Monday Night Cookies

Tuesday

Halloween

Since I had LASIK Monday morning, I took a nap that afternoon and asked Jon to make dinner. Red macaroni, baby! Someone rang the doorbell and left a pumpkin cookie decorating kit for us, so for the FHE activity, Jon and the kids decorated and ate those cookies. My vision was foggy (as expected) all that day.

I spotted an orange swimming towel-shirt in our closet that worked out nicely for Mark, keeping him warm and festive at the same time.

I did Adam’s cello lesson via Skype since I didn’t feel quite up to driving yet.

Jon went to the 100 Years of Scouting broadcast that he said was awesome... and crazy with kayakers hanging from the conference center ceiling, and scouts rappelling from the ceiling as well! Wow.

The Costumes: Mark the Monkey

I couldn’t resist getting a monkey costume for Mark since this was his first animal sound, and it’s so extremely cute when he says it.

Mark is not an easy one to photograph these days, but I managed (amazingly) to get a few good ones.

Here is a short clip of Mark’s monkey sound, though he usually makes a longer version with more “oo oo”s.

Tyler: Captain America

Both Tyler and Andrew wanted to be Thor this year, so I was relieved when, after looking through all of our costumes, Tyler said he wanted to be Captain America. Tyler is so easy to take pictures of now. In fact, the day after taking these he begged me to take more of him outside.

P.S. These are all SOOC shots (Straight Out Of Camera = no editing/post-processing!)

Andrew: Thor

Amy the Witch

I made witch dresses for the girls in 2008, and Amy can still fit into Natalie’s! This is her third time being a witch, so it was fun to spice things up with green eye shadow. I loved that! She made such a cute witch.

I painted her fingernails green as well. We really need to get a witchy broom!

one more close-up

It was a little tougher to get natural shots of Andrew this year. He was pretty excited to be Thor. Thank goodness it’s such an easy costume! Thor’s hammer is his favorite part.

Adam: Army Guy

Adam really wanted to be a jaeger from Pacific Rim, but that was quite an out-of-reach costume for us this year, so we went with his second choice: an army guy.

Adam’s excitement level went way up when, Halloween morning, Jon gave him a military-style haircut (but nicer), and then painted his face in camouflage. Jon did such a good job, and Adam looked so awesome! I heard lots of people give him compliments - my favorite being the missionaries at Day’s market who told him, “Cool costume!”

Natalie the Egyptian

Since Natalie was an Egyptian last year, too, we spiced up this year’s version with my black wig, clip-on earrings, and blue and gold eye shadow.

It threw me for a loop that she looked so old!

Halloween Dinner

After the busy day, I felt really happy to pull off another Halloween dinner.

I had my follow-up eye appointment Tuesday morning, and then Jon and I took the boys to Scheels where they loved the fish tanks, animal displays, and where Jon took Tyler for a ride on the Ferris wheel.

Wednesday

I ran several errands on Wednesday, and had a little fiasco at the doctor’s office when I took the kids in for walk-in flu shots (as they previously told me I could do), but they would only give Natalie a shot since the others had not been seen in the past year for anything (sickness or well-child visits). I guess it’s a new policy called “consistency of care” - if they aren’t getting seen, they aren’t getting good treatment according to them. They don’t want to administer a flu shot if the kids have problems, which I understand, except that I know my kids aren’t having problems. They are healthy, smart, talented, athletic and don’t get sick much. I take good care of them.

I was mainly bothered by how they were treating me - like I was a bad mom for not bringing my kids in every year. I bring my kids in every 3 months for their first 2 years, giving them full immunizations. When they need more shots for school, I bring them in for a well-child visit. If they are really sick and need antibiotics, I bring them in. I take them into the optometrist and dentist when they need help there.

They were shocked that Amy hadn’t been seen in 3 years. “She hasn’t seen anyone? She hasn’t been sick in 3 years?” I was like, “Not sick enough to see a doctor.” I felt like I was being penalized for having healthy kids. Now I know I can take them to the health department for flu shots without this bother, but I have been comfortable with my pediatrician’s office and don’t like the health department so much. I complied and scheduled well-child visits for Amy, Adam and Andrew when they’ll get their flu shots, but I was so bugged! It looks like I took them out of school for no reason that day.

Tyler and Mark “helped” me try out a new healthy witch’s brew recipe which started with juicing apples, carrots and celery. I had to hurry before Mark ate all the apples! It turned out alright, but the boys wouldn’t finish theirs (I even added bananas and apple cider to improve it). I think without the celery it would’ve been fine, and will try again for a healthy witch’s brew.

