Grandma, I specifically cleared my camera this morning so I could take pictures of the Halloween parade at Lydia’s preschool, but when I got there, my card was still full! My friend Paige took pictures for me, but she’s moving into a new house today and hasn’t had time to send them over yet. I will post them when I get them.
Got them!
Also, the offer on our house was accepted! Yay!! Hopefully we can be moved in a month and Abe can relearn what sleep feels like!
I do have pictures from class tonight.
I made the lemon meringue tart in the foreground and one of the berry lattice pies in the background.I made the chocolate cream in the foreground, but I ran out of time for chocolate curls, so it just looks like a whipped cream pie.
Needless to say, I made myself sick on pie tonight.
Grandma, I am throwing up some pictures just for you. We are completely crazy with the house buying business, but Abe put in an offer tonight and we are waiting on pins and needles for the response tomorrow. A week ago we had no clue we were going to move…and now, here we are. Things move fast!
Here’s our playdate with Missi, my college roommate, yesterday:
And today I watched Ada and Liv while Paige painted her new house. Here are the girls playing:
We had the usual harried Sunday, with Abe going to hours upon hours of meetings on top of our regular three-hour church block. But it was better day than expected. I spent the afternoon cooking and preparing for dinner with the Petersons, and our evening with them made the whole day great.
We just loved visiting with Clint, Diana and their three kids. Diana read an incredibly lengthy version of Snow White to the kids at their request. My heart went out to her the minute I heard her come to the part where the queen tries to dispose of Snow White via poisoned comb. Poor Diana! She had to read through that whole fiasco and I think at least one more before finally coming to the apple and the blessed end. My voice would have given out long before.
At any rate, this was one of our most favorite dinner get-togethers ever, and it makes us even more sad to move. But move we must! Right now Lydia is having a tantrum. I didn’t take any pictures, and if I took one now for the blog, you’d see Lydia screaming at the top of her lungs. Not a pretty sight, so we’ll skip pictures today. More tomorrow!
Today was one of those marathon days. First, Lydia’s dance class had a Halloween celebration. Lydia invited Sophia, who came as the cutest Miss Piggy I have ever seen!
I took Mary to the park during Lydia’s dance class.
Then it was farmer’s market time:
Then Abe went to the church to set up for the Trunk or Treat while I came home and house hunted. I found a house! It was very exciting, but we can’t walk through until Monday.
Anyway, Abe did a great job organizing the Trunk or Treat, which was a success. We spent a couple hours at the church setting up and cleaning up afterward.
Then we went down to Provo to look at houses. We toured one and looked at the outside of one I really like.
And now the day is finally winding down! The prospect of sleep just might be the most exciting thing about this day so far.
This morning Misty invited us to the Gateway for the children’s museum’s Halloween Party. Abe and I counted and realized that the girls will have gone to TEN Halloween celebrations by the time the actual day rolls around! Crazy, but I love this holiday.
I put Mary in Lydia’s old monkey costume, but Mary wanted to wear the wings Ina gave her. No problem–I let her, and she went dressed as a flying monkey!
I spent the rest of the day reading Dracula. Then Abe and I went to the temple and decided there that we need to move to Provo by Dec 1st. I am going to drop out of school this quarter so I can pack, house hunt, and MOVE. It’s going to be crazy, but once it’s done, I have a feeling it’s going to feel very worth it.
We have had so many Halloween activities that I accidentally dressed Lydia up in costume for preschool. I thought the Halloween parade was this week. The school administrator patiently informed me that the parade will occur on Halloween, as the flier they sent home clearly stated. Oops. In between worrying about my mistake and hoping Lydia was too young to feel embarrassed, I visit taught Marilyn and practiced a bit of piano at home.
Playing at Marilyn’s.
Then in the afternoon, Isabella came over and we went shopping for her costume. She wanted to be a cracked doll, so we went to Kid to Kid and DI looking for a lacy dress. I said a silent prayer as we pulled into DI, and bam! Within five minutes, we found the dress. I love God.
Then we picked up Lalitha, Eden and Ada before caravaning with the Pe’as to Red Butte for the Garden After Dark festivities.
Potions with Maleficent.A cracked china doll (aka Isabella)!
The bumblebee climbed a tree.Enamored. Ada blew her a kiss afterward.
I have been really depressed by the news lately, and I came across this scripture this morning: “Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.”
I was also touched today by this article, written by a friendly acquaintance in my home ward.
And now for the day’s play-by-play.
This morning Aria hosted a Halloween party at her house. While I love Aria and everyone who came, I really dislike big groups. However, I decided to go for the children’s sake, so I dressed them up in costumes and headed over to Aria’s.
