November Moments

We had a good November and to condense I'm going to post a bunch of pictures from the month to show what we were up to.

Sara and Derek blessed baby Landon the week after Jared got home from his mission and we weren't able to attend, but we saw cute pictures. This one was my favorite because Zane is making a hilarious face! haha. 

Grandma Vicki with Landon and what a good lookin' Grandma she is! This is grandbaby #12 for her.

I taught preschool and we made Gak for the letter "G" and glued on puffs on the gumball machines. I have fun teaching preschool for the most part. Chelsea is always wanting to do everything and she will be naughty to the other kids by throwing their paper on the floor or writing on their paper so that's hard to deal with. 

Kate was chosen to do a speaking part for the Veterans Day assembly and she did a good job. My friend and neighbor, Shannon, watched Chelsea and Lindsey so I could go kidless. It was so nice. Then I watched her son, Tate, so she could go in the afternoon (they did 2 separate assemblies for different grades).

We had leftover wood planks from the downstairs half bath so I convinced Kyle to put up more planks upstairs in the kids' bathroom. We borrowed a nail gun from a friend in our ward so I wanted to get it back to them. Good excuse to hurry and finish projects! We put the boards up half way and then used molding to finish it off. I painted them white and then painted the walls a grey color. I found this shower curtain at Target and got some fun orange hand towels. I need to figure out wall art to put up in the bathroom. We have added towel hooks for the kids' to hang up their towels in the toilet area. 

Her smile made me laugh. She needs to open her eyes and she's got it.

 In our new Stake, the women play volleyball every Friday mornings. It's been a lot of fun. At first, I was really nervous to go because it's pretty competitive and some of the ladies weren't all that friendly, but as I've gone more it's gotten better and it's been fun to play again.

Kyle went to Moab with my Dad, Kevin, Jeff and Jared to go motorcycle riding and so me and kids were hanging out on our own for the weekend. I took them to a park because it was beautiful, but it was freezing so we didn't last long. We went to go get hot chocolate after the park and Preston spilled it on himself. It was dramatic. But I got this pretty picture at the park. I loved the sunset in the distance over the trees and water. It was peaceful. 

The girls found some cute hats at Costco

I was holding Chelsea and loved her profile. She's a handful and a busy toddler, but she's pretty cute so I'll keep her.

Made some cinnamon rolls with leftover roll dough. Yum yum. Comfort food right there. 

I was drowning in school papers! Anyone else deal with this? We get so many papers and homework and folders and and and....it can get overwhelming. I throw away so many papers it's crazy. The end of my bar is always cluttered so I'm constantly making piles and putting away things. 

Chelsea put Preston's socks on and her glitter shoes. She really wanted to go outside. I had to laugh at how she looked. 

Kyle and I went to the Temple and dealt with horrific traffic. Ugh. It was rainy and traffic was a beast like even worse than usual because I know we live in a city and deal with traffic, but this was really bad. It took us almost 2 hours to get to the Temple in Bellevue. Normally, it takes 40 minutes without traffic. We went to Outback for dinner and while waiting for our table I saw my uncle Larry (my Dad's brother who lives in Gig Harbor) and so we visited briefly with them. They were going to the temple after dinner too. What a coincidence, but we didn't end up in the same session. We had a good time at the Temple though.

Thanks to Dee Ann for introducing us to Nothing Bundt Cakes and their chocolate chocolate chip bundt cake because it's delicious! And now they just opened a store up near us. They are really expensive so over the years my Mom and I have tried different recipes to mimick their cake. I think we found one that is pretty good and with the thick cream cheese frosting piped on it looks pretty similar. I've made them for dinner parties and for church activities. They are fun to make and good to eat. 

Fire Station Field Trip for Lindsey

I do a co-op preschool with 5 other Mom's for Lindsey. She will go to Kindergarten next year. We meet Mondays and Wednesdays from 9:30-11:30 am at the house of whoever is hosting it that week. It's going pretty well. Lindsey likes it and always asks me in the morning if she has preschool that day.She probably wishes it was every day! One of the other moms, Jeanne, has a friend and old neighbor who is the Chief at the fire station in Woodinville so we went there for our tour. The guy who did it was awesome. He was so good with the kids and was funny so I was laughing at his jokes. He showed them what firemen look like with all the equipment on and to not be scared if they see someone like that. Never thought of kids being scared of them, but yeah totally makes sense! Then they got to see the fire trucks and even sit in one. Lindsey wouldn't, but Chelsea wanted to. We took a tour of where the firemen live during their shift and while in their kitchen area, Chelsea bolted out the back door. She is CRAZY! The firemen joked that she will make a good Fire fighter some day because she's so fast! 

L-R: (kids) Lindsey, Chelsea, Cub, Kimberly, Christina, Madison, Cub's sister, Ashlynn and Kaitlyn (Madison's older sister) 

Jared's Homecoming and Halloween!

Ever since we have moved, I have been slacking at blogging. I keep doing it because Kate keeps asking if I'm going to make another Lublin Life book. I guess I have to keep blogging in order to keep making books! That's some motivation. So now to get caught up...

