Weekly Review November 1 '13

I'm going to make up for the lack of pictures lately...there are lots of pictures this week!  We had a busy week, too.  Last Saturday was a little ridiculous...we had things going on all day long.  The day started early because Tanner was taking the ACT, which started at 8:00.  He finished around noon.  Meanwhile, Dad and I made a pot of chili and a pan of cornbread for the ward chili cook off which was later that day.  Then we took Seth to his soccer game.  Seth had a stubborn streak and refused to play but we told him he had to at least go support his team by cheering them on, so we all went.  Frank missed most of the game because he had to go pick up Tanner, but Seth and I stayed for the whole game.  It was cold and windy, so not very pleasant to be sitting outside.  Both teams played well and were pretty evenly matched, but in the end Seth's team scored a few more points than the other team. 

 

We barely had time to get home and eat before we had to pack everybody up again to go to Tanner's Eagle scout project.  Frank had committed a while back to help cook for a wedding so he didn't come with us...he left shortly after we did to go cook.  We took two of the priests with us and I wasn't sure if we'd get anybody else to help...lots of people had conflicts...but three more men came and brought along some or all of their kids, so we ended up having a decent group to help, although not as big as last week.  I expected that we would get done early since all we had to do was plant a few plants and spread mulch, and we did finish a little early--but it took a lot longer than I expected so we finished only about a half hour early.  Here are pictures of work in process and the finished product:

 

(Seth checks out the snacks we brought for the workers.)

The big pile of mulch!  We ended up with more mulch than we needed, so we had to take some extra time to move all the unused mulch to a different place.

Seth stepped on the end of a rake and the handle popped up and hit him in the head!  See the lump on his forehead?  It was huge!

Seth also got filthy from playing in the dirt, eating chips, and drinking hot chocolate.

The farm where the project was located is beautiful!

 End result:

Watering the new plants before we go:

Our helpers for the day.  One other man and his two boys came, but they left before we took the picture:

 By the time we finished up and got on the road, we barely had time to get home and clean up a little before we had to be at the church for the ward chili cook-off.  I probably wouldn't have gone at that point except that I was in charge of judging the chili.  I had two other friends help me.  There were about 15 pots of chili, and after sampling a little bit of each one of them, I was full!  They were all good but a few stood out and it was fun to pick the winners.  I was more than happy to get home after that, though.  Glad I wasn't in charge of clean up...it was nice to leave when I was ready to leave!  The activity was very successful, by the way.  Tons of people came, including several non members and less active members.  Frank didn't get home until after we did...by then, I was ready for bed!

Sunday was pretty busy too.  I had PEC before church...the bishop has asked me to attend that meeting now too.  The choir sang two songs in sacrament meeting.  I had visits after church, then choir practice, then we had family night.  When I go to meetings, I always come away with a list of things to do, so by evening I was feeling kind of stressed and overwhelmed.  Plus there had been a discussion in RS that I wasn't all that comfortable with.  I think it ended up ok in the end but I wish it hadn't happened at all.  Oh, and I found out a couple in our ward was splitting up, and I was pretty distressed about that too.  Sometimes being the RS President stinks. :(

I forgot to mention that I missed a baptism on Saturday, while I was at Tanner's Eagle project.  A young adult girl named Rose was baptized...I sent one of my counselors to give her the official welcome to RS.  I'm actually slightly (very slightly) responsible for her joining the church...I sent the missionaries in our ward over to see a less active sister.  She wasn't home, but Rose lives with her and Rose answered the door, let the missionaries in, and started talking to them.  Cool, right?!

Monday was Jared's 15th birthday.  Jared opened his presents after Frank got home (a new Batman game for the Xbox and a sonic screwdriver--a Dr. Who thing, for those of you who aren't fans) and we had the missionaries over for dinner.  I let Jared pick what we were eating.  We aren't doing his cake until tomorrow--he's having some friends over for pizza and cake--but Seth had the family night treat and he wanted cake, so we had chocolate cake with the missionaries.  Later, we let Jared play his new game for an hour or so.  Here's some photos of him opening presents and cards: 

 I was working on Seth's Halloween costume that day, and decided to stay up until I got the main part of it done (the tail and sewing plates to the back of the jacket), so I was up until around midnight.  I did get the really essential parts done--with the exception of hand sewing the "spikes" onto the tail--that night and I sewed the spikes on Tuesday morning.  When I looked at the pattern to decide if I was going to attempt to sew the shoe covers, I discovered that they weren't shoe covers at all--they were whole feet pieces that were supposed to attach to the costume (which I didn't make) and they looked like a lot of work.  The hands looked complicated too so I decided at that point I would just use purchased gloves and socks, adding foam claws.  Then when I talked to Seth about it, he said he didn't even care about having claws on his hands and feet so I had him wear the gloves I'd purchased and he just wore his shoes over the socks.  (Which turned out to be a good thing since it rained on Halloween.)

Tanner hasn't been feeling well for the last week or two--he has congestion, sore throat, and a yucky cough--but they are in a busy time at school, building a set for the next play--so he has been trying to plug along as much as he can.  He's even stayed after school a few days to work on things.  On Tuesday he stayed home from Seminary, though, and he would have stayed home from school all day too, but then he remembered some things that really needed to get done with the set, so he had me take him in to school (a few hours late).  He stayed home from Seminary today, too, but went to school.  Jared is going to a Halloween party this evening that Tanner was also invited to attend, but Tanner is staying home from that to try to get some rest.

