This morning, Dr. D decided he didn't want to go to church.  Here's his conversation with Sweet G about it.

D:  Sweet G, I'm not going to church today.
G:  Yes you are.
D:  No, I'm not.  I don't like it.
G:  Why not?
D:  Because they only give tiny food during the Sacrament and it takes forever to get to Primary.  And it takes forever to get TG to nursery.
G:  Well, you're going to church.
D:  No, I'm staying home.
G:  Well, who's going to stay with you?
D:  Nana.
G:  No, nana has other stuff she needs to do.  So who's going to stay with you?
D:  Well, I'm just staying home from church.
G:  OK.  Go ask mom and dad if you can stay home from church.
D:  No, mom OR dad.
G:  No, you need to ask mom AND dad and see what they say.
D:  But if they say I can, then I'm staying home.
G:  What if they say no?
D:  That means that I have to go, but I don't want to.

His other reason to me when he asked was, "The microphone is just TOO loud".

Yeah.  We are all going to church.  :)

Ward Halloween Party

Last night our ward had its annual Halloween party.  It was GREAT!  They had tons of chili and cornbread, hot dogs, and homemade rootbeer.  YUM  There were lots of games for the kids and they had a blast.  They earned tickets at the games, and then used the tickets to buy prizes or treats.
I wasn't going to have the kids dress up, but at the last minute they all wanted to.  Of course.  :)  So we put together what we could.  Teeny Bopper and Tailgunner went as a couple:

Sweet G was a biker girl with her daddy.  (no pictures of them, we were in a huge hurry!)
Blondie and her friend next door went as black and white opposites.  Friend S had black pants and white shirt, Blondie had white pants and black shirt.  Again, no pics.
Little Miss was a dead-goth-princess, or something like that.

And last but not least, Dr. D was an indian:

AND-the great part is, three of our kids won awards for their costumes!!  Teeny Bopper won funniest costume in her age bracket.  Dr. D won Most Creative costume award for his age, and Tailgunner won Cutest Costume for his age.  Sweet!! Hurray for last minute dressing up.  :)

Halloween-ified

I removed most of the Fall stuff from the house to make room for the Halloween stuff.  I didn't think I was all that jazzed about doing this, but as soon as it all came out, it was so fun!
Here is my style of Halloween decor:

And here is DH's style:

Baptism Day

This past Saturday was a very special day for our family.  My baby girl was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!  All month we held special family home evening lessons to talk about baptism and the Holy Ghost.  Last week she had an interview with our bishop, and he said she was the most prepared of any person he had ever interviewed for baptism!  He kept trying to ask her more in depth questions, but she knew the answers to all of them.  :)  We are so happy that Little Miss decided to be baptized, and know this decision will bring her peace and joy throughout her life.
Here are some pics from the day:

 Oh. my. cuteness.
You can see the excitement on her face!  She is radiant.

What a special bond she will have with her daddy because of this.

Our good bishop.  We love him!

A candid moment between sisters.  :)

Grandpa R, Uncle L, and Little Miss.

My side of the fam.

All the grandparents with Little Miss.  We were so happy Grandpa D could make it!  We weren't expecting him to.  (what is grandpa trying to tell me with this look?  LOL)

Me and my mama with Little M.

Daddy and his mama and gpa.

We used this picture on the cover of her baptism program.  She is so beautiful!  I am a lucky mother!!

The GORGEOUS dress Grandma W made for her.  Little M knew exactly what she wanted, and when she told Grandma, turns out her cousin (who is getting baptized this year also) wanted almost the exact same dress!!  So they will have matching dresses.  She is so thrilled about this!  It is a true princess dress.

Here is a back view.  Love the bow!

International Children's Day

A favorite yearly event at our favorite preschool is International Children's Day.  Instead of dressing up for Halloween, the kids dress up in clothes of whatever country they want, parents bring food from that country, and it's a parade and potluck for everyone.  I LOVE this day!!  The kids march around to "It's a Small World", then sing songs that melt my heart every time.  Songs about loving each other and the world, stuff like that.  Yes, I usually cry.  Dr. D went as a Mexican, complete with moustache:

His sister Teeny Bopper did the stache for him, and he felt so proud of that.  He just knew he looked like a REAL mexican with that moustache.  Just like George, he said. :) (grandpa's farmhand down in Mexico)  When I dropped him off at our carpooler's house and they opened the door, he said, "It's me!  Dr. D!!", just in case they didn't recognize him.  :)

This guy came too, of course:

And I love squeezing on my boys:

 (Dr. D had a bloody nose that day, can you tell? haha)

The Par-tay

Here are some pics of Dr. D's "Lego Party".  Pretty much the only thing "lego" was the cake, and his gifts.  He got his legos!  Yay!!  Every boy should have legos, in my opinion.
The food:
We had completos, which means hot dogs with everything.  Bacon wrapped stadium brats, with ranch beans, sour cream, salsa, onions, mustard, ketchup-the works!!  Some chips, fruit and veggies rounded it out.

