the theme of this weekend was "make it up as we go" or "best laid plans" or something like that because what a crazy weekend.
THE PLAN: it was technically my in-laws "turn" for thanksgiving but family circumstances (39 weeks pregnant family that couldn't come, another family's child custody situation, another sibling moving, etc) we decided to switch and be with my side instead. plus my grandma was visiting. my parents had gone to visit her, brought her home with them so she could spend a week/Thanksgiving with us at my mom's house and then my mom and I would drive her home, stay with her for a few days to work on a Christmas project for my kids.
WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED:
the first part of the week was our usual chaos: Daddy travelling on business, preschool, dance classes, the gym, etc. We added some extra chaos with preparing for the inspection and appraisal on Wednesday which meant a late night deep cleaning. After that appointment, Daddy had to squeeze in a few hours of work before we headed north to my parent's house. Things there had already gotten a little crazy. My dad has had some worsening back problems (he keeps problems well hidden until they are near-debilitating) and the doctors decided on a 3-series procedure of injecting steroids and lidocane into five of his vertebrae in attempt to repair/rebuild his discs. So he had been instructed to stay down as much as possible. So we arrived late Wednesday night, the girls having been given strict instructions to not even touch him (he didn't listen and insisted on some gentle cuddles). We let them play for a little while and headed to bed. My favorite part of our playtime was a surprise my Butterfly had been working on. Long ago, my brothers learned and performed a song in the ward talent show. It's been a family favorite ever since but no one could remember the verses, only the chorus. So I found it online, taught it to her, and she performed it for my parents and grandma...while jumping on a trampoline and dancing.
The next morning, I got up early to help prepare our Thanksgiving feast, which was now to be held at my brother's house so my dad could rest without a house full of kids. The girls played quietly (was probably/hopefully a nice distraction for my dad--he's not a the kind of person who can sit still for very long so this has been rough to feel so limited). We did a little craft (shaping waffle cones into cornucopias and filling them with m&ms for their cousins, thanks pinterest!). I brought up the most recent set of dvds I had made from converting old home movies. I put in one for my dad to surprise him, a home movie from 1950-1956 and then watched his expression as he saw his dad come onto the screen, looking so young and healthy. It was a fantastic moment and that single moment made it well worth the effort its taken to convert the movies. Both of his grandmothers are in the movie, as well as adorable footage of him as a baby, learning to walk and playing at the beach. What a treasure.
Eventually we loaded the feast into the car, settled my dad in to rest while we celebrated without him and drove to my brother's house. We played with cousins and feasted on our celebratory meal. My husband helped my brother fix up an old foosball table from a yard sale and get it into near perfect working order. We browsed the ads for Black Friday and generally had a great, relaxing time with family. I was cleaning up dishes and preparing dessert when my grandma went out to check on her dogs. Somehow she got tangled in their leashes and fell face first on the driveway, resulting in a quick trip to the ER for stitches and to check for a concussion.
On Friday morning, my mom and I snuck away for some Black Friday shopping. Typically, we've done some door buster-/early morning chaos and are glued to amazon's lightening deals throughout the day. But since my dad was out of commission grandma was injured and having a rough night and we were now babysitting my adorable niece, we didn't want to leave in the middle of the night and risk someone needing help. But by 8 am, we felt ok to leave my girls with their daddy and did a little shopping. It ended up being a quick trip and we hurried home to take care of our family.
We packed up and headed out. Husband and I had a few errands to run and my mom was helping grandma shop for a new car. But due to her new injury, her (very bruised) eye was swollen completely shut and she couldn't even drive. Fortunately, she already knew exactly what she wanted so she ended up buying a car anyway. (Maybe they took pity on her obviously roughed up appearance.) By the time we finished all of our errands, it was near dark so we brought grandma home to our house to spend the night.
My mom didn't feel comfortable leaving my dad, we were now a day behind schedule and now grandma had a new car that she couldn't drive. So the scheduled trip to grandma's house (to take her home and work on the Christmas project) had been planned and changed and adjusted several times. But eventually we decided that I would drive grandma home, do the project myself and find a ride home. We had a great drive, stopping often to stretch and do a little shopping. Along the way we talked for hours and I got to hear her recount memories of my grandpa, trips they'd taken, their lives growing up and raising kids. We experimented with all the new buttons and gadgets in her fancy new car and thoroughly enjoyed the comfort it offered. We arrived in her home town just as the Christmas parade started. So we quickly parked and got out to watch the fun floats and lights as they passed. And then went to her house to begin "my project".