But the girls are slightly shy in big groups too, so after I ascertained that none of us were happy, I packed them up and headed back home.
I proceeded to loll around the house for the rest of the day, since both girls ended up napping for quite a while. I started reading Dracula in honor of Halloween. I want to finish that and also reread The Legend of Sleepy Hollow before October 31st.
I would have pictures from class, but my phone died. We made a ton of cookies and some pita bread. I am skipping tomorrow to take the girls to Red Butte Gardens for their Halloween activities at night.
This day was the kind of day that made me stop and feel grateful to be a stay at home mom. I enjoyed each part of the day. Even though I dropped Lydia off half an hour late to preschool, I didn’t panic (like I normally would) and feel like a terrible mom. I just figured I was doing my best, I didn’t yell at the girls to hurry, and the timing kind of fell where it did. What will be will be–I should have that attitude more often!
While Lydia was at preschool, I took Mary to Cookie Cutterz to get her haircut fixed, and then we went to the Aviary.
The store was selling lice deterrent leave in conditioner. Of course, I bought some. Apparently, rosemary is even better than tea tree at deterring lice. Duly noted. I will remember to ask Santa for a jug of Rosemary essential oils this Christmas.
Then we picked Lydia up and came home. While the girls were down for quiet time, I napped and researched essential oils, salt lamps, house plants, and diffusers. The experience I had with lice has made me very interested in homeopathic remedies, and now I’m convinced the reason we stay sick six months out of the year is because our home is filled with toxins. This winter I am going to invest in some of the above things and see if perhaps we stay healthier for it.
After daydreaming about filling my home with salt lamps, I dragged myself out of bed and folded laundry for an hour. It’s all folded! Just in time for more loads tomorrow! But hey, I will take it.
Then I loaded the girls in the car and drove to Provo. Abe’s work gave everyone free flu shots/nose sprays. After getting our sprays and shots, we drove to Abe’s friends’ house. Morgan and Jesse bought a house with my dream backyard in Provo, and Abe has been wanting to show it to me for a while. Afterward we drove around their neighborhood. We have looked at neighborhoods more than a few times since Abe transferred jobs, but we never find anything that seems to compare with how much we love the avenues. However, today we found a great neighborhood that resonated. It’s good to know that there are places in Provo where we won’t be abjectly miserable!
We sped home so I could be in time for my meeting…which went so well! I can’t put my finger on what it was, but I actually enjoyed the meeting. Perhaps I felt like I had more to contribute tonight, or I came away with legitimate action items that made me feel useful; whatever it was, I was grateful for an experience with my calling that made me like it more.
While I was at my meeting, Abe took pictures of the girls playing with their Happy Meal paraphernalia from Provo:
And now we’re going to finish Stardust! I can’t wait. I had nightmares about the witches last night, but I still really want to find out what happens to everybody.
This morning we went with Lalitha and Eden to Red Butte Gardens. It was a beautiful day. In fact, Abe and I keep having conversations about how amazing the weather this year has been. I wish this year would just repeat over and over for the rest of my life weather wise, but since I can’t count on that, I just have to try to make the most out of every gorgeous day.
Then we went grocery shopping with Lalitha and came home. I was the only one who napped, and when I woke up, Lydia informed me that she and Mary climbed onto the piano. I guess that means no more naps for me, or at least no naps while my children are awake.
I spent the rest of the day cooking. We had FHE with our friends, the Pe’as. Since we’ve been reading a lot of books about Halloween, Lydia has become very confused about what ghosts are. We decided to brush up on the doctrine of resurrection and our beliefs about how the spirit and the body are related to each other. Afterward, the kids pictured colors of ghosts.
Abe and I have been trying to get around to folding four giant baskets of laundry for almost a week. We are going to try to fold some tonight while watching Stardust. We have a new habit to squeeze in movies: ten minutes a day! I wish I were kidding, but that’s actually what we’ve resorted to.
P.S. Mom and Grandma, Paige sent me some cute pictures from our hike Wednesday. If you want to see them, I added them to that post (link here).
We celebrated Mary’s birthday again tonight, this time at the Miners’. I baked a cake and filled the pan too full, so now the bottom of the oven is chock full of burnt cake. I will have to clean that tomorrow…
Anyway, Abe and I are trying to get to bed early, so here are the pictures:
While Mary napped, Lydia, Abe, and I played pretend after Abe got home. This is Lydia standing on an “apple tree” while being assisted by aliens (the Minnie Mouses) who wanted to help her.With her poor, lopsided cake…
When Abe got home, he tickled the girls until they begged for mercy and bedtime.
