November

November was a month...we had a lot of happy times and some sad times as well. All growing experiences.  

We got more attached to our sweet little Josie. She has the sweetest, spunkiest personality and is the perfect fit for our family. 

At the beginning of the month the kids and I went to such a fun orchestra performance. The conductor discussed all the different instruments with different musicians standing at the front talking about their instruments. Then there was a guest performer who came and first played on his crazy instrument full of funny little noisemakers while accompanied by the orchestra and then told a story kind of like Peter and the Wolf with the Orchestra except it was about a tuba who had always wanted a solo. And now we all agree that tubas should be given more solos. At the end, the kids were able to talk to all the musicians and even play some of their instruments. 

Eliza and Vivi have been playing more and more together and they just make me so happy. 

This month we were anxiously awaiting a new cousin coming into the world. Sadly, sweet Caleb didn't make it long after birth because of previously unknown complications in development that made life unsustainable. We were all heartbroken but humbled by the faith of Brittany and Baydon's family and the beautiful service we were able to attend. The spirit was so very strong. Baydon spoke a little about why they had picked the name Caleb before knowing of his condition. He then quoted what Caleb in the bible said, "Give me this mountain".  

All the cousins were able to plant bulbs on Caleb's grave. They all were able to help bury the casket and I think that was so important for them to be able to do. They also were each given a balloon to send up  to Caleb. Little Tanner, who was watching through zoom in Utah, went running outside to see the balloons going up to Caleb. 

Natalie and Heather sang Come Ye Disconsolate and the love of our Savior was so strong during that moment. Jack and Terron kept watch over Caleb's casket the whole time. 

This was a very special cemetery tucked away in a remote area. Caleb is buried right next to the son of Brittany and Baydon's good friends who was stillborn a couple years ago. These memories are hard but beautiful all at the same time, and while it was, and still is, a heart-wrenching experience; we all have had our belief of eternity strengthened. There are so many questions during trials like this, but there are also so many witnesses of our Heavenly Father's love that cannot be denied. That love has most often been seen through the love extended to our dear family during this time. We know that we will see Caleb again someday and are so excited for that. 

We came up to the Hilton's house a week later and I had to get a picture of these beautiful girls singing praises to God around the piano. God is good, and there is still joy amidst sorrow. 

Before Thanksgiving, some of the adults were able to do a session at the temple and it was so very special to all be together in the Celestial room with just a little glimpse of what Heaven must be like. 

Tanner and Heather stayed home that night to watch the kids so that Tanner would have more time for his back to heal and Heather could be at a work meeting. They had their own temple trip later in the week. 

The day before Thanksgiving we got to get together with some dear friends from Morgantown. Mark's sister now lives in Kirksville and somehow she and Brittany were able to make the connection for us. It was so good to see them again! 

Heather made me an awesome tree trunk for our thankful tree and the kids filled it up in no time. There are so many things that we can be thankful for. 

Like pies

And Toddlers

Presenting Queen Vivi and King Porter with Princess Eliza and Prince Jack. They took their roles very seriously...

Vivi got sick which meant not as good of sleep but lots of cuddles. 

One of the sweets amidst the sadness of this month was getting to have Natalie and Heather here. We love them and cherish anytime we get with them. 

We are so grateful for the knowledge we have that because of the covenants we make in the temple, we will be able to be with those we love again. What a wonderful truth that is!

October

We started out the month with our semiannual General Conference through our church. We all look forward to hearing from our prophet and other church leaders. This was the first year in quite a while that we weren't able to watch it with family but it was still a special experience. We kicked it off with our conference crepes and "mutella" as Austin likes to call it. 

Eliza was very diligent taking "notes"

Her older brothers and sister are a great example to her. 

A little cleaning during the intermediate hymn

We made sourdough cinnamon rolls for Sunday morning and they were delicious. Mariah was a great helper, Vivi...was quality control. 

We had beautiful weather for most of October. Eliza and Vivi had fun at the park while the big kids were at piano.

Eliza really wanted to crack this walnut, but it wasn't breaking...guess we'll have to learn about harvesting walnuts before we try next time. 

Enjoying the sunshine and watching their big brothers play basketball

For a field trip we got to go on a train ride in Boone. We had fun exploring all the old cars and enjoying the beautiful scenery. 

Uncle Sevy and his girlfriend came for a very short stay to drop off his dog Finn. The kids were excited to get to babysit Finn while Sevy is doing training for a few months. We will all be very excited for Christmas to see Uncle Sevy again. 

