A Mother's Dilema

So I have a dilema. I can't bring myself to cut Ellie's hair. For months now, I've noticed that her hair was growing in a funny way...just a few long strands in the back. And as cute as I think she would look in a little bob, I couldn't bring myseflt to cut it off. I love bows, pony tails and braids. But my little scraggily girl needed a change.



I took Ellie to a friend in the ward, Amber, who is super good at cutting hair and even better dealing with little ones. She did a great job!

And she even left enough hair for pony tails!

Not so "Happy Halloween"

Good thing we had cousins visiting for Halloween because as grumpy as Ellie was, we almost scrapped the whole thing!

We put her in the covered wagon (it was kinda raining) and then hit the streets.


She mostly just wanted us to pull her along, but once she realized that they were giving candy out, she managed to come out of the wagon at a few houses.


With candy in both hands, there wasn't much crying. But there also wasn't much getting out of the wagon.

In the end, we all had a good time, got lots of treats and only got a little soaked. And as you can tell from the pic, Ellie didn't want to come inside. Ah, win some, lose some.

A Talent I Never Knew Brent Had

Back row, far right, white shirt. Yep, that is my husband dancing the Thriller Dance at the Ward Halloween Party. And this is without training in Pom Poms, ballroom dance classes or ballet lessons with Miss Peppy. His jazz hands were great and shoulder shakes right on beat. Don't think my laughs that you hear are at him...I couldn't be more proud!!!




Speaking of Miss Peppy, Ellie's was a bumblebee, same dancing costume I wore 30 years ago.



My costume was Flo from the Progressive commercials. The not so happy bumblebee is covering it up. Ah, a happy family.

Fun at the Aquarium

Had a fun play date with my neighbor Kahea and her kids. We went to the aquarium in Sandy. Ellie loved all fishes but especially liked the spiders (a Halloween thing) and the penguins. Mostly she just ran around from tank to tank. Fun day!

Group Piano Lesson - Don't you wish you took lessons from Sis Waldron?

To keep things interesting and fun for my 20 piano kids, I decided to hold monthly group lessons. In groups of 5, they get to perform songs in front of the others, we play music games and of course, we have treats. Since Halloween is only a few weeks away, I decided to have a bit of fun myself. Here are the treats:

Ghostly rice crispy treats and bones in grave dirt...

Cobweb cupcakes....

We had a great time and it was fun to come up with ideas for treats. Now I've got to plan for November...

Pears

There aren't too many things that bring back childhood memories like bottling fruit. You sisters know what I'm talking about. Sticky juice running down your elbows, a steamy kitchen, John Denver music playing, and an assembly line of girls with their mom putting up countless quarts of fruit. Mom said it best:

Lucky Lady

Lucky is the lady who has a kitchen full of girls

They're pickers and peelers and tons of fun - they're as valuable as pearls.

Each with a paring knife and a bowl of ripe and ready fruit

With smiles and sweat and stickiness, preserving all the loot.

We bottle up a happy harvest and get a double pay;

Fruit-filled happiness sealed and ready for a hungry memory day.

Well, I only got just over a dozen pints done today. And no assembly line - just me. I didn't have "Rocky Mountain High" playing but instead I watched Scarlett and Rhett. But still, as I look at my finished product, I get a good feeling. I'm proud of my not-so-perfectly-cut pears that are probably over cooked. Good grief, I even took a picture of them and posted it on my blog! In fact, I'm gonna leave them on my counter for a few more hours instead of bringing them to the cold storage, just so I can look at them. These little pint jars contain more than pears. They contain good memories. Maybe that's why mom had us do it.

A Rivilary

Is there anywhere in the nation where a Boise State fan lives next door to a Va Tech fan? Yep, right here in Eagle Mountain. Brent and Daryle have been trash talking for awhile now, but when their two schools played each other yesterday, things got a bit heated. Daryle started things off by spray painting VT's logo on our lawn (which, by the way, was done very well...straight lines, two toned painted - nice Daryle!). All the neighbors noticed it. Daryle officially declared war.


Wanting to top this display (Rebecca had to officiate a bit because we all know what happens with these sorts of things), Brent decided to take a more "creative" approach to revenge. He kidnapped Daryle's VT flag and held it ransom. Taped to the garage door was the ransom note designed in cut up pieces of magazines:

Your little prank was pretty sad
Because of it, I've ransomed your flag
To see it again, you have to mow my grass
Til then I'm using it to wipe my !%$

(sorry about the profanity here...)

Included in the ransom note was a picture of Brent sitting on the toilet, pants around his ankles, with the VA Tech flag draped over him.

Of course, Daryle said he wouldn't mow the grass unless Boise State won.

Well, in an exciting last minute 33-30 Boise State victory last night, looks like Daryle needs to start warming up his lawn mower. By the way, Daryle, we like double cut, criss-crossed lines in our yard!