It's almost Thanksgiving!

Last Monday was the appointment to try to turn the baby.  We had a couple come over to our house in the morning.  He is our home teacher.  He was able to take Jared and Lauren to school and she was able to stay home with Bradley and Connor.  I wanted Alan to go with me to the appointment because if something doesn't go as planned then they might have to do an emergency c-section.  We got to the hospital and got all checked in and changed in the room.  Then the nurse midwife came in to do an ultra sound too see if the baby was still head down.  The baby had turned on its own!  Yea!!!  I was really excited. (Now we just need to hope the baby doesn't turn back on its own too.)  I still had to be hooked up to monitors for a non-stress test for a little more than an hour, but it all was fine.  The nurse would say she would be back in 5 minute and would come back in 30 or more minutes.  I told Alan 5 hospital minutes are like 5 football minutes.  Our nurse was really nice though.  She brought me 2 cups of guava passion fruit juice (which I loved...and so did the baby... since I had to show up fasting again).  I also found out she was from the Philippines, but from Baguio which is way up north.  I had several companions from there.  I was glad everything went so well for us at the hospital, but I kept feeling like Alan was getting messages about crazy stuff going on.  He found out that a company they do some work with had a fire over the weekend and it destroyed everything for that company.  There was a little boy in our ward who went missing and a helicopter was flying around looking for him along with people on the ground.  I don't know if there was anything else, but there just kept being news like that the whole time we were there.  (The boy was missing for about 2 1/2 hours and they found him about the same time I was getting home from the hospital.)  I dropped Alan off at work on our way by since it was pretty much right on the way.  Since I dropped Alan off we had to go back and pick him up and take him to his chiropractor appointment later.  Then they dropped me off at a friend's house so we could go to a meeting together.  It was a meeting about math and common core.  The lady who came and presented was from Stanford.  I thought it was really good and she had some good take home points.  When I got home we had a quick family home evening.


Tuesday was just a normal day with not much going on.  I started making some apple pie filling...after cleaning up a little.  I ended up making some apple sauce with about half of the apples that I prepped...they were just too soft for pie filling.  I had to just put the others in the fridge.  I talked to Jeff and Elizabeth a little in the morning too and found out their baby was breech too.  In the afternoon we walked down to the park with some neighbors.  We had sour dough pancakes with our apple sauce for dinner.  The pancakes turned out really well.  Everyone liked them...a lot.  I went to another common core meeting in the evening.  It was pretty similar to a meeting I went to a couple of months ago, but kind of dumbed down for non-educator people like me :)


Sleepy guys waiting for scriptures.

Wednesday we went to playgroup at a park that is pretty close, but we hadn't been to yet.  It was kind of a cooler day, but we still didn't have coats.  We need to go play at the park more.  I enjoyed being outside for such a long time.  After school we went to the library again for the craft.  Then I dropped everyone off at the neighbors (having a visiting teacher across the street is nice and convenient...kind of like Wymount)  so I could go to a doctors appointment.  Everything looked good and baby is still head down.  After dinner I went to Michaels for some things that were on sale.

New fence that got rebuilt on Monday.

We got the make a monsters out to play with!

Thursday was Lauren's first day with a long term sub.  She will have a substitute teacher until after Christmas.  At home we did dishes, sorted and folded laundry, and finished the apple pie filling.  We ended up with 7 quart bags in the freezer  After school we went to Michaels again and got a different wreath form for the wreath I wanted to make.  Connor was sleeping when we got home so I worked on making the wreath.  I spent about 3 hours on it and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  I'm still trying to decide if I should add anything else to it or not.  We ate a quick dinner and went to pack meeting.  It was Jared's first pack meeting.  He earned his Bobcat and an art belt loop.  They did a little skit with knock knock jokes.  We also got the exciting news that Jeff and Elizabeth had their baby.  The couple pictures we've seen of Samuel are super cute!

Jared earned his Bobcat.

