Lets start with October. It was a crazy insanely busy month. The first week of the month I finished up my last volleyball games and practices. I coached the 7th grade B team for Lewis and Clark again this year. I really enjoyed most of the girls on my team. Sadly I had a few girls, and one parent in particular that made the season a hard one. There was too much negative parental involvement, too many entitled players, and some bad attitudes. I was really happy to see the season end. If nothing else, just to have another 10 hours a week back in my life.
October also brought the end of Emmie's soccer season. She played in a competitive league this year. They lost their first two games and we were worried they were going to get annihilated every game. But the girls started to come together a bit more as a team and they tied for second in the league by the end of the season. Sadly, (in my opinion) Emmie is getting to an age where she is worried about what others think, and so worried about breaking rules that she is losing some of her carefree self, and also losing a bit of her drive and love for playing soccer. Every now and again we would get a glimpse of Emmie playing soccer like she loved it, but it seemed like more often that not she played like she was worried about doing something wrong. I hope she stays with soccer long enough to outgrow those fears...because she really is amazing!
John and I went on a little get away during the middle of October. We went to Disneyland! With just the two of us! We both really needed a break and couldn't settle on a place to go. One day we both had the thought that we should just go to Disney, and we both love Disneyland! So why not? When volleyball ended and since soccer was winding down, we ditched the kids for a few days and flew down to California. We spent some time at the beach, went to Balboa Island, Spent two days at Disneyland and came home exhausted! It was a great trip but definitely not relaxing. I think I love Disneyland a tiny bit more with kids, but it was nice to enjoy the parks at a bit of a slower pace and not have to worry about cranky kids or so many peoples opinions. Currently we are planning on taking the kids this summer. But we're a little nervous about the crowds...I guess time will tell.
As soon as we got home from our trip the month of October tried to kill me. We got home late on a Saturday night. The following Sunday was the primary program. Which meant we had the program practice during that week. And on top of that I was in charge of the ward Halloween party that was 5 days after the program. I think the bishop was trying to kill me. In short...everything happened. The program practice was good (kids actually came). The Program on Sunday went beautifully. There were moments of laughter and moments of being touched by the spirit. And after a lot of hard work and spray paint the ward party was a hit. My strategy was to ask as many people as possible to help in some form, hoping that attendance would be decent. The party had been scheduled over a 3 day weekend for our schools and not many people came to last years party so I was worried it would be a flop. My first counselor and I took care of the decorations, but I asked a lot of people to help with food, I asked 8 couples to be in charge of a carnival type game, the young women did a spook alley, and we had corn hole for the adults and teens. Not to toot my own horn...but it was a raging success. We had so many people that we had to pull out more tables and chairs so people had places to eat. All of the kids and most of the adults were engaged the whole time.
Less than a week after wrapping up the ward party we celebrated Halloween. Emmie was the only one that completely celebrated Halloween this year. Owen dressed up as Dwight from the office and went trick-or-treating to a few houses with some friends and then watched a scary movie. I think they only dressed up because they didn't know what else to do. He's definitely at an awkward transition age. Ainsley stayed home with me and we passed out candy, made muffins, and took down Halloween decorations. Halloween is not my favorite and I was ready for some cleanliness and order in my life.
Simultaneous to all of this crazy going on, I had been told by my bishop that my time in primary was coming to a close. I honestly think its the only thing that kept me sane. Knowing that I just had to finish these last few events and then I would be finished made it doable. I was officially released last Sunday. I said my emotional goodbye last week, handed over my keys and binder, and closed that chapter of my church service. Today I went to relief society for the first time in nearly 10 years. It was weird. I loved that I didn't have any problems I had to deal with today, but I'm sure that soon I will get bored on Sundays. My goal for is to make good use of my extra time. Spend more time with my family, keep our home a little more orderly, record events of our family here, etc. I've done okay so far. Right now my car is clean, my garage is clean, and my yard is ready for winter (after we had a pipe burst because we were too late getting our yard ready for winter. Ugh.). I typically do better when I feel that my home is in order. And I must say, I'm feeling pretty good right now.
