Sunday, October 25, 2015

House updates

We have been make some house updates lately.  Just for my record I want to write them down.
  • Did some Fall Cleaning and took a load of stuff and clothes to the DI
  • Got our carpets cleaned professionally, first time since we moved in 6 years ago
  • Gave our couches to Steve's friend Zach Hannay, and got some from Dave/Joann, who got some from her dad Carl who is moving back to Arizona.
    • Got new pillows for the couches.
    • Got a new ottoman for the couches.
  • Got a new lamp for the living room.  The lamp has a reading lamp, which has been great for study and readying stories w/ Nyles.  He thinks it's fun! ;)
"New" couches, ottoman, pillows and lamp.  
They are a little smaller than our old couches, so they fit better for the space.
  • Got a new mattress for Steve and I.
  • We rearranged our room.
  • We rearranged Nyles' room.  We took down the crib months ago and he's in a big bed now.  Also put all his toys/books in baskets to try to keep them more organized and cleaned up.
  • We finally got the TV from Steve's grandpa Carl Jensen.  We actually got a really nice HD one through my perk points, then returned it because it was turning itself on/off.  Then we heard Carl was moving back to Arizona and was giving his away, so we've waited a few months to get his.  Our old one was a 32 inch, which we thought was ok, but then we had the 42 inch one and it's so much nicer.  It's nice to have a bigger screen again.  Definitely easier to see!
  • Since we got a new TV, we also got a new DVD/Blu-ray player, plus Modem/Router, in order to speed things up, plus a new cable box (ours was 6 years old and outdated as well).  The Blu-ray also has Netflixs on it and Amazon Prime, so we don't have to use Steve's XBox anymore.  
Our old TV and the new one.

It's refreshing to have a few updates, since we're not moving anytime soon. :)

More from October

Here are some more updates from October.

Nyles riding his bike, in the puddle no less. 



Nyles trying on a dinosaur costume that Pauline let us borrow for Halloween coming up.

Nyles being a ghost ;)

On Wednesday, October 7th we actually had a parent teacher conference for Nyles.  They have kids from ages 3-5, and there are 9 kids in his class.  He's most likely the youngest one in his classroom, but he's doing really well.  Before Thanksgiving Nyles' teacher will give us a a formal paper which will show us different areas where Nyles is progressing based on his age.   Every day of preschool they send home a paper like this letting us know what Nyles did that day.  I've really enjoy seeing the variety that they include in their day and the progress Nyles is making.  Nyles is really enjoying preschool and we are happy to see him learn and grow more every week.  Nyles teacher is named Michael Haycock.  In addition to his teacher, they have a Speech Pathologist who comes into the classroom and works w/ each of the children.  They also have 2 other assistants who are in the classroom at all times.  I love the attention and focus they provide to the children.


Nyles w/ his balloon from Red Robins after we had dinner together one night.

Carrie wanted Nyles to come over and play w/ Lynsie, so Steve dropped him off, then since he was up in the area (Centerville/Farmington Bay), he went duck hunting w/ some friends while Nyles played.  Nyles had a great time.  Thanks Carrie!

Lynsie and Nyles going down the driveway.


Decorating Halloween cookies.  And maybe eating them too ;)

Nyles loves playing at "Mama's" house.  Luckily we live close and he is able to visit pretty often.  Nyles helping cut off the dead plants.  You'll notice he is in shorts.  We've had really warm weather, in the 80's even here in October.  Just this week is it finally getting down to "normal."

Cute footprints from the wet grass.

Nyles being a little camera shy, but putting eyeballs in a muffin tin.



Now rolling up like a bug in a rug ;)

An attachment to our hitch my dad made.  It's a layout blind carrier, so Steve can put his blinds outside the edge.


Sunday, October 18th we got together for a family dinner, and it was Stacie's birthday, so we celebrated that also.  Aunt Diane had some fun games as well.  The girls put on animal masks just for a fun picture.  Lynsie, Carrie, Penny (Nyles and Conor trying to figure out what we're doing), London, Stacie, Kim, Alexa, Melanie and Olivia.

