Halloween Celebrations

Friday I had another full day with the kids.  I made some apple pie filling to freeze and then 3 batches of applesauce to freeze.  I had plans to take them to local farm for a hay maze and things, but after a morning of complaining, and Amy refusing to use the potty I decided against it.  I did get Amy to use the potty in the morning twice. After lunch I was trying to get Timothy's costume ready.  I went outside to spray paint it, and Amy wanted to come.  I thought about putting her down for a nap first, but then I figured it would only be a couple of minutes.  I had only sprayed one side of the box when Amy shouted,"Mommy, look at my pants."  She'd had an accident.  So I went in to change her.  I should have gone with that thought (inspiration).  After the box was painted I put Amy down for her nap.  I worked on Timothy's costume for a bit, and cleaned up a bit, blogged for a bit etc.  I was finishing up the last of the applesauce when Amy woke up.  I got the kids a snack, and I asked Amy if she needed to go to the bathroom.  She said she didn't.  She and David were fighting downstairs.  Amy was telling him to be quiet, and then she had another accident.  So I had to hold off on the applesauce, and get her redressed.

That evening was a Halloween Carnival at David's school.  Costumes weren't ready, so we didn't dress up, but the kids had a lot of fun playing the games, and earning candy.  Amy ate hers as soon as she got one, so I didn't let her play a lot of games. 

 Amy and Timothy both painted a pumpkin

I had no idea he had put an orange shirt over the other shirt until he took off his coat.

It was kind of strange to let David go off and play by himself, and with friends.  I checked in with him occasionally.  He did all the games numerous times.  Timothy wanted to play BINGO in the library.  He was getting really frustrated that he never won.  Aaron called and he planned to finish up at work and met us there.  Amy said she needed to use the potty, but when we found a bathroom she wouldn't go.  We tried 3 times, but it never happened.  We finally got everyone together and got hotdogs for dinner.  The only had Coke left, so we didn't get a drink.  Aaron arrived as we sat down.  He had tried to call, but it was so loud I never heard my phone ring.  Amy wanted to go in the Haunted House with David, so Aaron took them.  It wasn't that scary, and she wanted to go again.  I took the kids one last time, and Aaron was on the phone when I came out.  Brad and Kalaina wanted to come by for a quick visit.  I wanted to get the kids in bed, and make sure Amy used the potty, so I was ready to go home.  Amy didn't have anymore accidents, and the kids got in bed.  The T* family came over with some Halloween goodies.  We chatted for a bit, and they left to finish delivering goodies.  Aaron and I finished working on Timothy's costume.
 
Saturday morning we did our normal Saturday chores, and then ripped out the garden.  Afterward Aaron carved the last of the pumpkins.

 

The largest one had been eaten by worms on the bottom, so it was really soggy, and a large chunk broke off the bottom. 

 Any standing on the pumpkin top

 Timothy showing us how the mouth should look by drawing with a chisel in the dirt

Then we decided to take the kids to a local pumpkin patch.  A while ago we purchased a coupon package for a fundraiser.  It came with a free pizza coupon, so Aaron picked the pizza up while I drove the kids to the farm. 

The kids had fun in the hay maze.  Timothy happened to pick the right route, and found his way out first.  

 A few picture opportunities

They climbed on the huge hay pile, and slid down the slide - except Amy who climbed, but wouldn't slide.

 

 Then we enjoyed the pizza, played some more, bought some of the last fresh corn of the season, and went home.  Amy needed a nap, and it was a little late.  Aaron took David to BiMart to get a few things.  After Amy was asleep, Timothy and I put the finishing touches on his costume.  Aaron and David came home, then Aaron took Timothy over to the office, to get a few things, and to put gas in the van.  They came home with these flowers! 

Just because!  I love that he does that.

Then it was time to get some dinner on and get ready for the Church Halloween Carnival and Trunk-or-Treat.  The pictures outside didn't turn out as well as I had hoped, but there were a couple of good ones.

 Amy decided a month ago she wanted to be a witch

 Timothy wanted to be a robot.  So we made him a robot costume.

David wanted to be a dementor, but then decided he wanted to have a sickle, and not paint his face black.

We had fun making Timothy's costume, but I had no idea it was going to such a hit.  Almost everyone complemented him on it.  And several wanted to take pictures.  Of course after about 5 minutes of wearing it, he wanted to take it off.  At least it was easy to take off and put back on again.  He really needed to take it off to play most of the games.  So I followed him around, and Aaron took Amy around, and David was on his own again.  It was a lot of fun.  I was excited to see Abby and her family, who came to visit their old friends after abandoning us moving to the city.

Timothy wanted "thunderbolts" painted on his face.  It's the only part of the robot costume that he wanted, that we didn't get to.

 Amy made a cute witch!

Aaron went to get the trunk ready for the trunk-or-treat.  Timothy wanted to play the glow-in-the-dark balloon game, and Amy needed to use the potty.  So I let him go in by himself, while I took her to the bathroom.  I was pleased that she actually did it!!!  However when I came back Timothy was crying because he lost the game (he still gets a prize for participating), and claimed the other kid was cheating.  I tried to help him brush it off and get his costume back on because it was time for the trunk-or-treat.  Since we combined with another ward there were a lot of people, it was a lot of fun, and the kids got a lot of candy.  Aaron said the huge pumpkin was a hit.  We got home around 8:00 and the kids went to bed, baths would have to wait.

