Happy October! Happy it's Over!

Where to start?  October was super busy and as much as I would have liked to slow down and savor the month, it just didn't happen as much as I would have liked.  We had fun- Evidently I even took some pictures as proof but now October mostly feels like a blur... maybe it's the sugar coma that's clouding my memory.  We still have so much left-over Halloween candy that I'm having a hard time breaking the sugar junkie cycle.  I'm thinking that if I stick to my strict 50 or so pieces a day it will be gone by the end of this month and then I can just go cold turkey.  But then again, perhaps going into the holiday season is not the best time to pursue candy and sugar detox.  Of course pregnancy is a nice excuse to gain those extra pounds without the guilt.  Yes, I think I'm just going to enjoy the next couple months as much as possible.

The first 3/4 of October seemed pretty overrun with planning and pulling off the ward primary program.  It was my first time being the "writer/director" and so I'm sure I stressed way more than I needed to.  I'll say it was "successful" though I admit I'm somewhat biased because I really can't remember any primary programs from the past to compare it to... sorry if you happen to be one of those people that spent all that time putting one together only to realize that it's never as memorable for everyone else.  That tends to be how it goes.  People tend to quickly forget things that ran smoothly or went reasonably well while they mostly remember total catastrophes.  So, I will be thankful if this year's program is only memorable for those involved. 

Eve was so excited to say her one line in the program: "The greatest of Jesus' miracles was his atonement and resurrection."  She had known it perfectly for weeks but as soon as she got up to that microphone she said the wrong line!  She was so confident when she said it too.  Oh well.  It wasn't a total disaster.  At least the line did make sense and most people think it's cute when kids goof up.  She still walks around the house saying her line and teaching it to Jack so at least it stuck in there somewhere.  She also keeps singing all the wrong words to the songs they sang but if we try to correct her she tells me she's just "pretending that's how the song goes."  Funny girl.

Dress-up started early this month.

We decided that we should finally carve pumpkins this year.  Can you believe this is the first year we've done this with the kids?  I know I'm a total slacker mom for depriving my kids of this tradition before but I have to say that I think pumpkin carving is a pretty overrated form of fun.  Yes, I am the Halloween grinch.  I would probably feel differently about this if I was any good at it.  Nevertheless, I didn't want to forego my parental duty to have some tradition in our home.  The kids were enthused for about five minutes and then they realized exactly what carving a pumpkin meant.  Somehow pumpkin guts are just not that fun.  Who knew?  And unfortunately, real pumpkins do not smell anything like pumpkin pie.  It made my whole house stink all day.  The kids are obviously too small to do any carving on their own so our family activity was really an adult activity... which is really embarrassing because the finished product looked like a 2 and 5 year old did it.

Push-pin monogrammed pumpkin is definitely the easier option.

Of course the big news is our beautiful little girl is growing up so fast.  Eve turned 5 on Halloween.  It feels crazy to me that we have a five year old.  We threw a big Halloween Party and Birthday Bash on the Friday before Halloween.  I would have liked to invite all our friends but our little house just couldn't handle it.  Since the party was for Eve, we invited our family members and those with kids around her age.  I don't really know what everyone else thought, but I had fun.  We did an all kids party at the beginning and then had adults and other family members join us a little later for dinner and tons of goodies.  Thankfully it was a beautiful night so people were able to go inside and outside the whole time.  We had a fire pit and made smores.  The kids played like crazy and the adults talked and relaxed.  I made two big cakes but everyone was so full from all the dinner and snacks we didn't even slice into them. 

Eve and Jack were super happy that Keaton came down to celebrate Eve's birthday.  Eve kept talking about it for weeks beforehand.

Since Halloween fell on a Sunday this year, we celebrated on Saturday- like most Utahns.  We had a church carnival for the kids followed by a chili cook-off and potluck and then trunk or treating. 

Eve wanted to be a princess. I knew better than to even mention the possibility of being anything else.

Jack just wanted to be something green (his favorite color for the last several months). I got him this lizard/dragon costume and he was so excited. He had been sneaking into my stuff and trying it on the whole week beforehand. However, on the day of dress-up he decided he no longer liked the color green and he threw a fit about having to wear it. We eventually talked him into it but it was touch and go there for a while.

They both got their faces painted at the carnival. 

The weather was terrible all evening! Thus the trunk or treating became an inside event. We didn't even go trick or treating after because the rain dumped pretty much the whole time during the peak hours of candy gettin'. I'm not sure why, but we hardly get any trick-or-treaters at our house (maybe 1 or 2 each year) and we didn't get any this year. Their loss... I would have given it away by the bucket.

Finally Sunday rolled around and it was actually Eve's birthday.  She continued in the role of princess all day- even wearing the crown to prove it.

We cut into one of those unused cakes from Friday's party and celebrated with family.

Good thing Jack loves her even when she doesn't want to be loved.

Eve got a "big girl bike" for her big day.

Eve is such a nice big sister.  She and Jack have been "sharing" her new toy.  We didn't plan on it being a two person bike but they have been riding around together like this all week long.  I am sad that the weather is getting too cold and snowy to ride bikes much longer.  Hopefully when Spring rolls around the bike will seem brand new and exciting all over again.

Now that we're recovering from the chaos and sugar highs, it's definitely time to take a nap. 

November is a good month to curl up with a warm blanket, sit by the fire and cuddle with my family.

That's where I'm off to now.