Last summer, I decided to make new quilts/bedspreads for my girls and surprise them at Christmas. I picked out the fabric but didn't manage to get them done before baby arrived, I had my foot surgery and then launched into the holidays. So I put the project off for a year. But again, our schedules filled up and I didn't get around to it until now. My grandma has a full-sized, long-arm quilting machine and let me use it to make their quilts this weekend. The fabric I bought is ADORABLE but the machine is rather unforgiving and it took awhile to learn to make my lines smooth. But hopefully my girls won't notice the many mistakes and love the finished product anyway. So the quilts are pieced and quilted. I still need to do the bindings (my mom is the binding expert so I'm hoping to beg her help) and I need to sew the pillow sham and window valance. And then we will surprise them for Christmas...and then probably store it all until we move into our new house in six months.
So the first evening at my grandma's house, I pieced the tops together and stayed up late to finish quilting the first one. The next morning, grandma helped me put on the second quilt and now with a little more experience, I managed to get that one quilted a little more smoothly than the first. Somehow I managed to get all three quilts done (in less than 20 hours) before I met with some friends that were passing through and let me ride home with them. I didn't get to help my grandma with some projects as we hoped but will go down again soon. I'm thrilled to have this giant step of the project finished and can't wait to see what the girls think.
Last night, I arrived home around 11:00 to relieve grandma, got a quick kiss from my girls and we all settled into bed. It seems like we packed a whole lot of excitement and accomplishments into one weekend and I'm thrilled to have a monday to now recover, process and prepare for another week.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Sunday, November 18, 2012
good news
This was a good week.
We got another offer on the house. It's actually the same amount and same closing date as the previous offer. What little we know about the family though makes me feel better about this situation though, it simply worked out so perfectly that it was meant to be. Plus I feel that it will be a good family moving into this amazing neighborhood. So we are making plans to move mid-December. Those plans are very vague at the moment.
Husband got some encouraging news at work. The depressed economy has trickled down to affect his company and made for a slow, sometimes discouraging year. No promises yet but it looks like next year will be much better.
We are all recovering nicely from our apparent strep throat. We must have caught it early because we didn't have any obvious symptoms and started on meds right away. But sometimes being given a diagnosis is like being given permission to admit you don't feel great so it was nice to allow ourselves a few quiet days in the name of recovery.
We've taken to playing board games with the girls in the evenings again and it's been wonderful. They are silly simple games, like Candyland, Kerplunk and Go Fish, but I love having this fun interaction with them instead of just watching movies or going for a drive.
The big girls draw pictures for me all day long. Lovely is starting to follow suit and her new favorite toy is a pen and paper. She's still mastering how to actually get the pen to write on the paper but my three budding artists are adorable when they are all hard at work, laying on their bellies to create a masterpiece for me.
I've been converting old home movies again lately. I've found some gems, like my adorable sister at age three (everything is cute at age three), the pageant that I did in college, my grandparent's 50th anniversary party, footage of my great grandparents, and the crazy antics of my siblings and me. I even found one from the year I was born. But the most amazing find was a video from 1950-1956. I have no idea who took it or how it appeared in my parents' collection (without their knowledge) but seeing my dad as a baby is incredible! And to see my grandparents so young and youthful is pretty incredible too.
Husband's elk hunt began. As always, I was hoping for an opening day success story because I'd rather him stay home and play with us instead, but no luck yet. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
I taught Relief Society today and I really do love it. Preparing my lesson always takes me several nights spread across a few weeks but each time has been such a great experience so far. I'm learning a lot and really feel like each class has been guided. Hopefully I'll get to teach one more time before we move.
onto another busy week...
We got another offer on the house. It's actually the same amount and same closing date as the previous offer. What little we know about the family though makes me feel better about this situation though, it simply worked out so perfectly that it was meant to be. Plus I feel that it will be a good family moving into this amazing neighborhood. So we are making plans to move mid-December. Those plans are very vague at the moment.
Husband got some encouraging news at work. The depressed economy has trickled down to affect his company and made for a slow, sometimes discouraging year. No promises yet but it looks like next year will be much better.
