Ward Trunk-or-Treat and pumpkins

 Last Friday was our ward trunk-or-treat. B was so excited to do the donut thing. He really wanted M and K to do it with him. But they absolutely refused. So, he called for backup. B fought a good fight, but in the end C won it. Or maybe it was B in black. I can't be certain. One of them used their hands at the end and was unofficially disqualified. All in all it was a good match up.

 Making a spiderweb is the one thing that M said she would do. She didn't want to play any of the games or get her face painted. The only way she would do it is if I helped her hold the bottle of glue. At least she did something and she actually talked to the girl when she was asked what color glitter she wanted on her web!

 Thankfully he said he needed me to help him too. I can only imagine where the glue would have gone if he had done it by himself. I wish he had kept his little policeman hat on. It was so cute! But he said that it was really itchy. That would have been awesome if I had thought to take pictures of them getting ready to go out to do the trunk-or-treat. But, I just thought of it. So, you'll have to use your imagination!

 We don't carve pumpkins at our house. It smells disgusting and the feeling of the guts on the inside is even more disgusting. We color them instead. No one knows what K colored. It changes every time you ask him, but he loved coloring and breaking the stem off the top of everyone's pumpkin.

 When M concentrates, she sticks her tongue out. I think it's so cute! She drew a flower and put glitter on it. Then she drew a yellow sun which to her great surprise and disappointment, didn't show up on her pumpkin. Then she wrote a love note on the top around the stem. Before we started B told M and K that they either needed to put on jammies or a shirt they didn't care about because the markers could ruin their clothes. M stood there for a minute and then she said,"I know what to wear. Mommy can I wear one of your shirt's?!"

 In my head I had a picture of a black widow that would look so awesome on a pumpkin. The problem is that very rarely do the things in my mind translate to whatever I am doing. I drew the body of the spider way too big. So when you look at my pumpkin, you can't see the legs of the spider. Instead you see a big grayish orangeish dot with a pink hour glass because there was no red. So you stand there scratching your head trying to figure out what it could be. Oh well, there's always next year.

 Then there's the artist of the family. Last year he drew a skier and an alligator. This year he drew Iron man and a boat. What do his pictures look like you ask? Iron man and a boat. Someday I hope to be able to have my pumpkin turn out like his.

All done! When we  put K's pumpkin on his lap he said,"hurry and take the picture! My pumpkin is hurting my legs!" His pumpkin is the biggest and the heaviest, so I'm glad he smiled for the picture. I hope coloring our pumpkins will be something they like to do for a long time.

Cute kids

Ya know when you feel like life is just normal and you have nothing to report? That's how our life has been lately. We do the same things every day. Daddy has school, M has school, K and I just hang out. The kiddos are excited for Halloween. Clearly, since M is wearing her witch hat while eating breakfast. Let's see, what else has been happening? They did go to the dentist the other day. Neither of them have cavities! That's good news. Truly, our lives are the same day in and day out. Not that I'm complaining, it's nice to know what's going to happen every day. We are all excited for the Holidays and the cooler weather that comes with them. The only bummer is that B has to do a 24 hour call shift on Thanksgiving. So, he'll have to stay at the hospital all day. Other than that, we're livin' the dream!

Where's K?

Last night when I went to check on the offspring before I went to bed I almost had a heart attack. When I first walked in I thought that K was under his blanket because there was a human sized bump. I went to pull the blanket back so that he could have enough air. But, to my great astonishment, he wasn't there. It was just stuffed animals. I looked up in M's bed since he loves to sleep with her. But, he wasn't there either. Before bed he had asked if he could sleep in the closet, so I checked there. But he wasn't there either. I started to think that the stuffed animals had been placed under the covers intentionally so that he could make a run for it. I stood there in the middle of their room totally baffled, until I thought to look under the bed.

                                                                      Crazy kid!

