Hallo-Weekend

The Halloween festivities started Friday night with the annual Parkside Halloween party. We sent off a princess and a tomato.
The next day was Andrew's final flag football game of the season, and possibly his last football game ever. This wasn't the greatest season for him, with the broken finger debacle and strange lack of time on the field. It was kind of discouraging, but Andrew was a trooper and is ready to move on to basketball. Next fall he's heading back onto the soccer field.

Saturday night our ward had an all-inclusive party--chili cook-off and trunk-or-treat. A crayon, the floor of a movie theater, and some static cling joined the tomato.There was a cake walk...

See the hobo there on the right? FINALLY! some one to follow in my childhood costume tradition!

...and the ever popular bite-a-donut-off a string game.

And of course all candy must be dumped on the living room floor for sorting while watching Halloween specials on TV.Sunday was the BIG DAY. But it was Sunday. So we decided against trick-or-treating. In order to still celebrate, we had a very fitting dinner with family and friends. On the menu--

• Dinner in a pumpkin
• Monster salad
• Scary smiles (apple wedges with blanched almonds for teeth)
• "Rest in Peas"
• Bone breadsticks
• Spider, ghost, and skull bread
  

Pretty scary, eh? But quite yummy!

Some of us thought there might be more Halloween fun to be had, but alas, it ended up being just another school night. Albeit one where we hid upstairs in the dark to watch "The Next Iron Chef" to hide from any trick-or-treaters that may be wandering by. (Don't worry, we never get anyone anyways.)

For me, it was nice to enjoy the beautiful weather, keep the costumes low-key, get a couple pieces of discarded candy from the kids, and spend time with family and friends.

Can Halloween be on a Sunday every year???

One game fits all.

Part of the brou-ha-ha that comes with Andrew's football league is free admission to the high school football games and a chance to run out on the field at one of them. Well, "Junior All-Star Night" just happened to be the game against Tyler's school. And with Tyler marching in the band, it was a two-for-one package deal.

It was very cool to see Tyler out there...

We all sat on Westlake's side, but Andrew, ever faithful to his big cousin, cheered (quite loudly) for the opposing team.

It was a pretty chilly night, and some people were ready to leave after the half-time show. But if we had done that, we would have missed catching a t-shirt and football that the cheerleaders tossed into the stands, and we would have missed seeing Westlake pull a win in the last seconds. Sorry, Tyler, I would have been totally fine with you adding one to your win column, but it sure was fun cheering when the kicker made that field goal.

Family. Football. Friday night. Fall. Fabulous.

Big kids don't cry?

Brooke and Andrew have pulled out the baby books recently.  I saw Andrew's laying there and started thumbing through it.  One of the "cute sayings" from when Andrew was all of two years old was, "Mommy, you made my feelings cry."

Every single day for the past 12 and a half years someone's feelings have been crying.  It's taken the form of a whine, a tantrum, or an owie.  It's been due to hunger, fatigue, pain, frustration, or (most often) unknown reasons.

It may be just one child having a bad day, or there may have been all four sobbing at the same time.  There might be an easy fix, or I might have started crying my self because I haven't known how to stop it.

Whatever the reasons or causes, forms or solutions, crying has been a huge part of my life for a really long time.  And I have often thought to myself that someday--someday!--I will have an entire 24 hours without one single child crying.  I have looked forward to marking this milestone as I have the day all four children could buckle themselves into the car on their own and the day all three girls could put their Sunday tights on without help.  It would be as monumental as no longer hearing "Mom!  I need help wiping!" or not being involved in the nightly showering process (except for the occasional washing of Brooke's hair). 

And I think we made it.

I realized today that for the past two days, there was not one tear shed.  And thankfully, those days coincided with Glenn's business trip to Minneapolis.  The kids couldn't have picked a better time.

As I look back, there are a lot of things I miss about my babies.  I miss the little white-haired boy who snuggled on my lap and was obsessed with fire trucks.  I miss the three ringlet-crowned girls who played with dolls and princesses and danced and sang to the Wiggles.  But even though there are new unsavory issues our big-kid family is now dealing with (hello, fighting!), I am very happy that certain struggles are far behind us.

Well, not too far.  Our two-day record was shot this evening.  But it was great while it lasted, and now that I know it's possible, I am looking forward to more tear-free days ahead.  It will make my feelings smile.

High note.

So the cross country season is over.  The last race was Saturday.  A nice, sunny day, but the course was a little muddy.  The coaches were speculating that it was "slow," that there wouldn't be too many personal records set.

Enter Westlake.  Enter Emma.  Enter Leah.

"Slow" course, my foot.  You wanna talk personal bests?  Try on a 14:42 for Emma.  (That would be 55th out of 126 girls.)  How about a little 16:03 for Leah?  (85th) Yeah, not only did they each set a personal best, they beat it by 45 and 30 seconds!  Doesn't sound slow to me!

And our team won the SWC championships!

The only drawback was that for some reason there was no time clock at the finish line, so we didn't know the girls' times.  Based on some of the runners they beat, we knew they were doing pretty good, and when Emma finished, Glenn said, "I think she's under 15:00."  Nah, I said, that's too much to ask.  After everyone finished we were standing by the coach and I noticed she had a paper with everyone's times scribbled on it (the Westlake girls were coming in so fast and one right after another that she was having a hard time keeping up!).  I saw "Emma" and 14:42 and exclaimed--"Is that MY Emma???"  I had a hard time telling the girls how well they had done (they still had no idea at this point) because my {ahem} "allergies" started acting up right then.


They had the awards ceremony right after and it was so much fun to see the team together and to cheer for the champs.  The team went to CiCi's to celebrate.  I went to pick the girls up early and got to talk to the coach a little.  She had nothing but good things to say about the girls and was so impressed with their improvement.  She is excited they are doing track in the spring.  It was just such a good experience all around and I am loving seeing all the growth in my children.

Now, I am looking forward to a little less-hectic schedule (at least until track season), the bus bringing my children to me rather than me going out to retrieve them, and getting beat by a couple of twelve year-olds in some off-season 5K's.

Congratulations on a fantastic rookie season, Emma and Leah!

Don't blink.

Leah shaved 30 seconds off her time!  

Conference championships are tomorrow--

both girls have a goal to get a personal best!

Back in the saddle again.

After sitting out for two weeks with his broken finger, Andrew was back on the football field. And look at the size of the guy they put him up against!

Andrew had a great game and his finger didn't bother him a bit.  In fact, he isn't even wearing the splint anymore.  It's going to take more than a little crack in a bone to keep this kid down!

Life, interrupted.

My month--by five FULL days at school as book fair co-coordinator.  No wonder Andrew is crazy town after school.

My twenty minutes on the couch before having to rush off again to pick up kids--by the Wii, the piano, and a phone call.

My plans for a date with my husband--by a last-minute cross country dinner that takes my babysitters away.

My blog post--by