Pinning on the Bobcat pin.

Friday some kids came over in the morning so their mom could go help in her son's and Lauren's class.  They weren't happy when their mom left...both of them. (usually just the younger one cries)  But then they both ended up having a good time.  It probably went the best out of any time they have come.  We went to story time when they were gone and then to Frasier Farms.  We hurried home for lunch and to put things away (like usual) before getting Jared and Lauren from school.  Thursday and Friday were both rainy days!  Friday was the longest pick-up line I have ever been in at the school.  I think everyone must have gotten there at the same time and were excited for Thanksgiving vacation to start.  It is really nice that they get the whole week off from school!

Some candy corn fudge I made back around Halloween, but finally took a picture of.  (It was in the freezer)

Saturday Alan went to help a family in our ward put together a shed.  Then we went to a women's volleyball game at University of San Diego.  They were playing BYU and admission was free!  It was also the game that would determine the WCC champions.  It was a really good game.  BYU lost in 5 games, but it was fun and we saw a family from our ward there.  When we got home I went to the store for a quick trip...just to spend $25 so I could get a cheep turkey.  Then Alan went to the temple that night for our ward temple night.  Here at home we ate dinner had showers or baths then got to watch the rest of Toy Story 3 and It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and eat popcorn.  (I'm pretty sure Connor ate over half the pop corn on his own...he didn't eat much dinner.)  I worked on my lesson while they watched their movies.

Alan had ward council before church this morning.  I got to teach in primary today and Alan got to teach the 12/13 year old sunday school class.  He said his lesson went well.  Mine was good too.  I said I would teach next week too...then my coteacher could teach the next two weeks.  (You can see how confident I am that the baby won't be coming this week....although I can still hope.  Maybe if I schedule enough for myself the baby with decide to come.   But I also signed up to take some things to our ward Christmas Party the next weekend.)  We have just been home after church.  We skyped with Ashley and Will for a bit, did stations, and I'm trying to make sour dough bread.  It's been a good week.  I'm really looking forward to this coming week with no school and Thanksgiving and Ashley and Will coming to visit.  It should be fun!

Tastes as Yummy as it looks!

Just another November Week

Monday was a no school day.  We just relaxed and played around here all day.  I think I only left the house once to check the mail (because I hadn't checked it on Saturday).  Everyone just had fun playing with each other and without anything they really had to get done.  Around 5:00 Jared came and asked if we could go somewhere fun that day, but it was too late to go anywhere before dinner and family home evening.  I don't remember which day it was this last week, but one day I heard Lauren say "Ladies and Gentlemen start your engines"  Then she proceeded to clear her throat for 2 solid minutes!  It was so funny to me.  I think she really might of had a little something stuck in her throat, but that she prefaced it that way made me laugh.

Tuesday I had to go for a 3 hour glucose test after dropping Jared and Lauren off at school.  (My test results from the Friday before had come back Monday and they wanted me to do more tests...so I scheduled it for the next day to get it over with.)  Bradley and Connor went with me to the lab.  I didn't know anything about the test before...except you have to take it if you don't pass the glucose test at 28 weeks (which I did pass).  You have to show up fasting for 12 hours.  Then they draw your blood, then you drink the orange drink, after an hour they draw your blood again, then an hour after that, and an hour after that.  We were at the lab for about 3 1/2 hours.  Bradley and Connor really did a great job.  They helped to entertain me...and the rest of the people there too. :)  For the first hour we read books, changed Connor's diaper, Connor got some skin ripped on the side of his finger somehow in the bathroom, and we read more books.  The second hour they worked on some Thanksgiving pages I had printed out.  Most of them were just coloring pages, but there were a few where they had to cut and glue.  They both loved getting to do them and kept them busy the whole hour.  The third hour they did a little more coloring, read a few more books, and Bradley did some dot to dots and memory games on my tablet.  The people working at the lab thought Bradley and Connor did a great job there too.  We hurried right home to eat lunch! :)  That afternoon I cooked a ham for a Thanksgiving dinner the young women and young men were doing for the singles in the ward.  I heard everything turned out really well.  After smelling the yummy ham all afternoon we had to come home and have leftovers.

