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Sometimes everyday moments make the best pictures.  This is Grandpa Cochran helping Ila wash her hands:

Grandma and Aunt Heidi helping the kids with a Halloween craft:

Nicole and Thomas don’t always get each other, but last week they had a few days of playing together and having fun.  Nicole directed their play and Thomas complied and they really seemed to like being together.

Hat weather is finally here.  The girls were excited to wear their monkey hats.

None of my kids can resist a good leaf pile:

I rarely bake alone in my house.  Whenever the kids see me getting ready to make something, they all want to help.

Ila was so excited to show her grandparents that she can read sentences that she invited Grandpa over to listen.  She read to Grandma at her house earlier that day.

Thomas and his best friend have such fun together.  Every morning Thomas walks over to the calendar and asks if it’s a “buddy Ian day today.”  If I say “yes,” he dances around the room with a huge smile on his face.

Movie night on Nicole’s ceiling:

Ila wanted curly hair for the primary program last week.

Isaac and Charlotte have been working on making stop motion Lego movies.

This is my view of the bus stop each morning.  It’s nice on a cold day to be able to watch from inside my cozy warm house.

Ila got to spend the day with some of her best friends last week.  They even got to spend the night while their mom stayed overnight in the hospital for observation.  At one point we had 12 kids in the house.

Check out the height of Nicole’s jump on the neighbor’s trampoline:

I love that neighbor kids like to hang out at our house.  I hope this trend continues into my kid’s teen years.

I have a hard time investing myself in Halloween too much.  Luckily my kids were happy with leftovers from previous years.  Charlotte was “Rapunzel dressed as a witch,” Ila was Princess Arora, Nicole was a witch, and Issac was a football player.  Thomas refused a costume at first, but eventually let me dress him as a lion.

The Halloween parade at the kid’s school:

Nicole was like a celebrity.  She waved at everyone and gave all the parents high fives as she walked by.

I put a little face paint on Thomas in front of a mirror.  He didn’t like it at first and asked me to wipe it off.

Almost as soon as it was off, he changed his mind and wanted it back.  Suddenly he loved it.

I got to help out at Isaac’s school Halloween party:

After school we went to Zach’s work for a Halloween Carnival.  Charlotte’s best friend rode the bus home with her and spend the evening with us.

Next was the Ward Trunk or Treat at the church.

Nicole with three suckers in her mouth:

The day after Halloween, Isaac played with his team in the championship game.  Isaac is #21.

They won the game.  It was a great ending to his first year of football.  We’ll go to the team party next Saturday.

We had to move our family picture appointment up because Zach scheduled surgery for picture day.  Unfortunately, I had a little mishap as I gave Thomas his pre-picture day haircut.  I gave Thomas his candy bucket and we were singing as I cut his hair.  It was going so well until I shook off the hair from the clippers and the guard fell off with the hair.  I didn’t notice until after shaving this strip right across his head.

There was nothing to do but shave his whole head.  I was a little distraught about the whole thing, but Thomas was still happy as a clam.

Check out all the suckers he opened as I composed myself and shaved his head.

He was distressed when he got his first glimpse of his new haircut.  He said “I sad, Mommy.”  I didn’t capture his initial reaction, but he was upset for several moments.  I hate that his face is so messy in this picture, but there are some moments that you just can’t stage.His sadness didn’t last long.  Soon he was running around looking in the mirror and proclaiming “You cut my hair off, Mom!”  By the next day he was actually so pleased with his new hairstyle that Isaac asked me to shave his head so it looked just like Thomas’s.  I told him he’d have to wait till after our family picture.