Halloween Wear. And Tear

Can I just say that this Halloween is killing me?  Shouldn't Halloween get easier when your kids get older?  This year, our Halloween preparation has taken on the dimensions and weight of Christmas, and I'm ready to drop dead.

First off, Audrey, who originally was not going to dress up as anything at all this year, now has not one, not two, but THREE different costumes. One of them is my fault because  I had the brilliant idea that since I had to dress up as an Incredible for work, that the whole family should dress up as the Incredibles for our ward Halloween Party, which is tomorrow night.    I got a deal on shirts with the Incredibles logo on them, and have since been running all over trying to find the rest of the gear we need, like red spandex pants.  Never mind that the boys are refusing to be seen in spandex in public. I have been on a quest, and nothing can deter me.  Anyway, that's costume one for Audrey.

Her next costume is the church's fault.  She has to dress up as something scary for the spook alley that the young women put on during the party. Tonight I have to teach myself how to transform someone into an acceptable version of the living dead  using  only a four dollar make up kit from Walmart.. We have to figure that out tonight, in the hour and a half before bedtime and  after I finish whipping up the chili for tomorrow night's church chili cook off. Her last costume is her friend Kaitlyn's fault. Kaitlyn decided that she and Audrey needed to dress up as Batman and Robin for a party at the local fun center on Halloween night.  And, since Kaitlyn already had her Robin costume, guess who Audrey gets to be? Only these days, apparently Batman and Robin wear leggings and tutus, so also tonight sometime, I will be stitching together a yellow Batman tutu.

Olivia has two costume changes.  First, she will be in her Incredibles outfit for tomorrow night. But her REAL trick or treat costume is going to be a zombie (reference above make up tutorial).  We need to practice her make up and get her zombie dress ready.

Duncan, Will and Dan are all easy. They are grudgingly going to wear their Incredibles t shirts tomorrow night,   Halloween night, who knows?  I'm pretty sure Duncan will whip up some kind of costume and hit the streets for a little trick or treating.  I used to try to tell him he is too  old, but I've given up that battle. He is a kid at heart, and if he has the gumption to go knocking on doors for candy, more power to him.

And me?  I still have to track down pharmacy appropriate red spandex pants for work on Friday.  I don't know that I am secure enough to show up at church in my spandex.  For that matter, I'm not sure I'm secure enough to wear spandex to work. Even if my boss is wearing it too,  He is much shaplier than am I.

On top of all that, there are still pumpkins to carve and candy to buy. I can't wait to  get everything done and then flop myself on the couch on Friday night. Then get up and answer the door for trick or treaters. Then flop on the couch. Then answer the door. Then flop, then up. About a hundred and fifty times.

But then, Saturday morning, we can start dreaming of Thanksgiving on the beach again this year....

Remnants of a Rough Morning

I got home from work this evening, and seeing what was left out on the bathroom counter made me remember this morning's sad, tired girl with a sore, scratchy throat who did not have a temperature, but  who did want to go to school either. So we doctored her up with ibuprofen, brushed all the tangles out of her hair, and convinced her that she could still rock this day, sore throat or no.

And she did.

Oh, and I left my make up out too. Because I always do.

The Beginning of the End

This is Belle 

so not caring

that she doesn't get much mention on this blog

until tonight, which was the first night that this poor old kitty could not jump up on to the edge of the tub to observe my nightly bath.

This bath ritual has been our routine for many years. I soak, and she sits on the tub and observes.  In her younger years, she would stretch down to the water for frequent drinks, but she stopped doing that a while ago, after a few close calls with falling in.  She joins me more in the winter, and less in the summer, when she is outside more, but tonight it's cold, and she was in the bathroom with me.  She would put her paws up on the edge of the tub and meow, and make a half hearted attempt to leap up to her usual perch on the side of the tub, but we both knew she just didn't have it in her tonight. I think it's a balance issue more than a jumping issue.  She has no trouble leaping up on the bed or the couch or the table. But that narrow bathtub ledge is just a little too technical for her old lady decorum. She is sixteen years old, so it's no surprise that she is less agile than she used to be.  Hopefully she has a few more years of laying around the house in soft warm places and yelling at the other cats when they get out of line.