We are all recovering nicely from our apparent strep throat. We must have caught it early because we didn't have any obvious symptoms and started on meds right away. But sometimes being given a diagnosis is like being given permission to admit you don't feel great so it was nice to allow ourselves a few quiet days in the name of recovery.
We've taken to playing board games with the girls in the evenings again and it's been wonderful. They are silly simple games, like Candyland, Kerplunk and Go Fish, but I love having this fun interaction with them instead of just watching movies or going for a drive.
The big girls draw pictures for me all day long. Lovely is starting to follow suit and her new favorite toy is a pen and paper. She's still mastering how to actually get the pen to write on the paper but my three budding artists are adorable when they are all hard at work, laying on their bellies to create a masterpiece for me.
I've been converting old home movies again lately. I've found some gems, like my adorable sister at age three (everything is cute at age three), the pageant that I did in college, my grandparent's 50th anniversary party, footage of my great grandparents, and the crazy antics of my siblings and me. I even found one from the year I was born. But the most amazing find was a video from 1950-1956. I have no idea who took it or how it appeared in my parents' collection (without their knowledge) but seeing my dad as a baby is incredible! And to see my grandparents so young and youthful is pretty incredible too.
Husband's elk hunt began. As always, I was hoping for an opening day success story because I'd rather him stay home and play with us instead, but no luck yet. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
I taught Relief Society today and I really do love it. Preparing my lesson always takes me several nights spread across a few weeks but each time has been such a great experience so far. I'm learning a lot and really feel like each class has been guided. Hopefully I'll get to teach one more time before we move.
onto another busy week...
Thursday, November 15, 2012
quote of the day
To be clear, I am not pregnant.
But I was recently congratulated by a work friend on the news of our new baby. Not just once, but three times. From different people. All from work. More specifically, ladies from the gym's daycare. So after the third time that I had to clarify that we are not expecting, I found out that my 4 year old had told them we were getting a new baby. To make this even better, she apparently told them I'm buying a new baby. I thought she was confused since we had recently bought a baby shower gift for my cousin and perhaps she had just left out a few major details. But no, she insisted that she wanted me to go to the hospital and buy a new baby. I'd like to say that we had a long talk where I gently, patiently and candidly explained the errors of her statement. But I didn't really know what to say. So yeah. For now, that's where babies come from. (and truthfully, it's actually pretty accurate.)
As for Ladybug, my favorite phrase that she uses lately (and frequently) is "Can you flat my blankets please?" This means she wants me to tuck her in and arrange her blankets so that they lay smoothly.
And Lovely favorite word lately is "uh-oh". This is her perfect word for when she drops (or throws) something, she loses her balances or for her sisters' many silly antics. Turns out she's becoming quite a ham. I love her "scrunchie face", intentionally given to make me laugh. She will beam at me, her eyes squeezed shut, her nose tightly wrinkled up, her cheeks bunched high to accommodate the wide open toothy grin.
love, love, love these crazy wonderful kids.
But I was recently congratulated by a work friend on the news of our new baby. Not just once, but three times. From different people. All from work. More specifically, ladies from the gym's daycare. So after the third time that I had to clarify that we are not expecting, I found out that my 4 year old had told them we were getting a new baby. To make this even better, she apparently told them I'm buying a new baby. I thought she was confused since we had recently bought a baby shower gift for my cousin and perhaps she had just left out a few major details. But no, she insisted that she wanted me to go to the hospital and buy a new baby. I'd like to say that we had a long talk where I gently, patiently and candidly explained the errors of her statement. But I didn't really know what to say. So yeah. For now, that's where babies come from. (and truthfully, it's actually pretty accurate.)
As for Ladybug, my favorite phrase that she uses lately (and frequently) is "Can you flat my blankets please?" This means she wants me to tuck her in and arrange her blankets so that they lay smoothly.
And Lovely favorite word lately is "uh-oh". This is her perfect word for when she drops (or throws) something, she loses her balances or for her sisters' many silly antics. Turns out she's becoming quite a ham. I love her "scrunchie face", intentionally given to make me laugh. She will beam at me, her eyes squeezed shut, her nose tightly wrinkled up, her cheeks bunched high to accommodate the wide open toothy grin.
love, love, love these crazy wonderful kids.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
life happens fast
I did my certification video again and I'm so thrilled to have that behind me. My first attempt was lacking in many ways and while it probably would have passed, it was not impressive. But I learned a lot watching it and was glad I got to try again and improve upon my performance. My second attempt was much more confident, well delivered and near perfect in execution. My energy began to lag near the end (I had been up all night with a sick kid) but my boss and friend was behind the camera coaching me on and I think I managed to recover it well.
