Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from Hogwarts!

As we were heading out to the ward "Trunk or Treat" we took some pictures. We won the "Best Family Costume" at the Halloween Hoot at school last night. The kids were very excited.

Mac Gonagall is taking the picture.

Cara waiting for the bus

Isn't she cute?

Cara rides a bike!

Sorry for the bad picture!

Cara learned to ride without training wheels this weekend. Dad is the pro bike-riding teacher. The Camera went out so I didn't get more pictures. I will buy a new camera soon and get a better picture. She is a speedster and has gotten the whole neighborhood riding. She inspired 2 girls on the street - both older- to take their training wheels off and do it, too. One of them was already doing it, just didn't want to take them off.

It was fun having all the kids preschool- 6th grade riding up and down having fun together. We did have a couple collisions with the beginners, but they all survived and learned to watch where they were going.

Lulu, Shawn and May

One of our favorite things lately is to go to Eisenhower Park and catch frogs. On Rosh Hashana I took the kids and brougth a fishing pole. We found a worm, Shawn cut it in 4 pieces, I baited the hook and Cara caught a fish on her first cast. It was her first time catching a fish and was quite exciting! Then we threw it back and Shawn caught the same fish a few minutes later. At least we think so.

Bus

As some of you know, Cara goes to a school across town to avoid overcrowding at Shawn's school. It is still the largest enrollment by a lot! Anyway, Cara loves the bus. Here is a picture of it leaving the stop and passing right in front of Shawn's school:)
The first day we got Shawn from school at 3:18, then waited until 4:25 for Cara to come. That was really late and it has gotten much better!! I still don't like it. She loves her class and the school is great- It makes me even more convinced that redistricting needs to happen to allow the same personal touch to all the schools in the district. Anyway, it's just inconvenient for me, but great for Cara, so we'll make the best of it for a year.

First day of school

Here are the proud students. They both like their teachers and have made some great friends. Shawn was pretty much friends with most his class already. It is crazy that he is in 3rd grade and just knows most of the other kids his age. I look back to the kids I grew up with and the life Shawn has here. This is his home town and his memories are now!! Here we go, Cara!

Shawn's Baptism

What a neat day for us. We are so proud of Shawn and his choices and personality. He invited some close friends and family and we were so happy to have them there.
It was great to have his grandparents there and be a part of the day.

Today was Cara's trial run for her bus ride accross town to her new elementary school. It went well. She is so cute and so ready for school. Her new teacher is wonderful and the school is Great! The only downfall of the day was that I twisted may ankle and fell flat on the ground because my ankle is just soooo weak ! That was when we got to the bus stop so Cara was really concerned about missing the bus because I was sitting on the ground crying. It was hard to pull it together, but I felt so bad that she was worried about me on "her" day.
Then I proceeded to not take any photos! Sorry. I'll put some from the summer on the blog.

Okay, so it has been 3 months since I blogged! I have been so busy and I just can't keep up. We have had a great summer. Shawn was baptized Aug 11 th. We had family here the week before and the week after. While my mom and dad were here they stayed with the kids for 2 days. Nate took me to the Alison Krauss and Union Station concert. We both really like that band and she is my favorite. He did such a sweet job planning and surprising me. We were celebrating our 10th anniversary. The next day we did a ton and picked his parents and Aunt Elaine up at the airport late that night.
I missed the kids and was glad they were in good hands and enjoying time with their grandparents. I would love to take a long trip someday, but would have a hard time leavingthe kids with someone and making it hard on them.
I feel very happy and thankful for everything in my life right now.
Count your blessings!
Jen

April 16th flood

Our rainy day cakes

Tooth Fairy

Cara lost her first tooth about a month ago. Then last week after going to the dentist where they gawked over her extremely loose tooth, she lost her 2nd. Yes, she's only 4! She is getting her 6 year old molers, too. The dentist said that means one of us probably lost teeth early, too. Grandmas, have any memories of that?

Ballarina

Cara had her ballet recital on Saturday. She and her friend Lulu both did a great job. We're very proud of Cara! She is quite the performer and dancer. She gets stage fright doing talks in Primary, or just getting her picture taken or talking to an adult at the store. But she can get up on a stage in front of hundreds of people and dance her little heart out an smile at the same time!!! We ate it up!

Memorial Day

I know, silly sunglasses!

So, today is Memorial Day and we decided to go looking for the grave of some ancestors. We actually have quite a few ancestors who lived and died near by. So, off we went to the old cemetery at the congregational church. It was behind a recreational center and a tennis court. but when we found it, we searched the whole place. It was old and beautiful. It is listed as having people buried there as early as the 1670's until now. We did not find the kids' 10th great grandfather James Clarke or any of his family. There are quite a few who died and were buried in that city, just not there. I need to find out more about the cemetary. There were quiet a few unreadable, broken, or buried head stones. The city historical society os just a block down the road, so I am excited to look into it. It is just exciting to me that Grandma Rhea Allen's 5th great grandfather and family lived in our neighbor town in the 1700s. His family was there since the mid 1600s. Then one of his children moved to Vermont around the turn of the century and he died in Salt Lake City. Then after 9 generations, we are back where they started!!

This is one of dozens of examples of our ancestory that lived HERE!!

I like my roots!

okay It's been almost a month

I'm so bad. I've had an absolutely crazy month. Here are some more pics.

This is Cara and me heading to the "Fancy Nancy" party at Barnes and Noble. It is a cute book about a girl who dresses up her family with all the accessories she likes to go out to dinner. We had fun and got plenty of looks.

Huge Army

Today the kids made

army out of anything

they could find.It was so

big that it was from the organ

almost to the toy shelf.

This is at the St Patricks Day parade in the center of Town. We have lived here for 4 years and this was our first time going. Actually- this was the first March that Nate didn't have classes on Saturday, probably.

It was really fun for the kids. Dad got to follow several bagpipe bands and decided he wanted to find some Scottish or Irish anscestors to justify buying some bagpipes to play. for heritage sake:)

One night while we were watching a show, Ryan got bored and taught himself to do a cartwheel!

I read on a TVTurnoff Week website not to worry about kids getting bored. Bordom often leads to creativity! I guess that is true! And this time he was creative at something that didn't lead to TROUBLE!

Shawn reading Fancy Nancy to Shawn and Ryan.