I tried out a new way of making Yummy Mummies, and although the kids thought it was cool, it took way longer (and was gross-greasy), and was harder to eat, so I’ll be sticking with my old ways on that one. My favorite part of the meal is the orange mashed potatoes made with a sweet potato for the color. Mmmm. Mmmm! I served the apple cider with dry ice, which the kids love, and Jello Ghosts for dessert.

Jon made dinner more exciting by firing up the fog machine. It stunk, though, so we turned it off and just enjoyed the dry ice effect around the apple cider.

After dinner, we carved our pumpkins -- all grown from our garden!

Jon brought out some power tools to help the kids clean out their pumpkins. I just used the pumpkin scraper, which did a nice job, but I did use Jon’s drill to try out drilling holes into my pumpkin. My arm got so tired of holding it up, that I wimped out a little on it.

Mark was happy drawing on a pumpkin with chalk. Jon and Natalie went to mutual, so Natalie had to finish hers later. Jon never did get around to carving his.

I was able to leave the boys home with Jon while I attended Connie Nelson’s funeral. (Yes, it was on Halloween.) I was really glad I went. The service was phenomenal, and I was impressed by the speakers and the music. Connie was an amazing lady! I felt inspired to be a better person, though by the end I was feeling pretty bad about myself for all of the things I don’t do, but overall, it was very uplifting. It was really strange to me to watch that casket being wheeled into the room and then out, knowing that Connie’s body was in it. It’s so strange that she’s gone.

Natalie almost forgot about her friend party at Momoka’s house. I ran her over there and she had a great time. Sweet girls.

Thanks to Jon again, I was able to put Mark down for his nap while Tyler and I went to the school Halloween parade. The parade started at 1:30, but that’s when the kids start parading through the older kids’ classrooms, so I came later and sat on the stage rather than waiting an hour to see any paraders. (There are no “best seats” since the kids parade through every aisle.) I even had time to run back to the car to get Thor’s hammer, since when I saw Andrew in the hallway while I was signing up for SEPs, he looked down and I thought it might be because he didn’t have his favorite prop. I think it worked.

It was strange that only Adam and Andrew were in it this year since Amy’s class went Classic Skating. Adam looked so good with his camoflauge paint and haircut! When we saw him later, entering another aisle, he was too cool to wave again. As he left, he gave me the “peace out” chest pound and peace sign, which made me laugh.

My favorite costumes in the parade were these missionaries. Only in Utah!

After our dinner of sloppy joes on homemade rolls and the orange witch’s brew, I took a picture of all the kids, and we were ready to go pretty early. This is Natalie’s last time trick-or-treating!

And they were off! When I told Jon I was bummed that Tyler couldn’t find his Captain America hat, he said, “It’s all about the candy now.” Ha ha!

Mark’s very first trick-or-treat! He caught on pretty quickly and loved it! Jon and I got to hear about Paula’s experience with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the scouting broadcast.

Natalie made some really cute and thoughtful cards for everyone for Halloween. She left them on the table in the morning, and then read them to each person after school, very excited to hear their responses.

Almost all of them had a 3-D/pop-up element inside. She is so creative and thoughtful!

Mark made us all laugh with my black wig in the morning while Jon was getting Adam ready. He asked for his monkey costume by pointing to it and saying, “Ooo oo oo ah ah!”

Most of the houses in our upper U were empty or they weren’t ready yet. But the people who were home, gave the kids handfuls of candy or full-size candy bars. The bishop’s house is one of our favorites because he always gives out the big stuff.

Alexis Mullen came trick-or-treating with us. After a while, Jon got the van, and I drove alongside the trick-or-treaters, and drove them past the longer stretches of empty homes and we skipped to our favorite houses. I got to chat with Liz Hill while the kids and Jon visited houses in a cul-de-sac. We both wished we had more time to talk. Isn’t that a pretty view?!

It really didn’t take long for the kids to fill their buckets enough to satisfaction. At home, Natalie got a big kick out of handing out candy to the trick-or-treaters, especially when she got to trigger the fog machine on the bigger kids. Right as a boy reached his hand into the candy bucket, she turned it on and he jumped and called out, “Whoa!” She loved it.

After I found Mark with a tootsie roll bit in half in his mouth with the wrapper still on, I helped him open his Fritos and a bag of M&M’s. It doesn’t take much for him to feel treated.

I introduced the kids and Jon to Disney’s “Legend of Sleepy Hollow” cartoon, which they got a big kick out of.

Adam’s favorite candy bar is Milky Way, and he got 6 small ones and 3 full-size! Score!

Thank goodness for makeup remover! Even with that good stuff, it took a while to clean off all their faces!

After putting the kids down, Jon and I got to talk with Gary & M’Jean who called to check on my eye surgery. It was a great Halloween!

Happy Birthday, Gommy!