Hectic Halloween

The last few weeks have been so hectic for us. I won't try to list everything that made it hectic for me, because I really don't want to put my brain to any more work than I have to. One of the major things that helped increase the "hecticness" level was a primary leadership training meeting that I helped with last week. I have to say I love my calling (to help with primary music) and the wonderful ladies that I serve with. I also really appreciate the people who serve on the ward level and all the work they do every week to help teach the children. The meeting went well, but the preparation for this biannual meeting is always stressful to some extent (mostly because I put so much off till the last minute...will I ever learn???).
Anyway, the rest of last week is kind of a blur. I know all Halloween preparations were very rushed and last minute because that was not at the top of my priorities. Richard ended up having to work many long hours, including late Friday night, most of Saturday (like 5am to 9pm), and quite a bit on Sunday. (He has a big project that is due this week and is under a lot of pressure to get it done.) So that left the parenting and Halloween festivities up to me. I'll tell you right now, I would not do well as a single parent. I rely on my good husband for so much, especially when I am pregnant and have a hard enough time just walking around. But the kids and I made it to both the school festival (for 3 long, hot hours) and the ward trunk-or-treat on Saturday, and we all survived. Here are some pictures to prove we did Halloween:

Rebecca, a leaf blower (get it??) (Oh yeah, she won a fish, but I made her give it back. We aren't ready for another one just yet.)

Breanna, a vampire queen, showing off her winnings from a guessing game (cheeseballs, anyone?)

Katiebug, the ladybug

Jonny, shown here in his Buzz Lightyear pajamas (He refused to wear something that felt like a costume. It wasn't worth a fight.)


My main reason for sharing all of this with the blogging world (heck, there's only a couple of people who will even read this) is to share the small lesson I learned through all this hecticness. I was sitting in church (by myself, because Richard was at work and the kids chose not to get ready in time, grrr...) and trying to keep my composure, as I was exhausted and hormonal and not feeling like a very good mom. The opening song was "The Lord is my Light" and several phrases started making me teary eyed. But when we got to the third verse I had to run out to the bathroom and have a minor meltdown. The phrase that really got to me was

"My weakness in mercy he covers with pow’r,
And, walking by faith, I am blest ev’ry hour."

I am so weak in many ways. But mercifully, the Lord covers those weaknesses with His power and continually blesses me. Sure, things get hectic every so often, but we always make it through by His mercy and power, and in no other way.

Now, if only someone could mercifully save me from the laundry.....

October Break

We had a wonderful October break last week, although we didn't go on a grand vacation or do lots of exciting things around here. Instead, we had lots of fun sleeping in and staying up late, not doing homework, not running to various lessons (or even practicing for said lessons), and generally just relaxing. What made it even better, we got to visit with lots of family!
My eldest sister, Jeanie, spent the week visiting from Montana. She had to come down for some work training workshop and she was able to extend her stay to visit with us. It is always so fun when Jeanie visits because she spoils us all rotten.


We always eat really yummy food, which for our family, is the most important part of any activity. I didn't get many pictures of all the good food, because I was too busy eating it.


Mommy's little piggy! (When you have chocolate cake in front of you, it is imperative to get it in your mouth, no matter the method.)


Gary REALLY likes whipped cream. :)

The kids enjoyed playing outside all week. The weather is starting to cool off a bit, enough that they don't have a heat stroke at least. They really enjoyed playing with glowsticks from Grandma Kay and Grandpa Towne.



They also have their own "Fairy Land" and are apparently experts at making Fairy Pie. Here is the recipe if you need it.


Too much partying for Jeanie and Isabella...


On Friday night, we had all the Eldredge family (that could make it) over to celebrate Richard's dad's 70th birthday, as well as Hailey's 13th birthday. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures, but Annette posted several on facebook. It was fun to see Cindy, who flew down from Washington, as well as the AZ people that we don't get to see very often. The kids always have fun together, and despite all the chaos of the evening, it was a great night. (Sorry to my neighbors for all the noise.) :)

Now the kids are back in school and we are back on a normal(?) routine, which is good too. I still can't believe October is winding down already and I am entering the third trimester of this pregnancy. January will be here before we know it. (Let's hope my body can survive 3 more months!)

