October 2023

I took even more pictures in October!  Wow was it a busy month.

The boys got to go laser tagging with our homeschool group.  It was a blast.

The next day Israel and I flew up to Utah for a quick trip.  I was able to go to our AYM (Armenia Yerevan Mission) reunion.

It was so great to see my sweet companions and other friends from the mission.

And boy did Israel love all the attention he got with his grandparents, aunt and uncles.

My flight was delayed by 8 hours or so, which was really disconcerting, considering I had a 7-month-old with me.  What made it worse was that we hadplans to go to California the next day and the hotel reservation was non-refundable.  Fortunately, we did get home late that night.  Frazzled as Dane and I felt, we packed up and left for San Diego the next morning.  I'm so glad we did.

When we got there we went straight to the beach.  Hinckley and Lucy had never been to the ocean before and it was priceless to watch them run back and forth with the waves.

The next day we went to the San Diego Zoo.  It was seriously a magical day.  The weather was perfect, the lion roared at us, a gorilla beat his chest at us and then rushed toward the glass like he was going to attack us, a cheetah ran for us, the babboons were fighting, even some mongooses were fighting over a hole.  It was amazing.  And the plant life was also stunning.

At the end of the day each kiddo got to choose a stuffy to bring home (we never do this!) and they were over the moon.  Hinckley got a lion, Atticus got a snake and Lucy got (another!) unicorn.

The next day we went to the Mormon Battalion historic site, which was awesome.

We spent the rest of the day at the beach.  It was wonderful.

When we got back we were able to breathe a little before things got busy again at the end of the month with Hinckley's birthday and Halloween.

This year we dressed with a World War II theme.  Atticus was a machine gunner, Hinckley was Captain America, Lucy was Rosie the Riveter, Israel was Uncle Sam and I was a member of the Women's Army Corps.

Israel had a big month!  Early in the month he pulled up to stand for the first time and has done so several more times.  There aren't a lot of places where he feels comfortable trying but he'll do it in the wagon when we go to soccer games.  

He turned 8 months and would not smile for anything when I took the photo.  Ten minutes later, he was all smiles for Hinckley.

He started crawling for real at the end of the month!  For most of the month he adopted a method of getting up on is toes and pouncing forward to get objects.  It was pretty effective.  Now it's all over.  He has the cutest, slow, jerky crawl right now.  It is so fun and he is so happy... but I'm dreading all of the messes he'll be making as he gets faster.

We also think he is saying his first word.  I know it's early to be saying this but he really does seemto be referring to me and hunger (it's like the same thing, right?) with "Nnnna-naaa."  I guess I could be wrong but Dane agrees with me.  We have never had a child seem to address me and ask for me so consistently like this.  In fact, Lucy and Hinckley's first words were "Dada" (Atticus's was "Bobba") so this is new.

He sits much better now.  He still constantly tries to bite Dane and me, in spite of all our efforts to deter him.  Even Hinckley had stopped biting by this time, and I had called him a vampire!

Lucy also had a huge month!  She is officially potty trained.  Don't get me wrong, she still has accidents but we are done with diapers and pullups during the day, aside from naptime.  Yay!

This was a cute moment Dane caught at church.  She was headed to nursery, saw her classmate and grabbed his hand as they walked.  So, so sweet.

Listen to Lucy:

• "Please don’t go in my woom."  ("Uhhh- why?")  "I don’t know." (This is very often her way of pleading the 5th.)
• ("Are you going to marry Carmello?") "Yup." 

Here is Hinckley's letter to Nana for her birthday.  He got some help with the dog but I just loved the things he added- cars and his dad walking the miniature schnauzer they had when Dane was a kid.

October is easily Hinckley's favorite month because his birthday is the 29th- and boy, are we grateful he was here to celebrate his 6th birthday after his close call last month.  That close call has had a major impact on him, for good and bad.  He has developed quite a few fears, particularly when it comes to cars and crashes.  

He is terribly afraid of riding his bike down the hill not far from our house where he got hit (and I don't blame him, one bit!)  He also is constantly telling me not to hit anyone and to "pull the brakes!" as we approach stoplights, stop signs, pedestrians and bikers, etc.  He also just seems generally more aware of his own mortality.  I am so grateful he is being more careful but it hurts my heart to see him paralyzed by fear in certain situations.  It doesn't help that Atticus can get really impatient with him.  I tried to explain to him that Hinckley has an injury we can't see in side- like a bruise or worse that needs to heal after his ordeal.  We have started praying that his little heart will heal.

I'm excited to report that Hinckley took off on the piano this month.  He has been playing by ear for months now but this month he finally was able to start progressing on the Simply Piano app and he LOVES it now.  Hooray!  

