The Pumpkin Patch

On Tuesday we gathered our crew and headed to RC Acres in search of three perfect pumpkins. Fall presented itself beautifully, providing a breathtaking sunset for our adventure and a warm breeze to push us along. October squeezed the last of its colors for us, and we drank in the beautiful scenery chalkfull of yellows, oranges, browns, and reds. 

It was so good to get away from our busy days for a moment and savor beautiful Idaho together as family. 

We enjoyed kernal pits, tubing slides, haystacks, train rides, and a corn maze...and Matthew particularly enjoyed the little green wagon he got to jolt around the patch in. 

We set out on a quest, and found the world's best pumpkins for carving...that were slightly rotten.

We ran and we laughed and we felt everything life was meant to feel like.

I live for evenings like the one we spent at the pumpkin patch.

Happy Fall. :)

As Today Comes to a Close...

• Sometimes people ask me what I've done all day and I have absolutely no idea how to answer, I know I'm busy- but it is hard to figure out what made it so. Today was not one of those days. Today I cleaned. ALL. DAY. LONG.  It was needed, it was therapudic, it was tiring, it was frustrating, it was refreshing, it was humbling, it was uplifting.  My house is now clean. Tomorrow by 9:00 am, it won't be. 
• John called me on the phone and while he was trying to tell me our car's head gasket was going out and discuss options, I had Matthew screaming bloody murder because I wasn't getting mashed up squash in his mouth fast enough, I had William pulling my hair and punching me (and when I'd mouth, "No hitting." he would grimace, flex, and mouth back, "I hulk!") Johnny was at the kitchen table trying to put together a puzzle- well, four puzzles-  he mixes them all together to challenge himself, haha...anyway, puzzle boy kept sporadically hollering, "I'm trying to concert-ate, please be silent!" Caity, bless her heart was doing her own puzzles in her room...with Taylor Swift playing loudly despite her mother's constant nagging to "turn Taylor down." I am pretty sure I asked John five times how far away he was from home within those ten minutes.
• Family dinner was a semi-success (AKA- everybody actually ate their food), and Family Night was sooooo much easier with John home. He has had late nights studying and it was nice having him there with us! William insisted on helping everyone in their "jobs", with his shirt half off and pulled over his head.  Through out scripture reading he would rock climb up my back, while Matthew crawled back and forth over my legs squawking and snorting.  Caity thinks it is the funniest joke to skip a verse and she will do so almost every time, and John and I look at eachother all annoyed and tell her it isn't funny anymore, but she doesn't let us get her down and she giggles her way through the correct verse. And then there is Johnny, who happens to bein his own world and when it is his turn to copy back what John and I read, he gets it all muddled in the most sincere way ("And it came to pass..." "...And I went to dash"),  allwhile he hangs upside down from the couch. 
• No matter how rough the day feels there are always little moments that bring it all full circle and find me in a very happy place. We were talking about compassion at Family Night and as I was looking at the three oldest, my heart was just so full in the cheesiest-everyone-will-probably-skim-over-this-way. Each of their eyes were concentrating in their own individual way as they huddled together on one and a half couch cushions. They are so small, yet so powerful. Children are a gift.  Today was kind of hard, but it was mostly good. I feel grateful to be loved by John and to be able to love those crazy kids. Would I do today again? Nope. But you better believe I am excited for tomorrow!

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William Coloring and Growing Up

This morning as I was laying in my bed, I watched William walk from Caity's room his bedroom dragging a coloring book in one hand and her box of crayons in the other.  He plopped himself in the corner, still within my view, situated his book and crayons, and got to work, one crayon at a time. He scribbled with one crayon, then put back, sighed and grabbed another crayon.  This continued for a good five to ten minutes.

Monday, during family night, it was William's turn to say prayer. When John told him to go in front of everyone, He gathered his ninja turtle notebook and coloring crayons and juggled them with his short arms to the front of the room to say prayer. He put his book and crayons down while he folded his arms and when he said, " 'men!" he squatted down to start process of picking it up again to drag back to his spot so he could continue his masterpiece.


Coloring is a new hobby of William's. I love watching his little eyes focus and his squishy fingers grip crayons and blonde little eye brows furrow while I hear his deep breaths because he is concentrating so hard.

