Happy Halloween.....crazy days

So much has happened I feel like I don't have the time to write it all out. I hate that.

Sunday~

We drove down to Rancho Cucamonga to attend Ressa's baptism (my niece). She and Mitty are two days apart so we have double duty when it comes to these special occassions. We had a great time being with everyone. She wanted me to speak on the Holy Ghost so that is what I did. I had fun. We congregated back at April's house for a few hours with some good food....grinders and lots of fun. Grinders are always a hit with our family. For those of you out in the Riverside area... have you ever tried D'Elia's Grinders? It's a must. My dad has been going there since he was a kid and he kept the tradition going with all of us so we love it. Casey tried the grinders and said it was the best. I love to see it continue on. We had to be back for Monday so it was a day trip for me. We got home around 11:30 and we all went straight to bed. My head was pounding from a total migraine. It was pretty bad. I had to hold my mouth a couple of times on the drive because I thought I would throw up. That's just how those bad headaches affect me. It wasn't pretty. Thank goodness the pounding was gone the next morning. What a night of sleep will do. :D

Monday and Tuesday seem to be blurring together. I have just been busy baking treats for kids parties, cleaning house, washing clothes, attending Casey's performance at the Principal's Tea (very cute!!), attending Emily's Halloween party and parade, Todd's work Halloween lunch, hunting down items at stores for kids halloween costumes, and trying to remember everything I need to for Mitty's baptism this Saturday. It has been a bit crazy for my mind. I feel like it is on overdrive mode. It is pretty much! I was able to find the kids items at the Goodwill for their costumes. It was so great to pay $7.00 for mine, Casey's and Mitty's costumes. You can't beat that. Casey is a pirate, Mitty is a mummy (the sheet cost me $1.00), Emily is a black cat and Ellie is a USC cheerleader. I will have pictures to post tomorrow of them in their costumes. Last night I ripped strips out of the sheet, I cut around the bottoms of Casey's pants and shirt to make it more pirate like while Todd oversaw the kids carving their pumpkins. They pretty much did it themselves which was really nice. They did a great job!!!

Emily's party at school was really cute. Ellie was able to walk around in the parade in her costume. She loved it. Ellie was laughing at the kids and pretty much running to keep up with some of the boys that were playing. It was pretty cute. Emily held her hand around in the parade. I love that they have each other.

Today is finishing up Emily's costume, Emily's dance class, attend Casey's party, attend Mitty's party, order the food for the weekend, trick or treating through the village, and trunk or treating at church. The village here reminds me somewhat of Old Towne Orange and every year they put on this trick or treating event where about 2,000 kids come to trick or treat to all of the stores, restaurants and City Hall. It's mayhem but I'm sure we will attempt. It was really hard with the stroller last year. There are so many people you can't help but hit the persons feet in front of you. I hate that. Oh well, we will have a good time!

It looks like it is tiime to go get started for the day. I love Halloween but it will sure be nice to wake up tomorrow and say it's all good until next year. :D

Happy 8th Birthday Mitty!!

I have to get a post in before the day ends but don't have time to write much or load the pictures from today.

It was a success. We played games and I had prizes for the winners. Todd had today off so he participated in the fun. I will post more about the games later with pictures. Mitty told me and Todd tonight that it was the best day for him. That was music to my ears after he was a bit disappointed this morning that I didn't have his card laid out on the table. He said his class at school sang happy birthday and he liked that. He picked to go to CPK (California Pizza Kitchen). He was dying to go to a restaurant where they would sing to him. Our waitress said they don't sing but would get him a sundae. When she came back the sundae was huge and we all sang to him. He was happy! He came to me tonight and thanked me for such a fun day and said it was the best birthday. He gave me a hug and it was sweet. Ahhh, I felt so good! After dinner Casey said, "Mom, I just love when our family goes places all together." So sweet! I felt like I am doing something right :D.

I am so blessed to have MItty in our family. He is such a sweet boy and cares for his family. He loves his siblings and really wants to do good. I love him so much and am so happy to have him as my son. Thanks Mitty for loving us so much to come and be with our family forever! Happy Birthday Mit Mit!!

