The Color Code

Michelle had the brillant idea of using colors to identify the personal belonging of each of our children. She decided that David's color is green, Donovan's color is blue, Michael's color is red, and Aleky's color is orange. Sometimes our boys take this color designation a little too far.

Today our boys are playing with legos. As you can see, David has the green legos, Donovan has the blue legos, and Michael feels that anything left over is his to play with. On other days Michael will only play with the red legos.

Autumn Leaves Are A Boys Pleasure

The best thing about fall cleaning and yard work is the opportunity to play in the leaves. What could be more fun than pilling a bunch of leaves in the center of the yard and the jumping into the middle of that pile? My boys have discovered the simple pleasure of leave piles and Michelle couldn't resist the opportunity for a picture. Of course it would have been me if I wasn't mowing the lawn...

OK, so these last two pictures we're not taken last week but we still like to have fun in the leaves too...!

3 Musketeers

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Halloween...The Three Musketeers and King Louie

Man! With a boy like that how could you not enjoy Halloween! Michael has been so excited about getting dressed up and carrying around his sword and his pumpkin pail. Although I don't think he really understood what was happening, the significance of the occasion, he was having a great time anyway! (I just loved watching him run down the sidewalk, trying to catch up to his brothers, with his Musketeer cape flapping in the breeze. He made walking through the neighborhood such a delight!)

My older boys weren't quite as enthusiastic about the whole process of getting dressed, putting on costumes, being careful not to hit anyone with their sword, posing for pictures, knocking on doors, and "what were we supposed to say again?"

David and Donovan took more coaxing to get them started into the Halloween and trick-or-treating mode. But don't let the sullen faces fool you for a moment. It only took about 9 or 10 doors before they understood the Halloween tradition of trick-or-treating and then they were off like a freight train!

We heard from Grandma Petersen that her neighborhood was fantastic for trick-or-treating last year so we decided we would visit her neighborhood this year. We practiced some door approaches on Grandma's house but the boys reaction was less than enthusiastic. Then we headed off to the "next one" down the street. Michael was cruising along, David and Donovan were dragging their feet and Aleky was just along for the ride. At the next door we rang the doorbell and the boys just stood there. Fortunately their costumes spoke volumes, the neighbors oohed and awed over the boys (and their costumes) and the nice lady gave them some candy. The oohs and awes (about the costumes) made Michelle smile but didn't do much for the boys.

Off to the next house and the next house we went. We passed other costumed spirits and the boys saw them perform the Halloween ritual: knock/ring the doorbell, "yell" trick-or-treat, get candy, move on to the next house with haste. After about 9 or 10 doors David and Donovan understood the ritual and we couldn't keep up after that. David didn't quite get the verbiage correct ("trick-or-treating"). Donovan was great for the "Thank you" and "Happy Halloween" after getting candy. Michael would just grabbed a second candy.

They say that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach; well the way to a boys heart is with candy! Our boys made out like bandits and they had a moment of elation as they brooded over the booty! Then the candy was confiscated, to be eaten in moderation through the coming year! (Yes, it was mean to take all the candy but you have to admit that two full large mixing bowls of candy is more than any boy should eat in one sitting!)

The best moment of Halloween for me was the "Gorilla" in the front lawn. Toward the end of the neighborhood we happened upon a house that had a Halloween decoration in the front yard, out near the sidewalk. Of course David and Donovan arrived long before Michael, Aleky, Michelle and I. But this was a new concept for them and it was so big that they didn't quite know what to do about it.

This gorilla was sitting on a chair right next to the public sidewalk and the sidewalk leading up to the house. I think curiosity kept them from just walking around it and proceeding up to the house. It was great to watch them approach the gorilla, then back away, then walk around it, then back away. Michelle and I caught up to the boys (and we were thoroughly enjoying the moment) and encouraged them to just proceed to the door. But they just could get past this gorilla. All the people in the enclosed porch we quieting each other so they could hear our dialog. It was reaching a comical status. When all of a sudden the gorilla almost lurched forward, uttering a brief grunt! I say almost because the gorilla's movements were almost imperceptible but that was enough to cause Michelle to scream, the boys to flee and left me in stitches (from laughter).

By this point the boys were almost beyond coaxing to get them to pass the now live gorilla and go to the door. The people on the porch were laughing and thought it was great. We did finally manage to get to the door and I think we got extra candy there because of our "show." The most incredible part of the gorilla was that he never moved more than his hand the entire time! I just feel bad I wasn't able to capture that moment on camera!

Head in the Game

Donovan is such a lovable boy and is usually such a joy to be around. He is the best kid for cleaning-up as he will be the first one on the job, put away more toys and usually has the best disposition while doing it! Then there are the times when he can be...well how do I say this...slightly oblivious to the glaring obvious.

One of the common traits that Donovan exhibits is the propensity to walk forward while looking in any other direction but forward. Maybe he is easily distraction, multi-tasking, has extreme concentration on a previous thoughts (ideas, whatever). Regardless, the result is the same, that he walks without looking where he is going. Today he didn't see the cutting board that had been extended for use in the cooking work space. As you can see, above his left eye, he didn't see the cutting board and walked right into it.