Then the next class I taught was by far my best class. Full of energy, well timed cues, no mistakes. I'm not sure if it's because I've finally done this material so much or if something about having finished my certification (even without my official scores) gives me an extra confidence. Someone else recognizes me as a professional and I'm happy to take their word for it. Incidentally, that was also the last time I would teach that particular release (or set of material) as we launched new material the new day. That stuff I'm still learning the cues for but I'm more than ready for new stuff. It's full of fun energy, some great songs and an overall awesome release.
I went to parent teacher conference at Butterfly's school. Butterfly was eager to show me some of the projects she has done and her teacher was very complimentary. As always, she reported that our daughter is especially brilliant, learns new concepts easily and eagerly, is very artistic and is very helpful. She asked me what else I want her to be learning and we brainstormed some extra projects and tasks for her--things her classmates probably won't be doing but something that will challenger her since she's always done early. My brilliant little girl is ahead of her class and probably always be. I know that throughout her education I'll need to find extra ways to challenge her in order to help her reach her potential. I actually worry about that, hoping that I can be and do and help in the way that she needs because I know she's brilliant and I can't wait to see what she will accomplish with her intelligence and talents.
Then, since Daddy was out of town, grandma and I arranged some special time with the girls. We met for dinner and then Ladybug got to spend the night at grandma's house while Butterfly and I spent some time together and then we switched the next night. So Butterfly and I planned a special girls night. We put together a tray of snacks and desserts, played princess yahtzee and watched a movie. The next time I got to have a similar evening with Ladybug, with plenty of cuddling and tickling too.
Husband was released from his calling as Young Men's President. We suspected it would happen soon since we are moving somewhere in the near future but it was with sad reluctance. He's really enjoyed working with the young men, and while I didn't love the time away spent in meetings, I like that he was enjoying his calling, getting to participate in activities he probably wouldn't have made time for otherwise and personally, I've really enjoyed getting to know the boys and will miss having them around.
I got to watch both the girls in their ballet classes this week. They are getting ready for their winter performance in two weeks. Ladybug is my wanderer. She paid very little attention to her teacher's cueing, or to her classmate's haphazard dance moves next to her. She mostly just stood there playing with her reflection in the mirror. We shall see what she does onstage but given her young age and her general laid-back approach to life, I suspect it will be more of the same. But Butterfly was graceful and diligent, doing all the sweet little steps and making me melt. She's my eager ballerina, regularly practicing at home and showing me her "bal-la-lay".
The house showed again to an agent who was screening it for an out of state client. So we had a blitz cleaning and the agent gave a favorable report to the client who immediately flew out to see the house. Fingers crossed but we suspect good news is coming.
We made a visit to our pediatrician. Little Ladybug's tummy has been causing growing concern for the past few weeks. Her symptoms have lasted longer than any flu or virus should so we've began suspecting its a reaction to a certain food or perhaps a bacteria. The doc agrees and we are running tests on our poor princess to figure it out. We also wanted to ask about her sleep habits that have steadily declined the past few months. We had her adenoids removed and put ear tubs in due to her restless sleeping, loud snoring and chronic infections last summer. It mostly solved all her problems at the time. But over the last several weeks, she's become as bad as before with restless sleeping (even falling out of bed once or twice a week), snoring like a freight train and showing signs of sleep apnea. So we will be visiting the ENT in a few weeks to investigate. I suspect she needs to have her tonsils removed. The ENT said he would have done that last summer as well but she was too young for such an invasive procedure unless it was really necessary. And then the third issue we addressed was her enlarged lymph nodes. Turns out she has strep throat, even though she hasn't complained about any of the typical symptoms. And a little more investigation revealed that Daddy and I tested positive for it as well.
So our little germ ridden family had to miss Gram's memorial birthday celebration. We were pretty bummed about not being able to go.
And now today, our house is cleaner than it ever has been before. We polished our wood floors, oiled all the wood furniture and got everything sparkling clean for a house showing this morning. And the rest of the time, we've spent lounging around home, resting and recovering so that by tomorrow, we will no longer be contagious and hopefully, we may even have sold the house.
