Pigtails

Sophie had her hair in pigtails, and Riley wanted her hair to be just like Sophie's.  We tried to put all of  it up and it worked! 

Girls and Their Soes!

Riley and Sophie wanted to play outside, but they needed shoes.  I was in the bathroom, but that didn't stop the girls.  They simply went over to Sophie's closet and grabbed a pair of Sophie's shoes for Riley to wear.  Riley loved this so much, they repeated it a few times.  Maybe she should get shoes for Christmas.

Birthday Boys

Since the boys birthdays are so close together and we were together for the holiday, we celebrated them with the boys with a "mini party."  They had cupcakes, and all their presents were Legos.  They were so happy.

Thanksgiving

This year, because we are in El Paso and John is only 7 hours away, we went to Phoenix.  We all had a great time.  Carter loved Jared, myself and the kids.  Riley loved Sophie and the boys got along with their Legos and tablets. 

Daddy's Home... Sort of

Daddy was home earlier this week and the kids love to play with him with their toys.  However, he worked so many hours and he was so tired, that he lied down and fell asleep while playing with them.  Riley didn't stop playing with him.  While he was sleeping, she kept covering him with toys, wrapping paper and whatever was around.  She would gently rub his knee and say "my sweet little Daddy."  When he woke up, he was pretty much covered up.

Primary Program

Today was our ward's primary program and we were out of town the week proceeding it. As a result, Eli didn't have his part memorized.  He doesn't like to be prompted and so it went as bad as you can imagine. He starred at the audience for a minute, breathed heavy into it with both his nose and his mouth, got a few laughs and then continued. Finally, the primary leader stepped in and prompted his part, one word at a time.  He looked at his part on paper and looked into the audience, back and forth until finally he was done. Jared and I were red in the face and grateful it was done.
If that wasn't bad, let's not forget that I have two kids. Riley has a gift for choosing the quietest moments to voice her opinions. She loves to shout things like "All for each and one for all." Or "I get to do that next year." But the most embarrassing one was when someone was playing the violin and she blurts out. "What is that horrible noise?" I turn to her, red in the face and say, "No, it's beautiful music." She replies, "No, it's horrible."  Jared and I were so ready for that meeting to be over.

 A few weeks later, a ward member came up to us and said that when his kids give a talk, they would smell the microphone.  My kids are notorious for their character no matter where we live.

Thanksgiving Assembly

Eli's school put on a darling assembly including all the classes, some of which included 13-15 three-year olds.  Eli's class only has 7 and they have grown really close.  They all dressed in Indian vests and a feather that they got to make themselves, sang songs, they gave themselves Indian names.  Each child got to tell their teacher in a loud voice their name.  Eli's India name was Dark Blackness Night.  They were darling.