Kids say the darnedest things.

Toby's prayer tonight over the food went something like this:

"Dear Heavenly Father, thank thee for this day. Thank thee we could bless the food. Thank thee..........thank thee that Mom could push out a baby. Name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

What a difference a week makes. 10 days ago I was the biggest stress case. After just finishing the planning and execution of our ward Halloween party it was time to turn full attention to the annual Primary Program at church. (The Primary Presidency, of which I am the President, writes and presents with the children a 40 minute program for the entire congregation about the things we learned through the year) Over the past several months the members of my Presidency have had to bail on the Primary for various reasons. I totally understand, but it has been a frustrating extra responsibility to pick up the slack along with all that had been going on at home and work. It was a learning experience and I'm thankful for the opportunity I had to serve with them and be with the sweet kids. Notice the past tense there? I was released as Primary President the same day we did our program in church. The program went fine, even after all my stressing and bad dreams about it. We ran over time, which I was not pleased with, but everyone really loved the kids talks and songs. Jessie did great saying her part and singing all the songs. Not surprisingly, Toby provided some entertainment during his part. His teacher was helping the kids with their lines in case they forgot them and accidentally said Toby's line for another boy in his class. Toby gets up right after and says his line, "Jesus is my Savior and Redeemer!" but to the congregation it seemed like he just copied what his teacher just said. Then he jumps down off the riser in front of the pulpit and high-fives a member of the bishopric on the way back to his seat. I think he liked hearing the giggles from the congregation. Logan sat with Grandpa Bob & Grandma Evie since both Dave and I were up in the Primary program.

We passed out blank papers for members of the congregation to write a note to the kids. After the program, we had some snacks, played games and read the notes from members of the ward. It was an action packed last Sunday as President. Suddenly, I have a new perspective on my calling and lots of things I wished I would have done differently. I am sad that I won't get to spend each Sunday with the kids, but happy to pass the torch on to my mother-in-law. She will be an awesome President and leader for the kids! Dave is probably relieved that he won't have to be my sounding board for all things Primary anymore, or get the kids ready for church by himself.

My new calling is ward choir pianist. I'm excited to have the challenge of practicing and improving my piano skills. Hopefully, I can learn to get over my nerves of playing in front of people.

laying low

My body has finally succumbed to being sick. I have been fighting that yucky metal taste in the back of my throat for days and it is now a full-blown cold- green boogers and all (probably too much info huh). Being sick while pregnant is always a bigger deal than it should be. I'm super tired and more achy than the usual preggo aches and pains. So, I have been planted at the computer all morning looking at photos taken the last few weeks. I am surrounded by empty tea mugs, a plastic army, and a plethora of superheroes. The boys have been bringing in toys all morning and playing on my lap. It's been great.

Speaking of preggo- there's my 7 month belly and a rare feet sighting. I haven't been able to see them for awhile, but they are down there. Last night I was literally scared awake by this little acrobat bean inside. I was dozing off on the couch when all of the sudden baby started trying to punch a window through her current home. Then she tried to put an addition through her roof and seriously hurt a few ribs. You know that fight-or-flight response where your heart skips a few beats and starts racing? Yeah, she did that to me- first time in 4 pregnancies. I can tell this bean is growing fast now. I'm thankful all is well and she is healthy.
I had to sneak in one more Halloween photo. This was part of one of the games we had last minute planned for the ward Halloween party. The bottles weren't dry in time to use them though. :( Dave even got crafty and made the stencils for the ghost faces and painted them on.
I LOVE fall! The weather is finally starting to get chilly, the night air is full of the aroma of housewarming fires, and the colors around town are beautiful. I love baking pumpkin bread, making soups and chili, and peppermint tea to wind down at night. Hopefully, it will keep getting cooler instead of staying warm all winter.























In keeping with the fall colors, I played around with these photos of my awesome chillies enjoying a fall afternoon. I used a retro action in Photoshop. I think they're fun and totally different from what I usually like.

peter's posse

So here's the Halloween costumes. I wanted to get some pics in the daylight since we didn't get very good ones at the party 2 weeks ago. Has it already been that long? Time really is getting away from me. I talked the fam into putting them back on before my belly didn't fit in the dress anymore.

I made all of our costumes for pretty cheap. Dave's Captain Hook coat was a great find at the thrift store for $5. I just had to alter it a little and add the gold trim. The kids costumes went together fairly quickly and I already had the fabric and pattern for my Wendy dress in my stash from working at the fabric store days. Jessie got a kick out of telling everyone I was pregnant Wendy. Very controversial, I know. Even better? "Captain Hook" is the father.

Toby doing his best Peter Pan crow!

Logan still tells random strangers that his Daddy is going to be Captain Hook for Halloween and he will be the "crocky-dile" that goes chomp-chomp to Daddy.Captain Hook and Wendy? Who knew. Notice the 7 month preggo belly. 10 weeks to go!

A little pumpkin carving fun last Monday night for family night. Uncle Tom, Kristy and Grandpa Bob (everyone else was out of town) came over for dinner and carving. We just bought a new kitchen table which was great to spread out on and have room for everyone.




The kids ALL jumped right into carving this year. Jessie, who was scared of touching the pumpkin guts last year, got right inside and cleaned hers out this time. Toby drew his jack face on a piece of paper before starting and his actual pumpkin turned out exactly like it. Pretty impressive for a 4-year-old. Logan, aka "the driller," shoved the carving knife in his pumpkin and drilled holes all over it. Uncle Tom has some serious carving skill. He enlarged this from one of those pattern books by hand-drawing it on a scratch paper. 30 minutes later my kids were staring at skeleton-jack saying, "Ooooooooo, spooky!"
Dave's creation; he calls it January 11th, 2008 or Delivery Day. He wouldn't let me see it at his far end of the table until he was done. Everyone who came to the doorstep wondered what the heck it was until they saw my tummy.