Busy having Fun

Zoe had a game Wednesday afternoon in Hampden that the kids & I went to.


The kids spent their time on the playground while I watched the game. That made everyone happy. :-) After the game, we drove to Ellsworth for Young Women's, Cub Scouts, and Activity Days. McDonald's was a must on the way home having been out and about since after school.

We spent the day yesterday making food masterpieces. It started with spider cupcakes. So fun to make and yummy, too!






Kate had fun watching videos of more fun Halloween treats to make on the Family Fun site. I think monster cupcakes will be our next sweet creation.

Emily, Eleanor, & Zach loved having such a fun, yummy treat to enjoy after school!
Emily's cupcake...

Eleanor's cupcake...

Zach's cupcake...


It was perfect to have a special treat after school since Zach fell off the monkey bars at school and bruised/scraped his cheek.

The secretary at the school called me after Zach fell to let me know what happened and to let me know he was okay, but he would have a bruise. You can't really tell from the picture, but he does have quite a bruise. This is the second time this year that he has fallen off the monkey bars. Last time, he hurt his leg and he had a hard time running for awhile. Does this stop Zach from playing on the monkey bars? Absolutely not!

We made Mummy pizzas for dinner. Another yummy creation. :-)

This was Noah's pizza. He was the only one that ended up with a real Mummy pizza. Everyone else created theirs the way they wanted with the ingredients they liked.

I've been meaning to report that Noah is officially potty trained! It took him a week to become a pro. It is so great having all the kids potty trained!!!

Kate has mastered whistling. She's really good at it and she is so proud that she can do it!

Short Update

All the school-aged kids are in school today. :-)

Zoe scored a goal yesterday in her game against Doughty! She was picked for the penalty kick and she made it! I'm bummed that I wasn't there to see it, but I'm glad Matt was there.

Sore Throats, Productivity, & A Mess

Zach is still home with a sore throat today and Emily is home, too. From Zach's doctor's appointment yesterday, we learned that he does not have an ear infection and he does not have strep. So, no more trips to the doctor for this virus that we have. We will just endure it as it goes through our family.

Matt, Zoe, & Emily put up a bathroom wall last night. :-)



While Matt & the girls were outside, I turned on GBTV to watch for a bit. Well, Noah was in the bathroom without me knowing trying to unplug the toilet and getting water all over the floor in the process. That's what I get for paying more attention to Glenn Beck than my kids!

Sickness & Doctor Visits

A couple of weeks ago, I brought Noah to the doctor because he had a fever and his lymph nodes on his neck were swollen. I was thinking strep because last year he went to the doctor for a well-child check and was healthy, I thought, but his lymph nodes were swollen and he ended up having strep. When I brought him to the doctor a few weeks ago, the doctor checked his ears and noticed that he had fluid in one ear and the other ear looked infected, so she put him on an antibiotic without doing a strep test since the antibiotic would cure the strep if he had it. Noah took the antibiotic, at first he HATED it and I wondered if I would be able to get any more medicine into him, but he was more cooperative as the days went on. Last Thursday night, Noah came down with a fever again and complained that his throat hurt. Eleanor also had a fever and she said her body hurt all over. They both went to bed early, which is not like them. Friday morning, Eleanor was still feverish and achy, Noah was acting okay, and Zach said he had a sore throat. Eleanor and Zach stayed home from school. I had Noah's 3 year check-up scheduled for that day, so my Dad came over to watch Eleanor, Zach, & Kate while I took Noah to the doctor. Noah was acting healthy, but he had a fever of 101, his tonsils were a bit swollen, his lymph nodes were swollen again, and he had red spots on his throat. His doctor was convinced that he had strep and she tested him. The test came back negative, but she didn't believe it, so she sent it to the lab. I would have received a call on Saturday if the lab test was positive, but I never heard anything. The doctor's office called me this morning to see how Noah was doing and to tell me that the test came back negative. Noah complains that his throat hurts from time to time, but he is very active and seems to be healthy. Eleanor was feeling much better by Friday evening. Saturday morning, she said her throat hurt a little and Sunday morning, she said her neck felt a little sore, but overall she has been feeling good. Zach's sore throat has been getting worse each day and on Friday he was getting headaches. He was living on popsicles and ibprofen yesterday and this morning he said his ear hurts, so he is home from school and he has a doctor's appointment this afternoon.

A positive thing amid all this sickness is the beautiful scenery that surrounds us!



I went to soccer Saturday morning and Matt went shooting at an Elders Quorum activity. Emily scored 3 goals during her game! Matt pays the girls $1 per goal, so she earned $3. She was very happy about that! I heard that Matt did very well shooting. Brother Keating was very impressed with Matt's gun and Matt's shooting skills. :-)

After the activity, my Dad and Jason came over to help Matt raise up another wall!



I went to church Saturday afternoon with Zoe & Emily to watch Chris Robertson, Cheryl, Conner, and Heather Phelps be baptized. What an amazing baptism day! The spirit was very strong. After the baptisms, Zoe, Emily, & my Dad stayed for the spaghetti dinner. My Mom, my grandmother, & I went to Friendly's for dinner and then we went shopping. We had already made plans to have a girls night before the spaghetti dinner was planned, so we went ahead with our plan. We had a fun time together and I also enjoyed some alone time looking at clothes at Goodwill. I found some needed church clothes. :-) We went back to the church after shopping for the Relief Society General Broadcast. I really enjoyed President Uchtdorf's talk. He is my favorite general authority speaker!