Nyles trying on an airplane costume that Aunt Melanie dropped off.  
Also playing w/ some funny shoes w/ bumps on the bottom.


That afternoon, after Steve had class, they went up w/ Dave and Joann to the cabin to put the boat away for the winter.  They had hoped Nyles would sleep, but instead he played w/ the airplane costume and was wide awake!

Definitely looking like fall up at the cabin. 

The kids helping put the boat away.  Nyles thought it was fun to drive it.
 

And of course he wanted to play w/ the airplane costume so more.

On the way back they stopped at Cafe Rio for some dinner.
Conor and Nyles enjoying a quesadilla. 


Steve has been going out duck hunting just about any chance they can.
Farmington Bay again, since it's close.


Rob w/ him this time.  They were going to go geese hunting yesterday, but unfortunately it got cancelled.  They're hoping to maybe go this weekend.

Nyles ready for a nap after being out w/ dad duck hunting.

And Nyles needing to wake up from a nap.  He's had a busy week!

A trip to see the temple!

Today we had our Primary Program.  Though our past 2 practices didn't go that great, the program surprisingly turned out pretty good.  The kids did really well, and we used up all the time.  I was in charge of putting the program together this year.  We made a few revisions, but not many.  We had a few more kids this year as well in comparison to last year, and they were a year older (7 being our oldest class, and one girl just turned 8 who moved in last week).  It sure is helpful when a few can read!  I've really come to love Primary and the Spirit I feel there.  The music is especially beautiful and the words speak truth to my Spirit.  The children are so precious, even though they can act up at times.  After our Primary program, during Sharing Time, we let the kids make paper pumpkins and play bingo.  I made kettle corn as well as a snack for them.  We had enough the Nursery made the pumpkins too.

Here is Nyles pumpkin he made.

Then for FHE tonight we made sugar cookies and frosted them.  Nyles likes to help me "mix" the dough.  He even helped roll them and cut out the shapes.  He's a good helping most of the time :)

Nyles likes to sit on the counter when helping :)

Cutting out our bat shape.

 See dad...a bat!

Yumm cookies!

We made pumpkins, candy corns and bat shapes.

We then played a game of Candy Land, w/ our own rules.

I'm about half way through my CFP review class now.  Certain things are making more sense this time around for sure, which I'm grateful.  My test will be on the 18th, and I still have a lot to study before then.  I really want to pass and be done w/ it.  We have this week and next week of review class left.  Crunch time!

Steve is working on his class as well.  He had another test in both his lab and class this past week.  He thinks they both went well.

We're excited for Halloween this week as well.  Nyles will have a party during Preschool on Thursday, then Friday we'll have my work Halloween party, then Saturday will be Halloween!  I can't believe it'll be Halloween, but we're looking forward to it at the same time.  Happy Halloween!!!

Gardner Village

On Saturday, October 9th Pauline, Rose and I met up at Gardner Village.  Steve was out duck hunting, so he missed out  ;)  We went around the village looking for the witches, and got to visit some.  Here are some pics from the morning.

Sophia, Charlotte, Ezra, Ava, Nyles and Ali


Ezra and Nyles riding in the wagon eating fruit snacks.

Stopping to look at the ducks.  Nyles could have stayed here the whole time.
Charlotte, Ezra, Ava, Nyles, Sophia and Ali.

Group shot, minus Chris who is taking the pic.  
Charlotte, Pauline, Ezra, Penny, Nyles, Sophia, Rose, Ava and Ali.

Taking a minute to dance it up.  Charlotte, Nyles and Ezra having fun!


Nyles being an airplane, Ezra clapping.


Posing for a pic.

Now pirates, Rrrrrr!

Then we found this cool bubble maker.  
The nice girl demonstrated many times for us thankfully.




Nyles wanted to play baseball w/ the witches. 


Just about done.  Ezra and Nyles eating pretzels.

Nyles and Ezra playing a game while waiting.  Cute boys and cute hair!

It was a lot of fun.  We'll have to do something again soon. ;)