Well, Halloween is pretty much over for us. We’ve had all the partying we can stand!
Friday October 26, Jaime had an activities day and they were having a Halloween party. She was trying to be a pirate with Katie, but we were having a hard time finding all the stuff for the costume, apparently Katie was too. So her and Katie switched and decided to be queen’s instead. So we went out Friday morning and bought a crown and some gloves. Jaime paid for it with her own money, it was her suggestion. I was very pleased with that. She got all dressed up and looked fabulous. I picked up Scott from the shuttle, dropped him off at the church to decorate for the ward party, dropped Jaime off at her party and then came home and put all the kiddo’s to bed. About 8:30, I went back out, picked up Jaime, ran an errand and was home by 9:15. We had Jaime in bed and we were in bed by 10.
Saturday morning was the usual chore time mingled with getting ready for the party time. We got the house mostly done, all the kids dressed and off to the party by 3:30. I was in charge of dinner and needed to be there early. My friend Jen Lease was my partner in crime and so we spent the next hour getting everything ready. Our menu was; a salad bar (with ALL the fix’ns), soup, chili and nachos. We were ready to serve by 5 pm (the time the party should have started). However, as most parties go, we didn’t officially start till almost 5:30. It was a great party. They had two bounce houses, games, a pinata, a family picture station, dinner, dessert contest, costume contest and, of course, trick or treating. They had a jousting (sp) game. They made a plank and REALLY big weapons out of foam and duck tape. The kids, and adults, had to “fight” till someone fell off the plank. It was very fun. By the time all the festivities ended and we were cleaned up it was 8:30. The kids were in bed by 9. On Thursday we went to Costco to buy the stuff for the Halloween party. While I was there, I noticed that they sell pint sized water bottles. They were the same price as a bag of candy and so I thought ‘who wouldn’t love to have their own water bottle’. So I bought them. When I got home, Scott asked what candy I got to give out at the party, I told him I got water. He made fun of me sooooo bad. I told him to wait and see, it would be the best ever. And boy was it!! I even saw a couple of kids bring their water to church on Sunday. I was glad the waster was a hit, but it was even nicer to hear Scott say I was right.
Sunday was interesting. The kids woke up tired and cranky. We got everyone ready for church and they did pretty well during sacrament. Niah and Afton both lost it when it was time to go to classes. I spent the first hour trying to convince Niah to stay in nursery. I finally just off loaded Afton to the bishop’s wife so I could focus on Niah. The nursery leaders finally suggested that I just leave and they will come get me if things get worse. They said she stayed in the “crying” room for a few more minutes and then came out to join them for singing time. They said that after she came out she walked up to them and said ‘I’m sorry for crying, can you forgive me?’. And then she gave them both a hug. They said I could raise their kids for them, no thanks, I only want to be responsible for screwing up my own kids, no on elses…. But it was a cute story. After church the kids tore into their Halloween loot from the night before. We let them each choose 10 pieces and do with them what they want. Niah’s was gone in less than 15 minutes. Milo savored his till the end of the day. Jaime and Alix still had some left for Monday. I went visiting teaching the first part of the afternoon and Scott went home teaching the last half of the afternoon. We met back for dinner and then bed.
Monday was an at home day. Scott took the car to the shuttle so I was carless. That was fine with me, I needed a day of rest! Scott bought a couple of pumpkins on his way home from work. We carved them as our FHE activity. It was really fun. Afterwards we put candles in the pumpkins and in our halloween lantern and turned out all the lights in the house. The kids then asked Scott to tell spooky ghost stories. Scott did a great job fulfilling the kids’ request without actually scaring them, thank you Scott. It was hard to convince the kids to go to bed but they eventually did, and so did Scott and I.
Tuesday, today, was a fun day. We did chores and school in the morning. Then we got showered and dressed in Halloween fun again. Google was have a Googleween party. It was VERY fun!! Google knows how to party. They set up a trick or treat ally, and in case that wasn’t enough candy, they set up a candy shop with about 10 different kinds of goodies you could fill your bag with. They had a bounce house/slide and other blow up toys to play with and take pictures in. They had clowns making balloon characters, face painting, different bands playing and signing kids music, a place to decorate a halloween bag, a pumpkin patch were each kid could choose a pumpkin and then a place to decorate their pumpkins and a pirate that had parrots that you could hold and enjoy. Plus, all the food and drink you could possibly want. Mostly kid friendly food, but what adult doesn’t enjoy that every once in a while? We got there right when it started. The kids were hungry and why not, I didn’t have to worry about waiting for school to get out. Anyway, a clown found us right away and wanted to make balloon shapes for the kids. Eventually another clown joined us (it takes a while to make balloons for 5 kids). The second clown on the scene made some comment like, ‘sure are a lot of kids’ and the second one says ‘brought you straight from Salt Lake City’. We just busted up laughing. Scott told me later that the clown also asked him if I was his first wife? I told him he should have said that he always brings the principle wife to the Google parties!! Anyway, too funny. Super fun party and very nice people. We laughed and smiled the whole time. Going home wasn’t too fun. Niah didn’t want to go and let us and everyone around us know…. She finally saw it our way when we told her she could stay but we were leaving. She quickly followed. They all fell asleep on the way home and we put them straight to bed. Jaime is at Roadshow practice tonight. The last one. She performs next week. It should be pretty good, at least that is what I hear, I haven’t seen any of it yet.
Here I sit, updating you on our happenings. We are very well and happy here and are glad that things have slowed a bit. Things will pick up during the holidays though, they always do. We love you all and hope Halloween has treated you as well as it has treated us. We will not be celebrating tomorrow, there is no need to. Except for handing out candy at our door, if we get any trick or treaters. Apparently, this street doesn’t get much.
1. Love your water bottle idea. And I agree the best part is hearing someone (especially your hubby) say that you were right!
2. The nursery story about Niah is SO cute! That would have just melted my heart!! Are the Wangs still the nursery leaders?
3. Too funny about the SLC comment. Sounded like you passed up a missionary opportunity to me! :-)
4. I understand about not doing the “real” trick or treating on Halloween. I almost thought about forgoing the Halloween house to house thing, but thought that I better since it would be Nina’s first time. We didn’t get many trick or treaters.
5. Are you still watching Hannah and Aaron?