I was glad that I listened to Amy after she called to me when she was supposed to be in her bed.  I told her to let me know if she needed to go potty.  So she told me she did, and she finally pooped in the potty.  I was really hoping it wouldn't be months before that happened.  Now let's see if she'll do it again.

Adventures in Toilet Training and Parent Teacher Conferences

Tuesday morning there was a light frost, but I'm glad we picked the tomatoes the night before.  Before I explain my next adventure I have to backtrack.  About 2 weeks ago Aaron reminded me that our shipment of diapers from Amazon was set to come in a couple of days.  I needed to decided whether or not Amy needed them anymore.  I still had about two weeks worth, but decided I'd try again to potty train Amy.  It wasn't working so well, and eventually I ran out of diapers.  Aaron reminded me about the cloth diapers that I had abandoned several months earlier.  Thursday night I started using them again.  I really don't mind them, but soon I was reminded why I stopped using them.  Amy's bottom was sore even after an hour in them.  They are just getting really old and worn, and don't absorb much anymore.  When Amy woke up dry on Monday morning I thought I'd try to get her to use the potty again.  She did once, but then wanted a diaper.  I had places to go, so I gave in.  Tuesday however we had no plans, and I kept it that way.  Aaron took the boys to school.  Amy and I tried the potty again, and after sitting for about 10 minutes she finally went! We were both really excited, and I got her to wear the panties instead of the diaper, but then she wanted pants to.  I was a little hesitant, since I know it's easier for kids to tell when they are going without pants on.  But wearing panties was the first step. Her reward for using the potty is a pretzel M&M.  For some reason she only wants the blue ones.  I wonder what she'll do when we run out.  The other part of the routine is the silly song and dance I do after she's dressed again.

So she was fully dressed and I let her watch a movie while I exercised.  We stopped once to use the potty.  Her first accident was after I was done exercising and I went upstairs to put the laptop away.  Then I got started on cleaning up the kitchen. Amy finished her movie.  I checked on her several times, but she still had another accident.  After that one she relented and went without pants.  I had her sit on the potty in my bathroom while I showered.  Then she helped me with the applesauce.  Anything that includes playing with water in the sink is fun for her.  So she helped me wash the apples, but mostly she just dumped water all over.  We had two more successful potty trips. The applesauce was so easy!  The only problem was that I didn't have very many jars.  I filled 5 pints with the first batch that I did.  After I put Amy down for her nap I started the second batch.  Aaron came home around this time.  It was Aaron's day off, but he had to go to work for a meeting he set up, and to finish a few things that have been sitting on the back burner.  When he got back he helped me for a bit with the applesauce (we found a few more jars) and then went to finish one of the many projects he had to do at home.

 making applesauce

What I've got so far

I think I'm going to make more, but freeze it.  I have the freezer space, and lots of apples.

When the boys came home Amy woke up and she used the potty once again.  Aaron worked with David for a bit on some cub scout stuff, and then went up to the city to do a bit of shopping (for more projects, and Halloween supplies) and a district scout training meeting.  We had a laid back afternoon at home.  Cub Scout Pack meeting had been canceled, so we just played at home, ate chicken nuggets for dinner, and took baths.  I think Amy had one other accident and that was it.  Pretty good for our first full day of potty training.  She even woke me up at 3:00 am and said she had to go potty.  She had peed a little in her panties, but she finished in the potty, and went back to sleep!

Wednesday was another good day.  I was doing laundry, and had no other plans other than to stay home and keep working with Amy. Aaron went to work, I took the boys to school.  Amy was much more comfortable using the potty, and we could go 2 hours between.  I could tell she figured out how to control it, and was holding it.  Except for the first time I left her alone.  I was bringing a load of laundry upstairs and when I came back down she was hiding in a corner and had pooped, she was sad, but I didn't make a big deal about it.  We just cleaned her up and she was good.  That was her only accident that day.  We mostly played games, read books, normal stuff.  She napped, and I worked on RS stuff.  Kids came home, she woke up, but she didn't want to go potty.  It took about 15 minutes, and she finally went.  We had a good afternoon, and I don't really remember what we did.  Aaron got home just in time for me to go to my first presidency meeting.  And luckily he didn't get paged (he was on call), at least nothing that he had to go in for.  The meeting went well, and I'm glad to have a better handle on what needs to be done, and I think everything is going to work well.

When I got home I found that Aaron had done most of the ironing for me.  I was impressed, and grateful - that's not my favorite chore. 

Thursday the kids didn't have school.  It is time for Parent Teacher Conferences, so the kids get 2 days off, rather than getting out early everyday for a week.  So we spent a chunk of the morning cleaning house, and playing.  I made some cupcakes for the school Harvest Carnival.

I should have taken a picture of the 12 that looked the best after I put the plastic spiders on them.  Oh well.  You can see the one where I ran out of frosting and had to spread the last little bit on.  I got Amy to take a nap.  While she was napping I started on Timothy's Halloween costume.  While I was outside spray painting it Timothy asked if he could rake up the leaves.  I love it when they volunteer to do work.  I agreed, but then David came out and they were fighting over which rake they got to use.  They finally compromised, and the last thing I said before I went inside to shower was "Just be careful and don't break the rake."  So guess what happened.  Yep they broke the rake.  Of course it was an accident, but seriously!  Amy woke up earlier than I expected, but that gave us plenty of time to get the kids ready for our Conference visit.  At least I thought we'd have plenty of time.  But of course the kids decided to fight about where to sit in the van.  Timothy always sits behind Amy, and David always in the back on the driver's side.  Since their booster seats were not in the van Timothy decided he wanted to trade seats. So when I brought Amy in after a potty break they were both squished in the same seat yelling at each other.  Yikes!  Of course when I sent them back to their own seats Timothy declared that I wasn't being fair, and that I was trying to make him sad etc.  I just told him that we would talk about it later because we were on our way to the school, but he just wouldn't let it go.  Oh, so frustrating!