One Busy Day After Another

This week has been full of events so far. Some weeks it just doesn't seem to let up. A part of me feels exhausted from keeping up with the latest news on the horrible wildfires burning in So. Cal. I can't believe how bad it is and how many people have lost their homes. How devastating! I would much rather lose my home than a loved one. I just couldn't understand some of the people who weren't going to evacuate. Wouldn't you much rather know that your house burned than melt with it? I don't mean that to sound insensitive. I just don't know how anything else would matter more than a person's own life. I have never been in there shoes and don't know what crazy thing I may come up with in a moment of panic.
When I saw that it was starting to burn in Live Oak Canyon, I felt like it was hitting home. That was an area that was in our old Stake in Rancho Santa Margarita.

Yesterday was the ugliest "sky" day I have seen up here in nearly 2 years. It was so dingy and just blah. It is from all of the fires. I can't imagine being right in the thick of it. So scary!

Monday:
I took Em to go have her eyes checked. Yep, her pediatrician recommended that she have her eyes checked from an eye dr. since her little vision test came back 20/40. Since we have a history on both sides of people wearing glasses at a somewhat early age (the dr. claimed anything before high school is early), I had no problem having her checked. It was such a long visit but she was a trooper. She had to have her eyes dilated. She was so tough. She wasn't going to cry yet it was all over face. She did great until we had to wait in the room with all of the equipment. She just wasn't so sure of it and kept telling me that she just wanted to be home. It was so cute yet so sad because I could understand how all of that would look to a little 4 year old. We were there for an hour and a half and the consensus is.....she has to wear glasses. She was in heaven to wear the flimsy dark glasses the rest of the day because her pupils were dilated. She is really into this! I can only hope she thinks so once her real pair get here. She is farsighted and has an ever so slight astigmatism (I have astigmatism as do some of my sisters). I heard the girl say that one of her eyes was 20/60. I had no idea. The dr. said that kids don't usually tell you because they don't know any different. He said that she may just have to wear them for a time to correct her eyes. He was really pushing that it is important to get these things corrected by the time your child is 7. We go back in 4 months to see where she is at. In the meantime, I have been on a hunt to find her some glasses that are right for her little face.

TUESDAY:

Emily had preschool in the morning and so I went and had an oil change in the truck. That was overdue. I tell you...too many things to do and not enough time. I think we have all said that. After school, I ran Emily up to a few places to look at glasses. She was in heaven trying on such cutsie glasses. Her little face is so precious with glasses. I just have to giggle when she tries a pair on. We made it back just in time to pick up the boys from school. I hate not spending time at home with just the two girls while the boys are in school. I do need to enjoy the house with a little less noise and fuss each day. We were on homework duty...the boys have been great with their homework. I can't imagine if they were really needing much help. I would be stretched too thin. Todd had a late meeting in Bakersield yesterday afternoon and so didn't get home until 8:30... the night before it was after 7:30 and tonight he has Bishopric meetings. When he isn't around in the evenings that many days in a row it really wears on me. It is a grind for sure.

WEDNESDAY (Today): We ran to another eye shop this morning after I dropped off the boys at school. We had to be ready for her dance class so it was a bit of a race this morning having everyone dressed and ready to go so early. We stopped in Wal-Mart for a few items and then off to dance. Emily is doing so well in her class. She has the timing down with the steps. It is so cute to watch. She is really learning the steps and the terms for all of her moves. It's fun to hear her talk about the different ones here at home. She loves her class and I'm happy that she is having fun and learning a new thing. Her teacher is opening a new studio right by our house in January sometime....YEAH!! I will be so happy. The drive will be just a couple of minutes instead of 10-12 up the freeway. Todd met us at another eye shop to look at glasses during lunch. It is so hard taking Ellie to all of these shops. She is fussing and wanting out of the stroller, Emily is pulling every pair of kids glasses down and trying them on and I'm supposed to be making sure they fit and look right on her. We were able to make a decision on a pair. They are cute and Emily loves them and can't wait to wear them. That is what matters! We then took her to McDonalds and she and Todd had lunch. I grazed on some french fries and Franks red hot sauce. Ellie was pretty much exhausted by this point. She had had no nap and was fussy a bit. She was asleep the minute I hit the freeway.

On top of all of this they all have a runny nose and that tires me out. I have a stash of kleenex every where I go.

