Trick or treat

Here they are.  My sweet Dora and my handsome Anakin.

Trick or treating was a grand success.  Mary literally ran from door to door until she was so exhausted that Greg had to carry her home on his shoulders.

David got "double trick or treating."  He and Bailey made the rounds in Bailey's neighborhood first, and then hit a few key houses in our neighborhood--including that of their first grade teacher, who lives around the corner from us.

I absolutely love how everyone is out and about in the neighborhood for trick or treating.  Whatever dark side it might have, Halloween is certainly the friendliest, most neighborly holiday of the year.  Hmmm...this here Halloween Scrooge might be having a change of heart.

Fall Festival 2011

Now that I have caught up on my sleep, I can definitively say that the Fall Festival was fabulous!  Wow.  I am amazed by how many people chipped in and went above and beyond to make the night a success.

(Can I admit something to you?  I am grateful, yes, truly grateful, for the opportunity I had to take this on.  I was able to work with so many amazing people!)

And I love how festive our church congregation is!  People came with smiles and costumes and friendly faces.  What a good time!

I'm not sure I'll ever really get around to blogging about it.  So I'll send you to some other blogs for a peek:

Vanessa and her little crew took home first prize in the costume contest.  (And she almost won the pie contest too!)

You can catch a glimpse of one of the other costume contest winners at the end of this post.

And I owe my sanity to Katie, who happily took on the pie contest.  She is also very good at giving hugs if you start to cry.  She brings happiness wherever she goes.

Thanks, gals, for posting about the evening so I don't have to!

(Also, our church congregation's Facebook group is temporarily public.  So if you know what you're looking for, take a look within the next few days.  We had an "official event photographer":  she did a wonderful job and posted her pictures on Facebook.  Thanks, Ann.*)

*Ann took the picture at the beginning of this post.  I hope to post a few others that she took.

Festival fun (that I missed)

I did not see my children yesterday.  Even though I spent the whole day preparing for an event that was, essentially, for them.  And even though I spent the evening at said event (which they attended).  I missed them.  When I got home late last night, they were still awake.  Normally, I would be a little surprised and a lot frustrated to see them up so late.  But this time I was relieved.  I was so happy to hug them and hold them and laugh with them.  

Fortunately, Greg took some pictures yesterday, so I got to see their fun.  Yay!  (Greg is amazing. I think he is the most helpful person I've ever met.  And I'm married to him.  Score!)

Here is a peek at what I missed.

Sheesh.  I sure do love my kiddos.

After last night, my heart is full, for oh so many reasons.

But my eyelids are heavy....

Opposites

In two days we have had two parent-teacher conferences.  My kids could not be any more different from each other.

Also, I have the two awesome-est kids on the planet.

Really really big bowls

Yesterday had was a very busy day.  At one point, I realized I had forgotten to pick up the really really big bowls from the church kitchen.  I was almost home after a hectic morning of errands, so I hesitated, but then decided to turn around and retrieve them.  

I got pulled over.  It was an interesting conversation.  I live in Wisconsin.  My car is registered in Texas.  And my driver's license is from Ohio.  That's what happens when you're in the military. So it's all a bit confusing, but kosher.  Except for the fact that my driver's license was expired.  Oops.

The officer was very pleasant, and he only cited me for 10 over the speed limit.  (I will not tell you how fast I was actually going.  But in my defense, the road is brand new and I had no clue what the speed limit was and no human being born since the advent of the automobile would ever assume that such a wide, expansive road through the countryside has a limit of only 35 miles per hour!)  So borrowing those really really big bowls from the church kitchen cost me $88.

And it was totally worth it.  When you need really really big bowls, you need really really big bowls.  

Thirty potato casseroles were assembled in my kitchen and sent out the door for delivery in less than two hours.  Like I said, sometimes you need really really big bowls. 

And lots of helpful friends.

Thank you! 

Schooled

I have not exactly been a model of patience and long-suffering with my children this week.

Evidence:

Today Mary kindly suggested, "Mom, you need to go to a special school where you can learn to be nice."

(Does anyone know of such a school?  I would gladly enroll.)

Primary Program

Yesterday was the Children's Primary Sacrament Meeting Presentation during at church.  (Best Sunday of the year!)  This year the theme was about reading the scriptures.

