November 1, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy Halloween! This week has mostly centered on Halloween festivities. We did a horrible job of recording it through pictures though. For a family that is notorious for taking a million pictures we really dropped the ball on this holiday. Oh well. M spent the day at B-man’s school being a Watch D.O.G. (a program designed to gets dads into the school to help out and be visible to the kids) He loved being in B-man’s classroom along with all of the other classrooms, being able to help the kids. Monday we started things off by carving our pumpkins for FHE. B-man wanted a really scary pumpkin. He loved the process, but he loved watching us do all the work, and giving us instructions. When do they start doing the actual carving? We saved some of the seeds and had a great time roasting them and snacking on them. I kept forgetting to get the proper candles for the pumpkins so we were using birthday candles and Chanukah candles that we stuck into the bottom. They worked really well, and they burned down really quickly so we didn’t have to remember to blow them out at the end of the night.

Tuesday night was mutual. It was funny/horrifying how many of the girls came that were obviously still sick. Our ward has had a serious case of the swine flu, and apparently the teenagers don’t understand the rules about when to be out and about. All of the leaders were laughing about it and trying to keep the room well ventilated. Thankfully none of us got sick from our exposure to all those germs.

Thursday B-man went to the dentist. He was very brave, and the dentist was super quick. I was in and out in less than thirty minutes. When B-man got to choose a prize from the “treasure chest” he chose a very large beach ball. It has been surprisingly fun to have around our house. Even J loves it. That night I had book club. It was a smaller group, but it was still a fun way to get out of the house and see other women. I wasn’t that thrilled with the book we read this month, but I am really excited for next month’s discussion.

Friday we had a fun day getting ready for the ward “trunk-or-treat.” B-man went as “Dark Vader” aka Darth Vader. He has never seen any of the movies, but somehow he knows who he is and wanted to be him, even though he is a bad guy. He likes to be told stories during any down time (eating, brushing teeth, etc.) and one night I told him how Darth Vader turned into a bad guy. It might have been my best story ever in his opinion. We dressed J up as “Tigger” and he was very cute. The ward party started with a little carnival inside. Our ward is so big, and the new building is so small that we all barely fit into the cultural hall. I was busy working a booth for the young women the entire time, but M did a good job of making sure B-man was still in the building. J fell asleep in the stroller (sitting up) despite all the noise and commotion. Then when M went outside to get our candy ready for the main even he woke up! He did really great considering how late everything was for him. B-man loved running around to all the trunks. On the way home he was quite adamant about not using his candy for the trick-or-treaters on Halloween. We did that last year with some of his gross candy and he didn’t appreciate it apparently. The boys went straight to bed when we got home, and then we watched a movie about a man that tight roped walked in between the World Trade Center towers right after they first opened. It was a documentary and very interesting, and perfect for getting us ready for bed.

Saturday we were very productive. The weather was warm and cloudy, and I decided that I needed to get the rest of the yard work done while I still could. I planted pansies in the front empty flower bed, and then planted some new tulip bulbs in the back. B-man was my helper. Our neighbors were having a garage sale and B-man found a nicely framed picture of Spiderman. He was carrying it home before he even asked if he could buy it. Luckily it was only a dollar, so now he has to do work to earn it. It’s a very funny picture because it is framed so nicely and then has a 3-D picture of a super hero, plus it was being sold from a man with no children. Strange. While I was working on the flowers, M and B-man were mowing and edging the lawn. I think we are now officially ready for the winter weather. Then since J was still sleeping I worked on a spray painting project. It was a frame for a nice picture, and I am SO happy at how it turned out. I love spray paint! With all the outdoor work done we came inside to get cleaned up and ready for Halloween festivities. First B-man and I went with some friends to beg for candy at the outlet mall nearby. M met us right at the end with J who had just woken up. We then had dinner and went to claim seats for the Halloween parade. Our town LOVES parades and it was a pretty decent one. Several high school bands and both of the people running for Governor were there in person! They threw out a ton of candy, and it was fun to see all the fun costumes that people were wearing. After the parade we came home, and passed out a little candy, but really the night ended very early. (Not a bad thing.)

Today has been a great day. M didn’t have any meetings and it was great to have him home all day. I have really been working on getting J to take longer naps. He is the king of the cat napper, and we have started to see some results. We’ve had several days in a row with naps that lasted longer than thirty minutes. It is so nice! It makes him so much happier too. Hopefully we can continue with this trend. Church went well, but it is always amazing how little time gets left for the lesson in the third hour. After church we had dinner and then played some games before we started the bed routine and M went to do some home teaching.

We love you all!

R, M, B-man, and J