

 This looked to be the 'strongest'

 Thanks to the architect father, this looked to be the 'prettiest'

After some sorting out how to do what & a collapse, this was the base, constructed by a few in our group

 And our top was constructed by Jyson, adorned by a mallow flower & a mallow dude.

In Jaydon's class (I came in at the end & it was a little different) there was a video showing how this guy did this activity with business men & kindergardeners all over the country. Interestingly, the kindergardeners did consistently better than the majority of the adults because they had no 'pecking order' to sort out…there was no one seeking to be the leader, they just all got in & built it. Invariably it would collapse…more than once, but each time they learned how to make it stronger & in the end their constructions were better because the business men spent so much time figuring out how to make it, there was little time for the actual 'making' & 're-making' after the usual collapse of the first 'draft'. We had lots of fun & again learned…mistakes are HOW we learn!! cool stuff :) 

 Rock-wall man…he's getting sooo good & wants Santa to bring him rock-climbing shoes!

 At our local Amish store they have this lovely pond where all of my kiddos want to stop every time before we head inside. Rocks and ducks, what else is there to life?

Halloween

Sadly I always seem to take these pictures when it's pretty much dark (we eat dinner later because of Tony's work schedule) so they never look so very appetizing, but really they are :)

 Deviled spider eggs

 Yogurt-caramel sauce (CCK) w/Granny Smiths

 Goblin greens (salad), brains (pumpkin) & Witch's brew (green smoothie)

 I had this darling little tutu & fairy wings, but nope, she wanted to be the puppy again…cuteness she is!

 Delighted Dino!

 The back :)

 Robin Hood (he finished the book awhile back & that bow/arrow set was from Jyson last Christmas so that came in handy :) Nice of the wind to cooperate & flair his cape for the camera!

 Ohgoodness…This guy decided he wanted to be a Peregrine Falcon…areyoukiddingme!! was my reaction…I'm not an excellent seamstress & right now there's not really a fund for Halloween costumes so it's whatever we borrow or have or maybe get at Goodwill on their half-off day…however this was a STRONG desire of his so even though it was really last-minute (partly from his late discovery that this was THE costume of choice & party because I drug my feet hoping he'd change his mind :) I did find a pretty good start on a tutorial so we went with it…he helped me cut out the rows of feathers. but even so we didn't finish in time for the ward party :) But he did have it for school & trick-or-treating. I needlessly stressed too much about it, but in the end I was glad he horn-swaddled me into it :) It was good for me & he was thrilled (even without a headpiece!).

YMCA mini carnival :)

Some more Octobernesses

 This really bad light, unfinished "Back-to-school" shelf picture is never-the-less going in the blog book because it has several spots of meaning…the picture of the Redwood tree is a Jyson original (in order to fit it in the frame I had to chop off the little tiny guy at the bottom that showed the scale of how big that tree is, sorry bud). Second is the awesome Tony original welded flower (!) he presented to me after the Makers Faire…then there's the darling little schoolhouse I've had for almost 10 years when my mom gave it to me after graduating college & getting my first teaching job. The old books remind me of my mom/great grandma because they love/had old books (guess it's getting passed on) and then the window was meant to have a hand-made origami wreath by Jyson, but it's a long work in progress so maybe next year :) 

 I found Rhett asleep on the 'trampoline dodge/pillowfight pillows' instead of his bed, chubby hands clasped together & then he also had these two little football, night/glow-in-the-dark visor things turned on…who says nap time is dull?

A little 'after choir' horsey action going on…and even though I didn't get a front picture of it, I love that he's wearing this little outfit the boys also wore.

YES! It's off! A pretty quick deal--like 4 weeks until this came off--due to his springy 2 year-old bones…though looking at the arm it's still not perfectly straight (that is supposed to take care of itself in the next few months) so it looks a little wonky still...

 He then had this on for a couple more weeks & poof, we're done! And other than the emergency room bill, it wasn't nearly as scary as I had anticipated cost-wise either.

 Celebrating with drinking fountain water, oh yeah...

