The Rest of October

We came back from Coco's just in time for general conference weekend. Jim and Wren played some UNO.

I mentioned needing to sweep the walkway. The girls (I think just Ever and Wren) said they wanted to do it, so I let them out. What I found later was not a swept walkway but a neatly arranged line of wooden blocks and rocks.

All on her own, Ever decided she wanted to do something for her teacher. She drew him a picture, wrote him a sweet note, and made him a melty-bead thing.

Then we made him a treat that did not work out. That was the start of a months-long string of kitchen failures. Somehow I have fallen under a cooking/baking curse. I can't even succeed at my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe that I've made five million times over the past ten years.

Jim had to work the Saturday night of conference weekend, so I didn't watch the women's session live. We turned it on the following weekend and did the snacks-in-muffin-tin thing that is Ever's favorite. Is this not the best picture of Wren's sweet, sweet face?

We came home from DC, where Coco was battling ants, to an ant infestation of our own. I'd seen some before we left, and we had a full-blown problem in our pantry when we returned. I took everything out, and one visit from Terminix did the trick.

Then I got the pantry put back together, and the girls got their play table back.

Tiny remained convinced that the airplane we took to Coco's house was actually a rocket ship that took us to the moon.

My birthday fell on a Tuesday this year, so I worked that day. Jim took the kids shopping after he picked them up that evening. Ever helped pick out a necklace at Target for me, so I came home to flowers and presents. That was lovely.

Ever prepared a wonderful birthday package for me months in advance and then forgot about it. I finally asked her about it way after the fact: "Did you mean to give this to me on my birthday?" The package included a coupon for helping to get the littles into the car, a card, and a couple separate "I love you" notes.

Like her sister before her, Bear started begging for homework, so I made her some.

Despite their triple bunk, Missy and Bear like to sleep together. It's really cute.

Documentation of how Tiny says "piano" ("pipano"):

Tiny and Wren went to Cora Sorenson's fourth birthday party, which was kitty themed because Cora is obsessed with cats. Wren asked the face painting mom, Rene Clark, for a unicorn instead of the standard cat, and Rene obliged.

Tiny continues to live in two outfits (if I may use the term "outfit" loosely) - her size 18-months bird jammies and her princess dresses. 

This pic is a must for her wedding video:

I had the Beehives over for a pizza/Princess Bride party. Ever greeted the girls at the door in her Princess Buttercup dress (which I bought her for Halloween). She had looked forward to the party all week. It was the highlight of my girls' life. They got their nails painted and participated in the games. In fact, I think Ever initiated "Black Magic" in the beginning of the evening, and the young women were super into it. It really got the night off to a good start. 

Jim continued work on the bathroom, cutting through joists, moving plumbing and electrical lines, etc. This will be the floor of the new shower:

Jim carved pumpkins with the girls one Tuesday evening while I was at work (or on my way home). I found the one with the skinned face (Wren's) a little creepy.

Bear was going to be a unicorn for Halloween, but her horn headband was misplaced right in time for Halloween. She was slightly ballerina-ish for her preschool party. She has a hard time with natural-looking smiles.

That night for trick-or-treating, she let me put her hair in a bun and looked like a pretty legit ballerina. Tiny, less so.

Ever was torn between wanting to stay home and pass out candy (is that normal for a six-year-old?) and wanting to go trick-or-treating. Ultimately she decided to do both. Early in the evening, she went out to sit on the driveway with our basket of candy. After a while, Jim got out her camping chair and put the jack o' lanterns he'd carved with the girls around her, so she looked like an amazingly grown-up candy passer outer.

Unfortunately she didn't get a ton of customers before we had to head out to do our own trick-or-treating.

I set out with the littles, and then Jim and Ever met us a little later. I could not get Wren to trick-or-treat. She was terrified. She just cried and absolutely refused. We finally got up the street (not trick-or-treating at all on the way) and found Cikaneks. They were already heading back, but Scott agreed to hit a few more houses with Nathan so he could show Wren how it's done. Rebecca took Noah home. Wren, though still scared, finally got in the game. It wasn't long before we ran into the whole Bunnell clan and did some houses with them. On their way up the street to find us, Jim and Ever saw Ella and Ellis and their families. Of course Ever desperately wanted to trick-or-treat with her friends, so Scott headed home with Nathan, and we tagged along with the Martindales and Rondos. Ever made a wonderful Princess Buttercup.

I had made this amazing sweet cream cheese dip (called "Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip") to take with fruit to the Sorensons' for their regular post-trick-or-treating festivities. It got so late by the time we were done trick-or-treating in Henie Hills, though, that we ended up nixing the Sorensons'. Jim negotiated with Ever and offered to allow her to watch a Halloween show that night, and have some of the dip, if we skipped the party. She was a complete zombie, but she forced herself to stay awake for the show. Then over the course of that night and the next day, I ate ALL the dip, with some help from Jim.