Thanksgiving Feast

Hoyt had his Thanksgiving Feast at preschool today.  The children had prepared a program for the parents to watch, and then we all had lunch together at his preschool teacher's house.  It was so fun!  We had stew, cornbread muffins, fruit and dessert.  The kids were able to serve their parents and siblings lunch, and it was nice to sit and visit with the other parents. 

Hoyt did an outstanding job on his parts in the program - we had been practicing them for a few weeks!  I don't think I have written much about Hoyt's preschool this year, but I have loved it (and so has Hoyt).  I am taking him to a woman who used to teach 2nd grade, but now runs a small preschool out of her home.  There are only five other children in Hoyt's class and they are all five or almost five-years-old.  Hoyt has learned a lot so far, and we are happy that we made the decision to wait another year for kindergarten.  Here are a few pictures of the Feast:

 

Boise Temple Open House

The first week of November, I was pretty much out of commission.  I had my hernia surgery on the first, and then for the next week was pretty sore and on the couch.  Ryon and I had planned to take the boys to the Boise Temple open house on November 2nd, but had to push it back a week due to the "unexpected" events! 

On Thursday the 8th, we picked up Hoyt a bit early from preschool and made our way to Boise.  Hoyt was really excited to be going inside a temple; we had been having family home evenings for a  month all about the temple and how great it was going to be.  Hoyt loved the temple and just soaked everything in.  Jett, on the other hand, was a little bit whiny.  He made it through the entire tour, but at the end Ryon had to take him out.  They missed the celestial room, but Hoyt and I were able to go in.  Hoyt had a very special experience in the celestial room, and I was so glad that we had taken him to the temple.

After our tour, we took the boys to Chile's for dinner, and then we made our way to Cabela's to see the animals and check out the aquarium.  By the end of the evening, I was feeling pretty sore, so we hopped back in the car and made it home by about 8:00. 

    

Halloween 2012

We had a pretty busy Halloween this year!  To start things off, I had a doctors appointment two days before Halloween where they told me that I was going to need hernia surgery the day after Halloween.  (Actually, the surgeon wanted to schedule the surgery on Halloween and I told him "no way!")  So, the morning of Halloween I was at the hospital doing some pre-op. work, which wasn't so fun.  After that, however, it was home to get the boys ready for our church trunk-or-treat.

We had our trunk-or-treat that the boys loved, and then ran home to eat a quick dinner.  Grandma Murray met us at our house for dinner and then helped us take the boys around the neighborhood for a little trick-or-treating.  We only went to about five houses, but the boys had fun ringing door bells and getting candy.  When we finally made it home the boys were ready for bed - they had a great day!

   

Vampire Hoyt

Hoyt decided early on (sometime in August) that he wanted to be a vampire for Halloween.  He wanted scary teeth, blood dripping out of his mouth, the works!  So....when it came time for his preschool Halloween party, he was up at 6:30 asking when it was going to be time to put on his costume.  After he was ready to go, he just stood in the mirror looking at his costume and telling me how great he looked! 

Hoyt was also excited to take treats to his party.  He helped me make some witches hat cupcakes that turned out pretty cute.  At the end of preschool, the parents got to come in and listen to some scary songs the kids had prepared.  It was pretty cute! 

   

Pumpkin Carving

The next week for family home evening we did our annual pumpkin carving.  Hoyt, of course, could not wait to carve his "huge" pumpkin.  The boys enjoyed eating chocolate cupcakes while they carved the pumpkin with dad, and I oversaw the picture taking! 

 

Grandma Murray sent us some scary, glow-in-the-dark teeth for our pumpkin, so after those were in we took him outside to light him up.  Hoyt thought it was hilarious to put his hand inside the pumpkin and pretend it was getting eaten, and Ryon had to get in on the action as well.  At the end of the night, we had a great looking jack-o-lantern and two tired boys.  FHE success!

The Best Home Evening Ever!

I'm not sure how many times Hoyt has asked us over the past few months to go to the bowling alley for home evening....at least 100!!  We finally made him the "happiest boy in town" when we told him that we were going bowling for home evening last night.  He was beside himself.  This was the first time he had been bowling at a real bowling alley, and he was in heaven. 

He loved rolling the ball down the lane himself (he did not want to use the alligator helper) and he also thought the bowling shoes were great!  Jett also had fun helping dad with the computer screen and running around.  After we had bowled our two games, we had a little fun in the game room and then headed for home.  On the car ride home Hoyt wanted to know if we could go bowling for every home evening!  We told him, "probably not"!

Pumpkin Patch

Today Hoyt had a preschool fieldtrip to the pumpkin patch.  Our whole family tagged along and it was lots of fun!  We got to take a tractor ride over to the pumpkin patch and we each picked out our favorite pumpkin.  Hoyt thought it was great that mom, dad and Jett got to be on the fieldtrip and Jett LOVED getting up on the tractor and pretending to drive.  After pumpkin picking, the kids enjoyed running through the straw maze and looking at all of the enormous pumpkins and gourds.  We are excited for fall, Halloween and the weather getting a little bit cooler!!