Intel has a team building activity that they opened up for families. Dadam is in London, but our friends the Ashton's were a big part of the planning and let us crash without bringing Dadam!! We enjoyed pretzels, strudel, bratwurst/hotdogs and German potato salad.
As you can see for the pictures above they also had a man making balloon animals for the kids. After they bounced their night away in the bounce house we had lots of fun balloons made. Adam got a red airplane, Addison got Rapunzel, Alex got a sword and Amelia got a flower. As you can see Hayden got a Firebolt, I hope it lasts until Halloween for him. He is going to be Harry Potter :)
The evening was great. The adult conversation was a much needed treat :)
Dadam headed to London during Fall Break. He is going to visit Uncle Jacob, Aunt Rachel & Gavin for a few days. He is also working at Intel and visiting a mission buddy and his family. As you can see from the picture Alex was having a hard time in the airport. Dadam has been working hard and is enjoying the visits with everyone!!
Halloween Ghost
We had a fun Family Home Evening preparing goodie plates to surprise our neighbors and friends. Each of the kids were able to pick a friend to surprise. Their videos are fun to watch :)
The Great Outdoors
We took a ride around the 101 Loop of Phoenix again and stopped at Cabela's. The kids had fun looking at the animals and shooting targets! I can really see Alex becoming a great hunter :)
Zoo Therapy
One of our field trips for Alex's therapy during Fall Break was the zoo. Theresa, one of my college friends brought her girls along for the fun!!
Alex was able to work with Lacey on listening, walking and staying close as well as dealing with lots of people in public places.
Having Teresa and her girls there was so great for the kids. They were able to interact with them at the exhibits throughout the zoo.
We also tried to go to a movie during Fall Break. After trying two movies we bailed on the idea. Fall Break was very busy and helpful for Alex.
By now we all know how much Alex loves Pirates! When we saw that the Science Center was going to have an exhibit on Pirates it was pretty much a given that we would be going!! Because we have a 10 day fall break this year I spoke with Alex's rehabilitation worker about doing some activities that Alex usually struggles with. She agreed and we made this activity number one!!
Alex started out in his stroller, but he quickly decided to get out and go to work with Ms. Lacey. We made our way to the third floor to see the exhibit. I was really surprised when he told us that once we left the exhibit we couldn't return. I didn't know then, but that was very bad news.
The exhibit started with a movie recapping the history of the ship and the pirates on the ship. The effects were great and Alex was very excited. The kids had fun learning about pirate flags and getting to hoist the flags. They had recovered a lot of artifacts from the ship as well as guns and cannons. The treasure was the only pirate treasure ever really found which I didn't know. I was surprised that it was silver and not gold.
We made our way through the whole exhibit and found ourselves at a gift shop of course!! The kids were pretty good and after looking around and we headed down stairs to the main museum.
The fist thing that we saw as we exited the elevator was the toddler heart filled with balls. That was the point that Amelia was ready to get out of her stroller!! As you can see from the photo above Adam and Addison had fun racing wheel chairs. Ms. Lacey helped Alex build the skeleton puzzle and then Adam enjoyed taking a turn. While Alex was building a skull he said to me "I'm a doctor Mom".
We made it through the rest of the museum in record time. Alex was ready to see the pirates again :( He kept repeating himself and I knew that there was no way to do that unless I paid for it once again.
We made our way to the front of the museum and hit the big gift shop. We got some space ice cream and escaped as fast as possible!
Pizzeria Bianco is right next door to the museum. The restaurant is small and quite perfect to work with Alex on his sensory issues, and it is great pizza! Alex had a hard time so it was good to have Lacey there to see how he handles restaurants.
Once lunch was finished Alex was ready to once again see the pirates. We had tears through the parking lot and into the drive home.
