Pictures

First of all, I got a new phone.  I like it.  Its a Google Pixel phone.  We were due for upgrades at Verizon, and it was just time.  I'm glad to be back to a droid instead of the iPhone.  Although, there are a few things I liked about the iPhone.  Siri was so unuseful sometimes, though.  I enjoyed insulting her.  I think I'll miss that.

One of the great things about the new phone is that all my photos automatically upload when my phone is plugged in and on WiFi, and I have unlimited photo storage on there.  Plus, all my photos are already right there all uploaded already when I go to blog. Well, not all of them from this post were there because we didn't get our new phones until a couple of weeks ago.  But still, a lot of them were there.  I'll see if a couple videos I have uploaded like that will be playable.  That would be fun. :)

Also, it's finals week at the college.  Jeremy had his finals last night.  Hyrum finished his on Monday.  Well, except for the Men's Chorus final, which was The Messiah on Sunday.  Jeremy got to go watch, but I knew it would be at least 2 hours, so I stayed home with kiddos.  Next year I want to be in it!  We'll see.  Joshua's finals will be done today.  Math has been a struggle, but I'm glad it's getting done.  And finals week means Jeremy is done staying overnight in Globe.  Thank heavens!  We're both glad he had that time with his parents, but man!  I've missed him.  This year it's felt like we live here and he lives there, especially when he stays away 2 nights a week.  It's kind of stinky.

But we have a lead on a job.  Jeremy has had 2 interviews for a job at the mine here that's similar to what he's doing now.  We've got our fingers and toes crossed and are daydreaming about having him only 15 minutes away.  Please pray that he can get it!!  The second interview was last Friday, so we should know in the next few weeks.

Aaaaaaaand, Jeremy says I can get Jill signed up for dance class.  I'm so glad!  We've both been waiting for a long time.  Our neighbor is involved in it, so I asked her, and she says she'll bring me some info.  Jeremy says he'll grumble about paying it every month, but he told me to do it.  So OK. :)

He looked so cute and little sitting there.  I just had to take a picture.

I think this is in the mother's lounge at church.  I'm going to miss being in there, even if it's kind of crowded in there.  It's nice quiet time with my cute baby. :)

This was a couple of days before Timmy's birthday.  He was Chef of the Day in his class and got to bring birthday treats.  He insisted when he came home that it was his birthday. Ha ha!

Here's Michael at Pack Meeting with his leader Brother Jensen.  I think he got this award more than once.  I tell ya, scouting has not been stellar for our boys yet.  But this guy has been trying to sort it out for Michael, and I really appreciate that!  And another cool thing - Brother Jensen is the brother of a guy in Miami Ward.  It's kind of interesting that they both ended up in southern AZ because they both used to live in Alaska.  The one in Miami Ward is the husband of the lady who was the Stake Primary President when I was in that presidency.  It's fun getting to know these Jensens.  They're good people, and they have 2 boys that are about Hyrum and Joshua's age.  So Hyrum and Joshua have had lots of fun hanging out with them.  I like that they have some good friends, and they live just down the street! :) And they are a helpful sort that even talk to their friends' mom. :)

Also, before I forget, I should mention - Jeremy had a Christmas party for the kids in his Sunday School class and their families.  It was at our house and he grilled burgers.  He sure loves his new grill!  I do too! :) It was so fun!  A couple of the moms were girls I went to school with at EAC, so it was fun to chat with them.  I made lots of cookies and they disappeared as soon as they came out of the oven. :) The Jensens came earlier in the day and helped me clean and then stayed after everyone else left the party, and it was so fun to visit with them!  I was sad that they had to go home.  We'll have to have them over again. :)

Timmy's teacher gave him this puzzle for his birthday.  He put it together about 50 times before the pieces started to get lost.  Good thing!

