Halloween Fun!

We had so much fun last night getting ready for Halloween. I have to say the older the kids get the more fun holidays become. Let me start this post by saying that we have been going through a financially challenging time in our family. With both mine and Robert's jobs relating directly to the state of the economy we have been dealing in some difficult times, and been dealt some serious blows to our income. That being said I decided this year I was not going to spend ANY money on cosutmes. The boys could decide what they wanted to be, but they had to MAKE their costume from what ever they found in the house. So last night was our Halloween party at our house. We carved pumpkins, ate pizza and put together costumes. While I was slightly afraid the boys would maybe not look quite as "cool" as their classmates at the halloween parade, we went ahead and put some costumes together. I don't have pictures yet, I will post those later tonight, But the boys actually looked really great. Bobby is a beat up karate kid with bruises and a black eye. Cody is Indiana Jones, Jason is the Incredible Hulk, and Carson I think is going to Iron Man (He has decided he wants to be Carson Lee Le Bel for Halloween, the only not "stupid" costume he could think of.). Overall the costumes look good, definately homemade, but creative, and the boys had a BLAST putting them together. Then we watched halloween cartoons; the boys love "The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown", and it is so fun watch them laugh hysterically at Snoopy. I think we have created a new tradition in our family. Hopefully next year we will have some extra money to help the boys create costumes, but I think creating them and putting it all together was fun and excting for all of us.
Watch for my pics later, Robert also dressed up today, but I don't want to ruin the surprise you will have to check back for a picture later :) !

Yes I am fully aware that I am a slacker!

Ok I know I have been really slacking at the blog thing lately. But I do have a valid excuse, we have been going through a lot lately. It has been a challenge just to keep up with the boys. But we definately have a strong faith in God and know we will pull through the hard times. That being said let me up date you all on what has been happening in the Le Bel home the last month.

First of just in time for Halloween Bobby is orange.......well his belt is anyway. We are so proud to let everyone know that Bobby passed his test on Friday and is now an Orange Belt! He did so fantastic at his test and barely made any mistakes at all. We are pretty excited about this he works really hard at it. He has his first tournament on November 8th and his coach has really high expectations for him. We will definately post some pictures when that time comes, but until then here are some of his testing. (Keep in mind these are from my cell phone, so they aren't the best quality.)Next Cody decided he wanted to play Flag Football this year. We were a little surprised because he has never mentioned it before but we went ahead and let him do it. He was on the Jaguars and actually did really well. He even got to pull someone's flag this year which is a big deal when you are only a second grader. He learned a lot and will be playing again next year I have a feeling. He was great at defense. He would step up to the line and growl really mean at the other players. It was awesome! We are so proud of him as well. It is so much fun to watch the boys get older and excel at what they love, and learn new things. Robert and I are going to be really busy running to Taekwondo at he olympics then over to NFL football games when they grow up :) ! Here are some photos of Cody and his team, they won about half of their games (weren't supposed to keep score, but those darn dads just couldn't help lol!) But trust me they definately had the coolest color of shirts.

We also had our primary program at Chruch this month and I have to tell you it brought me to tears. The boys were so cute up there, all the kids were. Bobby sung with a small group for two songs and did wonderful. They all did well on their "parts" and I was a very proud mom! Carson was so cute, he got up and said part which was "I am a Child of God" (no one could understand a word of it), then sat down and looked out at the crowd and started crying. So he sat with mom and dad the rest of the time. Did I mention his was the first line of the whole program. He was so funny though cause he sat in the congregation with the rest of us and sang right along with his classmates. There is something about children singing for God that opens your heart. I have to give a big thank you to the wonderful teachers who helped. They out did themselves.

Bobby also had the honor this month of reading a poem he wrote at Author's Nite at school. It was very exciting and he was very nervous. He read a poem he wrote about himself and each line started with a letter in his name. It was very well written and so neat to see him up there in front of the whole crowd. It was a pretty full house. The picture isn't very good, but I am so proud of him I am posting it anyway.

