Strong National Museum of Play

This is the coolest children's museum I have ever seen. Apparently this is the largest children's museum in the nation... I had thought the one in Houston was good size when we were there, but it doesn't compare to this one. Larry was at his interview all day on Monday so I took the kids here for the day. It is two stories, and we were there for almost five hours and didn't get to play with everything on the main floor. They had a full Sesame Street town with all the shops and places you see in the show. There was a room that was Elmo's World that was just like the one on the show. Rhyan was so excited!! Mayson found the street vendor cart and kept trying to feed everyone everything she could find. There was also a Berenstien Bears town, with all the places out of those books. They also had Curious George's world, with the farmhouse, the rocket, the factory, and a lot of the other places that were in the Curious George books. Rhyan loves Curious George, and was giving him hugs and kisses and climbing all over him.


































The grocery store they had in this place puts to shame any children's museum grocery store I have seen. It was huge, and it had all the different departments for the kids to pretend to be a baker, butcher, produce person, etc... And the registers were really fun. The belts worked just like in a real store, and everything had a bar code and actually rung up. After everything was rung up it totaled out and printed receipts and everything, just like at the real store. The kids thought they were so cool. Mayson's favorite was the fairy tale land, that had princess stuff, play areas out of tons of different fairy tales, magic things, pirate ships and so much more. This is not even half of the stuff on the main floor. We were only upstairs long enough to look and see what was there, because we ran out of time and had to go pick up Larry. But, they had a huge toy museum, and a huge room to play with classic toys like slinkys and hula hoops... they even had an Atari set up that Kaleb thought was neat. If we ended up in Rochester, we would definitely have to get ourselves a membership there. The kids absolutely loved it!! Asher was in sensory overload the whole time. He was smiling and kicking his legs and waving his arms around as he rode around in the stroller. As you can see, Asher's shirt is soaked. He has his first tooth coming through on the bottom and has slobber everywhere. You can see though he is trying to take advantage of being toothless as long as possible... he sucks his little bottom lip in to look like a gummer!!

Election Day at the Zoo

Well, the kids were out of school for election day because they vote at the schools here, and you don't want the kids in the school when the crazies are there. So, it was beautiful outside and we went to the zoo. The kids were very impressed with the bear eating the pumpkin, and Rhyan likes the lions because she can tell you what they say. As you can see, Kaleb and Mayson thought they were the monkeys...

Asher's First Rice Cereal

Our other election day excitement was Asher's first experience with rice cereal. He actually did really well. He made a few faces about it but he ate the whole bowl. He needs something more than milk to support that chub!

12th Anniversary

Well, Larry and I have now been married for twelve years. It seems like just yesterday... Anyway, we had a fun night out. We went to the Winking Lizard and had dinner, then went to the theatre to see "The Male Intellect." It was hilarious!! It was a really fun evening, and these are the beautiful flowers Larry sent me.

Halloween

Here are the kids for Halloween. Mayson was Pippi Longstockings, Kaleb was Anakin Skywalker, Rhyan was a chicken, and Asher was a Pumpkin. We have been reading Pippi Longstockings to the kids, and they think she was quite funny. The picture of Mayson with her tongue sticking out was her pose when I asked her to show me some "Pippi attitude."

Book Character Fair

At the kids school, they don't celebrate Halloween, they have a book character fair. They dress up like a character from a book, and bring their book with them. Then they have a parade around the school. Rhyan and Asher and I went to watch them. It's fun to see all the kids dressed up!

Pumpkins

We carved our pumpkins for family home evening last Monday. The kids picked their pumpkins from the pumpkin patch a few weeks ago and were really excited about getting to carve them. Rhyan found a little one that she wanted, and it turned out really cute! Once we got done, we all had pumpkin pie, yum!!

Play-a-Day

Mayson has a thing called Play-a-Day we go to every Thursday at her school. They have dinner, and storied, and then they have activities they get to dress up and play. They have a lot of fun, and I figured I'd put up a couple of he pictures from two of the nights there. The first ones were from the tool day, and the other she was a mail-woman. We have also had things like doctor day and restaraunt day. We have one more this week and then we're done.

Shaker Lakes Nature Center

Kaleb had his field trip to the nature center about two weeks ago. The kids and I went to hang out too. They took nets down to the creek to collect macro invertebrates so they could check them out under the microscope. They thought it was really fun, and most of them were soaked by the time they got done. You can see Rhyan was hanging out in the stroller contemplating the meaning of life, and Asher was catching up on some zzz's. I was just getting a workout trying to push the stroller up and down the hill and through the rocks and trees and everything else that makes a stroller hard to push. It was fun for us all!

The Zoo

The kids had a day off from school on Yom Kippur, so we went to the zoo. It was beautiful outside and we had a great time.
The kids got to play in the big tree house in the Australian adventure, and they liked this snake that is at the bottom of the tree. They were really cute chasing each other through it.
Here are the kids in the petting zoo part of the zoo. Rhyan kept chasing this one particular goat around that didn't want anything to do with her. It was pretty funny to watch. I have a video of it, and if I can get it to upload I will put it on.

There was a condor that was showing off while we were there. The kids loved him, and I have to say, his wingspan really was pretty impressive.

The Apple Farm

Mayson had a field trip to the Apple farm in October and had a great time. They got to pick apples and grapes to eat, got to listen to a story about Johnny Appleseed, and got to go inside he big freezer that they keep the apples in. Rhyan had a fun time too, and Asher as usual was just along for the ride.

Pictures of Everyone

Here are just some cute pictures of everyone. This first one is of Larry & Rhyan at the park. We had a beautiful Saturday and decided to take advantage of it. Rhyan decided dad needed to ride on the alligator with her... don't they look cute!
This picture is the first time I came in and found Asher on his tummy in his bed. Once they can roll over on their own, that whole sleeping on the back thing is hard to enforce!

These two pictures were the kids sitting in the front room watching a movie and eating popcorn. It was one of the night Larry was out of town on an interview and we were all hanging out having a fun night. Asher loves his little bumbo. He likes to be able to sit up and feel like a big boy. Soon he'll be able to do it all by himself.

And here we have Rhyan with her "Melmo Hat." Melmo is what she calls Elmo, and apparently she thinks that this works great as a hat!

Cub Scouts

Kaleb got his first merit badge last month. He had actually earned it in August, but due to some scheduling issues, it wasn't given to him until October. He was really excited & we're proud of him and his Bobcat status!

Asher is Four Months Old

Asher was four months old on the 7th. Amazing... it goes so fast. He went to the doctor today and he weighed in at 16 lbs. 14oz. That is a mere 2oz. short of 17 pounds! He is in the 90% and is such a chub. The doctor was laughing about how heavy he is. He is really cute though, and everyone just loves him. Rhyan tells everyone all the time now that Asher is her baby brother! He rolled over for the first time today. Once he realized he could do it he got this huge smile on his face like "look at me mom! I'm so cool!" Then he kept rolling over. I can't believe he is already doing that... where'd my newborn go? He is also sleeping through the night now, most of the time. He goes to bed at about 7:30pm with the kids, and we've had a few nights where he hasn't been up til after 8am! Hallelujah!!

Misty's Quirks... as if I have any!

Okay, so Becky tagged me. I'm supposed to write down my quirks. I tried to tell her I don't have any, but I don't think she believed me. I guess I don't want to disappoint her with my lack effort, so I suppose I'll try to come up with something...

1. Lets just say this one has to do with nurture, not nature. I can't park my car next to another car unless I am in an end spot and park either over the outside line, or on the curb so I am far enough away from the spot next to me that no one can hit my car with their door. If an end is not available, we park out in the outskirts of the lot... between two cars is a very bad option. If I cannot find a suitable spot, I circle the parking lot in search of my best option. If by chance, I am forced to park in a spot I do not like, it drives me crazy while I am in wherever I was going. I keep thinking of my car getting a ding in the door. anybody who goes anywhere with me... you now know ahead of time. Thanks mom... this one's your fault!

2. I am a perfectionist and have an eye for detail. I like everything a certain way. Any little thing that is not how I think it should be, is damaged or broken or just somehow not right, really bugs me. And mind you, these things are normally not major things. They are typically tiny, seemingly insignificant little things that most normal people probably would not notice. That's why it's called a quirk, my friends! (man, I've been listening to too many McCain speeches!) I have learned that if I start a sewing, art... oh, pretty much any kind of creative project, it always takes longer than I would anticipate to finish, because everything has to be just perfect.

3. I like things to be in their spot. For whatever reason I seem to come up with "this is the spot where such and such should sit," and that is where that item has to reside. The remote controls and the coasters, for example. I am constantly putting them back in their "spot" because they get moved. My kids toys for instance... everything has a specific bin, or shelf, or other spot it belongs. When I pick up, that is where their toys go. When they pick up, not so much... then I rearrange. I have definitely had to tone this quirk down since I've had kids..

4. I like things to be clean. I can't stand a mess, and though my house is definitely not spotless now that I have four kids, I have certain things that really bug me. As my friends have pointed out to me, my faucets get polished because they are not "shiny enough" and tooth paste would never be on my mirror because would drive me crazy! This one too I think I can thank my mom for.

5. I have a thing with locking doors. I have gotten better about this over the years, but I definitely check the doors on a regular basis to make sure they are locked, and definitely before I go to bed at night. This goes for the car too... I push the button a couple of times to lock it as I'm walking off. Sometimes, because I'm dealing with kids and can't be positive I hit the button to lock it (remember, after I park I have a ways to go to get to the store, so I have time to forget such things), I then stop, take the keys out of my purse from across the parking lot and lock the car again. I'm starting to sound a little crazy, aren't I?! It's a good thing my list is almost done.

6. I don't like to be late. This is not saying that we are never late, but when I know I am running behind I get really frustrated, and very anxious. Suddenly I kick into high speed, and get very uptight (yes, I do get uptight sometimes...) about getting out of the house. I'm sure my kids can attest to this.

7. I love popcorn! Anyone who hangs out with me much knows that I have a weakness for popcorn... we go through a lot of it at our house. This one is thanks to my dad... he makes awesome popcorn!

Well... I'm sure you would all love to hear more about me, but I can't imagine that I have any more quirks than that. Okay maybe a couple more, but hey, that's why you all love me, right! It's like I tell Becky when she laughs at me when I park my car, "You knew what I was when you picked me up!"

Okay... I tag Natalie, Emily and Alesha!

Lacey Visits Us

Lacey came out to visit the same day Becky left. It is always fun to have her, and the kids were excited to see her. She said the only thing she wanted to do while she was here was go to the outlets and go to the West Side Market to get her dried strawberries and turkey jerky. Apparently she has been here a few times if she has specific request... and not the tourist site type requests! Not only did we accomplished those things, but we also went and picked raspberries one day. The kids had a lot of fun, and I think Lacey did too. We made large quantities of freezer jam with the raspberries... mmmm!!
We also went to the rain forest out at the zoo which is always fun. These next two pictures make me laugh. You see Lacey searching for a frog of some sort, and then the look of triumph at having found it. If you could read her thoughts I'm sure it would be something like this... "Okay, where are you. I know it says you're in there... Hey, I found it, I found it!! I saw the frog!!" Just teasing you Lacey, you know we love you!

On Sunday before she left, we went out to Kirtland and did the tour of the temple. It is always a neat experience to go through it. Last time Lacey was out here it was closed, so I was trying to hoist her up to see in the window, in the middle of January with the snow and ice. Let me tell you, it was quite the comical event. I think this time went much smoother! We had a lot of fun with her here, and I can't wait to see her again in January!