Halloween Fun

Halloween this year was full of fun and, of course, candy.  These pictures are us and some friends carving pumpkins  Realized I didn't actually get pictures of final products so just use your imaginations.  

These pictures are Carter's class at the pumpkin patch for a field trip.  So. Cute.  I don't know who has more fun, me or them.  They had pig races this year and I was laughing so hard the other mom's probably thought I was crazy.  Seriously.  We live in a place where pig races are an accepted part of entertainment.  I love this town.  

And ... costumes!  McKenna started as something totally different but by Halloween she was a Huntress-ish.  Awesome cape everything else was added on.  This is her and her friend with their mature pillowcases before heading out.  

Tyler (Batman) and his friend Zack (Master Chief) and the photo-bomb ninja.  They love candy enough to wear anything.  

Carter is a ninja.  Obviously.  

Ellie so wanted to be a fox.  I looked all over for a stinking fox costume then just as I was about to give up we found the hood and tail.  Phew.  Her back had a sign "What Do I Say?"  If you haven't seen the YouTube video "What Does a Fox Say" you need to look it up.  

This is Carter inspecting his candy.  I think he would be okay with being a professional candy inspector!

School Starting... so soon?!

It's a big year in the Treadway home for school.  My baby started High School.  High School!  McKenna also started early morning Seminary.  These are both great things but basically we haven't seen her since.  *sigh*  I suppose it is how it goes but I'm kind of fond of her and miss her a bit.  She joined the tennis team also.  She leaves at 6 AM for Seminary and gets home at 6 PM.  Wow.  I guess our days of sitting around doing nothing but swim are officially over!  She is beautiful and funny and smart and so ready for High School.  

 It's a big year for Tyler, too.  He was home schooled for half of last year and although it was a needed experience he missed his friends and social life a ridiculous amount.  He was excited to start back in Junior High and was welcomed with yells of TYLER'S BACK! after I dropped him off.  He grew so much this Summer it's funny to see him be one of the big kids.  He has a quiet humor and already has the teachers loving him.  And stalker girls.  That is a new experience for his mom!  

Big year for Ellie too.  She started 4th Grade which means she moves over to the same school as Tyler.  Middle school!  Very exciting and she loves her super artistic teacher.  She has a good group of friends this year and works so hard at her work.  She is doing soccer twice a week and is in a Children's Acting Group and is pretty much going going going until she hits bed.  Phew.  Every year we say we will do it differently, every year our kids have such great opportunities.  How do we deny them the opportunities?!  Haven't found the solution to that one so if you've figured it out please let me know!!

As you can tell by the joyful picture, it's also a big year for Carter.  He started Kindergarten this year.  He LOVES it so far.  I figure we have until 2nd grade before he is bored silly.  For now it is all new and exciting.  He came home the first day and proudly told me he has four new girlfriends.  Atta boy.  

**Remember I told you Tyler doesn't take pictures well?!  That boy...**  They are all excited for school and since it is only the second week of school so far so good!  Hopefully this year will be a lot smoother than the last one.  Exciting times!

This is our last hurrah at the local yogurt shop.  So long summer!

And unless you fear the fun has stopped with school starting - things are as crazy as ever.  Love these monkeys!

Ghana...

Going to post something fresh on my mind.  My nephew Brian left last week for a two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  He was called to Ghana Africa and instead of going to the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah he went to the MTC directly in Africa.  What an amazing experience.  What an amazing kid.  We are so proud of Brian and his family!  

 Brian at the Sacramento Temple

Brandon, Kristi, Brian and Gordon (Ben is still on a mission in Italy)

 Brian and Tara Leonheart, Brian, Brandon, Kristi, Gordon, Dee, Diantha, Lee and Pat

**Side note, notice Brian, Brandon and Gordon's matching ties?  Ben sent them for Mother's Day so they could all match.  How awesome.  What an amazing family!**

Happy birthday! To America too!

Last of the birthday posts.  Almost caught up... ha ha ha.  

Carter turned 5 in July.  He wanted a bowling party.  With girls.  All the friends he listed that he wanted to invite were girls.  Yeah, that's how he rolls.  We have a couple of families with the closest girls so we ended up inviting them instead of ONLY girls.  Fun times.  

Can't believe my baby is 5!!  We all had a great time.

Our local fireworks are always the evening of the 3rd because the "big city" does 4th of July fireworks.  The evening of his birthday we headed over to our church lawn where you can see the fireworks.  Fun times, everybody runs around and plays games.  We had some fun with glow-in-the-dark bubbles and glow sticks which actually all turned into weapons.  The pictures didn't turn out great but here is a preview of what damage we did.

The next day was our neighborhood parade.  Fun times!

On Innocence, Growth, Consequences and Why I Hate It

There was a bit of an incident yesterday. Ty and his posse (affectionately named) had gone down to the ponds about half a mile from our house. I knew they were going, not a big deal. They go all the time.

Then I got a phone call that went like this, "Hey mom.... So we are at the ponds..... And we sort of lit a firework.... Ummmm ya. H wants to talk to you."  heart pounding H speaking a million miles an hour "So we've already called 9-1-1 and they're coming and we tried to put it out and it started on a brick but it jumped off and then" "H! Stop! Are you guys safe?!" "Yeah we are moved back but don't know what to do." I asked how big it was. "Probably 60 feet..." I grabbed Carter and jumped in the car drove down and met them at the gate. *It was at this point I realize Carter doesn't have shoes on. Wouldn't be bad except all the star thistle...and they were a good 1/4 mile from the parking lot. Ug he is heavy.*  The boys had run down and met me. We walked back to the fire. It was so big. I said a prayer of thanks they were okay. It was so big!  

By the time I got there one of the boys was on the phone with his dad. He was sobbing. I could hear his dad yelling how he was going to jail and a bunch of cruel hurtful names. That's when the shock wore off and the anger kicked in. The kid is already terrified and he is 10 for crying out loud. Parents your job is to protect your kids not make them hate themselves!  I don't care how angry/scared you are you are the adult! I took the phone from the kid and told the dad I was with them, we could hear sirens and the firefighters would be there soon and then I would take the boys to talk to the Sheriff for statements. I told him they were safe and I'm glad he remembered that was the most important thing.  I hung up and hugged the kid who suddenly looked so small.  I looked him in the eye, reminded him to breathe and told him how proud I was he called 9-1-1 and how very important it was to me they were safe.

The fire trucks got there. The wind kicked up. We had to back up. It moved so fast. We returned to the car, found out where the Sheriff was and drove to meet them.  It was two Fire Marshall's that started with, "If you lie to me I will throw you in Juvie right now." Then he softened up. He explained he had to read them their rights. Ug. They interviewed them one at a time. *side note:  Because I find humor in most things when one of the boys was being interviewed and was spilling his guts I was reminded of Chunk on Goonies.*  We learned a lot of things.  Things like kids under 16 aren't even allowed to have matches/lighters on them or it is a felony.  Things like the one boy who was with them but ran away as soon as the fire started could very well be in more trouble than the rest.  Things like boys who make stupid decisions aren't bad kids, just boys who make stupid decisions and sometimes they end up becoming Fire Marshall's   Things like once the other dad pulled up with rage in his eyes the Fire Marshall's are there to also protect the kids.  Things like it could have been a lot worse.  A LOT WORSE. If it would have started 10 minutes later they wouldn't have been able to get it stopped before the wind pushed it into the houses.  If it had been on the other side of the road we would have been responsible for paying for the emergency personnel who responded.  An acre and a fourth was burned.  No one was hurt.  No businesses were evacuated.  No homes were affected.  It could have been a lot worse.  

After an hour and a half in the 3:00 heat they sent us home with each boy holding a "ticket" which will be followed up with a meeting with a Juvenile Judge to determine what happens next.  With the boys away the Marshall told the parents most likely it would be a warning. 

So I've told you the story as therapy for me.  Now to the part that caused the title of this post.  The hardest thing for me as a parent is watching my child loose pieces of their innocence.  Loose pieces of their childhood.  I recognize this is a part of growing up that is necessary to make them adults.  However, as a parent I want to protect and preserve this about them.  

After we got home and had a long talk Tyler, hurt so deeply with his decisions, whispered, "I just wish I never did it.  I wish I could go back in time and make better choices."  I hate the fact that now he knows and recognizes remorse and regret so deeply.  We talked more and I told him I had bad news, "This won't be the last dumb thing you do.  You're going to make a lot of dumb choices in your lifetime.  What I hope more than anything is you learn how to learn from this, never do it again and are able to forgive yourself."  

We practice Love and Logic in our parenting so the best thing I knew for me to do was let him suffer the natural consequences and learn his hard lessons that come with it.  We talked about what could have happened.  He got physically pale.  We talked about the seriousness of it.  We talked about choices and consequences and how even when you make the choice you don't choose the consequences.  We talked about how our actions affect others.  He understands now.  More than he ever did.  He lost a piece of his childhood which he can never go back.  He will be a better man once this is over, but never again the child he was.  

Then I showed him President Monson's talk about starting the fire when he was 8.  "Even the prophet made stupid mistakes, think of what a great talk this will make when you're the Prophet..."  

I have a friend who says "Tragedy plus time equals humor."  Apparently Tyler still needs time.  He can think about it while he weeds the yard.  He'll have plenty of time to think...

Next Birthday... It's a big one!

Next chronologically is Tyler.  **Side note... there will probably be another post about his upcoming birthday party since he hasn't had it yet.  Thaaaaaat's right.  Trying to give him more to talk to his future therapist about...**

It was a big birthday for him.  He turned 12 which means he received the Priesthood.  He now passes the Sacrament at church and holds Priesthood Keys he did not before.  Pretty amazed at him and what an incredible young man he is turning into.  

This year I was able to spend a lot of time with him (see homeschool posts) and am proud to be his mom.  He is a great kid with a gentle heart and a funny sense of humor.  I love his wit and that he can keep up with my bantering.  

We were blessed to have family come to attend his Priesthood Ordination.  I didn't do so well with picture taking except the morning, I missed Gordon, Kristi and Brian but got everybody else... except Dee and Tyler and myself and Tyler.  Ha ha.  Hope somebody else got them...

Here are the awesome Grandparents.  So happy they could come!

Now here is a secret about Tyler.  He isn't great at pictures.  He's a very handsome guy but something about cameras makes his face go all wonky.  I took  probably 10 pictures to get the two bigger ones.  The "normal" ones.  The others are for your enjoyment.  Ha ha.

This is one of my favorites.  Getting fussed over by his Grandma's before heading to church.  

Here are my beautiful kids.  Growing too fast!

But here are how they really are...

Birthday Girl Turned 9

I have a few to catch up on.  I'm going to start with little Miss Ellie who turned 9 (a month and a half ago...)  She had a family birthday this year but her friend got to come over for the fun.  

 We had the brilliant idea to surprise her with a kitten.  When I say brilliant I mean... what were we thinking? Then you see the look on her face and remember why.  

She ended up with the name Razamatazz but we usually call her Raz or Dang Cat!

A few things about Ellie this year:

• She is moving from 3rd Grade to 4th Grade which means she moves over to the big school this year.  She has loved Elementary but is so excited to move on up.  
• She LOVES to read.  Especially animal fact books.  
• She wants to be a "Wild Animal Vet" when she grows up.  Like in the jungle.  Like with cheetahs.  My only saving grace on this is she HATES bugs which might keep her away from the jungle but while discussing this she said, "I guess I could just be a Marine Biologist since there aren't many bugs under water."  Yeah, cuz sharks are way better than cheetahs.
• She is so kind hearted and always is concerned about those around her.  
• She is my best sleeper.  She loves to sleep and has no problem going to bed when tired.  When she is over-tired I call her "Ella" her evil twin.  She get's that from her father... ha ha ha!
• She doesn't like girly things but loves Star Wars, Jackie Chan and all things animals.  
• She really wanted a snake, but the cat will have to do.
• She loves to be happy.  I often tell her if I were to rename her I'd give her another middle name of Joy.  She makes everyone around her happy when she is happy.  She lights up a room.
• She has the most beautiful laugh of anyone I know.