Taylor had a birthday party on Timmy's birthday.  It was a fun little party at the Thatcher Park (next to the stake center).  I just think that Bubby and Taylor are both so cute, and them together is just explode your head cute. ;)

Cake time

Paul is just about the cutest dad ever.  He says, "We got her this bike a few months ago when we had money." ;) I'm so glad for him that he can be finishing nursing school!  I'm sad to think they might have to move away.  I have to admit I've been praying that they can stay!  But really, if they have to go I'll just have to be OK with it.  So when I pray about it I add that as well. ;)

Jill started drawing this and just had to show me.  She said she was just about finished and the kids came back and took their chalk back. ;)

Taylor and her daddy

Timmy wanted a chess cake like on Nerdy Nummies on YouTube.  Seriously, Google it.  Nerdy Nummies is fun. :) He's been asking for this for about a year.  It involves making squares and chess pieces with melted milk chocolate and white chocolate.  What a job!  I only got 1 of each kind of mold, so it took forever to make all the pieces we needed!  When I got done with the milk chocolate I handed it to Jeremy, and he was so happy!  He set to work immediately with a twinkle in his eye.  (I tell you, I live for the twinkle in his eye! ;) )  Here's the first one.

This picture cracks me up the most.

This is Timmy's hand.  I'm not sure what's going on here, but... :)

We had to go shopping still, so once all the pieces were made I left Joshua to assemble the cake.  Not bad, huh? :) He did a good job. The cake had a low spot on one corner, so we had to rig it up because the piece kept falling off.  But it was fun. :)

The kiddos had a great time playing with the cake before dinner.  I think I forgot to take a picture with candles.  Wait.  I forgot.  We just had Joshua hold up his lighter and Timmy blew that out.  We weren't sure how to get candles in.  I guess we could have wedged them in between the squares, but... (Did I mention that Joshua likes fire?  He does!  He goes out and sets things on fire on the back porch at least once a week.  It's therapeutic.  And he knows how to be careful at it, so...

I took a few of the kiddos to Dollar Tree to get Timmy some presents, and this is one of them.

This has been sitting in the top of Jeremy's closet for months.  We got it for Timmy, and he's been hoping it would be his.  Well, it is!  Ha ha!  He thinks it's so funny.  Boys... ;)

Luigi to go with his Mario! :)

This is a dollar store gumball machine.  It broke pretty fast, but that's OK.  It lasted long enough for a small box of Gobstoppers.

Gobstoppers

The package had 2 pairs of antlers. :)

Now he has Mario and Luigi both! :)

Benji won a medal (4th place) at his second wrestling meet.  We couldn't watch him because it was in San Manuel and it was Timmy's birthday.  But we've been able to see him a bit, though.  I went and watched him in Pima, and Jeremy went and watched him in Morenci.  He's had 2 pins so far.  He's LOVING it, and I'm glad. :)

Bubby gave himself a haircut right after Jeremy gave him one.  Oh, boy!  I could have shaved it off, but this time I decided to leave it alone.  Silly boy!

Harry in a bucket

Sleepy guy

Happy guy!

Graduated guy. ;) Hyrum is officially done with high school!  He got his GED!  He passed all four tests on the first try! :) (PS Thanks for the graduation gift, Grandma and Grandpa Badger!  He was all excited: "This is a nice one!!"  I think he forgot to say thanks.  Maybe he needs a little more prodding.  But thank you!)

The youth showed up on our doorstep singing, "Happy Thanksgiving to you!" with this box of Thanksgiving food!  The funny thing is - I bought a turkey last year, and we didn't even cook it because someone made us one.  The one I bought was partially thawed, but I threw it back in the freezer anyway.  And then I planned to cook it sometime during the year and it didn't happen.  So I was thawing it again this year when this one showed up.  So the new one is in the freezer and we ate the old one.  It was yummy, too!  

Papa taking care of two sleepy monkeys

The day before Thanksgiving there was a Thanksgiving party at Timmy's school.  We were a little late, but Jeremy was home, so I made him come too.  We brought the two little ones.  We were both glad we went.  Not only was the pumpkin pie extra yummy, but we got to watch Timmy interact with this little guy from his class.  His name is Zachary.  He has Down Syndrome and autism.  He doesn't really talk much, but he does make lots of noise.  And he was so happy to see Timmy.  He dragged him around all over the room by his jacket sleeve.  It was fun. :) Timmy just giggled the whole time.  It was also kind of eye opening because it kind of showed me again how far Timmy has come. I'm thankful!

Papa and Bubby - They had colored pencils on all the tables, and the table cloths were butcher paper, so we drew pictures on the table cloths.  Also, Timmy and his classmates made all the Thanksgiving decorations that they had hanging up.  One of them was a turkey that we disguised as Timmy.  Did I show you a picture of that?  I liked that. :) We printed Timmy's face and then made him a red shirt with buttons on it and some pants.  We just cut out the shapes and glued them on.

