Monday

The kids are out of school until Thursday. Instead of 3 half days for conferences, our school has opted for no school on those 3 days. I'm not sold on the tactic but I'm sure the teachers love it. I don't mind the kids home. Really. The relaxed mornings, the laid back days, no agenda. But the boredom of staying home so the 10 month old can nap almost did us in today. Almost. To cure some of the pent up energy we had a couple outings after Reed's very short afternoon nap.

A dentist here in town buys Halloween candy for $1 a pound and then sends it to the troops in Iraq. They got a ton of candy trick or treating and when I asked them if they wanted to take their candy to the dentist's office, they got all excited. They filled a quart ziploc bag with whatever they wanted and today we sold the candy back. They each had 3 pounds of candy. So they each walked away with $3 and a new light up toothbrush in their pocket. They were happy, they even signed a card for the troops. When I got my camera out to document this blog worthy event, no memory card. Drat! But I'm so happy to not be tempted by the 9 lbs of Snickers, Twix, Hershey's.....

After we left the office we drove out to the country to my aunt's house. She has some huge trees that shed 1,000's of leaves every year. The kids only came inside to sneak or beg for cookies, they played hard the whole time we were there. They piled leaves up, chased around the dogs and eventually cleared out a whole section making a nest (no doubt this was Kathryn's idea). Where is a memory card when you need one? No photos of the cuteness.

We went to the store so they could spend their whopping $3. It took an act of congress for them to decide on a purchase but they finally did it. Only after a threat to leave with nothing. Nathan bought a random zebra, Kathryn a book of coloring posters for her room and Dane bought twin Matchbox cars. They played the evening away.

The kids planned part of our random FHE tonight. He asked if he could plan the lesson and that spurred the other kids on to plan a part too. Dane asked if he could do it on healthy food. Too much candy Dane? He brought out fake food and held each piece up and quizzed us on it's healthy status. He even let us know what his favorite and not so favorites were. Nathan went to the Gospel Art Kit and chose the painting of The Last Supper. I was impressed, he read the summary at the bottom of the page and only needed help a couple times. He also brought out a board from his room that says, 'Lead Me, Guide Me, Walk Beside Me' and sang it to us. While the boys were gathering their props, Kat was quietly working in her room. I knew she was working on a lesson too but didn't really ask any questions about what she was planning. When it was her turn she handed each of us a paper and a pencil and started her lesson. The top of her paper said, 'Talents are a gift from God. List your talents. Pitchr at the bottom.' It was so funny because she had made 5 exact same copies for her handout. Leaving a spot for the list and a larger spot for the drawing. She's already making handouts and being her own personal copy machine. What a girl! Milo ended it with a great paragraph from Preach My Gospel about listening to the Spirit and how it can speak to each of us. Endless FHE's in there.

Reed has had an off day. Every baby has the right to be cranky I guess. Especially when 3 top teeth are swollen and seem to all be cutting at once. He woke up at least 4 times last night and only short napped all day (thanks to mouth pain and diarrhea). It's 11:30pm and he's already been up twice tonight. Things aren't looking good. Where is my baby?

The kids crashed into bed. No bargains to get up or have a drink. The early mornings from the time change and the leaf playing did them in and they were wore out. Perfect ending to a full day. Now if they can just sleep in tomorrow.....