You can see all the stickers Connor got at the lab that morning.

Wednesday was another crazy day.  I don't know what it is about Wednesdays.  We had lots of cleaning up to do. We got everything picked up and all the floors downstairs washed.  We tried to go to playgroup but we were kind of late and there wasn't anyone else there.  We went to the store and grabbed a can of green chilis we needed for dinner and came home to clean up a little more and eat lunch.  After school  we went to the library for the craft.  Once we were back home we did the finishing touches on cleaning up and I made oatmeal wheat pan bread to go with the white bean chicken chili.  We had a family coming over to eat dinner with our kids and then play so Alan and I could go on a hospital tour.  It was good to go see the hospital and learn a little more about it.  It is a smaller hospital and will be a different experience than Utah Valley.  Everyone had a fun time here at home while we were gone.  Connor was pretty upset when our friends had to leave.

Thursday was a little calmer day.  We were able to just do a few normal chores and play lots.  Bradley, Connor and I went for a walk in the morning and when we got home I could open the door, but my key got stuck in the lock and I couldn't get it back out.  I wasn't sure what  I would do.  I tried for about 5 minute.  I finally went and asked our neighbor across the street and he came over and got it out for me.  I felt pretty silly though.  We rarely go in and out through the front door since we have to park in the garage.  Jared had cub scouts..which he loves!  Alan also went to the chiropractor on his way home from work (Monday and Wednesday too). It gets dark pretty early but we still go outside and play for a few minutes.

I just had to laugh when I looked at my counter...pineapple, watermelon, honeydew melon, and pumpkin! (I got all the fruit on sale too.)

Friday morning I went to the doctor.  They did a quick ultra sound and we found out the baby is breech.  (all my other tests were normal). We scheduled a time for the doctor to try and turn the baby.  After I picked up Bradley and Connor from the neighbor's we went to story time at the library.  Then from there we went to Frazier Farms for our produce shopping.  We hurried home to eat lunch and put groceries away then to pick up Jared and Lauren.  We played outside quite a bit and then watched part of the BYU women's soccer game on BYU tv.  Right when it got over the sister missionaries stopped by for about 30 minutes to talk to us about a family they are teaching right now.  Then we ate dinner and watched part of a BYU basketball game on BYU tv.

Saturday Alan helped our neighbor next door take down the rest of the fence.  (The neighbor has been working on it off and on all week).  Then they worked out back some more.  We went to a barbeque with Alan's friends from work at one of their houses for lunch.  Then on the way home we decided to do some shopping.  We had a few things we needed at walmart and everyone needed new shoes.  It took lots longer than any of us thought it would.  We ended up going to almost every store in the strip center...Target, Ross, Payless, Famous Foot Wear, and Michaels ( just because it was close).  We came home and made some dinner and Alan took Connor with him to food 4 less to get the rest of the shopping done.

A pretty big lizard our neighbor found...and shared

All week our neighbor has been working on taking down the fence so it can be rebuilt on Monday.  Alan and these guys went out to help him on Saturday.

Sunday was a pretty normal day... Kind of.  Alan had a Sunday school presidency meeting right after church that a member of the stake Sunday school presidency attended to do some training.  We went back to the church to meet him and to go to tithing settlement.  Alan went home teaching in the evening.  Only one more week until Thanksgiving vacation!