Jared came home from his mission on Halloween. We were all beyond excited for him to come home. He's the baby so of course he's spoiled and gets all our attention. But for good reason because he's a good kid. He served in the Joao Pessoa and Natal mission in Brazil. His mission actually changed when he was out because they created a new one so he was put into the new mission, the Natal mission. 

Patiently waiting at the airport and trying to keep the kids from running too much around. Kevin had an app on his phone so we could track the plane Jared was on. We knew when it flew over Oregon then Walla Walla and then landed. It was pretty cool. 

Cute sign that Sara made for Landon

The family waiting for Jared to board off the plane. It seemed like it took forever. My Mom started crying when we saw him. All the pictures I took of him coming through the waiting area were blurry. Bummer. We all were excited to see him. My Mom got first dibs to hug him so we told all the kids to stay back and, of course, Preston runs up to him as he's walking to us. It was surreal that he was back. Seemed like he just left, but not. 

 Us siblings all together again

L-R: Jeni, Sara, Jared, Marci, Jeff and me

After the airport, we went to Old Country Buffet for lunch and quizzed Jared with all sorts of questions. He barely slept on the plane ride from Brazil so he was so tired and a walking zombie, but put up with our questions very well. I think he was running on adrenaline. He kept saying it all felt like a dream...his whole mission...2 years come and gone...and he's already home. He looks good.

While my parents took Jared to Royal City to Pres Christensen's house to get released as a missionary, we all went to my parents house to get ready for his arrival. Well, they took forever in Royal City visiting with people so we were antsy at home waiting for them to get back. Jeff found Jared a bike in Utah so they were excited to surprise Jared with it when he got home. Jared was all smiles when he drove up seeing us waving to him surrounding his new bike. He immediately jumped on it and rode around in his suit! Good thing he loves the bike they found for him because he bought it! haha.

I love this picture of Jared at the table with most of the kids. They were asking him questions and he was asking them questions. It was adorable. He's such a good uncle to sit and talk with all of them and actually be interested. 

 L-R: Chelsea (Anna from Frozen), Lindsey (witch), Preston (lego block) and Kate (Mulan)

Since it was Halloween we had to dress up still and have a party! The kids were VERY concerned about not being able to trick-or-treat since we were going to be at Grandma's house and it's very rural there. Plus, we missed our ward trunk-or-treat since it was held the night we were driving to Tri-Cities. Trick-or-treating is driving from neighbor to neighbor's house and seeing about 3-5 people because you go in and your parents chat and you get a few pieces of candy. That is trick-or-treating in Mattawa. haha. When we were growing up, we went into Yakima to my Grandpa and Grandma Wright's house one Halloween to go trick-or-treating around their neighborhood and we thought we won the lottery with how much candy we got! That was exciting for us. :)  So to make it a fun Halloween, we all planned different games the kids could play like our own little carnival, and then they went trick-or-treating to the outside doors at my parent's house and shed. It was perfect and the kids got way too much candy because everyone was generous in their amounts. They had fun and it was a good night. 

This picture of Zane cracked us up! He was not wanting to be part of the pictures, but doesn't he still look cute as an unhappy Farmer?!

The kids checking out their loot. After the kids went to bed we stayed up visiting and asking Jared more questions. :) We finally sent him off to bed because we knew how exhausted he must have been. We sure are glad he's home safe and sound, but so glad he went on a mission and was such a good example to all of us and my kids.

Pumpkin Carving and Patch

Carving the pumpkins we got from Grandma Vicki's pumpkin patch for Family Night.

Lindsey told us the shapes she wanted, Preston wanted a Minion and Kate wanted a mouth with sharp teeth. 

We went to our favorite pumpkin patch, The Farm, in Snohomish. It was kind of busy the day we went and Kyle wanted to turn around when he saw the long line to buy tickets. But as we walked up to the line they opened up another line so it wasn't too bad. The kids had fun bouncing and running around. They liked the hay jump, wagon ride, hay maze and the duck races are always a hit. The corn pit was closed this year which was a bummer since they like that. We couldn't leave without getting caramel apples. Yummo. 

Preston was loving the animals. He was petting all of them, but Chelsea wouldn't touch them. It was funny to see their reactions.

Riding the cow train. You can see Preston covering his ears. He'll do that around loud noises. 

Fighting over the golf club...time to go home!

Happy 7th Birthday to Preston

Preston got a minion play set like a potato head set where you can change the pieces and a Lego set from the Lego movie that he's been wanting. He was so excited. 

I made minion cupcakes for his birthday party with friends. They were easy and fun to make because I got to do whatever I wanted with the eyes. haha

I saw online where you cover the table to look like a minion and I loved it. It was fairly easy to do. The eye was the hardest part and I ended up using a paper plate and foil around the edge. 

Preston's friends that came-

Back Row- Dallin, Jackson, Jack and Ethan

Front Row- Carson, Preston and Wilson

Making their own Minion. They loved doing this craft and I loved seeing all the different minions they made.

I made goody bags and cups to look like minions. Thanks to the internet for all these ideas!

We brought Subway for Preston for lunch at school. He loved it. His friends that sat around him were funny. Preston loves celebrating his birthday and we are glad he's in our family. We love you Buddy!