We are thankful for:

Savannah is thankful for her family and friends.
Cardyn is thankful for her family, school, teachers, Heavenly Father, and church.
Porter is thankful for - he just said no and told me "I did it" while he attempts to play Playstation with his sisters.

The Spiers have so much to be Thankful for this season! Most of all for our Family and the eternal blessings of the Gospel in our lives. I am grateful to be married to the most wonderful man, who is my best friend. I could not imagine a second without Richard in my life and the blessing of being a mom to my beautiful children.

Sunday

Today was the Primary Program in our ward and the kids did an amazing job. We have such a big primary and the songs sounded so good. Savannah and Cardyn had a few lines to say and both of them did a really good job. Cardyn was nervous and had practiced saying her lines so fast I was a little worried, but she did fine. Savannah got a little bored in the end and I saw her counting the speakers on the ceiling. Porter was terrible and had to be taken out several times. He also kept telling me he was going up to the stand to talk. I snapped a picture of them right after the meeting to send to Grandma, who had me get them new holiday dresses. They looked so beautiful!



We spent the rest of our Sunday laying low with the kids. The girls and I made a cake with a new frosting that is less sweet than most. My kids always complain that frosting makes them sick so when I came across one that claimed to be the perfect sweetness, I had to try it. It is definitely different, but was the first time I've seen them eat all their cake in a long time. Even Richard liked it. My sourdough bread attempt was a failure, but I still have my starter . . I just don't think it is strong enough yet to raise the bread dough properly. We broiled a London Broil for dinner and the kids hurried and bathed so we could play Playstation tonight. We played Buzz Jungle edition and Richard kicked all of our butts and gloated and got little man to run around saying "Oh Snap!" . . . we have to let them do their little butt-kicking every now and then, because after all, they are outnumbered. As I snuggled with the kids on the couch before bed, Savannah told us the story of Esther from the bible. Her teacher must have given her some serious background on Esther, because she didn't tell the familiar story, so I'm going to have to go back and refresh my memory since I was sort of lost. I loved listening to her, though. I just layed there while Cardyn played with my hair and thought I could listen to my kids talk all night. Then Cardyn started asking about the sacrament and when Savannah went to answer her question, she said "No, No . . . Daddy told me we would talk about it for FHE tomorrow." So cute. I usually jump right in and overload my kids with too much information, but I stopped myself tonight and just listened - they'll get it eventually. After I put the girls down, Porter and I were "snugging" and he kept pointing to his hands and saying something I couldn't quite get. Finally I realized he was asking me to see his callouses . . .something he overheard his sisters ask me yesterday after watching Beezus and Ramona.

Keeping Busy

 

{For Anje} - these arm warmers are easy to make and I was thinking they would be cute little leg warmers for Gabe. I put up a few pictures for you to see, but you basically just cut the toe off, turn inside out, sew the heel shut and cut off creating one long tube. Turn rightside and lay the seam down (will be under the arm) and cut tiny (they get big when thy put them on) holes for the thumbs. They are perfect for my non coat wearing kids.

It seems like the baking season has begun! Savannah needs a couple dozen treats here, and we do something for YW and school needs ________ and of course my man needs his favorite cookies once in a while! I also am attempting a sourdough starter and from studying up all you need is flour and water. I guess you "catch" the wild yeast in the air. It has been several days and other than a liquid forming on top that I've stirred in when I've "fed" the starter, I hadn't noticed any difference . . .until today. I forgot to feed it last night, so I got it down today and almost immediately after feeding it I noticed "the change". I will be so happy if I can get this started and bake my weekly bread this way. I've read a lot of good things about how much better it is for you. I've even seen that some bakeries in San Francisco claim to have kept their starter alive for over a hundred years. Tonight we are off to church for activities and looking ahead to a weekend of soccer, birthday parties and the kids have their primary program. We are looking forward to soccer being over in a couple of weeks, but I'm sure we'll start something to fill the time!

Sewing, Playing, Hanging out, Eating . . .

Great things to do on a rainy day!

Trick or Treat

What should be a one day holiday to dress up and get candy has turned into a week long celebration. Between the school, play-dates, church and the actual celebration of Halloween, the actual trick-or-treating doesn't have the effect it used to have on me when I was a kid. I've barely seen them get into their candy. On a more positive note, if I had spent a good deal of time or money on their costumes I would be happy they got more use out of them. Here are a few pictures from Halloween night:

Trunk or Treat

enough said.

Wear your costume to school

The girls got to wear their costumes to school today. If nothing else, it got Savannah up and going earlier than normal today. When they were deciding on their costumes this year, I told them I didn't want to spend a lot of money. They did a a really good job of coming up with something that we could either borrow or get fairly cheap. Savannah is a cross country runner (THANKs to Caroline Hanks for letting us borrow your XC shirt and running shorts). She also wore sweat bands and headband and her medal she won on her 5k race earlier this year. Cardyn is a black cat. She couldn't wear her mask at school so we just drew some whiskers on. Of course, Porter wanted his costume on this morning too.


Here is Porter later in the day trick-or-treating with some friends at the square: