Pioneer Family

We have been reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, and have been LOVING them!

Ava and Violet at Ava's school party:

Carving Pumpkins

We bought a giant pumpkin. It was really pretty easy to move with the aid of a sheet and another person. The seeds from it were huge, and it wasn't that bad to carve at all.

A Weekend Up North

Went Up North last weekend. It's nice to have friends with connections!!

Violet, Bella and Ava


Riding KC the pony






Four Wheeling


Chillin' in a Sweet Pad

Charlevoix


A Chilly Michigan Morning

For more pictures, just click on any picture and it will take you to our album. There are many!

Happy Halloween!

Love,

The Wilders

Ma, Pa, Mary, Laura and Baby Frederick

FHE

I believe craft shows charge a lot for this type of thing. We did our own for FHE. :)

Outdoorsy

Our tree. Priceless.

Violet spent the day with Daddy so Ava, North and I had some quality time. She has been dying to get pumpkins, so we did. Now that she is in school I do miss her a little, and the time spent just with her is less. She is at such a fun age! Still gets into some hijinx, but still great.







Or Indoorsy

Post-family picture. I promise the picture will be better than this :) LOL Carbs much? Also note North's favorite lounging position. It must be a man thing.

Tent forts. Ava's other front tooth is on its way out. She will be front-toothless by the end of the week. I promise. Literally it is hanging. Violet said, "There's a hole in her tooth." Meaning, you can see the top root hole.

Halloween Preview

Fall Fun

What we've been up to:

Toddler Busy Bag Exchange -





A craft swap of sorts where you make one activity X amount of times, depending on the number of people attending. In the end you swap with everyone else and you have tons of different, fun activities for your kids! What we received in return:
-Build your own snowflake and memory game
-rubberband peg board
-lace beading
-bear counting
-felt shape button game
-make your own pizza

Trying on hats:



This beret from Paris never really fit Violet. So happy North at least had it on for half a second!

Stacking things:

 

Skipping school:




Not really, but Ava did have her first day off from school. I had tons of plans, but only about 50% came to fruition. She slept in and we went to Detroit to have lunch with Daddy and ate at this amazing creperie, "Good Girls Go to Paris." It was uber yummy, and pretty "hipster" as daddy would say - aka, good people watching.




 Taking Walks:

 

Since I'm in charge of the ward's playgroup now I better step it up in the cheap adventure department. Yes, the sign says, "Mastodon Crossing." While they were building a Wal-Mart across the street they dug up some mastodon bones.

And perhaps most impressively we all went on a bike ride! Tyler hitched up two kids in the bike trailer and I got a cheap seat from Meijer and had Violet on the back one way and North in the back on the way home. It was so liberating!! Ava really needs to learn how to ride a two-wheeler, but until then, this was just amazing.

Motherhood and the Rearing of Children

Last weekend was our church's semi-annual General Conference. I seriously loved it. Twice a year we get to hear directly from prophets and apostles what the Lord would like us to hear. Is it a message of love? Is it an answer to prayer? I could just feel the Holy Ghost so much in our home it was wonderful. I am definitely going to have to go and listen to a few talks again.

One of the most striking talks was this one. Although the message is had to hear when babies don't come as you want, it had many other important messages for me. One: marriage, and the decisions you make in it are a partnership between you, your spouse, and the Lord. You may say this, but is the Lord taking an active role in how we decide things? Two: Don't judge others. Three: Things may be tight financially when raising children, but that is what will bring the most happiness. Four: We need more little LDS babies!

If you're still reading this post consider this message from a Christian blogger who is not LDS. If I had time to blog all my thoughts, perhaps I could have written this expression and twisting of the world's view versus our Heavenly Father's. Right on, sister :)