Birth-o-ween - Week One

Do you know how much I'm enjoying fall this year?  Quite a bit. I'm having so much fun planning things and doing things. We basically have something big planned for every day in the next two weeks. We have SIX different costume events. We are also hosting 5 different events/parties at our house this fall. Veronica's Birthday and Derrick's Movie Night (Part One) already happened. This week we did the Firepit Party. Next week will be Charlotte and Lydia's birthday party. And in November well have Derrick's Movie Night (Part Two.)

It's great. But somehow Birth-o-ween which was already a multi day thing has become spread out over like three weeks. 

So let's hurry and recap this last week while I have a breather between activities. 

Monday was Columbus Day, so there would be no mail at work. But I had a lot I needed to do to get a new clinician ready to bill insurance. So I went into work soon after Derrick got on the bus. Brandon took care of taking Charlotte and Lydia to school. 

We ran a lot of errands when the kids were home from school. First I took Veronica to the mall. She wanted to buy a big gem with her birthday money. Then we went to Hobby Lobby and bought fabric for Charlotte's costume as well as some other supplies. 

I took Veronica home and picked up Charlotte and Lydia. We went to DI. Charlotte was looking for some things to go with her costume. Lydia wanted a new church dress. And they both needed black shirts for an orchestra concert on Wednesday. We were able to find everything. 

That evening Brandon and I went to dance. We worked on the Tango some more. (We are not very good.) Then the teacher taught us a Barn Dance. I was not looking forward to this one. Like when in my life am I going to need to know that? But turns out it was really fun. She taught us the Virginia Reel which was EVERYTHING to my fourth grade class in 1995. We learned it for some sort of Mountain Man/Utah History Day. And then really learned it and performed it at a school program to celebrate the school's 50 birthday. My whole class loved that dance and we'd literally practice it at recess without any teachers around. Learning it again as an adult was like some sort of inner child work. I guess I really did need that. 

When class was over Brandon and I went over to the Science Building to look at the comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS thought the big telescope. There was a big line when we got there. Everyone was taking a quick peek because the telescope can't go down past a certain point and the comet was getting lower in the sky.  Brandon and I got to the eye piece when there were like 30 seconds left. I looked really quick. It was blurry. 

Fortunately, the comet was still visible - just not with the telescope. We went out on the roof where people had small telescopes and binoculars set up. We were waiting in line to look through those. Brandon was able to see the comet with his eyes and he pointed it out to me. We decided to go home and get our binoculars so we could show the kids. 

We got home and by then it was really dark and we could all see the comet really well. The kids had fun looking at it and then using the binoculars. It was a cool moment.

On Tuesday I didn't have to go into work until around 11:00 so I spent a lot of time moving wood chips from that second drop I got unexpectedly last week. 

I moved a lot of the pile to the area behind the raspberries. I worked for like 2 hours straight and really made a lot of progress on the pile. 

Then I took a shower and got ready for work. I was hoping to work for 4 hours. But around the 2 hour mark I started coughing. I realized I was getting sick. This was not good. I did not need to be sick. So I went home around the three hour mark. I took cold medicine and took a nap. That helped a lot. 

Later in the day I went out and moved more bark chips in the front yard. I took pictures of my marigolds because it was supposed to freeze later in the week I knew I'd be sad if the marigolds died and I hadn't taken pictures yet. 

 

This is the year I FINALLY grew the marrigolds I've always wanted. I wanted big tall ones. Turns out you need to get African Marigold seeds. They did great. 

I've loved these. 


I took Veronica to theatre class. It was the other half of the class's turn to audition. So Veronica didn't have to do anything except cheer them on. 

When I picked her up I parked in front of the Democratic Party office downtown. I went in and got free lawn signs for Harris Walz and voting Yes on Prop 1. (It opens Primaries again. They were closed in 2011.)  When I put these up I said, "Well, I just put up the scariest decorations on the street!" 



I also grabbed extra signs for my neighbor who I know is also supporting Harris. She put hers in her window so it wouldn't get stolen. I'm actually surprised mine haven't been touched. And really I expected to have a conversation with at least 3 of my neighbors, but so far only one wanted to ask me questions. Most of the comments about my Harris sign are from women saying it's so great that I've put it up. 

Oh and here are the kids pumpkins. I'm not sure if I got a picture with all four of them yet. 