Budding athlete's

In between sessions of conference yesterday our children were going totally nuts. They needed to get out some pent-up energy. The problem is we live in a horrible, awful, hot, humid climate. So the thought of taking them outside was enough to make one start sweating. B had this great idea to play catch. But since it was way too humid outside, he said they could play catch inside. That would have been a great idea if they were using a softer ball. Nope, they were using a baseball. As the ball kept hitting things that had great potential to shatter, he decided that maybe they should suck it up and go outside. He didn't want to play on the grass because it was wet, so they played on the patio instead. They all had a great time. Both M and K loved it when B taught them how to lift up one leg when they throw the ball. I am happy to report that no toes got smashed by the ball, there was no broken glass and they got out enough energy that they sat still through the opening song and prayer of the second session!

Woes of road debris

As K and I were driving home from taking M to school, I saw something in the road up ahead. I then saw that there were two of these somethings in the road. I couldn't tell what they were until they were right in front of us. There lying in the road were two really big chunks of asphalt. I was able to miss the first one, but not the second one. As soon as we hit it I could feel the tire go flat.

 Thankfully we were right next to a shopping center and we were able to pull in there and call B to see if he was back from running yet so that he could come rescue us. Just the other day K asked about tires on cars and how you take them off. I told him how and that daddy can take tires off, but so can I. He didn't believe me that I could do it too. I thought that I would be able to prove to him today that I can in fact change a tire. But, because I am inherently lazy I decided to just let B do it. I'm so glad that I did!

 We both thought that changing the tire would be fast and easy. Clearly, the things were on tighter than we thought. He tried for quite awhile. K kept telling us that we could go to the car place that was right across the parking lot and get their big tools to get the tire off. I told him they can't bring their big tools to us and we couldn't drive on the flat tire to get to the tools. He didn't get it, so we did something that he would understand. We said a prayer asking for help. You would think that we would have done that first rather than waiting until the car fell off the jack once and B's hands were so red and sore that he could hardly hold the key thing. At least we finally prayed right?! Anyway, as soon as we finished the prayer he got one of the bolt things loose. Then I remembered that there was a blanket in the trunk that maybe he could hold onto to protect his hands a little.

 Once all the bolt things were loose, K wanted to help unscrew them so the tire could come off. I totally love this picture!

Now why our spare tire is orange is a mystery to us. But at least B was able to get the old one off with a little heavenly help and get the spare on. We had so many tender mercies this morning with our tire incident. First, when it happened I was on the road we live off of and right next to a place I could pull in to. K would have hated it if we were on a busy road because I wouldn't have let him get out to help. He loves all things cars. So he was in heaven helping. Next, today is the first day in seven weeks that B didn't have to be at the hospital in the morning. So he was home and could come save us. Seeing how hard it was for him to take the tire off made me realize that although I do have brute strength, I may have had a hard time getting the tire off. I don't know if most people even noticed, but this morning was cloudy. So as B was fighting with the bolt things, the sun wasn't beating down on him. We were able to drive across the parking lot and get new tires and since it was just after opening time, we didn't have to wait all day. Yay for answered prayers, tender mercies and the boys in my life!

Perks of free health care

No co-pays, easy to make an appointment and the nurse really will return your calls the same day. All of that sounds pretty amazing if you ask me. Free health care isn't as bad as I thought it would be! When B told me that he wanted to be a nurse I knew that his skills would come in handy. I am so glad that I'm not the only one that takes advantage of the free care he offers. My darling friend M needed to have her stitches taken out. Going back to the Dr. seemed like such a pain. Her husband is out of town thanks to this wonderful school that both of these skilled nurses attend, that rejoices in sending husbands and father's away for weeks at a time. Anyway, since her husband wasn't available to remove the stitches, B said he would do it. Before he started I asked M if she needed a hand to hold. I think I was more nervous than she was. She said she was fine. She did great! No tears or anything! I was so proud of her. I couldn't stay in the same room for too long, seeing the way the stitches pulled her skin made me more than a little queasy. Removing stitches today, putting people under in their homes so they can stay there for surgery tomorrow! The way I see it, the sky's the limit here!