November

Zack came for Thanksgiving. Benson loved hanging around his guns (and Keenan's too). Here he is reading books in the corner by the guns.

In October, Beusie sent us a fortuitous email informing us that they had been planning to remodel the main bathroom and get new toilets upstairs before they left and that they would pay for us to do it. I started looking at toilets and flooring that night! The toilets were terrible! They didn't flush half the time and the master one never flushed completely. Disgusting. So David tore out the flooring, vanity and toilet. And Ryan Hahn helped him install the new stuff. The new toilets are easily the best part! :)

new vanity and flooring

curbside appeal like we've never experienced before!

sometimes Benson takes pictures of Annika. It makes my heart happy :)

David went out with the missionaries right at dinner time. I was feeling a little put out. But, my tune changed while I was doing dishes. Esther worked on that half ear of corn the whole time I was doing dishes. And the kids played well downstairs. I felt blessed at home while David was serving with the missionaries. 

bath hair is the best :)

cutest toddler in the world!

Daddy gives the kids rides every time he mows the lawn #meltsmyheart

Benson has been asking me to take his picture lately

the kids all love swinging. It's fun to have them all contained and happy at the same time :)

the best jungle gym

french braid practice. My goal is to master french braiding before she is in middle school sports :)

Lions Park. We have had some really nice days. It's been a crazy and lovely November!

Pam's Playground! We don't go very often now that we live out of town. But that playground holds sweet memories and sentiments for me. I love bringing the kids there!

Pam's Playground!

Twice in one day, Esther climbed up on the table and stuck her fingers in green water color paints and ran them through her hair. She is fast! and mischievous.

Three babes in a row. It's been fun to watch Esther playing as an equal with her siblings more and more. She is an adventurous girl!

my favorite wall decor in our house. Grandpa Stock cut out the J and Y for me. Zack took our family pictures.

Annika named Zack the "book servant" last spring. He is supposed to get books and read books. She is hilarious. I love her ideas. 

We all love it when Esther snuggles. But, Papi enjoys it more than anyone else, I think. She will snuggle like this with him for 15 minutes if he gets her up from bed.

We went to Blake and Julie's for a Stock family post thanksgiving dinner. It was great! The highlight was watching grandma Stock push the kids around in the Stock boys wheel chair (they have it for playing with). The girls loved it and Grandma was making hilarious commentary as she wheeled them around.

Selfie session

My girls! Zack took these pictures after he did a photo shoot of Janelle Nygard's family.

decorating the Christmas tree! The kids were so excited. Benson kept saying, "look at this! look at this!" We were quite disappointed in this tree so we went to cut one down in the Wenatchee forest the next weekend.

October

pile up on Annika's bed

Annika is wearing magenta shorts. I'm the hot coach in the yellow hat :) I really enjoyed coaching. I probably wouldn't have volunteered if it didn't mean Annika got to play for free. But I would do it again. We just had practice before each game from 5-5:15 and then a 40 minute game. We didn't have much structure during practice. I want to be more organized if I coach next spring or fall. Annika has one more year of laid back games in Othello. And then they start having to travel to Moses Lake, Warden, and Ephrata.

We got BK after one of Annika's games. Esther was pretty happy to bite into a big cheeseburger. She is a good eater! She is often the first and last one eating at the table. She isn't picky either. It doesn't add up that she is so petite for how much she eats. She must burn a lot of calories. She is a busy toddler!

The girls and I had ear infections. Mine was so painful that I didn't want to go to the fire house party this year. Sweet David took all three kids to the party so I could rest. I read my book for that hour and quite enjoyed the relaxing time. My ear drum ended up rupturing, which brought great physical relief at first. But it was still painful after a week of antibiotics. So I went in again and he informed me that it had likely ruptured, since their was drainage. He put me on a stronger antibiotic. My hearing in my left ear came back a few days after that and the pain went away too. I'm grateful for modern medicine!

I'm sad that I missed the joy that the fire house party brings!

quick post church photo. I don't take many with the kids and me. 

I was taking a break from chopping onions. It looks ridiculous, but those swim goggles are the only way I could get through all of the chopping. Janelle and I went along the roads near onion fields and picked up ones the trucks had lost. The corners were the best. I ended up with half a laundry basket full!
When I got home, I realized that I didn't have my phone. I thought I left it in the car the whole time, but it was nowhere to be found or heard. Fortunately, David was home by this point. So I left the kids with him and went back to where we started, about 5 miles from home. I parked by the first field and walked along the road. I ran back to the car after no luck. I prayed that Heavenly Father would "direct my path." I know it's not the worst thing to buy a new phone. But that's a big expense and inconvenience. This was important to me. I started driving down the next stretch, very slowly. About 30 feet down the stretch, I came to a stop and right in front of me was my phone, laying on the side of the road. I cried most of the way home. I was so grateful for the reassurance that Heavenly Father listens and He will direct my path.

