Meet My Monsters.

Is it Halloween time yet? Is it too early to start decorating for Halloween? It's almost October!
In the Keith household October officially begins Halloween. That means we can decorate for the season. I jump started my decorating just a little bit.
I had been working on a Halloween craft and finished it. They were just too cute that I couldn't help myself and they had to find a home for this spooky holiday.
Here's my little monsters.

This cutie is nick named 

Mater Monster.

(Mater from Cars.)

She Did it Again.

Who's # 1?

Kenzie's # 1.

Mackenzie had another amazing gymnastic meet over this weekend.
She took first place in every event and first on the All-Around.
She earned a 9.0 on her vault. A 9.3 for her bar routine. An amazing 9.325 on her beam routine. To round it out she received an 8.95 for her floor exercise.
If you do the math that all adds up to a very impressive 36. 575. WOW!
Once again she walked away with 4 medals and a trophy for her All-Around.
As we drove home that night, I had to tease her. As they were announcing award places and as the announcer was finishing the 2nd place winner she was already standing and walking toward the podium before they ever announced her name. I told her it came off a little cocky and she needed to wait to hear her name.
She then asked what does cocky mean, I explained it like this, "Remember when Lightening McQueen thought he won the piston cup and came through the curtain before his name was called. Well, he was cocky. In the end, he didn't win. He tied. His ego was so big he thought he was the best and it turned there were 2 other just as good." She looked at me and said, " I get it. Next time I'll wait for my name, but I already know I Am that good."
I guess medals really are won with confidence.
Keep up the awesome work!

Here she is after receiving her trophy for 1st place in the AA.

When Dawson packs.

I know this post is way out of date, but I had to remember what a 6 yr old packed for a potential fire evacuation.
It was during the 'Dump' fire as it was named. The fire and smoke got very close to our homes and we prepared for possible evacuations. I set the kids to work gathering supplies and keep sake items. Dawson brought up the cooler and said, "mom I'll pack the food."
When a 6 year old exclaims this, it might make you wonder what would a child pack.
Well, I'll show you.

There you have it.

In case of an emergency take pancake mix and you'll be set.

I told him that was a great start, but we might need a little more to eat. Then I pointed out that we would need water to mix the pancakes up. (not to mention a few other supplies, like syrup.)
He went to work gathering more essential food supplies for us. Once again he exclaimed, "mom, the cooler is done and it's full this time."

Here is what he packed.

So, in case of emergency make sure you pack, Pancake mix, 3 water bottles, peanut butter, bread, frosted flakes, pop tarts, gold fish crackers, and little Debbie snack cakes. You will have every thing you'll need to survive.

I did add to his cooler, but I also did keep everything he packed.
I happy to say, we didn't need to evacuate and use our cooler full of supplies, but I am even more proud of my children for stepping up and helping me prepare stuff just in case.

*And for the future Mrs. Dawson Keith. Make sure you pack the coolers, but always include pancake mix. You will make your husband very happy.

September Craft.

My crafting partner in crime Jen and I once again did damage in the 'Wood Connection' store. I decided I wanted something to do every month so this is what I got.

I got a board to do the welcome on and a little kit that came with the unfinished school themed pieces.
I went to work on my board first. It was the easiest. Paint black, distress edges, add vinyl 'Welcome'.
I had everything needed to complete the pencil so I tackled that one next. Easy peasy.
I did the apple next. I already had the colors  I wanted for it. So it wasn't to hard. It took me awhile to decide on my leaf. I wanted a fall color. Not to red, cause the school house was going to be red. Not too yellow because the pencil was yellow. No too much green, cause the apple was green. I was looking for a red, orange color. But, not too bright. Fall colored. I finally found one I liked and 'Boom' it was done.
It might seem silly, but I went through a debate over the color blue I wanted to use for the piece behind the ruler. I went  a navy blue. It makes the ruler really stand out and it's different from red, orange, or yellow.
The school house was a little more challenging. I wanted red, but not Christmas red or pink red, or orange red. I wanted 'school house red'. I finally found one I liked and painted away. I added a little ribbon to dress it up some and fill in some "dead space".
I like how it turned out. Everything isn't perfect, but it will do.
Now I need to add the knobs onto the welcome sign to hang the pieces from. The store had a display with nails to hold the dangles, but I wanted something a little more fancy. So I painted some knobs black, distressed them a little to match the board and they were ready to go.
I still need to get out my drill and put the holes in the board for my knobs. But, you get the idea for now.
Every month I'll make a new set of dangles to display.
For October, there's a Black cat, ghost, candy corn, pumpkin and a bat. I'm so excited to do more crafts. Ahhh this is what it's like to have kids in school full time.

Hi-ya

What do you get you mix 6am with a karate event and a Xander?
One happy and excited boy.

Tyler and Xander were up early to get ready for their day long Bushido event. It's an all day karate endurance event. I'm not exaggerating when I say all day. It went from 8am-11pm. I think those hours qualify as all day.
During Bushido the participants will test their skills in different sparring events, endurance runs, and exercise routines. They will learn how to use nun-chucks, a bow staff and how to defend themselves from attacks.They will also be tested on their knowledge of the different terms and the definitions used by their form of karate called Kishindo (key-shin-dough).
The kids and I joined Ty and Xander at the Bushido around lunch time. I actually took them up lunch so I had to be there about 12:30. We stayed for most of the day. I finally left with the kids at 7. They needed dinner and a certain little man hadn't napped all day. He was at his karate end.
I, of course had camera in hand as the different events happened.

Daddy helping tie Xander's belt on.

Xander and Ty during the workout.

Sparring.

Ty during the sparring. 

Each competitor had the blue thing on. One person had blue the other person had red.

They had to disarm their opponent of a flag. Then it was a point for you.

That's Ty sparring with Colter in the back left corner. 

Ty has the white thing on his head.

Everyone sparring.

This Ty and Xan's Sensei Angel.

She's been a friend of ours for years.

Mackenzie and Dawson watching from a safe distance.

Sawyer hung out around me for the first part of the morning.

He was smart enough to be in the shade.

He did get adventurous with Dawson.

While more Karate was taking place the kids were in heaven cause I let them wander around and play all they wanted. We were up in Provo Canyon and the setting couldn't have been more beautiful. The weather was picture perfect. Lots of sunshine and tempts in the low 80's.

But, sunscreen was a must. Notice Ty and Xander protected their whole heads. There was a bald guy there that only had a bandanna wrapped around his forehead. When he took it off he had a red head and face with a white ring around his forehead.

Practicing with these stick things.

Xander practicing with his staff. 

The boys cooled off in the little stream near by.

These are Ty's and Xander's achievement certificates from Bushido.

 I am so proud of my boys. Xander had a blast and can't to do it again next year. He had a smile that never left his face. It was there when he left at 7 and it was still there when he got home at 12.
Way to go guys!

Medal and Medal and Medal.

Once again, Mackenzie rocked the award podium at her last gymnastic meet. She placed 1st in the bars, vault, and beam routines. She took 2nd on the floor. This resulted in another 1st place finish for the All-Around. With every meet when she gets 1,2,or3 place she gets a medal. So far she's gotten 5 medals at every meet. Where in the world am I going to put all these medal. Have you seen her room!

Here's some more awesome action shots of my amazing gymnast.

Bar routine.

Beam routine.

Floor routine.

We Eat & Play in Idaho.

Here are a few more pictures from our most recent trip to Idaho. I love theses kiddos so much that I had to make another post just I could put the picture on it.

Where's Ivan!!!

I see you.

Swinging and playing and screaming.

The kid table.

These two boys should be twins!

My favorite kind of cheese.

Even though a couple hundred miles might separate these cousins. They make sure they have a fun-filled weekend every time they get together.

Another Attempt.

I've tried and tried to get a nice little snap shot of all my kids. For some reason as soon as the camera comes out, all silliness breaks loose.
Here's some recent attempts.

Really, Dawson. Is it that bad.

3 out of 4. Not too bad.

This what I got when I said, "smile Dawson."

There's the 4th one. But would he join the others?

NO!

Too busy playing to take a picture.

Pretty Miss Mackenzie.