Birthdays, Bug bites, . . . Battlestar Galactica

Ok, so really there will be no mention of Battlestar Galactica as I haven't watched that show since I was really little (the original series...wasn't there a dog/robot thing in it?), but for those who really know me, the title is of course a reference to an episode of "The Office." If you don't know about that, well, that is sad. :)

Anyway, so to catch up on the rest of September (I really can't believe it is October!), we had two big birthdays to celebrate. Richard turned 35! But the poor guy didn't really get a good birthday celebration due to his work. He actually put in 35 hours the day before his birthday. (Chew on that one.) We said we would make it up sometime to him, but he was always so busy that we just ended up rolling his birthday into Becca's birthday and had a double-whammy of a celebration.

Rebecca turned 11 this past week. I can't believe my little girl is growing up so much. Richard was finally able to take a day off. We had a yummy breakfast before she had to go to school. Then Richard decided to work on the brakes (fun day-off activity). Then we had lunch with her at school. Afterwards, Richard and I went cell phone shopping, as he really wants a new one, but can't decide on what to get. (He still hasn't decided.) It was an early release day, so as soon as the girls were done with school, we all (including cousins Emily and Kacy) went to Amazing Jake's for some indoor amusement fun. When we dragged in the door that night, we were all ready to drop, but we had a few fun presents for the birthday people to open. Fun day, but this old pregnant lady isn't as spry as she once was. :)

Rebecca talked us into having a little party (or Girls' Night Out) with 7 of her closest friends. They had a blast eating, painting nails, doing hair, watching movies, and just being silly. They had a great time. (I have no desire to paint another nail for quite a while.)

On to the bug bites....As I mentioned in my last post, Jonny got attacked by mosquitoes one night. The next day several of the bites were huge and red. It seems the little guy is quite sensitive to bites. His ear was extremely red and swollen for 2 days. Nothing a little Benedryl won't fix, but still.... He continues to attract bugs, getting a new bite or two every so often. Now, if the girls want to get him to come inside, they just start telling him there are ants coming and he hurries inside.

In other news, we had a nice little visit with Grandpa Towne and Grandma Kay a few weeks ago. They came for a concert that Kay's grandsons were involved with and for Debbie's baby's blessing. It was nice to have them stay with us and have the kids develop a stronger bond with them. As always, Dad had to tell a "Ralph, the Big, Fat Elephant" story. Such fun!


In all honesty, our month had much more going on than just this, but this is about all I feel like blogging about right now. And probably all anyone wants to read about. :)

September, already???

Where does the time go? It seems to be flying by now that school and lessons are underway. We have been quite busy, and the calendar just keeps filling up. But we are enjoying it and trying to take things a day at a time.So what are we so busy doing? Lots of little things that just add up and fill our days.
Rebecca is enjoying 5th grade and has started band. She is learning to play the flute quite quickly. I am happy that she picked an instrument that doesn't grate on mom's nerves too much. She loves to read and is finishing books right and left. She will start ballet and piano lessons today and tomorrow.
Last week, both older girls decided they wanted to run for their classroom's representative. So they each had to make a poster and give a speech. They each had several other people running against them, but they both won their elections. (a little candy didn't hurt their chances.) They were very happy. Mom and Dad were pretty proud too.


Breanna loves being in 3rd grade. She also likes to read and is also in ballet and piano lessons. She likes to play kickball at recess, especially when it is Girls Only Kickball on Wednesdays. :)
Katie loves her preschool. She got her permanent teacher a couple of weeks ago, and she is wonderful. They have been having a color of the day, and Katie's biggest concern every day is what she will wear for the appropriate color of that day. (Today is orange day. I think we are in trouble.) She also loves stuffed animals, especially our "replacement" Casper. She often argues with the older girls that she needs to sleep with him again, even if she has just had a turn.

Jonny stays busy making messes all day. That is his main objective in life at this time. He is doing an excellent job. But at least he is cute while doing it.



