I was almost caught up, but then it was Thanksgiving and the kids were out of school, and we got a new computer, and it's just been chaos. So here's to catching up again.
Saturday was very busy, but lots of fun. Besides chores in the morning, oh, who am I kidding I have no idea what we did. We played, we cleaned, we napped, well, Melanie and Michelle did anyway. Michelle ended up with a cold, it started with a fever for less than 2 days, and then the runny nose started. Miraculously with all of that her nap time and bed time routine got back to normal. She now rarely fusses when I put her down for a nap or bed time, and if she does it's only for a couple of minutes, or I'm able to lay her back down and she'll go to sleep. It will be better once she sleeps through the night consistently, but she's doing great. I'm also nursing her less and can go several hours without nursing her. Sometimes 6-8 hours. She still likes to nurse when she wakes up. She still doesn't have a whole lot of words, but she does communicate. Saturday afternoon she brought me this book and handed it to me. It was obvious she wanted me to read it to her.
I snapped a picture of her and the book, but it didn't turn out that great.
I don't really remember what we did that evening. I know Aaron ran to the store to get a few things for dinner that night and for Sunday night.
Sunday was busier than usual. Besides the normal meetings and church we dinner guests and an evening event. Let's start at the beginning though... Aaron went off to meetings, and I got the kids breakfast and had them get ready for church. Amy was giving a talk that day. She had typed it out the day before. Then we headed out for church. Michelle refused to sleep on the way there. She was grumpy during sacrament meeting to I tried to nurse her to get her to sleep. That didn't work. I walked her around and around. Finally around 11:45 she finally crashed and just fell asleep. So I got to hear about 15 minutes of Sunday school and that's about it. She stayed asleep during opening exercises for Young Women's. I missed Amy's talk because I was trying to get my room set up, and handed Michelle off to Nancy. When it was time for my lesson I took Michelle, but then handed her off to Briana W*. Michelle didn't stay asleep long, so I gave my lesson with a tired baby crawling all over me.
That Sunday we started practice for the ward choir for the Christmas program. We are just singing "Joy to the World". It was a short practice and then we headed home. We had lunch and then I started on dinner. We had dinner early because the missionaries were eating with us, and Aaron and I needed to be at the church at 6:00. So we had grilled pizza at 4:30. I made a fruit salad and two pans of pizza. Each pan had two varieties. We had a plain cheese and olives, and a meat lovers (sausage, bacon and pepperoni), and the other pan had BBQ chicken, and pesto chicken. I baked the crust in the oven, and then we put the toppings on and Aaron grilled them up on the Traeger.
We enjoyed dinner with the missionaries. We have a new missionary. Elder S* was transferred and now we have Elder M*. He is the current district leader. He told us that Aaron's cousin is now in his district, serving in the ward just southeast of here. So perhaps in the next few weeks Aaron will finally get to meet his cousin for the first time!
During the meal Melanie was in a daze. She hardly ate anything and didn't interact like she usually does. After dinner she disappeared and I found her asleep in her doorway.
Aaron and I were going to the Young Women in Excellence Program that night, so we had to leave David home with a potentially sick kid. We put a bowl by her just in case, but it turned out she woke up after an hour, and was just fine.
Michelle took her second nap on the way to the church at 6:00 pm!!! I was hoping she didn't stay asleep too long. At least we got to enjoy the program without interruption, for the most part. It's too bad there wasn't a better turnout, but otherwise it went really well. We enjoyed refreshments afterward, and then we helped with clean up and then we headed home.
The kids were ready for bed when we got there. So we had family prayers, and then I did the bed time routine with the girls. Eventually Michelle was ready to go to sleep. She needed a little help with rubbing her back, but she did get to sleep.
We got our pictures in the mail on Monday, so I'm jumping ahead a little, but I wanted to share them with you. April took almost 400 pictures. I posted a few of them on Facebook, but our CD had 117 pictures. So if you want to view them all, here is a link to a photo album with all of them. Let me know which ones you like.
Over the weekend the tire pressure alert came on. Even after filling it up a couple of times it still registered as low. But it seemed fine Monday was fairly normal. I enjoyed another beautiful sunrise.
