Gratitude

OK, first off, a few pics from last night that I forgot to put on here. Oops. hehe. Yeah, here's one of me being a dork and playing on the computer. Sexy, aren't I - ha! It's amazing I married and produced children...

And then, right before going to sleep, I checked on the kids, and found Joe sleeping like this. Whaaaaat? That just doesn't look comfortable, and why the heck is the electric piano on the floor? Strange kids...

Anyway, I think I went to bed last night before midnight. Sometime in the 11pm hour. And I took a Ambien so that I'd definitely get a good nights rest. Cause I wasn't gonna be up at 2:30 in the morning again. Yeah, not playing that game.

I woke up at 7:30, and went back to sleep till 8:30, then went back to sleep till 9am. And felt nice and rested. Sleeping in is good to do :)

I said my prayers and read my scriptures and finally came out to check on the kids. Eme was spending the night at Bellas house, and Jake and Tom were still asleep, so only Jim and Joe were awake. They were playing nicely by themselves. That's always good.

I got them some cereal or toast, and myself some breakfast, and we sat down to watch a Halloween movie together. The Halloweentown series. You guys seen those? I think they were on the Disney channel, maybe? I know know. VERY dorky, but they were good :) We enjoyed it.!

Tom came downstairs shortly after we started the movie. I think he heard us watching something. And Jake came downstairs about 1/2 way through the movie. He said he'd seen the first part, but not the rest. So it worked out perfect for him.

And inbetween the first and second movies, I headed to the shoppette to get a $0.99 44 oz soda. They only have Diet Coke (gag), but at least it's not Diet Pepsi. I didn't wanna change out of my jammies or anything, so I didn't wanna go off post. Yeah, I was super hot...

BUT, I got my caffeine fix, and that's all that mattered :) I usually have the kids bring me a soda from the fridge, so I didn't know that we RAN OUT! And I couldn't go a day without caffeine (yeah, I know, that's not good...) cause I'd end up with a migraine before noon. So off I went to feed my habit. But look how happy I look in this picture. hehe.

And I came home, and we watched the 2nd Halloweentown movie. And then started on the third one. The kids had Hot Dogs and Mac N Cheese for lunch, and I grabbed my old Dell laptop, and designed 4 WordArt packs, all birthday themed. It was a good and productive day.

I texted with Captain America on and off, but he was busy most of the day with tests. BUT, I did hear that he might be back on Sunday, not Monday. That'd be good!

At around 3pm, I went and showered, and looked SO much better. Yeah, this picture makes me have a GINORMOUS head (as opposed to the tiny head I normally have.....). I think it's because I'm leaning over funny...

So around 4:30pm, I decide it's time to start baking for the Halloween Party. Because at the time, signing up for Cupcakes AND cornbread sounded like a super great idea. But yeah, I SO didn't feel like baking. I felt like sitting on the couch and watching the 4th Halloweentown movie. hehe. Well, more like just sitting on the couch and vegging. ha! I'm sure I could have found something better to watch...

Anyway, I hopped up, and made some chocolate cupcakes, and 4 boxes of corn bread muffins. And once the cupcakes were cooled, I mixed 1 cup of powdered sugar, 1 package of cream cheese, and 1 tub of cool whip together with a little vanilla. And put it in a frosting tube thingy. What is the name of that.... brain fart.... Anyway, I used the biggest tip I could find, and shoved it into the cupcake, and squirted the yummy filling inside of it.

Then frosted with cupcake with the extra. So yeah, it was cream cheese goodness ALL around. Mmmmm. And it was almost 5:15 by this time. And we had to leave at 5:15pm to get to the church on time. So I told the kids to hurry and put on their costumes.

I didn't take the time to embelish them at all. Sigh. I had high hopes of doing so, but when I realized that Captain America couldn't come to the party with us, it kinda ruined it, a bit, for me. So I didn't dress up. We'll dress up at Cesar and Cleopatra on actual Halloween for trick or treating.

Joe put on his knight costume and maroon cape, Jim put on his batman costume, and Tom got dressed up as an army man. And then, we had car trouble...

My truck, remember, had been acting up. And I'd been driving the Saturn around a lot instead of the truck. So yeah, when I tried to start the truck earlier today, it was dead. No starting it.....

So I decided that 2 of the 5 kids had to stay home from the party. Yeah, it sucked, but it needed done. I really considered letting someone squish in the backseat without a seat belt, but didn't want to risk the "random inspection" coming back in the gate. The ticket and trouble we'd get in for letting one more kid come to the Halloween party didn't seem worth it...

