A Thursday

Thursdays are always busy for us, but today was one of those days where all of the once-a-months and once-in-a-whiles lined up so the schedule looked like this:

8:40am - leave the house.

9:00 - drop David off at school.

9:15 - arrive at church and check Katy and Luke into their classrooms, fingers crossed.

9:30 - my mom's group begins.

10:15 - childcare workers come and get me because Luke isn't happy today. I chase him around in the background of my meeting.

11:15 - meeting over, get Katy from her class.

11:30 - set up Luke and Katy with packed lunches while I help clean up the meeting.

12:15 - arrive at David's school and let Luke and Katy play on playground for a few minutes.

12:30 - pick David up (his school allows him to stay for lunch if needed. for a fee, of course).

12:40 - meet my sister Melanie in my driveway. She takes the boys in to nap and I leave to walk Katy to school.

12:50 - arrive at Katy's school and check in to volunteer in her classroom.

1:00-3:30 - help in Katy's class.

3:40 - arrive home. Mel leaves. I feed the kids a "snacky dinner" and they play outside.

5:30 - arrive at David's preschool for open house.

6:00 - Brian meets us at David's preschool.

6:45 - back home. Sit for a minute.

7:30 - Beth picks me up to go to Costco. (for 2 years I've shared a membership with 2 friends - we take turns going and sending lists, etc)

8:45 - arrive home. Deep breath.

These days are the exception, of course. I don't mind them once in awhile, but hopefully they won't become the norm.

Thought of the Day

I was thinking about posting everyday in November, and I had an idea. What if I just did more like a long-winded Facebook status - but here on the blog? That doesn't feel as overwhelming to me, but I think it would be fun. I really like blogging (and looking back at archives), so that would be better than the whopping 4 posts that I wrote in October. (And I tend to shy away from actual Facebook - the audience is too wide and there's so much judgement! And I realize that I shouldn't care whether I'm judged or not - but that's a lifelong struggle of mine.)

We're enjoying a stretch of beautiful weather this week (highs around 60, sunny), and the past 2 afternoons I've had a yard full of kids for a couple of hours. The kids are all older than mine (that's the way it lies on our street at the moment), but I love to be the party house, and I hope that continues into the teen years. Come on over! It's fun here!

I've also been bringing other kids from the neighborhood to our Wednesday night children's program at church. Some are kids who already attend our church, and some do not. But I just LOVE to be the church bus. The kids talk in the back seat and I get to be a fly on the wall. And there's something exhilarating to me about walking in the doors with 4 kids and getting all their bags and jackets settled and into their classrooms. I want to be that mom for my kids' friends. Speaking of which, I'm on my way to pick them up now and bring them home...

Pick a costume, any costume...

It seems that the opportunities for the kids to wear costumes start in early October and continue all month. We are also fortunate enough to have several generous friends who share my love of borrowing and trading, so we had several costumes for the kids to choose from.

I tried to steer Katy toward some other options like Buckeye cheerleader, but she insisted for weeks that she wanted to be Ariel. We borrowed a costume from a friend and Katy was thrilled that the costume "looks like she doesn't have legs, like a real mermaid." She asked me today if maybe she could see the movie sometime. (I'd be happy to show her, but it was only 9 months ago that Ursula on Ice scared her into the lobby. So we'll see.)

David kept teetering between Thomas and a dinosaur, but every time he had to make the final call, Thomas it was. Brian spent hours transforming our wagon into a train for Thomas to pull around the neighborhood.

At first I was going to put Luke in the lamb costume that Katy and David have both worn. But after getting his picture taken in it early in the month, a friend handed us a lion costume that was so cute I couldn't pass it up. So the lion got to ride in the train - which he tolerated for about 30 seconds.

First up, the annual photo shoot at Brian's work for their calendar.

 photo courtesy Jodi Miller

 photo courtesy Jodi Miller

 photo courtesy Jodi Miller

Next, Boo at the Zoo when Oma and Opa were in town. (I didn't bother with a costume for Luke)

In search of treat stations.

Could've stayed in the hay maze for hours.

One of those girly salons had a booth with princesses - they took Katy over and sprayed glitter in her hair (which she loved, but I was surprised they didn't ask the parents?)

Then it was David's parade and party at school:

Anxiously awaiting Thomas (don't be fooled - the lion could not be contained!)

So proud!

Katy's parade and party:

Finally, trick or treat!! We love to go with friends - and this year we were joined by first-timers Frank and Maggie!

Katy and her girls. At the end of the night, she told me that she wished she had a sister. :(

Have you ever seen a cuter gnome?

David was thrilled that Frank came along.

Oh, babies in animal costumes!

See the train? The cage didn't contain the lion, who wanted to run free. The lion then did a face plant and bled down the front of his costume. Which Brian said made him look more authentic, as a lion.

The coolest thing that happened was right at the end - we were heading home and it was dark, and a fire truck with flashing lights pulled up right next to us. The firemen jumped out with bags of candy and made David's night!

So we made it through another Halloween! It's nice to pack up the costumes for now, but David's already asking how long until the next Halloween.