Chico State Pumpkin Drops

Today we went with our friends to Chico State to watch the annual pumpkin drop. Einstein was there, along with his buddies Newton, Galileo and more. These were, of course, students of physics at Chico State dressed up to teach us a little science and have alot of fun. They dropped several pumpkins from Butte Hall. It was awesome. Some of the pumpkins were filled with feathers, water, or dry ice. The kids really enjoyed watching the show. I think this will be a new Halloween tradition for the Smiths.

School Photos

Finally we have all of the photos of our kids. I ordered a CD this year for each of them. I'm pretty happy with them this year. I'll still probably take some myself to hang on the walls, but these are pretty good for school shots.

My Primary Class

Today was our Primary Sacrament Program in Church. All of my kids were dressed so nicely, I had to take a picture. They all did a fantastic job! We had lots of fun presenting the program and then this is my class in Sunday School after they had performed. They were very happy - and very silly!

Our Family Garden

Maddie said this poem today in Church. She did great and we are so proud of her!

TJ Farms

Yesterday was Ryan's first field trip. Maddie, John, and I tagged along. We had so much fun! We drove over to TJ Farms here in Chico with all of Ryan's class. The children had these great bright green shirts. So cute!! The Moss family taught us how to use their tools to get corn from the cob and then to mash it up nicely for their animals. Ryan and Maddie fed the donkeys, but steered clear of the goats and sheep. We never even saw the chickens. After we made the feed and fed the animals, we went off to pick out pumpkins. This was the best part!! Our shoes got so muddy!! Ryan ran all over the patch. He was a little green blur. Maddie very carefully looked at each pumpkin. How different two kids can be! All of the pumpkins were so nice looking. You really couldn't go wrong. At the end all of the kids played in a bunch of hay bales. The weather was perfect. It's one of those days where I'm so thankful to be a SAHM.

My Little Brother is 21!!

A Wheeler family tradition is to go to Las Vegas for the 21st birthday. Last weekend, my littlest brother hit the big 2-1. I can't believe it!! My parents took him to Las Vegas and they had a great time. This is a photo from the trip. Jeff is with his favorite dancing girl. His shirt is awesome! You can't tell in the picture, but it is voice activated. When you talk (or when there's noise), lights flash up and down the bars. Seriously cool. Well, only in Vegas...

John Army Crawls

Here it is! John has been slithering around for a couple of days now. It is so funny! The kids can't get enough. He is also mimicking us more and more. Yesterday in the car, the kids all started sighing. It was so funny and musical! They were trying to get John to do it too. Eventually he did and they were so happy. It was a nice moment!
By the way, I know it's the 8th. I'm not sure why I said the 7th on the video! John is 8 months old.

Chili Cook Off Winner

A family from Ryan's preschool invited all of the kids and their families over for a Halloween Party and chili cook off. Ryan has been super excited all week. I made a batch of my two-bean chicken chili and we were off. We had a great time meeting and getting to know the other families that enjoy the same preschool that we do, and as an added bonus I WON the chili cook off!! I couldn't believe it!!! I got a trophy and everything!!! Wahoo!!! The kids had a great time decorating pumpkins, bobbing for apples, and bashing in a pinata. They were all very happy to go home with the trophy too. What a great day!

Guys and Dolls at the Chico Theatre Company

We took Maddie on her first trip to the theater last Friday. She has been to see ballet, but this was her first musical. She LOVED it! We went to see Guys and Dolls. This musical is special to our family because of the song "Bushel and a Peck." My Nana used to sing that song to me when I was a girl and now I sing it to my kids. We didn't know that it was in this musical until recently. We rented the movie version with Brando, but they left out that song. So, this was the first time we've heard the song sung in its entirety. It was great! Our favorite part was Jacob Carr, who played Nicely Nicely Johnson. He was FANTASTIC!! Wow!! Maddie feels like she knows an honest to goodness famous person now. When he sang, "Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat," he brought down the house. If you have the chance to go and see it next weekend, I highly recommend it. Last weekend is the last it will be playing. It was a great first for Maddie.