Halloween 2012

What a great Halloween we had this year!  Earlier in the week we painted pumpkins and made jack-o-lantern pizzas.

 

Tonight, some friends invited us to go trick-or-treating with them in their awesome neighborhood. They organize hay rides to take the kids around to all the houses, and there is one awesome house that spent something like $12,000 to put together a haunted house for everyone (they let the little kids just walk through it without everyone jumping out at them). The weather was PERFECT and the kids had a blast.  Joey was so exhausted afterwards that she fell asleep on the way home.

 

Batarina

Vampirina

(Imagine her hissing at you.)

I even got Jeremy to dress up!  And pose!

They wanted to give the baby kisses.

 

 

Kaylee and Shelby

 

7 months!

 

 

Pumpkin Patchin'

Today was the perfect day to hit up the pumpkin patch.  Well, maybe not perfect- it was windy and freezing.  But at least it felt like Fall!  The girls had a great time on the hay ride, bounce houses, walking through the hay maze, riding ponies, and picking out their pumpkins.

 

 

Lesson Learned

I think it is true that children often teach us more than we teach them.  Baby #3 is certainly teaching me already. 

Last week was a tough week for me (if you couldn't tell from the last post).  I was super busy and stressed.  I often have a hard time telling people no, and try to do too much myself rather than ask someone for help.  I really didn't have a problem doing any one of the things I did last week- I want to help out as much as I can, I want things to run smoothly in YW, I want to be involved in special projects at work.  The problem is I take everything on at once and then it becomes overwhelming. 

After two hours of tear inducing, bed clutching contractions on Saturday, my doctor has told me to take it easy.  Not bed rest, but I definitely can't walk with the YW anymore and I need to slow down.  So as hard as it is for me to hand over control or tell people no, this baby is teaching me that sometimes it just has to be done. 

She's already a know-it-all.  ;)

Feeling It

I am beginning to feel the end of year stress creeping in.  This is the time of year when I work extra long hours (I think people don't realize I work 8 hours a day, so think about that when I say I work longer hours).  I have done this before with kids.  I have done this before being pregnant.  But I have never done this with kids, being pregnant, and being YW president.  We have so much coming up in YW - combined activities, dances, Temple Walk, Young Women in Excellence, class presidency training, etc.  It's a lot.  I am sure the rest of the presidency is sick of all the emails I send, but it's got to be done. 

On top of that, Jeremy has a few business trips this month. I am also supposed to go to New Orleans at some point, but every time I try to figure out when that will be there is either some church meeting or activity, doctors appointments for me, Jeremy is out of town, etc.

Then, on top of ALL of that there is just the normal busy stuff that every family has this time of year- fall carnivals, costume shopping, Trunk-or-Treats, pumpkin patches, etc.  I actually think this stuff stresses me out more than anything.  Not the actual doing of the activities, but trying to figure out when they will get done.  I love holidays and want to pack as much stuff in as possible, and then feel guilty if the girls miss out on something. 

 I didn't get anything accomplished this weekend, aside from cooking.  That is one of the things I love about conference (aside from the obvious).  No ward council, no BYC, no staying after to collect trash from the bathrooms, NO 1-4 CHURCH THAT TAKES UP THE ENTIRE DAY (Can you tell I'm ready for January when we get to switch back to 9-12?).  I actually cooked breakfast, lunch, AND dinner yesterday.  I am sure I gained a ton of weight doing that, but it sure was good!  Baked cinnamon roll French toast for breakfast, spinach (I forgot the artichokes) fondue for lunch, and a cheesy turkey stroganoff for dinner.

I know in the end I will survive.  I just need to get my stress-vent out before I scream. 

 

Amazing Friend/New Pictures

I have a pretty amazing friend.  Even though she was super busy with photo shoots while she was here, she took the time to fit us in for a quick shoot, and then edited the pictures within a few hours.  And seriously, we are probably the least photogenic, most uncooperative family there is, but she somehow manages to pull off great pictures.  Thank you, Julie Estes!

 

 

 

 

 

I love this one because Shelby is holding a picture of baby girl #3.