The day before Thanksgiving we made pies with the Halloween pumpkins that Jill and Timmy brought home from their field trips.  Benji helped Jill carve the face she drew, but he made the mouth a LOT bigger.  Ha ha!  Well, the pie was yummy. :)

Timmy wanted his to look like a robot.  He drew the eyes too small, so I just kind of drilled them out.  Come to think of it, he didn't want me to cook his, so it just sat until it went bad after a couple of days.

Thanksgiving dinner was at dinner time.  Everyone helped, and it was great!  Oh, I have to mention - Joshua made some pie crust, and he thought it said tablespoons of salt instead of teaspoons.  Blech!  I'm glad I tasted it before we used it!  I hurried and made some more while he made the pie filling, and so it worked out. :)  And Hyrum made the rolls, but I didn't explain beforehand that you add the flour gradually.  He threw it all in at once and the dough got really tough.  They came out like weirdly shaped lumps, and they didn't rise.  But we ate them anyway. :)  I brined the turkey again and roasted it with herbs and butter and injected it with broth.  It wasn't as tender as I hoped, but it smelled divine. :) Next year we should brine it and then pit roast it with all of the above. :) Jeremy made the gravy, and it came out a bit lumpy but yummy. :) I'm glad he did.  I almost forgot the gravy!

Benji made the stuffing and Michael made the mashed potatoes.  Benji also grilled the sweet potato wrapped in foil.  We only needed one.  And she and Timmy took my extra parsley and helped me garnish the turkey and then put the rest in a cup like flowers for decoration. Ha ha!  It was a great day, and I'm thankful. :)

Pretty Jill :)

This guy fell asleep eating Cheerios while I was folding clothes.

I keep losing the list that the lady brings me before I can call the ladies to ask if they did their visiting teaching.  So this time I took a picture of it.  But notice - apparently, at the same instant that I took the picture a fly landed on the paper.  Ha ha!  Also, now that I took a picture I didn't lose the list this time! Ha ha!

We intended to decorate for Christmas on Thanksgiving after dinner, but our dinner was later than it was supposed to be and I was worn out.  So it happened a couple of days later.  These 3 and Timmy pretty much did all of the decorating.  They really enjoyed that.

Cute baby testing the lights

Look closely and have a good laugh. XD

I had to take Timmy to the dentist in Mesa.  He's going to have to get some work done there in January because he didn't cooperate with the dentist here.  He'll have to be sedated.  Anyway, it was lunch time when we were done there, and I asked where there was a McDonald's with a play place.  The lady at the dentist didn't know, but she knew of a Chick-Fil-A with a play place, so that's where we went. :) They were taking letters to Santa.  I helped Timmy know how to spell airplane, and I guess he just wrote what else he knew how to spell himself. ;)  Bubby wrote that other one.

Andrew was Scrooge in A Christmas Carol.  It was so cool!  I hadn't seen that boy since he was like 10, so I had to go see this!  And these 3 of his siblings were there too. :) This play was made by the Acting Repertory class.  They read the story and wrote the script, made the props, and figured out how to stage it.  It was so cleverly done!  And such a great Scrooge you never saw!  Man, I wish you could have been there!  I was so stinkin' proud!  I think my favorite part was the Ghost of Christmas Present.  They made a papier mache head and put it on a great big sheet, and then they had one person talking, maybe another person working the mouth, one person doing the right hand, and one person doing the left hand.  It was so clever.  I loved it!  The other cool part was watching Ben watch it.  He loved every minute of it. :) I hadn't seen Ben in quite a number of years either.  When he came in Jeremy said, "Hey, I know you from conference!"  And Ben breathed on his nails and rubbed them on his shirt.  You know what I mean?  Like, "Yeah, that's me and I'm awesome!"  Ha ha!  And after the play we all went and hung out and chatted outside in the cold.  It was so great!  I'm so happy we got to do that!  And, yes, in the picture Ben is patting Andrew's fuzzy sideburns.  He still had those sideburns yesterday when I took him some Christmas cookies, but they weren't gray like they were in the play.

