Once Upon a Mattress

Kaitlin's play is this Thursday-Saturday.  She has been working very hard after school for months. This week she rarely walked in the door before 7:30pm.  She is exhausted but overall seems to be having a good time. One of the challenges of dress rehearsals this week has been curling Kaitlin's hair every day.  I've gotten pretty good at putting in soft rollers each night and a few times Kaitlin has even worn them to school. 



Applesauce

This week I finished up the bushel of apples by canning some applesauce (my first ever attempt) and making a few apple pies.  The applesauce was so delicious that my family liked it more than the pies. Even Jared liked it and asked for more (that is saying something).  I'm determined to get even more apples next year so I can make more because I only got a few quarts done this year.



Veteran's Day Concert

I was able to sing with the community choir at our city's Veteran's Day observance. Our director is a choral music composer and we sang an original song she wrote for 9/11. Here is the poem that the song is based on.  I'd never heard it before but I thought it was wonderful and especially meaningful.

	Remember by Christina Rossetti
	REMEMBER me when I am gone away, Gone far away into the silent land; When you can no more hold me by the hand, Nor I half turn to go, yet turning stay. Remember me when no more day by day You tell me of our future that you plann'd: Only remember me; you understand It will be late to counsel then or pray. Yet if you should forget me for a while And afterwards remember, do not grieve: For if the darkness and corruption leave A vestige of the thoughts that once I had, Better by far you should forget and smile Than that you should remember and be sad.

Who said a mime couldn't be scary?

This is Halloween

We were blessed with a warm and sunny Halloween this year. Ruth and Jared enjoyed trick-or-treating and we had over 140 kids come by the house. We ended up turning our lights out early; seven bags of candy is my generosity limit. 


Apples

I finally got the bushel of apples I had ordered a month ago.  The timing was just right because I had a free day I could devote to my first ever attempt at canning pie filling. I used a recipe from Allrecipes.com. It wasn't too difficult and it tasted delicious.  I'm excited to pop open a bottle in a few weeks to see how it has turned out.  I still have half a bushel of apples left so I will be trying applesauce this week.

Belated Halloween

Kaitlin missed most of Halloween this year because she was at rehearsal for her musical until almost 8pm.  She felt so cheated that she asked if we could have a make-up Halloween mother-daughter party.  Friday afternoon we dressed in costumes, watched "Back to the Future", ate treats and did a photo shoot. We had a great time and laughed until we cried.  It was the best belated halloween party I'd ever had.

I pulled over to take a picture.

Cold Weather, Here it Comes

Monday was our last warm day. With this in mind I took my little scooter for a ride.  I had worked that morning and I really didn't have the time, but I made the time and headed up into a local canyon that I had been planning on driving on summer but had never gotten around to it.  The leaves were past their peak but it was still a beautiful drive. I saw few people, several deer and one daredevil squirrel who decided to wait until I drove by to make his mad dash across the road.  It was a great ride; I am so glad that I took the time to enjoy this last day of summer.

My choir with the orchestra in the front.

Halloween Concert

I dressed as a clumsy scientist.

Thursday was my community Halloween Concert. What it lacked in quality, we more than made up for in entertainment.  We had a choir and full orchestra, all of which are my neighbors here in this wonderful community.  Our theme was video games and we impressed the audience with our Angry Birds flying out of the audience, high energy Mario, and glow in the dark Tetris.  I assisted with an intermission game show and Ruth sang in a children's choir for our big finale number.  All in all, a fun time.

At home, after the show.

School Halloween Parade

Our school opted to have their Halloween parade and celebrations on Friday, rather than Monday.  Ruth and Jared both dressed up.  Kaitlin also dressed up for a Halloween party with friends.



Pumpkins

We had a great time carving our punkins on Saturday.  Always a source of pride, we try to make our pumpkins as unique and creative as possible.  This year the girls wanted to do a Tangled theme.  Kaitlin designed and carved the Rapunzel, Ruth did the Pascal, and I did the Flynn.   Jared made some skulls and in the end said that it went right along with ours because the three skulls on his pumpkin was Rapunzel, Pascal and Flynn when they were dead.

New Shelves

While we were all inside carving pumpkins, Chuck spent the day outside building us more shelves for the garage.  After putting in our wood floors I asked Chuck if he would build a place in the garage where we could hang snowy coats, not having a mud room and not wanting wet coats dripping on the new floor.   He agreed and then decided to add "an extra little shelf" to the side of it.  This is what he built in the end.  He is so awesome and I count my blessings every day to have such a wonderful and handy man as my husband.

Sophomore Ladies Choir

Kaitlin had her first ever choir concert this week.  This class has been a challenge for her because she was put in the second soprano section which means that she has had to learn how to sing harmonies. None of the girls in the choir know what they are doing so Kaitlin has put in a lot of extra hours learning the parts (We've practiced them together at the piano and sung along with choirs on YouTube). Now all the girls in her section follow her.

 
Art Work


Kaitlin is still doing a lot of drawing.  This week she finished this large drawing for a friend.  This piece measures 16"x22".  She amazes me with her talent.

Gymnastics

Jared had his first gymnastic exhibition on Thursday.  He started taking classes a few months ago, and his team puts on a exhibition quarterly.  He did vault, floor, rings and uneven bars.  Because of a conflict with Cub Scouts, Jared is able to practice with the boys team only once or twice a month. He was pretty nervous because he didn't feel like he knew the routines as well but he did a great job.  We were all very impressed. Below is a short video montage.

