Pumpkins

For Family Night, our family went to the pumpkin patch to pick out the pumpkins we wanted to carve. Angela and Emily looked for the smallest pumpkins they could find. Josh and Dani hunted for the perfect pumpkin to carve. We had a great time looking at all the pumpkins and spending time together. It took us a few days to find the time to carve the pumpkins, but it was worth the wait. Josh and Dani carved their own pumpkins while I watched and took pictures. It's so fun to see what the Jack-O-Lantern's faces will look like. Angela and Emmy's pumpkins are too small to carve, so Dani just drew faces on them. We roasted the pumpkin seeds for a yummy snack. It was a lot of fun spending this time with the kids.

Pace Family at the Pumpkin Patch

Angela and Emily found their little pumpkins.

Dani at the pumpkin patch

Josh found his perfect pumpkin

Angela's and Emily's decorated pumpkins

Dani and Emily cleaning out the pumpkin

Josh and Angela cleaning pumpkins

Dani's pumpkin

Josh's pumpkin

Angela's Re-Evaluation

Yesterday, I went to a meeting to discuss the re-evaluation tests that Angela took at the beginning of the school year. Every three years, Mesa Schools needs to evaluate Angela to determine if she qualifies to continue to attend the Special Ed Program that she is in. This is the third evaluation done by Mesa Public Schools and the least stressful one for Angela and myself. They gave her verbal tests and non-verbal tests to determine where she stands cognitively with other kids her age. The verbal test ranked Angela very low, much lower than she actually performs in school. The school psychologist mentioned that she gets extremely distracted during a verbal test. Angela likes to talk and probably didn't pay attention and got sidetracked. That's so Angela. Because the verbal tests were so low, they gave her a non-verbal test (NO TALKING) to determine her cognitive abilities. She scored well and received a score of average when ranked with her peers. Her performance in the classroom is much lower than she is capable of doing, hence the reason she qualifies for the Special Ed program. Language, not speech, slows Angela down and limits what she understands, especially receptive language (hearing and understanding). The Special Ed program that she is enrolled in is helping her work through those language barriers. It was a very positive meeting and the results were what I had anticipated. We are so lucky to have this wonderful program to help Angela. She is an amazing girl and there are so many people who have helped her along the way.

Trunk or Treat

Saturday night, our ward had their annual Trunk or Treat. The kids picked out their costumes and were counting down the until the event arrived . Dani brought along her cousin and had a blast the whole evening. Josh took off too and kept busy the whole night, actually once we got there I didn't see him much. I went with Angela and Emily as we went around the cars and played some games. The girls had a great time and I loved spending time with them. The kids are so excited that they get to do this again on Halloween night. My sister's ward has a Trunk or Treat in their ward, so we will head over there for a while before heading home.

The cute kids in their Halloween costumes

Josh is a Storm Trooper. He wanted to be a Clone Trooper (what's the difference?), but it didn't work out. I made the costume myself while Josh was at a camp out, so I wasn't totally sure how it would look on him. It turned out okay. The helmet makes the costume.

Dani wanted to be a ladybug this year.

Angela makes a beautiful Snow White. Check out my cute pirate. Emily can make a great pirate face too.

Music Marathon

Dani participated in an event called the "Music Marathon" on Saturday. There are several pianos at different malls and other locations, where the piano was played all day by different piano students. The students dressed up in their costumes and played a couple of pieces that they were working on. Dani chose "Russian Sailor's Dance" and "Kaleidoscope Colors" for the event. Dani had her songs memorized and planned to do duets with her teacher. She forgot her books at home, so she played the songs solo. She did such a great job and we are so proud of her. It's so fun to have a piano at home and have my kids play it.

Girl's Softball

Every year in October, the activity day girls play softball, it's a great tradition that our stake has.

Dani really enjoys playing softball with her friends. This is the 3rd year that Dani has participated in Primary Softball. She enjoys playing the game and being with her friends. She is not a competitive girl and doesn't care about the rules, she just wants to hit the ball and have fun. She did such a great job at bat and out on the field. It's so fun to watch her play softball.

This is Angela's first year and she would have rather played on the playground. I encouraged her to play a couple of innings at each game that they played, excepted the last game where I just let her play on the playground. It was so neat to see Angela out there playing ball. Angela has never played softball and I didn't know how she would react to a ball being thrown at her, so she used a T. At first, Jim and I helped her hit the ball. At the last game, I helped her line the bat up with the ball and then let her hit the ball on her own. It was a neat experience for her and I hope she'll play again.

School Happenings

Report Cards

My kids had Parent-Teacher conferences and received their report cards yesterday . It's so fun to hear how your kids are doing in school. I didn't meet with Angela's teacher because we will have a big meeting in a couple of weeks to discuss her re-evaluation which qualifies her to attend her special needs class as well set some new goals for the year. I probably should have met with her because I don't understand her report card at all. Hers is very specific on her individual goals and only a special ed teacher and therapist can read it. It doesn't really help out the parents, but that's the way it is. The kids are all doing great and I'm proud of them. I can't believe that the first quarter is over. I wish I could slow down the clock and keep them young forever.

School Pictures.

Josh - 6th grade

Dani - 5th grade

Angela - 3rd grade

Indian Dwellings

Dani had to make an Indian dwelling for 5th grade. It was a fun project and reminded me of a similar structure I made in elementary school using sugar cubes. It amazing how many memories are triggered when your kids do activities. Dani was very creative and did most of the project herself. Josh made one last year when he was in 5th grade. Dani has the same 5th grade teacher as Josh did. I joked with her and said that by the time Emily is in 5th grade, she is going to do a paper tepee.

