Beginning of October

Thursday October 2nd

Picture Day at School

 Bella 1st Grade

 Lydia 6th Grade

 Paige 4th Grade

Tuesday October 7th

Picture Day at Soccer

 For some reason, the person in charge of the whole soccer thing never sent out the email with the team pictures this year.  So I don't have the official pictures.  My friend Kate however took her own picture of her son David's team who is on the same team as Bella.  So, hers is the only picture I have. Bummer.

Wednesday October 8th

For mutual, the Mia Maids (who I'm over) wanted to have an activity with the Teachers.  So my presidency came up with the idea to have "Cupcake Wars" and invite the teachers to a bake off.  Maggie says it was one of the funnest activities we've had.  I'm glad it went so well. I have to say that it was so loud in that kitchen!  Also, there is a definite difference in the way girls cook vs. boys cooking.  Girls were nice and quiet--had a plan about what they wanted to do; whereas the boys were loud and obnoxious and all over the place dumping ingredients into their bowls and making really weird flavor combinations.  It was really funny to watch.  

 Guys in their huddle--making plans? before they begin.

 Girls deciding what they will do.

Each team got 2 boxes of cup cake mix--chocolate and vanilla.  They had all the ingredients necessary and then got to choose from a variety of ingredients to enhance their cupcakes.  The options were things like peanut butter, oranges, marshmallows, flavor extracts like peppermint, vanilla, almond etc, coconut, pumpkin spice & sprite. 

 Boys working hard

 Girls working hard

 Emma and Maggie and Shay

Some of the YM and YW leaders got to vote at the end and decide on the best cupcake.  I was really afraid to try the guys cupcakes.  I had to watch them while they were cooking and they had marshmallows, sprite, peppermint extract and who knows what else in theirs.  They weren't very good.  The girls made 2 kinds-- a pumpkin spice one which was really good (the winner) and a chocolate peanut butter one.  I would've loved the chocolate peanut butter one, but they put way too much peanut butter in the middle.  But they were both good.  It was a fun activity!

Thursday October 9th

 Noah wearing his spider hat from preschool

Friday October 10th

 The kids didn't have school this day so they were "helping" me get out the Halloween stuff.  I love this picture of Bella.  Not only is she got on so many different pieces of costumes, but her smile is the best!  She is so cute!

BEFORE

 Lydia had been bugging me non-stop about getting her hair cut.  She really wanted a pixie cut.  I made her wait a long time so that she would be certain that that was what she wanted.  She still did after like a month or longer of asking.  So, I made a deal with her that we would cut it off short, and if she liked that, then later we would go for the pixie cut.  She wanted to donate her hair to Locks of Love, so I put it in a braid and chopped that off, thinking that I could trim it more and fix it up.  After I cut off the braid, it actually looked quite good because it cut the back shorter with it a little longer on the sides.  I fixed a few things and made sure it was even, but really that was it.  I LOVED the cut on her and she was beyond excited about it.  

 AFTER

 This is her hair that we mailed in.  

and she got this certificate a little later.  I was really proud of her for choosing to donate her hair!

 She is so beautiful!!

Saturday October 11th

 Some friends of ours from our old ward started a 5K when their baby boy passed away due to complications from SCID.  SCID is Severe Combined Immunodeficiency and could be cured if they tested it in newborns right away.  This is why they were trying to raise money--to get support for testing.  Anyways, this is their second year with the race and we really wanted to help support them.  We couldn't last year because of something else going on.  

 They had a photographer there taking pictures and so I copied them.  Here's Garrett and Lydia.

 Me and Noah

 This is at the finish line.  I guess the photographer thought that Bella was with this guy since she was so close to him.  I was just next to her, right outside the picture and Lydia was behind me.  It's so cute to see Bella riding her bike on the track.  The kids did really good and I was really proud of them.  

 Later that afternoon, we went to the theater and saw the LDS movie, "Meet the Mormons".  It was a great movie and very moving about the church and it's members just living their everyday ordinary lives with faith.  This was after the movie chowing down on popcorn.  

Monday October 13th

Another cute picture of Lydia's hair