Here's our cute new nephew Gideon Gordon Thomas.  He is Anne and Rob's #8.  Anne says he was in some kind of weird breech position, and they had to do a c-section.  Poor Anne!  But she's recovering and they're both doing good.  Cute baby, huh? :) Being an aunt is pretty darn great. :)

Oh, and here are Eva and Mathan and two little ones.  I was surprised that they brought them all, but of course to see Uncle Andrew.  They all did great. :) David and Valerie brought all of theirs too, and they're sure growing up!  It was fun watching them all play on the grass while we chatted. :) It was also fun chatting with David and Valerie about the good ol' days dating at EA, and how this happened here and this happened there. :)

Cute fella likes that tree. 

Right after I took this one he pulled the tree over on himself.  Good thing it's a fake one.  Ha ha!

Jill has had a bit of a problem with stealing and lying lately.  She comes home with new things that she "found" or that so and so "gave her" all the time.  She does eventually come clean, but it kind of worries me.  One day she said she got something at a field trip.  I said, "You didn't go on a field trip today.  I would have had a note about it."  So she went off for a minute and came back with this in her backpack.  She said, "I forgot to give this to you yesterday."  Seems legit.  XD

We've had a few serious talks about this.  I believe in the good in her, and I know she'll come around.  For pity's sake, I did!  So we're working on that.  Maybe she needs some more one on one time.

First pictures on the new phone.  Gems.  Ha ha!

Benji took like 50 selfies that first day. XD

And they're all amazingly wonderful like this one. XD

Bubby's shirt says, "This is my ugly Christmas sweater."  Cute fella. :)

Jill and Henry

Papa playing with his new phone.  His hands are a bit blurry, but the rest of him came out good. :) He got a MotoZ Play phone.  It does a few things that mine doesn't.  He likes that he can say, "Wake up, smart phone," to turn it on. Both of the new phones have fingerprint recognition, so you can turn them on and unlock them just by putting your finger or thumb on the little pad.

Jill and me

Jill and Bubby

I just love his squishy little cheeks! :)

Here's Michael at his last wrestling meet.  He insists he'll never do wrestling again, but we'll see.  After the meet he made sure to ask the coach when wrestling starts again.  Ha ha!  And then I teased him about that and he insisted again that he's not doing it. :) He worries that it's mean to throw people around, but I remind him that that's exactly what they signed up for.  He says, "Nooooo!"  I think he liked it and didn't like it both, but he'd really enjoy it if he could reconcile his conscience to it.  He just such a nice boy.

This was a busy night!  The wrestling meet started at the same time as Benji's band concert, and it was a Tuesday, which meant I had to try to make it to both.  Good thing the wrestling meet lasted longer and was right next door to the band concert. :)

Speaking of wrestling, we got Benji a Tracfone so he could call us when he is ready to be picked up, and a week or two later he washed it in the washer and then it went through the dryer too.  Yeah, it doesn't turn on anymore.  Even after 2 days sitting in rice.  The moisture inside has gone down, but it doesn't charge or turn on.

Benji putting things away after his concert

Hyrum was able to get the Pell Grant, and they even gave him some for the fall semester to partially cover expenses.  We had him pay us some of it because we paid his tuition and it was expensive, and so was dental work this year. Yeesh.  But he was also able to get a laptop to use for school and a Christmas hat. XD We have his schedule all worked out for next semester.  He's planning to do wellness so that Benji can't beat him at wrestling.  Ha ha!  And he'll have men's chorus, chemistry (not the super hard one), math, folk dance, private strings, and maybe something I'm forgetting.  Joshua wants to take C# programming next semester and maybe men's chorus.  I hope he will!  I think he'd love both.

Here is Benji in his birthday shirt.  Jeremy likes it because his hair matches the shirt. Ha ha!  I really need to cut his and Hyrum's and probably Timmy's too.  But he's had fun with it and doesn't want it cut.  Can you believe I have 3 teenagers?!

Also on Benji's birthday Timmy had a field trip to St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Safford for the Festival of Trees.  We were invited to meet him there.  I took the two little ones, and away we went.  It was fun. :) Taking Bubby places is always tricky, but I'm glad we went.

Isn't this a great picture?  I love it!

Also, something suddenly makes me remember - Benji has had Katie Moulton Udall as a substitute a few times now, and since he was the only one who paid attention one time she brought him a HUGE Hershey's bar.  I've never seen one that big!  Isn't that fun? :)

Cute Henry at the Festival of Trees

This is the tree that Timmy's class decorated.  It had cookies and melted-candy ornaments on it. :)

This is Aiden, Timmy's classmate.  He decided right away that he liked Bubby, so he palled around with him.  It was cute. :)

Silly Timmy had his hood over his face, but here's Timmy's class plus Bubby. :)

So cute and little, but so big too!  He sure likes to climb!

