Fall update

The more we talk to people we know the more we are finding out that people actually read our blog! Although that is great news, it means that we need to keep up on the posts.

We have been so busy. We have a tradition of going and picking up the boys in Riverton and going to the pumpkin patch a few blocks from their house. This year we had a lot of fun taking pictures and picking out pumpkins. Although getting impromptu family pictures with 5 kids means you don't always get a picture that works out, we did get a couple that were ok.



They have a little trailer filled with straw that they set up for people to use to take some cute pictures, no matter how hard we tried, it was IMPOSSIBLE to get the kids to all look at the same time!







We found a lot of great pumpkins, but I think Molly was having the best time!!


Zoe on the other hand, not so much...

(she fell into a rotten pumpkin and got some mud in her mouth! YUM!!)


Missy was so good and let me take some pictures of her. She is SOOO beautiful!






Even though we have been so busy we found time to take some pictures by some fun leaves that we found as the weather was changing. Molly had every intention of eating, or at least tasting every single leaf she could get her hands on.



Sam it seems was content to just "Ham" it up!






As we have been going through blog posts, and posting pictures on facebook it seems that the one thing that is missing is a picture of me. Missy decided to take matters into her own hands regarding that, and interrupted our leaf photoshoot of the kids to get a picture of me.

I have to admit, I think she did a great job!!! Thanks Missy :)

Fine! I will update.....

Anthony has been so kind to try to maintain our family blog, but I must say, he has left out a lot of stuff. I will do my best to try to remember all that he has left out. I still love you! :P

Sam is still up to being a crazy little handful. He is all boy! I never thought there was that much of a difference, but I am here to tell you, BOYS ARE CRAZY!!!!

Sam likes chocolate pudding!

Sam also likes to put this bucket on his head.

Sam has been obsessed with the Little People grandma doll and the little blue car. He does not let anyone play with her. He will get upset and say, "Where's my grandma?!?!?"

This is how you know Sam is happy. He has his grandma in her car and a bucket on his head. Most may ask at this point if we have had him evaluated yet for mental delays. We are pretty sure he is normal though.

He has not yet resorted to turning footsie jammies into a kangaroo pouch with stuffed lambs. Wait! Maybe we should have all of our children evaluated.

Something that makes both of my boys happy, monster trucks!

Zoe has informed us that she is going to buy a monster truck when she is a doctor.

I did not allow for many pregnancy pictures because of my braces. I felt way too unattractive. Here is one that Anthony snapped without me knowing.

Here is one that my mom took when she was "testing" my camera. This was taken two weeks before I had Molly.

We never posted anything for Sam's second birthday either. Sometimes I feel like such a bad parent. Facebook has ruined blogging for me. Anyway, I will give you all the update on our little maniac and his second birthday.

This was his two-year-old picture. Awww! He is so darn handsome.

There needs to be a blog specifically for sad birthday pictures.

Sam was sad because I would not let him eat his "puppy" cake yet. It is really a monkey, but he insisted that it was a puppy. I guess my cake decorating skills are not as spectacular as I had hoped.

High five!

We had to re-light the candles a couple of times so that he could blow them out again. We eventually just lite a scented candle in the kitchen so he could watch it burn. Now every time he sees a candle he yells, "FIRE!" in excitement. At least we will alway know when he officially became a pyromaniac.

Sam was very thorough with all of his gifts. He took everything out of the bags, including the bottoms.

Sam's favorite present was his dinosaur. Nana bought it for him. This is the most incredible dinosaur toy ever. It blinks, eats, chews, burps, sniffs, laughs, snores and so much more.

Zoe loves having her picture taken as you all already know. Here are some of her early photo shoot pictures (When Anthony was first learning photography).

We attended a family reunion for Anthony's side of the family in August. Here are some fun photos from that.

Sam loves puppies.

Anthony was right about me and photos. I am actually smiling for the camera now. I have a retainer in this picture, but it is still tons better than braces.

Zoe looks forward to making necklaces at the family reunion every year.

Anthony's Mom and Grandma Meservy.

Here is a perfect example of those male and female differences. Zoe is holding the fishing pole and doing everything properly, and Sam is laying in the fishing pond.

Boys also seem to always know how to find a puddle.

Sam has also shown us another thing that boys do recently. Sam was running and fell and hit his chin on the treadmill and split it open. When I was explaining this to Anthony he asked me, "What was Sam doing on the treadmill?" My explanation seems to arouse this question in many individual's minds. He was not ON the treadmill, he just happened to fall into it.

Sam had to get six stitches in his chin. He managed to pull one out the first night. He kept messing with it, so Anthony duct taped the bandage to his face to keep the other five stitches in.

He had them removed on a Wednesday and smacked it open on Friday. The doctors said that they could not re-stitch it due to the increased risk of infection. Sam now has his first official chick magnet, a scar.

YAY!!! Zoe's first day of school......x4?!?!?!?!

Fourth "first" day of school. Picture by Dad.

Yes your read that right, Zoe had her first day of school for the 4th time this year. Just to clear up exactly what that means; Zoe started kindergarten at a charter school in Syracuse, on Antelope drive by 3000 West, which shall remain nameless. Anywho, that experience was riddled with frustrations for us and her, and although we hoped it was going to be more organized than public school, we ended up disappointed. So after a week of that we moved her to the public school down the street for her 2nd first day of kindergarten. Well after Zoe's pre-kindergarten assessment her teacher suggested having Zoe tested for first grade. (Something that Utah school districts fight letting happen with an unimaginable passion.) After numerous phone calls, meetings, assessments, and a few weeks of Zoe reading second grade material to groups of kids in her kindergarten class, the school agreed to put Zoe into a kindergarten/first grade scenario. She moved from her afternoon kindergarten class into a morning kindergarten class. At that point Zoe experienced her 3rd first day of school this year. During this transition period, she attended first grade after her kindergarten class was over.

After a week of going to kindergarten in the morning, and first grade in the afternoon, Zoe decided that she didn't want to go to kindergarten anymore, and took it upon herself to just go to first grade from there one out. Well the principal, school psychologist, and both her teachers met with us, and we all decided that maybe Zoe was onto something. So at long last, Zoe had her 4th and final "First" day of school this year! So as with the other 3 first days of school this year Zoe got her first day of school pictures taken :)

First "first" day of school. Picture by Mom.

Second "first" day of school. Picture by Mom.

Second "first" day of school. Picture by Dad.

Third "first" day of school. Picture by Dad.

Zoe also celebrated her 6th birthday recently. Wow!!! She is getting so big. She will at least be fairly close in age to her classmates now. We threw her her very first surprise party. She received pretty much everything on her wish list and more.

It would appear that I was lazy this year with making her cake, but this is actually what she requested. I am not complaining, this was tons easier than the jewelry box or carriage cakes.

She even selected her birthday dinner. She decided to go to Tepanyaki, this has been one of her favorites for a while now. We can only maintain her lifestyle for a couple more years though. This has been made possible by the very simple requests of her brothers (i.e. Carl's Jr. Yuck!).

One of her requests was a puppet theater and puppets.

Dad put on a puppet show for the kids.

The kids put on some shows for us too.

We all went swimming at Nana's the next day to keep the celebration going.

I have been excited and saddened by all of the advancements in my little girl's life. To add to it all, she lost her first tooth.

There should be some sort of rule which requires children to advance slowly so that parents can gradually cope. She is still playing the piano spectacularly and we will hopefully post video of her playing soon. Until then, here is a video of her doing a new cheer that she learned at school.