Hinckley Speaks:

• (After one of Atticus's games a parent called out, “Good job everyone!”) “Even Atticus!” Hinckley yelled. (He made everyone laugh on the sideline.)
• "Lion was dreaming that I would come and buy him."  (Said soon after purchasing his stuffed lion at the zoo and running around the sidewalks, roaring at people with the stuffie. )

• "Why is there so much hair in my mouth!?"  ("Were you licking your (stuffed) lion?" Pause…) "No..." (A couple minutes later) "Is hair edible?"
• ("You were on fire at that [soccer] practice!") "It's because of six." ("Huh?") "Well, when I was five, I was horrible but now that I'm six, I'm like..." (starts doing fast, fancy footwork while making fast sound effects.)
• (Before bed) "Let’s pray again."  ("Okay, do you want me to say it?")  "No, I will.  You don’t know what to say."  ("Okay.")  "...Bless my eye that it will feel better.  Bless Neymar that he will recover from his injury.  Bless Dad that he will recover."
• "Pray for me!" (As he walked out the door to play with friends and deal with his fears.)  

In October Atticus passed off the theme song for Jurassic Park.  I kind of say this in passing- he has learned so many songs since starting with his teacher, Whitney Madsen in June.  He will have his first recital at the beginning of November and he has worked hard for it.  We have no doubt that he'll do great.

Here is the schnauzer Atticus drew for Nana's birthday.  He insisted on sending it with a $2 bill.  Isn't that sweet?

One thing I wanted to note this month is how very helpful Atticus is both for Dane and me.  I am so grateful for his good attitude regarding scriptures, food, schoolwork, getting ready to go places, helping with the baby or Lucy... the list goes on.  He isn't perfect, of course, but he tries so hard to help.  I am so grateful for that. 

Remember last month how he was struggling with soccer?  Well, we watched some videos that showed Lionel Messi, possibly the world's very best soccer player, making mistakes.  The boys watched in disbelief.  All of the videos they had seen of him before that moment had showed Messi's best.  Then we watched a video of Messi training and it worked!  Atticus wanted to try training like Messi.  After just a couple days of working out in sand with Dane he had an amazing weekend.

His club team had gone undefeated in the CNLV club league so they made it to the semifinals.  It was there that Atticus showed what he was capable of.  He was on fire- scoring three times, which is called a "hat trick" in soccer.  They won the game 6-1 and played the final just 20 mintues or so after that first game.

They won the game (Atticus played great again!) and were given medals for each player, as well as a giant cup trophy for the team.  The coaches chose three MVPs and Atticus was one of them.  Then he put their names in the trophy and had Hinckley choose a slip of paper... and Atticus's name was chosen!  So Atticus got to bring the trophy home.  

As you can imagine, Atticus was elated.  It was an unforgettable night and the trophy now proudly stands on his dresser, with all his soccer medals hanging from it.

Atticusisms:

• "I've calculated all the moves!"
• "Let’s pray... Bless anyone if their house is on fire or if they need help." (While driving when we saw a fire truck racing toward an emergency.)
• "I would get a red butt if I did that!"  (Says this all the time, or some version, like, "If I was your dad you would have a red butt right now!")
• ("Are you going to start another fight?")  "Nope.  I’ve lost enough for one evening." (This is a sad one.  Atticus got in a fight with his friend and hurt him so we didn't go to his soccer team's trunk r' treat.)
• "Aw, yeah!- I bet I killed like 57 people!"  ("No, I don’t think it was that kind of a war.  More of a war of words, probably...") "Then I'm sure I knocked out, like, twelve.  Dad probably punched someone. Mom, did you use pepper spray?" (While talking about the War in Heaven one night before bed.)

Homeschool was busy but I definitely stopped trying to do all of the classes that have been offered by Belle Ame at Home.  Between our trip to San Diego and the many oher fun day trips and activities we've been doing, it just isn't practical to do so much. Still, we read an amazing book!  I highly recommend it.  If you love history then Carry On, Mr Bowditch will not disappoint.  

We also studied Holland again, making dutch stamppot (mashed vegetables), the boys drew herons and we learned a fun Dutch spinning song, "Sarasponda."

For Spain we learned two beautiful Spanish lullabies, "Arroro mi nino" and "Duermete."  We tried pisto with Spanish rice and Atticus loved it so much he made it again two days later. 

For our week about the colonists during the 1700s we made quill pens and Atticus drew an eagle (he used it for his grandpa's birthday card.  Both of them are coming along so well with their artwork!

Midway through the month we had some friends from church invite us over to see their beehives.  It was awesome!  I learned a ton.

Until next time!  Be sure to wear the "Armor of God" or Atticus will get you with the "fiery darts."