October in Texas is beautiful

We had a wonderful October! The fall season is so great for always having something to look forward to and we try to do it all!

The kids loved making the airplane and seeing the fire trucks that were on site for the event.

Home Depot kid craft

We play a fun game to keep the children watching the Semi-annual General Conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: we have snack bags that correlate with the apostles and prophet and whenever one of them speaks, we all get to eat that treat. Abi enjoys when she finds the picture of the speaker on her paper.

Watching General Conference

Our backyard is becoming fun again as the blistering heat of summer calms down a little. The kids can finally enjoy the trampoline, swing set and sandbox that were installed in July.

Swinging together

This adorable girl got herself ready one day and proudly announced, "I'm ready for salad group, Mom!" Haha, it wasn't the right day for salad group. I take the twins with me one morning each week to a salad group of local moms where we all bring two toppings to share and each make five salads to take home. It's a great group and the kids get to play while we do it. Clearly, Audrianne really enjoys it. :)

"Ready!"

This picture had to be taken because having all four laundry baskets empty is a VERY rare occurrence that needed to be documented. Lovely sight, isn't it?

Rare sight

It finally cooled down enough at night for the kids to wear their footie pajamas. Yay!

Matching pajamas

Abi has been taking a ballet and tap dance class this fall. She is getting better each week and is loving being a ballerina! We often catch her singing classical music and sometimes even wearing her ballet shoes around the house and dancing.

Ballet class

I checked on the twins at the beginning of their naps one day since I heard noise in their room and found Audrianne's bed like this. Silly girl. She had stuffed all her blankets, pillow and stuffed animals into this tiny space. What a nerd!

Weird way to nap

Every year since Abi was born, I try to take a nice picture with pumpkins. This year, the picture is not as nice since I didn't specifically pick out their clothes but the kids are still darling.

Traditional pumpkin patch picture

We visited a pumpkin patch with a corn maze, ginormous sandbox, petting zoo, outdoor bowling, food trucks and so much more. It was a blast!

Tractor driving

Hyrum and Audrianne turned three! I can't believe it! They really aren't babies anymore and that is a bit sad. However, they are amazing toddlers and we are completely enjoying this phase. The best part of this event was Hyrum: we sang the Happy Birthday song in the dark and in the two seconds of complete darkness after the twins blew out their candles before the lights came on, Hyrum had already started eating a doughnut. Haha! That kid does not waste time!

Happy birthday, Hyrum and Audrianne!

Eating their cakes

Increasing our stash of toys more appropriate for boys. :)

New toys!

New shirts!

Big truck

I love that they are playing together so well lately. There's nothing like a sister!

Tea party

They loved getting a package in the mail from their grandparents! Thank you, Grammy and Granddad!

She loves it!

He loves it!

So, I haven't enjoyed our sandbox as much as I thought I would. Haha! The kids love it though! This was taken after James had tested all the sprinklers for a while to figure out where they were leaking. While he turned the sprinklers on and off, the kids enjoyed running through them, jumping on the trampoline in the "rain," and playing in a wet sandbox. This is a sample of the end result. Oh boy!

How to be a boy 101

Guys! I found my favorite style of pickle at Costco and I thought my life was complete... until we ran out and when I went back to buy more, Costco told me they were seasonal. SADNESS!

My life just got way better!

Abi has spelling tests this year which have not been her forte yet. But we're finding some creative ways to make spelling fun and engaging. This was one activity we enjoyed once because shortly after, before we put the letters away, Hyrum and Audrianne found themselves sitting by this fridge in time-out. They made great use of their time there by shoving all the letters under the fridge. GR! Augh! So now we have to pull the fridge out sometime, maybe even turn it over and dig them out of the bottom of the fridge to retrieve them. Punks.

Spelling practice

This is yet another rare sighting on this trip into the Harper Outback called "a clean livingroom." Most guests are not so lucky to see this so a picture was required to prove that these things do exist.

Another rare sight

This is a slightly shameful, slightly proud picture and story. One of my favorite teachers from school helped me make this quilt back when I was in fourth grade. We got it mostly finished together and I was supposed to finish the last 12 inches of binding on my own. Well, I'm proud/sheepish to admit, I finally finished binding it this month - over 20 years later! But I'm turning over a new leaf of finishing what I start. And this was the first boulder in my path of accomplishment. Yay me!

Finished!