Piano lesson visits to the Park

Every week Adam has a piano lesson for 1/2 an hour. Because the other kids are still so young they all have to come along. It is too short to come home and then go back, so we have to spend the time in the car or go someplace VERY close. Fortunately for us his piano teacher lives in a good spot. The Mississipi River is very close. We visit the ducks and geese there sometimes. There is a duck pond close by as well. Ducks there too. In the winter we have even watched people ice skate on the pond. Our favorite place to go, weather allowing, is the park that is just a block from her home. It has made piano lessons bearable for everyone. The kids are so good about playing for a short time and hopping back in the car when I ask them too. I guess they know a short time is better than no time. We don't go to the park much in the winter (much too cold), but I do have some pictures from this past fall during one of our piano lesson visits to the park. Enjoy!

Jacob
Lizzy

Ben

Jacob

Anna must have been moving too fast for me to catch a picture of her. Adam, of course, was at piano. I sure love the great community we live in. Our kids sure love the parks!

Halloween Pictures

Yes, I am lame enough to post our Halloween pictures in March. I don't know if I will ever catch up, but I just can't seem to blog about what is going on today, if I don't catch up with what we have done in the past, so all of you can have a good laugh at my expense. Here are our Halloween pictures as promised. Halloween is awesome with the kids. They all enjoy it so much. Adam maybe isn't quite as enthusiastic as he used to be, but still digs getting all the candy. We were pretty simple this year, and you know what, the kids were still happy. Jacob was sleeping when it was time to go trick or treating so he never even got to wear his costume. Greg stayed home with him and passed out candy. I took the kids out with our friends the Robisons. We went trick or treating then came home and ate Papa Murphy's and pigged out on candy.

Here is Miss Lizzy masquerading as Little Red Riding Hood. She even has red shoes to match.



Ben changed costumes at the last minute, seriously, the very last minute. I was pretty proud of myself for pulling this together so quickly. I just had to sacrifice one white shirt. His face is so funny. He is saying "ARrrrr!!" just like any good pirate would.

We have struggled to find costumes for Adam the last few years. He was a vampire last year too...I think. It won't be too long until he would rather stay home and hand out the candy. sigh.

Here is the cutest witch you have ever seen. She insisted on all the accessories: cat, broom, hat, even makeup and black hair. She refused, however, to let us put a fake mole on her. Anna is the nicest witch around, though.

Well, I am sure you have all heard of Christmas in July. Now you have heard of Halloween in March!! Happy Haunting.

To my good husband

I just wanted to write a quick post in appreciation for my good husband. Lately, I have been so grateful for him. He is good and kind and smart and fun. He is helpful with kids. He cooks. He takes good care of our family. He is good at helping get me out of my responsible mode and loosen up a bit. We celebrated our 11th anniversary in December. You know how you swoon when you are dating and engaged. Emotions are so strong. It is a wonderful time to look back on, but I never could have imagined how love grows. I can't believe the growth that has come to us individually and as a couple over the years. I have learned so much from him.... about forgiving, about saying I'm sorry, about overlooking others faults, about teaching our children. I look forward to growing old with him. He is such a strength to me. My heart is full, and it is even fuller when I think of our beautiful children. Our life, our marriage for that matter, has not been without struggles and crises, but we have weathered the storms together. I love him for that as well. I feel so grateful to have Greg at my side as my partner. I am not sure why I wanted to share this, but just thought I should. I love you Greg!

Pumpkin Carving--The final product

After hunching over a pumpkin for an hour or more, squinting and trying not to cut yourself, or your child, this is what you get!  As far as I can remember, no one drew any blood.

Greg and Anna's Masterpiece

Lizzy was tickled with her jack-o-lantern.  It had little insertable eyes for the eye sockets.  She loved that it was cute and happy.

Here is Adam's pumpkin.  

Last, but not least is Ben's.  He really wanted to do something scary.  He was very pleased.

I know I have been a little picture happy, but hey, this is for posterity.  Doesn't it make you want to carve a pumpkin? 

Carving Pumpkins--the Carving stage

Here are the official carving pictures of the official Finch Family Annual Pumpkin Carving Family Home Evening (try saying that 3 times fast! HA!)  

Anna and Greg patiently working

OK, so maybe it looks like Ben did a little bit of stabbing.  Cherrie was so patient with him and just let him saw and saw until he would ask for a little help.  Then she would saw for a quick minute and he would be back at it again.  This was hard work for a 4 year old folks.

Sweet Lizzy posing for the camera.  She also did the lion's share of the carving.

The only picture I got of Adam carving, he had his eyes closed, so Ben got to cheese for me again.  So cute!

