Grocery Geek

Who takes pictures of their kid in a grocery store?

I do! 

(the guy behind me in line thought I was a little much, but I couldn't help myself...it's Tinkerbell!!)

After the grocery store, we went to Claire's preschool Halloween party:

Claire and her friend/carpooling buddy Owen

1-2-3 Learn, Tuesday/Thursday preschool class

They had a costume parade, sang some Halloween songs for the parents, played games, scored some sweet prizes and overall had a fun-filled day of preschool.

Virtual Vacation

We are cooking here in miserable 100 degree weather at the end of October and can't help but dream about where we were exactly 1 year ago...

doing a little of this...

sigh...

(plus how fun to trick-or-treat on a cruise ship with my parents!) 

double sigh...

Dress-Up Day

So these days, there is no such thing as Halloween in schools... there are "harvest" days, but personally I don't think kids get super-excited because squash is in season.  

I miss the good ol' days of dressing up at school for Halloween.  Last Friday, Dallin's school has "dress-up-like-your-favorite-book-character" day instead.  Although Dallin will be Zorro for Halloween, we didn't have a Zorro book and he couldn't bring his mask or sword to school... no fun for Zorro, so we improvised and decided to bring his favorite pirate book and dress up like a pirate:

This school day consisted of a character parade and a "harvest rotation"(where all the kindergartner's move from room to room and do different fall activities).  I was able to assist in Dallin's classroom for a bit (thank you Grandma Charmaine for babysitting):

After school, we swapped costumes and got ready for our ward Halloween party.  

Dallin donned his Zorro costume, 

Claire became Tinkerbell, 

and Spencer was a comfy monkey. 

 

Peter and I were the Spartan cheerleaders from the funny SNL skit.  We were very surprised how few people actually knew who we were dressed up as (who doesn't know Craig and Arianna?).

Here's the fam feeling the Halloween spirit...

The kids had a great time at the trunk-or-treat party playing games, walking in the costume parade, hanging out with their friends and of course, trunk-or-treating.

Claire and Aubree - Trevor, Ethan, Dallin and Gavin (Dallin's friend from school)

The next day, we decided to go to Orange County so that I could find a dress for my brother's upcoming wedding and so the kids could play with their fun Daddy.

Dallin at the Koi pond & Claire with her new movie

The kids on the ferris wheel

My sweet little love-bug

What a weekend!

Wrong Word

When I was a little girl, I thought these were

Oriental Wheat Thins...

Dallin thinks these are 

Automatic FireBalls...

Eye theenk whe knead two wurk ahn arr rheedeeng scils :)

Pumpkin Patch

Why the Waldron family loves the 

Halloween pumpkin patch:

we get to wear our spooky/cute new 

Halloween outfits...

we can fly on the swings...

we get out some energy on the 

bouncy slide obstacle course...

we are super-happy...

we get to try new things 

(like attempt to push a wobbly wheelbarrow all over the patch)...

we play games for prizes 

(see Dallin's green hugging monkey above)

and we of course get to pick out our very own pumpkin...

What a happy pumpkin patch family night!

Baby Blessing

This past weekend was a wonderful one.  We had lots of family come into town for Spencer's baby blessing.

Saturday, October 11 - My parents (Papa/Nana), my brother Dave, his fiance Erin, and my sister Jen arrived.  The kids waited all morning at the window for them to drive up.  I was told that as they pulled up, they saw Claire slumped over leaning on the window sill with a sad face.  The moment she saw their car and heard their horn honking, she lit up and began jumping up and down.  I absolutely love that we all get so excited to see each other no matter how long the separation has been.  

We were able to meet my brother's fiance Erin for the first time and she is simply wonderful!!  

After chatting for a bit, we headed over to South Coast winery for a delicious breakfast outside on the patio and had a mini-bridal shower for Erin and Dave.  

The rest of the day was spent playing and relaxing at home.  We watched the BYU football game, complete with pizza and root beer floats.  Grandpa and Grandma Waldron and Pete's brother Steve arrived that evening and we had a house full of so many people to play soccer and games with, talk to, and enjoy.  