Bubby!

Benji decorated his own cake.  He, Hyrum, Joshua, and Michael like to play Castle Crashers together, so he drew them on his cake and wrote "Beej Yay!" (Beej is one of his nicknames.  When he was little he called himself Beejee.)

We got him some new drumsticks.  His old ones broke.

A new mug from Grandma Burk.  We make lots of cocoa in the winter, so it has already been used a few times.

This Batman mask has also been sitting in our closet for a while.  Ha ha!  Batman is Benji's favorite.

And here's one we got from the EAC auction in October!

A snare drum!

Yes, it has to live in his bedroom.  Ha!  He now calls himself The Beatman. ;)

Papa was excited too. :)

Michael borrowed Timmy's antlers for his first band concert.  He's doing good!

We'll see if this video works. After the concert while everyone was milling around he stood on the edge of the stage and played this song.  He kind of figured out the fingering himself. :) I think that's one of the best parts of playing an instrument.

See Michael?  The one in the antlers and the gray pants.

This guy is walking so good!  He still can't stand up in the middle of the floor yet.  If he falls over he crawls to a piece of furniture and pulls up again.  But he can pivot and change direction.  It's so cute!  Here's him in the hall at church.  He was done with Relief Society!  Ha ha!

And speaking of Relief Society, I forgot to mention this.  I sit by Sister Whetten pretty much every week in there.  One Sunday Henry had a ring shaped rattle that he was playing with, and it suddenly went missing.  I looked all over the room after church and had the kiddos looking too.  A few weeks later Sister Whetten handed it to me and church and laughed herself silly because Henry had dropped it in her purse without anybody noticing.  She said, "You didn't know I was a kleptomaniac."  Ha ha!  We had a Christmas party for out literary club, and her sister Myrna McGrath came too because she's been in town.  It's fun watching them together.  It sounds like they stay up til all hours giggling. :) I sure love that Sister Whetten!

Henry loves it when he can escape outside. :)

Anne drew our family for gift exchange, and she had this memory game made by Shutterfly.  Such a cute idea!  It's one of the gift ideas they have for sale there.  She took some of the pictures I've posted of our kiddos on Facebook and made the cards online and had them printed. The kiddos love it. :)

Sweet sleepy boy!  How did he get so big?!

We made 4 plates of treats for friends.  That's about all I could handle this year.  I had Timmy and Jill write on Chirstmas cards and put our family picture in.  The ones we are going to mail are just a card, and we don't write on them. I may have to send one of these too because their handwriting is cute. :)

One of Jill's

Timmy at work.  He took a couple cookies and a card to his teacher at school too.

This was at our ward party last night.  They did a play about the Grinch.  See all that big Who hair?  It was pretty legit. ;)

And Dave Matthews was Santa, of course.  Bubby took some coaxing to go see Santa, but he was so happy to have that bag of treats!

Jill's turn

Benji being too cool to sit on Santa's lap

Cute baby

Oh, and before I forget, the Gila Valley Brass Band played at our ward party, and Uncle Gary and Tom Sullivan, both of my old EAC band directors, were in it!  They sounded great! :) It was fun to see them.

Jill found some girly friends and hung out with her Santa sack.

This is one of Josh Helverson's twins.  They are in Jeremy's Sunday School class.  They're so fun!  This girl made Santa laugh.  I loved that! :)

I took a few pictures of Timmy and they all came out looking forced or terrified.  Ha ha!

Bubby, ever the handful, ran all over the gym.  But at least he stayed in the gym!  Progress!  He found an orange laying around and started kicking it like a ball.  A few other kids saw him and started doing it too.  He is a trend-setter and didn't even know it.  I keep wondering if this is his future.  Ha ha!

We took a pan of funeral potatoes, and they ended up with way more food than they needed. We took home two pans of potatoes, a pan of meat, and a box of cupcakes.  Ha ha!

PS Darn!  Those videos don't seem to work.  Oh well.  Come over and I'll show ya. ;)

Kiddos

Hyrum took the fourth test of the GED yesterday and passed!  He has now passed all of them on the first try! :) We intend to fill out the FAFSA in the next couple of days and then he can get the Pell Grant next semester.  Phew!  That will be a relief!  Tuition for a full-time student at EAC is over $1000 now.

