Dear Family and Friends,

This is one of those weeks where things just keep seeming to happen. Sunday night, inspired by Mimi we made homemade caramel apples and enjoyed a night of reading and laying around. Good thing we enjoyed it while we could! Monday Allison had 2 teeth pulled and was a champ. The dentist promised her that the tooth fairy paid extra for super long roots. Since she has my mouth she will be back many more times!

I thought she was hoarse from all the blood she swallowed and took her to school for the afternoon (following a lunch of fries and a milkshake - the only food a little girl can eat with holes in her mouth of course). After school she had gymnastics and just crashed. So she spent till Friday laying on the couch, fever, no voice, coughing till she would barf - extremely pathetic.

This week winter gave us a preview with cold winds and periodic snow. We would wake up to lawns being covered but by mid-morning it would melt away. Robyn Tuesday morning with the first snow ran out in glee with snow gear on:



Since Allison was sick Tuesday was a catch-up day. Couldn't do the temple play group or babysit that afternoon so I spent the day doing laundry and making the house presentable. I always feel better if I don't feel like a cleaning imp is sitting on my shoulder listing in my ear all the jobs that should be done. Allison helped me sew her pioneer costume although at that point we didn't know if she would even be able to use it. She was highly motivated to keep trying to sip some juice! Watched all her girlie movies and finished Harry Potter. Best part of Tuesday was that Jeremy found a sale on southwest tickets and arranged for me to go visit Daniel and Mimi for a weekend in December and see Claire and Samantha. I was very, very stoked!

Robyn had her Halloween dance class on Wednesday. She was thrilled to perform her dances for all the moms in her Halloween costume. She was a firefly this year being inspired this summer by Angelina Ballerina's costume in her Halloween book. Her dance teacher must have nerves of steel to stay so highly energetic and smiling for that class!

Wednesday night reminded me of the joy of Relief Society. I made dinner for a neighbor who just had had a baby and my visiting teacher brought me over a loaf of bread. Isn't that what its all about? Spencer went in to have his wart on his forearm burned off. We have been trying all summer to get rid of it and it has reached monstrous proportions. Weird place for it as well. Spencer is trying duct tape as well in an all out effort to get rid of it. That evening we made sugar cookies for Robyn's preschool party and had to of course eat all the leftovers.

Thursday was a bit of an emotional upset for me. Got a call from a school counselor that another 5th grade girl and her friend claimed that Spencer ran up to her at recess two weeks ago, stood behind her, reached around and grabbed both of her boobs. Her dad was very upset. Talking about sexual harassment and how she might need professional help. I was just flabbergasted. Spencer up until a few weeks ago was spending his recesses inside reading. His and teacher and us have been encouraging him to go outside and play and he has been really proud of his efforts to play foursquare with 3 or 4 other boys. Didn't know how to deal with this. Then I talked to Spencer who claimed no knowledge, said he never had even sat next to her or been by her or even talked to her. Talked some more to the counselor who said she and the teacher didn't think Spencer had done it either as he was way too shy and didn't want to be around girls. So I don't know why this girl said these things but we had to explain to Spencer why he had to stay far away from her. All I could think of that night was why did she have to pick Spencer for this! Am hoping it will all just blow away.

Thursday was our ward Halloween party. Glad we had a trial run on Spencer's make-up before going to school. Getting him to look like the undead took an emergency trip to the beauty supply store and many tears. Much deep breathing on my part! Allison's fever was gone so she came along trying to hide her coughs from me. Jeremy spent the evening on the stage taking pictures of the kids. Kids ate tons of chili and sugar and enjoyed all the booths manned by the young men and women. Afterward while Jeremy hosed all the face paint off kids I ran over to my neighbor's wedding reception.

Through the power of positive thinking and a too lenient mom Allison went back to school Friday. Robyn and I came to help out with Allison's class party and then Spencer's. Lots of fun. Allison liked bobbing for worms in her class. They covered gummy worms on a plate with cool whip and then tried to see who could find and eat the worm first using only their mouth.

Spencer's class reminded me how brutal 5th grade boys can be as they razz each other pretty brutally, punching each other in the arms etc all the time. Definitely survival of the fittest and you better not flinch or blink. Spencer seems to handle it fine but I was flinching for him!

Friday evening Jeremy and I were able to go to the temple together while Meredith put exhausted kids to bed early. It was nice to just have some calm time together. Most impressive was that Jeremy's new monitor arrived that day. And he didn't open it till AFTER our date! It was a late night for him :)

That night Robyn woke up with a fever - caught some bugs from Allison. On the plus side, I was a bad mom who took Robyn to Allison's baptism Saturday morning. Nothing like a fever to take the edge off - she was so nice and quiet all morning!

Allison's baptism was just awesome. She was so excited and ready. Her face was just really happy and beaming at her experience. Jason, Kelly, cousins and Meredith came along with 2 of her friends. One of the coolest things for me was that after she was confirmed I looked over and Taylor was looking up with a big goofy smile on his face. That doesn't happen very often. Afterward we all had pizza back at our house and then enjoyed a few hours of quiet time to get ready for the night. Jeremy and Robyn even got to crash for an afternoon nap for a bit.

That evening the Hancocks and Jolleys came over for a Halloween dinner of brains (noodles), blood (spaghetti sauce), bones (breadsticks in bone shape) and jack-o-lanterns (hollowed out oranges with a face carved into them filled with fruit salad and a green fork sticking through the lid for a stem).

Then kids all paired up for trick-or-treating. Jeremy took the big girls out - he has been claimed by them for a month now! Boys were given their parameters and for the first time the 4 of them went off by themselves, very excited by the freedom of the night. Robyn went along with the little girls and my two friends. Taylor and I manned the door. For the first time ever I ran out of treats - 150 I guess was not enough! I felt really bad that I didn't have any extras stashed away. Kids had a wonderful time and ate a ton. Spencer was so motivated to eat all the good candy before he had to make his Jeremy donation that he made himself sick. We didn't have much sympathy!

It was a great Halloween and I was so glad that we all got to enjoy sleeping in this morning with Daylight Savings time. All the kids knew NOT to wake up Mom!

Taylor is doing much better this week and has enjoyed all the Halloween festivities. We got him a pirate hat with some fake hair on it for his costume. His class keeps sending home all these cute crafts they have been working on. His seizures are still there but not so unmanageable. He has been enjoying operating the soda can crusher at school. They have been working on teaching him how to drink out of a camel back. The idea is that eventually he can have one on his wheelchair and get a drink whenever he wants. He can get the occasional sip right now but prefers to use it as a chew toy.

Robyn is doing better today but is still pretty craby/puny. If she was an adult she would just crawl into bed for the day and be fine tomorrow. But she is a little kid who think naps are a punishment not a blessing. Right now the kids are all making a mammoth tent city in the family room.

Love to you all and hope you had a wonderful Halloween! Heather