Carving Pumpkins Part II

Sunday night after dinner we had FHE and Chris went to his mission prep class.  Eventually the kids went to bed, and Chris came home some time after 8:30.

Monday the kids went off to school.  Aaron and Chris did some work in the yard.  We're trying to find a good place for Max to stay at night and while we are away  I'd rather not have him tied up even if it's a long tether.  So they fixed up the fence by the pool.  There's plenty of room for him, and we can be sure he doesn't follow the van down the road like he did that morning. 

Eventually Aaron and I got ready to take Melanie to get her second PKU test.  We were supposed to do that Friday, but I forgot.  Luckily Monday wasn't too late.  Since we were at the hospital we stopped by the maternity ward, and talked to a few of the nurses.  They had a card for us that they had all signed including my OB.  That was sweet.  Then it was lunch and nap time - Amy actually slept! Aaron had another call in meeting.  When the kids got home they carved some more pumpkins.  Melanie and I took a nap.  Aaron took pictures of the afternoon's activities.

That is one large pumpkin!!!

We had plenty of leftovers from Sunday so we didn't have to fix anything for dinner.  However Aaron found a recipe for butternut squash fries.  They were pretty good!  After dinner I gave Aaron, and the boys haircuts.  Melanie was getting hungry so I didn't get to cut Chris's hair.  We'll have to do that sometime before he goes home.  Then it was off to bed for the kids.  Melanie decided to stay up until really late.  She tends to have more awake time between 8:00 pm and 11:00 pm.  

Tuesday Aaron had to go back to work.  He had hoped to be able to drop the kids off at school, but we can't leave them that early, so we asked Crystal if she could take them to school after Aaron dropped them at her place at 7:30 am.  I still have a hard time getting up in the morning, especially when it's almost midnight by the time I get to sleep, or I'm kept awake for over an hour in the middle of the night.  I think this is the only time that I consistently sleep until 8:00 in the morning.  Hopefully I'll get to a better schedule in the next week.  After Aaron and the boys were gone I finally got up and when Melanie was tired enough I put her in the swing and took a shower.  The white noise of the fan kept her asleep long enough for me to get ready.

We all went to drop Amy off at preschool.  I really thought Melanie would fall asleep on the drive, but she didn't.  That was OK though.  It was pretty quiet at home as I fed Melanie, and then she fell asleep.  Chris and I made a couple of pie crusts.  Then it was time to pick up Amy.  We had lunch and then we made the pie filling.  Aaron found a recipe for a pumpkin pie using the rest of the butternut squash.  So Chris, Amy and I made the pies and baked them during quiet time.   

The good part of Aaron going back to work, is that he's not doing full work days.  He's in clinic from 8-3, so he's home around 4:00 or so.  Yesterday when he came home he took the kids over to the clinic to get their flu shots (well flu mists anyway), then to the library and back home.  On the way he saw a lady raking leaves in her large lawn.  So they ran home and dropped off the books and brought in our dinner that Crystal dropped by.  I was taking a nap.  Then Aaron and kids went back to help her rake and bag her leaves.  When they got home we ate dinner.  Crystal had made Frankenstein monsters out of grape Jell-O; the kids loved that.  We didn't do much else.

As for today.  It's been pretty quiet.  After Aaron and the kids left, Chris Amy and I have just been playing, eating, doing laundry.  I pulled out my Halloween shirt.  It's been a pretty lazy day.  Melanie had some good awake time this morning, but has been sleeping most of the afternoon.  I haven't left the house, and it feels sort of odd.  Aaron will be home soon, and then we'll get on with the Halloween festivities.  Hopefully I'll get some pictures on here soon, of the kids in their costumes.  I hope Amy lets me do her hair.

Carving Pumpkins and More Pictures

Here are some pictures from Thursday's garden clean up.  And proof that I can take pictures of something other than Melanie.

Even Amy helped

David was excited to hold Melanie.  I can't believe he's big enough to not only hold her, but carry her around, for a bit anyway.

It's all finished!

Trying to get her to smile

The boys playing Monopoly

Now Friday morning we did several things. Aaron had a few projects going on:

replacing light switches

making grape juice, applesauce and grapple sauce (added some grape pulp to the apple sauce)

Our friend/neighbor/former coworker Mirna stopped by.  We chatted for a while and she brought some tamales purchased from a friend, some fresh eggs from her chickens, and gift card for a favorite local restaurant!  She was so excited to hold Melanie for a little while. 

And a few more pictures:

Chris and Amy playing in Amy's room wow it's a mess!

Melanie's cute ouftit of the day

Aaron and I went on a little lunch date.  We drove up to the city, and then realized the restaurant we wanted to go to isn't open for lunch during the week - only on weekends.  Perhaps we'll try again next weekend.  So we hit the local burger drive thru and split a meal - they are huge meals!!!  Then Aaron went to a couple of stores quickly - Lowe's to get more light switches.  We hadn't realized we needed so many 3 way switches (where lights could be turned on and off from two locations).  He also went to Shopko since it's right next door, and got a present for David to attend a birthday party on Saturday. I stayed in the van since I didn't want to expose Melanie to public places just yet, and she woke up to eat while we were waiting. 