Joshua has fallen behind in his math class.  I'm at such a loss for how to help him. We're still working on it, though.  He's been looking at his options for next semester and is excited.  He wants to take C# Programming.  I hope he'll take drawing again as well.  I think if he passes his math class we'll give him a break from math for a semester.

Benji and Michael both have their first wrestling meets today.  I think they're just them competing against their own teammates this time.  I'm worried about it because today is going to be the mother of all dental work days.  Sort of.  Some of the dental stuff will be cleanings, but it's going to be a long one.  We'll start at 10:30, and the last appointment is at 2:00.  Benji's wrestling meet starts at 11:00, and I don't know how long it will last.  Benji's coach is not good at communicating, and we don't even have a calendar.  I'm scratching my head!  Well, Benji's excited, though!  Yesterday he came home with a Thatcher Eagles bag containing a singlet, a jacket, and headgear.

Michael's wrestling meet will be at 6:00 this evening.  We'll see how that goes.  He isn't nearly as excited as Benji is.  He likes certain things about wrestling.  He might want to do it again when he gets into Middle School.  But I think he'll be glad when it's over.  This school year has been hard on him.  He has good friends and is doing well, but he doesn't seem nearly as cheerful all the time.  He comes home all worn out and just looking sad.  I feel sad about that.  Also, his best friend Elwyn will most likely be moving next year, and he's super sad about that.

Jill has been protesting homework by just not doing it the last 2 days.  She's a lot like her brothers in that it takes a LOT of constant coaxing at this point to get her work done.  I know it'll get better because he brothers have gotten better, but I don't have the mental fortitude to deal with that.  She'll do the reading just fine and then mess around with the math and spelling until we run out of time.  I can't understand it.  I would not be able to live with undone homework.

Timmy is doing pretty good at school.  He still has his struggles.  I'm not sure what to do.  I wonder if it's because he's not being challenged enough, so I'm going to see what I can do to challenge him at home.  But he seems to be doing well on the actual work.  He is still pretty obsessed with Troy and Zachary, the other little autistic boys who he can't interact with.  He still thinks they're playing with him, I think.  Well, at least he isn't screaming as much.  Thank heavens!

This post is kind of depressing, isn't it?  Life really isn't so bad.  I'll just try to hurry and finish this up.

Bubby is a strong-willed little fella. He really needs to be potty trained, but he has no desire. He'll sit on the toilet for one second and then jump off, declaring that he's done.  I know there's the idea where you have them shoot a Cheerio in the toilet.  Well, he's the kind that would see that and then dump in a whole box of Cheerios when I wasn't looking. Bribes don't seem to work either.  He does like the idea of wearing underwear, but he wets in them immediately.  I'm going to have to get creative.

Henry needs to be weaned soon.  He's still having a hard time eating, though.  He can't even eat spaghetti.  He stuffs and stuffs and stuffs it in until his mouth is all full, but he can't swallow it because he still has no molars to chew with.  But he's getting me up at least twice and usually more every night.  I'm about to lose my mind.  I'm so, so tired all the time.  He's getting really brave, though, and can walk 5 or more steps in a row.  And he's so cute. :)

Well, that's enough for now.

Update

Henry gives me such a conflict of emotion lately.  He's been getting me up 3-4 times/night.  I wonder if he's trying to get molars.  It's already a struggle just to get everyone in bed on time.  I get everyone to bed, and then I look at the clock and it's 11:00 again.  And then when I'm getting up at about 5:00 or 6:00 after getting up and feeding Henry a few times, well, I'm feeling it.  It's not enough sleep.  I don't feel like I've been able to think clearly in a few weeks.  But then after he gets me up too early in the morning he's just so, so cute.  He grins at me with those 6 little teeth, and I just melt.  He is so fun!  He is getting really brave and can walk 3+ steps at a time.  He is getting to be really fast at crawling and can crawl up the stairs in less than a minute.  And now he can slither down too.

