October was such a fun month for our family! We enjoyed the last of the really warm weather, did lots of Halloween activities, and spent a lot of time with family and friends.
Rylee and her favorite skeleton (at Makenzie and Koy's) 😂
We started off the month with General Conference, my favorite weekends of the year.
We did our regular traditions--Legos, special markers with poster boards, playdoh, a puzzle, and candy that the kids could eat throughout the sessions. Our neighbors also brought us some yummy cookies.
And, of course, cinnamon rolls. 🤤
Legos are one of the kids' favorite parts of General Conference.
Then for school at the start of October, we did a day of making Halloween crafts to hang up on the wall on the stairs while listening to our Halloween playlist.
The craft I made with the kids.
The kids love this simple tradition!
And we finished off the month doing more Halloween crafts!
All month long as we did coloring pages or crafts, the kids could hang them on the wall. I love doing this every year.
And we put some of the school things we did on our bulletin board.
Oliver learning to write letters 🩷
One of the science experiments we did in October was to mummify an apple--it took all month, so every week, we'd check on it.
Another one was dissolving candy corn. We do this every year, with different liquids. It's always interesting to see what dissolves it fastest. This year it was interesting because everything else dissolved the candy corn from the inside out and leaves like an outer shell after the inside candy is dissolved, but the orange juice dissolved it from the outside in, just shrinking it. I don't know why it was different.
And Halloween bingo! My kids love this tradition.
Another thing we do every year is witch's potions--with baking soda and vinegar.
My kids love this one too.
Painting pumpkins!
Parker had a hard time finding something she wanted to wear that she could also paint in. She finally settled on something, but didn't want any pictures of her wearing them. We got a stomach bug the day we did this, so I never ended up getting pictures of the finished products (Rylee was actually sick when we did it).
Picking out pumpkins!
Ashtyn's selfie to send to her cousin.
We took a few weeks off as things got crazy (with sickness, people traveling, and holidays/birthdays), but we continued our art class with the kids.
And the twins turned two! I can't believe how fast all these kids are growing up.
During their party, there was a giant storm.
This wa the boys' reaction to all the lightning.
Raking leaves, leaf crafts, and gymnastics in the leaves!
The boys are all into drawing right now and I love it.
Hanging out with cousins 🩷🩷
And we got to do sugar cookies with cousins!
I'd been wanting to do sugar cookies for awhile and it was perfect to have cousins over when we did them to help eat the cookies.
Ashtyn's creation.
Making a fort from our car blankets and tumbleweeds haha
He lined up his Halloween candy 😂
Ashtyn built a magnet block box with Oliver inside.
When we had the big storm, it rained a bunch and flash flooded the cul de sac. It was pouring while we were putting the kids down to bed and they were begging to go outside in it. We said no. When the rain stopped (after the kids were in bed but still awake) we decided to let them go out. They loved it (they kept telling us we were the best parents ever for letting them go out haha). The entire cul de sac was full of water.
We got back inside just in time for it to start raining some more, though it didn't come as fast or flood as much again.
Movie party!
Oliver getting all his bumps.
I don't even remember what this one was from, but it was quite the bump.
Parker made this little cabin at the library and then decorated the picture of it on my phone.
Ashtyn has been working on her back bend.
Parker's "I try to CTR" picture at church.
The spelling of "chrie" is my favorite thing.
Matching!
Oliver said something like, "I'm just like Dad."
Photo cred: Oliver
Photo cred: Oliver
Photo cred: Oliver
Oliver has recently discovered how to take pictures on my phone and loves it.
🩷🩷
Parker's block snowman
When I put Leah in the leaves to take some pictures, I thought she was going to be mad, but she wasn't at all. She loved grabbing the leaves and trying to eat them.
When you're supposed to be sleeping 😂
In October, Leah started planking and pulling herself up onto her knees.
I was really hoping she'd wait until after Christmas to start crawling, but at this rate, I think I'm doomed.
Food and toys 🩷
She's getting so big 🩷
When you have a cute outfit.
Leah's favorite thing to do is walk around with Mom doing chores. She does not want to be next to me while I'm doing stuff, she wants to be right there to see everything.
Little moments together.
My days of naps-on-the-go are pretty much over (other than while nursing).
We got her a high chair and she looks so grown up to me in it.
She loves food and is learning to pick up the food herself.
Big enough to ride in the cart!
She loves shopping with me.
Leah has also learned to shake her head no. She does it all the time and it's so cute.
Dancing!
Pumpkin pancakes are one of our favorite dinners in October.
I also learned to make two different kinds of bread in my Dutch oven (only one pictured here, the other loaf is just my regular sandwich bread recipe). I make French bread and a no-knead bread and both turn out super yummy and are really easy, but also so satisfying to make.
My pie crust helper!
I also finally finished all the pages for my bullet journal.
I'm really happy with how it turned out.
Aaaand we caught a stomach bug. The kids got hit one at a time, so it lasted a week and a half and we got it right as my mom came out to visit (luckily, she somehow avoided catching it and also luckily, it hit between Ashtyn's birthday and Halloween).
Sickies together.
Ben and I got it at the same time as Oliver.
Between sick kids, we carved our pumpkins and I decided to put Leah in a pumpkin.
I thought she'd hate it, but she thought it was pretty interesting (it probably helped that I decided to put clothes on her instead of doing her in just a diaper).
The kids drew a bunch of different ideas for their faces before drawing the faces onto the pumpkins.
Oliver designed his own face, drew it on the pumpkin himself, and then had me carve it for him (espeically getting the guts out, which he did not want to do).
Making the same face as his pumpkin!
Rylee did everything with her pumpkin herself.
Because it was laughing, she made this silly face (the face she was making was why was her pumpkin was laughing).
Making the same face as her pumpkin!
Parker did everything herself too, including getting the guts out despite not liking it (she washed her hands like ten times during the process, but she did it).
Making the same face as her pumpkin!
(she was covering her teeth since her pumpkin only has a few teeth)
Making the same face as her pumpkin!
After we were done with Leah in the pumpkin, Ben carved the pumpkin into this.
The kids thought it was so cool
October was such a fun month! The holidays are a time I always feel so grateful for the life we have and the family Ben and I have created together.