Veronica's coach wasn't feeling well so he cancelled practice that evening. That was good because I had a lot of yard work that I wanted the kids to help with. I had them pick up dog poop and then rake leaves. 

We put the leaves in my compost ring. Charlotte climbed in and squished everything down.

Veronica mowed both the front and the back yards. She did really well.  This is probably the last time we need to mow this year. 



Since Veronica didn't have practice we had time to work on her costume. We used fabric glue to make a cool design out of her gems. I put down the dot of glue and she put the gem on top. We were listening to Halloween music and having a great time. I told her all about the Rapunzel costume my mom helped me sew in 6th grade. I think that dress is what made me love making Halloween costumes. 

Brandon had been working most of the day on a porch or something for his friend. (I'm still not sure what this project is, but he gets paid for it so that's good.) He got home around 7:00 and then relaxed a while. Around 8:00 my cough came back and I got really tired. So I took Nyquil and went to bed. 

The medicine and the sleep worked their magic and I was back to feeling better on Wednesday. Which was good because this was the last good weather day before a cold snap.  

I was back at moving wood chips. This time I was filling the garden beds that were already partially filled with compost. I mixed everything in really well. Hopefully they decompose over the winter. 

I also put some in the bed at the very back of the yard. I LOVE the contrast between the light wood chips from the first drop and these darker ones. The pile had already started to decompose and so the wood chips in the center were very dark. 

I paused to teach my Book of Mosiah class at 10:00. This was the second to last class. It was also the fourth week in a row that I taught between moving piles of stuff from my driveway. 

When class was over it was back to work. I planted bulbs in this bed by the chicken coop and then covered it with wood chips. I can see this area from the kitchen window. I'm looking forward to being able to look out and see flowers in the spring. 

I also put bulbs in the bed in front of the railroad tie wall. That wall heats up the bed so things grow there early in the spring. I've had a few bulbs in there before and they started coming up in February. I was telling Brandon what I did and I misspoke. I told him, "I'm planting bulbs for winter."  He said, "you mean spring."  I said, "Well they are kind of to help me get through winter because whenever I get depressed about all the snow, I just remember the bulbs are under there getting ready for early spring."

By about 2:00 I was pooped. I laid down on the patio couch and took a nap for about an hour. Then I went inside to use the bathroom and ended up laying down in my bed and sleeping for another two hours. So maybe I wasn't as over that cold as I thought. 

While I was asleep, Jori came to get wood chips for her garden. She took so much. I'd been feeling so discouraged about my ability to move the whole pile. I wanted to get it done before the forecasted rain on Thursday. So when I went outside and saw this was all that was left - well I was very encouraged. 

In other encouraging news, Brandon had TWO job interviews on Wednesday. One was a second interview over Microsoft Teams. The job will be local, but the supervisors are in other areas so that's why it was over teams. The other was an in person interview for a company really close to his old jon. When I asked Brandon what that companies does he replied, "Steal employees from [his old company]."  He says a lot of employees end up there. 

I can't remember if I wrote about this last week, but he actually already had a job offer from a company he interviewed with last week. But they offered it to him in the first interview and he's vowed to stop accepting offers from companies that hire on the spot. He says it always spells trouble. So he's waiting to see how these jobs pan out before accepting that offer. 

He likes the idea of all three jobs so if more than one offers him a job its really going to come down to pay and company culture as the deciding factors. 

I'm getting kind of inpatient, but it is nice to know that he has three very good prospects. We should hear back from the two jobs later this week. 

On Wednesday night Charlotte and Lydia had an orchestra concert. Brandon took them over to the middle school at 6:15 and I came about 20 minutes later with Derrick and Veronica. 

The lobby was decorated all spooky. 

This was a combined night with the 8th grade drama kids and they'd been in charge of the decorations. 

Here's the cover of the program. 

The drama kids would do about three skits and then the orchestra would play a song. Then the drama kids did three more skits followed by another song. The orchestra was on stage the whole time. That's why they had to wear black. 

Here's the program with Charlotte and Lydia's names. 

And here they are on stage. Lydia is the cello on the outside on the second row. Charlotte is right by the microphone on the back left. 

Here's everyone doing their bows at the end. 

Some of the skits were a little rough - but overall they were good. They all were spooky and Veronica really liked them. 

The songs were great. They played 5 songs. They all were spooky too. Each song incorporated some interesting techniques for interesting sounds. Like everyone played on the tiny part of the strings below the bridge. Or the cellos knocked on their instruments.  One song even had a part where a guy screamed really loud. 

