Halloween!

We made it through all the Halloween activities.  I was able to finish the boys costumes without too much stress.  Andrew put his on and said “it doesn’t look like a rat.”  I just told him to pretend he was a rat when it was on and he will enjoy it.  Of course it doesn’t look like a rat, he has a boy’s face.  Anyway, they had lots of fun with it.

Wednesday after school we carved the pumpkins.  I let Ruth and Andrew do their own pumpkins.  They did a great job and enjoyed being creative.  Spencer, Caleb and I worked on a large one together.  They boys cleaned it out and designed the face, I cut it out.  We had a fun afternoon doing it. Yesterday I finished with the cooking and processing the pumpkin.  I ended up with 20 cups of pumpkin puree.  I guess that is minus the 2 cups Ruth used to make a pumpkin pie on Sunday.  We will enjoy all that good pumpkin.

Thursday evening we had our ward Halloween party.  It was a good dinner of soup and rolls.  I brought a soup to share.  It was like I made our dinner but we took it to the party to eat.  We did a truck or treat in the parking lot.  It was a bit cool and things were wet, but thankfully there was no rain during the activity.  The kids had fun with their costumes.  Ruth wore a t-shirt for a character in the Percy Jackson books.  Andrew and Spencer were rats and Caleb was a dog. Neal and I were parents.  Someone asked if I ever dress up.  I thought about it and said I didn’t think I had dressed up once since I was married.  I guess we just don’t get into it.

Friday the boys could wear their costumes to school.  They were excited for the activities of the day.  I went over to the school in the morning to watch the costume parade.  They had the whole school parade by and walk around the school grounds.  It was cold and I was glad that the boys had warm costumes to wear. Just as a side note, I was surprised that there were other rats at the ward party and at the school.  So it wasn’t a unique idea.  

Saturday evening the kids had lots of fun walking through our neighborhood with Neal to do trick or treating.  They came home all excited and with full candy bags.  Andrew said he was working on gathering his year supply of candy, I think he did it.  I am glad that the kids are good with their candy and don’t stuff themselves with it.  It is nice that they can have a treat once in a while through out the year.

Wow, that was a lot about Halloween.  Ruth didn’t have school on Thursday and Friday for parent teacher conferences.  I went with Ruth to the school Friday for our conference.  She is doing well with A and A+ grades and no problems.  She is loving school and loves our ward.  I am glad that she is so happy.  Last night she had fun going with the young women to rake leaves, in the dark.  She said it made it more fun.  I am thankful she has made so many friends.  After our time at the school we went out to eat lunch at Blake’s Lotaburger.  We walked in and saw another mother daughter from our ward eating lunch.  We all ate together and enjoyed it.

Saturday afternoon Neal and I went on a date.  We went out to lunch and then played miniature golf. It was a pretty afternoon and we enjoyed time together.  

Sunday Spencer was asked to play the piano for Primary prelude.  I had noticed that kids in the ward were assigned each week to do the prelude for senior primary.  So I told the President that my boys could play church songs and if they could be put into the rotation.  Spencer had his first turn Sunday.  He said he did just fine and wasn’t even nervous.  I could hear him starting his song as I went into my class room with the kids.  Then Monday evening at our family night we were signing “Book of Mormon Stories,” a song Spencer knows, and he asked to play it for us.  He did it perfectly.  At the end of the song he got off the bench giggling, he had a huge smile on his face and said “that was fun.”  I am glad he is enjoying learning piano.  Another thing with our family night is that it was Caleb’s turn for the lesson. Usually he doesn’t want to do it and I plan a lesson and try to get him to help with something with it.  This week he wanted to take his turn and do it all.  I still helped a little.  He picked out 12 Primary songs he likes, I typed out the titles and then he cut it out and hooked the papers on toys.  All the toys were in a bag and he had us take turns pulling the songs out and we sang the first verse of each.  Caleb loved it and sang so well.  I enjoyed having a singing time with the kids.

Sunday evening Ruth and I went to the Stake youth standards night.  It was an excellent meeting and I enjoyed hearing the Stake president talk about his dating experiences with the kids.  Ruth had fun seeing her friends afterwards and visiting with them.  I am thankful for these good experiences.  

I am enjoying being here in this area.  I feel like we have been blessed to come here.  I am thankful we can be here as the kids get older and have such a strong youth program to belong to.  I know it will be a blessing to them as they go through their teen years.