We were a couple minutes late to see Mrs. I* because I had to drop off the cupcakes in the principal's office.  I was hoping to have a great talk with Mrs. I*, but I was constantly interrupted by Amy and Timothy.  So we had a very short Conference, mostly because she had absolutely no concerns, but with the constant interruptions I forgot to ask if there was something more challenging that we could do for David.  I guess I could always send her an email.  We had 30 minutes before Timothy's conference, so I ran by the post office to mail a couple letters, and the library to turn in a few books that were due.  Then we still had 10 minutes to wait in the hall.  We looked around for a bit.  Then I got to talk with Mrs. A*.  The kids all found some math games to play with so I was able to talk without many interruptions.  First we talked about how well Timothy was doing.  He has the highest marks possible, and is close to a 3 grade reading level.  Then we talked about some of his social issues.  Mostly he wants to make sure everything is fair, and it distracts him from his work.  They are working with him to learn how to "let it go" if it's not a physical harm, or a bullying issue.  I was happy to hear that he gets along with his fellow students, and that they stand up for him.  When a new student called him a name several students told him that wasn't acceptable.  I'm glad he is surrounded by good people.

When we got back home it was time to make dinner, I think we had pizza.  Amy had her only accident of the day. Then it was baths and bed time.  Aaron had the second part of his scout training in the city and had to go straight from work.  I was hoping to get a lot done before he came home, but Amy wanted me to stay with her.  At least I got some reading done. 

I might catch up someday!

Caramel Apples and Jack-o-lanterns

I know last post I stopped in the middle of Sunday, so let me continue from there.  I needed to talk to a couple of people after church, and Amy didn't really want to me talk to anyone.  Timothy came and said "hi" to me and then disappeared.  Apparently he went into Aaron's class and interrupted a few times before they were done.  Eventually we were on our way home.  We found some leftovers in the fridge to eat for lunch.  I didn't get Amy down for a nap until after 2:00.  After she was asleep Aaron and Timothy went to do some home teaching.  Aaron had started making apple pies with our loads of Granny Smith apples.  I made the crust, however I didn't have enough shortening and had to substitute butter.  After he left I put the pies together and put them in the oven, with just enough time for them to be ready before we headed over to our dinner with friends.  Then things kind of fell apart.  I had planned on doing some Relief Society stuff (like planning Enrichment), but the David wanted to play a game.  I opted to play with David instead.  That part was still good, but because I wasn't upstairs in the kitchen I didn't realize the apple pie filling was spilling over and burning on the bottom of the oven.  The kitchen was filling with smoke and I yelled to David to fan the smoke detector.  I was a little too late, it went off.  I opened doors and windows, and pulled the pies out.  The crust was yellow.  I think that was because I used butter, not because of the smoke.  I hope.  I was still trying to air out the house when Aaron and Timothy came home.  Timothy went to use the bathroom, and I tried to get Amy ready - she woke up because of the smoke detector.  Aaron called the B* family to let them know we'd be late - it went to voice mail.  Then Amy needed a diaper change.  I finally got everyone ready, and then I went to check on Timothy who was still in the bathroom.  He was laying on the floor saying that his tummy hurt.  Then he threw up.  Great.  At that point I was a little stressed out.  Aaron suggested that perhaps it was motion sickness because he was playing on the ipod on their 15 minute drive home.  I gave Timothy a few options and he decided he would come and see if was able to eat.  I calmed down on the 5 minute drive.  We were 15 minutes late.

The evening went went well.  The kids wanted to go outside immediately.  They had just acquired 2 baby goats, and the kids really wanted to see them.  Eventually we got them back in the house because dinner was already on the table.  The T* family was in town as well, so we all ate together.  It was a great meal.  They had a yellow squash casserole that I loved!  Amy didn't want to eat with the other little girls, but she wanted to play with the toys she saw while sitting at the dinner table.  So she didn't eat much.  When she noticed it was getting dark she asked if she could go pet the goats.  So we all went outside and got to pet the baby goats.  Amy and Aleya fed them their bottles of milk.  While Celise showed David and Timothy how to milk the bigger goat.  Timothy was even brave enough to try a squirt of goat's milk.  The kids also enjoyed playing with the dog and kitty.  Then we headed inside for pie and ice cream (washing hands first of course).

Then we got to sit in the living room and talk while the kids played.  Amy had so much fun.  Angela showed me a cute way she does her girls' hair.  We talked a lot and then realized it was 8:30, and the boys had school the next day, so we headed home.

