A Stevens Spook

"When witches go riding,
and black cats are seen,
the moon laughs and whispers,
‘tis near Halloween!"

Fall Soccer 2011

Another soccer season has come and gone and I have lived to tell the tale.  I'm starting to realize and accept that my purpose in life is laundress, taxi driver, and supplier of juice boxes.  It's quite a feat to get kids to every game and practice sometimes.  It doesn't sound hard, but it is.  I figured out that there's only 3 months out of the year that we don't have some sport going on.  Thankfully, Kenna didn't do soccer this year.  Three kids in soccer just about killed me last time.  Our boys weren't on winning teams this fall, but they both ran and ran and tried the best--and we were proud.  It was pretty funny to see their different personalities on the field.  When Kyler scored, it was as if he could care less.  No expression.  Just cool.  Mr. Suave.  When Carson scored, he jumped up and down with his arms high in the air in triumph.   Polar opposites for sure!  Here a quick look and our soccer season:

By Request

You know times have really changed when your 5 year old comes up with post ideas for your blog!  The following picture set was thought up and posed by Carson himself.  I merely snapped pictures at his command.

Background info:  At kindergarten last month, Carson's class celebrated Johnny Appleseed's birthday.   (This is one of the many reasons why I love kindergarten!  Johnny Appleseed, Columbus Day, and Dr. Suess's birthday are celebrated as much as Christmas!)  Carson was really excited about this cool historical person... and especially excited about his cool new 'tin pan' hat!  He wanted this hat documented on the family blog... so ladies and gentlemen, I give you:  

The Story of Johnny Appleseed!

By Carson Stevens & Mom

Johnny Appleseed was a kind, gentle man who spent 49 years of his life roaming the America wilderness planting apples seeds.  It was his dream for America to be covered with apple trees so that no one would be hungry.  He even planted apple seeds on kitchen tile floors in his shark pajamas!

Bam!  It was amazing how apples would appear instantly after being planted!

(Love the expression... quite the thespian!)

And that is the story of the legendary Johnny Appleseed.

The End.

Day 2 of October Snow

Few activities entertain and engage all four of my children at once... but snow can!  On Day 2 of our unseasonable snow day, my kids were frolicking in the snow by 9 a.m.  It was melting fast, but that didn't discourage my kiddos one bit.  I peaked out my kitchen window to check on them and found them working hard and serious on a snow fort.  This little project kept them busy for 2 1/2 hours!  Ahhh!

I was pretty impressed with their determination!

Reality check:  It's never all fun and games.  I got to deal with this pleasant mess while a poor piano student waited patiently on the bench.  I returned to the piano studio with mud smeared all the way down my shirt.  Real classy.  

I'm happy to report that the snow is officially gone today (except for remnants from our Snow Family and Snow Fort.)  We're praying we get fall back for a few more weeks before the long, long winter really begins!

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!