A trip to the city for shopping and the tire held up fine, no low pressure indicators came on. Michelle napped a lot in the car, and her afternoon nap was off as well, but I wanted to be consistent. So I stuck with the routine, and even though she cried, I just went in after a few minutes and laid her back down and held her hand for a couple of minutes. It worked.
I don't remember much else about the day. David didn't have to stay after school since the play was in the midst of performances. I did still had to pick up Timothy at 5. That evening after dinner we watched Studio C as a family. Then it was off to bed. Michelle wasn't happy at bed time, but I was consistent and it only took a coupe of minutes to calm her down. - It's getting better.
Tuesday my morning started way too early. Just as I was putting Michelle back in her crib at 4:00 am I heard Melanie coughing, then I realized, she was not coughing but vomiting. So I helped her cleanup, change her clothes, and put her blanket in the laundry chute. She hadn't gotten her sheets dirty thank goodness. Finally back in bed, I didn't sleep well.
Aaron took this picture of Michelle sleeping peacefully.
Later after scriptures I took this picture of her bed head - mohawk. At least she has some hair now!
Melanie seemed to feel better in the morning. After dropping off the kids at school I drove by the post office and mailed in my ballot. I'm not telling you who I voted for, but I have to say what happened over the next 24 hours was strange and scary, and not what I expected at all. I'm not one to get political - I hate politics, but I believe strongly in the freedom to voice our own opinions. The hate from both sides had me distraught. Everyone blaming everyone else. I was avoiding watching the news or reading facebook, but David kept telling me what he was seeing and hearing. I'm not going to discuss it anymore, get a sick feeling in my stomach every time I think about it.
That morning I had gotten a call from the appraiser (we are trying to refinance) he could come that afternoon - I was not ready at all. So I used the excuse that Melanie would be napping then - which was true. Later I was glad he didn't come because I put Melanie down for an early nap, and she woke up at 2:00 and puked again, this time she got her sheets dirty. I was kind of glad I hadn't started the laundry yet. I started it then with a full load.
Melanie laid back down. A package arrived, so I took Michelle with me to pick it up. It was so nice outside I stayed out there with Michelle for a while.
I sat on the chair that was next to the house until I realized it was soaking wet. Oops! I went inside to change my pants and Melanie jumped out of her room, apparently she hadn't gone back to sleep. She was worried about where I had gone. Oops again.
David had a short rehearsal after school, and I picked him up around 4:30. Aaron had come home for dinner, and then left for a Bishop's welfare training at the stake center. We had a quiet evening at home and I gave the girls a bath. I don't remember much else. Aaron and I went to bed in disbelief with not much hope that things would be better in the morning.
So Wednesday I spent most of the day decluttering, organizing and cleaning, getting ready for the appraisal. That's about it really. The kids helped with a bunch of things, and I had Timothy take out the garbage a day early. David had a Knowledge Bowl Event after school. He was supposed to get back at 7:30. That night there was activity days and scouts. David texted at 6:50 and said he was back so I picked him up and dropped him off at the church. He wasn't thrilled about skipping dinner, but oh well. I told him he could take a snack from Dad's office and eat when he got home. Melanie seemed to be feeling better. Although at nap time and bed time she wanted my to sing songs by myself (because I don't feel good), usually she sings with me. It certainly went faster without having to wait for her to be ready to sing. Haha!
So Thursday was appraisal day. I had already cleaned up the kitchen, so we had cereal for breakfast. I hurried and got the last minutes things done that I needed to: sweep and mop, vacuum etc. Then I showered and waited. He was prompt and arrived at 11:00. He wandered around and asked questions. Then Aaron called and said he had finished his meeting and would be there in 10 minutes. I thought we had at least 10 minutes left, but then the appraiser said he was finished. I asked if he could stick around for a few minutes because Aaron had some questions for him. He said that was fine, and he only had to wait 2 minutes. So Aaron talked to him, and then he left. Aaron ate lunch with us and then he headed up to the city for meetings up there. Before he left I could tell Melanie wasn't feeling well again. She was just staring off into space, and not eating. Usually she is running all over the place before nap time. So I put her down for a nap early and she went right to sleep. She slept for over 3 hours. She seemed fine when she woke up. So she had a snack with us, but it didn't stay down. At least it was on the kitchen floor, and that was easy enough to clean up! She seemed fine after that. That's about it.
