October [was a long time ago but not as long as this post]

 Obviously, this little notice is for October 2014, seeing as how I spent the majority of the October 2013 in a semi-vegetative state in my bed, shooing away children who were "hungry" or "bored" or "needed help", haha.

 Ohh, October. Where to start? (As if there's a choice. My compulsive tendencies mandate that we go in chronological order!!) The first Wednesday of the month was set aside for the Teachers and Priests to meet at our house for a video game night as they prepped to start working on their 'Game Design' merit badge.

There was some last-minute shuffling and we welcomed the Deacons as well - they stayed out front with Chuck and did some team building exercises and then played freeze tag. Brother Haws came inside with the older boys, who played legos (my boys were more than willing to stay up past bedtime and help) and some xbox.

My dear friend Maren had a birthday early in the month, and we celebrated by spending the afternoon walking around downtown Nampa with our other dear friend Karlina.

It was sooo much fun. We spent forever in a cool (but SO expensive) antique store finding all sorts of treasures and also things that we had grown up with or remembered from various grandmothers' houses. We also got some hot chocolate and walked around a used bookstore. 

 Group shot: Maren, me, Karlina. Such fun girls, we need to go have another adventure soon!

 Chuck's work had their annual softball game against the juvenile probation officers and Chuck was recruited to coach the detention team, so the bigger boys and I headed over to lend our support and take advantage of the BBQ:

 It was a good, close game but probation ended up pulling off the win. Bummer, but I loved watching Chuck play and coach!

 Mid-October brought the bane of my existence for the last few months (mostly kidding!!): Super Saturday. It's a day of crafts at church that falls under the realm of my calling and I had nightmares about it the week leading up to it! What if no young men/young women showed up to help with the nursery? What if no one showed up to do their crafts? What if we didn't have enough soup/rolls/salad? What if I did such a wretched job that I was released on the spot?? (Okay, that one might have been more a daydream than a nightmare, haha).

In the end, everything went very smoothly and I think everyone had a good time. Lots of cute crafts were made and women got to come and chat and eat and I was happy.

 I really am grateful to head up the activity committee for Relief Society; it's been a really good opportunity for me to get to know the women in my ward better and stretch and grow and all that good stuff.

 And blessedly I have the amazing Emily to hold my hand all along the way! This was previously her calling, and now she's the RS presidency member that oversees our committee - and there's no way I'd survive without her! This was right after Super Saturday, which is why we look like we need naps :).

 October happily brought the resurgence of girls' nights, wooo! Paulina's awesome and set up an official schedule for them to make sure they really happen. These girls have all moved away from the neighborhood (rude, right??) so it's extra nice to get together.

 me, Paulina, Emily, Nicole. We miiissed Kara, although our waitress was REALLY friendly and over the course of the evening talked more than probably any of the rest of us. Not gonna lie, it was pretty awkward/hilarious at times - we were all trying to avoid encouraging her so we all kind of stared at our waters, but we still walked away knowing loads about her boyfriend/husband (we think it was the same guy, although she used the terms interchangeably), her previous jobs (there were a lot, can't imagine why....), where her sister lives, etc. Fun times!

Good news: neglected children have no choice but to be creative.

 See, I was doing them a favor all month, otherwise Clyde and Will wouldn't have come up with these awesome rocketships :).

 Chuck and I were excited to brave the cold one night to go watch one of his Young Men play football (we have a deal with all of the YM that if they tell us ahead of time, we'll do our best to come to sporting events, concerts, plays, etc. In the last month and a half, we've been to one football game, one orchestra concert, and three plays. It's really fun!)

We sat with Will's amazing mom Joy and had a great time watching him play. He helpfully wore white socks and a long-sleeved white t-shirt so we could find him on the field (#80). Will's the one who used to run with us last spring so I know how fast he is, but it was amazing to watch his speed in context as he raced around and tackled people!!

 I could have used some of that speed (or maybe just the endurance) the following week when the boys' jogathon at school came around! I did a couple of laps with Will, but I'm pretty sure I was slowing him down, haha.

 Clyde and Will both did awesome - and thanks to the pledges from grandparents, both boys came home with little round sleds so now we have three! They are obviously praying for lots of snow this winter. (I am not...)

 Chuck and I went back to the school the next afternoon to have lunch with Clyde, who was the Student of Honor in his classroom that week.

I'm a stellar mom who failed to photograph the whole little certificate and who also can't currently find it (I think it's on top of the fridge, but that would require getting up...) but Mr. Eilers wrote really nice things about our Clyde Monster and we're so glad that Clyde loves school and that school loves Clyde. 

 Speaking of school, that night we embarked on an art project for Will's kindergarten homework: autumn trees made out of paper shreds.

 I wish I had a picture of Will's finished tree (I forgot to take one before he took it to school) but it's so fun to watch the differences in the boys' artistic preferences. Clyde's tree is on the right in the above picture - a fabulous mess of leaves here, there, and everywhere. Will's was much more organized - leaves were mostly grouped together by color. So perfect for each of them!