Blowing out the candles turned out to be tougher than we expected.  :)  It took several tries, but he finally resorted to blowing them out one by one and that did the trick.

We had expected all the local cousins to come, but Aunt L's family came down with chicken pox, and Aunt T came but had to leave after 10 min because she realized she had left her purse in the shopping cart at Michael's.  (luckily, a VERY nice lady found it and she got it back the next day in-tact).  We did get the keep cousin J, though, and since Aunt T had to leave we just kept him all night.  hehe  So that worked out well for us.  We also had a wonderful surprise guest, a new cousin who just moved to town that is Dr. D's age!!  He was able to come and they got to meet each other and play.  He gave Dr. D Zou Zou pets for his bday, and he has LOVED those things!  So fun.  It was a great time for all.
I have found that keeping parties rather low-key just works out the best.  The kids can feel the tension when we try to have "perfect parties", and though they are fun to look forward to and prepare for, they can often be a let-down when they have such high expectations.  We have found that good food, family and a few friends is best for us.  When mama ain't stressed, ain't nobody stressed, and that's a good thing!  :)

Birthday Boy!

Today is my oldest son's big number 5 bday!!  He is very excited to get to use a whole hand to show his age.  I have so loved seeing this boy grow, but admit that as he is growing up and those precious cheeks are thinning out, it is bittersweet.  I still love kissing his face all over, and can't get enough of his smile and super cute laugh.  He has always been joyful and a wonderful companion to me (and the rest of the fam.).  He is much beloved of all his sisters and his daddy's little man.  We are so blessed to have Dr. D in our family!!  Happy Birthday, and we love you, boy!!

Here is a birthday interview with Dr. D.  I stole the questions from my friend Nikki...:)

How old are you? 5

What is your favorite thing to do? Draw.  Paint.  Climb trees.

What's your favorite Wii game? Indiana Jones 

What's your favorite movie? Spiderman 

What are you really good at doing? Running, but not tripping.  

Who are your favorite people? Jesus and Heavenly Father.

What is your favorite color? Red. 

What is your favorite food? Pizza.  Anything else?  Um, yes.  The obstacle course on the Wii fit.  I mean food.  Oh.  Eating Ramen.

What is your favorite vegetable? Carrots

What's your favorite fruit? grape

What is your favorite book? Um, uh, um.  Trucks.

What is your favorite song? Book of Mormon Stories.

What is your favorite toy? Um, All of my toys.  

What's the square root of 115? 14

Who is your best friend? My best friend is Paxton.

Why?  Cuz we play spiderman and we play indiana jones.  we play together and we spy on people, like their parents and sisters. 

What is your favorite memory? Paxton.

What makes you laugh? a clown

What are you most afraid of? Monsters.

What embarrasses you the most? Like when you say "come on Dr. D.  Come and play with me."  If it's a water fight I won't come, if I'm talking to Paxton.   

What really makes you angry? Like when people hit me.

If you were the Dad for a day, which rule would you get rid of? From people hitting people who are not nice, I will spank them.

What do you want to be when you grow up? a doctor.

If you could have a magical power, what would it be?  Air.  What does that mean?  Air bending.

What's your favorite vacation? Mexico.  Why?  Cuz, um, it has a new trampoline.  I built it.

If you could buy anything, what would it be? Woody.  But you have Woody.  Oh yeah, I do.  Um, a truck.

Name 3 things you're good at: Obstacles, running, skateboarding.  But you don't have a skateboard.  I know, but, for my birthday I want one.  

What is the best thing about being five?  Playing Indiana Jones.

What is the best thing about being YOU? Um, special.  You mean you're special?  Right now.  

Birthday Babe!

Today is my Little Miss' 8th birthday!!!  For us that means...baptism!  She is so excited about this and so are we.  When our kids turn 8 their birthday gift is a set of scriptures.

Here is some info about Little Miss-
Favorite color:  blue
Favorite smell:  brownies
Favorite clothes to wear:  her pink ruffly shirt with black shirt underneath and shorts
Favorite toy:  baby dolls
Favorite movie:  Imagine That
Favorite TV show:  H2O
Favorite treat:  homemade ice cream
Favorite fruit:  blueberries
Favorite vegetable:  carrots
Favorite game:  Wii Sports
What to be when grow up:  a mom
Favorite school subject:  art

For her birthday dinner tonite she chose shrimp cocktail, sub sandwiches and chips, with brownies and ice cream for dessert.  (we even made some with honey for those of us not eating sugar)
We LOVE this girl with all our might and are so glad she is part of our family!!  Happy Birthday LouLa!!