Trick or Treat

The kids got tons of candy at the ward Halloween trunk-or-treat on Friday. The boys finally settled on their costumes that afternoon, and we worked like crazy to get them done in time. Thankfully, Claire decided against being the Earth like she had originally planned (that would've been tough to make!). She already had a Snow White dress, and all we had to buy was a Snow White tiara.

Coming home from trick-or-treating last night

Our cute little bunny!

the lovely Snow White

Yes, there's only one way--Scott's way.

I don't know how Tyler came up with this idea, but it sure was creative! With his speed, it's hard to pass him anyway.

Pretty in pink

The girls' first matching dresses! Meet Claire and Claire Jr :)

Claire in Kinder

It's been over a month now, and Claire's thriving in Kindergarten. We didn't make the decision to send her to school until a week before school started. We already knew that I was going to homeschool Tyler this year, and we pretty much assumed I would teach Claire too. But as we thought it over more and more, and after praying about it, we felt that having her go to school was the right thing for her. And I have already seen many positive effects--she's more outgoing, independent, mature, and excelling even more in reading and writing! Of course, she's really hard to get out of bed in the mornings, and we do have to work on her not yelling at Scott like a teenager... But in all, I'm really happy with how school is going for her.

As for Tyler, I'm glad we decided to homeschool him this year. He's improving in many ways on things that concerned us previously. I'm so proud of him! He's a hard worker and is very thoughtful of others. Today when I was about to mow the lawn Tyler offered to do it. It was really hard for him, especially trying to push it uphill, but he didn't give up and he got it done! I love having him around all the time (we all miss Claire...), and our relationship has really improved. The actual homeschooling has its ups and downs, but I think I'm starting to figure it out. I really appreciate the support and help of homeschooling friends in the ward. It's nice to not be alone in this adventure!

One big happy family

We love our crazy kids! Here are some random pics from the past couple months. Tyler earned enough money to buy a new bike (we paid for half of it)! He earned a big chunk of it on our trip home from Colorado, entertaining and taking good care of Lily.

We finally checked out the splash park at The Woodlands Waterway and rode the free trolley

Hangin' out with Lily at the splash park

Claire made me a donut Scott loves swimming now that he knows how to move around fast with a floatie

When Lily's really happy, she stretches her mouth open really wide--it's so adorable!

Claire's 5th

It seems like this was ages ago... Lots to add on the blog since my last entry. Anyway, this was in celebration of Claire's 5th birthday. We went roller skating at a nearby rink--it was like stepping back in time to the 70's. Tim and Claire enjoyed doing the hokey pokey and the chicken dance together. It was funny to see how the kids' personalities showed in their skating. Claire was slow and steady, almost never falling. Tyler would zoom as fast as he possibly could, then crash right into the walls and fall. Scott, well Scott just kept getting frustrated because he couldn't stay up. And Lily, she just slept on the sidelines.

I can't believe our little cutie pie's 5 now!

Claire Elaine French

The other day during dinner we were talking about Mom and Dad's ethnicities. The kids asked Tim, "What ARE you?" They find it odd that Tim doesn't really have a specific country that his ancestors came from. Then I asked Claire, "Did you know that your last name is French?" and she got a very puzzled look on her face. She said, "No, my last name's not French!" I insisted that it was, and she replied, "Claire Elaine French???" An Amelia Bedelia moment...

Yay, Claire!

The other day Claire woke up all excited because she had a dream that she could ride her bike without training wheels. Ever since then she's been asking to take the training wheels off. I told her she needed to wait until her dad could help her (I just couldn't find the energy to run around chasing after her with my big pregnant belly). So last night Tim helped her for a few minutes before dinner. Afterwards he quietly told me that she was not ready to ride on her own, and she really needed to work on her sense of balance. So this afternoon when he took her out to practice again, I assumed it would go about like yesterday. You can imagine how surprised I was to go outside and find Claire zooming around the culdesac like a pro! It's hard to tell from the video, but she was SO cute sitting back relaxed on her seat, chewing gum nonchalantly, speeding around while being chased by her big brother.