"Can I hold Molly?" 

 October was very temperate for Iowa and we went to the park a lot and tried to drink it in before the winter weather.

 Peter can be both very serious and very silly. I love when he breaks into one of his huge grins.

 One day while Grandma G was visiting we went to Jillian's school where they were having a weather fair. Each child had worked on a project explaining one element of weather. Jillian presented "the water cycle" in this diaroma format. It was awesome! Her teacher, Mrs. Wilson, is great about having parents and family members come into the classroom to see what her students are working on. Each child had a list of things they needed to tell each person about their topic.

Grandma G came toward the end of October to meet Molly Joy and to help us adjust to being a family of six. It rained several days when she was here and we spent several days relaxing, reading books and dancing to "Call me maybe," Lucy's favorite song on Grandma's iPod. When any other song would come on, she would get very upset, say "that's not my favorite," and switch it back to "Call me maybe." Grandma was also here for the kids' Halloween parade at school and to see Jillian play soccer.  

A Talk by Jillian

Dad helped Jillian with a talk she gave in primary recently. Here it is.

Matthew 5:16 says "Let your light so shine befor men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. In the schripture Jesus tells us that we are the light of the world. Just like a light in a dark room helps us to see, we help others see the love of god throuth our actions. Ammon is a graet missionary in the Book of Mormon. He helped the lamanites see the love of god by serving them. Because of his example many lamenites learned abuot Jesus and joined the church. I can be like Ammon by serving. I can be nice to evry one at school and help them feel special. I can help them feel heavenly fathers love.

Kindeegarten Update

Well Peter is two months into his year of kindeegarten! For the most part he seems to be enjoying it but there were a few days after a real sickness that I'm not sure if he wasn't pulling the wool over my eyes and cried on the way to the bus stop saying he still didn't feel well. So I let him stay home an extra day. He did come home several days later with a fever and a bad headache that stuck around for several days. But other than those days he hasn't complained about getting ready and going to school. He has made several friends, one of whom is also in our ward. We're trying to encourage and reassure him that he is good at making friends. I think he sees that this is one of Jillian's talents and thinks it's not one of his. One day he had a conversation with Kevin and said he didn't have any friends. Kevin asked him "How about...?" several times and each time Pete said "Well, he's my friend." So Kevin asked "If all those people are your friends, then why don't you think you have friends?" "Well, Will in the other class never says 'hi' to me." So then they talked about how we don't need everyone to be our friend as long as we have some people to be our friends. Anyway, he's a funny little man and seems to be getting more comfortable in his class. Ms. Pudil, his teacher, is young and hip and Peter enjoys her classroom. I probably shouldn't think it's funny but he has no concept that he needs to show me his folder, return it on a certain day or give his teacher notes. We're working on that:)

A few assignments that stood out:

I care about...my dad. (He drew him under a rainbow and with a huge sunshine in the sky.)

When I grow up I want to be a...policeman because they blow whistles and I like to blow whistles.

I feel happy when I play in the rain. I feel sad when my big sister doesn't come in the basement. I feel scared when ghost. I feel angry when someone chases me. (This explains a lot because he hates when people chase him!)

He could recognize his capitol letters, struggled with the "l" and "b" lowercase letters, knew his consonant sounds except for "Q" and knew the numbers to 20 except "16."

Pumpkin Night

 Lucy kept things under control while we carved.

 Peter had the idea to do a Hawkeye symbol and Kevin executed it.

 "I saw this in a magazine."

 Grandma was there to join us! So fun. 

 This girl can often been seen seated at this bench plunking out a new tune or memorizing one she already knows.

Happy Halloween!

Molly at three and a half weeks old

Girlie looks like a redhead in some of these photos but I think it was just the light, though her eyebrows were a touch reddish at first. Her eyes have really lightened up but here they are still dark gray.

 

Love that little profile!

This girl played soccer for the first time this year too. She is a total social player. She loved getting to know the other girls and came away with some fast friends. She wasn't as motivated to touch the ball, until we told her she could get a small LEGO set if she kicked it ten times in one game. That really got her moving! She got her set and even assisted one goal and kicked another in. Such a character!

 The sidelines were pretty fun too.

I love her confidence! I want to be like her when I grow up.

Fun with Grandma

As per usual, Grandma brought lots of fun things for the kids to do. Along with visiting parks, taking daily walks, frequenting the local cupcake shop and going to pumpkin patches, the kids made pumpkin cookies and these fun witch cupcakes. Fall baking with Grandma is Fun!

Sometimes an evening at the soccer fields can be magical. 

 Doesn't he have a noble brow?