Its been a while, I know. Life has been crazy busy lately with the kids starting school, softball, baseball, piano, cello, girl scouts, activity days, and so much more. I have been living from week to week, project to project, and haven't come up for air for a while. I finished our Halloween costumes in time. I had already made the girls' Hogwarts costumes for the summer movie/book openings, and so I just had Trenton's Captain Jack Sparrow, Layton's Grim Reaper, and 4 adult KISS costumes to make before the Halloween festivities began. To top it off, Hannah, Amber, and Layton all were on different ball teams. Each team required 2 practices and 2 games per week when the season started, and then switched to only 1 practice per week as the season finished. Layton joined Hannah in taking piano, and Amber started playing cello. Both girls joined girl scouts. It was crazy, we had multiple activities on the same nights all week long. We had Sunday off, and an occasional Thursday evening free. Jeremy & I had to divide and conquer, and on the nights that Jeremy was out of town, our house guest, Eric would fill in with the carpool/ cheer squad.
Did I mention that we have our dear friends the Robinsons staying with us while they try to sell their house in Washington? The Robinson family has been here since the beginning of Aug. Rebekah is working with Jeremy in the basement office, and their family is staying in the guestroom down there. So far things are going pretty well. Cora and Andrew are enjoying their odd little "sibling-esk" relationship. Andrew is learning what it is like to be part of an extremely busy large family.
Oddly, the Robinson segway brings me back to Halloween. We had 2 Halloween party invites prior to Halloween, and wanted to come up with a unique and fun Halloween costume for 4(us and the Robinsons), and somehow decided that dressing up as Kiss would be both unique and fun. Rebekah and I pulled out the Bedazzler and hit the fabric store before creating our fabulous Kiss costumes. We were a "HIT" at the ward Halloween party. (Yes, we actually wore them to the Trunk-or -Treat at the church, and everyone loved it.) Our second party occurred the next night at our friends the Erickson's Halloween Gala. Kiss won the first prize gift certificate to the local wine shop. Ironic huh? Mormon rockers win alcohol. They also sell chocolate and gourmet foods as well so we should be able to find something. Trenton won 3rd prize in the children's contest for his Captain Jack Sparrow, and Hannah & Amber won the joint 1st prize for their Ginny Weasley, and Hermoine Granger costumes. We had a great time. We, the adults did not dress up for the actual Halloween night, however. We caused such a stir at the other two parties, that we decided to make Halloween the kids night. We had a great time trick-or-treating the neighborhood with its decorations and spook alleys. The younger kids were tired at about 8pm, and returned to the house to get ready for bed and help Daddy pass out the rest of the candy. ( We ran out by the way. 25 lbs. of candy... I guess that is what happens when you have such an amazing community that parents dive in from the tri-state area to participate. Crazy! The streets were lined with vans filled with kiddios, and when they ran out of space along the neighborhood roads, they parked at the school and baseball fields across the street!) After dropping off the little ones, I took the older three to the old burnt mill for the bonfire and ghost stories. Another fun Halloween.
Now that Halloween is checked off my list, I am on to finishing up a couple of Christmas projects, sewing colonial day outfits for Amber & myself, and then planning our hotel stays for our Thanksgiving trip to Delaware. After that...Christmas & Christmas trip to Wa., birthdays, & Layton's Baptism. Will it ever slow down? I'm not too optimistic. Oh well, such is life for a mother of five.
