Bummer, Halloween is on Sunday this year....

But its ok, we can still have fun! Our ward had a big Halloween carnival and trick-or-treating (from classroom to classroom) and of course we had our traditional trip to the pumpkin patch in search of magic pumpkins. Sophie wanted to be one of the "Twelve Dancing Princesses" from some Barbie movie - we did the best we could - but where the costume didn't measure up, I just added make-up and glitter, and she felt beautiful. So fun. Sam decided to be a stick figure. I loved the idea but it didn't end up like we pictured it. The face paint added a sinister look to the ensemble and Sam was so disappointed when he made some little tiny kids cry at the ward party. Adam was an army man complete with two weapons (which were heavy - he ended up ditching them in the car halfway through the party). Megan worked the carnival as Pajama Sam (a character from a computer game the kids used to play when they were younger) and then went to a friend's party later. Chad and I didn't dress up this year and were actually kind of anti-social...we just sat in our classroom and handed out candy. His ankle was hurting and I just didn't feel up to a lot of chit chat after my surgery (shout out to my wonderful sister, Teri, who came and saved our family while both Chad and I were laid up. She stayed for 1 1/2 weeks!!! Who DOES that?! She got the kids' costumes started while she was here in addition to all the other stuff she did and I think we will owe her until the day we die. Love you, Teri!)
And today we went to church (funny thing - the power went off in the church building right before the Sacrament hymn and after a bit of confusion and scared kids, we went on like normal with the Deacons passing the Sacrament in the dark. They were so reverent and took their Priesthood duties so seriously. I got a little choked up.) Then we let the kids gorge themselves on the candy from the ward party. It was a lot less candy than on normal Halloweens, but that is not a bad thing! Sunday night, Megan, Adam, and Sam went to their Stake Christmas Choir practice and came home singing Christmas songs and full of the Christmas spirit! So funny.




Now Halloween is over...on to my favorite holiday: Thanksgiving!!

Oh snap.

It went like this: Son is passionate about air-softing (for those who don't know what this is, click here). Dad takes passionate son as well as daughter and her friend to an airsoft arena for a fun Saturday of shooting at each other. Dad chooses closest airsoft arena, unfortunately one with a cement floor. Airsoft BB's + cement floor = accident waiting to happen.
So yeah, Chad broke his ankle when he slipped on the aforesaid floor. It was ugly. An ambulance came and everything! The whole group piled in and went to the local hospital in El Monte (NOT EXACTLY a nice neighborhood!) where Chad was pumped full of morphine and left to wait until I could get there. I had them put a temporary cast on it and brought him back home - I swear I heard gunshots as we drove away. After a lot of searching, we found an orthopedic surgeon who (get this!) met us at an Alliance gas station at 10:00 pm to look at Chad's X-rays and got him on schedule to have surgery the next morning to put the whole mess back together. 10 pins and a metal plate later, Chad was good to go. But it took FOREVER for the poor guy to be able to put any weight on it and he lived on crutches (ouch, the armpits) and a wheelchair. Thanks to our friend Joe who drove him to and from work.
Can I just say how grateful I am for a hubby who helps me? Because while Chad was out of commission, I REALLY missed him!



And, yes, Chad's toenails are painted - he let Sophie paint them. I think we're just lucky they weren't pink.