A week of early release and no school

Last Monday Jared and Lauren had early release from school.  I guess here they call them minimum days.  They got out of school at 12:23...not a whole lot earlier than normal, but still fun for them.  Their schedule at school gets all changed around so it's not normal.  I also went and helped in Lauren's class in the morning.  I got to help put their AR folders together.  When Jared and Lauren got home we all ate lunch (Jared and Lauren had second lunch...which they have almost every day when they get home anyway.)  Bradley, Connor and I hadn't had time to eat between picking them up from the friend's house they were playing at while I was at Lauren's class and getting Jared and Lauren from school.  The rest of the afternoon was just spent playing here and outside and working on homework.  We had family home evening when Alan got home from work and the chiropractor.

Tuesday was another early release day.  Everyday this week was.  Bradley, Connor, and I worked on laundry while the other guys were at school.  While working on laundry Bradley and Connor took a bath most of the time and I watched the Relief Society General Broadcast.  Then Bradley had a good time watching the choir sing.  In the missionary choir from during the broadcast we recognized a girl who used to work in the Wymount office.  Then just more homework and playing in the afternoon.

box rides!

Wednesday was a CRAZY day!!!  We got a few things done in the morning then Bradley, Connor, and I went to playgroup.  It was just at the park closest to the school.  We could have just stayed and picked up Jared and Lauren, but Jared's teacher had scheduled his parent teacher conference (the reason they has early release all week) for right when school got out.  So we had to leave playgroup a little early, hurry home and finish packing their lunch and then drop them off at the friend's house who was going to watch them.  I fed Connor his sandwich before going because I figured he would fall asleep in the car...and he did.  He didn't stay asleep though when I tried to put him down in a strange place...and he never took another nap the rest of the day.  Which was kind of surprising with all the car driving we had to do after that.  After dropping those guys off I hurried back to the school for the conferences.  Jared's was first and he and Lauren just hung out in his classroom during his and for Lauren's they played on the playground.  Both Jared and Lauren are doing great!  Both teachers only had nice things to say about them.  After the conferences we hurried back to get Brad and Connor.  We come home for about 20 minutes and then went to the library for the craft.  They got to make little mice out of construction paper.  After the craft we went straight to my doctors appointment in Encinitas.  When we got there we found out the my doctor had been called to the hospital and was going to have to do an emergency C-section.  There was a doctor covering some of his patients, but as soon as she got the call she would have to go over and assist him.  We waited to see if she would be able to see me, but they talked me into rescheduling for Friday with a doctor I had seen before. (Thursday they called to say the one they rescheduled me with called in sick and wouldn't be in Friday either, so I would have to see the new one anyway.)   On the way home we drove past the chiropractor that Alan goes to and he was in the room facing the street so we could see him laying down on the table waiting for the doctor to come in.  I made dinner as fast as I could and hurried to eat too.  Then I ran out the door to go to a class at the church.  It was about sour dough bread making and green smoothies....I went to learn about the bread.  When I got home from the class our home teachers came over.  They had asked Alan earlier in the day if they could come that night and he said yes...at 8:30.  Then one of them had family come into town unexpectedly and couldn't come anyway, so the other one brought his wife.  They are a really nice couple and offered to be our call in the middle of the night people for when the baby comes....so it really is good they came.  I was ready for bed! but I had to make sure homework was all done and ready to be turned in...they were close.

Thursday was nice.  Besides early release the only thing on the calendar was cub scouts.  We did dishes and cleaned up the floor in most of the downstairs part of the house.  Thursday afternoon was just a nice break and it felt like a Friday since....