It is so nice to have the glasses finally picked out and off of my chest....now onto the next many items of business in the next 6 days...
~planning Mitty's baptism which is stressing me,
~getting Mitty's slacks tailored,
~preparing the house for many guests next week,
~trying to write out a talk for Ressa's baptism on Sunday in Rancho Cucamonga,
~trying to have something fun for Mitty on his b'day (Friday). I told him I just couldn't plan 2 big parties this close to each ~other.
~Make and package 22 cookies for Casey's class party
~Attend Casey's class performance for the Principal's Tea
~Provide drinks for Emily's class party and attend
~Ward Family Service Project in our town Saturday morning
~Decorate my trunk and provide candy for our wards Trunk or Treat
~Figure out costumes for my kids

And I can't forget the laundry that is always a chore. There is so many items of clothing it kills me.

I am so dang sleepy tonight and I'm staring at 3 loads of laundry to fold and a dishwasher that is full, ready to be put away and dirty dishes from dinner tonight. Oh, I am praying for a miracle to have the energy to finish it all in the next hour before it's my bedtime. I better go set the timer and get busy.

Our Little Gardening Project/ Week at a Glance/Pictures From Avila Barn

This is what me and my little helper did this morning. I have had an empty container sitting in my garage for 2 years begging to have some flowers put in. I don't know much about gardening but love to look at pretty colorful flowers. I took matters into my own hands and decided this would be fun for Emily to help me with while the boys were at school. Yesterday, I bought the flowers not knowing anything other than I liked the colors and I've seen Pansies in many containers such as the one that I have. I have to say it was very relaxing to sit out front in the warm sun with Emily and plant these flowers. Her little fingers just know what to do with all of the soil. She just copies and I love it. She is so capable of doing so many things. It amazes me sometimes. (While I'm thinking of her I have to document her abilities...the other day she came to me and told me that she had transferred all of the clothes from the washer into the dryer and needed the "sheet" to put in the dryer. The dryer sheets :D. She has only watched me a thousand times do the washing routine. She really had put all of the clothes into the dryer. Wow! She then had emptied my entire hamper and had brought all of the clothes out to the washer and said she wanted to put these in. So cute. The pile was bigger than she is. I started the water, she put in the soap and wanted to put all of the clothes in and did. She is quite a helper around here.

I am wanting to go get another container and plant some more. This could be my new thing. While Ellie takes a nap Em and I can plant and make things pretty. Who doesn't love to see a pot of some pretty flowers on the porch. I wish I had my own house to do what I wanted in the yard. That is the bummer about renting. I'm sure our landlords would let me change some stuff. They are very nice and laid back.

I sure hope our flowers don't die on me. I hate when I kill plants/flowers. I am not really good with keeping things alive. We had fun doing it and I can't wait for another gardening project.

I can't belive the week is over. Where does the time go?? I have been busy with many different appointments....it seems crazy how they all landed in one week. Thank goodness for the receptionists that call and remind of us our appointements. I would have never remembered Emily's first dentist appt. I made it months ago and it never made it to the newest calendar. She did great and was such a big girl. My kids love the dentist. It's wonderful. We have had such great experiences with doctors and dentists that I feel blessed! She was so happy to get her own toothbrush, dental floss and toy. The things that make kids happy :D.

Emily and Ellie both had their routine visits with our pediatricain this week. Both are doing really well. Emily had a vision/hearing test and did well. The dr. wants her to go see an opthomologist to have a full eye exam. Her eyes were 20/40. He said that for children 20/30 is normal and 20/50-60 he would recommend them out to an eye dr. Since she is on the border he wants her to be checked further. We just happen to have an opthamologist in our ward who saw Todd this week for an exam. That is another story. Emily is set for Monday morning to have a full eye exam. We'll see what he tells us.

My dr. called and is referring me out to a urologist to be checked further. The soonest I can get in is the middle of Nov., ugh. I can't wait for some explanation or answers as to why.

Todd went in to have his eyes checked this week because they have really been bothering him. He sees purple when he blinks, has blurry areas and just can't read that well. He is fast approaching 40 or is it 60? haha I can say that because he would be laughing along with me. The dr. found he has blistering on his retina and now something else that I can't remember. The dr. said he sees that most often in people with Type A personality. Todd isn't Type A...his dad is. The funniest thing was the dr. told him to go to the drug store and buy a pair of +1 reading glasses. This is classic for Todd. I can't see him going to the store and buying the little reading glasses. I'm sure I will have to surprise him with a pair.