Eleanor, Zach, & Noah stayed home from church yesterday. My Dad stayed home to watch them since Matt was traveling to Waterville for his new calling as a counselor in the Stake Young Men's presidency, I was teaching Relief Society, and my Mom was doing Sharing Time in Primary. It wasn't an easy day for my Dad, but I'm grateful for his service!

The Talking School

After I hung up the phone this morning, Noah & I had this funny conversation...

Noah: "Who was that?"
Me: "Eleanor's school"
Noah: "Eleanor's school can talk?!"

About a minute later...

Noah: "Who were you talking to?"
Me: "Doris at Eleanor's school."
Noah: "At Eleanor's talking school?"

House Progress

New Storytime

Kate & Noah went to their first storytime at the Bangor library yesterday. They were a bit unsure at first about being around strangers and listening to stories, but the fun songs, books, and activities won them over. They are looking forward to going back! Here they are painting around and on leaves.

They had a snack that they could play with, too! They could take their pretzel stick and dip it in the cheese sauce and then decorate their chip to look like a pumpkin. They could also use a piece of the pretzel for a pumpkin stem. Noah just ate his snack, but Kate enjoyed "painting" on hers.

Success

Noah has been accident-free for 3 days in a row!

Eleanor went to the dentist on Monday to have her tooth pulled. She was brave and cooperative and she is happy now that her tooth is out!

Zoe had a soccer game in Ellsworth on Monday and then a home game yesterday. Yesterday was my first time watching her play this season and she did a great job! She is playing defense and she likes that. During both games, she played the entire game. Zoe's team lost their first game, but they won yesterday.

The Weekend

Potty training is going well. Noah has a pattern going. He is accident-free every other day. Fortunately, he hasn't had any accidents out in public, so that has been nice.

Emily & Eleanor played well in their soccer game on Saturday. Eleanor started the game as goalie!

Emily enjoys being on offense.

I am having fun doing the concession stand. A few kids from the middle school helped me on Saturday. It's great math practice for them. :-)

Matt has made some progress building a wall and window frame for the new house.



We finally picked and ate our corn last night. It looked good and tasted yummy! Our best corn crop yet...


Evidence that Zoe likes to steal food when we are not looking!



Zoe did a great job yesterday giving her talk and teaching the young women's lesson. Patti (Zoe's young women president) gave a talk after Zoe and she told how impressed she was with Zoe because Zoe didn't say no to the talk when she knew she was teaching a lesson the same day and Zoe also didn't tell Patti that she couldn't do the lesson because she was asked to give a talk. Patti praised Zoe for being a good example and for choosing the right. On the way home yesterday I asked Zoe how it felt to have her talk and lesson done. She said it felt GREAT and she mentioned how it was going to be nice to not have to prepare a talk and lesson this week. It will be nice for me, too. :-)

Modesty is in style

The young women made a wedding dress out of napkins last night.


They love creating dresses like this to show off. They are a talented group of young women! I've included a picture of their newspaper dresses that they made last month.

Potty Training Update

Noah had a rough start yesterday with the potty training, but he ended strong in the afternoon and evening. He asked for a diaper a couple of times in the morning, but I insisted on the underwear and I was patient with him. So far today, he is accident free. He had a fever this morning and afternoon, so I am impressed that he is doing so well when he hasn't been feeling well. I'm leaving soon with the older girls to head to church for Cub Scouts, Young Women's, and Activity Days, so my Mom will be here with Noah, Kate, and Zach this evening. Matt is going to work on the new house. We'll see how the evening goes for Noah and my Mom.

First & Last

Today was the last 1st day of potty training that I will ever have. Yay! Noah did great! He was very willing to use his potty and he only had 1 accident! He would have had an accident-free day if I would have acted on my thought to have him go potty instead of finishing the dishes I was washing. Noah was willing to use the big toilet as well. I cleaned out the back of the Yukon and we put the little potty in there for Noah to use while we were out and about this afternoon. He happily used it twice. Is potty training Noah really going to be this easy or is the worst yet to come?

During Zoe's soccer practice today, her team had a penalty kick contest. Zoe won! She will most likely get to perform a penalty kick during a game this season and Zoe's coach is considering her as a corner kicker. Go Zoe!

Leaving Already?

Steve & Janet are on their way back to Utah. Their visit went by too quickly! Here is a recap of the rest of their visit. We had an adult only dinner Friday night at Bugaboo Creek. My Mom came with us and we had a very nice time. Saturday morning was busy with soccer. Emily & Eleanor had their first game of the season and their team won!




I volunteered to do the concession stand this year during the soccer games, so Saturday was my first experience with it. It went well and several parents volunteered to help in different ways, so that will be nice.

During soccer, Matt, Steve, Zach, & Noah went to look at grills and they also went to the gun show. Then we all met up in Steve & Janet's room to discuss the plan for the rest of the day.





We ordered Subway sandwiches and met at the Blue Hill Park to play and eat.







We enjoyed leftover cookies from the concession stand. :-)




After church yesterday, we met at my parents' house for a yummy lunch. We gathered in the living room after we ate. Zoe & Emily loved hearing the stories that were told.


Then it was time to take pictures and say goodbye. :-(