11.2.14

What a week!  Tuesday was Nick's birthday.  He would have been 39.  I worked for an hour at the school and Annelise had her first voice lesson with a new teacher.  I think she really liked it and is excited to be having lessons again.  We had Papa Murphy's pizza and even made a stop at the cemetery.  Annelise got some flowers to put by his grave.  Then Thomas had Young Men's.  So we didn't do a lot, but it was a good day.  I sure appreciated receiving a few thoughts and impressions and stories about Nick.

Wednesday I worked all morning at the school.  It went well.  I got to talk with a lady whose daughter died on Monday night.  Nicole was 3 years old and had fought cancer for two and a half years.  We had a good talk and it sure put things into perspective for me.  I'm so grateful for all my blessings.

Thursday I put the kids to work.  I knew there was a storm coming and that we wouldn't get anything done on Halloween, so Thursday was the day it had to happen.  For several hours we moved and re-stacked wood and worked on clearing off our garden.  Annelise doesn't like the spiders that get in the wood.  (What?!?)  She sure didn't act happy about working with us out there and even asked how much longer she had to work.  I gave her an estimate (WAY off...) and she kept working until we were done.  Until it got too dark to see.  Thomas and Christopher were troopers too, working hard and getting a lot done.  When we returned to the house, after 7:00, with nothing planned for dinner and being out of the fresh fruits the kids like to take for lunches, I headed to the grocery store.  When I returned home, I was tired and hungry.  Annelise kept telling me what a great Mom I am (after making you work all afternoon?) and how beautiful I am (can you not see the stress zits on my face?) and thanks for making dinner  (it's frozen burritos, sweetie...) and thanks for buying dinner for us (more like it...) and how much she loves me.  What a sweet heart.  I love my kids!

Friday was Halloween.  So after doing all that work in the yard on Thursday, I stayed up late trying to finish up Thomas's costume.  We got the quiver made and everything put together.  Maybe not exactly like he wanted it, but close enough!  I think it turned out great!  He was Oliver Queen from the TV show Arrow.  Christopher was the Lobster Bisque guy from Studio C, and Annelise was a demigod from The Lightning Thief.  I think they are pretty cute kids! 

We went to the ward trunk-or-treat, then Annelise went with her friend, Christopher went with his friend, and I took Thomas and three other kids to a party out in the middle of nowhere.  It was a great day and I think the kids all had fun.

Saturday we woke up late but went anyway to the ward service project of raking up leaves.  The kids went to work raking and I had a nice chat with a friend.  She came over after the lunch and helped us roll up hoses and put away the toys on the lawn as it started to rain.  Thank goodness for friends.  Then the kids and I (mostly Anna...) cut up the 40 lbs. of chicken I had purchased.  We bottled about half of it and bagged the rest and froze it.  We watched some fun movies while we worked and Thomas and Christopher had fun watching with us too.

Today we practiced for the primary program next week.  It was a bit rough.  I thought it looked like the kids were hardly singing, but listeners in the back said they sounded great.  I hoping that the combination of Halloween candy and the time change had something to do with what happened today and that things will go well next week.  Maybe it is mostly me that is off!

Happy November!  It is a great time to count all our blessings!