So Jake volunteered to stay home. He said as long as we brought him a little bit of candy, he'd be fine. And, since Eme was still with Bella's family, she was the other natural selection. They'd gone to a corn maze and pumpkin farm today, and were a few minutes late getting back. Sorry, Eme, I know you were looking forward to the party.

So we loaded up at 5:20pm in the Saturn, and headed to the party. With corn bread and cupcakes and 3 kids. And forgot the trunk or treat candy at home. Dang! Oh well, we'll use it for Trick or Treaters, I guess. If I can keep Jimmy out of it. I keep finding sucker wrappers in his room..... I never had troubles like that with the older kids... Maybe it's a younger kid thing.

Anyway, since it's a new ward, with new people, I did feel a little awkward at the beginning. We found a table, and sat, and I didn't really talk to anyone. I thought again about how my therapist said that I wasn't shy. Which is true. I DID want to talk with someone. I wanted to chat and talk and goof off. But I didn't feel comfortable with anyone there to do that.

So they started the party, and we got in line to get the kids food. Chili and corn bread and chips and toppings. Yeah, I couldn't eat it. Chili is NOT on my menu. I'd eat when I got home. I meant to eat before I came, but I got distracted...

Anyway, I force fed Joe and Jim a whole bowl of chili with cornbread. Because I knew the amount of candy that they would be consuming tonight, and wanted real food at the bottom of their stomachs. hehe. Good thing Halloween time is only once a year, right?

They had a chili contest, and a cake decorating contest. Check out some of my favorite cakes!
And there was a costume contest too. This family won first place. The Yo Gabba Gabba family. hehe. Mom was the pink one, and little boy was the green one. It was COOL!

Joe and Jim goofing off

This kids costume was AWESOME. Some type of bird...

Jimmy

Tom and I

Tom

And, the craziness that is a Ward Halloween Party...

Chili's and Cornbreads

And after we ate, the kids all danced to some games in the center of the gym. And I had had enough of sitting by myself, so I went and chatted with Paige, a lady who I'd known the 3 months we'd been in the ward before. Her oldest child is 22, and youngest is 8, and she's SUPER cool. So I just went and joined her family and chatted. And had SO much fun chatting with her. See, not shy. Just insecure. hehe.

And finally, after what seemed like forever, the kids all went outside for the Trunk or Treat. I grabbed a few bowls of chili for Jake and Eme, and a few slices of cake, and headed outside. And of course it was too dark to see where my kids had gone. But I'd told them to stick together, and go get candy, so I trusted that they were good.

I stood by the back door under a light so they could find me, and chatted with another lady in the ward, Gayle. She's pretty nice. And the Relief Society president. We had a nice time chatting. And I found the kids as they came around, and they'd gotten candy for themselves, AND some for Jake and Eme. Such sweet kids :)

We finally left the church at around 8:30pm, and came home. The kids had had SOOOOO much fun. They just went on and on about how much they LOVED the new ward, and how awesome it was. And I'd had fun the last half, too. After I got over feeling uncomfortable, and went and chatted with people. I'd had a good time :)

We drove home, and cleaned out Captain Americas car, and un-costumed kids. They divided up the candies with Eme and Jake (who had watched a movie at home together and had a quiet evening), and they ate so much I thought I was gonna be sick. I stepped in at one point and hid the candy bags. hehe. Yeah, they say that kids can self regulate how much they eat, but I think my kids missed those directions....

Anyway, we set to work on cleaning the house, cause I wanted it to be clean-ish when Captain America came home. We did the dishes, and cleaned up after the cupcakes, and wiped the counters, and swept the floors, and cleaned the dining room table, and did some laundry, and picked up the living room, and were done.

And we all sat down to read our scriptures and say family prayer, then I sent kids to brush teeth REALLY good, and off to bed.

And I sat down to blog, and facebook, and unwind. And now it's 10:07pm, and I really need to run to Walmart. Cause I need caffeine for tomorrow. I know, I'm bad. I wonder if there's somewhere closer, just off post. I bet Walgreens has a 12 pack of soda.... AND, I could print out some photos for Emeline. I've been promising her that I would, so that she could make a mini scrapbook with them. Photos from her birthday. Hmmm, maybe I'll do that instead of a Walmart run... it would be a much closer, faster trip.

Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. thanks!

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