BOO-tiful Snowmen

Move over witches, goblins, and ghouls.  Yes, it may only be October 6th--but Ammon, Idaho is Jack Frost's own personal playground.  He really loves it here.  Didn't it just barely stop snowing... like two weeks ago?  Well, no matter how early the first snowfall comes, to kids, it's MAGICAL!  

When the kids noticed that the rain drops were looking awfully thick this morning, all at once I began hearing gasps, giggles, and cheers!  Within minutes of the kids confirming that it was indeed snowing, they began demanding that they NEEDED hot chocolate.  They're conditioned.  Next came the demand to find the snow clothes that were (just barely) stowed away in the tippy most toppy shelf in the garage.  With Justin working out of town, I knew that I was going to have to find a way to get those snow clothes down--no way around it.  I lugged out the ladder, bravely climbed up, and then, standing on the very top step, reached for the bin... and could just barely budge it.  It had to be 50 pounds.  I was scared.  How was I going to lift this crazy-heavy bin over my head and down this ladder?  I expressed my concern to the kids.  It was in that moment that I learned which child loved me the most.  Kyler screamed, "Don't do it, Mom!"  In an annoyed/impatient tone, Kenna replied, "Just do it, Mom!"  Interesting.  Anyway, with Kenna and I both on the ladder (and probably a few guarding angels), we somehow got the bin down.  It's amazing what a single mom can do when she has no other choice.  I was pretty proud of myself.

With snow clothes finally in hand, I was quickly reminded of one of my least favorite parts of winter:  Getting kids snow-ready.  Seriously, it feels like an Olympic event. Why is it so hard to pull coat sleeves over gloves and snow pants over boots?  And the hardest part:  getting a two-year-old's thumb in the thumb hole of a mitten.  Next to impossible.  But, like the snow bin, I, super-mom, conquered the impossible.  Soon the kids were relishing in the amazing wonder that is SNOW.

 I breathed a sigh of relief when I finally sent them out the door... and wouldn't you know it... 10 seconds later, they were at the door requesting I find them a hat, eyes, and nose for a snowman.  I thought I was pretty clever to grab a witch hat--it is October after all!  Well, when I came outside to take a picture of their snowman, my clever smile quickly faded when I saw that instead of one snowman, they made the "Stevens Family"---and of course, Mommy snow woman was sporting the witch hat.  What was going through my mind in this moment?  Things like... the thousands of hours spent nursing them, the millions of times I've wiped their bums, the billions of band-aids I've applied, the trillions of socks I've folded... and THIS is how I'm portrayed as a snowman?!  THE WITCH?!  "Don't worry, Mom," said Kenna.  "You're a nice witch!"

 Well, I like them too much to stay miffed for longer than 2 minutes.  Just look at how cute they are!

It was a cold day.  It was a wet day.  It was a muddy day. 

 It was a good day.

He Still Says the Darndest Things!

Carson has held the "Comedian" role in the family for awhile now... though Ashton is seriously rivaling him for the position lately.  It's really interesting to observe that my boys are funny in different ways.  Ashton is more of a physical comedian--kind of like Chris Farley from Saturday Night Live!  He TRIES to make you laugh.  Carson, on the other hand, is pretty serious most of the time.  He just has a unique brain which is constantly spewing funny thoughts.  Here are a few of Carson's latest insights:

*  Carson wanted to draw on some paper, so he got some paper out of the printer, but instead of one sheet, he accidentally grabbed two.  He took the second sheet of paper and threw it in the trash.  "That's not trash," I say.  "Yes it is," Carson says.  I argue, "It's a perfectly new piece of paper... Why is that trash?"  He simply says, "Because I don't want it."

*  Me:  "Carson, let's get you dressed."  Carson:  "No Mom!  I just really want to wear my underwear today."  Me:  "Why?"  Carson:  (sighs...)  "It's complicated."

*  Carson:  "Mom, did you know that when your food goes down, it turns into poop?"  Me:  "Yep.  I knew that."  Carson:  "So that means, when your food goes up, it turns into boogers."

*  Just yesterday, Carson stubbed his big toe and cracked his big toenail in half.  It hurt him really bad.  When we were tucking him in last night, he asked his Dad, "How are we going to fix my toe, Dad?"  Justin replied, "There's nothing we can really do.  We're just going to have to watch it."  Carson was silent for a few seconds and then suddenly got a panicked look on his face and exclaimed, "But how am I going to watch it when I'm sleeping!?!"