There was NO SCHOOL on Friday!!!!  We all got to sleep in a little bit.  Then we went down to my doctors appointment.  I'm measuring kind of big so the doctor wanted to do some tests and ordered and ultra sound to check on the size of the baby.  After seeing the doctor we had to go over to the lab for the tests...blood test and 2 different urine tests...which was a little tricky.  (Plus the regular urine test at the office a few minutes before.)  Then since we were right by the hospital I ran the pre-registration paper into the hospital.  We had to buy gas and then we went straight to the library for storytime.  After storytime we stopped at Frazier Farms for their produce sale (Thursdays and Fridays they have extra stuff of sale so we try to go one of those days.)  We ate lunch when we got home.  Alan had gone to work early and was planning on coming home early, which was good because I had to go for the ultra sound.  He had to come home about 30 minutes earlier than he had been planning on, but it's nice that he is able to do that when we need him to.  I went to the ultra sound which was here in Vista...which was nice.  The ultra sound technician said with her measurements she got an estimated due date of the 24th (mine is the 29th) and that the baby weighs about 7lbs right now.  She said that is plus or minus a pound though....which seems like about the right size to me.  So I was kind of worried after leaving the doctor that morning, but felt better after the ultra sound.  (I had to drink 40 oz of water in the hour before the ultra sound so my bladder would be full...I've never had to do that before.)  We spent the evening cleaning up around here and just trying to get things more organized.

Saturday morning I got more done on my "Give Thanks" banner.  (It's dry now...I just have to string it together.)  Then we went to the builder workshop at Lowe's.  They all got to make a pull back race car.  They have had a blast playing with them since then.  We also bought a new toilet seat while we were there.  One of the seats has been peeling and the one we found in the garage was too.  It just kind of grossed me out and is hard to clean.  Alan already got the new one put on too.  We went to Food 4 Less after Lowe's and then home to eat lunch.  Alan worked in the yard (finished aerating it and fertilizing it) while we ate.  Then we got ready and went down to the beach.  It has been a couple of weeks since we have been down there.  These guys had a great time playing in the sand...and the water!  It just seems so weird to go play in the water at the ocean on November 9th. (Since last year November 10th was the big snow storm that knocked the 2 tree branches down on our car.)  We even drove part way home with the windows down...until Alan said something and everyone claimed to be freezing.  As I was closing the back windows I said watch your fingers...because sometimes they guys back there like to stick their fingers out the window.  After I closed them Bradley's little voice says ouch!  my fingers are stuck, so I opened the window a little and his little voice comes again and says "a little more"  poor guy.  He said it didn't hurt too bad.  His reaction was way different than some of the others who have had the window closed on their fingers.  After dinner we watched Toy Story 3 here and Alan went to play board games at a friend's house.

Alan had ward council today, so he walked to church.  Since it was his first time going he wasn't sure if he would have time after it got over to come home and get us....it would have been close.  Today I got to teach primary.  The lesson was about service and helping each other.  One of the things we did was have them each draw Winter Quarters on their own while I talked about it.  Then we gave everyone an assignment of what to draw and using a big paper had the same amount of time to draw the city.  Then we compared their first cities to the second city to see which one was better.  I think we will do something similar for family home evening tomorrow.  After church we did stations.  For dinner tonight we had dinner in a pumpkin and I tried to make my first batch of sour dough biscuits, but they didn't turn out very well...and I know why....now.  I didn't set the sponge right, but I'll know better for next time.  It still smelled like bread and everyone still ate it...even if it was a little like hardtack. :)

Dinner in a pumpkin!

Sour dough...first attempt. 

This week should be a good one!  Especially since it starts with a no school day tomorrow!  Hope everyone else has a great week too!

Halloween

Last week was crazy!  I usually look at our calendar to help me write so I don't forget anything and I just want to crawl in a hole right now it just looks so busy, but here we go.  Last Monday they got to have an all school assembly, so I didn't go help in Lauren's class.  It had been raining in the night and a little that morning, but it didn't rain during their assembly.  Which is good because they were having it outside at the jog/walk track (it is 1/6th of a mile).  I think that is the only place the whole school will fit.  There are over 800 kids in their school and it is only a K-5 school.  They don't really have a gym.  The do have one inside place called Rose Hall but it is little.  The assembly was part of Red Ribbon Week.  Monday here at home we just tried to catch up on dishes and laundry.  When we got tired of that Bradley, Connor, and I made monsters with the Make a Monster thing Lindsay sent out a couple of weeks ago.  We had a fun time getting our monsters just right.  We worked on some homework after school and made some no-bakes (both kinds, chocolate and peanut butter) so we could deliver some phantom treats.  Alan had a chiropractic adjustment and got home a little later.  We decided to go right out and deliver our treats and then came back home for dinner.  We have gotten in the habit of having big salads for dinner on Mondays.  We usually have been having chicken on/ with our salad, but Bradley requested ham last week.