Benji and Michael decided to sign up for wrestling.  I don't remember if I mentioned that or not.  Michael's in a city wrestling club, and Benji's on the middle school team.  I think I already talked about it.  Michael has it on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6:00 AM.  He hates getting up that early.  I have to get him up at 5:00, and then he dawdles and whines and fusses about how early it is and how he wishes he didn't sign up and how he'll never do wrestling again.  I guess we'll see about that.  It's still his choice, but I bet he'll decide he likes wrestling better when he doesn't have to go early in the morning.  That won't be for 2 years, though.

Benji LOVES wrestling.  He has practice after school every day until 5:00.  It means that on Wednesdays he only has a little bit of time at home because he has scouts that day.  But he's doing fine and is really enjoying it.  I'm so glad!  I knew years ago that he would if he ever got the chance. :) Also, his voice is changing again.  It's been a little raspy now and then as it changes.  I think he's pretty excited about that too.  He loves the idea of being taller than me and growing facial hair and all that.  Well, I'm glad he's glad. :)

We're still trying to get dental work done.  Our insurance covers cleanings every 3 months, so it's time for those to happen again.  I also got my teeth fixed.  Now we have to take care of Hyrum's, Joshua's, Benji's, Jill's, and Timmy's.  Timmy did get 1 tooth fixed, but he has a few more.  Hyrum, Joshua, Benji, and Jill all got halfway done.  They don't like to numb both sides at once, I guess.  Anyway, they'll all be done before Thanksgiving, except possibly Hyrum and Timmy.  And today when Hyrum and Joshua went for their cleaning it was discovered that their wisdom teeth are coming in.  Hyrum's need to be taken out soon because the bottom ones are coming in sideways and are about to start pushing against the other teeth.  So we have to wait for them to set things up with the oral surgeon who visits there to do work.  At least they'll put him to sleep for it!  I wasn't put asleep, and while it wasn't as bad as I was afraid it might be, I remember how it felt to have them removed.  Not pain.  Just pressure, and kind of the sound of it in my head.  Not horrible, but not my favorite memory either.  Well, it may have to wait until January when our insurance resets.  I cannot believe how much work there is to be done on our teeth!  I feel like we go to the dentist every 5 minutes.  I'm just glad that I like this dentist.  They are nice, and they do good work.  Thank heavens!

Oh, and before I forget!  Hyrum has been taking the GED test.  There are 4 sections, and he took and passed 3 of them.  He has social studies left, and he'll do that on Tuesday.  And then he can get the Pell Grant next semester.  Thank heavens!!  That will be so great!  It's been quite a year for him!  He got his permit, turned 16, was ordained a Priest, and now the GED.  Next step, driver's license!  We're still working on that.  :)

Jill decided it was her bear's birthday, so she dressed her up and wrapped some presents.  She even put her paper crown on her.  It was cute.  I remember being about 8 and giving my doll a birthday party the day after Robert's birthday.  I think I made her a dress and wrapped it and I don't know what else.  I remember how excited I was.  I was happy that Jill did it too.  So fun!  Her bear is named Snuglee - that's how she spells it, too.

Helping Sunglee open presents

Ward Trunk or Treat!  It was fun, but not as fun as last year.  We were combined with 1st Ward, and they're nice and all, but I liked it better last year.  It was so small and friendly, but there was still a lot of candy.  And this year they had it at 5:00.  Of course, they wanted to do it early, maybe because there's so much else that goes on that night.  But it meant that Jeremy couldn't come.  He doesn't get home until 6:00.  And he went on call that day.  Such a bummer!  But it was still a nice little party.  I ran out of candy pretty fast, and then I wandered around taking pictures and watching my kiddos go around and around. :)

Jill was a ghost

Michael was a banana.  He really wanted to be a football player because Elwyn (his best friend at school and church) was going to be a cheerleader.  But Joe couldn't find his uniform, so that was vetoed.  On Saturday before Halloween Papa took Michael to find a costume.  There was nothing football-ish.  He was really bummed.  He didn't really want to look at the other costumes because he though they were babyish.  But then they went and looked anyway, and Michael found this one and was so, so happy!  It reminded him of this video that he and his siblings like so much.  They think it's hilarious. :) So Michael came home with it without telling anyone what he got, and then he came downstairs and did the little peanut butter jelly time dance and giggle so much.  It was fun. :)

Bubby wore this dragon costume that Evan gave us years ago.  And Hyrum wore his cloak that we made last year and his hat that he got for his birthday.  He went to a trunk or treat with Joshua at the Institute the week before, and he got 3 pumpkin buckets full of candy. Joshua got like 1 1/2, but that's because he was a bit late.