I'm happy it's Friday and look forward to a nice weekend. The weather has been warm (86 degrees yesterday). It is beautiful outside. I can't complain..it just means less heating for us to pay for. I looked at the weather forecast and it shows it to be 80 degrees at least 3 days next week. That is strange for up here. By now, we are normally wearing warmer clothes. It's nice to still be in skirts and flip flops.

I'm off to check off more items on the list....Costco, lunch, wash clothes, tidy up and entertain the girls. That can be a workout.

Pictures from Avila Barn last weekend...

Recap of the Weekend..........

It turned out that Todd had to work most of Friday. The nice thing was that he took Emily to work with him until lunch time. She had her backpack all loaded up with snacks, crayons, coloring books,etc. She was ready to go and so excited to be going to dad's work.

I was then able to go to my dr. appt with just Ellie. That's another story that is frustrating....not to be graphic or give too much info. but for my own record it was a 3 month check up on the whole "blood in the urine" ordeal I went through back in July. My sample came back with large amounts of blood again. Ugh!! I do have very small kidney stones (I learned of those when I had the CT scan) that I could be passing causing the blood to be there but she isn't messing around. She even said that blood can show up just having stones in my kidney's. Anyway, she will call me today or Wednesday to let me know what the results of the microscopic test were. Once she knows the results she will be sending me on to a urologist. It is so frustrating not knowing why the blood is there. Oh well, I can't do anything about it so on to the next item on the checklist.

I did meet Todd at Loco for lunch with the girls and a friend. It's become our standard every other friday for lunch to go to Loco. Todd then had to go back and finish up more work but was done early. Our Friday night was low key. Todd made the kids dinner while I worked out.

Saturday was a beautiful day. It rained on Friday so the sky and hills were just gorgeous. It was very warm and so we decided it was a great day to take dad to the Barn. The kids have wanted to take him to go through the maze with. Todd had never been during this time of year when all of the pumpkins and hay are set up. We kept saying it was like Disneyland. There were so many people and lines for all of the produce, ice cream, hay rides etc. It was packed. I had packed the kids lunch so we sat at a table and ate. The kids were dying to get to the maze. We did the maze and it was awful. The space was so narrow and there were so many dead ends I was feeling trapped. It was hot and damp under this tarp that covered the entire maze. Todd tried it once but couldn't make it back in. The kids were begging to go back in to figure out the maze. How could I leave them hanging and not figure it out. I took them back in and we managed to figure it out. I was so dang hot and so happy to see the end. We ended up getting a bunch of veggies/fruit and the kids got ice cream. It was quite a day at the Barn. I think we all left there happy. It was a fun day together.

Todd and I watched the SC game on Tivo later that night. It was fun and even more fun to watch them win.

Sunday was a full day. We went to church and the kids did pretty well for me. Ellie is doing better. I didn't even have to go out once. It's during SS and RS that I pretty much camp out in the foyer area. It's too stressful for me to be in class trying to keep her busy and quiet. It's not worth it. I will leave church with a migraine every time when I try too hard. I made up the kids lunch and got it all cleaned up to pretty much go back in and start dinner. I knew Todd would be home around 4:00 and would be starving! He has to be there at 7:00am so it's a long day at the bldg. for him. We ate together once he got home and then he had to continue working on his talk for the fireside he was speaking at last night for the youth. He said it went just fine. I know he did a great job. He has no problem getting up and talking.

This week is going to be busy again. Todd has 4 nights of church meetings including last night. I have cookies to take for a funeral, bills to do, kids dr.'s appts., Todd's eye appt., and a birthday party for MItty to go to. I have Mitty's baptism to finish up in my head. I want to get the program done and food decided on. Once that is finalized in my head I think I can relax some. If any of you have any ideas for food or some tips that have worked please tell me.

I have photos of the weekend but the camera isn't close so those will follow.

Pumpkin Pancakes and more...

I have been in such a pumpkin mood this month...it's great. I seem to be on a quest to use pumpkin in anything that sounds good. I had some left over pumpkin that I used to make bread the other day and so last night I made pumpkin pancakes. It sounded so dang good and turned out to be so good. The kids were loving them. It was pretty much pumpkin pie pancakes. I did the regular pancake recipe using bisquick but added a little more milk and used one egg white. The pumpkin mixture was just about 1/2 c. of pumpkin with about 2 tbsp. of sugar and then some cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Of course not too much of the cloves and nutmeg. Just make it taste good. I put that mixture in with the other and mixed it up. I made real whipped cream and topped the pancakes with that and some syrup. It was very "fall" around here. I love the smell, taste and everything about it.