A fun picture Alan drew one afternoon.

Tuesday after getting Jared and Lauren to school and eating breakfast I delayed changing Connor's diaper.  I was chatting with Ashley and looked over and Connor had taken off his own pajamas...which were leaked on big time...up the back and out the leg.  It made a nice mess here on this floor (luckily it's tile).  I got him into the bath tub and all cleaned up.  Then I was coming out to clean this floor and the pine sol (which has a new scent I...I don't love it.  It smells like men's deodorant or cologne) spilled...probably 1/4 -1/2 cup all over the floor.  I decided the whole thing just needed cleaned since it splattered so much.  So then I got to clean this floor.  I guess I learned my lesson and I should change stinky diapers before chatting with Ashley, but chatting with Ash is just so much fun!  I did get it all finished and Connor dressed again just in time to leave for my doctor's appointment....it takes about 30 minutes to get there.  Bradley and Connor have been going with me since they are just listening to the heart beat and measuring me.  I kind of alternate who I see (there is a doctor and his nurse practitioner that works with him and they have 2 offices.  One in Oceanside and one in Encinitas.)  Plus I have been to a different office for a TB test and back to get it read.  So Bradley has been asking me why I always go to a different doctor.  After leaving the doctor on Tuesday and an office we had been to before he said "Hey we went to the same doctor!"  I kind of feel the same way.  Although in Provo it was different doctors they were always at the same place.  The baby's heart beat sounds good...and I'm still growing.  Everything looks good.  The doctor was checking the position of the baby and said wow the baby is low.  I just wanted to say yes, yes I know.  Tuesday after school and a little homework we played outside.  It was kind of a cool evening and believe it or not we needed our sweatshirts with the breeze we get.  Some neighbors played outside with us.  After awhile we went for a walk to see some of the Halloween decorations that are around.  Down the street and around the corner most of the houses are all decorated with lots of fun and some spooky decorations.  It is fun to see them during the day and they look different at night when the lights are on and blow-ups are full.  I learned that our neighbor next door is from Albania...I told her you were coming for Thanksgiving Will.

Wednesday Alan had to be at the doctor nice and early for a flu shot.  He had to get there at 7:30.  Lauren and Jared made sure to wear their red to school for part of red ribbon week.  Bradley, Connor, and I made some candy corn fudge in the morning.  We just used the universal fudge recipe with white chocolate chips and then layered them into a loaf pan white, orange, and yellow and cut them up.  They turned out pretty cool.  We made them to take to a playgroup Halloween party that morning and they were still kind of sticky and hard to cut then, but they still looked cool.  I have more in the freezer that need cut and when I do hopefully they won't be as sticky.  I'll have to get a picture then.  Then at the playgroup Halloween party they got to make cute mummies cut out of black poster board and then "wrapped in masking tape" and googly eyes.  They did ghost and pumpkin bowling with toilet paper rolls with faces and a fake pumpkin.  They played musical pumpkins with "The Monster Mash" and got to eat lots of yummy treats.  Bradley and Connor had a great time.  After school we stopped by Mrs. Friedberg's class for a couple of minutes to make sure everything was there for Lauren's class party the next day and to see what we still needed to bring.  Then we hurried to the doctor so Jared, Lauren, Bradley, and Connor could get their flu shots.  (I got mine a couple weeks before at one of my other appointments)  After their flu shots we hurried to the library so we could hear the spooky story teller.  She told some really fun ones first and then said the last one really was a scary one and little kids should leave.  She didn't have to tell us twice...we were out of there.  The first ones were really good...we just aren't into really scary ones.  Alan went to the chiropractor again.  He just stops on his way home from work....it's right on the way.  We worked on more homework.

