Halloween @ School

Kristen was pretty set on dressing as a 50s girl this year.  After checking for costumes online, I finally declared that she just needed to create a costume from stuff in the Halloween bin and closet stuff.  She ended up going as a nerd and pulled off a pretty cute costume.

Kristen's teacher Mr. King. She thinks he is fantastic.

School costume parade.

Quotes I Like

"To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world."

"Your life is made up of two dates and a dash.  Make the most of the dash!"

"If you have not chosen the kingdom of God first, it will make in the end no difference what you have chosen instead."  William Law

Stake Realignment

There was much sadness (and a bit of anger too) at our house on Saturday evening as Chris and I returned from Stake Conference with Kristen.  Amy had already been talking with her best friend and knew all about the boundary changes.  She broke down in tears as we walked in.  Her best friend goes to a different school and now to a different ward.  Misha's best friends all go to different wards as well though they will still see each other at school during the week.  It will be a hard change for them to make.  Chris and I, too, as we will miss the weekly association with some great people.

That is not to say that we will stop being friends, but it just seems as though that weekly connection inspires greater friendships where you get together for date nights or play dates for kids.  We will try hard to not let a little boundary line--which incidentally is one street over from where we live--to make such a big difference in our friendships.

The positive aspect to the realignment is that we will now be attending church at the Frederick Building only three miles away instead of the Stake Center twenty minutes away.  Here's to old and new friendships.

Landscaping

Oh, our aching...everywhere.  We spent more than six hours working in the yard last Saturday planting the almost 60 shrubs and bushes Chris and I ordered.  And that was just in the front yard!  The back-breaking part of the project was digging all of the holes.  I probably dug more than 50 on my own while Chris had to help with the pick on a few due to the hardened ground.  The girls were more than happy to stick with him and the four-wheeler.  There were trips down to the beach to get better dirt from our neighbor's pile (and yes, he said we could use it.)

Amy and Misha were fantastic helpers all day long.  While I was still digging holes, they worked with Chris planting the bushes and shrubs.

Since the leaves are mostly gone on many of the bushes, the full impact of the planting really won't be seen until Spring, but it is nice to have so much done already.

Grandma Andrews

Christopher's grandma passed away early Saturday morning.  She had been in a lot of pain for a long time, and even though it was sad to say goodbye, we are grateful that she no longer suffers.  Our girls have had many opportunities to spend time with their great grandma, and they have been blessed to know and love her.

I remember as my girls were young and Grandma Andrews would come for a visit, there was a fascination in watching her put on makeup, all the while chatting and laughing together.  As I would call them for breakfast, everyone came down stairs smelling just like Grandma Andrews and batting their blue-lidded eyes.

Misha and Amy both had the opportunity to visit Grandma when she lived in Mt. Shasta.  Kristen was still too young, but she had many chances to see Grandma too after "Grandma Angie" (as Kristen used to call her) moved to Arizona.  Grandma was always willing to accept a DQ Blizzard and loved to show us around her new home at The Citadel.

Fall Break and a Four-Wheeler

The girls had Friday off from school.  There was some much-needed sleeping in going on.  I declared it an electronics-free day, and they all survived.  As I walked out to deposit some recycling in the garbage cans, I noticed that our plants, brushes, and shrubs were being delivered--all 55 or so of them.  The delivery guy unloaded everything at the front of the lot, and I was going to need some help depositing the plants around the yard.

It was truly amazing how cooperative my children were when it came to doing yard work when a four-wheeler was involved.  They were outside ready to work in a flash, they had smiles on their faces, and they worked together.  Amazing.  I highly recommend a four-wheeler to all!  (Now to figure out how to inspire them with their inside chores.)

Misha was doing her part to hang on to the plants.  Once Kristen came outside to help, she was quick to find her spot on the four-wheeler as well.  Good helping day!

Happy Birthday Christopher!

Another year come and gone.  Fortunately he just gets more and more handsome with each passing year.  The gray hairs?  Distinguished looking.

Oops!

Homecoming

Ahhh homecoming.  From the get-go Amy had a plan.  No need to have a date (especially since she won't be dating for another year plus).  She and a bunch of friends decided to go together.  Putting myself in the place of a 14-year old, I can't imagine anything more exciting.

