I requested a hike for my birthday. We ended up not having much time, so we tried to squeeze in a little walk on a new trail off Oceanside Boulevard that Jim wanted to check out. We pulled off the road by the gate and saw that it had already closed for the day. We were discussing hopping the fence when Ever became completely hysterical in the backseat. At first we didn't know what was going on, but Jim figured out that it was because she was so freaked by the prospect of breaking the rules and going somewhere we weren't supposed to go. He tried to talk her down, but she could not be reconciled to trespassing. Jim was really not happy with her but finally gave up. As he started to drive away, Wren began to cry because she was so sad about not being able to climb the fence. Jim promised to find another fence for her to climb and took us to the new soccer fields, where we tried to find another way onto the trail. It was very cold. I was freezing. Tiny was incredibly underdressed (and, I suppose, overdressed) for the occasion.
We couldn't find a way to get onto a real trail. We walked along the outside of the soccer field until we couldn't go any farther and called it.
Before we left, the girls got their fill climbing on a fence by the parking lot.
The littles and I rode down to the end of the cul-de-sac. They collected sticks and played in the tree.
Then they went for a drive.
We went to the fall carnival at Palmquist. We hadn't figured out costumes yet, so Ever wore last year's Princess Buttercup costume. She charged up the climbing wall, and I was proud. I think this was as high as she went. For some reason, she wouldn't go the last foot or two.
Ever's dance studio, Cadence Dance Project, came and led the kids in the "Thriller" dance. I had a great view of Ever, and then some giant kids went right between her and me.
Ever has had wonderful Primary teachers.
Morning snuggle fest:
Anna took Ever to Legoland with Leela and Rafi. This was probably the last 2019 visit.
Wrenzy read Tiny a story over lunch. So animated and so precious.
Another day, I did the reading. When I came to the word "inconspicuous," I asked Wren what it meant. I was shocked that she knew. The importance of reading to children cannot be overstated, in my opinion.
Don't remember why I took this picture because October was too early for cookie selling, but Ever was (and is) a Brownie.
A friend, Courtney Woods, texted and told me Ever had just gotten an award at the school assembly. I knew nothing about it; hadn't been notified by the school that it was happening. Apparently the kids wrote essays about saying no to drugs as part of their DARE week, and Ever's essay was one of the winners. Anna happened to be at the assembly for a different reason, so she and Courtney both took and sent me pictures.
I had this text exchange with Jim about it. He's the best.
Tiny wanted to be Pippi Longstocking for Halloween. Ever said she wanted to be a ghost, and Wren followed suit. For the ward trunk or treat, I tried to make old-fashioned ghost costumes for the biggers from a sheet (Ever) and pillowcase (Wren). They were a disaster. They wouldn't stay in place so that the girls could see out the eye holes, even though I had pinned the sheets to hats to help with that. I couldn't even get the girls to keep the sheets on for the very brief duration of the trunk-or-treat portion of the evening.
As I helped clean up that night, the girls went to town on cupcakes and made a gigantic mess. That was not helpful. Then they topped it off with more candy. (The party was Harry Potter-themed, so somebody there applied zigzag scars to the kids' foreheads.)
Ever was going through a huge Go-Go's / Belinda Carlisle phase, so we were listening to that all the time. I'm not sure if this was during a timeout or before a nap, but I heard Tiny singing part of the "Circle in the Sand" chorus on repeat:
Later that day, Ever tried to comfort Wrenzy while she was in a timeout.
Derrick had us over for dinner when Mel was out of town. I texted Mel this picture and said, "Our kids' idea of a party." MFEO.
JoAnn took the littles to some Halloween festivities at the library. They really struggle with pictures. Tiny is extraordinary.
We scrambled to get some semblance of costumes together the morning of the preschool Halloween party. Good thing Tiny's regular choice of clothing counts as a costume.
Somehow carving out time to carve pumpkins is the hardest thing every year. I bought the pumpkins in advance, but then it was the 30th and approaching bedtime. Jim insisted it get done, though, and busted it out. They are doing a spooky "ooh" here:
On Halloween afternoon, I hurriedly cut head holes out of the ghost costumes and applied face makeup on Ever and Wren. They turned out sort of Beetlejuicey, but if sufficed. In keeping with tradition, we went trick-or-treating with Leela and Rafi and Nathan and Noah. Surprisingly, Nathan, Noah, and Scott were dressed exactly like Ever and Wren - sheets, white makeup, and black makeup around the eyes. When Jim came home and saw us all, he assumed we had coordinated, but it was totally unplanned. Leela and Rafi were ninjas.
Since Tiny's pigtails weren't really visible in the group pics, I made her pose by herself against a white background. Her posing was inexplicable.
Trick-or-treating:
When it was very late and the kids all had tons of candy, we walked back to Subrebosts' house and ended up hanging out there for a while. Ghost monkeys on rings:
Lastly, in honor of my life, I found this picture from an October get-together hosted by Mariah Koehle a year or two ago:
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| Back, L to R: Melanie Karner, Amy Thompson, Heidi Hawkins, Amber Sorenson, me. Front, L to R: Mariah Koehle, Deb Moffat. |
And Bags told me that people posted on my Facebook page for my birthday. The shout-outs were pretty much negligible (I don't have any friends, and I don't use Facebook), but my old gym coach, Mike Spiller, posted this pic:
Oh, to be bendy and athletic again! How the mighty have fallen.
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