This week...
...I turned 35! Happy Birthday to me. Jason got me a bouquet of flowers and new dishes. My friend Charith Bagley made me her decadent chocolate cupcakes. Yum! I also agreed to feed the missionaries. Come to find out, it was Elder Benson's birthday too. We celebrated together.
...Jason took the Cub Scouts and their families on a tour of the Sheriff's Office. Everyone thought it was a super cool adventure. He started outside and showed off his car.
Shelly Olsen, one of the clerks at the office, came back to help explain what she does and help out. It was so nice of her to do that even though she was off. She finger printed two fingers on every child so they could see what it felt like.
...Jason got stung by a wasp. I saw one flying around as were working on things outside, which was a little unusual for late October weather. Jason gave me a hard time that I wouldn't warn him about the wasp, but how random is it that the darn thing goes up his sleeve and stings him?
...my mom came in for a visit and my nephew Jordan surprised us with a visit just as we were going out, at lunch time. So my mom offered to take us to lunch. Here's our selfie at McDonald's.
These are Lainey's fashion choices for the day.
...Benjamin set the scriptures out for us to read before bed time. I thought it was cute that he placed them perfectly in a circle for us.
...Lainey's preschool class put on a Halloween presentation. They had several cute songs to sing and then they went trick-or-treating to all of the moms.
...Lainey made a trip to the dentist. She scared them all with her scary teeth. She was playing with them in the car and I thought it would be awesome if she played a trick on Amber. Lainey was willing to get the other hygienist, Amber, and the doctor. She was pretty great.
...Lainey and I went to Arby's with Grandma Zirker. A Beef -n- Cheddar, Yum!
...Jason ripped the carpet off the stairs and installed boards on either side. They're called skirts. He had to trim the stair treads a little, but it's a good time to do it as we're prepping for new carpet.
...Jason started on the built in for the family room. We found out that our carpet is on back order until the 15th. This project that he had decided to push back until the Spring, suddenly became doable.
This is the before of the family room.
He's cut the carpet back to make room for the bottom cupboards. He thrives on this stuff.
...we went trick-or-treating. We just went around our neighborhood and then called it a night. I'm glad that my kids aren't hard core candy collectors. Most of the time they're finished before I am. But then I never got to go as a kid, maybe it's my inner child trying to get those lost years back...
We stopped in at our neighbor's house. They were giving out full size candy bars, they had a fog machine creating great ambiance, and he was wearing the best bacon costume ever. (You can see said Bacon Man on the right. Lainey will call him that forever.)
Waiting at a door with friend Afton...Trick-or-Treat!
This was my favorite display of Halloween candy. First of a, very trusting that each kid would only take two. second of all, very clever.
Lego costume-Great in theory, not so much in execution. We should have cut the box shorter so she could walk better. We ended up lugging it around with us all night. Otherwise, she would have been left in the dust to waddle on her way.
We ended up carrying Lainey's witches hat as well. Lookin' good!
Checking out their spoils of the night
This week...
...Lainey got all dressed up for our day at home. This girl loves swim suits. She'll sneak off just about every day to switch into a swim suit. Duh, mom. Here she's sporting Emma's tennis shoes holding her snack. Perfect!
...Ben and Claire made a trip to the dentist...to see Amber! Amber let Claire select her own toothbrush.
I don't think I was worried at all about Claire's sugar intake at breakfast. Powdered sugar on pancakes is the best!
...We finished up the flooring in the dining room corner. It's so nice to be nearing the completion of the floor. You take for granted the sure surface that you walk on ever day until it isn't there. Everything was so dirty and dusty without a finished floor.
Jason also stained and prepped the top of the bench for the office. Awesome!
...Lainey cut open the bag of Hi-Chews that we bought to give to the Elders. (They were on sale at Costco.) What that girl won't do for a Hi-Chew!
We quickly invited Elders Benson and Coleman over so that they could take their Hi-Chews home.
...we finished the floor. Hooray! We love the grey color and the hand scraped effect. We definitely took a risk, but it paid off. It totally changes the look of the house.
Four little backpacks waiting in a row, on their new floor...
...Paul ran for fun in the school Fun Run. We went to cheer him on and run a lap or two. I contributed one lap and Lainey did two to help his class. Wahoo! Paul is getting a rubber band to mark the lap he completed. It was a nifty system. The teacher would just collect the rubberbands from each child and count them up for the total number of laps for the class.