Monday was a great day.  I had to run down and get something checked out on the van.  It turned out to be nothing much, but they washed the van anyway - that was nice.  I stopped by Bi-Mart on the way home, and got a sauce mill.  It will be nice for making apple sauce, and tomato sauce, and all sorts of things.  I had a few other things planned like making caramel apples dipped in chocolate.  I only do that about once a year, it's a fun thing for October.  However I had run out of shortening the day before (it goes in the melted chocolate), so I borrowed some from Sis P*.  Amy loves visiting her because of all the kitties.  We didn't stay too long, we hadn't eaten lunch yet.  Amy would have stayed for hours, and wasn't happy to leave.  We had lunch and then I made the caramel mixture and dipped them.  I put Amy down for a nap and then finished with the chocolate and crushed Oreos.  

That evening we also carved pumpkins for FHE.  I had the kids look at numerous designs online, and they picked the ones they wanted. 

Amy dug right in.

I usually just let Aaron do all the carving, but Amy really wanted a kitty pumpkin, and I knew Aaron wouldn't be able to do all three.  So I worked on Amy's, and the boys each helped Aaron with their own. 

Amy took the two eye cutouts from Timothy's pumpkin and said "I'm a dragon!"

Aaron finished Timothy's pumpkin first

Then he did David's pumpkin

These were finished before bed time

And I finished Amy's after the kids were in bed.

Before I got to finish the carving though Aaron and I decided it was a good idea to pick as many tomatoes and peppers as we could since it was supposed to get below freezing for the first time this season. 

So we picked lots of peppers

and a lot of green tomatoes in the dark.

Oh, and for good measure here are the apples we picked on Saturday minus the ones we used in the apple pies.

A Sealing and Apple Cider

I am way behind in blogging.  I have a whole week to catch up on.  I don’t know if I can even remember what I did in the last week.   And unfortunately I didn't take any pictures.  Not one!  I also spent a lot of time working on my Blurb book for 2011.

Monday I spent most of the morning doing... something, did I go shopping in the city?  No I went last Friday... hmm...  I can't remember.  Sis. P* had invited Amy and I over to play with the kittens, and to see the little witch that spins around.  She was telling Amy about it at the football game, and said we should come see it.  I had forgotten until about 12:30.  I decided to go even though it was almost time to put Amy down for a nap.  We had fun playing with the kittens and making the witch spin around.  We ended up staying for about an hour.  So Amy went right to sleep at nap time. I don't remember anything else out of the ordinary.

Tuesday  Aaron took one last fishing trip.  He caught several, but only reeled in 2.  Other got away, or broke his line.  He had on 12 lb line.  The two he reeled in he couldn’t keep.  One he caught on the fin (which is illegal to keep), and the other was a native (also illegal to keep), so he had to throw them back.  Br. D* was able to catch him limit.  After the kids got home from school I took them to the library for a “spiderfest”  However we were an hour late, and the lady that came in to do the presentation had already left.  The kids weren’t happy, but I had things to do that evening, so I dragged them home.  That evening was our monthly Relief Society meeting.  And my first time conducting the meeting, and arranging babysitting.  I scrambled at the last minute trying to find someone.  But I did end up finding a girl to help out in the nursery.  There ended up being a lot of kids, and I should have had 2 girls.  Next time I’ll be more prepared.  Otherwise it went well.  I really enjoyed it.  Aaron ended up picking up the kids around 8:30.  I stayed until everything was cleaned up, and put away.

Wednesday I did laundry. I think I vacuumed the pool in preparation to winterize it.  David had scouts. Yep, pretty boring day.

Thursday I helped out in the kids’ classrooms.  Then I went to do some visiting teaching, but the sister couldn’t make it because something came up at work.  That evening I had my first Stake meeting.  We met in the chapel first with a large group (primary and Sunday school presidencies), then we split.  The Enrichment counselors met together and shared ideas for enrichment activities. I got a lot of great ideas.  Just none for the Christmas party, that I have to figure out soon - it's in 6 weeks!

Friday morning Amy and I played with Cecil.  They had a lot of fun.  Then I ran to the store to get eggs, and a couple of other things.  Then I made more zucchini bread.  We have quite a stockpile in the freezer.  I also swept the pool one last time. I'm sure we did something fun that night, but now I can't remember what.  I did cut Aaron's hair that evening.  It really needed it.

Saturday was so busy, and so fun, but I wish I had taken pictures.  We started out by eating zucchini bread, and then going to the church to clean. Aaron started to winterize the pool before we left. I hurried the kids along with their chores, helped Aaron cover the pool (while it was still draining) and then got myself ready.  Then Aaron and I went to the temple.  The kids were excited to play with Madeline, even Amy.  Aaron and I got to attend the sealing of a couple in our ward.  I'm not sure how long they have been married, but they were sealed in a beautiful ceremony.  It was great to see so many people from the ward there.  We didn't get to stay long afterward.  We ran by Winco for a few things, and headed back home.  Amy wouldn't let Madeline put her down for a nap, and apparently they didn't eat much of a lunch either.  Oh well.  So instead of giving Amy a nap we went out to pick apples instead.  We pick about 5 boxes worth, red delicious and granny smith.  From there we straight over to the church for the elder's Quorum activity.  I'm glad we still get invited to those ;)  Amy fell asleep on the way which gave her a 15 minute nap, if that!

We had to some chili and cornbread or rolls to start. I really wish we had brought the camera.  The kids had a lot of fun washing the apples in a kiddie pool, and tossing them in the cider press to be chopped, and then squeezed.  David's favorite job was to hold the strainer as they poured them into pitchers, soda bottles, and milk jugs.  We've been saving them for a few weeks, so we had 8.  I think we took home more apple cider than anyone.  Several people helped pick apples on Friday, and they had several hundred pounds of apples, so they never used the ones we brought.  So we took them all home.  We stayed until it was almost all cleaned up (they were using our hoses).  It was 7:30, so it was straight in the tub, and then to bed. 

