Thank Goodness it's nearly November

Parts of October were great, but the last 3 weeks have been pretty incredibly stressful. The first 10 days Scott and Ethan went to Peru. Yeah, I know. Amazing! Really they did have a fantastic time as you can see from the pictures. I was a little bit jealous, but I also had fun because Omi came out to visit me! She brought out lots and lots of fabric and put together some really cute quilt kits for the hume room. I had projects too. I was recently called as the new primary chorister and Omi helped me (actually she did most of it)make a really fun poster of a thumbs up/thumbs down (for when the kids are singing well, or not so well.) I made a couple of other posters too. We got a babysitter a couple of times and went shopping sans kids, which was a real treat. Amazing how many stores you can visit when you aren't dragging the kids around. But the most fun we had was with the kids. Noah was thrilled to see his Omi, even though it kind of upset the even tenor of his way. Noah likes his little routines, and I think he associated Omi coming with Scott and Ethan going, because a couple of times he told her to pack her suitcase. Maybe he thought that would bring his dad home sooner. But he really did enjoy having her visit and they had some nice talks. The one who really bonded with Omi for the first time was Meredith. They hadn't been able to spend much time together prior to this and I don't think I'm wrong in saying that Omi totally fell in love. Meredith is such a friendly little sweetheart and she gave Omi lots of hugs and loves. She is at the most fun age, learning new words, toddling around, and being so interested in everything and everyone. Her first word was hi, and she says it to everyone, including people in stores, parking lots, she just loves the world. She loves the animal kingdom too, especially dogs. Our neighbors have a very large dalmation and Mer has become very fond of it. She says "dog" and "woof woof" a lot. She also has expressed a preference for "Clifford" on PBS. I kind of hate Clifford but I let her watch it anyway, she loves the dog so much.

This morning before church I was in the primary room and Meredith pointed to the big picture of Jesus and said, "Jesus" just as clearly as could be. She did it several times, and later pointed to another picture and said it again. She also folds her arms for prayer, she just started doing that on her own. So cute! She gives high fives and fist bumps (the scouts taught her that) and everyone loves her. Ian and Brandon, the sons of my friend Darla (who babysits for me on Mondays) just adore her and want to play with her all the time. She is the joy of my life! And boy did Omi and I have some great fun shopping for clothes for her and looking at fancy little girl dresses. I recently bought a toddler bed and cute owl bedding from Target but we don't have the bed put together yet. So many things on the to-do list.

A little more about my new calling - - I love it! I was sad to say goodbye to the young women after 3 years, they are wonderful and we have had some great times together. But being the primary chorister is a lot of fun! I was kind of thrown into the deep end because the annual program was just 3 weeks after I got called (and one of those weeks was conference!) But the kids sang beautifully. Oh and Noah did such an amazing job with his part. I wrote it out for him, "Jesus said, 'if you love me, keep my commandments'" and we practiced it over and over. But you never know with Noah if he's going to do something silly. Well not this time - - he got up and said every word perfectly and clearly. He did as well as any other kid there. I was bursting with pride, and I guess he was too, because on his way back to his seat he raised up both his arms and said, "yeah!" What a doll! He works so hard and it is beautiful to see his progress. Omi mentioned to me how much clearer his speech has become.

Well Scott and Ethan got back on Monday, October 11th, but Scott had to leave again the very next day. He has been gone every week for at least 3 days. It is not easy being a single parent. The worst was week before last. Noah was sick, throwing up, all Sunday night. Ethan and I both got sick Monday night, and Scott left Tuesday morning. This was a yucky flu, lots of barfing (Ethan set the record with 27 upchucks) and terrible body aches. We were miserable, but I was better by Wednesday night. Ethan was not. He came into my room that night just doubled over in pain. He had been so stoic during his illness that I knew he was really sick. I was scared and grabbed the other kids and raced to the hospital. My wonderful friend Darla met me there and took Noah and Mer back to her house to spend the night. Ethan and I spent 5 hours in the emergency room. Fortunately his pain subsided somewhat. I was worried that his appendix had ruptured or something. He was dehydrated from so much vomiting so they gave him a lot of IV fluids, then he had to drink this yucky contrast stuff and have a cat scan. His appendix was fine but there was fluid around his liver and his liver enzymes were elevated. I had to take him to the dr. the next day, but he was quite a bit better by then. I think it was mostly caused by dehydration and not eating. Poor kid! He's fine now, but still hasn't gained back all the weight he lost. Sadly, I have.

Another busy thing we had was houseguest for a few days, our dear friends the Felsteds were moving to North Carolina. They're stuff had already shipped so we invited them to stay with us and we had a going away party for them. They have 3 kids, and their youngest, Henry, is just a few weeks older than Meredith. It was fun to watch them together. The party was a big his and we had about 40 people here and lots of good food. It went on a little longer than we'd planned, but once things get going they're hard to stop (ha ha). Mostly it was just difficult to round up all the kids! We're going to miss the Felsteds, they are really fun people.

We had 2 other parties this month - - 2 Saturdays ago was our annual Down syndrome Halloween party. I was in charge of some of it, and as in the past couple of years we had it at the church. This was the best party we've had yet, a big turnout (60 people) and lots of fun. Noah had a great time with his "girlfriends" Leah and Vanessa. He dressed up as a cowboy, and wore the awesome hat Scott brought back for him from Peru. Last night was our ward party, and it was packed with people. They had a chili and cornbread cookoff - - yummy, as well as cake and pumpkin decorating contests. The pumpkin winner had carved his so it looked like it was barfing out its own seeds and guts. Disgusting, but so hilarious! Meredith looked absolutely adorable in a little zebra costume and won 2nd place in the girls' age 0 to 6 category. She and Noah had fun trick-or-treating tonight at our neighbors' houses. I love the cute little kids who come to our door, but I hate the teenagers who don't even bother to dress up, they just show up and demand candy. I'd say no, but I don't want my house to get egged. Sometimes they're a little scary.

I'm not crazy about Halloween as a holiday, but I do love that it's Mom's birthday and we all wish her a very happy one!