Amy attended the homecoming football game with her friend Sarah and bestie, Allie, on Friday evening.  Unfortunately her team lost in the last couple of minutes.

Saturday was busy for Amy.  She had work in the morning and then tried without success to plan a hair cut and style for the afternoon.  That didn't work out but her nails were done with plenty of time to spare.  I spent some time helping her to curl her hair and once her friends started arriving, they helped each other with the beautification process.

I ordered and picked up pizza for the group and then helped with pictures.  Amy's dress was courtesy of her friend Audrey.  The sleeves were thanks to her mom (though I did make sure before beginning the altering that Audrey and her mom were in complete agreement.)

Misha, Misha, Misha

Misha, Kristen, and I went to Once Upon a Child hoping to find a costume that Kristen might like. She's pretty set on dressing up in a poodle skirt.  I was hoping to find one there.  Misha happened upon this lovely little treasure.

I sent the picture to Chris and he said, "How is that any different?"

Ah Misha, you crack me up.

Dress Rehab

I will not say that I was excited when Amy volunteered me to add "sleeves" to her friend's beautiful party dress, "Oh, my mom can do that."  Let's just say I had never done "that" before.  I wasn't thrilled to be cutting and sewing on someone else's dress.  But, I did it, after a little online research.  Seriously, how did we survive without the internet or Pinterest or Google searches?  They make life pretty convenient sometimes.

The dress came with a scarf that was to become the sleeves.  I measured Amy and the desired length for the sleeves and....took the plunge and cut the scarf.

Before

I had to hem each end of the cut scarf due to the fraying nature of the fabric.  Once that was completed, I sewed a basting stitch just above each hem and then pulled the fabric together.

I sewed the fabric to the front of the dress and then waited for Amy to come home so I could measure once again before sewing to the back of the dress.

I sewed each of the "sleeves" on by hand so that I didn't have seams along the top of the bodice and carefully sewed so as not to catch any of the filmy layer of fabric.

Once she put the dress on, I had to run a stitch through the top of the sleeves to gather the fabric so that they wouldn't be this drapey thing down her arm.  We ended up having to pin the sleeve to her bra strap, but I don't think she had any malfunctions.

After

Bargaining Misha

Misha asked if I would order her some stuff on Amazon for Halloween.  I said sure, but that she would have to reimburse me.  She went upstairs to her room to count her $$, and pretty soon I heard her coming back down the stairs, "Mom, will you take a Menchies gift card for part of it?"  (Menchies is a frozen yogurt place.)  We checked the balance, and since I like frozen yogurt, I agreed.

Bad Bus Driver

Stupid bus driver missed Amy's stop and the next few. He slowed down as he came up to her stop, asked if "Christine Kline" was on the bus, and didn't wait to give her a chance to respond.  He did the same thing at the next couple of stops with other kids as well.  He was a "sub" I believe, and maybe he was just in a hurry to be done.  Amy got off the bus the first chance she got a couple of miles away. 

These are the moments when I am grateful that she has a phone.  She started texting me the moment the bus driver passed her stop and called me when she got off in Mountain Shadows.  It would have been a long walk home along a road without much of a shoulder.

Apropos

I was driving home the other night and notice that the "W" on the Waffle House restaurant wasn't lit up.  I chuckled.  It just seemed rather apropos to have "Affle" House shining in the darkness declaring to the world it's true nature.

Kristen Mowing

I'm not sure if this was a rite of passage that Kristen was really looking forward to, simply because her sisters don't enjoy having to mow the lawn and make a big deal out of it.  She won't be sent out on her own for awhile yet though because the mower is likely to take off with her running crazily behind trying to hang on.  Chris helped her and maybe it wasn't quite as bad as she thought it would be.

Student Council

There was no question in Kristen's mind that she wanted to run for student council this year.  It was kind of a shoe-in for her though since she was the only girl to run.  Each class picked one girl and one boy to represent their class.  There were three boys who ran for student council for her class.  She did write a little speech to tell why she would be a good class representative, unfortunately it was saved as a blank page!