Siope's Pick of the Patch

Siope went on a field trip today with his preschool class. They took a trip to Gilcrease Orchard where they got to pick their own pumpkins. Siope went up with Marcy and Luke while I stayed back with Nic and Cruz. He came home covered in dirt and after he told me about the "lots of pumpkins" and yummy pumpkin muffins and apple cider they enjoyed, he knocked out.

Saturday Scores

Last Saturday we met at the field at 10 am. Mote's team took their team pictures for the season then got ready for their game right after. Mote's been playing with the same team for the past 3 seasons now. A couple of his teammates are from our ward, so he loves playing together with them. For the past 3 seasons I don't think we've won a single game. It's pretty miraculous if we even score a goal on the other team. The kids really don't mind. They have fun playing regardless. Well this Saturday we actually won!! It was great! Normally the parents from our team will sit throughout the game and cheer on our little players, but the jumping and screaming that follow a goal usually erupt from the opposite side of the field. I'm not sure what the name of the opposing team was, but I was glad that they were for the most part pretty small like our team. Sam from our team scored a goal in the first quarter and our sideline was just amazed. We were so happy as we cheered and jumped. Then a couple minutes later we scored again! I couldn't believe it! And it was Mote that kicked it in!! That pretty much set the tone for the rest of the game. We came out with our first ever win and it was awesome!!! The final score was 5-0 and Mote scored two of the five. He was on top of the world. It was so fun to see his huge smile. He came up to me after and said "Mom, I can't wait to tell Fatu that I won my soccer game!" You better believe that I was on my phone texting my entire family about Mote's 2 goals. We're all so proud of him and his team. Great job FORCE!
Later that day me and Toa (and our millions of kids) went to Deseret Book's Ladies' Night that they were hosting while Ti Tonga and Mote went to their Priesthood session. I got a mailer last month about Ladies' Night and decided I wanted to attend. They were giving away free signs for the first 100 ladies at each location. As it got closer to the date I asked Toa if she wanted to come along. We were so nervous that we wouldn't get there in time to get a sign so we planned on getting there extra early to ensure we wouldn't go home empty handed. They were supposed to start at 5 pm so we rallied up the kids and got there at 4pm. How come we were the first ones there? lol Ladies started showing up in groups though and before we knew it there was a good amount of us that had come for the event. Me and Toa were the very first ones to get our coupons for the signs though- yay! Almost everything in the store was marked down, they had refreshments, and they were raffling off a ton of cool prizes. I'm sure if we would've stayed any longer we would've eventually won something cool, but since we had been there for a while with all our kids we just wanted to leave as soon as we redeemed our coupons.
Come what may and love it- a reminder to weather the storm with optimism.

Where the Wild Things Are

On our last trip to the library I watched the kids pile up the books they wanted to check out and decided that I was going to add one to the pile. When we got home Siope looked at my book of choice and asked "Who picked this one?" Didn't really care for it til I sat them down and read it aloud. Now they ask me to read it to them EVERY day. Whenever they bring it to me to read I have to tell them to choose another book as well that we haven't read yet... if I didn't none of the other books would get a chance.

This book reminds me so much of my childhood. I remember having it read to me when I was elementary and I was so excited to introduce Where the Wild Things Are to my boys- my crazy boys. It was great timing because after we had read the book they started playing the previews of the movie on TV. The first time Nic saw the movie preview his face lit up like it was Christmas morning. "I know that movie!! It's our book! Look it's Max!" I went through the pile of library books once and noticed that a specific book was missing. When I asked where it was Nic ran over by the TV to where it was lying on the floor. The next time the preview came on TV, Siope dashed over to the library books, grabbed Where the Wild Things Are and ran back to the TV to watch the rest of the clip while he clutched the book to his chest. Aah, so this is why the book is always missing from the pile. It's fun to see them so in love with an item that I can relate my childhood to. We normally wait til movies hit the DVD shelves, but we will most definitely be watching this one on the big screen.

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.