Alex passed out within 10 minutes of being in the car. Amelia on the other had made the drive home very interesting. She was crying a lot which wasn't to unusual (we were invading her nap time), but at one point she stopped crying and I asked Adam if she had fallen asleep. He looked over at her and announced that her face was covered in blood. I was driving down the interstate and so I glanced back quickly and sure enough she was. I had Adam take a picture so that I could get a better look. I noticed the blood was coming from her nose. We arrived home and because Amelia was sleeping I just transferred her into her bed. Once she woke up we took a few pictures and then cleaned up :)
Family Home Evening was kickball with a few other families. We had a great time playing with the kids. After our headlight lit game ended the Dads walked the kids to a yogurt shop while the Moms drove to get things set up.
Today after church we truly started our Fall Break! The kids picked out their pumpkins from the ones that Mom had bought the night before. This year that part was so serious that we wrote names on the bottoms of their pumpkins! Once the pumpkins were picked out and play clothes were put on the kids were able to draw on paper what their pumpkins were going to look like this year. One of the only times that they get to use sharpies is while drawing their faces on the pumpkins! The fun part in next...painting the faces onto the pumpkins is always for for the kids! I love watching them go from the beginning of the process to the completed masterpiece :) We have some pretty creative pumpkins this year, I can't wait for the carving to begin.
Our own little pumpkin patch!
Chicken, Waffles & Conference!!
Each conference weekend our family enjoys waffles and ice cream for breakfast. Last weekend however we enjoyed yummy cinnamon rolls while visiting friends and family in New Mexico. After we painted our pumpkins we created some gluten-free chicken nuggets and waffles in preparation to watch conference with our little ones! I thought that by adding the chicken nuggets it would make it more into a dinner!! You know how popular chicken and waffles are these days!! I don't think the waffles come with ice cream though.
I have always been nervous about celebrating and keeping our traditions with our new diet changes, but I must say the waffles and nuggets were quite yummy :)
Amelia learned how to jump on the trampoline last weekend while we were in Albuquerque. When Alex isn't jumping for therapy Amelia is taking her turn very seriously! As you watch the video you can even see her push her brother off so that she can continue to jump.
Amelia and I were in Target this week picking up a new cup for Alex. I forgot his cup in Albuquerque :( I am happy to say that they had a few in the back (none in the front of the store) and we bought two! Amelia and I strolled through the toy section, she doesn't mind playing and putting things back on the shelf!!
We don't need one of these at our house, but I got great pleasure watching her dance and sing along with Elmo!!
Tuesday night Adam was able to tour the Fire House, and receive his first scout awards. The boys started the tour by seeing where the Firefighters live. They each have a kitchen to share as well as a living room with a very nice t.v. There are only 4 firefighters at the station that we visited. They have their own rooms and work in 24 hour shifts.
Once the inside of the station was toured the boys were able to watch Mrs. Merrill get dressed in the actual uniform. She was an amazing sport through out the experience. She not only put on the clothes that the firefighters have to put on in less than 35 seconds, but she also carried the oxygen tank (which they made work) and the axe. The Firefighters even had her crawling on the ground so that the boys could see and she could feel the full effects of the suit!
Everyone was very excited to go inside the truck. The area that they were in fits 4 adult riders, but we had over 10 kids in the cab!!
Using a blanket the firefighters taught the kids how the smoke effects them in an inclosed space. They were instructed to drop to the floor and crawl. This was hard for Adam, he wasn't interested in getting on the floor!!
I think that over all the boys had a great time and learned a few things! Once the tour was over it was time to hand out the awards that the boys had earned over the summer and past months.
We are so proud of Adam and the hard work that he is putting in to scouts. He earned his Bobcat, Bowling Belt Loop, Reading and Writing Belt Loop, Swimming Belt Loop, Good Manner Belt Loop, Hiking Belt Loop, Chess Belt Loop, and Family Travel Belt Loop.