I couldn't stop there and decided to use the rest of the pumpkin in a pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe. I found a good one. They turned out really tasty! Todd is so funny....he doesn't like pumpkin pie but loves pumpkin bread and then wasn't real big on pumpkin with the cookies. It's been quite the pumpkin fest around here. We'll see what's next....

I'm happy it's the end of the week again. Oh, the weekend..... Todd has tomorrow off which is always nice and no big plans for the weekend. He is in charge of the seminary breakfast tomorrow morning so he has to be up at the crack o' dawn with me.

The last couple of mornings once I get back from working out I have opened up the Ensign to read some good articles. It is so nice to sit and read such uplifting material first thing in the morning. What better way to start my day than with wonderful promises and words of encouragement. Ellie is crying and this mom needs to sit with her. :D

Our Trip to Avila Barn

I forgot to tell about our cookie making on Saturday. I let the kids make the cookies and measure out all of the ingredients by themselves. Of course I was close by to supervise. It was really fun. You can see the table that Casey and MItty brought in. It worked perfectly because it was just the right heighth for them to cook. Casey put everything that we would need out on the table. He knew everything we would need without me telling him. Way to go Caser. That's my boy! The cookies were excellent and the kids had a blast!! They love to help with baking in the kitchen.

Yesterday the boys had a minimum day and so were out early and looking for something to do. I told them that if they just massaged my feet and arms for a bit I would take them to the Barn and they could pick out some treats. They were johnny on it and did such a good job. Casey has just the right touch for massaging. And his hands are warm.

We were up and off to Avila Barn. It was in full swing with pumpkins galore and the tractor rides to the pumpkin patch, goats and many other animals to see and of course the sweet shoppe. The kids played around on the bails of hay that were set up for a maze. I have a few shots of the boys jumping. The kids loved to go and look at all of the animals...peacocks, goats, ponies, cows, ostrich, a donkey, chickens, and I'm sure a few more that I have forgotten. After about an hour of playing around they decided they were ready to go pick out their treat. They have all kinds of different flavors of fudge, caramel apples, taffy, ice cream cones, and fancy packaged candy that looked to die for. The kids decided to each fill their own bags of different flavored taffy. The rootbeer float, caramel swirl, and chocolate chip cookie dough flavors were a knock out. I may be going back today. :D Literally, we might be. I enjoyed my time with the kids hanging out there where they can't hurt anything. They have an awesome farmers market. The fruits and veggies look so good and are cheaper than at the store. Gotta love that. Big Fuji apples are $1.25/lb. At the grocery store I pay 1.79 -1.99/lb. Fuji's are about the only apple I will eat. I'm pretty much guaranteed every time to have a crispy, sweet apple. I am a picky apple eater.



The poor cow wouldn't stop licking his mouth because there were a hundred flies buzzing around it. I can't imagine that awful feeling.


The kids posing for a shot with the huge mountain of pumpkins. Casey and his "wax lips". :D





Here is MItch jumping from bail to bail on the small maze. It entertained them for awhile.


And Casey doing the same....a couple of times that he did this same jump he landed on his stomach hard. A couple of people standing close by were watching and both went, "owwwwww" as they saw him land. He was ok and just got up and kept going. It did look painful but maybe not to young blood.



The weather was so beautiful here yesterday that I tried to capture it while driving. Not bad for having the windows up and driving at the same time on the freeway. It was a fun day with the kids. I enjoyed my time out at the Barn. We then came home to jump rope with each other for an hour. That is a workout. I was sweating.

We had FHE last night and played a little game with candy. I would read and then dad would ask questions about what I read. Whoever was listening and got the right answer would pick out of the candy bowl. It was so funny because our first question was, "What happens right after we are baptized?" ( I had just read a page about how we receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost). Emily's hand went up and she was so anxious to answer (really to get a piece of candy) and so we called on her and she said ,"You go home." We all just busted up laughing. Emily was cracking up herself. She has a cute sense of humor that keeps us laughing. It was a fun game! The kids seem to listen more than I think they do. Todd read the scriptures as usual in the hall while everyone is laying down in their beds. My kids wouldn't stay still if they were outside of their beds. We have learned that. It's too much of a fight to try and get them to be still at 7:45 and listen to scriptures while sitting on the couch. Each child in their bed works best for us. It was a good day!!