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Evidence of a Testimony

Stake Conference... the longest two hours of the year.  I'm sure I would love the beautiful music and wonderful speakers if I could actually hear it, but I'm so busy trying to keep my children from distracting others--that I am totally distracted the entire time.   Sacrament is doable.  I can keep my children quiet and contained on metal chairs for 60 minutes, but 120 minutes... impossible.  It takes every ounce of my testimony to get myself to drag my rowdy bunch to Stake Conference--knowing that I'll just be walking the halls for two hours in uncomfortable shoes.  Well, our obedience was tested once again at last weekend's conference... and this is how we spent the entire second hour... my boys being total weirdo's... in the hallway of the Stake Center.   But we stayed till the VERY end... do you still get blessings for that?  I sure hope so!

McKenna the Model - Part 2!

McKenna got to live out her cat walk dreams once again last weekend at the Blackfoot Fair Style Revue. When we signed her up at our local 4-H office, we were told that only a "few" girls were involved in the Blackfoot Fair Style Revue and that it would not be a judged competition. The girls could model "just for fun." With this "just for fun" state of mind, we didn't practice or prepare for this show in any way. You can image my shock when we showed up and saw 40+ girls primped and ready to model! And yes... upon arriving, we learned that it WAS a judged competition.

The contestants lined up back stage.

I immediately got a little nervous for McKenna since we hadn't practiced at all. Plus, the organization was terrible and the girls were given zero direction or practice... but McKenna (like always) was cool as a cucumber and was just anxious for me to quit taking pictures of her so she could get on that stage!

Cute contestant #29 (and her look-a-like doll) ready to go!

McKenna's sweet 4-H leader spent hours with her to complete a matching doll bath robe--so Kenna could carry her doll while she modeled. It was a much more difficult sewing project than Kenna's PJ pants, but Kenna sewed it all on her own. (Funny side note:  Kenna's 4-H leader described Kenna's sewing style as, "pedal to the metal!"  A very accurate description of this no fear girl!)  The little doll robe turned out so cute!

The fashion show was surprisingly good. Some of those girls had been doing this a long time, and they were pros. However, even with her lack of experience, Kenna was great! They gave ribbons to the the top six models in each division--and she was a winner--taking 6th place! Not too shabby!
What a fun experience 4-H has been for Kenna this year. It's exciting to see my "little girl" learning skills, discovering talents, and changing into a young woman (too quickly) before my eyes.
I'm sure glad Kenna knows a thing or two about sewing now. Maybe she'll teach me some time!

First Day of School 2011

Every now and then, I get a reminder that I'm getting old... things like... sharing shoes with my daughter, getting beat in an arm wrestle with my son...

AND HAVING THREE CHILDREN IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL!!!

That's right! Rimrock Elementary School is swarming with Stevens children this year! Thank goodness my mom helped me out with school supplies! I couldn't wait to get that enormous pile of paper, glue, and notebooks off my kitchen counter! And my poor pencil sharpener was SMOKIN' after sharpening that ridiculous amount of required pencils!

The night before school began, we had our traditional Sunday FHE where we set goals, talked about standards, and gave each child a Father's blessing--a tradition that both Justin and I experienced and appreciated as children. The kids went to bed feeling calm and peaceful... but for some reason, they woke up with all sorts of crazy emotions:

They were feeling...

APPREHENSIVE, DEMONIC, and CREEPY about school!

They were feeling SILLY about school!

They were feeling CHESSY about school!

They were feeling unusually ECSTATIC about school!

What teacher wouldn't love these faces?

The Three Amigos, Partners in Crime, The Wolfpack, Best Friends.

(Haydn, Paxton, & Ky)

It was an especially big day for Carson who is Rimrock's newest raptor. Yes, look out Kindergarten. Carson has arrived! I hope they have enough room to contain his enormous imagination. At back to school night, Carson's teacher asked me to complete a write-up about Carson's personality. Oh... describing Carson was totally comical! I was giggling the entire time I was typing. He is one of a kind for sure! He may keep Miss Parker busy with all of his questions, but he's pretty hard not to fall in love with--with that twinkle in his eye and 'to die for' dimples! (I may be a little biased...)

Waiting for afternoon Kindergarten to start was the longest morning of Carson's life. We finally left and arrived 20 minutes early because he just could not wait any longer!!

Carson with his buddies, Noah, Ashton, & Mason

Waving Good-bye!

(Check out the girl in the ballerina tutu. Weird.)

When 2:30 came, I couldn't wait to hear all about Carson's first day. His comment was:

"It wasn't that fun."

Haha! Too true! Welcome to school Carson. You only have about 17 years left!

I have a little tradition to have an extra special after-school-snack on the first day of school. These are candy pencils made of rolos and hershey kisses. Kyler's comment was, "Are these candles?" I tried, OKAY!!

Here's to another year of school adventures!