Then the next class I taught was by far my best class. Full of energy, well timed cues, no mistakes. I'm not sure if it's because I've finally done this material so much or if something about having finished my certification (even without my official scores) gives me an extra confidence. Someone else recognizes me as a professional and I'm happy to take their word for it. Incidentally, that was also the last time I would teach that particular release (or set of material) as we launched new material the new day. That stuff I'm still learning the cues for but I'm more than ready for new stuff. It's full of fun energy, some great songs and an overall awesome release.
I went to parent teacher conference at Butterfly's school. Butterfly was eager to show me some of the projects she has done and her teacher was very complimentary. As always, she reported that our daughter is especially brilliant, learns new concepts easily and eagerly, is very artistic and is very helpful. She asked me what else I want her to be learning and we brainstormed some extra projects and tasks for her--things her classmates probably won't be doing but something that will challenger her since she's always done early. My brilliant little girl is ahead of her class and probably always be. I know that throughout her education I'll need to find extra ways to challenge her in order to help her reach her potential. I actually worry about that, hoping that I can be and do and help in the way that she needs because I know she's brilliant and I can't wait to see what she will accomplish with her intelligence and talents.
Then, since Daddy was out of town, grandma and I arranged some special time with the girls. We met for dinner and then Ladybug got to spend the night at grandma's house while Butterfly and I spent some time together and then we switched the next night. So Butterfly and I planned a special girls night. We put together a tray of snacks and desserts, played princess yahtzee and watched a movie. The next time I got to have a similar evening with Ladybug, with plenty of cuddling and tickling too.
Husband was released from his calling as Young Men's President. We suspected it would happen soon since we are moving somewhere in the near future but it was with sad reluctance. He's really enjoyed working with the young men, and while I didn't love the time away spent in meetings, I like that he was enjoying his calling, getting to participate in activities he probably wouldn't have made time for otherwise and personally, I've really enjoyed getting to know the boys and will miss having them around.
I got to watch both the girls in their ballet classes this week. They are getting ready for their winter performance in two weeks. Ladybug is my wanderer. She paid very little attention to her teacher's cueing, or to her classmate's haphazard dance moves next to her. She mostly just stood there playing with her reflection in the mirror. We shall see what she does onstage but given her young age and her general laid-back approach to life, I suspect it will be more of the same. But Butterfly was graceful and diligent, doing all the sweet little steps and making me melt. She's my eager ballerina, regularly practicing at home and showing me her "bal-la-lay".
The house showed again to an agent who was screening it for an out of state client. So we had a blitz cleaning and the agent gave a favorable report to the client who immediately flew out to see the house. Fingers crossed but we suspect good news is coming.
We made a visit to our pediatrician. Little Ladybug's tummy has been causing growing concern for the past few weeks. Her symptoms have lasted longer than any flu or virus should so we've began suspecting its a reaction to a certain food or perhaps a bacteria. The doc agrees and we are running tests on our poor princess to figure it out. We also wanted to ask about her sleep habits that have steadily declined the past few months. We had her adenoids removed and put ear tubs in due to her restless sleeping, loud snoring and chronic infections last summer. It mostly solved all her problems at the time. But over the last several weeks, she's become as bad as before with restless sleeping (even falling out of bed once or twice a week), snoring like a freight train and showing signs of sleep apnea. So we will be visiting the ENT in a few weeks to investigate. I suspect she needs to have her tonsils removed. The ENT said he would have done that last summer as well but she was too young for such an invasive procedure unless it was really necessary. And then the third issue we addressed was her enlarged lymph nodes. Turns out she has strep throat, even though she hasn't complained about any of the typical symptoms. And a little more investigation revealed that Daddy and I tested positive for it as well.
So our little germ ridden family had to miss Gram's memorial birthday celebration. We were pretty bummed about not being able to go.
And now today, our house is cleaner than it ever has been before. We polished our wood floors, oiled all the wood furniture and got everything sparkling clean for a house showing this morning. And the rest of the time, we've spent lounging around home, resting and recovering so that by tomorrow, we will no longer be contagious and hopefully, we may even have sold the house.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
weekend review
another blitz. and now that I have a moment to sit and reflect, I know I'm not doing it justice and am lacking the details that make journalling purposeful. But at least it's something.
