Pre-Halloween

This weekend was a fun-filled, jam-packed ramp up to Halloween.  We started the weekend with Harry Potter Night at our local library.  You may remember this from last year, but in case you don't I will give you the highlights.  Each year for Harry Potter Night the library spares no expense.  Each child gets a custom made and individually named wand.  They get sorted into houses by the sorting hat and then the fun begins.  There are hunts for evil wizards in the Forbidden Forrest,  visits with owls,  searching for mystical creatures, playing "Quidditch" games, and more.  There were a lot more people there this year than last, but the kids still had a great time.

Next up on the docket was the last soccer game of the season.  This season has had its ups and downs but the boys played hard and we were particularly proud of Merrick's development of his defensive skills.  As much fun as the games are, I think the real highlight of the season for the boys was the after season party at the coach's house.

After the party we finally (after weeks of hoping to) made it to a pumpkin patch.  We tried a new patch this year and, while it didn't have quite as many things to do as our usual patch, was perfect for the amount of time we had to spend.  Some of the highlights that were different from our usual patch were pumpkin paintball shooting, tether-ball, and badminton.  The kids also enjoyed the usual hay rides, slides, cow train, and hazelnut house and we were all sufficiently dirty when it was time to go

 

As if that wasn't enough for one day, we wrapped up the day with a trunk-or-treat at our old church.  It was good to see some old, familiar faces and the kids got a haul of candy that should effectively up their sugar tolerance before the big day on Tuesday.

Whew, it was a busy weekend with lots of parties, a field trip and, of course, Halloween still to come this week.

Sarah's Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday.  It was one of those rare occasions when your birthday falls on a weekend and it feels like you can actually celebrate it more than you typically do.  I had been wanting and planning to spend the day at the pumpkin regatta (people carve out GIANT pumpkins, climb inside, and use them as boats to race across a lake) but unfortunately the weather had other plans.  We had probably the wettest day of the year yesterday and after spending an hour out in it for Merrick's soccer game, I just couldn't do more of it.

Plan B, after the regatta was a bust, was bowling.  I don't think we have been bowling since Carrigan was just barely walking so this was the first time for her to really get to experience it.  We ended up renting a lane for two hours, putting the bumpers up, and just having a blast.  Carrigan still wasn't able to get the ball down all on her own so Jeremy, Merrick, and I took turns helping her.  It was a fun way to spend the afternoon and I was pleased to be able to stay dry.

After bowling, Jeremy and I went out to dinner.  We ended up cutting our date night short because my parents' (who had the kids) power went out, but it was still nice to get to have a little time alone together.

While I am not overly thrilled to be a year older, it was a great birthday.  I am so grateful for my family, friends, and those I love who made me feel special yesterday and who support me year round.

Fall Break

This week the school district held parent/teacher conferences.  That meant that the kids and I had Wednesday-Friday off of school/work.  While it feels like school just barely got going for the year, it was nice to have a couple extra days to spend with the kids and we spent it with the prefect combination of relaxing and doing fun activities.

One of the high points of the week for me was going to art lab at the Oregon City library.  The library planned an activity that involved painting on foil (and paper too if the mood struck).  Carrigan is naturally more free creatively than Merrick and immediately got to work.  She didn't stop creating until it was time to go and ended up painting her very first flower.  Merrick, who is much more analytical, took his time with his paintings and always questioned whether his paintings were turning out well or not.  I think it is good for him to be involved in these type of projects where there are no rules or structure other than just to create.

Another highlight was going to OMSI with cousins on Friday.  We arrived about noon and Jeremy was able to join us for about half an hour.  We have had our membership there for about 10 months and it is so surprising to me that after all that time I still have to pry the kids away after more than 4 hours of playing.  I think it is especially fun for them to be there with their cousins.  I had fun this time going into the fetal development room and seeing an actual fetus the same age and size as the one I feel rocking and rolling around in my tummy.  You can read that your baby is the size of a carrot all you want, but it is different to see an actual baby that size.

Finally, yesterday, Jeremy got to be home with us to enjoy the last little bits of "fall break".  We had the best intentions of going to a pumpkin patch, but after a soccer game and getting sucked down the rabbit hole of finding the perfect new basketball for the basketball season, which starts tomorrow, the day was quickly getting sucked away from us.  We decided that rather than spending the money for an all-day wrist band that we would only get to use for about 1.5 hours, we would take the time to break in our new fishing poles (you may remember that Merrick got one for his birthday and I scored a cheap Barbie one for Carrigan from a friend).  I am not sure how many fish are even around at this point in the year and we certainly didn't catch anything but we had fun hanging out at the river as a family, listening to "Let It Go" Radio on Pandora.  It was kind of the perfect end to the week.

Harvest Party

I am going to be brief today.  I have a literal mountain of laundry to be folded, dished to be done, and this prego mama really wants a nap.  The highlight of this week was last night's harvest party.  As is tradition for our ward, we gathered at one of our member's "barn" (likely not like the kind of barn you are thinking of) for a chili cook off, hay rides, and games and face painting for the the kids.  The kids are also spoiled to be able to play on their trampoline, swing set, volleyball court, and zip line.  Needless to say the kids look forward to this every year.

This year the highlight for me was they kid's face painting.  They both, but particularly Merrick, knew just what they wanted and would settle for nothing less.

The other exciting thing was that my white bean, chicken chili won the award for the most "lip smackenest chili".  I guess that makes up for last year when I was robbed.

Keeping It Low Key

So we are all caught up on the big events of the last month or so, so what is there to report on today?  The answer is, not much.  Recent events, combined with pregnancy, have really worn me out and I am just trying to take it a little easy and stay out of trouble.  So what's left are the little, day to day things that have happened recently.

Despite my best efforts, Merrick has been really busy.  We are about half way through soccer season, piano lessons are rolling again, and Merrick has started cub scouts.  Pair all that with school and homework and you have one busy kid.  He has been having a rough time at school.  He has been having a difficulty with a friend who has been hitting him frequently (not out of an effort to hurt him but more out of excitement).  It escalated to the point where they both ended up in the principal's office this week.  Merrick has had a tough time with this because he had never had to go to the principal's office before and while he was not in trouble in the least and merely there to report on the situation, he has been taking it personally.  We are working on having a positive attitude this year and being happy at school and it has been a challenge.

For Carrigan's part, she has been much less busy.  Instead she has enjoyed running errands with me and we have both enjoyed spending time together playing and doing crafts.  She has been having a good school year and has been extra motivated to learn her letters and to write her name.  Her big problem has been that no matter what we are doing, she manages to get hurt lately.  Over the last week she has had some pretty big injuries and I have been joking (sort of) about wrapping her in bubble wrap.

That's it for today.  As always, more to come next week...