Here's one song called Old Tom (or something like that.)

Brandon waited for the twins after the concert. I took Derrick and Veronica to smiths and we bought ice cream and cones. It was fun to eat that when we were all home. 

Thursday had rain projected to start at 10:00. I was determined to get the last of the pile moved before then. So Brandon took Veronica and then the twins to school and I got right to work on the pile. I was pretty much out of places to put it. So I piled the rest in a pile near the fire pit. I'm just going to let it compost there all winter and then figure out what to do with it. 

As I was finishing up I got a message from Derrick's school. He wasn't feeling well and had refused to eat breakfast (which is usually a sign that he's sick.) So I finished my project and went to pick him up. On my way there the rain started to fall. 

We came home and he watched a movie while I started working on sewing Charlotte's cape for her costume. Around 12:30 I went to Castle Therapy and just picked up the mail to work on at home. Then I went to Aspen and worked for a little bit doing things that are easier to do with two screens. After I got that done I came back home and worked from home for both companies. I love that my jobs give me so much flexibility. 

Brandon was spending the day building platforms for the Orpheum's production of Little Women next month. Jarod showed up to check on him in the afternoon and was surprised that Brandon was done with some of them. Brandon was like, "I might struggle and take my time as an actor, but THIS is what I'm actually good at."

The day was rainy and cold. We've had such a lovely autumn that I was STRUGGLING with this sudden drop to 40 degree weather. 

When the rain let up I went outside and picked a bunch of the flowers and put them in vases. That way I wouldn't have to see them all die. 

These kind of helped. 

I spent the later afternoon working on Charlotte's cape for her costume. We already had a black velvet cape with a hood. I added red to the inside of the cape. That part was easy. But I wasn't sure what Charlotte's vision was for the hood. So when she came home from school I had her try it on. I realized she didn't want the hood at all. She wanted a collar that stood straight up. So I cut the hood off and then tried to figure out how to make the collar.  

This was tricky because she wanted it to be like 6 inches tall. I couldn't figure out how to do it without interfacing - and I was out of interfacing. Plus I wasn't sure that even interfacing could help satin stand up straight for 6 inches. 

I just kind of stared at it for a long time. I think I even took a break and we ate dinner. I went back to work on it while Brandon took Veronica to basket ball. 

I like to sew in the kitchen so I still feel like I'm part of the family while I'm working on these projects. So I was trouble shooting with Brandon while he cleaned up dinner. I asked him, "how would you do this? Would you put wire in it?"  He said, "No, I was thinking plastic."

At that moment I looked up and saw an empty ice cream bucket on the shelf. I was like, "I know how to do it!"

Brandon got out his tin snips and cut the side of the bucket open and cut the bottom off. I traced a pattern from the side of the bucket and then cut out the fabric. 

He took care of picking up Veronica and then went grocery shopping. I kept working on the collar. By the time Brandon was back home I had it done. I made it so we could slide the ice cream bucket out of the side of the collar. That way we can wash the cape. Here's a look at Charlotte wearing it on Saturday. That collar turned out so well!

 

Friday was another day where I went into work after Derrick was on the bus. I was at work for over 4 hours working on lots of things. 

It was an early out for the kids because we've made it to the end of the quarter. So I made sure I was back home by 12:45 when Veronica got home. She and I went back to work on her costume. We'd realized that the fabric glue was not holding the gems on. So we went with hot glue. (Which is what all the girls suggested in the first place, but I thought I knew better.)

This time Veronica did the glue dots while I put on the gems. Then she tried on the costume. It was giving "Robin Hood vibes" when it was supposed to be a Viking costume. So I took the fur from Lydia's old werewolf costume and put it on her shoulder. That made it into a Viking costume. Brandon had been working on Orpheum stuff, but he was back home. He helped make a strap to hold the fur in place. 

The day had started out cold, but it was projected to warm up to 50. By around 2:00 it was close to 50. I went outside and started cleaning off the patio to get it ready for our party on Saturday. I would have done this earlier in the week, but Wednesday was such a windy day that it was kind of pointless to try to clean leaves off when I knew they'd just get blown back on.

It was nice to get everything cleaned up. The covered patio has been very neglected while we were working on the fire pit. 