Sunday, October 12 - Spencer's blessing day.  It was a wonderful blessing (even though the microphone didn't work) and I am so grateful to have such an incredible husband to bless our sweet children.  In the blessing circle was Peter, Dad Hinckley, Dad Waldron, Dave Hinckley, Rick Chase, Derek Scott, Bill Cherry, Todd Crump, Nate Randle and Brad Snell.  After sacrament meeting, we all piled into the Primary room to hear Dallin give the scripture and prayer.  We headed back home to spend the rest of the day together.  

Some highlights of the day include the blessing (of course), a riotous game of Apples to Apples, a nice fall walk, outdoor conversations, watching 'Enchanted' (Claire asking Papa to dance), celebrating Jen's birthday (October 13), cat-naps, etc.  

I am kicking myself for not taking more pictures, but it really was a memorable weekend in honor of our little Spencer.

Frustrating Football

BYU vs. TCU

I'm speechless...

Our amazing winning streak smashed by a bunch of frogs (with amazing defense).  

Darn it!!

Flawless Football

The quest for perfection continues... and we are loving every minute of it!  We literally get giddy with anticipation for the next game to arrive, so we are hanging on until Saturday... goooooooo Cougars! 

Baby Dallin and Baby Claire got an early start with the BYU football infatuation (ok, so it was forced :)).

Date Decline

Here's the short version of today's story:

-Thought I would be a cool mom and check Dallin out of school during lunch and take him to Chick-fil-A.

-Got everybody ready and made the trek up to Dallin's school (not the easiest task right now).

-Signed him out and his teacher was notified of this fun idea (thanks Ally).

-Dallin emerged from his classroom with some confusion on his face.

-I joyfully told him about our sneaky lunch escape (he, he, he). 

-He then broke into tears! :(

-How dare I tear him away from free-time with all of his new friends?

-I kissed his head, wiped all of his tears away and sent him back into his classroom to be with his favorite lunch buddies.

I am thrilled that Dallin loves kindergarten more than the playground and milkshakes at Chick-fil-A, but I have to say that I'm a quite bummed that I got rejected today by one of my favorite dates... so I took Claire and Spencer out for lunch.  They had no other choice. :)

Peace Prize

*Avery and Dallin - cute friends and Peace Builder award winners

Dallin received an award today at Friday Morning Line-up (an all-school assembly of sorts that is held outside every Friday morning).  He was recognized for being a peace-builder at school and earned a place on his school's 'Pillars of Peace Wall'.  After he was recognized with the other Peace-builders, their pictures were taken for the wall and they attended a special reception in the cafeteria complete with juice and yogurt to celebrate.  

Here is what was read about Dallin as he came up to accept his award:

"Dallin Waldron earned a place on Nicolas Valley's Pillars of Peace wall for helping others.  Dallin made a new friend feel welcomed in class.  He makes sure she is included when they play."

It is fun to see Dallin adjusting so well to Kindergarten and that he is his best self at school.  He really is a great friend and student and I am so pleased that he was rewarded for it today. 

Congratulations Dallin... you are awesome!

Triple Threat

It's official... I'm outnumbered and I don't quite know what to do.  I was an awesome mom of one, I learned how to be a pretty good mom of two, and now I am simply trying to survive with three.  

-How do I keep the house clean when they eat, drink, color, disassemble, and disorganize whatever they want when I am feeding the babe?  

-How do I walk through the grocery store with one in a car seat and the others running freely with gay abandon and not lose them or my sanity?

-How do I shower without having to wake up at 4 am (even though I am realistically already up at that lovely hour with one of them).  

-How can I be cute for my husband with spit up on my shoulder, play-doh on the bottom of my shoe, crayon marks on my pants (okay, sweatpants), and a headband holding my greasy hair back (refer to the lack of shower comment)?  

-How do I go visiting teaching and have it be a positive experience for these poor ladies that open the door to find utter mayhem about to walk through their door?  

-How am I supposed to remember everything necessary for the diaper bag each time we leave the house (had an awesome diaper explosion yesterday with no new outfit for my poor little Spencer... gotta love being naked in a car seat).? 

-My final question for anyone with multiple children... how do I ever think about having another one?  :)

My motto started out to be "one day at a time" and has quickly changed to "just get through another hour."  I have to say that amongst all of the mess (both mentally and physically), I absolutely love being a mom and wouldn't trade it for any other job or title in this world.  Here's to getting through the next hour...