Autumn's in the Air

The weather cooled down so much today! So I decided to whip out the Autumn decor. I didn't bring out the Halloween decorations just yet, but I couldn't wait any longer to put my wreath up. My front door has been bare for a while. I got this wreath from Pier 1 last year after we put our Fall items on sale. It was originally $35 but after the clearance markdown and my associate discount I paid under $2 for it.... can you believe it?! It's been sitting in my closet for months and I'm so glad I can finally put it to use.
I honestly cannot believe how cool the weather was today! We didn't run our AC at all- hallelujah! Mote had soccer practice today and as I was getting out of the car I seen a lady walking out of her car wearing a turtle neck. Seriously? Geeze I am loving this drop in temperature! It was probably around 70 degrees today and all of the Mother's were so worried that their kids were going to get sick. I must have some of that Utah blood still in me cause I was absolutely fine with my tee and flip flops on. I am so glad that this dang heat is finally coming to an end. I can't wait for my power bill to be in the double digits again.

Fall Wreaths Galore Pajama Party

Type: Storytimes

Age Group: Kids Age From: 4 To: 10

9/21/2009 • 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Enterprise Library

Room: Storyroom

Fall Wreaths Galore Pajama Party

Wear your "comfy" pajamas to our pajama party and listen to some great "fall" stories. Create a fancy wreath to take home.

[heading into the storyroom]

[gathered around for story time]

[Nic, Toakesa, and Samiu coloring their fall wreaths]

[Mote and Ailani - a friend from school]




[ready for some embellishments]



[Samiu and Siope's finished creations]

[Nici's wreath]

[Timote's wreath]

[cousins: Nic, Mote, Samiu, Toakesa & Siope]

[Fangupo's @ Enterprise Library 9/21/09]

Me and Toa have both set up a reward system in our homes for our kids. If my kids do well in school, do their chores at home, and behave in church they get to do fun activities with their cousins. This particular incentive that they earned happened to be the the Fall Wreaths Galore Pajama Party.

Today we met at the library with Toa, Samiu, and Toakesa. It was such a hit! Every month the library hosts story time and this month they focused on Fall. The kids showed up in their jammies and listened to stories about Autumn. They sang silly songs and danced, then got to make a craft to take home. Each of them decorated their own wreaths while music played throughout the room. It was so much fun!

Track Break

We've almost made it through the first week of track break. Although it's nice to get a little relief from driving them to school, it's kind of driving me nuts having them home all day. Nic doesn't really seem to care that he's not in school, but Mote's having a hard time adjusting- probably cause he's in full day. He keeps asking me to give him homework and we've discovered that he's a little math wiz. So I've been giving him math problems in his notebook, but can't seem to really keep up with him. We went to the library on Tuesday and checked out like 50 books which is helping a little to keep them busy, but I'm still trying to think of things to keep them active and away from eachother's throats. The fighting and arguing has gone up like 10 notches since they've been out of school (mainly Siope and Nic). Thank goodness it's the weekend. I need someone to dispose the craziness on to... candidate: Ti Tonga.

Primary Pennies

Yesterday in church I was introduced to the "Pennies by the Inch" program which benefits Primary Children's Hospital. Has anyone else heard of this? It's a program designed to cover hospital services for children whose families cannot afford to pay. You can learn more about it by clicking here. Our Primary is helping out by getting each of the kids in our ward involved. Each person (teachers included) who brings their scriptures to church on Sunday receives a penny from the Primary Presidency. You then get to put that penny in our donation bin which will in the end be donated to Primary Children's Hospital. I think it's a wonderful way to not only contribute to those who need medical help, but to also introduce our kids to the beauty of service and the blessings that follow.

Mosiah 2:17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.

Labor Day Weekend '09

Long weekends = lots of time to do lots of fun things! We celebrated Nici's birthday on Saturday. Mote, Toa, and the kids came over and we grilled burgers and hot dogs.

Birthday Boy

Nic finally got to blow out his birthday candle

Samiu, Nic, Mote, Siope, and Toakesa

I wanted to go to Fremont Street that night, but we didn't get the chance. Sunday evening Mote called us and asked if we wanted to do something. We really weren't planning on doing anything at all, but since Mote and Toa wanted to get out we decided to head on up to Fremont Street. It was pretty busy because of the Holiday.

We got there right as the light show was ending, so we walked around and looked at a couple venues until the next show started.

The most obvious and largest part of the Fremont Street Experience is the Viva Vision canopy and light show. The canopy towers 90 feet above the ground and spans the length of five football fields. Featuring more than 12 million LED modules and 555,000-watt sound system. We caught the 9 p.m. show which featured "Don McLean's American Pie".



There was an AWESOME band playing while acrobats performed above the crowd.



And someone who had a little bit too much to drink decided he wanted to take off his sandals (and shirt) in exchange for his invisible dancing shoes.



We ended up taking all the kids to our house for a good ole Labor Day Weekend slumber party.

Monday we barbecued over at our place. After we ate me and Toa took the kids swimming while the guys stayed glued to the T.V. and watched football. We stayed in the pool forever- it was so much fun! We finally decided to make our way out since the kids had school the next day so we dried up, changed, and came home and ate again :)

The new water guns Nici got for his birthday

I wish every weekend was this long and fun.