Sunday  I woke up at 7:25. I don't remember the last time I slept in that late!  It felt great!  We had a simple breakfast, and then got ready for church.  It was the Primary Program.  It's one of my favorite things about this time of year.  David was not happy about being the opening and closing part, but I knew he would do a good job.  He didn't want to memorize it.  He thought it would be too hard.  I think he could have done it, but oh well.  David did a great job, and even looked up from his paper occasionally while he was reading!  He was mostly good while he was sitting down, but got a little bored, and a little silly toward the end.  Timothy was right in the middle sitting next to the (recently released) primary president.  I couldn't even see him unless I scooted over to my left.  Which I did while they were singing.  Twice he gave me a big smile and a thumbs up :)  He had a pretty easy part, and had it memorized after the first day of practice.  Amy decided that instead of watching all the kids she would play games with the visiting lady behind us.  Although when she recognized a voice she would say, "that's Michael", or "that's Timothy"or "that was Zakary".

I spent Sunday School talking with Melissa about my new calling.  And then I conducted for Relief Society, and I really didn't know what I was doing.  Oh well, it all turned out fine.  Well, rather than leave this to continue later I will end this post and pick up where I left off tomorrow, or another day...  Sorry if there are typos I really didn't proofread and now it's past 11:00!

Football, Fishing, and a New Calling

Friday was a day off for the boys.  We didn't have any elaborate plans.  I needed to go to the city to do sine shopping.  Aaron had the day off as well, but needed to mow the pasture and get ready for his scout camping trip.  The kids had a choice to stay with Aaron or go shopping with me, and they all wanted to come with me.  Oh well.  We got a bunch of groceries and a few Halloween costume supplies.  We got a couple smoothies to share at Costco.  David preferred a soda, so that's what he got.  We got home in time for lunch, and Aaron was getting ready for his camping trip.  The plan was to meet around 1:00.  So I helped him get things ready and got some lunch ready for everyone.  Then scouts started arriving, and they headed out around 1:30 or so.  I attempted to put Amy down for a nap, but she wasn't too happy about that.  Eventually I did get her to sleep.  It's a good thing because we had a long night ahead of us.  The boys watched a movie while I got a few things done.  We had an early dinner and then went to the final home game.  The festivities started early.  First it was senior night, then they had a special ceremony.  A former football player (and professional arena football player) died earlier this year during a workout.  They renamed the field for him, and set up a memorial.  From what I hear he was an amazing person, as well as a great athlete.  With donations the booster club collected they not only built the memorial, but had $3,000 leftover for a scholarship.  I think the saddest part of the story is that he married his sweetheart only 10 days before he died.  It was amazing to be part of that ceremony. 

Then we enjoyed a great football game.  We pretty much blew them out of the water.  I was glad to be surrounded by friends.  The kids were OK during the first half, but weren't doing so great during the second half.  We did end up staying for the whole game though.  We won 50-12.  I texted Aaron when we got in the car.  He called just in time for family prayer after the kids were in PJs and had brushed their teeth.  It was about 10:00 when everyone was asleep.  I was tired, but couldn't sleep, so I after I got in bed a read until I fell asleep.

Saturday I slept in, and it felt great!  I think I got up at 6:45, when Amy woke me up.  Then we went down and made some chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast.  After a lazy breakfast we cleaned up and started chores.  As usually David finished as quickly as he could, and Timothy took his sweet time.  I made a goal to vacuum every single room, and I almost made it.  The last room to be done was the play room.  It was almost done, so I asked Timothy to finish it up while I showered.  Well I got a little distracted after my shower, so it it ran into lunch time, and Zakary coming over to play.  Amy did not want to take a nap, and I attempted to make some sugar cookies with the boys while she was in her room, but she heard the mixer and wanted to know what was going on.  I told her that I was making cookies that she could eat after she woke up from her nap.  You should have seen her face, she was so sad that I would make cookies without her.  So I let her come down and she helped me cut them out.  Everyone else helped too.  I would have taken pictures, but Aaron had the camera. 

In the mean time I was listening to the BYU game.  We didn't play all that great, or rather we had some great plays, and some awful ones.  But a win is a win.  We beat Oregon State 38-28.  I was trying to avoid turning on the TV while the boys had a friend over, but then he ended up staying a long time,  So they all watched a movie, while I cleaned up, and blogged etc.  I was sure Amy would fall asleep but she didn't.  Aaron and the scouts arrived around 5:00.  It was a successful camping trip.  Everyone got to reel in a fish.  Not everyone kept theirs.  Some were too small, or looked really old, and not very tasty, or were male pinks - which aren't as flavorful.  Aaron didn't keep anything he caught. 

