We had another fun Halloween this year. Of course Mom's Halloween party is always a hightlight for our family. And although it rained the whole time, we also had a great Hallowenn night. Casie has been Trick-or Treating with friends for the last couple of years, but this year Annie and Ellie decided they would like to Trick-or-Treat with friends. They all had a blast and came home with absurd amounts of Candy. I had a great time taking Jack out Trick-or-Treating. Whenever we saw a house that looked a little too spooky he would look at me and say, "Let's det outta here!" Other times he would say, "Dat's not too spooky...it's cool!" or "I like dat moo-sic". At one point he saw a group of 12 year old girls coming toward him. He ran to them and in his most friendly manner said, "Hi guys!" " I dot lots of candy...see!" They loved it and gave him lots of attention. :-)

I thought my kids were very creative on their costumes this year. Casie was a Blow-Pop..(and a nerd for Halloween at school) Annie was a Jack in the Box, Ellie was a cheerleader..(which BTW she now wants to be one when she grows up...we'll talk) Jack was Superman and a puppy.

Oh, and Mike really had pants on when he tried on Annie's Halloween costume. We just thought it would hilarious...and creepy...if he gave out candy wearing that. (which he didn't..but I still got a picture for my own laughing pleasure.)

Good Girl Casie

We received this card in the mail a couple of days ago.

. We are so grateful to have Casie in our family. What a great example she is to her younger siblings. She is also so responsible and respectful. We feel very blessed to be her parents.

You know you're seven months pregnant when.....

When wondering what to be for Halloween....a pumpkin is the only thing that comes to mind.

When a driver slows down for you to walk across the road, you can't help but wonder if they are doing it more for their car.

When you start getting asked when your due date is, and people are surprised it's so far off.

When you seriously consider telling strangers that you are due in a week.

When your very neglected piggies, turn into your very neglected sausage links. (...and this little Jimmy Dean went wee wee wee all the way home)

When other women give you sympathetic looks, Men don't look at you at ALL, and two year olds look at you and shout, "Ball!" "Ball!"

When you can't bend over to pick something up without grunting...(I have to consciously focus on NOT grunting if I want to control it)

When you try to give your two year old a learning experience everyday...because you know that shortly you will let him watch hours and hours of TV once the new baby comes.


When you still feel somewhat like a trophy wife....only it's a bowling trophy.

When you commit to slow down your weight gain, but then deflate as you realize you still have Halloween, Thanksgiving AND Christmas before you are due.

When you can usually get a foot or back rub from your children and husband with out much begging.


Bust mostly...Two months seems far too long to wait to meet and hold the little bundle that has been doing Olympic quality gymnastics inside of you for the past seven months.

Probably the worlds cutest two year old

Of Nerds and Cowboys

No one at the Annual Hyde Halloween Party asked Mike and I to be in their pictures. No matter...we found a way to represent.

Thought provoking questions from Annie

While reading the scriptures last night, Annie asked this question....in this way.

"So, I don't want to sound like a dork in front of Casie, but I just have a question. We just read that Heavenly Father can do ANYTHING right? Well, if he REALLY wanted to, could he make Tamagotchi's come to life?"

The cute thing was that she was VERY sincere about it. She has a deep desire to see her digital friend walking and talking with the humans.

We told her that Heavenly Father could if he REALLY wanted to. :-)

Jackism

When I asked Jack what he was doing as he scooted a chair over to the fridge, (eyeing the cookies on top), he responded with, "Just chillin'".

A scary Halloween story to share with you children

On the way home from visiting family, the girls asked Mike to tell them a scary story. This is what he came up with.......


It was a dark and stormy night...yes it was.
Suddenly the lightning flashed!
And in the flash you could see a severed unicorn head!!
And the lightning flashed again!
And you could see that the horn of that unicorn head is stabbed into an elephants eye!
And the lightning flashed again!
And you could see that the elephant is sitting on a large severed crocodile hand!
And the lightning flashed again!
And you can see that within the grasp of the severed crocodile hand, is the body of the severed unicorn!

whaaa ha ha ha ha ha.

We all laughed.

Feeling Better and Feeling Sad

Today Annie woke up with only a little swelling and mostly clear skin! She told me that little girls prayers go to the front of the line. I think she is right! We still have six more days of antibiotics, but I think she is going to make it. :-)



Now for some sad Annie news.......

Because of financial struggles, Annie's awesome art teacher had to cancel all his classes! He is starting a new job and doesn't have time for art lessons anymore. This is Annie's final project from Art Lessons.



I hope and pray he will be able to start teaching again soon. Annie has learned so much from him, and does so well under his guidance. Maybe I will have Annie pray for him:-)

Because of an awesome suggestion from one of my readers, I have created a blog just for Annie's art. You can check it out here.