Another Week Has Passed.....

I don't have time to download some pictures to make my post more fun to read. I will later. I can't believe it has been another week and I haven't posted. There seems to be so much to do and if I want to go to bed at a decent time than I have to say no to the blog. I realize that I don't get enough sleep. It may be a coincedence but I notice that my back doesn't hurt and feel tight in the morning only on Saturday mornings. My conclusion is that during the week the alarm goes off at 4:53 and I'm up and getting dressed to go workout. I'm only getting about 6 hours of sleep during the weeknights. The gym doesn't open until 8am on Saturday and so I don't set my alarm and wake up about 7:10....which means I get closer to 8 hours of sleep. Just a little observation that I have noticed. I am trying to go to bed earlier. Todd has really been helping me with dishes and clean up every night so I'm not slaving for an hour getting everything cleaned and wiped down, straightened and ready for the next morning. Thanks Todd!! It has lightened my load for sure :D.

These catch up posts seem to get to be too long because I feel like I have to document all that went on. I will shorten it up. I did have parent/teacher conferences last week for the boys. The boys are such good kids and good students that I actually enjoy going to talk with their teachers. I am so grateful that the boys can do so much and don't require so much of my help with all of their homework. I don't know how I would do it around here with everyone if that was the case. The boys are really into reading for a program that our school calls "Readers Are Leaders". Mitch is reading Trumpet of the Swan right now and comes home to spend a good 30-40 minutes reading his book. He loves to put such a high number of pages down on his reading sheet. I don't remember myself ever wanting to sit and read books at his age. I love that he is so into it. Casey is right behind him and wants to read to put his list down too. After so many pages read you get a class party, or a t-shirt, and some other items exciting to a child. I'm so proud of how the boys work so diligently on thier homework. They take it seriously and I can only hope it stays that way. Todd told Mitch at one point some months ago that if he works really hard through school and gets good grades he will be able to pretty much pick the college he wants to go to. That has stuck because Mitch tells me every week when he gets 100% on his spelling tests or other ones that he is getting good grades so that he can pick his college. Way to go Mitty!! Keep up that attitude. How cute is that.

I enjoyed Conference Weekend and loved the break at home. Conference was excellent as always and i enjoyed many good talks that I can't wait to read again when the Ensign comes out. We watched some of the shows in between Conference yesterday and Casey and Emily got so into the Good Samaritan story that Casey told me later that his eyes watered up a bit when he watched it. How sweet. I loved the opportunity to talk more about that with Casey and what he was feeling. Casey gets very serious and can talk so matter of factly about different gospel principles. I love it. I realize all of the information we as parents give our children in regards to the gospel is like adding more and more shields to their armor to fight off the adversary throughout their lives.

Today is beautiful and the kids have a minimum day again. We will definitely find somewhere to enjoy outside this afternoon. Maybe the bike trail or the farm to feed the animals. I'm off to pick up around the house and wash up some morning dishes.

SPT - Fall Is In The Air

I love this time of year. The weather starts to change...although it is much warmer today. This morning at 5:15 the car read 65 degrees. It is normally around 52-55 degrees at that time. Anyway, it is a warm day but beautiful of course on the coast. I love the weather where I live. It is sure to cool down pretty soon. By Halloween it has cooled down for sure.

This time of year gets the blood flowing as the excitement builds for such fun holidays and great tasting food/desserts. I love to bake so this time of year is probably my favorite for that kind of thing. I was so excited to do this post that I had to bake a pumpkin pie so that I would be smelling those wonderful spices all day. It's cooking right now as I type. My kids will be so happy to have a pie ready for them. I have never made a pumpkin pie so we'll see. I don't love the cold weather but enjoy the colors and the fall feel in the air. I'm also not a hot drinker kind of girl. Hot drinks just make me sweat no matter what the weather is like and I don't love to sweat unless I'm working out. On the other hand, my family loves hot chocolate at this time of year...at least when it starts to cool off. The deal around here during the winter months is that when it rains we make hot chocolate. Todd loves his bowl of hot chocolate on cool nights. Literally a bowl. I don't know how he drinks so much but he enjoys every last sip.