October Fun-- Carving Pumpkins--the scooping

One of our favorite traditions for the Halloween season is carving pumpkins.  The new carving kits these days make it so much more fun for us and the kids.  It is way better than just stabbing a poor pumpkin with a steak knife.  This year all the kids, with the exception of Jacob, of course, carved their very own pumpkin!  It worked out perfectly because Greg's mom, Cherrie, and her husband Jim were still here for Family Home Evening (to learn more about Family Home Evening, click here http://www.lds.org/hf/fhe/welcome/0,16785,4210-1,00.html) when we carved them.  Greg worked with Anna, Jim worked with Lizzy, Cherrie was ever patient with Ben, and I helped Adam, after I got Jacob down for the night.  The kids were so proud of themselves.  They scooped, they carved, they triumphed.  It was tons of fun.  Personally, I think this is way more fun than letting them paint their own pumpkin, like we have done in years past.  Here are some scooping pictures.

I think Adam likes getting crazy with the pumpkin goup almost more than any other part.

Ben gingerly scooping out the pumpkin.  Doesn't he have a great cheesy smile?!

Anna, not enjoying the pumpkin guts. Greg's just messing around.

Lizzy and Jim working together.

Once again, I must reveal my true identity.  It is I, the wife and mother.  Give no heed to what blogger says about the matter.

Even more pumpkin patch

Anna, Ben, Lawson and Lizzy.

Hairy Grandpa and his posse.  Thanks for carrying the baby dad! (Greg carried him through the corn maze, the baby, not my dad).

MMmmmm! Spaghetti.  We added three more children for dinner because I watched my friend, Leah's, kids.  For a while we had the two neighbor boys too.  At one time there were 12 children, age 9 and under in our house!

Thus endeth the pumpkin patch pictures!

Muddy pumpkin patch pictures

Grandma Cherrie and Grandpa Jim. Look at that smile, even in the rain and mud.

The wagon, mired down in the mud.

Handsome Husband.

Ew!! Gross. I had to wash the clothes and clean the shoes.

I am having trouble getting the pictures in my account, so I am using Greg's. It's me Tammy again.

October Fun--Post 1--Pumpking Patch/Corn Maze

Have you missed me? You are about to get overloaded with posts to catch up for the last month. October was a fun and busy month for us. We have really come to love the fun it brings. This year we had two, yes two, sets of grandparents come visit. My dad and his wife Nancy were watching my brothers kids for a week in Iowa City, so we didn't see much of them, but a little. I went up there one day, and then on their way to the airport they stopped to do something fun with us. Greg's mom, and husband Jim, happened to come the day before, also, so we decided to head to the pumpkin patch for some fun. My niece and nephew also came with us. So we had a total of 6 adults and 7 kids (not a bad ratio, really).

The day started out fun enough. We first did a great corn maze with lots of different checkpoints. It was great fun, but then it started raining. It was really starting to come down so we had to leave the maze and hide out in the little store. We still hadn't picked our pumpkins though. We talked it over and most of us decided to brave the rain and still get a pumpkin. Adam and Nancy opted for the drier, warmer car. The rain slowed down a little bit, but we failed to think about the MUD! It was so slippery and deep. It was difficult to walk, let alone pull our wagon with pumpkins in it. We did it though, and everyone had a great attitude about it, even the baby who was carried by my dad in his backpack. It even added to the experience. I think the worst part was cleaning off seven children's shoes when we got home. We came home and had hot chocolate and spaghetti for dinner. It was fun we could do this with grandparents and cousins along.

                                                                       Fun at the Corn Maze.

Lizzy at the Pumpkin Patch

P.S.  This is Tammy, not Greg.

Birthday pictures

Here are the long awaited birthday pictures.  I hope you enjoy!

For some reason, Ben wanted a snowman cake this year.  I figured it was easy enough that even I could figure it out.  The hat didn't turn out as well as I would have liked, but I think the rest is pretty OK.

Here is Ben trying out one of his birthday gifts.  Doesn't he look like a scientist? Er, maybe a mad scientist.

This was Ben's "big" gift this year. It is a bug vacuum and habitat.  He got a little bug jar from participating in our library's reading program this year that he carried around with him ALL the time.  I accidentally stepped on it and broke it one night while he was sleeping, so I thought it was paramount to replace it with something.  He still hasn't asked what happened to  the jar, phew!

This is the only picture of me on my birthday as the camera ran out of batteries shortly thereafter. Adam is so lovingly making me look good. He is a nine year old after all.



This is the cake that Greg decorated for Jacob. Isn't it fun?

Here Jake is trying to blow out his candle. Isn't he cute? It seems he almost always has a cracker in his hand, and if you say do you want a cracker, he walks immediately to the pantry. He understands so much now!

He didn't really dig into his cake. I think he wasn't very hungry. There was really no need to dress him down to his diaper, he didn't end up getting all that messy.

Thus endeth the birthday pictures!