Back to the ER

This post title would be more dramatic if I had posted about the last three times we had visited the ER in the last two months. First Mike's knee, second Mike's complications with meds, third Mike's blood clots, and today I took a fourth visit to the ER. This time it was Annie. She woke up with a red swollen face and blisters. I don't know where they came from and the doctor has declared it to be either a bacterial or viral infection of the skin. She is on anti-biotics and a topical cream. Poor Annie.

Even though she looks miserable, she has been a trooper. She has had a good attitude and laughed when I told her she looked like a cute red chip monk.

Here is the biggest of the blisters. There are tons of little ones all over her cheeks that you can't see in the picture. They actually popped this one in the ER.

After we left the ER, we headed to the store to pick up Annie's prescription. I also let her pick out any cereal she wanted and TWO cute little Halloween toys. Sick kids need to be spoiled a little.

Now, on to happier Annie news.........

A couple months ago, Annie was asked by a neighborhood preschool teacher to illustrate some books for her. Annie took her job very seriously. After hours of work and a little help from her sisters and Mom, she finished them up last night. I think there were about 15 books in all. She is such a cute and creative artist. I am amazed at how easily it comes to her. Here are just a few samples of her work.

.

"Moreover, when ye fast be not as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward". 3 Nephi 13:16

OK, this morning, my kids were beyond disfiguring their faces when I reminded them of our decision to fast for Mike. There was much weeping and whaling and gnashing of teeth, but... we made it! I was so proud of all of them for their willingness to sacrifice their comfort for someone they love. Ellie's words at the end of the day were: "This better work, or it SO won't be worth it!" I hope we as a family can all gain a stronger testimony of fasting. It is definitely something we need to work on. I hope this Sunday will mark the first of many Fast Sundays we spend fasting together as a family.

Fun with Casie

Casie and I have taken up a new hobby together: The card game, PHASE 10. On Thursday nights (because school starts late on Fridays) and weekends we can be found at the kitchen table trash talking and teasing each other over who will phase next. We tend to get a little goofy as well. We've said things like; " I am honored to offer you this lovely 7". Then the other will answer by saying, "I am exceedingly grateful to not pick up the 7 you just offered me." It's really fun to have a child old enough to play games that I enjoy too. One thing that has made me laugh is realizing how superstitious Casie is!

She is convinced she plays better if she:

#1 Is wearing her Divine Nature ring.
#2 Taps her fingers on the table while I am dealing
#3 Doesn't touch her cards before they are completely dealt
#4 Is the FIRST to touch her cards after they are completely dealt

We invited Mike to play with us once, but he totally whipped us both. He is no longer welcome at our game table.

Casie is dealing the cards as I write.....wish me luck!

Love ya Dad, but.......

After a nice FHE discussion about fasting, we decided to fast as a family for Mike's knee to heal quickly. Ellie agreed to participate, but had one request:

"I'll do it as long as we don't fast tomorrow,.. because it's mini-corn dog day."

Chocolate Milk

Jack: Want Chocolate milk Mommy.

Mommy: Ok. (I get out the milk and Hersey's syrup because we are out of the Quick powder I usually use)

Jack: (Because it wasn't the Quick, he thought I was getting it wrong and starts throwing a semi-fit) No! Mommy! Want chocolate milk! Mommy! (fit growing larger)

Then as he sees that the milk has turned to chocolate milk using the syrup, he stops mid-fit and says in an astonished voice, "What da heck!?"

I laughed.

I guess I should also add that because the syrup makes that lovely sound as it squishes out, Jack said.."The chocolate did a poop Mommy!"

Like father, like son

Jack is constantly finding "crutches" around the house. Today it was the vacuum hose.

JUSTICE vs MERCY

ATTENTION:

Those family members who get their Saturday jobs done in a timely manner, will be rewarded with a delicious milkshake from Iceberg.

Those who listened........

Those who did not..........(WARNING: heartbreaking pictures ahead)

JUSTICE eating his treat in front of those he bestowed JUSTICE upon....and enjoying every second of it.

Now, before I get angry calls from Grandma, let me demonstrate how MERCY saved the day....

Because the thought of leaving the slow cleaners behind brought MERCY to tears, she spoke to JUSTICE and together they decided that everyone could come to the canyon and enjoy the great outdoors.

The girls spent the majority of their time finding cool rocks in the creek.

Jack spent ALL of his time throwing the rocks into the water.

When we got home, JUSTICE made sure the slow cleaners finished their jobs.

MERCY went to the store to buy treats for everyone for the next day.

Cornbelly's

We had a great time on this beautiful fall evening! We left Jack at home with Dad, and soaked up all the fall fun with the girls and some of Casie's friends. I LOVE fall so much!

Riding on the cow train.

Annie and Ellie talked me into letting them get their faces painted. They were SO excited and LOVED watching the artist create faces on the other children.

They both decided to sleep flat on their backs so the face paint wouldn't smear off during the night. You will see in my next post how well this plan worked....

It was great to have a night out with the girls. They are such awesome kids and were so fun to be with.