October 27, 2012

We went to a little harvest festival today.  Whitney got to jump on a bounce house and paint a little pumpkin.  Will got one of his favorite things in the whole world - a caramel apple.  It was only two dollars and it had chocolate sprinkles on it.  So it was quite the treat for him.

October 26, 2012

We had our very first snowfall of the year today.  I was hoping that it would hold off until after halloween - or forever.  But at least nothing stuck.  You will have to use your imagination to envision the snow falling because it really was coming down when I took this picture.

October 25, 2012

Rachel has lately been letting go of furniture and remaining standing for like ten seconds at a time.  But, of course, she promptly stopped doing that as soon as the camera came out.  We will have to get a picture later.  I wonder when we are going to have a walking girl.

October 24, 2012

Will and the boys got to carve apples for boy scouts.  Will said the boys had a great time carving faces on their apples and no one even got injured by using the knives.  So they didn't have to practice their first aid skills.

October 23, 2012

We didn't take many pictures today.  Here Whitney is showing her picture to her dad.

October 22, 2012

We let Whitney have a sucker and Rachel wanted one too.  She did a good job holding it and just eating the sucker part, and she mostly just got her hands and face sticky.  It only dropped on the floor like one time.  So worth how happy she was.

October 21, 2012

I cannot remember if Whitney was singing or screaming before church.  Let's hope it was singing.  She really does like to sing church songs.

October 20, 2012

Rachel was mildly interested in the apples we were picking at one of the farms.  She likes sucking on apples, but she spits out any little pieces she accidentally gets now that she has some teeth.

October 19, 2012

It is our happy halloween family picture.  I like it and am pretty amazed that we got all kids to look and smile at the same time.  I am so excited for the upcoming holiday.

October 18, 2012

This proves it, doing hard math requiring a calculator makes you sleepy.  Or the bright camera flash makes you blink, it is one of those.

October 17, 2012

I started making sugar cookies today for our relief society enrichment night.  Will was very helpful at finishing them up by rolling out the dough and cutting it into pumpkin and ghost shapes.  He even said it was kind of fun. Go Will the baker!

October 16, 2012

Rachel had her first of probably many physical therapy appointments today.  She has confirmed tortacollus - or weak neck muscles on one side.  That is why she always has her head tilted to one side.  So we have to do lots of daily neck muscle exercising and go see the physical therapist in Spokane once a week.

October 15, 2012

While Rachel was holding a bracelet, I thought I would just give her a necklace too and she would be quite the lady, but I forgot that she does not like anything around her neck. Sorry baby girl.

October 14, 2012

Two little girls are ready for church.  Whitney had wet hair because she just finished her bath.  Sundays are the only days I attempt to do her hair because she fights it now.  So half the time it is hanging in front of her face.

October 13, 2012

Rachel is just happy to be alive.  Too bad you cannot really see her matching outfit.  It is cute.  I always love getting out new clothes for the girls and dressing them in their bigger things.

October 12, 2012

We decided to get out of the house last Friday and go see the planetarium show at Spokane Falls Community College.  We got to see cool star formations and "land on Mars". So it was interesting.  Unfortunately, the girls were a little cranky so I missed some of the show.  But it was still fun to get out as a family.

October 11, 2012

Notice the shoes and the bellbottom pants and the big smile on her face - Whitney has quite the personality now.

October 10, 2012

We made chefs hats today for letter 'C'.  Then we cooked chocolate chip cookies; the kids loved the dough and loved stirring.  I think they are getting a little better at paying attention too, so that is a nice bonus.

October 9, 2012

I have started babysitting another little boy a couple times of week.  His family is new in the ward and needs a little help with the dad working and the mom in school.  He is a really easy kid who never gets wild or acts crazy or anything.  So far it is working out just fine.

October 8,2012

We used the wonders of the computer to Skype with Emily and her family on Monday. Will's parents are also in Colorado, so we got to chat with them a bit too.  Will even prepared a little Family Home Evening lesson that was for the kids.  Whitney had a fun time talking to her cousins.  It took her a little while to warm up, but she did talk a little bit and kept wanting to get really close to the screen.  Thanks for the fun FHE Guptills.

October 7, 2012

Whitney needed to get outside for a little bit after so many conference sessions.  So we went out to play and we took the "lawn mower".  That is what Whitney calls this plastic pushing toy, but it had a hard time going across the bumpy grass so it wouldn't have made for a good lawn mower.

October 6, 2012

 I decided to surprise Will while he was at the priesthood session of conference by making some apple crisp for him.  We had a lot of apples from our neighbors and I really wanted to do something nice for Will.  It was only like the second time I have made it, but it is hard to mess up apples, butter, and brown sugar. 

October 5, 2012

We have a letters game that is fun.  Whitney likes to take the letter tiles and match them to the correct space on the board.  We talk about what each letter is and some words that start with that letter.  So I think it is a good way to work on letter recognition while still being fun.

October 4, 2012

All of Whitney's summer clothes were put away into storage and long sleeves were gotten out.  I am a little sad that summer time is over and we are quickly entering the cold season.

October 3, 2012

Today we are back in Cheney and we did the letter B for alphabet days.  The kids are coloring butterfly wings to make butterflies.  We also did bubbles and read books and ate banana bread.  So it was fun.

October 2, 2012

Going to the Pacific Science Center to see the King Tut exhibit was amazing.  I was impressed with all the cool things they had from Egypt.  We weren't allowed to take any pictures though, so here we are standing outside waiting to be let into the exhibit.

October 1, 2012

The childrens section in the Vancouver library is awesome.  It is almost like a mini children's museum.  So we all walked down to the library and played for a while.  Here Will and the girls move letters around to form words by twisting buttons and cranks.  There was a lot of fun learning things for the kids.

September 30, 2012

We went to the park after church on Sunday.  Will brought the things needed to make bubbles and we got to do some fun bubbles.  Magnus was pretty impressed by the huge bubbles that Will made (the other kids at the park were too). 

September 29, 2012

We all went to the Portland Zoo on Saturday.  It was the first time for Magnus and Rachel.  And Whitney was just a little baby when we went to the Hogle Zoo two years ago.  We had such a blast looking at all the animals.  Afterward, we were all pretty tired from lots of walking.  I think the kids had a fun time too.

September 28, 2012

We went to Vancouver today to start our fun adventure.  It has been a great couple of days.  We stopped in the Tri-Cities along the way for some birthday celebration.  Here I am blowing out the candles for my brownies (which I like better than cake).