I also love walking in on all three older kids laying on a blanket in Caity's room coloring together. Caity and Johnny are talking about something and Wills just looks so proud of himself that he can hang out with the big kids.

It has been fun watching him grow up and spend more time playing (as opposed to taunting) his older siblings.  Johnny, William and I played some board games yesterday afternoon.  William was so excited every time someone got a match. He would shout, "YAAAAAY!" and clap his hands together. Then we read books and every time he would see a bug he would say "BUG! Smash!" and procede to slap the book page where the bug is located. To which Johnny says, "William! We don't kill bugs!" (His sunbeam teachers at church taught him that we don't harm God's creatures, even bugs- and he has taken it to heart.) After Johnny's miniture lecture, William looks at Johnny, looks back at the page and says, "BUG! Smash!" and smashes that bug to reiterate to Johnny what he is about.

As I have been typing this, William has sat next to me to me organizing hot wheels cars by color.
It has just been such a joy to watch him grow into his own (slightly stubborn) person.

It's November!

Yesterday was a brisk autumn day. Our front lawn is completely blanketed with leaves now, and I think our tree is only half way through its shedding. 

I tried to be particularly grateful yesterday, despite being surrounded by whiny voices, teasing hands, and stubborn toddlers that insist climbing on the dining room table.

It was hard but there is a lot to be happy about.

Just like the pumpkin assignment, Caity brought home a turkey in need of a disguise for Thanksgiving. Caity asked me if we were going to kill a turkey. I said, "No, we're just going to eat one." That seemed to appease her...for now.

After hashing out many options for her turkey's disguise, from mummies to penguins to Santa Claus, we narrowed in on a pinata.  It was a lot of fun to make together. 

For family night we learned about the First Thanksgiving and talked about Pilgrims and gratitude.  We started our Gratitude Poster.  It will be hanging in our house through the month of November and everyone can add items on it every day.  It is fun for me to see what kinds of things people put down.  Johnny was thankful for his two robots, Caity was thankful for "famlees" and "skool." John was thankful for 3 wheeler rides with Caity and I was thankful for bedtime (because yesterday it couldn't come fast enough!:) )

So, here's to a good November! 

Clean and Comfy

Nothing makes me happier than clean little children all cozy in their pajamas, emanating the smell of baby shampoo. Yesterday, when we got home from my cousin's volleyball game we had dinner and hopped in respective showers to get ready for bed.

A while back, I let the kids pick out some pajamas at Walmart, we pulled them out today and boy, were they excited.

Oh, they are just so fun.

John was late at school, but the kids wouldn't let us miss family night for anything. Ha ha.

We did a lot of Halloween themed lessons and games, then had pumpkin shaped rice krispie treats. It was so fun. Despite all the "Ok, sit down now." or "OK, are you listening?" 's...it was a good time. 

(i love this witch, so much.)

They were all pretty hyper, especially William.

He kept growling and singing and walking in circles.  Every time the ghost in our story changed colors he would yell and then laugh so hard while burying his face into the couch.  Speaking of interruptions, Caity would tell "the moral of the story" before we got halfway through the lesson.  Meanwhile, Johnny just kept jumping on the couch saying, "I'm gonna get him! I'm gonna get him!" Who he was talking about is beyond me, but that guy better watch out because Johnny is going to get him!  As you can tell, we have our act together over here at the Brassell House.

After Family Night, I thought it would be fun to watch The Nightmare Before Christmas with Caity and Johnny while we waited for dad to get home.  Earlier in the day, I finally, FINALLY, got around to making their Halloween pillowcases (I bought the fabric for them last September before William was even born.)  They were pretty excited, which made the effort so worth it.  Caity literally screamed. Like, I thought she was dying or something and ran in her room to find her hugging her pillow. I knew I liked having her around. :) Anyway, they ran back to their rooms and grabbed their pillows, and I started the movie.  When I got back from putting William to bed, I took inventory of how the kids were doing.  By their horrified face expressions, it was pretty clear I made the wrong movie choice. "Curious George's Halloween it is!" I thought. :) Parenting Fail.  

John came home and off to bed the children marched.
John and I drank some hot chocolate and ate pumpkin toast and watched Everybody Loves Raymond.

Then, I decided to stare at my kids while they slept, because that is just not creepy at all.

Felt pretty lucky to be their "Mudder" (as Johnny calls me these days.)