An update on Ainsley. She is driving! In June Ainsley officially became a licensed driver. Somehow this is terrifying and awesome all at the same time. Her first drive was to drop Owen off at the Demars. In our neighborhood. And Owen had to beg her to drive him. Needless to say her worrying personality kind of killed the excitement of freedom that new drivers often feel. However, slowly but surely she is gaining confidence. I don’t have to drive her to school, or piano, or the gym, or to mutual...and I love it! And she can pick up kids and run errands for me which I also love. I have received a few panicked phone calls when she has been lost, which I haven’t loved. But I’m confident that with time she’ll gain more confidence and maybe even start to enjoy her freedom a bit.
Ainsley is doing great academically this year. She decided to to debate instead of orchestra, and homework instead of swim team. And while I'm sad she won't be playing the violin or swimming as much anymore, I'm happy she is developing other talents. After talking with her debate teacher it sounds like she can join the debate team in January if she's interested. She finally (after weeks of building up the nerve) stayed after school last week for a debate club meeting and ended up having a great time. I'm hoping this year provides her with some opportunities to make some friends. Ainsley is incredibly well liked and has a milllion wonderful acquaintances, but not really any good friends. I'm also making her go to/join the Meridian Youth Mayor's Council. It is a youth group that meets twice a month and works on passing legislation, community service, and youth activities. She's gone to two meetings so far. She came home from her last one happy and excited...so I hope that will be a good experience for her as well.
It seems like Owen spends most of his time growing (he's taller than me now and wears an 11 men's shoe), in front of some sort of screen, playing piano (I love that he will sit down to play even though he won't take lessons anymore.), with his friends, or pestering his sisters or John. Owen is one that thrives when he is busy. Unfortunately for us all Owen is not involved in any extracurriculars. Which means he has a little too much free time on his hands. He is also coming to an age where he is more and more picky about the activities he is willing to participate in. And while I'm fine forcing him to do things, I'm searching for something for him to do that he loves. Ski season and tennis season are too short. I'm hoping this new youth program will strike up a desire in him to set and accomplish some goals.
We celebrated Emmie's 10th Birthday just yesterday! I can't believe my youngest is 10. Its a little surreal. We did a little window shopping in the morning at a fancy Christmas store. Then then I took Emmie, Elsie, Owen, and Ains to our beloved PoJo's for some games and bumper cars. We were lucky to get to ride the bumper cars because there was a fire (with actual flames!) on the bumper car platform while we were waiting in line. Lucky for us, PoJo's is ghetto enough that 10 minutes later, without even attempting to diagnose the problem, they started those cars right back up! Later that afternoon Emmie and Elsie went to their end of season soccer party. Floor hockey, pizza, and ice cream at the church. Emmie was careful not to eat too much though, because she still wanted her favorite Fettuccine Alfredo for dinner and Oreo Ice cream cake for dessert. We ended the night with gifts and watching the first Pirate's movie. I think she had a great day. And we had fun celebrating her. Emmie is probably my most tenderhearted child. She is smart, and funny, and shares a love of gross bodily functions with a teenage boy. I hope she always stays as tenderhearted and fun as she is right now.
And a word about John. John works. That's pretty much it. I'm getting pretty good at getting things taken care of at home and for the kids without asking for help. He's doing a lot to support our family right now, which is good, but I'm anxiously awaiting the day when the county gives him one or two more members on his team to lighten his load just a bit. We miss him.
Picture's from the last month:
Our magic pumpkin plant that sprouted in our garden. We've never ever planted a pumpkin plant. It had to have come from pumpkin guts dumped there at some point. And it gave us 5 pumpkins!
General Conference
General conference weekend was also salsa canning weekend.
Los Angeles and Disneyland
Ward Halloween party after we were done decorating.
Ainsley's awesome spiderweb. That thing took her an hour. And there is a matching one on the other side.
Emmie as a witch.
A fieldtrip I got to go on with Emmie to Celebration Park.
Emmie's birthday at PoJo's. I need to get some more pictures from John!
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