November

What a crazy month! November has gone by so fast and I feel really wore out. I spent more time socializing this month than I have since probably high school. That, on top of the regular taking care of 5 kids, a husband, the house, book work for the office, increase in BPO's, and extra Dr. visits, I have been running like mad!

Here's some of the "extras" I managed to squeeze in this month....

880 pears takes 3 women, 1 hubby, and 17 kids running wild thru my house approximately 3 days to bottle, dry and make into jam. I'm confident had there not been 17 kids, which included 4 in diapers, 2 trying to sneak off to kiss & 4 who spent more time fighting than playing, it would have taken a significant less amount of time, but that wasn't the case.

We had some great midnight entertainment by Jill who was taking on every challenge she could come up with, including pealing pears, (which she lost to Tello) standing on her head (which she won) and doing push-ups (she lost that to Nakia). Now that was some good quality entertainment!

Ben had a Veterans day program which he was not about to let me forget to come to. He memorized his part and was thrilled that he was one of the very few who didn't have to read it.
Super Friday/Saturday was an event I was conned into taking an active role in. I was asked to come up with some ideas for easy Christmas cards to make as one of the projects, I had no idea when I agreed to that little task I would be a full time committee member which required 2 long days at the church and one even longer day shopping in Idaho Falls with Jill & 4 little girls. The most disturbing part of it all was some of the conversations I found myself in with Jill. She should go into syko-therapy, or maybe go to syko-therapy :-)

I had a card club I went to in Preston one night, the mutual girls came here to scrapbook another night. There was 2 separate days of parent teachers conferences, I had to give a lesson in Relief Society, which always stresses me out, I've been on a kick that I am determined to make sugar cookies that are worthy of sharing. After 5 different recipes and many days and hours of mixing, rolling, cutting, cooking, & decorating I can honestly say- they are getting better. I still wouldn't take a plate of them to a neighbor for a little neighborly friendship. I can't forget the day we pulled the kids out of school early to go watch Twilight! We went to the 4:00 show at Edwards Theatre in Idaho Falls and got there about 10 minutes before it started and the only available seat were in the front row...

And yesterday I hosted a desert dwellers hair cutting party that started about 11:30 am and went till about 6:30 pm. Once again there was 17 kids along with 7 adults. The sight was picture worthy as a dozen kids piled off the school bus all en route to the same destination, but we were all too busy inside cleaning & calming 5 screaming babies to rush out & snap a picture. I'm still surprised Tello stuck around the whole day. He must enjoy the chaos more than he's letting on. Sara came down from Rexburg to give a few haircuts. After 7 hours of standing on her feet she gave a total of 9 haircuts, 1 man, 3 ladies, 3 girls, 2 babies, & 1 highlights. What an eventful day.

As if that's not enough I have pink eye or a sty, not sure, I'm too cheap to go to the Dr. to find out & it's not going away. How long are these things supposed to last anyway?

MUST READ, VERY IMPORTANT

Just seconds ago I got off the phone with my sister, Marlo, who was calling me from the mall to inform me she had just purchased the game, "The Office Trivia". Anyone who knows me at all knows of my addiction to The Office, so what I'm getting at here is this,

Anyone who is well versed in "Office-eese" and would like to be an official member of the Finer Things Club Blackfoot Branch, is cordially invited to attend an evening at my farm with the other elite members to join in a competitive game of Office Trivia.

Date & Time: TBA

Please RSVP ASAP!

BOO

What's not to love about Halloween? When else do you get to dress up as ugly as possible and get compliments. One sad truth about this photo, I really feel like this a lot of the time (not necessarily towards my dear sweet grandma, just in general)

Ben was at his dad's and didn't want to join in the festivities, so we went to him.

Marlo really does make a cute pregnant nun. Way to go "Father Bruce" on getting your "sister" pregnant, ewe gross!

I like to coordinate our costumes. Last year Tello was Shrek, I was Fiona & Francine was Baby Shrek, that was alot of fun, so this year in an attempt to top last years costumes I made up the Frankenstein Family. What a sick competition I'm in with none other that myself. I think I will have to make a post on all my past Halloween costumes. And honestly, trying to one up myself from the years past is the only reason I get into Halloween so much. I don't enjoy going to carnivals with hundreds of screaming kids all cranked up on sugar, crammed into a gymnasium with no air conditioning. Nor do I enjoy walking the streets of big bad Blackfoot in below freezing weather repeating myself every 100 feet, "Trick-or-treat, oh-thanks, I think she's adorable too" No, it all boils down to the fact that I like to dress up in freaky costumes that I ponder on for 350 days a year but never actually work on until a couple days before Halloween. I love my insanity!

Andy however has dressed up as the same thing for the past 4 years now. I've even offered him my costume making skills in hopes he would go for something else, but he really enjoys being a vampire.
One of our favorite parental activities to do on Halloween is to visit the kids at their schools, especially when they don't want us to. They were kinda excited to see us this year so it wasn't quite as rewarding.

I didn't think Francine would wear her Frankenstein head, in fact she was pretty upset when I tried it on her, until she saw daddy with his on, then she was thrilled to keep it on all day!