She fell asleep again on the way back home, and stayed asleep for quite a while.  So in the mean time I cleaned up in the kitchen, and worked on Timothy's Halloween costume.  Two friends stopped by - Chelle B* and Joyce G*.  They brought some lovely gifts for Melanie and some banana bread - mmm!  Melanie woke up just in time to make an appearance for they left.  After feeding Melanie we had a light dinner - the tamales that Mirna brought.  Then Aaron, Chris and the kids headed out to David's School's Harvest Festival.  They served hot dogs and soda, and had lots of games where the kids could earn candy, and I don't know what else since I wasn't there.  Last year they had a cupcake walk, painted pumpkins and a haunted house.  Then they went over to the last regular season football game.  I was sad to miss it, especially since it was a really good game - down by 20 at one point to came back and win it 62-47 or something. 

While they were gone I got to hang out with Melanie.  We danced, ate, slept, and I caught up on some TV shows. 

 I had Melanie in the wrap and at some point she started sucking on her finger - so cute!

The crew arrived back home around 10:00.  Both Timothy and Amy had fallen asleep before the game was over.  Aaron was smart and brought hand warmers to the game.  Melanie had a better night.  Even with her long afternoon nap she only woke to eat at 2:00 am 5:00 am and eventually 8:00 am!!!  We all got to sleep in Saturday - it was great!

Saturday was another fun day.

Aaron and the kids made more applesauce

 Melanie wore another cute outfit

In the morning we did a lot of chores and then the kids played.  Timothy and Amy had fun in Amy's room, and Chris and David played another game of Monopoly.  Aaron started on dinner while I turned on the BYU game to listen to.  Once dinner was in the crockpot Aaron made some grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch.  Afterward Amy went down for a nap - though she didn't sleep of course.  We enjoyed listening to the BYU game the kids continued to play.  Timothy read a lot.  He started reading the Hardy Boys books a few days ago, and is now on the 3rd book.  BYU beat a struggling Georgia Tech team.  The BYU defense triumphed once again as the GT offense never scored.  Their defense got a pick 6, the special teams got a kickoff returned for a touchdown, and a field goal.  Now our offense scored and had some great plays, but kudos to the defense!

At about 2:30 we started the pumpkin carving

 Amy wanted me to take a picture of her with her pumpkin.  She decided to paint hers instead of carving it.

Amy wanted to paint a second pumpkin but wasn't being very patient and started painting Aaron's pumpkin.  When I took it away and washed it off she started crying.  She was very tired and couldn't stop crying to tell us what she wanted in a polite way, so Aaron carried her upstairs and I put her in time out.  I was worried she'd fall asleep.  So after a few minutes I came in and tried to talk to her.  Eventually I went downstairs to watch some football.  And soon enough she calmed down and joined everyone for a snack.  David was invited to a Halloween birthday party.  I guess the girl invited the whole class.  David got his Harry Potter costume one.  I guess really he was a Hogwarts student in Griffindor because he didn't want the glasses or the lightening scar.

 Aaron took some pictures of the pumpkins they carved

  Timothy put blood on the vampire teeth of his

 David decided Darth Vader would be too hard, so he did General Grievous instead.

 Amy's painted pumpkin

 

In the midst of the pumpkin carving Cheryl stopped by.  She was on her way home from the Stake Relief Society conference.  I was sad to miss it, but I couldn't justify taking Melanie out in public quite yet.  There were several leftover lunches so she brought some by for us.  Since Aaron had already put dinner in the crockpot we used them for lunch today.

After Aaron took David to the birthday party we had some posole for dinner - delicious!  Then Melanie was being a little fussy I went upstairs to feed her.  We had some more visitors - Crystal and Daren K*.  They dropped by to congratulate us and leave a gift for Melanie.  We were watching some more football when it was time for Amy to take a bath, Timothy to take a shower, and Aaron needed to pick up David from the birthday party.  While Amy was in the bath I gave Melanie a sponge bath.  She wasn't too excited about it, but I had to try out this adorable robe she got from Chelle and Joyce.

 Isn't it so cute?!!! And I forgot to put on the slippers that came with it.

Well, we let the kids stay up and watch the end of the Notre Dame vs Oklahoma game with us.  Then it was off to bed.  I fell asleep on the couch.  I tried to get Melanie to sleep around 10:00, but she wouldn't sleep even after nursing her.  So Aaron took her for a while, and came back at 11:00.  I had slept, and could tell he was exhausted, so I fed her again, and we all slept after that.  She's doing better with her 3 hours stretches of sleep at night.  Although during the day sometimes she'll only go 90 minutes before she wants to eat again.  I've been trying to get her on a eat, awake then sleep schedule.  But sometimes when she's tired the only way to get her to sleep is to nurse her.  Oh well, she can't be spoiled at 10 days old can she?

This morning we all slept in again until 7:00  Then we slowly got up and Aaron made some muffins for breakfast, and we watched Music and the Spoken word, and got ready for church.  I had to get a picture of Melanie this morning in her sleeper because all four kids have worn this little sleeper.

 After everyone left for church I got Melanie dressed in this cute outfit.

I had to nurse her to sleep, and then I took a nap too.  I woke up at 12:15.  I was hungry.  It was nice knowing there was a lunch all ready for me in the fridge.  So I ate while Melanie continued to sleep.  She woke up about the time everyone got home from church.  Time to eat again.  Aaron and David went home teaching after lunch and I read books to Amy before quiet time.  No sense in calling it nap time anymore.  Chris took a nap too, and Timothy read I think.  Now they are all at a baptism, and Hal and Joyce dropped off dinner a bit ago.  It smells delicious.  Can't wait 'til they get home.