lanterns

We made halloween lanterns with mason jars, painter's tape, and acrylic paint.

I cut little templates out of the tape, then the girls plastered the jars with paint.















When they were dry, we pulled off the tape and threw a tea-light inside and watched 'em glow.







It's hard to see in the photos, but in person they're much more clear.  We did two jack-o-lantern faces, and one spider + the words "boo!".

Musical

I told Mallory it was her turn to get involved in activities like her sisters, and she could pick whatever she wanted to do.  She ended up picking like 5 different things, and I told her she could try all of them to see what she liked best, but we had to start with just one.

And it made Jesse really happy when she chose Piano.








He quickly set up his big keyboard so that Mallory could practice at home.









She successfully completed (and then memorized) Mary had a Little Lamb and is now working on Clair de Lune.

I love hearing her play.

bonitafest

The Drill Team's first parade of the season was at Bonitafest. 

It was Mariah's first parade ever.





(I'll never forgive myself for not being able to finish crocheting that hair-net for her the night before....I totally failed.)


Waiting......














"Moms and their cameras, what can you do...."















She was nervous &excited.  Mostly excited, I think.








I tried to keep Mallory busy.









Then Sherry gave her a very important job:  handing out flyers for the dance studio to any and every kid/parent on the parade route.  She was only shy for a second and then she did awesome.

Her socks were two shades of neon pink.












Guess who we randomly ran into?












Working on her forced smile for all the many cameras that get shoved in her face at these events:







All the girls are so sweet to Mariah.  Sherry asked the leader-girls how come they were treating her different than the rest of the team (i.e., not shouting at her) and they said "because!  she's so soft and sweet!".  :)









Bright smiles, curly hair, dimples, and big old kissable cheeks....i love 'em.

first day of school

New backpacks, all filled & ready to go.  I shopped all over the internet and the real world for these three things.  I ended up finding ones that were practical and that the girls approved of at: Gymboree (Mallory's), Amazon (Mariah's), and JC Penny (Arissa).







I always start off the school year really good as far as making breakfast (and getting up early) goes.  Usually that tapers off to where eventually everyone serves themself cereal.  But at least on the first day they get something home-made and warm, guaranteed.

I tried to pretty it up a bit with a nice place-setting, including fresh-cut hydrangeas & fancy doilies on the plates:

















I stayed up late the night before making Mormon muffin batter (the traditional recipe plus some secret ingredients + blueberries cause I had to "healthy" it up to make up for the buttermilk).


Then we were out the door.



















Got to hug & catch up with our friends:





I love the first day of school, and all fresh starts.










M&M brought hydrangeas for their teachers.










Arissa's teacher kept repeating that they should not be intimidated by all those books.

Maybe she wasn't, but I kind of was.