He stopped by Costco on the way home and I asked him to bring home a veggie tray for me. I was going to see the play that night. I had signed up to bring some snacks to the cast and crew, but I hadn't been assigned a day, so I thought I'd bring the tray that night. Aaron brought it home and I took it to the band room. Then I bought my ticket and was ushered to my seat. I happened to sit next to Teri and Edmund P*! I checked in with Aaron, and everything was good at home. I enjoyed the play. It was funny. It was definitely not for the younger crowd. Aaron did a great job with the kids and the were asleep by the time we got home.
Friday we got to sleep in a bit as it was Veteran's Day. We didn't have a whole lot of plans. The house was already clean from they day before. One of the things we talked to David about was trying to spend more time with the family. He wanted to go to the cast and crew party after closing night. However we wanted him to make an effort to spend time with his brother and sisters. Friday he finally came through. We ended up playing a game.
Melanie wanted to do her puzzle that she got for her birthday. Michelle wanted to join her. So she figured out how to climb up on the chair.
I'm in trouble now!
I was hoping to find a sitter for that evening, but our sitters were busy. So we ended up taking all of the kids to the football game. It was the first district play off game. We dropped off David at the play at 5:00, then ate dinner at home. Then we headed out to the game. It started at 6 - earlier than most games. It was a little chilly, but not too bad. Michelle was a little restless, so I ended up chasing her around the track for the first quarter. She ended up falling asleep around 7:30. I was hoping she would stay up longer than that. She missed one awesome game!
It started off slow. We had to rally from behind. We were down 14-7 at the end of the half, and down 21-13 at the half. We were still trailing 28-21 at the end of the 3rd, but we tied the game 28-23 with 16 seconds left. It was really exciting! So it went into overtime. We got the ball on the 25 and scored. They scored as well, so 2OT. We both scored again. 3OT starts on the 10 yard line. Aaron said, "So we only have 4 chances," and answered we only need one." I was right. Touchdown on the first play. Then it was their turn. Unfortunately one of our players was injured. It took a while, but he was carted off the field to the EMT bus. Once the game continued,we finally stopped them. We won 49-42! It took about an hour longer than we expected. It was a great game. David still wasn't done with the play, so we drove home and got kids in bed. Michelle woke up as we left, but I was able to get her back to sleep when we got home. Aaron went to pick him up after he was done. Finally it was bed time! What a fun and busy week.
I neglected to mention that Thursday while Aaron was in the city he bought a new trumpet for David. We've been researching them for a while, and he got to try them all at the high school. Finally he made a decision and we purchased it. It was nice because we had a $85 gift card from a drawing Aaron had entered and won, and they also gave us a $150 gift card to use in January. Plus there was a national rebate that we were able to claim. David was very excited to use his new trumpet. We knew he had outgrown his student trumpet, and hopefully he'll continue to use it through college. Plus he won't be able to use Chris's once he comes home from his mission.
Saturday we didn't get to sleep in because we it was our turn to clean the church. Afterward we worked hard outside to get the garden ready for the winter. The kids pulled out the rest of the debris. I pulled out the carrots. Aaron tilled everything except the kale and parsley that were still growing.
Lots of carrots!
I was helping move tomato vines when Aaron suggested I check on Michelle. Sure enough she was awake. I began working on the kitchen while they finished in the yard. Then the kids did their chores while I got ready for lunch. Aaron had something to do that afternoon, but I can't remember what now. Later he took some of the pumpkins and cooked them up to make pumpkin puree.
Michelle's afternoon nap didn't go well. I did the normal routine, except she started crying, then I realized I had forgotten to give her a binky! So I had to calm her down and try all over again. Thankfully that worked.
That afternoon I finally decided to hunt down the kids' school pictures and put them in frames. I realized I'd never shared them with any one so I took a picture of each one and I'm posting it now.
Sorry about the glare. If you want an actual picture, contact me!