One Wednesday we went up to the cousins' to celebrate Porter's second birthday. 

catching frogs and getting in the way of cross country runners...all in a day's work

Tanner took this picture and captioned it, "Happy Birthday walk for Porter!" Those fifth children are tough. 

And because one dog wasn't enough...here's Josephine, Josie for short. She's a real sweetheart and we're hoping her mellow nature will continue. 

I took Vivi grocery shopping solo while her siblings were at a homeschool thing and she proved that one child isn't any easier than five at the grocery story. Here she is "helping" me push the cart out of the store.

We also had a field trip to an alpaca farm. We even got to see a brand new little baby. Its eyes were huge in the most adorable way. We then went to a shop where we learned how the fiber is made into yarn and the kids begged for everything in the store. 

Vivi and I enjoyed a beautiful sunset together. 

Chet bought a BB gun with some birthday money and had some friends over to target practice. Three boys with guns is enough to give me a heart attack, but they all survived and had a good time. 

Grandpa Crossley came for a few days and got some good pictures of us carving pumpkins. I usually wait for a time when Tanner can help but he was laid up with a bad back so I had to be brave and just do it. FYI...the hand mixer hack didn't do much as far as cleaning out pumpkins. But I got all four pumpkins cleaned out and still was in a good mood...a Halloween miracle. 

Eliza drew a face and then I helped carve it out. She wanted it "really scary!"

Austin did his face all by himself. 

I somehow didn't get a picture of Chet alone with his pumpkin and Vivi woke up just in time for a group picture. 

Mariah was excited about doing group costumes again and I was all in until I wasn't...whoops. So I told the kids we were doing easy this year and to just raid the costume box. Mariah was the only one who was a little disappointed but once she had an idea she wasn't too sad about the change.

scarecrow

"scary but not ugly" witch 

Knight with his own hand carved dagger

And one very enthusiastic cowboy who insisted on the pistol even though I wasn't sure it should be brought to church. 

And Vivi wore those cat ears for about thirty seconds. She had a tail only because she didn't realize it was on her. When she saw me doing face paint on Eliza and Mariah, she asked for some too but I hadn't even finished the nose and she was trying to wipe it off. Since Eliza I have learned to keep my expectations low as far as my kids wearing what I want them to wear. So I was just glad she was only rejecting something dug out of the costume box and not a costume that I spent a lot of time or money on. 

Vivi was a little confused with the trunk or treat. Her face cracks me up in this picture. 

And then miracle of miracles I was able to convince the kids that they didn't need to trick or treat on Halloween. Instead we made some homemade rootbeer (thanks to the manager at the local Hyvee selling me some of his dry ice even though they don't normally do that) and pumpkin donuts. 

We were going to eat the donuts off a string but they were too soft and wouldn't stay on so some of the kids decided to try to eat the donut without hands. 

The rootbeer was a hit and is probably going to be a new halloween tradition. Just as long as I can keep convincing the kids that it's way more cool than a bunch of candy...

Chet Tanner

 Chet boy is nine...I can still remember his deep little toddler voice saying "Yook Mama!" all day long. Not that that has changed much, he still says it all day, he can just pronounce his L's now. But a lot of other things have changed over the years. This boy is on a mission to grow up and he just won't slow down. 

He was really excited to bust out the machete to cut the pumpkins from the vine. I was really nervous that someone was going to lose an appendage...But Chet just moves forward with confidence and rarely hurts himself. He is a great problem solver when it comes to physical labor and if he's excited about something he goes all in. 

Chet keeps plugging away at the piano and is getting better and better. He even played in church the other day. He didn't get as much time to learn the song as he originally planned but I was so proud of him still being willing to do it. After playing he sat down and said, "that could have been better!" With a big grin on his face. He doesn't let little mistakes get him down. 

Chet has a knack for catching random animals. This was a little chipmunk that may or may not have had some illness...he was bummed when I made him put it back in a tree. It's not uncommon for me to look out the window and see him holding one of the cats in the air Lion King style. I'm sure they love it.  

This boy is always coming up with funny things. He was so proud of the doll legs at the bottom. He wanted to be a "huge person". 

He is always trying to crack jokes. He was very proud of his pancake Ed that he made. 

But that wasn't enough...He then made this "tombstone" to tape on his stomach. It says, "RIP Here lies edible Ed". 

Chet has developed a real love for fishing. He takes advantage of our neighbors' pond almost daily, usually begging Austin or Eliza to tag along. 

Chet has now decided that when he grows up he wants to be an NBA player, but if he gets injured he'll become a professional fishermen. Though he feels conflicted because he doesn't want to be so busy that he doesn't spend time with his family (I'm not making that up!) so maybe he'll just be a cowboy. I know that whatever he does, he will do it well. And he is going to be a wonderful father. 