Bonus Day

Due to a scheduling snafu, I had an unexpected and very welcome day off from work today.

Even better, I was able to emerge from my recent state of inertia and actually accomplish a few things. In fact, I was so darn productive today it was downright frightening.  Not that anyone could tell by looking around here, but I worked my tail off today.

Here is what I did all day:

-Cleaned out the  new fridge for the first time ever.  It is amazing what can collect in a fridge in three months time.  I love love love my new fridge, but boy is it a bugger to clean.

-Baked cookies- oatmeal chocolate chip with whole wheat and coconut oil, so that we can call them breakfast.

-Whipped up a bunch of smoothies for breakfast and froze them for busy mornings.

-Cleaned up the kitchen mess.

-Did laundry- washed, dried folded AND put away.

-Cleaned out the kitchen junk drawer

-Cleaned off the stove and all the burners

-Delivered long-over due baby gifts to our two neighbors with new babies.

-Took Audrey to the doctor

-Went to Walmart (Scary)

-Took a ride in Mitch's new car- it's a very nice ride, and I  highly approve

-Took Will to work, and  successfully talked him through a very high drama, emotionally charged crisis which was that he got asked by a second girl to the Sadie's dance, and he had to tell her he couldn't go.  At my urging, he delivered flowers to her doorstep along with a note that says he owes her a dance.  She was happy, he is relieved, and Mom knows best.  What can I say? My son is a babe.

-Cooked dinner.

-Cleaned up the kitchen AGAIN after dinner.

Now, we are going to celebrate the beginning of Fall Break by watching Godzilla.  The kids are out of school for the next four days.  I have to go back to work tomorrow and Friday, but it sure was good to have today.

-

Comfy

 It's getting worse. Today I wore my pjs to McDonalds, and then to go walking with my neighbor tonight.  It is a sign of age, I'm sure.  I'm clean, I'm covered, what more do they want?  If I could only figure out a way to wear them to work, I would be all set.  The only problem is that Dan doesn't want to be seen in public with me now.

Colorful

I just went to the mall in my pajamas and flip flops, which I'm pretty sure caused my Grandma Paulson to roll over in her grave.  Grandma was of the mind that you didn't go anywhere without your nice conservative heels on and your lipstick applied.  But my pajamas are yellow with gray elephants on them, and I wore a gray jacket and maroon flip flops, so at least I was color coordinated.  The thing was, Duncan and Will worked for our neighbor today, rolling up sod, and they each earned $30, and Duncan has been saving for a while for a certain game, so it was imperative that we get to the mall  tonight, but I didn't know this until I already doing my Biggest Loser Weight Loss Yoga DVD in my pajamas.  And changing back into clothes would have been too much to ask.

Before all that happened, and while Will and Duncan and Dan were all hard at work, the girls and me picked up Grandma and Grandpa for a day on the town.

The town of Heber, that is. 

We had a lovely drive up the canyon, and stopped at Chick's Cafe on Main Street for lunch.  Chick's is where my dad would stop on his way up fishing on Strawberry, and we must have stopped there a few times on camping trips as well because I sure do remember it.

Then we headed over to  The Homestead and visited  The Crater.  How have I lived in Utah all my life and I never knew there was a giant hot springs at The Homestead that you can go swimming in?  We didn't swim today as we were ill prepared, but will for sure make another trip.  Audrey and Olivia even want to try scuba diving.  It is 65 feet deep, so it would be a great place to give it a try.

This is the view from the top of the hot spring.  There is a bridge built over the top of it so you can look down and see folks swimming way beneath your feet.  We also went underneath and inside to where the pool is.