Saturday Aaron was taking over a night call for a Dr. who was injured in an accident, and needed some time to recover.  He got sign out quickly, and only needed to take one call around 6:00.  One of the easiest call shifts he's ever had.  We had a simple taco salad for dinner and then got the kids ready for bed.  I really needed to work on my lesson so Aaron put Amy to bed.  I was just about ready when Amy asked me to come up to rub her back.  I knew it wouldn't take long so I went up there and read while rubbing her back.  While I was up there the phone rang.  Aaron called me down.  Apparently Bishop W* was on the phone and he wanted to come over and talk to both of us.  I immediately knew why, or at least I thought I did.  We were pretty sure the Relief Society was being reorganized.  I was fairly confident that I wouldn't be called as president, especially since it seemed I was getting about 12 hours of notice.  We had a great talk with Bishop, and he asked if I would be the 2nd counselor in the Relief Society presidency.  I said "yes", but I really didn't know what I was getting myself into.  I didn't even know what my responsibilities would be.  But I figured that I would be able to figure that out, and with a lot of prayer, study, delegation, and inspiration, I could fulfill my calling.  It wasn't until I said my prayers that evening, as I asked for help, that I felt the weight of the calling, an overwhelming love for the sisters, and a concern for their welfare.  It really was surreal.  I love teaching my Laurels.  I love them, and I truly want the best for them.  But there are only three of them.  That I can handle.  However thinking about all of the women in the ward, and knowing I have a shared responsibility for their welfare is quite a different thing.  I know that I can handle this too, but it's going to take a lot more time, and probably a lot more planning.  With the Lord's help I know I can do it.

Today went pretty well.  My new calling was on my mind from the second I woke up.  Amy was stirring a little after 6:00.  She went back to sleep, but I couldn't.  So at 6:20 I got up.  I had peace and quiet for over an hour.  It was lovely.  Amy and I got breakfast out, and started without everyone, because I was really hungry, and she can't wait long.  Soon David came down and joined us.  However it was 8:15 before Aaron and Timothy came down.  Then it was mostly getting everyone ready for church.  Not only did they reorganize the Relief Society, but the Primary as well.  I should have realized that when Bishop told me I would be working with Cheryl E* who was in the Primary presidency.  The first counselor is Julianna I* one of my newest friends here.  I am excited to work with them.  I found out that I'm taking over Melissa's calling, which means I'm in charge of the quarterly activities.  Yikes.  I think I would have been more comfortable being the Education counselor.  I can handle teaching,and asking people to teach, and even teaching last minute.  But to be in charge of quarterly activities?  Well I hope I get some good input, and lots of inspiration!  I also found out I have a stake meeting this week, and Melissa was supposed to present something, so maybe I'll be off the hook, or maybe not...

I enjoyed the speakers today as they reviewed some great conference talks.  Sunday school was great as usual.  It wasn't easy to teach the Laurels one last lesson.  I am really going to miss teaching them. After getting set apart after church we went home for a late lunch.  Aaron and Timothy went home teaching, and I tried to get Amy to take a nap.  She was to preoccupied with the lady bug that Timothy found for her.  I finally had to put it outside.  Eventually she fell asleep, but it was past 3:00. David and I played a few board games while she slept.  Aaron grilled up on of the silver (coho) salmon fillets, with some rice pilaf, grilled peppers, grilled bread, and a salad, it was a great meal!  Then we had FHE, and wrote a letter to Aaron's brother Brandon who is in the MTC. 

Now I am finally caught up.  I'm hoping that with my new calling I'll still have plenty of time to blog.  I hope it means shorter more frequent posts, rather than these long drawn out, sporadic posts.  Wish me luck!

Resident Spider and Haircuts

Last Saturday Aaron was on call.  He went to work in the morning, but wasn't able to come home until after lunch.  We didn't do much at home except for lots of cleaning.  I ran to the store to get a few things for that evening.  We were going to meet Aaron to pick chokecherries, but the field was picked clean.  So we had lunch and I put Amy down for a nap.  Then Aaron called and said they found some more.  I was in the process of making cornbread and a pumpkin pie when Aaron came home with the chokecherries.  He had picked them with Br. D*.  We talked about making syrup with them, then Br. D* said he had some grapes if we could help him make them into juice.  So we ended up making juice out of the chokecherries, and juice out of the grapes.    While Br. D* was here he uploaded the pictures and video he took while they were fishing the previous weekend.  Here's a good one, of Aaron and his steelhead.

Aaron knew he had to go into the hospital to see two patients before our ward activity that night, so he planned to go at 5:00.  Well, at 4:30 he got paged, and had to go in.  He said he was hopeful that he'd make it by 7:00 or 7:15.

The ward activity was a Harvest Pot luck.  We had chili, cornbread and pies for dessert.  Two ladies did a short presentation on different types of garden, and making bread.  Aaron texted at 6:45 saying that he wouldn't be able to make it.  So we enjoyed the dinner without him.  We got home about 8:00 and the kids went to bed.  Aaron got home later that evening, I can't remember when - 9:00 or so, then we finished up the last of the grape juice. 

Sunday morning Aaron headed back to the hospital while I got the kids bathed and ready for church.  Aaron met us there a few minutes before church started. It was a good morning.  We enjoyed church.  David and Amy were carrying my bag to the van after church, and David was trying to swing Amy around, and Amy ended up with her face in the carpet.  She bit her lip and it was bleeding pretty bad, but her teeth are alright.  She got a nasty canker afterward though.  Amy was so upset when we got home, I changed her clothes and just held her until she fell asleep.  She took a good nap.

I can't really remember what else happened other than our hometeacher came over while Amy was sleeping, but the boys were acting a little crazy.  We had dinner, and then I think Aaron had to go in one more time, or maybe he missed dinner, I can't remember.