 Oh, in other fall/art news, my splendid mother came over one Saturday morning and helped out immensely (took the older boys to Will's bball game so Jack and I could both nap) and then provided little gourds and helped the boys decorate them:

 Will's is the multi-eyed one, Clyde's is the one in the upper right/lower left (both sides of it), my mom's is obviously the one with the "P" crown and voluminous eyelashes, and the one they made for Jack is the lower right. Thanks Grandma Pam!

 Chuck's parents came up to visit towards the end of the month, which was excellent.

 The boys loved all the attention and snuggling/reading time :).

The main adventure of the weekend was a trip to the corn maze/pumpkin patch:

 Jack and I stayed home but it sounds like Clyde and Will loved it.

 The corn maze had a little scavenger hunt that the boys loved running around to complete.

And they brought home pumpkins! Grandma and Pops were sweet enough to delay their departure on Sunday long enough to help the boys carve - Chuck worked on Clyde's cute design and Pops did an awesome job making Will's initials into a jack-o-lantern face ('W' mouth', 'P' eyes, 'I' nose).

 Alas, my pregnancy brain = me being sure I got a picture of the finished product only to discover later (much later, like today) that I didn't. But it was awesome! Thanks again for coming Dave and Terri! It really means a lot to us that you take the time/effort to come visit us so often, especially while we're pretty stuck at home right now. We love you!

 That same weekend, my aunt Sage and uncle David came into town. The occasion was a 5k obstacle course at the corn maze/pumpkin patch to celebrate my uncle Larry's recent birthday.

 Jack and I sneaked over for a visit Saturday afternoon and spent a highly enjoyable hour listening to my mom, aunts, and uncles describe the course of the race. I took the older boys over the next evening and had another great visit. It's so fun to get to know my aunts and uncles again as an adult - I especially really enjoy reading David's blogs. He's an ob/gyn in Seattle and provides really interesting and thought-provoking synopses of cases on his Clinic Today blog. He is also an avid bicyclist (hence the t-shirt!) and shares a lot about his commuting via bike/bus on his Green Commuter blog.

The last Wednesday in October was a Court of Honor for Scouts; Chuck opted to show portions of the '100 Years of Scouting' broadcast that recognized the milestone in the relationship between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Boy Scouts of America. 

It was fun to watch boys be presented with a couple different merit badges and special patches for attending the recent Stake Camporee. 

I usually don't make it out for these activities, but Brother Murphy invited me and the little boys to attend, saying that he had made Chuck a special memento about Wood Badge and it would be nice if I were there. LITTLE did I know that he also had a surprise for me:

this beautiful plaque. The Arrow of Light is a special award that boys can earn towards the end of their time in Cub Scouts, and so Brother Murphy made this to thank me for my work with the Cubs in preparing them to earn that distinction.

I was so caught off guard and honored by this recognition; Brother and Sister Murphy were so vital in my learning process and everything I know about Scouting is due to their patience and tutelage. Brother Murphy serves those boys with such love and talent, so to have him acknowledge my efforts was extra special.

 And I couldn't resist going in for a hug :). Brother Murphy is an awful flirt (with his wife's permission) and I love the friendship we have. He calls me 'Lady J' and the funniest exchange we've ever had was when he called a few days before Chuck left for Wood Badge and said, "So, I hear you're getting rid of your husband for the weekend so we can go dancing..." to which I responded, "Of course! But I'll need to find someone to watch my boys." Without missing a beat, he said, "Oh, no problem, my wife will watch them!" and then I died laughing. Ohh, I love Brother Murphy!!

Aaaand finally, Halloween, woo! Early in the month, I let the boys know that this year they'd have to choose from their existing costumes (Star Wars from two/three years ago, Avengers from last year) to wear this year. Except I did pick up a Superman costume for a couple bucks at Savers, which both boys naturally planned on wearing. We thought we had gotten that issue all dealt with, until Halloween morning (of course) when there was confusion and tears and all that good stuff.

 Blessedly, craigslist came to the rescue. Three hours, $8, and a quick trip to Boise later, all THREE boys had Superman costumes to wear, hurray!

 Doesn't this look like some kind of Superman Evolution picture?

I laugh every time I see it, haha.

  Chuck was in charge of our ward party/trunk-or-treat that night, so Queen Grandma Pam sweetly came over and helped wrangle our little superboys with me.

I recycled my costume from 2011 to announce my pregnancy to the ward (or at least those whom I hadn't already spilled it too....)

It was a really fun night: I was in charge of costume awards (nice delegation there, honey) so that was a little daunting but fun. I didn't get a good picture of Chuck, but he wore his coordinating costume; it was fun to see some people figure out what we were announcing and other people just wander by assuming we were just 'cooks'.

And THAT was October! Yikes! So glad it's over - both the month and this post, haha!