3 for 1--- Birthdays that is

So we have had a lot of birthdays at our house lately. August 20th was Jacob's 1st birthday! I can hardly believe it has been over a year. He started taking steps and walking at 11 months and is now an old pro. It makes him seem so much older. He seems more like a 15 month old than a 12 month old now. He says a few words, ball, boo, more (mo), wee (you know like wee!! this is fun!). He is so much fun and brings so much joy into our home. The kids all love having him too. Now that he can walk he likes to follow them around and they will play with him. He loves to be pushed in the stroller and he stomps his foot when he is excited. He is just so stinkin' cute. We just had our own little family party for him. It was great fun. Oh yes, he is now completely weaned, which makes this mama very happy:)



Next was my birthday. On Sept. 10, I turned the ripe, old age of 33. I am now well into my thirties. It doesn't bother me too much. In fact I feel like I've been married nearly 11 years, I have 5 kids, a great home, I ought to be in my thirites. It is a great place to be. I have thought some about how the Savior was 33 in the last year of his ministry on earth. I think I would like to reread those portions of the Gospels this year. 33 is good.



Greg, very kindly and wonderfully took off half the day of work to be home with me. We just went on a nice walk with the boys along the river and talked. Then we went and got the kids at school and went out for ice cream, and on a whim I wanted to go to a furniture store, so we all went to together (have you ever been to a furniture store with 5 kids? it is quite the experience, we rent ours out, if you are looking to try something new and different; it is actually pretty fun, just a little bit crazy!). Then we went home and Greg made me a nice dinner of mashed potatoes and grilled steak! MMMM! I didn't want a cake, so we had an ice cream pie, Mississippi Mud. It was a good day. I have a good life. I was reminded of that on my birthday. I told Greg, I felt like I should be the one giving everybody else a present. I just feel so grateful for my good husband and children, not to mention other family and friends. Life is good.



Lastly, was our Benner boy's birthday on Sept. 18. He turned 4! My fourth child is 4! He and I are buddies now that the kids are back in school. He missed them a lot at first, but now is thrilled with the arrangement, I think. It sure is apparent in his happy attitude and smiling face. He is so quiet sometimes, and then he will talk your ear off. He just likes to be near me, whatever I am doing. He will help with the dishes or wash the floor (yes I do those things occasionally). He likes to read with me and has his favorite books, including "I Spy" books and Mercer Mayer books.



The Saturday before his birthday we had his cousin Lawson and family over for a little celebration. That is always fun to get together with the Ebberts. I still think it is so cool Ben and Lawson were born on the exact same day. On Ben's birthday, he proudly brought a treat to preschool. Then we got kid's meals at Wendy's for Ben and his friend Holly. Then Ben and Holly, Jacob and I all went to the Family Musuem. It was so much fun to go with Ben and Holly. They are at the perfect age to really enjoy it and it was so different than taking a wide age range of kids. It was so much fun! The fun continued with a spaghetti dinner, snowman cake, and fun presents, including a bug vacuum, which has been a hit.



We love birthdays at our house, and it is a good thing, because they come in bunches!



Sorry folks, you will have to wait for pictures. We are having some Picasa issues. I know, how boring. You'll live. It just means you will have to come back soon to see if I got some up. Happy Wednesday!

Back to school.... 3 weeks ago

Well folks, I am breaking my many months of blog silence. I always want to be very thorough in my posts, which is part of the reason I haven't posted in months; who has time to be thorough?! I finally decided something was better than nothing, so here is my first post in a long while.

I know I am late, but the kids started back to school on August 13. Anna is absolutely loving it. Her teacher is very kind and uses tons of music in the classroom. The first week they had a contest to name the class pets, a frog and a fish. The fish was appropriately named Phelps. The frog received the name Jacob. She has loved having her friend Sarah in her class again this year too. All in all she is doing great. Here she is on her first day:

Lizzy is loving kindergarten too. She has a male kindergarten teacher, which I was a little worried about, but I have really liked him. He is totally organized and seems to be aware of where Lizzy is at academically. Liz has been extra tired but still enjoying school. They have a staggered start over the first three days for kindergartners, so only one third of the class goes over the first three days. Because of this here first day was different than Adam and Anna. Cute Lizzy.

I think Adam is enjoying too, although he will tell you differently. If you ask him if he likes school he will shrug his shoulders and kind of grunt (have we reached this already?). He often complains of being bored , but has liked some of the things his teacher has done already. She had them act out the olympic race where 2 men were disqualified and Adam got to be Usain Bolt, which he thought was pretty cool. They also had to "form" a team of animals and say which animals they would choose and which events they would have them compete in. He is busier than ever with extracurricular activities, so I think school seems boring in comparison.

Ben just had his first day of preschool yesterday. He was pretty shy at first and stuck close to me, but when it was time for me to go in the other room for a mini parent meeting, he did just fine. He keeps asking when he will get to go back, and said he had a great time. I think this will be really good for Ben. He has really missed the kids now that we are back to school. I don't know what I will do with myself when it is just Jacob and I for a few hours a week. This isn't his first day of preschool picture (I admit it, I forgot to take one!) but it is a cute picture of Ben.

We loved the summer and enjoyed having time to spend together. We are getting a little better at the school routine, but we are working out the kinks still. Happy school year kids. We love you! Oh, just because he is cute, here is picture of Jacob. Isn't he sweet?