Friday night I spent canning with my mom. A friend of hers had a billion pears she couldn't use and we were more than happy to help. While in general it is not worth it to can most things, pears is my exception. It actually costs about three times as much to buy and bottle fresh fruit than buy canned fruit. But I have very fond childhood memories of my brother and I sneaking into my grandma's food storage to spirit away a jar or two of her famous cinnamon pears. She pretended to never notice but my mom recently assured me that she certainly did and thought it was wonderful.
So my mom arrived and we set to work. It took almost 10 hours using two pots and both of us working diligently to can 80 bottles of perfectly pink cinnamon pears. (with a short pizza break. and another quick run to the store for more bottles.) They looked so beautiful lined up on my counter that I actually took a picture. I couldn't resist. And Daddy played the essential role of course of keeping the girls busy and out of the kitchen.
So Saturday morning was rather groggy as we arose from our beds for breakfast, baking cookies and then I dashed off with my mother in law to attend a baby shower. It was a wonderful "day off". The baby shower was fun, relaxed and a chance to see family. We leisurely snacked on lunch and cookies, chatted about babies (one of my favorite subjects) and celebrated. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon running errands and shopping before returning home. I don't shop without my little helpers very often and it's so nice (faster, less stress, can hit more stores in half the time) without them sometimes. Daddy had played with his girls all day and kept them busy. So when we arrived home, we switched places. He went out for a guys night and Grandma stayed through the evening for some more girl time. We played, watched the new TinkerBell movie and read books until bedtime. All in all, a fantastic day.
Sunday was a bit more chaotic. Fortunately the time change worked in our favor. Instead of putting sleeping children into the car, the girls slept well, woke up and readied for church before we made the 90 minute drive to our cousin's ward to join them for a baby blessing. What a wonderful occasion! I love being surrounded by our incredible family and getting to be part of these special events. We spent most of the morning with them, playing at their house after church, having lunch and eventually loading our girls up around naptime. Unfortunately, they did not nap. We drove for an hour, hoping they would but only Lovely actually slept. We played at a park for awhile, ran a few errands, eventually got Ladybug to nap briefly and eventually arrived for an evening baby blessing for another cousin! More wonderful time spent with family for a special occasion. The girls were in heaven, having so many cousins to play with all in one day. And then we headed home, with just the perfect amount of time for a family movie cuddle time and bed.
And now another crazy week begins...
Friday night I spent canning with my mom. A friend of hers had a billion pears she couldn't use and we were more than happy to help. While in general it is not worth it to can most things, pears is my exception. It actually costs about three times as much to buy and bottle fresh fruit than buy canned fruit. But I have very fond childhood memories of my brother and I sneaking into my grandma's food storage to spirit away a jar or two of her famous cinnamon pears. She pretended to never notice but my mom recently assured me that she certainly did and thought it was wonderful.
So my mom arrived and we set to work. It took almost 10 hours using two pots and both of us working diligently to can 80 bottles of perfectly pink cinnamon pears. (with a short pizza break. and another quick run to the store for more bottles.) They looked so beautiful lined up on my counter that I actually took a picture. I couldn't resist. And Daddy played the essential role of course of keeping the girls busy and out of the kitchen.
So Saturday morning was rather groggy as we arose from our beds for breakfast, baking cookies and then I dashed off with my mother in law to attend a baby shower. It was a wonderful "day off". The baby shower was fun, relaxed and a chance to see family. We leisurely snacked on lunch and cookies, chatted about babies (one of my favorite subjects) and celebrated. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon running errands and shopping before returning home. I don't shop without my little helpers very often and it's so nice (faster, less stress, can hit more stores in half the time) without them sometimes. Daddy had played with his girls all day and kept them busy. So when we arrived home, we switched places. He went out for a guys night and Grandma stayed through the evening for some more girl time. We played, watched the new TinkerBell movie and read books until bedtime. All in all, a fantastic day.
Sunday was a bit more chaotic. Fortunately the time change worked in our favor. Instead of putting sleeping children into the car, the girls slept well, woke up and readied for church before we made the 90 minute drive to our cousin's ward to join them for a baby blessing. What a wonderful occasion! I love being surrounded by our incredible family and getting to be part of these special events. We spent most of the morning with them, playing at their house after church, having lunch and eventually loading our girls up around naptime. Unfortunately, they did not nap. We drove for an hour, hoping they would but only Lovely actually slept. We played at a park for awhile, ran a few errands, eventually got Ladybug to nap briefly and eventually arrived for an evening baby blessing for another cousin! More wonderful time spent with family for a special occasion. The girls were in heaven, having so many cousins to play with all in one day. And then we headed home, with just the perfect amount of time for a family movie cuddle time and bed.