 NOT the latest addition to our green smoothies…just a pleasant surprise from the hubster when I went to make our nightly drink :)

 Pinterest, eat your heart out ;) Avocado snowman, eh, eh??

 Sandy, the penny miracle horse (come on kids, just a few more minutes through this eternal grocery store line…)

 And to round off what seems to be a dominant Rhett post, looking like he was proud of this feat--yep, it was up the nose...

Conference

 Party time! Lots of goodies spiritually & temporally. Artichoke dip, chips, carrots, salsa, cuties (tradition), pumpkin choco chip muffins (Jaydon's specialty) & other stuff I can't remember right now…We shared all 4 sessions with some new friends & as always, it was incredible! My Mom had a wonderful grandma/grandson moment with each of the boys & talked with them beforehand about setting specific goals/questions (which we set up initially in FHE the week before) & then she followed up with them in between sessions. The boys are getting so old and mature & I'm impressed more and more to see what things they are writing as they go...

The Conference hideout

The Makers Faire

I-ka-rumba!! This thing was AH-MAY-ZING!! Inventors' paradise. Enter, all of my boys...(but first, please sign a waiver saying if you die it's not our fault--it made us pretty excited to get in there!)

 This picture doesn't do justice to the amazing art this guy did...everything is in miniature & it was just incredible.

 Make a cookie

 The middle one is supposed to be me...pretty good resemblance, I'd say

 Professional chocolate connoisseur

 3D printer creates things like this...the boys went to a workshop awhile ago & got to enter in the programming & 'print' something out.

 The actual machine with example objects on top, too bad I didn't get a picture at another angle

 Mindstorm robot=Jyson's ultimate dream

 Awesome elephant & award-winning car made from reclaimed items.

 PVC pipe marshmallow shooters

 Little race track (can't see the cars, go figure)

 World's biggest pot holder! (okay, it's a rug but it's the same little bands with the same weaving set-up)

 This guy's stuff is incredible...he's very symbolic with all of his pieces

 This piece spells 'Y-E-S'

This is 2 pieces of wood that naturally grew together in the middle so he made a sculpture out of it & he says it represents the way marriages should be: we grow together over time & work with one another...he also told Tony & I that we looked like a happy, content couple--I second that motion!

 The boys loved this robot...the wheel design makes it possible for it to turn on a dime & is now used in wheelchairs all over the country

 

Soldering project: all 3 boys did a robot with blinking eyes. So cool! p.s. the guy said I was a natural with the soldering iron...maybe he says that to all the ladies...

 Mama's dream: remote-controlled walker! It was pretty funny to see people's reaction when this babe whizzed by!

A guitar/lunch box?

 6-person bike that we got to ride! One person drives & the others pedal while having lunch...amazing!

 Budding tight-rope walker (these people do birthday parties & bring a bunch of circus set-ups for kids to experience various things)

 Jyson & balancing on an elephant ball :) Harder than it looks!

 Unicycles: also muucch harder than they might appear

 Our trapeze-artist-to-be

 Mini bikes!

 The water swing...time it right & you won't get wet!

 Glass-blowing

Both pics are Jyson

 Tony-the-man who made me the most awesome welded flower (picture to come)

Jaydon 

Jyson's pick-axe design prior to the welding...they set out a few different kinds of metal pieces & then you create whatever you want for FREE! I don't know why I didn't get pictures of the other 2 creations...Jyson said this was his favorite part & Tony now feels his life is more complete because what guy doesn't want to learn how to weld??!!

This ridiculously short video (the camera was almost out of juice so I had to time it just right) shows the teeniest bit of this incredible bike show. These guys were just unbelievable. Flips, double-flips & more tricks than I knew were possible on bikes...too bad it comes at a price--the guy announcing said he's had like 34 surgeries, broken bones, etc...that's why he's announcing nowadays...

We are a happy family! Thanks to Groupon & our baby-sitter friend, Liberty (I trade lessons so she can baby-sit once a month for us!) we were able to make it one-incredible date for the 4 of us!