Then we ventured over to the hotel grounds to see the Halloween displays set up.  Olivia was not sure she wanted to get very close to this scary thing.

And Audrey found her frog prince.

We took Provo Canyon home to see the fall colors, and wow what a show the mountains are putting on right now.  These pictures are not worth a thousand words, but in person, the view was spectacular.

Beautiful weather, good food, lovely scenery, and wonderful company.  What a great Saturday.

Getting our Nerd On! And a Surprise for Will!

Tonight was nerd bowling for Young Womens.  Audrey makes a pretty good nerd, I think.

We had fake zits and everything.  I wish we had gotten a shot of her rainbow socks and red converse shoes..

Also, tonight there was a momentous occasion at our house. 

Will got asked to the Sadie Hawkins dance!!

 This is how it happened: The doorbell rang at 9:15, and I opened it to find a strange young woman standing on my front porch holding a rubber lizard and a poster board.  She asked if my child was home, and since I saw the name "Will" on the poster, and the words "Sadie Hawkins",  I put two and two together pretty darn quick, and figured out what she was there for.  I rooted Will out of his bedroom (fortunately, he was still up) and told him he had a visitor upstairs.  He asked if he shoudl be afraid, and I said yes, very.

When he got upstairs, the girl said she was only the messenger, and proceeded to give him a cute little poem in an Indian accent about a lizard and going to the dance.  Then she handed him the lizard and the poster which said "Will, (picture of a whale) you go to Sadie Hawkins with me? We will have a turtley good time!"  and a Ninja Turtle puzzle with a note that said to put the puzzle together to find out who asked him.  He already had a pretty good idea who it was, but we put it together, and it was from Kelli, a friend from orchestra.

His first date! I'm way more excited than he is.  I think he is more excited than he is letting on.  Now we  have to come up with an intriguing way of answering her.  I'm thinking iguanas.

When the Dad's Away

Part of Dan's new job responsibility involves going to an interminably long meeting on Tuesday nights.  Long as in it is not unusual for this meeting to last until two in the morning long. Which kind of sucks, except that it also means that he usually gets Friday afternoons off to compensate.  Most Tuesday nights, he has been staying at my mom and dad's, to avoid having to avoid a turn around commute on Wednesday mornings. That means that, although we miss having Dad around on Tuesday  nights, we have chosen to make the best of it, and Tuesdays are kind of a party around here.  As much of a party as you can have on a school night anyway.

Tonight, we had a full on sleep-over, with a movie and treats and music videos.  Olivia is sleeping in my bed tonight, along with the dog.   So that should be fun.  We invited Audrey to sleep with us, but she chose the wiser path and stayed in her own bed.

We also did a practice run on Olivia's  zombie makeup.  Audrey is our resident make up artist. I am no good at makeup . My technique involves slathering a whole bunch of stuff on the kid's face three minutes before they walk out the door, and trusting in the dark night to make it look scary. So having time to practice is something new for us.

And here is a picture of a sunset.

Here is hoping that Halloween night is as nice as tonight was.

Please Stay Nine for More Than One Year

Tonight Olivia and I were lying on the couch together.  I was scratching her arm.  Then she says to me, " Oh, Mom, stop that. You are making me drool!"

I think that means she liked it.

I love that kid.  She wakes up in the morning chattering, chatters all through breakfast, getting dressed, driving to school, then stops long enough to kiss me goodbye.  Then as soon as she gets home, or I get home, whichever comes last, she starts in again.  The girl's mind goes about forty times faster than mine, and most of the time, I'm not really sure what she is talking about, because she is about three subjects ahead of where I left off,  but she is so cheerful that it's contagious.  So I smile and nod a lot, and just enjoy listening to her talk.

She tells me at least eleven times a day how much she loves me.  She kisses and hugs me every chance she gets, and I can't help noticing when she wraps her arms around me how tall she is getting.

I just really love that kid.