The uncovered patio has a pile of rocks that has been there since last year when I moved them from the front yard. I'd been waiting to move them back until after I had mulch down. Well I finally have that. I had all the kids come outside and help move that pile. Derrick and Veronica helped put the rock in the wheel barrow. Charlotte and Lydia helped put the rocks in a line on the edge of the garden bed. It was some good team work. 

I didn't get a picture, because we were kind of at crunch time here. We needed to leave for Rupert at 5:00 and it was like 4:15. I hurried to take a shower while Brandon put burritos in the oven. Then we ate really quick and started driving to Rupert. 

We were going to the Wilson Wizarding Experience. Or as we call it - That Harry Potter thing. 

All the kids were super excited for this. But Derrick might have been the most excited. He'd literally jumped up and down and shouted hurray when I told him I bought the tickets back in September. Here he is charging ahead to the Wilson Theatre. 

We stopped to warm up by the fire and then went to wait in line. 

The line was long and we were way back by the rear door. But that turned out to be really great because a lot of the characters came out that door. Here's Ron, Harry, and Hermonie making their grand entrances. 

And here's Voldemort. This actor does such a great job. The kids LOVE interacting with him. 

Lots of the actors walked up and down the line and entertained us while we waited. Madam Pomphrey handed out red hot candies. She called them Pepper Pills. I told her this is always my favorite part of the line. She gave me like 3. 

Charlotte and Lydia brought money so they went over to the merchandise tent with Brandon. Charlotte bought a 3D printed dragon for $20. She named him Norbert. Brandon carried him most of the night. 

Lydia bought a time turner. 

Soon we were presenting our tickets at the counter. And then we walked into the theatre. It's always decorated so well. 

There are fun little things to look at everywhere. 

Arthur Weasley was talking to us as we made our way to the Great Hall. He asked Brandon if he wanted to do a spell. He had Brandon repeat after him while he said a magic word. And then water sprayed out of his wand and hit Lydia in the face. It was hilarious. I wish I caught it all with my camera. He got us a few more times throughout the night. 

We went into the Great Hall. We could have waited in line for the kids to be sorted, but that line was really long. So we decided to get in line for wands. They had us wait in the seats. It was so nice to sit down. 

Kids were getting sorted on the stage. The lights in the room changed color depending on what house they were put into. It was fun. 

Characters came around and talked with us. This was Professor Sprout and her Mandrake. 

Soon we stood up and went to the alley that lead to Diagon Ally. Glideroy Lockheart met us at the door and talked with us for a while. Usually it's Snape that does that part. But this guy was fun too. Later we found out that the guy who usually does Snape was also this guy doing Glideroy. He played the two characters so differently I never would have known. 

Then we were let into Diagon Ally. 

I love all the displays. 

And soon it was our groups turn to go into the wand shop. The kids were so excited to pick out their wands. 

Lydia picked the Elder Wand. 

Veronica always has to do dramatic poses. Her wand had a snake head on the handle. 

Derrick had been saying he wanted Harry Potter's wand. When it was his turn to pick he said, "Excuse me ma'am. Which wand is Harry Potter's?"  The lady showed him and that's the one he got. He was very excited. 

Charlotte took a long time picking hers out. They have all the wands on display and then you tell them which one you want and they get the box for you. She liked hers on the display rack, but when she opened her box she didn't like how short it was. This is her "I'll pretend to love it" face. 

I told her we could get another one. So we took it to the counter and said, "Sorry, this wand didn't choose it's wizard."  They were more than happy to let her pick again. Here's a dark picture with her next choice. You can see this is her, "I actually love it" face. 

Then we exited out through Knockturn Alley. 

That takes us out to an actual alley. Voldemort was out there and Derrick was immediately trying to cast spells at him. 

It was a really cool interaction. Voldemort also saw Lydia's Elderwand and asked if he could borrow it for a while. Lydia told him no.

Brandon found a broken stick and was pretending it was his wand. Here's a picture of everyone together with their wands. 

And here I am with my secret weapon. I always bring a big bag to this so I can carry wand boxes, and quiet headphones, and jackets, and whatever else the kids don't want to carry. 

We were in a long line waiting for our turn to go through the Forbidden Forrest. It was getting cold as the sun set. 

Derrick saw Dumbledore and wanted to say hi. So I went over there with him. 

We went through the Forbidden Forrest which is a building with creepy things that fly at you. As soon as we came out of that building the train was in front of us. There wasn't a line so we got right on. 

