Halloween

I was sad that I couldn't go trick-or-treating with my kids on Halloween (because I was in the process of flying home), but happy that the ward Trunk-or-Treat was postponed to Thursday (because of the storm). 

Lainey was a butterfly for trunk-or-treat and a bee for actual Halloween trick-or-treating.

 

Liz went to a Halloween party while I was gone and had to wear her old witch costume from last year because I hadn't gotten around to getting her something new.  Luckily we found something at Walmart an hour before the trunk-or-treat so she didn't have to be a witch for the third year in a row.

Ellie was a lady bug.  So cute.  She's since worn the costume to dance class and I love it.

Drew manned our vehicle and passed out candy (those decorations looked a lot better on pinterest).

I followed Ellie around.  She pretty much just wanted to dance in front of the cars playing music (and eat up candy she'd dropped on the ground--yuck).

One lady was handing out balloons and not just any balloons--balloon creations!  So cool.  Needless to say her car was very popular.

While I was gone I missed attending a few holiday parties with the girlies.  I'm really grateful that Wendi stepped in a got the girls to their parties when Andrew wasn't able..

San Antonio

The weekend before Halloween/Hurricane Sandy, I spent a long weekend in Texas with my mother, sister, and three sisters-in-law (and new niece and nephew).  It was a lot fun and I got to know my SILs a lot better.  All three had some hilarious and illuminating stories to share about themselves (and my brothers).  Trip highlights:

I arrived first and had a couple hours to kill/read at the hotel and walk along the Riverwalk.  It was quite pleasant except for the sweltering heat.  Even late that night when we slipped out to dinner I felt the temperature was unbearable.  Below are little August and Hazel.

We planned to spend our first day at Sea World, but when we woke up it was raining (and freezing) so we headed to the outlet mall instead.  It was strip-mall style so going in between stores was unpleasant.  When we first arrived I jumped out the car and ran to an awning.  I couldn't figure out why Mom, Lisa, and Emily didn't follow.  I kept motioning to them to join me.  Later I found out that they couldn't figure out how to undo the child lock so while I was obliviously waiting under the awning, Mom had to run around in the rain and open all doors.  We never did figure how to undo it so all weekend we had to let Lisa and Emily out of the car.

 We made it to Sea World the next day.  It was really fun, but I'm glad that I was only paying for myself and not my whole family.  I'm not sure it would have been worth that much money.  I especially enjoyed the shows, at least one of which I saw during my previous visit so I enjoyed the nostalgia.  While there, I went on a roller coaster with Codi and Lisa.  I used to really like them, but I hadn't been on one since my High School graduation.  Long time.  Needless to say I was a bit nervous.  All during the ride I felt nervous and nauseous.  I guess I'm getting old.

The Alamo.  You pretty much have to see the Alamo if you go to San Antonio.  After we explored the mission/fort we headed over to a nearby mall to see the same Alamo IMax I watched when I visited with my family over twenty years ago (oh, and of course we shopped some more).

The Riverwalk. We enjoyed walking along it in the evening and Sunday morning Codi and I took a very informative boat tour (because we were the only ones willing to wake up for it).

On Sunday everyone headed home.  Everyone but me.  I was stranded thanks to Sandy so I drove home with my mom.  My wait wasn't too bad.  I was able to help my mom work on a quilt (not sew, I iron and pin), unpack boxes/organize some rooms, and scan pictures.  Poor Drew had to take some additional time off work to stay with the kids though.  Liz was out of school and our basement got some minor flooding, but otherwise we were fortunate.  We didn't even lose power.

I was supposed to get home Sunday night around midnight.  After two cancelled flights and numerous changes, I got home 3 a.m. Thursday morning. 

Pioneer Celebration

The Mt. Vernon Stake Pioneer Celebration was really impressive.  I cannot imagine the amount of work that went into it.  Outside was pretty much Western-themed: Blue Grass band, free carnival foods, balloon animals, roping demonstration, lasso station, pie eating contest, nail driving competition, and so on.  Inside was internationally-themed: crafts from around the world for the kiddos, endless potluck dishes (I made countless trips to these buffets), and to cap it all off, the evening ended with a dance performance.  I think the dancers representing India were my favorite.

 

The girls wore the pioneer bonnets from Lizzie's Little House on the Prairie party.  Thanks again Nana!  Lizzie was also there, also wore her bonnet, but I have no pictures of her because she spotted a friend within minutes of our arrival and after that we almost never saw her.

The girls searched for candy amongst the hay.

 

 They didn't find any candy so we went to the cotton candy and sno cone stations instead.

 Bishopric Cow Milking Contest.  There were some issues with the udders staying on which really just made the whole thing more hilarious.  Another issue was the pigs.  There were supposed to be greased pigs for the kids to chase.  Liz was really looking forward to it (to watch or participate, I'm not sure).  Anyway, turns out the pigs escaped their enclosure the night before the event (also the only night they were kept outside).  Later on I heard that some people in the stake felt that chasing greased pigs was inhumane and had complained so maybe it's for the best.