That evening there was a baptism. So we had an early dinner, and then I
dropped David off at the high school for the play. We went to the church
around 6:00 for Dani's baptism. It was great to be there. Dani had a lot of family there. It was great to see friends that had moved away (not too far, but no longer in our ward). Melanie got upset that I wouldn't let her eat fruit snacks during the baptism. When she opened it anyway I took them away and she started crying, so I left with her, and immediately Michelle started crying so Betsy brought her out to me. I carried them both to the foyer, and waited until they were both calm. Of course this happened while Aaron was giving the Bishop's welcome. Betsy had to go back in so she could do the Primary welcome.
As I side note, I don't remember if I mentioned that we have a new primary presidency. Becky G* was released, and Betsy D* is the new president. I find it interesting that the first baptism after that was Becky's daughter. She didn't have to do the welcome for her, she could just sit back and enjoy!
Well after the baptism it was time to go home and take baths and get ready for bed. David wanted to stay late again after the play, but I didn't think her needed to out late again. Aaron picked him up about 9:30. Michelle gave me a hard time about going to sleep that night. I was distraught thinking that the new routine only lasted 4 days.
Sunday was pretty good, I got kids ready for church after Aaron left for meetings, and Michelle fell asleep on the way to church. It was a Fast Sunday, and for the first time in a long time I was fasting. I haven't completely weaned Michelle, but I really needed the guidance with election day coming up. Well, I enjoyed sacrament meeting, and the testimonies that were shared. It was a great meeting. Sunday school was great, except that I was mildly distracted by this cutie climbing in and out of her carseat. I posted a video of it earlier.
Melanie was supposed to give a talk in Primary. She really didn't want to. So we had discussed the topic (being reverent) and I wrote a few things down. She wouldn't come up to the front with me, so I had to give her talk for her. Shannon taught a lesson in Young Women's on becoming self reliant specifically becoming converted.
After church Melanie and Michelle ate some lunch. We rested a bit and then worked at getting dinner ready. Aaron used the Trager to smoke a roast, he also put some potatoes in there. He took some of the pumpkin puree he made to make a pumpkin pie. Yep, I think he's pretty amazing!
Then Aaron left to make some visits and I took the pie out and the potatoes off the Trager. I tried unsuccessfully to get Michelle to take a nap. She screamed for
20 minutes, and never fell asleep. I got her back up and tried to nursed
her, she nursed, but still didn't fall asleep. Eventually it was super
late and I couldn't even start getting dinner ready because she was so
grumpy and clingy. So I finally put her in her crib and she screamed for
30 minutes, and finally fell asleep. That's about when Aaron came home
and I was about to lose it. We worked on dinner together, while she
slept for 30 minutes. I should have mashed the potatoes as soon as they were done, instead I kept them
warm, and by the time we got to them they were mush! Aaron tried to
save them with cheese and onions, but they were really starchy - oops! We had FHE lesson that night and that's about it.
That night I tried again with the new bedtime routine with Michelle. She cried, but this time I let her cry for just a couple minutes, then I went in a laid her down again and held her hand, and she was asleep in a couple of minutes. At least it's better than nursing her to sleep.
Usually this post is full of pictures. But not this time. Usually I go to the store on Mondays, but not this week. I was hoping to hit some Halloween clearance, so I postponed it. Aaron had picked up milk on Saturday, so we were fine on food.
Aaron got called in to the hospital at 5:00 am, so we were all tired. Mostly I stayed home, but this Facebook post pretty much sums up my afternoon.