Here are the kids. They were having so much fun. 

And here are me and Brandon. We had these smiles on our faces the whole time. 

The train took us around the outside of the theatre and then around the town square. I always like this ride. But oh it was cold this year!

When we came back we spotting our friends Kerri and Payton. We'd seen them a few other places, but we'd been in different spots in line. This time they were not in line. They were standing by a portable heater!  So we stood with them and talked. The kids took turns playing Quidditch. 

Then we went inside to have the kids get sorted. 

They have someone that casually askes the kids things like, "What house do you think you'll be put in."  So they know which house to actually put the kids in. Charlotte and Lydia are totally in on the magic, but I don't think Derrick and Veronica have figured it out yet. 

Charlotte is working on collecting all the house ties so this year she wanted to be in Hufflepuff. Brandon says that's probably his house. 

Lydia was Ravenclaw for the second year in a row.

Veronica was also Ravenclaw. That's the house I think I would be in. She was exited to share a house with me. 

And Derick was in Gryffindor again. He was so excited to see all that red. 

Brandon had been chatting with a volunteer the whole time the kids were getting sorted. The kids had him help with their ties and I went to the bathroom. He was still talking to her. I just figured he knew her somehow. But no he was just making friends. She was telling him lots of stuff about how much everyone loves to volunteer for this. 

We got in line for "Study Hall."  This was another opportunity to sit in the chairs. 

Veronica pretended to be asleep.

I took a picture of the kids tickets because they were so pretty this year. 

This is the back. 

Here are Professor Sprout and Glidery Lockheart telling us something. He was talking up one of his books and she was all sorts of dreamy with him. 

Study hall this year was taught by Helga Hufflepuff and her assistant whose name I forgot. They did a bunch of sciencey things that were pretending to be magic. Things like lighting steal wool on fire after we all pretended to do a spell. 

Derrick wanted a picture when it was all over. 

Study Hall leads to Honeydukes Sweet Shop. Normally we don't buy anything, but Charlotte and Lydia still had money. So they bought some stuff.  

Derrick and Veronica spotted Jaw Breakers and since we haven't been able to find any at regular stores I bought one for each of them. They were so happy.

As we left that room we saw Harry and Ron playing chess. I think this was supposed to represent Ron's house.  Derrick stopped and made sure to tell Harry that Voldemort was looking for him. 

Then we went downstairs. The evening was winding down so I was jut taking pictures of everything. 

I loved how the walls were lined with pictures of all the characters. 

Here's a table of Hagrid's things. 

I always love these keys. 

This was the Room of Requirement. 

This was the Dursley's house. 

I tried to get the kids to line up for a picture with their ties, but that had mixed results. 

There we about 15 minutes left, but we'd done everything and the kids were tired. So we decided to leave. Here's a picture I took as we walked away. 

We drove home and I had the car heater blowing on me the whole way. When we got home I could not warm up again. So I ended up just going to bed and covering myself with blankets. That finally did the trick. Temps were supposed to go below freezing that night and I was just not acclimated to that at all. Like I had a sun burn last week - how was I supposed to deal with freezing temperatures?

Brandon stayed up for a while prepping some food for the party the next day. 

That's right, we had another big event happening right after this one. 

And I'm not stopping for another post. So maybe take a bathroom break and get a drink and then come back for all the Saturday fun. 

Here's a picture Charlotte drew. It can act as a palette cleanse. 

Our party would start at 5:00 on Saturday. We woke up around 8:00. That meant we had 9 hours to clean the house, prep the food, and decorate the backyard. But I didn't feel stressed about any of that. 

It helped that the house never really got dirty this week. I'm not sure why. Maybe we were just too busy to really mess anything up. 

So cleaning the house went really smoothly. The kids cleaned their bathroom and I took care of the downstairs one. 

Brandon worked on food. He made brownies, a veggie tray, and a cheese ball. 

At 11:00 Brandon went to pick up last minute things and I mopped the floor. 

He came back around 12:00. This is when Veronica and I were getting ready to leave for her game. Her game was at 1:00 this week. She had to be there at 12:30 for team pictures. The pictures were done in an area above the bleachers. Here she is looking down at me.  

Her game was against the team of her friend Amelia. I went and sat with Amilia's mom Lindsey during the game. The other team had another girl almost Veronica's height. They had fun blocking each other 

Veronica's team won this time!  12 to 4. She was so happy. She didn't make any points herself, but she did have an assist. She was also so much more confident on the floor than she has been. 