...we visited Zae to take a look at her cemetery and magic nut gathering tool. The kids loved the cemetery. I couldn't get them to stay still. They wanted to be Zombies and dead people and running children more than they wanted to hold still. ;)
Now, the nut gatherer really is a bit of magic. We could pick up walnuts without killing our backs and in half the time as just using our hands. You know we bought one for my mom. She loved it!
...someone snapped a photo of me, probably Lainey. Well, her goes a day in the life of...Looks like a banana bread muffin kind of day. I'm wearing my work out and ceaing clothes. Got the drinking cups set out for the kids and my Samsung jambox playing some tunes. Let me tell you, that little guy is our best friend. We link it up to our phones and play music wherever we are throughout the house. We use it in lessons at church to amplify the sound when we use the laptop or tablet. Love it!
...we went to the trunk-or-treat. They held it during the day because there was a General Fireside that night. I loved it because we could actually see during the Trunk-or-Treat part.
This year's costumes were great. We had another Goodwill miracle where I found what I needed and got it for a good deal, considering I have five little costumes to produce. When I went into the store I had a list of what they wanted to be. I found the costumes to fit the list; I did not fit the list to the costumes. Except for Lainey's. I found a super cute witch's dress and hat, so I changed her mind. (Besides, there was no way I was going to find a pink Power Ranger suit at Goodwill. Ha!) I bought Benjamin's Ninja Turtle costume at Walmart because I couldn't find anything close and those are popular this year. Not a good chance of finding one at Goodwill. I found Claire's vampire dress and cape at Good will. That is exactly what she wanted to be. Emma decided to make her Lego block, more power to her. It turned out great! I found Paul's zombie pants and flannel/thermal at Goodwill. That is what h wanted to be. Score one for mom!
They loved the cake walk
This is why Jason doesn't have command of the camera very often.
Dad and Lainey passed out candy.
Brother Hale and Noreen help Emma get some candy in her bag. She couldn't move her arms very far.
Oh yeah! He got the good stuff.
Ben's happy!
Claire's on a mission. More candy!
This week...
...we all know about Benjamin's aversion to pictures by now. I take every one that I can get.
We were in Mattawa on Sunday the 12th for Jordan's mission report. The kids were having fun with Uncle Kirk's corn de-kernaling machine (totally made up word) after lunch.
...you can never have too many pictures of our country's flag. I was on my mission in Washington D.C. when 9-11 happened. At first, we didn't know anything had happened. It was our p-day and my companion, Hermana Albano, and I were washing our car. Elder Jones, the Senior Elder in charge, took our car cleanliness very seriously. The Senior couples were listening to and watching the news and once they told us of the planes crashing into the World Trade Center, I remembering telling Hermana Albano, who was from Chile, "This is big." We of course didn't see any footage to know just how big and tried to carry on with our night. We missed the phone call to stay at home that night and tried to knock a few doors. We could tell people were at home because their tv's were blaring and we could hear a lot of voices. But no one would come to the door. We ended up at a member's home for a little while and then went home. It was an interesting experience being on a mission when such an event as that occurred. It was a major upset in the world, but sheltered as we were from the media and focused as we were on the work of the Lord, we could testify that the things of God are constant in our lives when circumstances and events are not. If we stay true to the plan and the path, Heavenly Father will strengthen us in times of upheaval. Our flag reminds me of serving in our nation's capital, of brave men and women who went before us securing our freedoms, who fight abroad maintaining peace, and who fight at home in our communities to keep us safe.
This is our new flag on Jason's beautiful new flag pole.
...this is Lainey's Winco shopping footwear. Don't think those band aids aren't accessories. They totally are!
...we begin the process of putting down the floor. Tyson and Whitney came to help us get started. We were so grateful for their help.
We got the office done pretty quickly.
By the front door...
Down the hall...
A new fridge with a happy face...I'm happy. No more water leaking down the inside of the freezer causing ice build up everywhere. No more ice dispenser that crushes ice no matter what setting it's on and spits pieces of ice all over the floor. No more ice on the floor melting into puddles. Yes, we're glad for a new freezer.
Our continued progress...I caught Ben in this picture trying to sneak something from the cupboard.
Oh, wonderful chaos progress!