Monday the kids were back in school, and Aaron was back at work.  After my shower I gave myself a haircut.  Pretty easy to do with my thin hair that curls and hides any mistakes. I spent the rest of the morning taking the chokecherry juice and making syrup.  Some of them sealed with the hot syrup.  Those that didn't I processed for 10 minutes, and as soon as I turned the heat off, and pulled the basket up they all sealed.  Now we have 6 quarts and 10 pints of syrup, and we also had 12 quarts of grape juice.  Of course most of the grape juice and some of the syrup belong to the D*s.

That afternoon while Amy napped I went outside to pick something from the garden and found a natural Halloween decoration. 

It's a white-backed garden spider.  

I looked it up.  It's not a yellow backed garden spider, even though it's yellow.  The stripes on the legs distinguish it, as far as I can tell.  It can stay alive as long as it doesn't come in the house.  Although now that the kids know it's there I'm not sure how long it will stay alive.

I made clam chowder in bread bowls for dinner.  That's one of the reasons I love fall and the cooler weather.  Nothing like soup to warm you up and comfort you!

After dinner that evening I was changing Amy's diaper (yeah, she's still not interested in using the toilet except to avoid getting in the tub), she put her legs up to her ears.  I thought it was pretty funny.  So I got her dressed, and said I'd get the camera.  While I was throwing the diaper in the garbage she was performing her trick downstairs, and Aaron grabbed the camera.

Oh, to be that flexible!

Tuesday Aaron had hoped to go fishing with some friends, but since they were all busy he went by himself.  He went about an hour southeast to check out a campsite for the scouts.  It wasn't that great, and neither was the fishing, so he came home around 2:00.  While he was gone I was painting my toenails.  Amy was very interested in what I was doing.  I asked her if she wanted me to paint her toenails.  At first she said no, but then she agreed.  So I painted mine red, and hers pink. 

Amy's first pedicure

Why have I never done this before?  Oh that's right, because she never let me, and less than 20 minutes later she wanted me to take it off.  We were making more zucchini bread, and some zucchini cupcakes, and she kept asking me to wipe it off.  So I did.  After Aaron got home we um, I don't even remember.  Amy was supposed to be taking a nap, but she never went to sleep.  I think I finally let her come out at 3:00.  

I'm not sure what else we did that afternoon.  But we had dinner early enough for Aaron to go to scouts.  Then while he was gone I gave the kids haircuts.  Amy had seen me cut my hair the day before.  I asked her if she wanted her hair cut, and she surprised me by saying "yes".  So Amy got her first real haircut.  I trimmer her bangs once when she was a baby, but then I let them grow out, so that doesn't really count does it?  So at 3 years old Amy gets her first haircut.  I had to give her a bath first, which she didn't like, and brush her hair which she didn't like.  After having no nap I was concerned it would be a disaster,  However once she was sitting down all went well.

Before

After

I didn't cut the front where the bangs hadn't caught up to the rest of her hair.  But the back got a good trim.

That's about how much I cut off.  She has thin hair like me.

Wednesday back to school, and back to work.  Since there was no school on Friday, and I had plans for Thursday I asked the teachers if I could visit the classrooms on Wednesday.  That worked fro them, but then I didn't have a babysitter for Amy.  So I didn't go to David's class (she didn't have much for me to help with), but I took Amy with me to Timothy's class, and everyone had a ball.  She played with a few toys while they finished their opening.  Then we stood for their class pledge and the pledge of allegiance.  Then Amy and I took for students including Timothy to the library to read a story (the rest of the class read the same story in a group).  When we got back they worked on a spelling worksheet until recess.  After e few minutes Amy I went out to the playground to watch the kids.  Suddenly we had 6 or 7 students flock to us.  They wanted to play with Amy.  She was a little overwhelmed, but then we showed her where Timothy was (hiding in a tunnel doing a word search) and she climbed in and played with them until the bell rang.  We stayed for snack time, and then said goodbye.  Amy really wanted to play on the playground.  So we asked if it was OK, and then she spent 10 minutes exploring the playing on the playground.

We had several other things to do at home, namely laundry, so we headed home sooner than she wanted to.  She watched a movie, and then we had lunch.  She went down for her nap just fine.  Not much else happened that afternoon.  We had a simple dinner and then David left early for cub scouts.  They went bowling.  I forgot to send him with his permission slip, so I had to run that over to the church.  Aaron was on call, and wasn't able to come home until late. So I made these fun Halloween decorations. 

we glued on googly eyes since we didn't have in glow-in-the dark paint

I think the boys were asleep when Aaron got home, but not Amy.  I actually finished the ironing on laundry day.  That doesn't happen very often.

Thursday was another busy day.  After dropping off the boys at school I realized I forgot to send David's pumpkin with him.  So I ran back home to get it.  Then I picked up the 40 lbs of chicken I ordered a couple weeks ago.  I dropped off the pumpkin in David's classroom.  Everyone thought Amy was so cute.  She wanted to give David a hug before we left.  Then she watched a movie while I wrapped and bagged 40 lbs of chicken, and put it in the freezer.  Except for the one I kept out for dinner.  If I'd had more time I would have put some in a marinade or something.  I also needed to make breadsticks for Aaron's lunch.  They were celebrating the new Dr.'s birthday, and they requested the breadsticks. When they were done Amy and I delivered them to Aaron, and then went home for lunch.  Amy didn't nap again.  On the up side, that meant that we could go to the library as soon as the boys got home rather than waiting for her to wake up.  Then it was time to make and eat dinner - chicken tortilla soup.  I actually used fresh tomatoes from our garden.  We are still getting tomatoes - they are just taking a long time to ripen. 