When we got home I walked into the kitchen and saw the CUTEST brownies. Brandon had used his new piping set to make these adorable pumpkins. That man is a wonder. 

I went outside and worked on lots of finishing touches. Charlotte and Lydia and Veronica helped decorate. They moved a lot of things out from the house. And they made ghosts out of plastic bags to hang  from things. 

Here's the nearly final result. We had the table on the patio. 

Then there was this little area. I had a sign to welcome people and help them get oriented if they showed up and didn't see Brandon or I right away. I had a basket of blankets and two totes with costumes. Our invitation had said that "Costumes were encouraged" but I knew some people would show up without costumes and then maybe want to put something on. 

Here's the table where all the food went. 

Charlotte put a face on this storage bench. 

And of course the FIRE PIT. I put 8 camp chairs down there, plus the bench from our kitchen table. So that was seating for at least 10. 

On Friday, I'd set this table and chairs up against the back of the garage thinking it would be a fun little seating area. Derrick and Veronica found it and started playing chess there. So we put the chess set out there for anyone to play chess. I even put a lantern on the table so people could play as it got dark. It was a VERY popular spot.  

Here's a view of the patio. 

At 4:00 it was time to start putting on costumes and make up. Lydia went first because she had the most complicated make up. Here's her full outfit. This is the third time we've used that collar. 

She photobombed Charlotte's picture and I got a good pic of her make up.

Veronica was next. 

When Jori arrived she braided Veronica's hair. It turned out so cool.

Here's the picture you already saw of Charlotte. Oh that collar is glorious. Oh and I totally forgot to mention that at some point Brandon did all the rivots on the bodice. 

Here are the twins together.  All night long I kept thinking Lydia was Charlotte because 1. Charlotte was a scarecrow a few years ago. And 2. Red is Charlotte's color. Lydia was borrowing her shirt. 

And here's Derrick. He wore this costume for like an hour and then took it off. But he still likes it. 

I knew I wouldn't have time for much of a costume, so I planned to wear Veronica's crown. I was still spraying hair spray when people were showing up.

Brandon was also having a bit of a time crunch. Charlotte had asked for LED lights that synced with music for her and Lydia's party next week. I was like, "Hey if we are getting them for your party I want them for my party too. So we had those. Brandon had a whole area set up with my computer running spotify, our sound bar, and the LED lights. He was using gaff tape to put the sting of lights up around the patio. It was kind to time consuming and he was still taping it up when people showed up. 

I took over that while he got the food ready. We started the party for real around 5:15. 

I think that there were 51 people there - including the 6 from my family - but I might have forgotten someone so maybe it was more. Not all 51 people were there at the same time. Some came for a little bit at the beginning and some came toward the end. Some were there the whole time. 

We had an interesting mix of people. We had friends from church and friends from the theatre. Probably the random connection was my friend Justine. She and her husband were in the same married student ward as me and Brandon when we were all in college in Logan. We've been Facebook friends for a long time, but somehow we both missed the fact that we were both living in Twin Falls. That is until she started working as a para in Derrick's classroom this year. I went to pick Derrick up one day and she was like, "do you remember me?"

Once I realized that she lived here I was like, "well now you are getting invited to stuff." So I invited her to the party and she came with her family. So fun! 

I remembered to walk around and take some pictures. Here are people using the table. 

The patio. 

The chess set in use. (This is Derrick playing Derrick.)

The costume bin was a big hit. I helped one of Jori's kids into Derrick's old spaceman outfit. That's another little girl wearing Lydia's old pirate outfit. 

Here's a fun picture of people all over the backyard. 

Fun fact, this whole party was to celebrate the fire pit - but we didn't buy wood until about half an hour after the party started. Brandon had run out of time to run to Smiths any earlier. But honestly we didn't need it until about 6:00. The high for the day was 59 and everything was nice and sunny and warm at 5:00. 

Here's the fire when it was started. 

I loved seeing people enjoy the various parts of the backyard. The treehouse was a big hit. 

So was the swing that we kind of ignore most of the time. (I hung a lantern on the pole so that no one would bonk their head on it when things got dark.)

After lighting the fire Brandon finally put on his costume. He was a pirate. This is the only picture I took of him.

