"Precious" Moments (captured by Seth)

 This video was taken in August after we went to the Sounds of  Summer in Marshall and he heard this Blondie song performed. It doesn't take Charlie long to memorize the lyrics to a new song! 

Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Elena and Sam were both in the high school production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat this year. It took a bit of convincing to get Sam to try out as you can tell from his write up, but he was glad he did it by the end. 

They had a blast performing and the audiences loved it. They both did a great job. Here are "a few" pictures and a couple of short video clips at the end. 

If you want to see the whole thing, you can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycxl8ZOd1Tg

This was one of the girls' favorite parts to play:

And these were some of Sam's best dance moves. Unfortunately he was way in the back where he was almost impossible to see. He's the one with the wicked dance moves. But if that's not clear enough, he's the one in the back right with jeans and no wig. 

Boundary Waters Trip

I am finally going through and printing off photos from January all the way through October of this year. In doing so, I found several photos (taken by Elena) from the Boundary Waters trip that Seth, Elena and Sam went on with several of the cousins, uncles and Grandma Myhre. They're a little late, but here they are. I don't have much for stories on the trip. They all survived and had a lot of fun!

Elena also happened to catch a video of Sam falling in the lake pretty much as soon as they arrived. She didn't even notice it happening so you can barely see it.

I also never shared any pictures from Sam's summer baseball season. He did a lot of pitching, which was fun to watch.

And as long as I'm on the topic of Sam, he's also mastered the art of making omelets!

October Happenings

We were able to celebrate my dad's birthday with him. Our gift was bringing all the kids over to help clean up the garden and lawn in preparation for winter. Although, in hindsight, it wasn't much of a gift since he ended up paying them for their work....

Their favorite job was blowing the leaves out of the gutters with a leaf blower. Not only did they get to use the leaf blower, they also go to run around on the roof. Win-win!

Elena also gave him this painting. You might have to read it a few times to get it:

And of course, we finished out the month with the Saints Day Costume contest at St. Edward School and Halloween. Now that Elena is in high school, she was not in the Saints Day Costume and she stayed back to hand out candy with her friends rather than trick-or-treating. (They still dressed up, though).

Here are a few pictures:

St. Francis (Reed), St. Anthony (Noah) and Moses(Charlie)

Blessed Stanley Rother and St. George

St. Joseph

"I'm a monster! Raaaawr!!"

Peter Parker (as opposed to Spiderman who would have to wear the mask)

Olivia LOVED trick-or-treating. She giggled with excitement every time someone gave her a piece of candy. It was pretty dang cute.

Boxelder Bug Days

 We were able to enjoy a normal Boxelder Bug Days again this year. The nice weather even decided to show up for the weekend! I am happy to report that despite increasing numbers of COVID in the area, there didn't seem to be any major outbreaks as a result of Bug Days. I am sure it helps that everything is pretty much outside. 

The highlight of the weekend was when Frank won a wagon after the kiddie parade. We got lots of use out of it right away on the weekend.

He even took a nap in it!

Olivia had a great time on the bouncy houses. She enjoyed the music just as much!

All the kids other than Olivia ended up being in the parade this year. Elena was in the pep band (she's on the edge with the black pants):

Sam and Charlie rode in the ambulance with Seth (if you look closely you can see Charlie's head sticking out on the passenger side). 

And Frank rode in this giant wagon as the winner of the little wagon. That's his head and arms sticking up over the edge.

And Olivia was more than happy to be the official "candy getter" of the family.

"I do it myself!"

We've entered the stage of Livi wanting to do everything herself. Sometimes this is helpful, like when she picks raspberries with me (as long as she doesn't spill the bucket).

Sometimes it's entertaining - like when she does her own hair, gets herself dressed or does her own accessories. (She still adamantly refuses to let us touch her hair ever - bath time is a total screamfest when I wash it)

And sometimes it makes for a lot of cleanup, like when she rubs an entire tube of lipstick all over her legs:

Or when she feeds herself just the frosting of her cupcake:

                             

As much as I love holding and cuddling her, it is nice to see her progressing towards independence!

Summer Fun

As usual August and September had me swamped with the garden and school starting so I haven't gotten around to sharing about our family vacations we had last month. 

We spent a week at the lake with Seth's family as usual. We had to find a new cabin and were lucky to have friends willing to let us use theirs. You would think it would feel crowded with over 30 people staying at one place, but we have learned that where there's a will there's a way. A few people slept in the garage and we pulled a camper up for our family to sleep in. The weather was nice and  the company was great so we managed just fine. I didn't get too many pictures, but I'll share a few.

Charlie loved the outdoor Jenga game - he especially relished getting to sign a block every time he won.

Playing with the silly face coasters:

Here's Olivia hanging out with AJ, who is one of her very favorite people. Even when she is being super clingy to me, and person after person has unsuccessfully tried to take her in order to give me a break. she will never refuse to go to AJ. 

Hanging out in the hammock with Daddy:

Right on the heels of that vacation, my brother came to visit with his two daughters. My parents treated all our families to a weekend at Great Wolf Lodge hotel. That place has more to keep kids busy than I ever imagined - including an arcade which my mom described as her "version of hell." Of course, the waterpark was everyone's favorite. The only downside was Olivia wasn't feeling great and was clinging to me the whole time, but we made it through and everyone else had a blast. I managed to get a few more pictures of this trip, but not many.

It has become a tradition that the oldest 5 recreate this picture every time we get together:

        

                          

The girls (I had to hide behind Mahina and hold Olivia because she wouldn't get in the picture without me):

                                                                         And the boys: