THE BASTINGS BUZZ: November 2011

Primary Program

This year in Primary, the theme was "I know the scriptures are true." The first week of this year we had a FHE lesson and I wrapped up the scriptures like a present that the kids opened and we talked about how Heavenly Father gave us this amazing gift....the scriptures.

Ever since that lesson, Austin was intrigued with those scriptures. He would thumb through the pages like they were magical, he was always excited to take them to church, and he called them his "scripture power". He even once wanted to sleep with them and when we asked him why he responded "because I am building my house upon a rock." I am always amazed by the things these kids learn. I tried to do a better job this year at reading the scripture stories with Austin before he went to bed. It has been fun to see him learn the scripture stories and even watch him tell them to Kayla.

Austin did great for the Primary Program. He sang the songs very well. His favorite song was "Scripture Power" which both Austin and Kayla know all the words to. He also said his line into the microphone this year. Last year he had his line memorized but once he got up to the microphone he got stage fright and wouldn't say anything. This year he had his line memorized but still waited for the teacher to whisper it to him. Then he timidly said into the microphone "The prophet teaching me how to choose the right." Great job Austin!

Leaves Are Falling

I love Fall....especially after a long hot summer. It is fun to watch all the trees change colors and see the leaves falling to the ground. And every year I try to make sure and point out to my kids the beautiful colors of the leaves.

And ever year we collect them and make leaf collages. This year, I decided to press the leaves in my nursing textbooks and then the kids were able to glue them onto the trees I made for them. This worked out GREAT and was super fun both for the kids and for me. I thought they turned out so cute!

Fall Soccer

This last fall we decided to put Austin on his first soccer team. Most all of Craig's family play soccer so we figured he would enjoy it since it is in his genes. He had practice on thursday nights and then a game on saturday. Sometimes he wasn't very eager to get dressed to go to soccer but once we got there he always had a good time.

Craig signed up to be Austin's coach which made it even more fun. He did a great job with these little 4 and 5 year olds.

Here are some pictures of Austin in action.

Durin the first few practices and the first game he would run around and occasionally get a kick on the ball but wasn't too focused and sometimes just played around. However, during his second game he started to figure out how to kick the ball, run after it, and kick it again etc.....and he scored 4 goals that game.

For the rest of the season he scored at least 1 goal every game.

Here he is just before taking a shot at the goal.

Austin's cousin Klayton was also on the team and they had a fun time playing soccer together.

Here they are listening to each other snap their fingers.

I caught this photo of them walking back to their side of the field holding hands after their team just scored a goal. So cute.

Austin's friend from his school, Braxton, was also on his team.

More action shots.

Austin on a breakaway.

And while Austin and Klayton were playing soccer these 2 girls had fun entertaining each other....which usually involved running around, a bag of fruit loops, and their own mini-chairs.

Craig's brother was the assistant coach of the team.

It was a great season and lots of fun.

Austin was really excited about getting a trophy.

October Door of Fame

This great idea came from my sister in law who does this with her children's school work. I decided to do the same thing. It is a fun way to display the kids artwork and since I know that I can't save every single paper my kids make, I can at least have them all in pictures and then keep my favorites.

Since Austin is in school, most of the artwork is from him. The tractor at the top was an listening activity that he did in school where he cut out and assembled the tractor himself by listening to the instructions of the teacher. Austin also found it fun to draw and cut out pumpkins....for several days in a row he came home with a cut out pumpkin he had drawn at school. Austin also came home with 3 "thumbs up" awards--one for being a super helper, one for being a super hallway leader, and another for being a block buster clean-up. It is fun to see the excitement on his face when I ask him about the awards. Kayla's does have some artwork on the door inluding the candy corn at the bottom and the care bear paper that she scribbled all over on.

13th Night of Halloween

I enjoyed going to Austin's school for his Fall Party. It was fun to see the excitement on his face when I walked into his classroom. I played the game Spooky Sam with the kids and they loved it.

Dinner Time---Pumpkin Pancakes

(the kids loved helping me decorate the table)

Our Trick-or-Treating started out at Papa Dave and Granny Deb

Then we stopped over at my parents house

Then to see Gandma Vicki and Dennis

After hitting up the grandparents for candy, the kids stopped to get candy from their aunt Kelsey and Kristi.....and they hit the jackpot there (they were give large candy bars and handfuls of candy in their bags).

We could have easily gone home with our bags full after that but decided to walk around the neighborhood for a while and do some traditional trick-or-treating.

Kambria has the right idea....no walking and sampling the treats.

Kayla----my beautiful princess

Austin showing off his bag full of candy....it was a successful Halloween night!!!

12th Night of Halloween

This day was crazy busy......but we did celebrate my sister's birthday who was actually born on Halloween.

11th Night of Halloween

We enjoyed a yummy halloween lunch.

(It's a spider sandwhich just in case you weren't sure)

That night Austin had a great time going with his school friend Braxton to a Trunk-or-Treat.

10th Night of Halloween

With Craig being out of town, I called my mom and asked if we could dress up and come over for dinner.

We had a fun time digging through the large box of Halloween costumes my mom has accumulated from 7 kids dressing up over the years. Kayla made a pretty cute witch.