Here is Dani's Indian dwelling

Here is Josh's Indian dwelling from last year.

Cool Morning

Yesterday morning the temperature was in the 50's. For my AZ kids, that is just cold. The past two days, the temperature has been absolutely perfect and we've enjoyed the cooler temperatures. It's so fun to send your kids off to school with jackets and know that it is finally cooling off.

This is how my kids left for school except for Emmy. She slept with her sweater on.

Family Hike

On Friday, Jim took the day off and we went for a family hike near Fountain Hills. The hike was 3.1 miles and it took us 2 hours to complete it. There were signs on the trail about the various plant life in the region, and my kids read them all. They really loved looking at the different types of cacti. It was a great bonding experience for us as a family. For two hours our family walked and talked together and spent quality time together.

This was one of my favorite moments on the hike. How cute is that!

After the hike, the kids played on a nearby playground and then we headed into Fountain Hills. We planned to have a picnic and watch the fountain. We arrived in Fountain Hills just minutes before the fountain went off, so we ran up a hill just in time to watch the fountain. After 5 minutes, the fountain ended, so we headed off to get some food for our picnic. We returned to the park to eat lunch and watch the fountain go off again. This time the fountain lasted for 15 minutes so I was able to get some good pictures.

It was such a great day to spend with the family.

Josh's haircut

Grandpa Pace cut Josh's hair tonight. I ran a quick errand while he was getting his haircut. When I saw him, he looked so handsome in his new haircut. He loves his new hairdo and was so excited to show me. When Josh looked serious, I noticed that he really looks like his Grandpa Wall when he was younger.

Check out the pictures.

Josh

My Dad

General Conference Weekend

General Conference weekend was so incredibly awesome. It is such a great opportunity to hear from the leaders of our church. It's such a blessing that we can watch conference in our home and have it bless our lives. There were a lot of powerful talks given and I feel very uplifted and want to be a better person and make better choices. There were some great memories of this weekend that I want to remember.

*In the first session, President Monson announced that there will be 5 new temples built - Philadelphia, Calgary, Argentina, Kansas City, and Rome. Jim served his mission and was thrilled that they were building a temple there. I think he wants to go to the open house. He was so excited that he had a hard time paying attention to the next speaker. Jim's brothers served in Calgary and Argentina. Jim was thrilled that there would be a temple in each mission that he and his brothers served. My mom served a mission in Kansas City and there building one there too. I don't know anyone who served in Rome, but I have a friend who visited Rome. Cool! I've made a connection to each of the temples announced.

*Jim headed off for school and missed the second session of conference. The kids were all so good and watched General Conference with me. They sang with the Primary Choir. It was one of the sweetest moments for me on Saturday. Jim will be able to watch the Saturday session with us later since I recorded it.

*Jim and Josh went to the Priesthood session. I was thrilled to see Jim and Josh all dressed up to go to Conference together. It was Josh's first priesthood session. While the boys were attending conference, the girls went to Grandma Pace's house to play and eat. The girls had a great time with their cousins. Angela and Emily were on the trampoline almost the whole time we were there. We don't have a trampline, so when we go see Grandma they jump as much as possible. Dani has a cousin her age that she absolutely loves and spent the entire time with her. My kids have awesome cousins.

Josh and Devon both attended the Priesthood session. It was fun to listen to them talk about the the Priesthood session and the talks that were given, especially President Monson's talk.

*Sunday morning, Josh went to serve at the Randolph Center with the youth in our ward, so he missed the morning conference session. We had it on DVR so he will see it again and again these next 6 months. It was a great opportunity for him to serve. My sister went with her ward and commented how sweet Josh was while he was serving.

*Sunday afternoon, Dani set up a tent for the family to watch the last session of conference. In the latest issue of the Friend, there is a story of a family who set up a tent to watch conference just like the people in the Book of Mormon did to watch and listen to King Benjamin. The homemade tent faced east as the kids watched the Prophet and his apostles. It was fun for the kids and helped bring the Book of Mormon to life.

The kids had their tent facing east as they watched the leaders of the church. They loved it and we'll try again next conference. We only did this for the last session. It's tough having a tent in the middle of your family room - but it was a great experience.

*After conference, we went to Grandma Wall's house for Sunday Dinner. We talked about Conference and commented on our favorite talks. I love to hear which talks touched those in my family. My kids played with their cousins the whole time and loved every minute of it, except when it was time to come home. Did I mention my kids have great cousins?

It was a great conference weekend. I loved hearing from the President Monson and the other leaders of our church. I can't express in words how much I enjoyed listening to our leaders. Their messages were so powerful yet so hopeful. I feel so refreshed and ready to go forward and move in faith. I plan to listen and read their messages often.

Josh's talk

Josh spoke in sacrament meeting on Sunday. He choose the topic of listening to good music from the Strength of the Youth. He wrote most of the talk himself and did a really great job. We were so proud of him. He didn't like to give talks in Primary, he actually refused to give them. I was so thrilled that Josh took this opportunity to speak. He has grown into a great young man. It's so neat to see him fulfill his priesthood responsibilities. He is so honored to pass the sacrament, collect fast offerings, and set up chairs in the morning. One Sunday, we dropped Josh off to set up chairs and then we didn't see him until after the church block was over, then he stays an extra hour to be in the choir. I admire the strength of the youth and I'm seeing it first hand with my son.