I was happy with costumes this year.  The kiddos weren't very demanding with them.  Almost all of them wore something that we already had.  I only made 2 costumes - Joshua's and Henry's. 

Joshua was Wirt from Over the Garden Wall.  I was really happy how his costume turned out.  I actually made it out of fitted sheets because it was kind of cheaper than fabric and they were out of flat sheets.  Why are they always out of flat sheets?!  Every time!!

Betcha can't guess who Timmy was. XD He was so happy with this costume.  We already had it and it fit great.  I think we bought the cape separately for cheap years ago, and the suit was a hand-me-down.  That's the best kind of costume, especially when they're happy with it. :)

Here's Benji.  He wore last year's cloak and a mask he bought years ago and never used.  I think it looked pretty awesome. :)

Henry was an octopus.  You know, like Henry the Octopus on The Wiggles- an old kids show that was on Playhouse Disney years ago. I wonder if they're still on.  I suppose that technically he was a socktopus.  XD  I sewed socks on a black onesie and then put a pair on his legs like leg warmers and voila! Henry the Octopus.

Bubby cried for his candy for about a half minute on the way home because he couldn't reach it, and then he fell asleep.  Cute little fella. :)

Happy little octopus with a sucker :) 

I think he had a nice time too.

And here are some pictures I pilfered from the internet of Hyrum the first night at Fall Sing.  Isn't he a handsome fella?!  I'm so proud!  And I'm trying to no-pushily convince Joshua to join Men's Chorus next semester.

I don't think I told you, but Fall Sing was great.  I didn't like the Cheesers.  I guess they're called Company now.  They did a story from a different country with fake accents.  Jeremy was offended.  I don't really understand why.  I just didn't really enjoy it.  But then after they were done the Women's Chorale came on.  They have a new conductor this year, and he did an amazing job!  I was quite impressed.  I didn't like the girls quartet.  They were way, way too loud.  The guys group was better, though, they're not a quartet anymore.  They sang that song "Next to Lovin' I Like Fightin' Best," and did a great job. A Capella did a great job too.

Hyrum's group was one of the first ones after Company.  They were really good.  They sang "Say, Dear, Will You Not Have Me?"  And they sang one called "The Pasture" that was really nice and slow and pretty.  And they also sang a funny one called "The Drummer and the Cook."  It was funny!  It's about a drummer who falls in love with a cockeyed cook.  It keeps talking about how she has one eye on the pot and the other up the chimney.  It's cute.  

I was surprised how Dr. Bishop changed the Alma Mater.  I was kind of sad about that because now I can't sing along so much.  But it was also quite pretty.  I might just have to ask him for the sheet music.  I never met him before and never saw him conduct either.  In fact, this was pretty much my first exposure to him.  He is no Dr. Lunt, that's for sure, but I think he does a really good job.  I was really surprised, though, how few people were in the audience.  We always sang to a packed house.  It must have been because of Dr. Lunt.  Well, maybe people will start coming back for Dr. Bishop.  Except he is kind of getting old.  I wonder.

Well, anyway, here are some fun pictures.  Enjoy!

Oh, and one more thing.  These pictures were taken by Todd Haynie, who is our new stake president too. :)

Do you see Marlin Whetten in the middle there? :) I don't think he remembers me, but that's OK.  So many people have come and go over the years.  But I remember him. :)

Ha!  I thought I was done!  I was going to close this up and move on with my life.  Well, here's a little fella - ahem - "helping me take a nap."

And then I came downstairs because I gave up, and this is what I found. XD

Jill was out for a few hours for a dentist appointment on this particular day, and someone wrote this on her math homework.  Ha ha!  Papa says he needs a gun.

Cute fella

We didn't go to our fair, but Timmy won some ribbons for the stuff he entered with his class. :)

Zonked out

Check out how dirty his feet and legs are.  He LOVES when he can get outside.

Bubby did this while we weren't looking one evening.  And guess what it is.  It's oil paint from Hyrum's set that he got for his summer class.  Oh, boy!  I can't get it out.  It's now our conversation piece, I suppose.  Or do we like it because it gives our house character?  Ummmm....  I don't know, but better to laugh than cry, right? ;) He painted himself and the laminate floor and Henry and Timmy too.  That all came off, though.  Phew!