(Side note: last night he was eaten alive by mosquitoes. He was eating in his high chair on the patio, but he kept saying "Owie! Owie!" When we got him out 10 minutes later, he had 26 bites all over him. Even one on his ear. Poor little guy.)
Richard is so busy at work. He has been putting in lots of extra hours, going early and staying late. His big project is being released tonight. Tomorrow is his 35th birthday and he will be working all night until noon tomorrow. Happy Birthday! When he does get to be home, he is usually working on a project around the house, or fixing the cars. I so appreciate my hard-working hubby. We did get to take a break (thanks to Gary and Lori for watching the kids!). We went for a quick overnight stay in north Scottsdale and enjoyed being together with no other distractions. A much needed break!
And me...mostly I have been busy gestating. I am now 22 weeks along and getting more used to the idea of having another girl. (I don't think I'm ready to give away the boy stuff yet though.) She is definitely growing and getting stronger, and I am getting winded easier. Besides that and normal mom duties, I am getting busier with my stake primary calling. I love this time of year when we get to listen to all the wards' Primary Presentations. I am also busy preparing the training for next year's theme, "I know the scriptures are true." So fun!
Ok, well, this post is really too long for not really anything exciting going on. I guess I will close. You know....more laundry to do! :)

We are having a . . .

GIRL!
We just had an ultrasound this morning. She looks perfectly healthy and yes, we are fairly sure it is a girl. What can we say? We make cute girls. :)

Poor Jonny. ;)

Casper

Our dog, Casper, passed away yesterday.


We got him as an early Christmas present from the pound this last year for the kids. They had been wanting a dog for years, and I finally gave in. Casper was very gentle, rarely barked, and fairly well trained. The vet estimated him to be about 2 or 3 when we got him, and besides an ear infection, he seemed to be healthy. The kids were so very excited to have a dog. We named him Casper, because he kind of looks like a ghost and he was so friendly. Here they are on the way home from picking him up for the first time.

Casper lived with us for 8 months and 4 days. He loved to chase the kids, clean up after Jonny ate, chew things up, and go on walks. He was so very good with the kids. I think his favorite time of day was when Richard would come home. Richard would often run around the backyard, over the trampoline and through the swingset, and Casper would chase after him. We had a lot of fun with Casper.




During the last month or so, he started developing symptoms for what we later found out was tick fever and valley fever. He may have contracted tick fever before we even got him, as we have never seen a tick on him. This is probably why he was always so mellow...he was sick and we didn't know it. He started taking medication, but it wasn't very long until we noticed more things wrong, like his face drooping. So the vet started treating him for a thyroid problem. Then a week and a half ago, he started vomiting more and not being able to walk straight. The vet thought it was a problem in his middle ear or a brain lesion, but it would be hard to tell without further (more expensive)tests and even then it may not be treatable. She started him on a 6th medication to see if it would help. It didn't. Within a few days, he became so sick that he wouldn't eat and couldn't hold water down. We made the decision that it was time to put him to sleep. It was very difficult on all of us. This past weekend we all spent more time petting him and giving him lots of love and attention. We made imprints of his pawprints. We took lots of pictures and shed lots of tears. We know that Casper is happy now, free to run around and play and eat lots of steak.




Casper, you will be greatly missed.

First Day(s) of School

My three girls just started school this week. Rebecca and Breanna started on Wednesday at the same school they attended last year. We are all so happy with the great teachers they have and are looking forward to a really fun year!
Rebecca - 5th grade

Breanna - 3rd grade

Sidenote: The girls really wanted to dress nicer for the first day of school but Rebecca had PE and we weren't sure when Breanna's PE was, so tennis shoes were the footwear of necessity.

Katie started preschool on Thursday. We were lucky enough to find a program through the community where she can attend for FREE! (That is probably the best feature of this preschool!) Anyway, Katie was SO EXCITED to go to school for the first time ever. Here is she at the meet the teacher open house. (Unfortunately, the teacher is a temporary one until a permanent one is hired. Therefore, the room was not ready and no real information was given.)

One of the things I am not thrilled about is that I have to walk her all the way to her class everyday and wait for the teacher to open the door. That may not sound horrible, but considering it is in the middle of the day in HOT AZ in August, and I will need to bring Jonny with us, it makes for an uncomfortable 10-15 minutes. But Katie did great. She waited in line and didn't cry or hold onto my leg, like I thought she would. She did want two hugs and kisses though. And as she walked into the classroom, after she briefly turned around to wave, I did get a little teary. Here's another one of my kids growing up too fast. (I couldn't stay sad for too long though, as Jonny and two of my nieces were waiting at home with my brother.)

Here she is after coming out of the class. She was so happy (but the sun was so bright!) She asked me later if I had stayed outside the whole time just waiting for her. (Uh...sorry. No. Not in 100+stupid degrees for 3 hours.)

I am so proud of my Katie bug. She did so great and is excited to go again!