I caved and bought a bag of corn candy (that is what I call candy corn) a couple of weeks ago. There is still some in the jar. I was very surprised with myself that I haven't been devouring the jar but it isn't what it used to be to me. What is happening to me?? I could eat so many in times passed. Oh well, maybe it's because I know the headache I will have after eating to many. Oh, do I know that all too well. Anyway, I really enjoy this time of year. It means many gatherings together as a family and a time full of traditions. :D

It's Been Awhile.....Catch Up

Emily was so excited to wear this shirt and her new shoes. I had to take a picture because she looked so dang cute. I love brown and pink together.


She wanted a picture taken of her in her pink dance outfit. She is so cute and just loves the dance class. She did so great last week and listened so well to Miss Kathy. I will have to get a picture of her during the class. This is really fun for me too. I have waited a long time to have my own little girl take a ballet/tap class. I am not one of those parents who will push her into something just because I like it. That's a big waste of money for me.

Anyway, Todd had Friday off so that makes for a nice long weekend. I had my teeth cleaned on Friday...6 months goes by really fast. I couldn't believe I was having to go back already for another cleaning. When I got back Todd was organizing the computer area and getting rid of junk. Ahhhhh! I love when he organizes because he can do it so well. Thanks Todd! We then met some friends for lunch at Taco Loco. I haven't been there for such a long time. The tostada is always so good. After lunch we ran to Costco for a quick trip to get some items before we had to pick up the boys. We were late leaving Costco and so we were late picking up the boys. Todd had given Casey the walkie talkie so when he got out of school he and MItty could talk to us. It was great connecting with them while on the freeway. It's almost as good as a phone....not really. At least we had some communication to tell them we were running late.

Friday night was a going away party for a lady and her kids in our ward down at the beach. I love that we can drive 4 miles or so and be right at the beach. It was such a nice night. We brought some snacks and our chairs and they provided a great fire. It was fun! The kids had a great time running all over the sand. Todd took them down to the water and can you believe they all came back dry? I was shocked. We stayed for a couple of hours and then headed home.

Saturday we ran some errands...Target and a furniture store and then relaxed at home that evening. I felt bad that I didn't make it to the RS Women's Broadcast. It was a bit rough at home during that hour and I just decided to stay home. I look forward to reading it although it's never the same as being there. I went last year and really enjoyed it. I won't miss next year. I really look forward to any counsel that is for my ears to hear.

Sunday was a nice day. Mitch had to give a talk in Primary and he did a great job. He was a bit nervous but read the entire talk and did great. He wanted Todd standing next to the podium so of course Todd was right there to give support. It was funny because Todd was sitting in a chair close by but Mitty wanted him standing close by instead. I was proud of Mitty. He agreed earlier in the week by saying, "Sure, I'll give a talk." He was acting so grown up about it...I love it.

I made pork tenderloin, salad and baked potatoes for dinner which turned out just wonderful. My family loves that meal!! The kids devour it. It is a meal with the least preparation involved...I love it for Sundays.

Today the kids had a minimum day...teacher conference time. I really have to document how nice it has been this afternoon. The kids have been great. The kids came home, watched Bridge to Terabithia (for the 100th time), played with play-doh, did their homework, had some ice cream (I'm onto Rainbow Sherbet..it's only 2.5 points for a 1/2 cup) and it's only 3:45. I love that. I didn't even have to ask them to do any of it. This is a good sign. Casey even had all of the play-doh picked up and the little bits on the floor swept up once they were done. I love when they pick up after themselves without me even having to ask. Ellie is down for a nap so it looks like it's time to finish up about 3 more loads of laundry.

Other than the day to day recap all is well at our place. I am planning MItty's baptism and just sent out the invitations today. I wish I were more creative when it comes to invitations and things like that but really I am just happy that they are done and sent and off of my to do list. Todd reassured me that no one is caring what they look like. As long as they have the date and know where to go they are good to go. That is such a man's way of looking at things. I kind of like it sometimes! I don't like projects looming over me and taking so long to finish. Not my thing.

I'm off to finish up straightening the house, preparing dinner and planning FHE. We have been focusing a lot on baptism for the last many FHE. I just want Mitch to feel prepared and know exactly what Baptism is all about. He seems ready and keeps telling me he wishes it was sooner. So cute. This is such a big thing for him. He is excited!