Dadam and I had been throwing around the idea of going to the Balloon Fiesta for the last couple of weeks. Dadam has been in the thick of it at work and school hasn't really given him a lot of free time as of late. Tuesday we had made to decision to go and by the end of the day work had changed that decision to a no go. Wednesday we were back on in the morning, but it was a maybe by the afternoon!! Thursday came and Dadam said it was on and we were in the car by 4:00 pm headed to Albuquerque. I drove so that Dadam could study, he had one paper and two finals that had to be done by Sunday. I know we picked a great weekend to get out of town!!
Friday morning Dadam was working and in meetings and so the zoo (I love the Albuquerque Zoo, it is the perfect size.) was a great option for the kids and I. We still had not told anyone, but Troy and Jen that we were coming to Albuquerque so we let Lil Adam call Nanee and invite her to the zoo. We also invited Spencer and Owen to come and play with us!
We started our day with a picnic by the polar bears. Subway, chips, cookies and juice...yummy :) The polar bears were first on the list to visit and they didn't disappoint. The bears were out playing and we enjoyed watching them. The cat walk was great fun, except the lions weren't out.
After the cat walk we walked over to the duck pond. I wish that I had a pocket full of quarters, but I didn't...the kids had fun watching them though. A peacock was by the pond as well and boy was he fast. I am guessing my little ones are the only ones that give him a good run for his money :) We all enjoyed the sea lions. While we were enjoying the sea lions Nanee and Uncle Jared joined us. The kids were thrilled of course and after the excitement subsided we headed towards the monkeys and Africa.
I know that I have chatted about this chair in past entries, but I just love it! I have truly enjoyed watching my children grow up in this chair. This day was no different, all of the past memories just come flooding back and I get so excited!
4:35 am Saturday morning alarms went off, kids were woken and dressed and stuffed into cars! We sat in traffic about 45 minutes to get into Balloon Fiesta Park. The wait becomes so worth it though when you see your children light up at the sight in front of the. This was the first time to the fiesta for Alex and Amelia. Alex was saying "Balloons up, Balloons down. " Amelia was all smiles, which was amazing for me.
Entering the park with the Navarette Family, Chris and Parker was fun. The kids were so excited. We walked onto the field together took the above family photo, but within minutes had separated accidentally. I couldn't believe that none of the phones had service. We could not find each other on the field. We tried and tried, but the phones never worked. Such a bummer.
We were able to be on the field for about 30 minutes before Alex started to have a hard time. There were record breaking numbers of balloons going up and people trying to get the best seats for the show. We tried as quickly as possible to work our way to the outside of the field which took a good 10 minutes. Once we were off the field there was a little more space, but the speakers were very loud.
We ducked behind an Army Reserve truck and enjoyed a little breakfast. Alex was still having a hard time so we made our way to the exit. We enjoyed the next hour from the van. Dadam moved the van so that we could watch as we waited for the Navarette's and Shepard's to finish. I must say that I was glad we couldn't reach them at this point. I would have hated for them to have rushed watching the balloons because of us.
I think that the kids enjoyed the morning. It truly was a perfect day for the Balloon Fiesta.
The rest of Saturday we enjoyed a soccer game, thoughts of naps and yummy burgers! Dadam worked on a final and then the guys attended Priesthood Session.
Sunday Dadam had a hard time signing onto Duke to take his final...That is never a good thing right! We headed to Great Grandma Greg's and watched the first session of Conference with Nanee and Great Grandma Greg while Dadam took his test. After Dadam was done we met up with Uncle Jared and enjoyed a good-bye lunch at Dion's.
The trip was short, and full of school work for Dadam, but it was nice to spend some time with him before he heads to London next week!
I truly need to send a special shout out to Hunter. He was such a stud while we visited. Friday and Saturday night after the kids had gone to bed he stayed at the house and let us big people slip out and enjoy ourselves. THANK YOU Hunter!! You Rock :)
Teacher by trade, Mother by choice! Being a Mom is nothing that I expected and everything I expected and more. I have four wonderful children and they are each special in their own ways. My job each day is to love them care for their needs and make sure that no one takes advantage or gives them the shaft. The industry calls me an advocate, but Mom works just fine for me :)