Yes, we went Trick or Treating. No I did not post pictures. Pretty much
because my afternoon went like this: Amy gets home from school, we have a
snack. I try to finish cleaning up the kitchen and living room, then
try to convince the girls to get into their costumes. Meanwhile Michelle
is clinging to me because she's been up since 2:00 after taking a mere
30 minute nap. Melanie gets into her costume, but needs help with
everything. I get most of Michelle's costume on. We pick
up Timothy. Michelle falls asleep thank goodness. At home Timothy gets
into his costume, Amy gets into her costume, I do Melanie's hair, then
Amy's hair. Then we head out for trick or treating. If you know where I
live you know that it would take over an hour to visit the 10 or so
houses on my road, so we drive into town, and visit a very busy
neighborhood. Michelle wakes up as we arrive, so I hold her pretty much
the entire walk (therefore no pictures). By then Aaron is done with
work, and he picks up David from drama rehearsal (he's the spotlight man
for the play) and goes home to fix dinner. We visit one more
neighborhood, then drive home. Eat dinner while watching Studio C, then
it's time for bed! We have to compel the kids to leave their candy
downstairs so they aren't snacking all night. By the time I get all kids
in bed it is 9:00. Aaron is exhausted from the call weekend, so we go
to bed at 9:00. That is why there was no Halloween post from me. We
enjoyed the day, and I have loved seeing all of your cute kids on your
Halloween posts. My pictures from Saturday will have to do this year!
Happy Halloween!
I could add some details, but that's pretty much it. The only picture I have is the one someone took of Aaron in his Halloween costume at the hospital.
Doing his Napoleon Dynamite impression
As for the rest of the week... Tuesday I drove up to the city for shopping. I was hoping to get some Halloween clearance candy for Aaron to put in his office. Fred Meyer didn't have much selection. Target was only 30% off. We also went to Costco, and then ShopKo was the last stop. They still had a good selection with 50% off prices, and 70% off decorations. Then it was time to head home. We had lunch and then nap time. Shopping days are always hard because Michelle sleeps on the drive rather than at home. Often that means that Michelle is awake the entire time Melanie is asleep. Then Michelle ends up taking a late nap and doesn't go to bed at a decent time.
I love using my Fred Meyer gas rewards. If only I could get gas for $2.149 per gallon every time.
That afternoon was fairly normal. Drama was now in full dress rehearsal so I needed to pick up David at 6:30 pm. He texted me just before 6:00 to say he was done. Aaron called less than a minute later, and said he would pick him up. I finished up dinner then we ate when they arrived. I had about 15 minutes before I left for book club. We discussed Maude. I enjoyed the book. We had a good discussion. I checked in with Aaron and he said everything was fine. I got home around 9:00. Aaron said he gave Michelle some milk and sang to her and put her down for bed. She cried for about 5 minutes, and then he went in and laid her down again, and she went to sleep. By the time I got home, it wasn't much longer before Michelle woke up and I nursed her back to sleep. It made me think about how she was much overdue for getting to sleep on her own again.
Wednesday I saw this beautiful sunrise before breakfast.
That day I started something new. I nursed Michelle earlier than usual so she wouldn't fall asleep. Then I started a routine of a book and a song, then I laid her down in her crib said "I love you, have a good nap" and walked out and shut the door. I was prepared to let her scream for a while, but it lasted less than a minute. She took only a 30 minute nap, but it gave me hope that she might be able to have normal naps, and eventually be able to wean her. The afternoon nap was the same, with less than a minute of crying, and a longer nap. I was relieved.
I think I mostly did laundry that day. I picked up Timothy at 5 and David at 6. Then it was time for dinner and scouts. I was going to pick them up, but Aaron was able to bring them home. So after I got the kids in bed I did the same routine with Michelle. This time... no crying, at all!!! I kept waiting for her to wake up, but it didn't happen.
It seems no matter what time I go to bed she wakes up about then, either while I getting ready, or just after I get into bed, or saying prayers etc. This time, she continued to sleep. I woke up twice, but she was still sleeping. At 4:30 I was getting a little uncomfortable. She woke up at 5:40! That's 9 hours straight! I nursed her then, and then she was up for the day.
Thursday, Michelle fell asleep on the way home from dropping of kids because she was up so early. However for her afternoon nap I tried the same routine with the same results! Yay! That evening was opening night of the play. David came home after school, but needed to be dropped off at the high school at 5:00. The plan was to drop David off early and then pick up Timothy on time, but we got a late start and I was a few minutes late picking up Timothy. But he wasn't the last one, so I guess that's not too bad.
I saw this beautiful sunset that night:
Aaron decided to go see the play that night. So I had dinner ready, and then Aaron went to watch the play.
David helped build that set!