A Berry Sweet Tradition

The Stevens family is incredibly close. I thought my family did a lot together until I married into this party lovin' family! What makes their bonds so tight? Probably many things... but I believe that one reason is because they have a lot of traditions. Games, music, Sunday dinners, holiday parties--these things keep them close. When we moved back to Eastern Idaho a few years ago, my children were delighted to finally participate in one of the oldest Stevens family traditions that happens every August: Picking Huckleberries! All year long, the Stevens family slowly (& carefully) depletes their precious harvest of berries by adding them to jams, syrups, desserts, and pancakes. In all honesty, I'm not much of a berry fan, but there is something so exciting about venturing up to the mountains to see how big the berries are and how many you'll get!!

Buckets-check. Bells to keep away bears-check. Bug spray-check.

And we're off!

Justin & Carson in the center of our top secret huckleberry spot!

Even Ashton got into the huckleberry action this year! His sweet cousin Kassidy helped him manuevre over plants and logs as tall as he was to find those "purple balls!" When he spotted one, he would gasp and exclaim to everyone in the forest that he had "found one!" His fingers were as purple as everyone else's!

Very proud of his stash!

He was getting quite a collection until Kassidy let him in on a secret... the purple balls were edible! After that, Ashton's bucket was pretty lonely. Ash popped those berries in his mouth faster than you could say, "Huckleberry Pie!"

Carson chose to collect pinecones rather than berries.

He always marches to his own beat!

All that bending over gets tiring pretty quick, so the boys took a berry break--enjoying Aunt Brooke's Ritz crackers. She thinks of everything!
Kenna's girlfriend Kamry came with us too! The girls ventured very high up that mountain, loved exploring the plants and bugs, and even had a memorable outdoor bathroom experience that I'll spare you from! I think they picked as many wildflowers as berries! Cute girls!

Friends and Cousins!

Summer Rewards

Summertime is a time to kick-back and relax a little... but if you're not careful, your kids will stay in their pajamas all day in front of the playstation. I really hate that! So in order to maintain a bit of a schedule in the summer, I offer my kids a little motivation through what I like to call: SUMMER REWARDS! My kids each have a chart of things to complete everyday. Easy things really... things like "make your bed," "brush your teeth," "practice the piano," "do a chore for mom,"... things I would make them do anyway! But with a chart and reward attached, I don't have to harp on them to get those things done. They do it on their own because they WANT to... which of course makes life happier for everybody! It was literally music to my ears when my kids would demand that I give them a chore!

If the kids completed their chart everyday, we got to do a reward as a family every Friday. We planned all the weekend rewards at the beginning of the summer so that the kids could look forward to them. Did I mention that every reward cost no money? Yep, it's possible to have fun on virtually no budget. It just requires a little more creativity! One of the kids' favorite rewards was a movie night. No, not a movie rental... a home made movie starring the Stevens family. It just goes to show that it doesn't take money to create hours of fun and lasting memories. Here are a few more rewards that I have photos of...

A Family Camp-out... On the Deck!

Our tent just BARELY fit on the deck. You had to walk down the bench to get inside. This reward fell on the first weekend of July, so the kids' outdoor slumber party was made even more exciting with fireworks going till midnight! This reward actually got stretched into 3 nights!

Kids Make Dinner Night

This was another favorite. Weeks in advance, the kids made a menu of their favorite foods. When the big night finally came, THEY got to make everything with mom only assisting from the sidelines when they were about to make a huge blunder or harm themselves!

Kids' Menu: Ramen noodles, orange tapioka jello salad, peanut blossom cookies, and fresca.

(They also wanted mozzarella sticks, but I forgot to pick those up at the store! Opps!)

Fun in the Sun

You can't have at least one summer reward that doesn't involve water and sunshine! We spent the afternoon at the free splash park in Rexburg.

Heading out to the park, I passed a garage sell. I don't usually stop at those, but something came over me and I stomped on the brakes. I totally scored when I found these 'like new' roller blades for $5.00! They made our afternoon at the park even funner!

Okay, Ashton was so hilarious that day! When he finally got over his timidness with the water, he was like a mad man--dunking his head in the water, crawling around on all fours... he had everyone at the park laughing at him.

Is it just me, or do you have an intense urge to squeeze his plump, chubby little body when you see this picture?

Lemonade & Cookie Stand

Growing up, my dad counciled me to ALWAYS stop at a lemonade stand. I think my neighbors feel the same way, because we had one very successful business day. The kids made a whopping $35 bucks. That's got to be some kind of record! At only .25 a cup, that's a lot of sales! This business venture occupied the kids the entire day! They planned everything, and learned a lot about business costs, making change, dealing with all of the neighbor kids who want to get in on your earnings, and the pure goodness and generosity of neighbors and friends!

Late Night With Friends

Who needs slumber parties when you can pack all of the same fun into a late night? The kids loved inviting over a special friend to party late with! To make it extra special, we created our own homemade Orange Leaf Store--ice cream toppings galore!