Chet read the whole Book of Mormon this year. He decided that a pizza party and watching Star Wars would be the perfect way to celebrate. We are so proud of his dedication in reading his scriptures every morning. 

Some mornings he is a little too optimistic on how early he wakes up and I find him like this...

The other day when we were at a performance I looked over at Chet. His hoodie has been on a hook all summer and I thought his "horn" was pretty funny. 

Mom: What is your favorite food?
Chet: Food... (he thinks he is so clever)

Mom: What is your favorite color? 

Chet: Green

Mom: What is your favorite animal?
Chet: Horse and Dog

Mom: What is your favorite book?
Chet: First Harry Potter

Mom: What is your favorite movie?
Chet: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

        

Mom: What is your favorite song?

Chet: Perhaps by Cake (such a random song that he requests all the time)

 

Mom: Who is your scripture hero?

Chet: Mormon because he is the one who took care of the plates and buried them. 

Mom: What is your favorite dessert?

Chet: Brownie (Alice made Chet delicious brownies for his birthday at their pond, I didn't even have to make a cake!)

Mom: What do you like to do for fun? 
Chet: Play Basketball (Chet is excited to start Basketball this winter. He goes out almost daily to practice and thinks he'll "probably be the best player there". Oh the confidence of a 9 year old boy)

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Mom?

Chet: Listen while somebody reads to me and you scratch my back.

He is my snuggliest child who always feels like he "never gets to" sit by me but strangely seems to always be by me. I know I'll miss it one day so I'm so glad he loves me that much. 

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Dad?

Chet: Listen to him read books and play basketball with him. 

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Mariah?
Chet: Playing freeze tag

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Austin?

Chet: Play downstairs

They get sent downstairs because they are so loud. These boys play rough and hard. They love to explore on the property and work together too. 

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Eliza? 

Chet: Play dinosaurs with her and I do that just to hear her talk because I really hate playing dinosaurs. (The love of a big brother. These two are probably the most alike in the family so there is a lot of clashes, but also a lot of love.)

Eliza made Chet a "cup of dirt" for his birthday

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Vivi? 

Chet: Try and get her to say certain words. (Vivi said Chet's name before any other siblings')

Sometimes Chet is tasked with trying to keep Vivi awake on drives. He may fail at times...but you can't say he didn't try. 

Mom: Who is your best friend?

Chet: My family

Mom: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Chet: NBA player

Mom: What makes you happy? 

Chet: When I'm unhappy, I go do something and slowly it just makes me happy. Like Basketball, thats a thing that usually calms me down. (Chet is doing a good job of learning what to do when he feels overwhelmed with emotions. I'm so proud of the growth he has made.)

Mom: What's something that you did this year that you're really proud of. 

Chet: I made some friends. (Chet spent a lot of time at the diving board this summer and made several friends most of which thought he was older than he actually was.)

Mom: What helps you feel peace? 

Chet: Probably reading the scriptures because most days when I don't read them I feel grumpy and don't get through school as fast. 

Mom: What do you like learning about most?

Chet: I like learning about history. 

And though they are getting fewer and farther between, here are some funny things Chet said this year: 

It's a good thing Daniel Tiger doesn't have privates because he doesn't wear pants. 

For the longest time he called Jolly Ranchers Jolly Rogers and it was so funny to me every time. 

One day we only had four cookies left. I gave them to the oldest four and without hesitation Chet gave me a bite of his cookie and the other three promptly followed. He still wants everything to be fair and tries his hardest to make sure it is...usually a good thing. 

One night we decided to sleep in the basement because of a tornado watch. "I brought down some of my valuables: my scriptures, a book, and my pocket knives." I love that those were his top possessions. 

Chet came into the kitchen after playing pirates with his younger siblings and Tanner called him a "bilge rat". Chet's face lighted up and after declaring, "Thats a good one! I'm going to go say that", ran right back to the game. 

I overheard him saying to Mariah, "I'm not going to have a girlfriend before my mission because thats just dumb. I don't want any distractions on my mission so I'm going to wait to have any girlfriends." Wise boy. 

He once told me, "I'm just going to try being an adult for a few years and then if I don't like it I'll be a kid again. But I'll still get to keep my phone and car." Well if it's that easy...

Chet lives life to its fullest. He is full of emotion, loves hard, and plays hard. He has big dreams and works hard to achieve them. He also has a desire to do what is right and tries to learn from his mistakes. We love this Chet boy with all our hearts. Here's to another year!