Halloween activities, today, and beyond

I taught the Young Women (16-17 yr. old) today (Sun.) about the importance of keeping a journal. As any of you who read my blog know, I have not been doing a good job. But there is always repentance, and a chance to change. I had them commit as well as myself to write about something each day that they want to remember.

Before I talk about today, I wanted to record a tender moment I had with Connor on Fri.. Serena had been up all Thurs. night vomiting, so Fri. was a watch movie day. We were watching Charlotte's Web and got to the part where Wilbur was leaving the Fair and had to leave Charlotte behind. Well, with my heightened emotions due to lack of sleep and Connor's tender loving care of animals, we hugged each other and cried and cried. It was so sweet-I think it was the first time that he was able to express his emotions about the death of an animal. And he absolutely LOVES animals.

By Sat. Serena was dragging-she had acquired a cold from her illness, but feeling better. We had the Ashtons, Coys, Coats, Woodwards and another family over for dinner.

Then we proceeded to take 16 kids out Trick-or-Treating. We went around 4 blocks in an hour and we were done.

It was fun for kids and adults. It's so much more fun to go in a big group, and I enjoyed going around our neighborhood.

Hayden was Jenga Fett (sp) from Star Wars, Connor of course is Clifford and Serena a tiger.

Last week was full of Halloween activities starting with the Fall Festival at church on Tues.. Thurs. was dress up at the gym and Connor's preschool party. Hayden had his party and parade at school on Fri. which I couldn't go to because Serena was sick. Then the Coats had a Halloween party Fri. night which Serena and I stayed home from.

Connor's preschool class. One of the activities at the Coats house was to be wrapped up as a mummy.

Sunday was a pretty relaxing day. We went to my parents house for dinner. Monday morning Hayden came down and said his throat hurt and maybe he would stay home from school. He didn't seem that sick to me, but I thought maybe he just needed a break. After I called him in sick to school, I thought about how bad that looked the day after Halloween. Even though we didn't do anything Halloween related on Sun. or even eat any candy! Hayden had thought about going in Monday afternoon because he had a soccer party that night to get a trophy. But he started crying because he was so tired and didn't want to go to school, but really wanted to go to the party. So I told him not to worry about it and go rest. He took a 2 hr. nap! The last time he did that I think he was 3 or 4! Over dinner he debated whether to go to the party because he really was feeling bad but didn't want to miss it. I can understand that as I am the same way, so I convinced him to go. The party was only 1/2 hr. and not a big deal, but he was glad he went.

The rest of the week continued with Hayden waking up sick and me calling the school. Tues. I woke up really sick with a fever and cold as well so we watched movies and hung out in the living room. My best part of day was having our first fire in our new home.

Wed. and Thurs. were about the same except that I took Hayden to the doctor and was diagnosed with strep throat.

On Thurs. Vicki Fryer called me and asked if Connor would like to play with her son Cyrus. She would come pick him up and feed him lunch before preschool. What a wonderful blessing for both him and I! He already has a lot of energy and to be cooped up in the house all week was just torture for him.

Nanny came back from N.C. Thurs. night so on Fri. I got to go to Target by myself! I spent a long time just wandering around. Then she watched the kids so Mike and I could go on a date! I still wasn't feeling great so we just got some hot chocolate and went to Borders. It sounds like a poor man's date, but we really enjoy that. And just being able to have a conversation that is not interrupted and is not over our cells phones is wonderful.

Sat.-My best part of day was going to the Graver's to have dinner and spend time with their pygmy goats, chickens and BIG dogs. As I mentioned earlier, Connor and Serena both LOVE animals, just like me. So we had a blast. The goats are just like kids and are so funny. And I loved getting to know Sue Graver better, we have several in common.