 

Random Stuff

This has nothing to do with anything but this is a picture I took in my garden this week. I thought it was cool.

Kaitlin drew this for me today. Old crazy cat ladies are an inside joke between us.

Piano Moved? Check!

Chuck and I discovered that the two of us can lift our piano, for a few seconds at least.  This week we moved the piano back into the front room on a moving dolly rolling across carpets.  We also got up most of the wall hangings. So I can say we're totally back in the front room.  And if we thought the piano was loud before, it really rattles the floors now.

Snow cousins.  (Kaitlin in yellow)

Family Fun

We've had a lot of family events going the last couple of months. It began with my nephew Joseph coming home from his LDS mission, and then my niece Callan's wedding, and now my niece Amy is leaving on a mission to Sweden.  We had a fun family gathering in her honor today and enjoyed hearing her speak about what has inspired her to go on a mission.




Ghosts in our House?

Ruth and Jared took these disturbing photos in our living room.  Are there ghosts living in our house? You be the judge.

The biggest thing going on this week was my nieces' wedding which kept us out with showers, rehearsal dinners, the wedding and reception. It was all beautiful and we had a very nice time visiting with family that we don't get to see as often. We wish Callan and Isaac much success in their new life together.

Beyond that, the things that kept us busy were the things that always keep us busy: Our lives.

Non Blog Worthy Content Ahead

I thought I'd talk about our daily lives, the things that don't usually make the blog.

Kaitlin is busy rehearsing for "Once Upon a Mattress".  These rehearsals keep her after school every day.  This week she had set painting on Saturday as well.  I'm trying to hammer out a carpool, but it isn't quite up and functioning just yet.  Luckily, the high school is just a few miles away. Still, I am so excited for Kaitlin to get her driver's license next summer.

Another parenting fail.

Ruth and Jared take piano lessons and are supposed to practice every day but they have been struggling with that lately. Last week I started a practice chart with graduated rewards, the top prize being a couple of dollars - cash - if you practice every day.  At the end of the week only Jared earned the first tier of reward which was a small candy bar.

Kaitlin has started up voice lessons again.  It happens that her voice lessons are the same night as piano lessons, so that whole evening is full of taxing kids here and there. She also got a chart; no, she didn't earn a prize.

These are Jared's gymnastics abs.

Jared loves his gymnastics class and is getting ready for a performance at the end of this month. He likes to go to the all boy class but because of conflicts with cub scouts he can only attend that class once a month. The rest of the time he is in the regular class - aka: the class that is all girls.

I've been a cub scout leader for a month now. I'm surprised at how a one hour a week commitment feel like so much more.  I think it's because it is right after school which is the busiest time for a mother.

Move over KFC, Jared has something meatier

Jared invented a new sandwich this week. It's a chicken patty with pepperoni, bacon and cheese.

I'm singing with the city choir.  We are getting ready for a Halloween concert in a few weeks.  They told us we would have to dress up and I decided to dress up as a mime and was pretty excited about that. I thought a singing mime was both scary and ironic.  Unfortunately, I found out this week that we have to dress up as a section and my section wants to dress up like medical professionals. Singing nurses are neither scary nor ironic.

This is an old picture from when the jacket was new.

Chuck  had to drive his truck to work a few days this week because of rain.  I told him it was to get him ready for the winter when he'll have to park his beloved motorcycle.  Chuck has all the riding gear now: the helmet, the jacket, the chaps, the boots (picture sports bike rider - not Harley biker).  His jacket is bright yellow so I call him Tron when he is in his gear.





We started to move furniture back into our front room.  It only took three months to finish.

We still haven't moved the piano in. Honestly, we aren't sure how to do it without scratching the floor.

Happy Birthday Ruth

Ruth turned 12 today.  It doesn't seem that long ago that she was a bright eyed newborn, but now she is a young lady.

On Saturday we hosted ten very excited and outgoing girls for a birthday party.  Ruth planned the activities. I helped the girls make bleached t-shirts, they had a dance party in the back yard and when it got dark they came in for karaoke.  All the girls seemed to have a great time, and could have easily gone on singing for half the night.

Today is General Conference (that is where 2 times a year we don't go to church but we watch sermons from our Prophet and leaders on TV) and we enjoyed relaxing around the house and playing games.   Ruth got some great gifts including brightly colored socks, a lego set, feathers for her hair, and a surprise gift for both her and Kaitlin. You can see what the surprise is by watching the video below (you can hear Kaitlin hollering in glee in the background, but I edited her out of video at her request because she was still in her pjs).

12 is a special birthday in our church because at 12 you graduate from the children's class and move into the teenage group. At 12 you can also go into the temple and participate in some of the services there.  Ruth has an interview with our bishop on Tuesday and we plan on going with Ruth to the temple on Friday.


Wolf

This week Jared earned a rank advancement, from Wolf to Bear.  He was pretty excited when he learned how close he was to getting his advancement that he has worked really hard the last couple of weeks to get his Wolf early. You scouters out there will know what I'm talking about when I say he also got 5 arrow points. He has 2 months until his birthday to earn more.

Jared also received his Religious Knot, which was presented to him by our Bishop.  He's worked hard to get this award all year including filling out a family tree and teaching our family about Joseph Smith.   He was pretty proud to get this award as most boys do not get it until they are 9 or 10.