Festivities and a quest

The end of October is always busy because places around here start having a lot of free stuff for families and I feel this compulsion to take advantage of it whether it kills me or not.

Monday, Great Grandma Watts's residence put on a Halloween party for the resident's families. We went last year and had a lot of fun, so we were excited to go again. Unfortunately, it didn't go nearly as well this year. One of the attractions last year was that there was a magic show. But the room they held it in was a pretty small room and they crammed chairs in there to seat everyone and then wheeled and walkered residents in at the ends of the rows. So nobody could get in or out or have leg room or take a kid to the bathroom when needed. Cecily was tired before we even got there, so after about 30 seconds was trying to climb the random grandma at the end of the row. The woman resident behind us was giving us dirty looks because she wasn't able to see, or she thought we were going to try to take over her saved seats, or maybe she was just afraid Cecily would try to climb her too. I don't know. Mira was also tired. She lasted three minutes. Finally, I handed them both to Grandma and Grandpa Watts, who were two rows behind us in chairs that weren't blocked by two walkers, a man in a wheelchair and a territorial 80 year old. Emilia lasted around 20 minutes before she broke down in tears. She was loving the show, but the magician was picking volunteers, and he was only picking from the kids that were seated on the floor up front. Life is so unfair! Finally the show was over and we took the kids around trick-or-treating at the resident's doors. They had some treats for everyone, too, which Cecily devoured because she was tired. That girl is going to be in trouble as a teenager/adult. She thinks eating will solve all of her problems. If she's hungry, she eats. If she's tired, she eats. If she's mad, he eats. If she's sad, she eats. It's ridiculous.

Wednesday, I took the younger two shopping. Everybody needed some clothes for winter and Mira was excited to get some new leggings. They were troopers: four stores and two hours later, I took them to the "Treehouse" to play before heading home.

Cecily and Mira going down the slide. Cecily is so fearless. And she LOVES slides.

Mira watching a gaggle of children play king of the hill. She's not really into playing with kids she doesn't know.

Thursday was Steve's birthday. I didn't take any pictures that day, so you can have the picture from last Sunday that I told you I would give you this week. We gave him our presents before he left for work, I made him the dinner he requested (chicken sandwiches and french fries), and he went to a friend's house to hang out that evening. Nothing amazing, but I hope it was a good day for him.

Friday, we got a babysitter and went on a date to celebrate his birthday. We went to the Cocoa Bean and got frappes (the Giradelli white chocolate raspberry was divine) and then to Barnes and Noble to pick out a book each. He was also really nice and allowed me to return the clothes from the Wednesday shopping trip that didn't end up working out. I didn't have to do it with 2 to 3 small people in tow, and he got to listen to the BYU football game on the radio, so it was a win-win, I think.

Saturday, we took the girls to a pumpkin patch here in Springville. They had a bunch of stuff for the kids to do, so we were there all morning. We had a bunch of small stuff to finish up while Cecily and Mira (thank goodness) napped. That night, some friends came over and played games.  It was a pretty good day.

Mira in the mini maze.

The girls with daddy after they buried him in corn,

A nice family shot?

The adorable Miss Mira buried in corn.

Daddy taking Mira and Cecily down the slide the first time. Cecily would have gone down it for the rest of the day if we'd let her.

And last, but not least, I went on a quest this week to bake 7 different kinds of zucchini bread in order to use up the last of my zucchini. I did accomplish the goal of making 7 different zucchini breads. I did not, however, use up all the zucchini. I also tried to make V8 Splash juice by juicing some of my carrots and tomatoes. I of course added other ingredients, according to a recipe I found online. It ended up tasting pretty terrible. I should have know when the recipe called for pumpkin that it was going to be a little weird. Then I decided to freeze some in  ice cube trays because then I could throw it in smoothies and not waste it. Because it wasn't good enough that I would just drink it. I'm such a glutton for punishment sometimes. Not only was it messy to juice everything with my parents' juicer, but then I had to use the blender to mix it all together. I'm not used to blending juices, so I didn't realize that when you start it, the juice sprays up--all over the clean dishes next to the blender on the counter. Then, when putting the trays in the freezer, one tips over, dripping juice down the entire length of the freezer, where it freezes, of course. So then I have to spend a 1/2 hour heating a dish rag in order to unfreeze the juice enough to to peel off my freezer and all the food on the right side. Bah.

A couple of my monster carrots that were juiced.