From the heart

William had to give a talk in primary today on "reverence is love and respect for God."  I told him yesterday he needed to write a talk for church.  He said, "Okay, what does it have to be about?" I told him and he sat down and started writing.  As his mom I am very proud of his sweet heart and simple testimony that he wrote all by himself.  And I love his misspelled words.

I love Juses.  he is my saveyaer.  I do not love Saltines [erase erase] Satan.  he wants to be are Saveyaer, but he is not.  he is not reverent.  I am reverent.  I can be reverent by siting stil in cherch, lisining to the techere, and reading the skripchers.  thoes are ways you can be reverent.  You can be reverent to.  reverence is Love for God.  I Love God.

For any of you unfamiliar with children spelling here is a translation:
I love Jesus.  He is my savior.  I do not love Satan.  He wants to be our savior, but he is not.  He is not reverent.  I am reverent.  I can be reverent by sitting still in church, listening to the teacher, and reading the scriptures.  Those are ways you can be reverent.  You can be reverent too.  Reverence is love for God.  I love God.

My mommy heart is feeling very thankful. Happy Thanksgiving.

Every artist is a cannibal

This weekend employees of Brian's office job were able to get in free to the Walker art museum so after we took pictures for our Christmas card, charged the camera battery while getting flu shots, and took more pictures for our Christmas card we headed over to the museum.
No sneak peaks of our Christmas card, but here's a few from the museum. ;-)

Henry reminds me of a little architect proudly marching with the poster he and William made

A better picture of my haircut?

I realized suddenly for the first time Saturday that this sculpture isn't artsy bacon, it's brush strokes

At the museum they have this exhibit going on about graphic design.  It was pretty interesting.  We got to make a free poster to take home.  I'll have to get pictures of those.
Hmm.  Anything else interesting?  Ana and Isaac got sick from their flu shot a bit and because I never do the flu shot thing they will have to go in again in 4 weeks.  A few people have been reminding me why I usually never do flu shots, but this year I just felt like I should so we did.  What else?  We are still having fairly nice warm weather- I am so happy for a nice LONG fall!  Pretty much we are just going to be getting ready for our Thanksgiving guests and taking care of church stuff.  I've kind of been thinking about William's baptism coming up in January.  He has mentioned he would like Isaac to play the bass, a neighbor to play the drums and possibly another friend to play the harmonica.  I think if he knew it is possible to play the jug and a saw he would want that to.  He is kind of disappointed I don't think it's traditional enough for a sacred ordinance like a baptism, but hopefully we can come up with something he would like.  I think he was mostly thinking about people he knows that play instruments and the instruments they play.
My neighbor has been taking me running with her lately and now just putting on my "workout clothes" makes me feel out of breath.  I'd skip if my dog wasn't crying and nudging and chewing toys to bits.  It is good for me though (said in the voice my kids use when I ask them to clean up).

Ana's new haircut!

The before:

the first snips:

more snips:

the hair:

and voila!

Speaking of time travel

Ana mentioned her textbook for foods was seeming a little dated...

We thought "ah, no.  The 90's?  That wasn't that long ago, but then we actually thumbed through her book and found this photo not expecting more of the 1890's look.
Brian also observed the woman to the right is looking a little "manly".  It looks like someone photo shopped a picture of Mike Meyers in there to me.
I may actually post this on facebook...  I'm still not liking it (meaning facebook) so much.

All Hallow's Eve

Monday we had beautiful weather.  We have had such a nice long fall I have been loving it.  Normally our Halloween costumes have to be strategically planned to fit over a winter coat, scarf, mittens and boots, But not this year!  Hooray!
Brian and I took Henry and William and the dog out trick-or-treating while Ana and Isaac decided they would rather stay home and pass out candy.  Isaac dawned his father's contamination suit and gas mask from high school (oh the lovely memories of the back of Smith and Edwards) and sat outside with a sign taped to the basket of goodies saying please take one.  I think he scared a handful of older kids and teen girls, but Ana was there to make sure he was nice to the little kids.  I don't think I got any pictures of that and now we have boxed up and put away all the Halloween stuff so there will be no re-enactment for a photo for the blog.
Other news, Ana got her hair cut Tuesday and today at Stake Conference it was announced that Brian is called to be on the High Council.  Looking ahead at the week it looks like we will have meetings, meetings, meetings, maybe meetings?, maybe see the jr high production of Annie, and maybe take a few pictures for Christmas cards.  I will need to also squeeze in some laundry, shopping and cleaning.  We have guests coming soon for Thanksgiving.  I'm also thinking about signing Isaac up for Cross country skiing, but can't decide. 
Random conversation with my 5 year old:  "Hey mom, who's your worst enemy?"
"Um, disobedient children." (oops, did I say that out loud?)
"Huh?  Disobedient children? What does worst enemy mean?"
"Your worst enemy is who you fight with all the time".
"Yeah, someone you fight with all the time". mumbles confused under his breath "disobedient children?" as he leaves the room and says out loud, "I don't think I really have like a 'worst enemy'."

Here's the Halloween pictures and hope you had a nice time travel day- I enjoyed my travel back in time by sleeping.  ;-)

Henry at the school parade

Ana and a neighbor with the same costume

ninja action

Isaac dressed as his friend for school

What's on my mind?

I am now on facebook.  If I haven't found you then find me and friend me.  I did it because Ana is on facebook so I kind of wanted to keep tabs.  I have to be honest- I'm not too sure I like facebook.  I don't like looking at my facebook page because to me it looks likes a cluttered mess.  Is there a way to change that?  I'm thinking I like my blog better so don't be disappointed if I don't say much on my facebook page.  Maybe I will get the hang of it after awhile. 
A couple of days ago I was yet again reminded of a general difference between boys and girls.  Isaac was helping fold the laundry and wondered if a blouse of Ana's should go in the ironing pile or not.  "Can this blouse go in the ironing pile?  It looks like if you tried to iron it, it would just catch on fire."  Me, "I don't think her shirt is wrinkly so you don't need to put it in the ironing pile.  I am pretty sure it will not suddenly burst into flame if it gets touched by the iron.  If anything, depending on what it is made of it will probably just melt if you have the iron too hot.  Just fold it and put it in her pile of clothes."  Isaac, "Oh Mom; look at this, this fabric is really light and thin and looks like a perfect fire starting shirt.  If I was lost in the wilderness and had to build a fire and there was nothing else to use I would totally use this shirt to get a fire started."

The perfect fire starting shirt. *sigh*
Our ceramics are finished!  They did such a great job.  Here's how they turned out. :)
Henry's snake:

William's turtle night light:

 Isaac's goblet of fire:

Ana's pumpkin:

Halloween at the Park

I had way to many SPAM Museum photos so here's a second post with the park photos.  Henry is a dog, William one of those ninjas (his friend is the other matching one), and the adorable mushroom is our neighbor.