We felt bad for him but we were not quite sure what to do. Band-aids don't work so good over the eye and stitches seemed a bit extreme. So he just got to sit with a cold compress (ice in a wash cloth) over his eye to control the swelling and stop the bleeding.

It wouldn't be so bad except that this is the third head injury in as many days! Yesterday he was walking and tripped, smacking his head on the sidewalk! And the day before he did something else! When I want my boys to get their heads in the game this isn't what I had in mind! It has to be something of a miracle that any children ever make it to be adults...!

Family Night Around the Campfire

So there I am working on the computer when David pops his head in the doors, "Dad, can we have a fire tonight?" This happens on a regular basis (not everyday). Mostly he loves to play with matches and see stuff burn (I'm thinking that most boys fit into this category). Quite frequently we tell him "no" or "not today" or "on a different day" or something to deflect the idea to a later time. However, with bottling meat, holiday preparations, and life being crazy (in general) we hadn't prepared anything for dinner...and it was already after 6:00 pm. So I thought roasting hot dogs would kill 2 birds with 1 stone (dinner and a fire for the boys).

Michelle didn't have any objections so off we go! The boys are always eager to help chop the wood, create kindling, get matches and start the flames! It didn't take long before the fire was roaring and the hasty dinner items were brought out to the picnic table. We thought it would be great to let the kids start learning how to cook their own food so each boy (except Aleky) got a roasting stick and a hot dog and did their best (with coaching of course). Apparently it worked because they actually ate their dinner!

Every so often I hit that moment when I realize that my boys are growing up way too fast. There is always work to be done, something pressing that needs immediate attention, but that also includes my boys. They need my immediate attention and tonight I realized that I needed to spend some time with them. These are the memories that will last and will build our family bonds. We had a great time together and have one more Jones Family Memory.

We've Been Boo-ed for Halloween Fun!

About the only time in life when we've been excited to be "boo-ed" happend tonight. We returned home from visiting our friends, the Gossetts (in their new home), when we discovered a plate of goodies and a note on our doorstep. Upon further examination we discovered that the Halloween phantom and visited our home and we had been "boo-ed." We we're excited to see that took the effort to visit our home and deliver goodies.

Now that we've been "boo-ed" it is our turn to continue the "boo-ing" by delivering treats to 3 other households in our ward by tomorrow night! I guess we'll need to make some treats tomorrow so that we can do a little phantoming of our own!!! What a great halloween tradition.

Rhyme (as seen in the photo)
Ghost (not pictured)

Warning! Watching this Video May Increase Desire for More Children...

We took a casual stroll in our backyard (the park) and stopped at the playground. We wanted the kids to burn of some pent up energy. But we couldn't leave with out letting Aleky swing. He was having such a good time that we took this short video.

Primary Program

I'm certainly glad that we got a note this week that David had a part in the primary program today. Otherwise we wouldn't have known about it until we showed up to church. Yesterday David had a program practice and party (all wrapped into one). Today he was able to participate with the entire primary in a program about "I am a Child of God."

We thought the party idea was great. His primary teacher was nice enough to pick David up around 10 am and take him to the church. The first 2 hours were supposed to be devoted to practicing for the program. Then they were going to have a lunch and do a party involving the decoration of sugar cookies! As far as we know it went well. Around 1:30 pm David was brought home by his primary teacher and he had a plate of sugar cookies that were neatly decorated. He also had a 5 helium filled balloons that the boys have been playing with (non-stop) ever since. (These balloons have been the source of numerous contentious activities since yesterday afternoon.)

Today at church David seemed pretty excited to get on the stand so that he could do his part in the program. He pointed out his seat and made sure I knew which seat he was going to sit in, even though he had to wait until after the sacrament had been passed to the congregation before he could go up there. But once he got up there he didn't seem quite as eager to participate (go figure). He did say he part very well and he participated in most of the singing. At one point, after saying his part and having to go to the "back of the line" while the rest of his class said their parts, he decided to sit on the banister! I could just see him falling off and breaking his other arm, not to mention that sitting on the banister in the chapel in front of the congregation (during the services) isn't the most reverent activity a future missionary could be doing!

(contraband pictures of David speaking at the podium)

Ward Halloween Party...A Trial Run for Costumes

We have such a wonderful ward. It seems like every time we turn around the ward has an activity, party or other function that we get to participate in. With Halloween on Friday (next week) our ward decided to do a party a week early; that way there isn't any interference with the trick-or-treating of Halloween night! Besides, this forced us to have our costumes ready for Halloween a week early so there wasn't any last minute stresses and concerns when the time comes!

We chose the Musketeer theme this year. The only problem is that we have 4 boys and only 3 Musketeers! So we headed up the line of royalty and came up with the King himself as the 4th person. With Aleky at the head of the line (as King Louie) we headed to the party.

(Aleky as King Louie)

(Michael)

(Donovan)

(David)

...all for one

...and one for all!

Chris Phipps grew some monster pumpkins this year! Apparently his pumpkins have a whole different kind of "seed" inside!

These primary children were getting lined up for the costume parade. There were some really cute costumes at the party. These parents did a great job preparing for Halloween this year!