Sometimes the plays go really late, so I was pleased to have them home by 9:30. That was after David stayed to put things away. He wanted to go out with the crew afterward, but it was a school night, so he came home. Michelle did not sleep through the night, but at least she went to bed easily.
Friday morning was fairly normal. I don't recall anything out of the ordinary. Aaron asked if we could find a babysitter last minute. He wanted to go out on a date. So I texted and called and Shelby agreed to come watch the kids. I prepared dinner, and then took David to the high school. Jennifer dropped Shelby off at 6:00 and Aaron and I then headed out. We stopped by Costco on our way to the restaurant. We're looking into replacing our desktop - it's getting old and making lots of noise. They didn't have anything we wanted, so we ended up just buying milk. Then we went to dinner. We had to wait for a bit and saw some people from the stake. Michelle was fine until we sat down. She lasted about 5 minutes in the high chair. Then she wanted to climb out. I ended up holding her most of the night.
We enjoyed the meal and being able to talk. We talked about how to get David more involved at home. He seems to disappear a lot, and he's not home very much anyway. We talked about the upcoming week, and all sorts of things. We used up the rest of a gift card plus a little extra cash to leave a decent tip. Then we packed up and headed home. Michelle fell asleep on the way home, so I drove Shelby home. Aaron came home to this:
Amy's musical seahorse that she's had since she was a newborn. It's gone through countless sets of batteries. Once again Daddy can fix anything! At least it was an easy fix.
David went out to McDonald's after the play, and I picked him up around 10:30. Aaron had already gone to bed. It was a late night.
Thursday was a day off for the kids. It was parent teacher
conferences. I didn't have conferences for David and Timothy so it was
only Amy's teacher I needed to meet with. That was at noon. I had to
convince Amy to clean her room before we went. It was almost blood sweat
and tears to get it done. We had an early lunch and then I took
Michelle and Amy with me. It was a quick meeting. Mrs. R* says she
wishes she had a classroom full of Amys! She is doing great. The only
concern she expresses was that she needed to find more challenging work
for her. It was great to talk to her. Soon we were on our back home.
After I got Melanie to take a nap I took David over to the high school
for drama tech work day. It was from 2:30 to 5:30.
Meanwhile
we just played with the kids at home and fixed dinner. Aaron said he
wanted to go to the volleyball game. It was senior night. So he took
Melanie and Amy with them.
Maci
F* is a senior, so she took a picture with her family. Not only her
immediate family, but her grandparents too, and her coach who is her
aunt (on her mom's side). I was trying to figure out why the principal
was in the picture to, until I remembered that he's her uncle (on her
dad's side).
I
suggested to David and Timothy that we play a game together. David
wanted to watch a movie. I figured he'd had enough screen time, and if
he wanted to stay up late we should be interacting. He declined, so he
read while Timothy and I played the Farming Game. We had fun. I had to
pause the game a couple of times trying to get Michelle to sleep, and
back to sleep. I sent David to bed at 9:00. He wanted to watch us play -
mostly he just wanted to stay up late. I told him he made his choice
when he opted out of playing with us. Aaron came home with the girls and
they went straight to bed. Aaron did too. Timothy and I finished the
game really late. I won, but not by much, and I was too tired to care.
Friday morning we just tried to clean up the house a bit. David had invited his friends over to practice pep band songs again. David found a recipe for peanut butter oreo brownie bites! He even left the peanut butter out of a couple of them because he knew Luke didn't like peanut butter. Very thoughtful. The rest of us just played or napped. They went home around 4:30.
Aaron came home that afternoon and picked up Amy. She had been awarded a free ticket to the corn maze. She didn't want to go when it was dark, so they went that afternoon. She had been grumpy that morning, and all day she was cold, but she perked up when Aaron came home to pick her up. They had fun, and got really muddy.
Aaron had to be home by 5:00 since he was on call over the weekend. It was chilly outside and sprinkled a little. Amy was tired when she got home, said she was cold again, and wrapped herself in her blanket, and fell asleep on the couch.
I was worried she was getting sick. However by the time dinner rolled around she got up and ate and went to sleep at a normal time. Aaron went to the G* football game. By himself because he was on call.
I think that was about it for Friday.