Finally to close I would like to share with all of you what happens when you make your kids go to bed early and they aren't tired yet........

Jason woke up like this, this morning. I asked him what was wrong with his face and he looked at me like I had gone crazy and informed me that he was born with that face. I told him to go look in the mirror. He had forgotten that he had drawn on it while he was in bed waiting to fall asleep. When asked why he would do such a thing he said he wanted to look like Cody (Cody had a party at school and they did face painting, it was washable) Jason's face on the other isn't washable and will probably take days to get all of it off. The good news is Jason wants to keep his face looking like this, it is "cool".

I appreciate all of you who read my blog and am sorry it has been so long since a post. I will try to do better, thanks to those of you who push me to post something. I am glad someone wants to read about my crazy life.

I love my kids!

I have had so much fun with the boys as they have been getting older! We have been cooking and gardening and going on walks. The older they get them more we get to do. It is so awesome. Here a few photos of my boys growing up!

Ward Campout

Last weekend we had our annual Church Ward Campout. We had a great turnout and it was so well done. The food was amazing, the entertainment was awesome, and the activities were a blast. I ventured out on my own with all four boys because Robert had to work and they look forward to this all year. I was totally prepared for the worst and let me tell you I had so much fun! The boys were so good, and it was actually pretty easy to do! I had a great time spending this weekend with the boys alone. It was a great bonding experience and has definitely taught me that I need to spend some mommy time alone with them. Here are some pictures of the campout, and I have to say thanks to Grandma Debbie and Popo Bob for their help! Carson was so proud of how far out he went in the water. Last year he was so terrified he barely passed his ankles! Cody swam out to the dock all by himself (with a life jacket) for the first time and he was beyond stoked! During craft time they got to make these cute little backpacks with bears on them. They had so much fun. Lunch time on the Lake! Time to pack up and go home. Good think I had so much help!

First Day of School.... Better Late than NEVER!

So it hasn't been a long time since I have posted but a whole lot has happened. I am going to start off with the first day of school. The boys were so excited to start, and more than ready. They all love their teachers and so far LOVE school. Bobby and Cody started last Tuesday and yes I made them pose for the infamous first day photos.... Jason started his first day of Kindergarten this Monday and he was so cute and excited. His favorite part was riding the bus and learning criss cross applesauce. He told us school was "Sweet" and "Awesome" and "Great". I still can't believe my Jason Wyatt is in Kindergarten. In his photo he wanted to be spiderman going to school so hence the pose. Then I made the big kids take a photo with him, as you can see they will be watching out for him this year! Poor Jason! Just kidding. The boys are so excited to have him at their school and take great pride in being awesome big brothers and walk him to his classroom every day.

And I will end this post with Jason getting off the school bus. Like I said before this was his FAVORITE part of the whole day. He is such a big kid now!
Well I have to get the rascals off to school right now so watch for more posts to come, we had our annual Church Ward Campout which was amazing, (and I went by myself with all four boys!) Can you tell I am proud of myself!

I decided to go with a more "boy" theme

I figured since my life revolves around boys, that at least for the short term my blog should too. Hence I got rid of the pink flowers and went with blue plaid.

Now I have to ask all you families with girls, what do you do in your evenings? We just got done having the "sweetest" (that is a quote from Jason) nerf dart gun fight in our living room. Everyone was hiding behind couches and chairs and shooting each other. I am not sure if it was before or after Robert shot me in the forehead that I began thinking I bet we wouldnt' be doing this if we had four girls......

Of course the boys (Mostly Robert the dad) got carried away and we had to put the guns away, but for the short time we played it was a lot of fun. i am positive we totally taught the boys a really bad habit of shooting people with nerf darts, but they were so funny rolling around like action movie stars. In my defense I didn't buy them the guns, grandma and grandpa did for Cody and carson's birthday. I am sure that in a few days I will be ripping nerf darts in half and silently murmering at my mother for buying them. But dang I say let boys be boys, and shoot the heck out of each other!