Scooping out the guts!

Reading stories

Thursday was Halloween!!!!  It was the last day of Red Ribbon week and it was dress like a hero day...which really was wear your costume, but I guess they felt like they could get away with it if they said dress like a hero...and it would eliminate some costumes too.  First thing in the morning they had a costume parade out on the track.  We lucked out and got a parking spot in the parking lot.  I was super surprised!  They had all the classes go out around the track and then each grade took a turn walking all the way around the track.  It was fun to see all their costumes.  Of course Jared's and Lauren's were the best...but I might be a little biased.  After getting home from the costume parade we ate breakfast and did a little around here.  Then we got ready for Lauren's class party....the last few little things.  We got there a little early so we could set up.  I was just in charge of the snack part and Lauren's teacher was going to do the craft.  Well they did the craft earlier in the day, so we just got 45 min to eat.  They drew faces on tangerines to make them look like jack-o-lanterns, made apple smiles...with marshmallows after all that, and made spiders with ritz crackers, peanut butter, pretzels, and raisins.  I think all the kids had fun...and who doesn't like to play with their food before they eat it. :)  I was a little worried that they wouldn't be hungry since they were coming in from lunch recess and then we were giving them more food, but they all scarfed it right down...for the most part.  Mrs. Friedberg said something like You can tell they don't eat lunch!  Some of them did get done before the time was up so Mrs. Friedberg had them color a bookmark.  She just has a big stack of card stock cut up all ready to go and they can make bookmarks anytime they need a little filler time.  Lauren's class was extremely quiet the whole party time.  They aren't used to getting to talk to each other.  Her teacher made a comment like see how calm they all are...they have been so excited all day long.  I think they are all just afraid to do anything.  By the end it seemed like they were having a little more fun.  Lauren's party went right to the end of school, so we got Jared and came home.  Scouts got canceled for the afternoon, so we had a little extra time to just relax here before going out.  They had a few last homework things they had to do (things they have to do daily) and couldn't get done before.  Both Jared and Lauren's homework is due on Fridays.  For dinner we had mummies and bones...and potato salad at Brad's request.  First I made biscuit dough to make the mummies, but I could tell it was going to be long and slow if I used it to wrap them up, so I just made buscuits and baked them.  I mixed up some pretzel dough to make the mummies and it was much easier and faster to wrap them up.  I'm sure all you smarties already figured that out, but I was glad to had thought of it.  I took the easy way out with the bones and we just had frozen fries.  Not a super healthy dinner, but they ate it.  I just wanted them to eat something before going out the door.  We left to go trick-or-treating right about 6.  We were the first ones to some of our neighbors, but it wasn't long before the street was full!  I went down the street and around the corner and around that cul de sac with all the decorations with these guys.  It was super fun to see people's reaction to their costumes.  Then I came back home.  I felt like someone should be home passing out candy.  They kept going and made a pretty big loop around our neighborhood.  They got home just a little after 8.  I got home about 6:45 and passed out candy until they got home.  We had between 300-310 trick-or-treaters.  I didn't want to get up and down every time someone rang the door bell so I just sat on the porch by our pumpkins and passed out candy.  It was pretty fun to see everyone come by.  I was wearing an orange shirt with a jack-o-lantern face cut out of construction paper taped to my belly.  My favorite comment of the night was from a little girl who said "Pretty cool pumpkin trick"  I'm pretty sure she thought I had stuffed my shirt with a pillow or something.  We had a great Halloween and these guys got tons of candy!!!  Which they are thrilled about.

Betsy Ross and Benjamin Franklin ready for school

Everyone has to try Mr. Potato Head's glasses on at least once!

