this past weekend

I still have a couple of beach photo picture files to edit, but I need to move on to real life and stop thinking about how I wish we could be back on the beach without a care in the world.

I feel terrible I don't have more pictures to document this past week/end.  We had a blast putting up our Halloween decor and celebrations are in full swing.  Bedrooms and closets got organized, bathrooms got a deep cleaning and the cold weather finally kicked in!  

Debbie and her family drove through on Saturday and arrived minutes before our Fall Festival/Stake Fair.  It is a BIG to-do here and I didn't take a single picture.  I must have been too busy talking with my sister and chasing around our 9 kids.  There was loud music, face painting, cake walks, trampolines and bounce houses, dinner, cotton candy, stuffed animals and lots of friends.  It was bitter sweet running into old friends that will no longer be in our ward.  Love the neighborhood we live in!

Straight from the Fair, Deb and I went shopping.  She knows how badly my closet needs it.  We spent hours in the dressing room and had a great time.  We laughed a lot but by the end I felt like crying.  I don't like to shop.  The last time I went was when Deb forced me to go after my birthday last year.  I got some really cute things and love that my husband didn't ask me how much we spent.

Saturday night was a night from hell.  Hyper cousins playing, no one wanted to sleep.  I think everyone was finally quiet by midnight.  Simon woke up around 1:00 AM claiming monsters were eating his legs.  He crawled into bed with us and after he fell asleep, I was wide awake.  I think I dozed off around 3 but at 4:00 AM, I heard Ro screaming in her crib. One of the kids used her bathroom at night and turned on the lights in her room.  I rocked her for a bit, but she wasn't going back to bed.  Around 7, when the older kids woke up, I was able to lay back down and get about an hour of sleep.  Needless to say I had big bags under my eyes at church.

I was sustained in as RS pres in my ward on Sunday afternoon.  We have a whole new ward (boundary change) and I called two counselors I've never met before.  My first counselor is 9 months pregnant (due of Friday) and my second counselor has lived in Vegas for just a few short months.  The Bishopric knows me well and let me call a third counselor, which I am thrilled about.  I haven't been nervous about the call too much.. more excited than anything.  I love meeting new people and believe I can handle the schedule.  My only wish is that I could sit on the stand during Sacrament meeting and watch Aaron wrangle five kids from afar... and I could just smile at him.  Maybe in the next life I can be a man.  With the lack of sleep and stimulation of the cousin visit, our kids were wired during church.  Roma was so loud and ended up barfing all over Aaron's suit.  So glad it wasn't me.  During Sacrament meeting, Zack and Simon went out to get a drink and Zack came back wearing a CTR ring he'd stolen from the lost and found.  He's not the sharpest tool in the shed...
  

Aaron had to run home and change and grab a few things for my lesson that I forgot in the kitchen (I set it down for a second to check on dinner in the oven and left it at home... so annoying.)  He was back in the RS room minutes before it began.  The lesson turned out great and I am looking forward to meeting all the new Sisters in my ward.  I recognized only a fraction of the faces.  After church I was learning the ropes of my new calling (welfare forms) and totally forgot about the roast in the oven.  I saved it just before the house burned to the ground.  The carrots were a little black on the bottom and there was zero gravy for the mashed potatoes, but we survived.

I made a few phone calls after dinner and ended up falling asleep on the couch, with the kids running around me.  I was THAT tired.   I woke up around 7 PM and played a couple of games with the older boys..  and then prepared for my first presidency meeting this morning.  I didn't get to sleep until after 1:00 AM.

Ben woke me up minutes before I was to take carpool. Of course, his lunch was made, the baby had a bottle and he was just waiting for a ride. I threw on a new outfit (boy that felt good!) brushed my teeth and we were off.  As we were leaving out the door, I remembered it was picture day at school.  Oh boy.  I made the kids change their shirts (Luke wore a bloody skeleton head on picture day last year) and had them comb their hair, for real this time.  I grabbed a checkbook on my way out the door and drove to the school.  

Once I got in the parking lot, I went to write a check for pictures and realized Aaron used the last check yesterday at church.  Who uses checks anymore anyway?  Luckily I had $20 in my wallet found some change to order ONE 8X10 each.  geez.  They better smile or else.  Another girl in the carpool left her form at home too so we scrounged up some change for her too.  totally crazy.  I do not want to be this kind of mom..  but what's a girl to do?

While parked at the school, Simon told me he had to go potty (we woke him up on our way out the door).  He didn't have shoes on, so I asked him if he could wait and he said yes.  But on the drive home, he could NOT wait and I had to pull over on the side of the road.  He stood on the door of my van and shot pee out into the dirt.  Most of it went outside the van.  I had to do a quick wipedown when we got home.

We had a few minutes to spare before my presidency meeting, so I was able to make a few copies.  The two babies went to a friends house which was heaven sent.  The meeting went well, lots of work to do and parties to plan!  Luke and I went to the library quickly to exchange his books.  PS.  Luke has been homeschooled since the beginning of the year and he is a gem.  He reads 4-5 chapter books a week and is such a big help at home.  Could.not.survive without this awesome 9 year old of mine.  I will pull Ben and Zack home as soon as they will let me.  This is another post for another day.

Roma and Simon are now down for a nap at the same time which NEVER happens.  Luke is reading next to me... and I am feeling blessed.  Busy, chaotic and happy.  Aaron laughed at me this morning and said, "you are a comedy act I get to watch everyday."  I resent that.  I am not here for his entertainment, unlike Adam Lambert who is always there for me when I need him.

Dinner needs to go in the oven and the older boys will be home in an hour.  We are going to start reading Phantom Tollbooth tonight after FHE.  I don't want the days to go by so quickly, but at the same time, bedtime cannot get here soon enough.  This is the most wonderful time of the year and I can't let it slip through my fingers!  We will be heading up to Utah soon, so the leaves better stay on the trees until we get there.  My parents get home from their mission in 17 days....