I went to a baby shower for a sister in our ward on Tuesday evening.  It was nice and I had fun.  Seth had soccer practice, which Frank took him to (big help!).  For this practice, they had a scrimmage with another team that they were supposed to play earlier in the season but the game was cancelled because of rain. 

Nothing went the way I'd planned on Wednesday.  I'll spare you all the details but I ended up babysitting a 2 year old for a few hours for a sister in our ward who had surgery on Monday.  Also, Frank was trying to get a new phone and get it set up (Marriott isn't paying for his phone anymore.  He has to get his own and they will reimburse him for the portion of his bill that is Marriott calls) and needed me to go with him to the store so we could transfer our personal phones to an account in my name.  That's because he needs to get a separate bill for his phone, but they won't send him a separate bill for two accounts that are under the same name.  To make a long story short, that ended up being a lot more complicated than anticipated and the "quick stop" at the store turned out to take over an hour.  He did finally get everything worked out and he likes his new phone. 

Meanwhile, Jared and Tanner were supposed to go to YM early--they were replaying the church's broadcast about the 100th anniversary of the church and Boy Scouts--but Jared had a school project he had put off and Tanner needed to finish his Hill Cumorah work crew application (which he had also put off) so we decided they weren't going to be able to go.  They were upset--they both thought they could "finish up" after YM--but it's a good thing they stayed home because Tanner was still up until 11:00.  Not only are my kids procrastinators, but they don't seem to have any concept of how much time it is going to take to do a project.  I don't get it!  They certainly didn't inherit those traits from me!  While they were working on those projects, I went and did a food order.  Tonight I got that over to the bishop for him to sign.

Yesterday I finally found some time to sit down and figure out my lesson for Sunday.  Well, not completely--but I got a good start on it.  I settled on a topic and found a lot of information (actually, too much information) on that topic.  I still have to pull it all together, which will have to happen tomorrow I guess. 

Seth came home from school and really wanted us to have a Jack 'o Lantern this year, instead of just a pumpkin, so Frank quickly carved our pumpkin while I made dinner:
 

Tanner helped draw a design, while Seth drew pictures of his ideas:

The finished product is a little further below.  Meanwhile, Tanner put on the "fat suit" he had borrowed from a friend:

 

The kids here are not allowed to wear costumes to school, except for the high school seniors.  So Tanner borrowed this costume from a friend.  (It actually has a fan that fills it up with air.)  He put the suit on and ran around for a while.  It was hilarious because Snickers didn't recognize him in it and kept barking at him! 

Maybe you noticed in some of the pumpkin carving pictures above that the door to the deck is open.  That's because our bi-polar weather has warmed up again and the last few days have made it up to the low 70's.  Yesterday afternoon was very breezy, but warm and pleasant.  All the autumn leaves are so beautiful right now, too.  Here is a tree around the corner from us:

And here is a look down our street:

 

 It looks a lot better in real life.  A couple of our neighbors really get into Halloween...I took some pictures of their houses.  This house is right next door:
 

And this one is on the end of our row:

 

(The skeletons are trying to climb into the windows...it's kind of hard to see.)

We got the candy bowl ready:

And Seth put on his costume:

And Frank finished up the Jack 'o Lantern:

I took Seth trick or treating, and right before we left, it started to rain.  It rained off and on the whole time we were out, but never very hard, thankfully.  We walked over to our carpool boys' house and on the way we passed a really creepy house.  I was walking toward it when Seth stopped in his tracks and said "I see something in that tree."  He was right...there was a person with a white mask standing under the tree.  Seth wouldn't budge, but I walked forward a little more and could see 4 or 5 people in creepy masks standing silently in the yard.  I couldn't convince Seth to go any closer...as a matter of fact, he refused to walk past the house until we crossed to the other side of the street.  There was a group of girls behind us, and they continued to go towards the house.  When they got really close, one of the masked figures suddenly pulled out  a chainsaw (I don't think it was real) and revved it up.  All those girls went screaming down the street!  It's a good thing I didn't persuade Seth to go any closer!

I have to say that Halloween isn't all that popular in our neighborhood.  Only every 5th house or so gives away candy.  It's kind of sad.  Seth doesn't get anywhere near as much candy as the older kids got when they were little, but he doesn't care and he certainly doesn't need the sugar!  Here is his loot:
  

Today was International Children's Day at Seth's school.  He chose to represent the United States, thank goodness, so all I had to do was put him in one of the flag shirts we made years ago.  It was a relief not to have to come up with another costume.  He wanted me to go to his little program, so I did.  His class performed second, so after they were done I came home and didn't even stay to hear the other classes.  How rude! :)  This morning it was super windy and we got a heavy rainstorm for a while.  It was still warm, though.  It was very dark and gloomy all morning but then this afternoon the sun came out and everything dried out.  How nice!  I got the budget caught up today and after everyone got home from school and work, we did some yard work.  We pulled some weeds, pulled up dead plants, and mowed the lawn.  Our yard was looking pretty scraggly but it looks a lot better now.

In between everything else, I've been trying to keep up with all the household tasks and have been slowly working through a list of RS items that need to be done.  In a few snatched moments here and there I've been working on reading the book chat book, which is called A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley.  It's a Pulitzer Prize winner and pretty good so far.

Frank is keeping busy but his business hasn't been as demanding this week.  He is getting up super early to exercise before he goes to work most mornings, though.  He's doing a good job and has already lost some pounds.

Ok, just writing about this week has tired me out.  I'm afraid this coming week is going to be just as exhausting...but maybe not!  The days seem to fill up fast.