Mummies and bones

Octopus, Train Engineer, Paul Revere, Betsy Ross, and Benjamin Franklin ready for trick or treating  

Our pumpkins that night...there are 3, but one of the lights is just really dim

One of our neighbor's decorations

Around the side of the house...snake eating a trick or treater 

Friday was a rough morning.  They were in bed by about 9 the night before, so not super late but it had been an exhausting day.  They were having a Halloween hangover.  That morning the little kids who come on Fridays came to play.  They were tired too.  Their little girl cried almost the entire time.  She would cry louder if I got close to her or if Connor got close.  It was a rough hour and a half!  When they left we hurried and packed a little lunch and went to story time at the library.  We got there just a few minutes late.  From there we ate lunch in the car and hurried to their school.  Jared was having his class party on Friday and calling it a harvest celebration.  They ate food first and then did a couple of little crafts.  They were foam pumpkins and they were just sticking foam shapes on them and making bookmarks with pre-cut felt pieces and shapes and designs all ready to go.  The crafts weren't hard and the kids seemed to be having fun.  Jared said it was the funnest day so far.  He only had to do 10 easy math problems that morning.  His party got over about 30 minutes before the end of school.  On Fridays the 2nd grade has something called free play time if they have been good for the week and gotten all their school and homework done.  Basically it's like an extra recess.  We just stayed there and waited for Jared and Lauren to be done.  30 minutes isn't enough time to get home and do anything before having to go back and then there are the lines...so we just waited.  After school we just relaxed and played and I made pumpkin squares.  Friday night was our ward's Fabulous Friday (like a super Saturday).  I made 3 crafts.  Alan and the kids dropped me off and then they went to the store.  On their way home they stopped by the church and picked me up.  Then I went back to the church.  I did etching on a plate, a nativity scene on a glass block (which I'm trying to figure out a way to change the lights inside so I'll like it better) and a burlap banner that says give thanks.  The banner took the longest by far!  I still need to do a little gluing, but it is almost done.

Saturday we were able to sleep in.  Then we went to a builder workshop at home depot.  We got a few little nails to fix some shelves someone gave us.  I also found a box of mini red ornaments (plastic) to go on my Christ Tree that I hope to do this year.  We went to food 4 less on the way home.  In the afternoon we just worked on projects around the house.  We got some dressers in our room moved where we want them and cleaned out so they are ready to be filled up...our room is looking better.  Alan also changed a belt on the car.  It has been squeaky since leaving Provo...and long before that.  Hopefully this will take care of that.  All our neighbors know when we go somewhere.  All the boys also got hair cuts.  Lauren wants one and I need one, but they will have to be another day.

We kept forgetting to take a good picture in the daytime of them with their pumpkins.  Luckily we remembered before they turned black...which didn't take too long here.

Today was a good day.  It was nice to have an extra hour this morning.  I started a book I've been meaning to start for awhile.  At church it wasn't my turn to teach, so I just had to show up.  My class always keeps me laughing though.  After church the wolf den leader came over to talk to Jared a little about scouting.  We had a simple lunch and then did stations.  These guys all love stations so far.  We are only on week 2. (We have tried them in the past and it didn't work to well, but now that they are older it is going better and they look forward to it.)  We don't have too many yet...just scriptures, friend, letter, and talking with dad so far but they are a hit!  And it helps us have a better day.  We did a simple dinner...just burritos.  I have spent a good chunk of time today trying to get our blog caught up....and I'm getting there.  I decided though that I better write about this last week since it was still fresh and I can work on the weeks I missed after doing this week.  My goal is to have it all caught up by the time the baby comes.  I think I can do it...I just have to keep working on it!

Some of our other Halloween decorations that I finally got around to taking pictures of... The eyes were Alan's idea...a few people noticed them Halloween night.

Sugar skulls they got to decorate at the library

Monsters they made and some other fun art projects.

This coming week won't be quite as crazy...I hope!  But it should be another fun one!