And now another crazy week begins...
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Halloween
it started off with a bang at my family Halloween party.
Then Ladybug had her school Halloween party. She was so excited about the mummy-oreos I made for her to give to classmates. She wore her Minnie Mouse costume (complete with ears) and upon arriving at school, found that a friend had dressed up as Mickey! So they made a complete pair. She brought home her artwork for daddy-a painted spider with squiggly legs and was so proud of him.
Our ward had a Halloween party on Saturday night. The girls looked beautiful in their princess dresses. Butterfly chose to be Belle (of course), Ladybug was our Rapunzel (completely with long, flower adorned golden wig) and Lovely was a preciously sweet little Cinderella. In theme with the girls, I dressed up as the Fairy Godmother and Daddy was our very handsome Prince Charming. During the costume parade, we were announced as the "Happily Ever After Family". The girls loved the pinata, ate donuts off a string and went fishing over the curtain. They played with friends, ate lots of treats and had a great time.
Butterfly had a school party as well and chose to wear her Tinkerbell costume. She helped me assemble little treat bags for her friends including spider suckers we had made. She looked perfect in her green dress and her beautiful fairy wings and came bounding out of school with stories to tell of games, ghost stories and trick or treating. She also had a spider she had created, using her hand prints overlapping with her fingers extended out as the legs.
That afternoon, Butterfly helped me bake and decorate cookies. We made "gingerdead" men using a gingerbread man cookie cutter and decorating them to be skeletons and mummies. She eagerly helped deliver them to some friends and neighbors.
We spent that evening at Grandma and Grandpa's house for a bonfire (a recent windstorm knocked numerous branches out of the trees). We roasted hot dogs and s'more and then spent the evening carving pumpkins. Grandma had hidden the pumpkins among her porch decorations, tangled in spider webs and being held by goblin hands, defended by ghoulish monsters. But Butterfly and Ladybug marched past the creepy decorations and picked out their pumpkins, not at all flustered or frightened. Our pumpkins turned out pretty good and I think the adults may have had more fun than the parents (me included of course).
Finally, after much preliminary celebrations, Halloween arrived. The girls had stayed up late, so excited about going trick or treating soon, that they slept in the next morning and I had to wake them up. So it was some rather reluctant and cranky girls that I herded out of the house in the morning. Butterfly went to ballet while I taught a class at the gym. And then I took my Tinkerbell, Minnie Mouse and pink flower fairy to the library's storytime Halloween party. We arrived in time to listen to the stories. But when it came time for activities the room was so packed and lines were so long that we only made it to half the stations before we had to go.
The festivities continued that evening for the "official" Halloween. We invited some of our closest friends over to celebrate with us. They made soup, I made rolls and Grandma and Grandpa brought some fruit for a tasty dinner. As we prepared the food, trick-or-treaters began to arrive. Following their example, our girls dashed outside, and over to the neighbors' house, without permission and without pants. (They had shed their costumes from that morning and were only wearing undershirts and tights.) Fortunately, they were quickly discovered and retrieved so we could address their behavior (and wardrobe). We managed through dinner, simply too excited to even stay seated. And eventually they donned their princess dresses, we left a bowl of candy out and began canvassing the neighborhood. As predicted, the girls didn't last long but they had a blast. Butterfly eagerly dashed ahead each time, frequently having to be reminded to wait for her sisters and friend. (they made such an adorable group. Princesses in gold, purple, blue and pink.) It was wonderful and fun and silly, with many opportunities to curtsy and twirl. At the very last house, they skipped past the scary decorations and up to the front door. We teasingly tried to get Butterfly to ring the door bell, which was inches under a large and creepy spider. Her first sign of fear, she refused and eventually we told her to just knock instead. She knocked and suddenly another large spider shot out from under the door's wreath, dropping down to startle her. She screamed, burst into tears, immediately followed by Ladybug who also seized up in panic, ready to cry. It was a very clever trick and startled all of us but was a little too much for the girls who were getting too tired. Our neighbor had answered the door immediately, laughing and teasing with us as we recovered and rewarded the girls with generous candy. After which, we headed home. The girls dumped all their candy out, sampled a good portion and played while we skyped with cousins and settled down for the night.
