Thursday, November 13, 2014

Oct 2014

Man things got crazy real fast after October. 

Halloween was fun here, but in a mellow way.  Lyra and Parker wanted to carve pumpkins the minute someone breathed the word Halloween.  We carved them probably before anyone else did.  And when ours were the moldiest, on Halloween, Parker proudly announced that Jack the pumpkin king was going to come for those ones first.  Ethan and Esther had a very different reaction to Halloween than my first two did.  

Parker, dressed as a dragon, had run excitedly through the streets chanting 'more candy more candy!' to himself while his squeaky shoes cheered him on.  Contrast to Ethan, now at that same age, would not put on a costume.  He would not even entertain the simple cape Chris tried to get him to wear.  Nope, he just wanted to wear his soccer ball shirt, and carry his own frog trick-or-treat bag.  And he did.  That thing got heavy, too.  You could tell it was more than he could handle when he started using his leg to heft it along.  No matter how heavy, though, he would not, under any circumstances, sit in the wagon or let someone help him.  That was for infants and the weak.

  Esther, on the other hand, went to one house, got a lollipop and sat blissfully in the wagon, sucking it down the rest of the night.  We offered her one of Lyra's smaller dress up dresses, but she had found this pirate shirt and had decided that it was the one for her.  Meh. it suited her.  She was a relentless tease and the strawberry shortcake dress just looked odd on her mischievous little self.  So there she was, a little pirate rolling along as she watched almost all of her siblings trudge from house to house.  Maybe she had a feeling that at the end of the night everyone would be sharing all that booty anyway.  She would have been right.  

I love that the kids share intuitively at this point.  Love it.  The first time we took Lyra and Parker trick or treating they misunderstood what was happening and after when we sat in our driveway to pass out our bowl of candy, Lyra and Parker started handing out the candy in their own bags too.  They still do that now.  I think it is Parker's favorite part.  Someone gave him a little maze with those little balls in it and he sat there explaining to a teenage girl how to use it; he didn't want her to misunderstand how to properly play.  Lyra was admittedly less into it this year.  She was very in to the next morning activity, though.  

I have a neighbor who suggested ways for kids to serve and one was picking up Halloween trash the next morning.  Everyone accidentally drops trash once it starts getting dark.  So the next morning we all got up, bundled up and set out.  Lyra thought it was an awesome competition, Parker found unused fireworks and a pretend grenade and Ethan dutifully put even the unopened street candy in the trash bag I was carrying.  He was not getting in the wagon; that was for babies.  Esther helped here and there, but again, mostly let Dad pull her along as she supervised and stayed warm. 

There you are, October in a nutshell, really the entire month is about Halloween.  Just like we only have November to celebrate Thanksgiving and December to celebrate Christmas.

I guess that gives you the kids for the month Chris can do his own bit.  I basically double with the kids.  oh, just two more things.  we were doing family home evening and asked the kids what the bread and water in church were for.  Lyra said 'oh! you mean the snack-rament?!'  Chris and I laughed for a long while over that one.  I asked Parker what he thought of Jesus and he said 'well, yeah, I like Jesus.  He's a pretty cool guy.'  Well said, Parker.  Well said.  

Oh, and Isaac is adorable.  He smiles, then talks, then smiles, then talks, then laughs, then talks and smiles.  It was a real shocker when he didn't one day.  I think we have teeth.  When I rubbed his lower gum line he, mid scream, started laughing and smiling.  He has giant round beautiful eyes, too.  

Chris has a lot going on right now.  He has made some big contributions at work and now they have him traveling all over.  That will teach him to perform well.  I am glad that he is finding success and that people are appreciating his significant contributions.  We miss him, though.  He is also interviewing here and there.  That is generating some travel, too.  While he is gone the kids spend all day writing him letters, wrapping home made presents for him and drawing pictures to tack to the walls to surprise him when he gets back.  Each night we review scriptures, say prayers and then haggle with mom over how many sleeps left till he gets home.  He really is the sunshine in our family.










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