Wrapping Up September

Time to post a few random moments that occurred during the month of September.

 We made lots of fruit leather - mostly plum and some peach & pear.  The pear disappeared first.

Elsie has enjoyed taking piano lessons from Annie but since she is leaving on a mission in a few months, it was a good time to make a change.  Annie sent me these pics from their final lesson/party together.  It happened to be pajama day at school for Elsie - hence the peace pj's.

 I don't know how much Elsie learned but she sure LOVED spending 30 minutes a week talking and laughing with Annie.  Now she and Quinn are enrolled in a group class together closer to home with Paula Clark.  It's pretty easy for Elsie right now but will get harder as the year progresses...and it simplified my schedule a bit.

During Homecoming Week the kids dressed up each day and attended the MHS parade on Friday.

It's nice that Anna has friends with hair-do skills.

One day I decided to drive over to Gundersen's Flooring and see what they had in stock for office carpet.  The very next morning they had an installer at our house and the job was done.  Easiest home improvement project to date.  The carpet was really worn through the doorway and had faded under the plastic floor mats so it was rather discolored from the sun.  Now it looks so much better!

It was time to replace the red striped bed-spread.  Aaron and I were both tired of looking at it.  I really like the pattern of this gray one though it's too small for our king-sized bed.  Oh well.  It's not worth the hassle factor of returning this online purchase since I got it for a great price.

Elsie's "new" room

Brinley's "new" room

Quinn's football season has come to an end.  This was his first year to play flag football.  He enjoys the sport but was disappointed to be placed on a team with kids attending a different elementary school.  When I called about it, it was too late to make a change because team jersey's had already been ordered.  There were two Hibbard teams but Quinn ended up with Kennedy players.  He didn't know the coach or any of the players but made the most of the situation.  The highlight of the season occurred when he ran the length of the field for a touch-down and caught an interception pass while playing in a game against all of his school buddies.

Wearing the mouthguard is an important part of football.

Though a bit intense, Quinn's coach worked hard to teach the boys several plays and gave out individual awards at the end of the season.  Quinn received the "Extreme Focus Award".  Essentially, Quinn paid attention when Coach was talking, was respectful and listened well (unlike most of the other kids).  That's my boy!

Shaylee, Elsie, Brekkah

 Elsie went on a few field trips in September.  Visiting Mesa Falls was gorgeous this time of year!

 There is a story behind this cake.  Hopefully, I'll remember to share it another day.

Leaving our (m)hotel Thursday morning

Aaron and I celebrated our 20th anniversary with a quick last minute get-away.  It's wonderful to have kids old enough to handle being on their own for a short period of time.  Of course, we did have Quinn and Elsie get off the bus at G-ma M's and she came over for an hour the next morning just to be sure everybody got off to school okay.  Brinley took care of everything else and mostly the kids left us alone:).

We stopped and enjoyed lunch at Olive Garden before returning home.  We got home before the kids returned from school and they hardly noticed we were gone.  Aaron and I have plans to celebrate (again) in January when I redeem his 2015 Christmas present to me...Happy 20th Aaron!  I love you more every single day.

Spencer B., Logan, Jantzen (on wall), James, Spencer P., Parker, Jaden, Ezra, Mathew

 Jantzen's teacher's quorum - rock climbing activity in Klingler's garage.

 Already thinking about Halloween costumes, Elsie decided to make these emojis the other day.

Last year Brinley applied for and was selected to be part of the Environmental Solutions program.   It combines math, English, science core classes (first trimester only) in an unique way so that the great outdoors is often her classroom!  Exploring new places every week has been a highlight of the program from Brinley.  I'm not sure she's enjoying the statistics involved but being in nature is almost worth it...

Brinley & Meagan

Brinley & Meagan

Brinley, Aubrey, Meagan

It's a relatively small group so they spend a lot of time together.  None of Brinley's closest friends are in her group but she is making new friends and enjoys the field trips when Aubrey & Meagan are around.

I have a few pictures from Tanner but they are not uploading to the blog at the moment.  He left the MTC on September 12 and arrived in Pittsburgh, PA where he is currently in his first area (takes in several smaller communities but lives in Penn Hills, PA) with Elder McGee.  Our mantra has become, "One day at a time...."

Wrapping up September.