 Andrew's favorite part was the Blue Grass band.  Pretty much all he wanted to do was sit and listen to them.  I knew he liked a range of music, but I had no idea he liked Blue Grass so much.  I suppose after 13 years of marriage it's nice that he can still surprise me.

The last few days (or so) . . .

FRIDAY- After noticing that sometimes Lainey danced with Ellie in the corner of the classroom, the dance teacher said that Lainey was welcome to participate in dance class well.  She said something along the lines of, "then I won't be dancing out there all by myself" which actually happens quite a lot in a two-year-old class.  So, now till the classes end, Lainey gets to be in two dances classes each week, hers and Ellie's and hopefully Ellie will participate more with her sister by her side.

I can't say that Ellie participated in class any more last week with Lainey in the mix, but I at least felt like I was getting my money's worth.  Our other big moments that day were Lizzie's dental appointment and her school's fall fiesta.  Liz had to have some work on a back molar that had not formed properly (crumbly tooth) and since she gets so anxious with stuff like this we opted for laughing gas.  Good thing too because she was pretty nervous about the gas--started silently crying as soon as she got in the chair.  The gas made all the difference--I love that stuff--and it's fancier than when I was a kid because I'm pretty sure I never got to pick the scent of my laughing gas.

Sadly, the outdoor Fall Fiesta was met with a torrential down pour.  I was working the food table which was under a covered walkway, but Ellie was in an ergo on my back and as every now and then as people came through the line they'd say, "um, your baby is getting rained on."  Oops.

SATURDAY - AMCAP Conference (Association of Mormon Counselors and Psychotherapists--I'm not a member, but I love that I can go to these things).  Really wonderful.  I just wish they were longer or more often (honestly, I schedule around this event).  In the afternoon I went to see Lizzie play soccer for the first time this season (she only has two more games left).  See how happy she is to see me with my camera:

Mostly I dealt with these two so Drew could focus on coaching:

Lainey said she was "a massage chair."  She had Liz sit in her lap, then proceeded to pound on Lizzie's back.

We finished off Saturday at our Stake's pioneer celebration.  It was really something special.  More on that later. 

 

MONDAY - I took the girls to Burke Nursery's Pumpkin Playground.  It was fun, but smaller than I remember it (last time I went was with Lizzie's preschool class) and it's weekday price is the same as Cox Farms, $9.  When we first got there my friend, Megan, and I commented on the size and wondered if the kids would even last an hour.  Three hours later we had to drag them away.  Still, I think I'll head to Cox Farm on November 5th since Liz is out of school.  Best thing about the pumpkin playground was Ellie and Lainey went down the slides on their own!

 

TUESDAY - Today I took my first turn teaching Lainey's preschool class.  It went well.  I like the Mother Goose Curriculum so much more than the Joy School curriculum that we used last year.

Friday Field Trip: Oxon Hill Farm

We met some friends at the farm yesterday. It was very fun, very laid back.  There weren't many animals to look at, but it was sufficient for the little ones and they loved the long tractor ride.  I loved that it was all free.

Long Weekend

We really enjoyed last week's long weekend.  It was busy though (maybe a little too busy for Drew's taste).

Saturday morning we attended Lizzie's Girl Scout Junior's bridging ceremony.  I'm the troop co-leader, but some other mom's took care of the ceremony so all I had to do is show up which was nice (well, that's not counting the evening I spent attaching badges with my co-leader).  Anyway, I really liked the Junior Mints party favor.  Cute idea.

After our Girl Scout morning, we headed to Art on the Avenue in Del Ray.  Loved it.  Andrew and I found artwork we liked, but none that we felt we could afford.  There were some prints of DC painted in Van Gogh style.  We liked them but couldn't decide if they were cool or cheesy so we didn't purchase any.  The girls enjoyed kid's area. 

Lainey's highlight was her boat.

Liz really, really liked nailing bottle caps into this log.  We totally need one at home.

Ellie was pretty content just playing with a piece of twine that she found.

The little girls also enjoyed contributing to the sand drawing (Liz tried it out, but it wasn't for her). 

And of course, since we could hear a nearby band, Ellie finished the experience off with a little dancing.

The rest of Saturday and Sunday was spent watching General Conference, but we did get some time with family friends for lingering brunch and a late on Sunday.  I'm really excited about the new missionary ages and I'm inspired to work on my genealogy again.  Maybe I'll finally start helping out with the indexing.

Monday morning Drew and I neglected the girls and slept in until 11 a.m.  It was wonderful.  Then we reorganized the basement.  I LOVE doing stuff like that.  Drew's not so into it, but he was happy with the result (and my commitment to cut the kids' toy collection in half).

The girls played while we worked.  They especially liked creating a "hall of (bubble wrap) bubbles" (bubble wrap bubbles, that is).