David knew the words to the songs this year.  He's been singing them under his breath at home and asking to sing them during Family Home Evening.  Of course, during the program, he didn't sing once.  He just stood there blankly as his friends belted it out.  Oh well.  At least I know in my heart that he knew (and liked) all the songs.

David did a superb job reading his part.  Of course, now that he can read, he'll never memorize anything else again in his life.  ("Mom, I don't need to memorize my lines--I can just READ them, duh.")  But many people commented to me on how impressed they were with his reading skills.  Yay!

Mary was very excited to participate.  As a Sunbeam, this was her first time.  She knew her lines and did a fine job.  Mary, too, knew the songs.  She was thrilled to have a chance to sing in front of so many people.  But then sleepiness overtook her.  She didn't actually fall asleep.  But her eyelids were drooping, and she was doing the tell-tale sway. Too bad.  I believe Mary managed to sing no more than two or three words total.  Oh, but her tired little face was angelic and adorable.  Fortunately, she was as proud as could be afterwards.

(The best part was that Mary had a big goopy stain on the front of her dress, and she was wearing pink pointelle tights with her red taffeta dress.  But I guess you get what you get when Mom has a meeting before church so Dad has to bring the kids.)

Overall, it was delightful, wonderful, inspiring!  Best Sunday of the year, I tell ya!


P.S.  Last Monday we invited a few families over to share a special Family Home Evening.  We all sang this year's songs for the program, and all of the children got to practice their parts twice in front of a small audience.  Then we had yummy treats.  It was a nice idea.  I think we'll do it again next year.

Two down

Two crazy Fridays down, one more to go.  (The big one.)

Mary's birthday party was delightful.  See here.

And yesterday was the first grade Fall Harvest Party.  My friend Emily and I were in charge of the games for five first grade classes.  We kept it simple.  I played "Five Little Ghosts," a version of the classic "Heads Up, Seven Up."  And Emily ran an eyeball on a spoon relay race.  It was a good time.  I enjoyed seeing the children from David's class last year, as well as the kids from the Spanish-speaking kindergarten I volunteered in last year.  (Hmmm.  I might like first graders even more than kindergartners!)  Most of all, I was glad I was not in charge of crafts or snacks.

This Friday is the church Fall Festival.  We're providing dinner for 350.  Plus, there will be a Pie Contest, Festive Photo Booth, Adult Costume Contest, Children's Parade, and Trunk-or-Treating.  I have certainly enjoyed many such activities.  But this is my first time planning one.  I suppose there is a first time for everything.  Fortunately, I have in my life: a Costco membership and really awesome friends.  I am aided by a little notebook full of lists, the convenience of email, and (dare I admit it?) the power of Excel.*

Pray for my children, that they may eat more than cold cereal this week.




*Allow me to clarify, lest anyone be misled into thinking that I myself am using Excel.  Here is how it works:  I sit at the kitchen table, dictating all kinds of crazy things to Greg (such as email addresses or how many pounds of sour cream we need to make 30 batches of Tara's potato casserole recipe), and he types it into some useful spreadsheet that can tell me all kinds of neat things.  Nifty.

Birthday girl

Mary is the birthday girl today.  She is our bright, graceful, determined, funny girl.  We love her today and every day and always.  Happy 4th birthday, Mary!

Pumpkin pictures

You can't escape it . . . It's that time of year again . . . Pictures of my kids and pumpkins!

We returned this year to Sutter's Ridge (my favorite fall farm ever).  The kids had a marvelous time.  It's beautiful, friendly, fun, and low-key.  I mentioned it's beautiful, right? You can't help but feel lucky to live in Wisconsin when you're there.  I was soaking in the feeling--because I'm sure I won't feel that way come November . . . and December . . . and January . . . and February . . . and March . . . and even April . . . and now I'm depressed . . . so let's look at pictures!!

Ah, I feel much better now.  Cute kids and pumpkins, quite the panacea.

Happy middle of October!

Mary's birthday party

What a happy, happy birthday party for our sweet, funny, vivacious girl.

The party included . . .

a happy helper and chocolate frosting

balloons and flowers

crayons and dress-ups

lots of dressing up and lots of hard work

snacks and a bossy big brother

a cake and candles with a song

presents and playing

and best of all,
friends!

I think it was a perfect party, thanks to these lovely little ladies.