Re-Committing

I'm going to re-commit to this blog thing. I swear, I'm going to be better at posting. At least, until something more interesting comes along............oh look! shiny things!........
This is how our October started out--the day after Brooklyn turned 2, Jennica Lynn came into the world. She's the tiniest addition to our extended family, and Brooklyn was pretty excited to get a peek at her. She's quite good with the baby, and asks to hold her every time we see her. With much supervision, she usually does a pretty good job.

We also attended the Pumpkin-Decorating night, sponsored by our YMCA. I had promised Jeremy we could carve pumpkins this year instead of painting them, and decided that the mess may as well be contained at the Y, rather than my kitchen. Jeremy quickly decided actually carving a pumpkin wasn't as much fun as he thought it would be after I cut off the lid to the first one and he saw the goop inside.

He had a great time painting his pumpkin, with a little help from Brooklyn, while Kadon and I carved the other two.

This is about mid-project, it got much more ornate after this...

The guts were pretty gross, but at least they smell good. I even managed *not* to get covered in goop!

Kadon was my assistant.

We attended the trunk-or-treat at our church building, the biggest event of the season for us. I got the kids dressed up, and tried to get a few pictures before we left. I had a heck of a time getting Kadon to hold still--Sir Wacks-a-lot was so excited to get his sword after weeks of waiting that he wouldn't' stop waving it around long enough for photos.

The other two behaved marvelously, letting me get several shots of their costumes.

As per usual, all the costumes were homemade this year. It's hard to tell in these pictures, but Brooklyn had a felt and wire tail sewed onto the back of her pants that bobbed when she walked around. I wish I had thought to take a picture of her from behind, because it was super-cute!

The 'M' on Jeremy's costume turned out to be one of the most difficult part of the entire process. I really wanted it to be 'just right', and I ended up having to draw it myself on a large piece of paper, then transfer it onto fabric, cut it out, and sew it onto the felt. I am nowhere near approaching anything resembling an artist, so this was the hardest part for me.

He seemed to be pleased, and tried to take a chomp out of himself.

In this picture you can see the tail on Brooklyn's costume peeking out from between her feet. She also wouldn't stop putting her pitchfork in her mouth all night, but it was still cute.

This is not a tricky photo-that is actually red hair....erm, horns.

The trunk-or-treat is also the only night that I dressed up. I had a dress that Mary helped me make especially for this costume, but when it came time to put it on, I decided it really didn't fit properly. I'm narrower through the ribs and waist then the dress was fitting, and wider throughout the hips and rear. All in all, I think the dress looked terribly foolish--but about the time I had given up and decided to wear white pants and a t-shirt with my wings and halo, I realized I'm officially small enough to fit back into my wedding dress. I weighed the pros and cons of wearing my precious dress as a costume, and decided the opportunity to wear it out in public again--even as a costume--was too much fun to deny.

It was a lot of fun, even if I spent at least half the night carrying my small train around. Everybody got a kick out of our costumes, and all the little girls in the building were enthralled with my super-glittery hair. I swear, I used at least half a bottle of the glitter hairspray on my helmet-head!

We have two sister missionaries in our ward, and I absolutely adore them. These two sisters and I got extremely close this summer, and they were at my house at least once or twice a week, sharing a meal, or a message, or simply chatting about life in general. I'm so grateful for the chance to know these women--they're kind, thoughtful, funny, and make my life richer just by being a part of it!

This beautiful sister went home a few days after this party, and I miss her fiercely. Thankfully, now that she's home we can email, catch up on Facebook, and talk on the phone. I still miss her, and she threatens daily to move back and live in my basement. I promised to have clean sheets on the bed for her.

Well, that's it for today. After such an absences, there are many more stories and pictures to share. I'll try to be more on top of the sharing....