Saturday was a bit busy. Aaron had to go into the hospital, but he also needed to be at the church with a few people that were cleaning the church. It was a 5th Saturday, and no one is assigned that week. After he was done with that he came home and changed clothes and then went out the Jamie and Daniel's place. He along with others from the ward helped them raise their porch in order to add a room to their house.
Otherwise we were busy at home getting things done around the house and carving pumpkins. I made a casserole and a pumpkin pie pecan dump cake, and got the kids' costumes ready. Aaron came home and carved pumpkins for a bit after we got them all cleaned out. Then we got ready for the ward Halloween party.
We had a lot of fun. David decided not to dress up this year. Timothy was a ninja, Amy was Elsa, Melanie was Anna, and Michelle was a lady bug. Aaron dressed up as Napoleon Dynamite and I was Deb. Unfortunately Michelle fell asleep on the way there, and took a very late nap.
Melanie
Amy's friend Jamie was also Elsa
She is holding her baby sister Hollie - who is almost 1
Michelle's first Halloween costume. Not her first Halloween, but I didn't dress her up at 6 days old.
I didn't get a good one of Timothy, but here's one of him eating.
There was a best casserole contest. I made Heavenly Hamburger, but I wasn't trying to win, I just wanted to add to the meal.
There was a pumpkin carving contest. The young men were in charge of judging that.
Oh, there's David.
A better picture of Michelle
And you can kind of see my costume
Aaron took these of the kids for the costume contest.
They had several age categories, Melanie won for her age group.
Here are some of the winners
Here are some of the pumpkins
The one on the far left in front is Aaron's
The one on the far right is Timothy's it was a rattle snake whose tail went all the way around to the back!
Amy's is the one on the far left.
The crazy ones won - very creative!
There was a small carnival, with a cookie walk (way too many cookies!), a glow in the dark fishing booth, pumpkin bowling, and I think there was a trivia game too. Then it was time for the trunk -or-treat. I took Melanie and Michelle. Timothy went on his own, and Amy went with friends. I took the girls just once, but Amy and Timothy went around several times. They kept handing out candy because they had a ton of it! Then it was time to head home. It was 8:30 on a school night. So I left Aaron to help clean up, and I took the kids home. By the time I got them all ready for bed Aaron was home. I was exhausted! Bed time!
Sunday Aaron had to go into the hospital really early in order to make it to church meetings on time. We seemed to be running late as everyone needed to shower or bathe. I asked David to watch Michelle, while I showered and they all thought it was funny when they found her walking around downstairs. I was not happy that he didn't have an eye on her, but she has since proved that she is very adept at going up and down stairs. We did make it to church on time, but I know I forgot something. At least I didn't have to teach a lesson.
Sacrament meeting was great! Michelle had fallen asleep on the way there and I was asked if I could lead the music. I asked Shannon if she would watch Michelle in case she woke up before I was done. She agreed so I moved the carseat over by her. I watched as Melanie decided she wanted to come sit by Michelle. I kept an eye on them from up on the stand. I have to say it was nice not to have any distractions while the sacrament was being passed, and I could focus on the Savior. Toward the end I could see that Michelle was stirring. She stuck her leg straight up in the air - it was so cute. Shannon unbuckled her carseat and picked her up. Michelle was content until she saw me coming to get her. Then she just wanted to come to me instead of Shannon. Now that I think about it, that may have happened the previous week, but it's still worth sharing!
During Sunday School Michelle didn't want to sit still again, but it was better than the week before. The third hour was a combined meeting since it was a 5th Sunday. The missionaries taught the lesson, and it was great. They talked about having members give referrals and then had us role play what we might say to someone to introduce the gospel. It was fun. Then it was time to go home.
I don't remember a whole lot of details about the rest of the day. Lunch, playing, dinner, FHE etc.
Timothy was making some cupcakes for dessert. I told him he should halve the recipe so we don't have lots of extra cupcakes. Well, he halved it, but read the numbers wrong on the sugar, so he put way too much in. This is how they turned out:
He told me to take a picture and put it on Pinterest Fails!!! We ended up eating the leftover cookies from the cookie walk. We never brought ours out because there were so many.
Michelle was folding her arms after prayer it was so cute!