Then Ladybug had her school Halloween party. She was so excited about the mummy-oreos I made for her to give to classmates. She wore her Minnie Mouse costume (complete with ears) and upon arriving at school, found that a friend had dressed up as Mickey! So they made a complete pair. She brought home her artwork for daddy-a painted spider with squiggly legs and was so proud of him.
Our ward had a Halloween party on Saturday night. The girls looked beautiful in their princess dresses. Butterfly chose to be Belle (of course), Ladybug was our Rapunzel (completely with long, flower adorned golden wig) and Lovely was a preciously sweet little Cinderella. In theme with the girls, I dressed up as the Fairy Godmother and Daddy was our very handsome Prince Charming. During the costume parade, we were announced as the "Happily Ever After Family". The girls loved the pinata, ate donuts off a string and went fishing over the curtain. They played with friends, ate lots of treats and had a great time.
Butterfly had a school party as well and chose to wear her Tinkerbell costume. She helped me assemble little treat bags for her friends including spider suckers we had made. She looked perfect in her green dress and her beautiful fairy wings and came bounding out of school with stories to tell of games, ghost stories and trick or treating. She also had a spider she had created, using her hand prints overlapping with her fingers extended out as the legs.
That afternoon, Butterfly helped me bake and decorate cookies. We made "gingerdead" men using a gingerbread man cookie cutter and decorating them to be skeletons and mummies. She eagerly helped deliver them to some friends and neighbors.
We spent that evening at Grandma and Grandpa's house for a bonfire (a recent windstorm knocked numerous branches out of the trees). We roasted hot dogs and s'more and then spent the evening carving pumpkins. Grandma had hidden the pumpkins among her porch decorations, tangled in spider webs and being held by goblin hands, defended by ghoulish monsters. But Butterfly and Ladybug marched past the creepy decorations and picked out their pumpkins, not at all flustered or frightened. Our pumpkins turned out pretty good and I think the adults may have had more fun than the parents (me included of course).
Finally, after much preliminary celebrations, Halloween arrived. The girls had stayed up late, so excited about going trick or treating soon, that they slept in the next morning and I had to wake them up. So it was some rather reluctant and cranky girls that I herded out of the house in the morning. Butterfly went to ballet while I taught a class at the gym. And then I took my Tinkerbell, Minnie Mouse and pink flower fairy to the library's storytime Halloween party. We arrived in time to listen to the stories. But when it came time for activities the room was so packed and lines were so long that we only made it to half the stations before we had to go.
The festivities continued that evening for the "official" Halloween. We invited some of our closest friends over to celebrate with us. They made soup, I made rolls and Grandma and Grandpa brought some fruit for a tasty dinner. As we prepared the food, trick-or-treaters began to arrive. Following their example, our girls dashed outside, and over to the neighbors' house, without permission and without pants. (They had shed their costumes from that morning and were only wearing undershirts and tights.) Fortunately, they were quickly discovered and retrieved so we could address their behavior (and wardrobe). We managed through dinner, simply too excited to even stay seated. And eventually they donned their princess dresses, we left a bowl of candy out and began canvassing the neighborhood. As predicted, the girls didn't last long but they had a blast. Butterfly eagerly dashed ahead each time, frequently having to be reminded to wait for her sisters and friend. (they made such an adorable group. Princesses in gold, purple, blue and pink.) It was wonderful and fun and silly, with many opportunities to curtsy and twirl. At the very last house, they skipped past the scary decorations and up to the front door. We teasingly tried to get Butterfly to ring the door bell, which was inches under a large and creepy spider. Her first sign of fear, she refused and eventually we told her to just knock instead. She knocked and suddenly another large spider shot out from under the door's wreath, dropping down to startle her. She screamed, burst into tears, immediately followed by Ladybug who also seized up in panic, ready to cry. It was a very clever trick and startled all of us but was a little too much for the girls who were getting too tired. Our neighbor had answered the door immediately, laughing and teasing with us as we recovered and rewarded the girls with generous candy. After which, we headed home. The girls dumped all their candy out, sampled a good portion and played while we skyped with cousins and settled down for the night.
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