I still have a few days to catch up on, but I'll have to do that later.

Sharing Time

 Timothy relaxing while reading 

(I was trying to catch him off guard, but he heard the camera, turned his head and smiled)

Last week Timothy's teacher shared a cute story with me while the kids were out at recess.  Timothy's teacher has a "sharing time" in their class.  She asks her students if they have anything to share with the class.  Last week Timothy did.  He pulled out a few pass along cards that he grabbed from the lobby at church.  He told them something about church, and the kids asked questions.
"Where did you get this?"  "At church."  He told them about the scripture on the card, and mentioned the Bible, Book of Mormon, and Jesus.  Mrs. A* thought this was so sweet.  He shared something that was important to him.  After mentioned the separation of church and state, she said, "If kids can bring their smackdown cards, why can't he share a card about Jesus?"  So I guess a couple of the kids took the cards, but who knows what happened to them after that.  I was really impressed with Timothy.  And I made sure that he shared his experience with our family.  If only I could be that bold. 

Orange Overload (Carrots and Pumpkins)

I'm going to try to hurry through an update of this past week.
Monday Aaron had one more day off.  It was raining, so he couldn't mow the lawn like he had planned, so we did a bit of work around the house.  I harvested the rest of the carrots.

 these three looked so interesting all twisted together

Aaron vacuumed the pool, and did a few other things , then we went up to the city and did some shopping.  We have been wanting to put up curtains in the kitchen for a while.  We finally found ones at Shopko that we liked at a decent price, so we picked up a few.  They didn't have enough, but said the other store had more in stock.  I didn't know there were two in the city.  So we went to a few more stores on out way out there, Lowe's for a door for the storage room, and Bed Bath and Beyond also looking for curtains, but didn't find what we were looking for.  We got to the other Shopko, and I realized it was already noon, no wonder I was getting hungry.  We got what we needed and instead of going home we stopped by Olive Garden for lunch.  We still had that gift card from last year's Christmas party.  I was sure Amy would fall asleep on the way home, since she was dozing off on the way to the store.  However we were able to keep her awake by pointing things out, and Aaron teasing her by saying, "Don't smile," which she would immediately respond to by giggling and giving him a huge grin.  When we got home I carried her inside and put her on her bed, she screamed and said she wanted books first.  I told her I would after I used the bathroom.  When I cam back she had fallen asleep sideways on the bed.  It had stopped raining, so Aaron attempted to mow the lawn. He got the pasture done by the time the kids got home from school.  Instead of doing the lawn first he had the kids help him harvest the pumpkins and place them around the house.

 The first seven (smaller ones)

 Timothy posing for me

 Placing the pumpkins

 David's turn to pose

 The last three

 Now our house is surrounded by pumpkins!

This is the largest one up close

We still have two more that started late and are still growing or turning orange.  They should be ready by Halloween.  That evening Aaron put up the curtains.  We decided we needed a couple more panels.

Tuesday Aaron went back to work after 10 days off.  Not much out of the ordinary happened that day.  Exercise in the morning, and then I had plenty to do at home.  I made some tomato paste, and still had dozens of tomatoes left.  Aaron was busy at work and had to go straight to scouts afterward.  Not much else to talk about. 

Wednesday after I dropped off the kids I headed back up to the city to get more panels, and I had a couple more things to return, and buy.  I left early enough that we were back well before lunch time.  Amy came up with the most interesting things to talk about.  She kept asking me "What if?" questions.  "What would happen if there was grass in the pond?"  When we got back I spent some time putting away the things we bought, starting the laundry and having lunch, and then I tried to put Amy down for a nap.  She didn't want to take a nap.  I stayed with her for almost 30 minutes, and she still didn't sleep.  She was a grumpy girl for most of the afternoon.  I was surprised she didn't fall asleep while she was watching a movie with the boys after school.  I took David to cub scouts, and then got Amy ready for bed.  Even with no nap she didn't go down easy.  She was asleep by 8:45 when Aaron got home from clinic.  Being on vacation means a lot of catching up when you get back. 

Thursday After dropping the kids off at school, and Amy at Crystal's I helped out at the boys' classes, and then chatted with Crystal when I picked up Amy  Or rather I tried to chat with Crystal.  Amy was a perfect angel while I was gone, but when I came back she started whining and hitting, and yelling.  Oh boy!  I tried to get her down for a nap after lunch but again, she didn't want to.  Cecil and Crystal arrived soon after I left her room.  Crystal stayed for a bit hoping that would help Cecil not cry when she left.  Nope, he still cried.  He didn't want to watch a movie either.  I tried to get Amy to lay down for a nap again, but then Cecil was crying, eventually I just brought Amy down.  Cecil was happier when she was there.  Soon enough Crystal came back, and then Amy and I waited for the boys to come home.  After a quick snack we headed to the library.  Aaron actually arrived home before 6:00 - that was a pleasant surprise.  Then we had dinner, scriptures, baths etc. - the normal routine. 

And now I'm finally caught up!  Today was a pretty easy going day.  Just cleaned up at home, went to the grocery store real quick, and Amy finally took a nap.  Now it's snack time with the boys, and then time to make dinner.  We might squeeze in some flu shots too.