Busy Andrew

It's been a while since I did my last "Busy Andrew" post.

He has slowed down a lot, but, he is still a busy guy!!

(If your kids ever get sharpie on your leather seats...use aerosol sunscreen!  It took it right off).

Half of these pictures involve markers.  No more buying markers until Andrew is 20.

He made himself a bowl of cereal.

He was SO proud of himself!!  ha ha!

Surprisingly, washable markers were really hard to get off the vinyl.

We had three fish.  Two died in two days.  I think I figured out why.

Andrew did some painting during general conference.

I think I may have a future chef on my hands!

Saturday pictures, museum, and sushi!

On Saturday, we had our family pictures taken by Busath Photography!!

(I can't tell you how excited I am about it!  I get to see the pictures on Friday!!!!)

After pictures, we had an hour before Darin's cousin's wedding reception.

So, we decided to check out the newly reopened Church History Museum.

It was awesome!  We could have spent more time, but the kids had fun!

Lindsay did this pose without any prompting.  I LOVE these two.
(And I love Andrew who was still wondering around the museum when I took these).

After the reception, we went out for sushi with Rick and Olivia.

It was Oliva and Matt's first time.

Olivia did really good!  Matt did AWESOME too!! 

 He even ate some of our sashimi and asked for more!!

Lindsay, calls herself  "the sushi maniac."

That is true.  She LOVES it!

I'm so glad our kids (minus Andrew) are so adventurous!

(We were holding up our chopsticks because they say "Nagoya" and that is where Darin's parents are serving their mission).  Thanks for the picture Rick!

Museum of Natural History

Kristy kindly shared her free tickets to the Museum of Natural History with us.

We had a wonderful time!

It was my first time going since they've been in the building.
(I spent a lot of time at the old museum when I worked there.  It is WAY WAY better now!)

I love how much Lindsay LOVES Eliza!

Kristy was the stroller master.
She had 4 kids in at one time!

I think Jess's little boy, Hunter, is so dang cute!

I think that this was Andrew's favorite part.
I love that cute Reese, but check out Andrew's face in the background.  

Thanks for sharing your tickets, Kristy!

Halloween Decorations

I LOVE Holidays, but my Holiday decor has been lacking.

I stepped up my Halloween decor and I'm thrilled with how it turned out.

And, I did the whole room for $10!

I made the raven picture that says "Nevermore" in paint and printed it at staples.

I cut the bats out of paper. I got the pumpkins, black fabric, bottles, birds and skull at the dollar store.

Then, I just poured black paint on the inside of the bottles and added the labels.

General Conference

I LOVE General Conference!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!

My kids are starting to love it too, which makes me really happy!

We made our "General Conference Wall" again this year.

Saturday night, Andrew pulled down and crumpled all of our notes.
I spent Saturday night ironing the kids' pictures and putting them back on the wall.
The whole time I ironed, I stared at President Uchtdorf's picture and note, "SIMPLIFY."

I got them all back up, and Andrew pulled and crumpled them again.
I did not iron them the 2nd time.

I felt like the whole Saturday morning session was for me.
All my prayers were answered, I felt renewed, and ready to start again!

Sunday morning, Andrew got noisy towards the end of the session.
Darin put tape over his mouth and colored on a mustache.

Despite his face, Andrew, and everyone else, thought it was really funny.

I will need to go back and re-listen to President Eyring's talk.

Between sessions on Sunday, we went to my parents for our Conference breakfast.

The grandkids found my parents death masks.

Every time we go, Andrew has to go to the basement bathroom to see the fish.

Matt and the girls played "dogs."

(And I wonder why he gets holes in the knees of his pants).

Family time wouldn't be complete without candy from Grandpa.

The kids have to say "The Gospel's True and I love you" before they can have a piece.

I tried to record Andrew saying it, because it is the cutest thing, but I didn't get it this time.

We went for a little drive and saw these wild turkeys!  So fun!

I can hardly wait for April Conference!

September's Service

This year, we chose the family theme, "Who Can I Serve Today?"

Every night at dinner we ask the kids who they served.  

Their daily service can be small like smiling at a stranger or sharing a toy.

Once a week, we try to do a family service that is a little bigger.

I hope to report or service each month.

I am NOT doing this for a pat on the back, rather, to to help my kids remember how good it feels to serve and maybe even encourage someone else to do a little service too!

So, here is our service for the month!

We donated a DOZEN bags of clothing to a boy in our ward to help with his Eagle Project.

(More on my decluttering later)

We picked our peaches and shared with our neighbors.

We took dinner to Lindsay's primary teacher that had had surgery.

We made and donated bookmarks to the library.

#WhoCanIServeToday?