Zack sent the kids a package! I flannel shirt for A and a monster truck for B. The Shopkins for E were lost from the package somehow. Good thing she didn't understand what was going on.

the kids have loved having Sadie to take care of and pet

she loves to garden! She is Beusie's girl!

Our little thrill seeker...

the riding mowers are parked under the deck. I often find Esther and Benson sitting on them.

General Conference was fun this year! Annika sat through a lot of the sessions. I printed out some pages for her to work on. Janelle and Brandon Nygard moved in a few days before conference. They stayed with us for 3 nights before their house was available. I cannot believe that my best friend from college is living three doors down from me! Brandon got a job managing a feed lot in Connell. I feel so blessed to have her here and we have plans to do a lot together!

"Mom, I need my birding hat. I'm going to go take pictures of birds."

Our big girl eating at the table. We brought the booster seat up since Tyler, Janelle's 18 month old, needed a place to sit while they stayed with us. Now, Esther is pretty much done with her high chair after seeing Tyler sit at the table. I'm ok with that! The mess seems to be harder to contain. But I don't liking having that high chair take up so much space. We'll be moving it out of the kitchen soon.

Exercising! We have Gram Pam's old 1 pound weights that she used for walking. They are perfect for the kids to use while I work out. :)

Cute girl in one of her birthday gift shirts.

a bus. This girl loves to draw and do anything art!

We went to Amayah Vonbracht's birthday tea party. It was really cute and the kids had a blast.

After the tea party. This makes my heart smile!

eating grapes. One of her favorite outdoor pass times.

laying the ground cloth after we pulled out the corn and weeds.

Esther loves to wear other peoples jackets and shoes! She's such a fun goof!

sometimes he still takes naps. It is heavenly while he sleeps. But he usually wakes up grumpy and stays that way until bedtime. #catch22

Transformer underwear, R2D2 snow boots, and a minion shirt. Perfection.

Poor sick baby. But still reppin' the Cougars!

A nice collection of daddy's ties!

I have to put my purse away quickly, unless it needs to be cleaned out :)

cutest little fireman. Mm. I just love that baby!

We went to Tri ctities to go shopping and to lunch with Grandma Stock! We went to WinCO, Goodwill, and McDonald's. Then we went to Gma's house and the kids played for an hour or so. It was so fun! I'm so happy that my kids get to know their great grandma. I hope they're old enough to remember these memories!

Benson didn't want to be in the footie pj picture

naked. on a chair cushion. on the kitchen floor. Normal.

Annika is the sweetest big sister! She loves to play with and take care of her siblings

they are beyond adorable!

This was probably after they both woke up from a nap. One of them wakes up happier than the other.

The kids harvested and painted A LOT of pumpkins and gourds from the garden.  

In the Fiji shirt that Papi brought home for Annika a few years ago.

Dressed up for the Annual Gentry Family Halloween Party! Pretty Boy Beus (A shirt his roommates made with a screen print of his 16 year old driver's license), a worker guy, a witch (with crazy colors!), a Hawaiian baby, and a pumpkin.

We had yummy soups and rolls. But the high light was definitely watching David while we played this game. He had to read phrases while wearing this mouth opener. Your team has to guess what the phrases are. It was hilarious!

Ward Trunk or Treat. This picture was hard to get! Esther kept coming towards me and the kids all wanted to eat candy. We tripled up on layers for Annika so she could wear her dress on the outside. We were only outside for about 10 minutes. But they were cold and ready to go after that. It was perfect. (the only imperfect thing about the night was my arm was about ready to fall off after carrying Esther and other costume accessories. #momlife)

Our little lion! Esther wore this warm costume for our ward trunk or treat. David had an eye appt. so I took the kids by myself. It was cold and windy. The kids have never been to one done much trick or treating (we didn't go at all last year). They were so excited and kept saying things like "Look, we know them." or "There's another car!"

modeling her new flannel shirt from Uncle Zack! We love it!

I think Benson took this picture. I cherish these snuggling moments with my Esther. Thanks, Benson, for capturing the moment :)

We had dinner in a pumpkin on Halloween! The inside was yummy. But the pumpkin was hard and didn't cook well. Annika especially liked the dinner.

Benson requested a picture by dinner in a pumpkin too :)