The sun set around 7:00 and the tone of the party changed. The adults congregated in the fire pit. While the kids ran around. 

This is the one and only picture I took of the LED lights. I wish I'd taken a video. But I was anxious to get back into the fire pit and keep talking with my friends. 

Jori's family, Chandler's family, and Kori's family, were the ones who stayed the latest. Jeff came after work with two of his kids. All the kids ran all over the backyard chasing each other and playing some sort of monster game. It was the most action our yard has ever had. It was so fun to watch the kids playing. 

Derrick kept asking people to play chess with him. Some of the little kids played with him. He was playing with a 5 year old and we heard him say, "Oh you beat me! Good game." And they shook hands. I have no idea if Derrick was just letting that kid win if he was little or what. But it was really cute. People were like, "Derrick is so well behaved."

Actually all my kids were awesome with the younger kids. Charlotte and Lydia were the oldest ones there but they were running around just as much as anyone. And Veronica is ALWAYS down for anything with younger kids. She was getting chased and wrestled with for like 4 hours straight. 

The party was supposed to end at 8:00, but we didn't start wrapping up until 8:45. People helped us carry things into the house and then they went home. Brandon decided that he might as well take the LED lights down. Which seemed like a shame after only just putting them up. But really there wouldn't be a better time. So we worked on that for a while. I was like, we needed to get outdoor LED lights. 

We also need to put up outdoor lights on the back of the garage. Brandon had his work lights on the roof and they were great, but something more permanent would be nice. 

Derrick had been doing smoke rings when people were there, but he'd had to be careful.  Now he wanted to do them with abandon. So he sat by the fire for a long time and did them. Charlotte sat with him for a while. 

I went inside to use the bathroom and laughed at the mess of makeup on the counter.  This is a mix of my  makeup, the twins make up, and Brandon's make up. He had the bright red lipstick - and lip liner the twins needed. And he had black eye shadow that I used for Veronica. 

I went outside and sat with Derrick at the fire pit for a long time. Brandon had given me one of his vitamin/energy drinks at like 3:30 when I'd mentioned I was starting to wear down. He was like, "I probably should have given you this earlier in the day. You'll be up all night with this."  He was right. I stayed up until like 11:00 with Derrick. Then took a shower. And then read in bed until 12:30.  

The party was a resounding success. Those of us in the firepit toward the end talked about how we should just get together for fire pit time every so often. I'm already trying to figure out the next time that will work. 

Oh and the fire pit was perfect too. When I was too hot I could push my chair back to cool off. And if I was cold I could scoot closer. It easily held 10 adults. Yep, totally worth all the effort. 

This morning we slept in until 9:15 and then drug ourselves to church by 10:30. The kids were like, "Why do we have to go to church. I was like, "Because there aren't a lot of excuses when church starts at 10:30. If it was 9:00 we could stay home. But we can make it by 10:30. It was kind of fun to wave sleepily at the people who had been hanging out with us the night before. 

And that gets us caught up. 

And just in time too because next week is CRAZY. It's probably the busiest week of the month. Even busier than the week of Halloween. 

Thanks for reading. 

Oh wait - I forgot one more thing. During the party Brandon was talking to his theatre friends and they mentioned that the March play will be Cinderella. I was like, "Oh that's perfect. You can do rehearsals during January and February when we don't have anything happening."  So we started talking about him doing that play. The whole time I was thinking it was Disney's Cinderella with talking mice and bibbity bobbity boo and all that. 

And then I saw the announcement in Facebook and realized no, it's Rodges and Hammerstein's Cinderella. And without warning I was suddenly activated like some sort of musical sleeper agent. The whole time we were cleaning up I was singing the songs to Brandon. I was like, "Do I love you because you WON-DER-FUL? Or are you won-der-ful because I love you?" And "In my own little corner in my own little chair I can be whatever I want to be." and "The Prince is having a ball, The Prince is having a ball."

Brandon was like, "How do you know all these songs?"  I told him that my parents LOVED the Leslie Ann Warren TV version of that play and we watched it several times when I was a kid. Also my parents sang the Do I love you song for a talent show. I also saw this play with Charlotte, Lydia, and Veronica at Pocatello High School like 6 years ago. 

So then Brandon asked me, "Do you want to do the play?"  And I realized that I would love to be in this play. Also I think I might have to. One of the reasons Brandon did Music Man was because he already knew the songs. So based on those rules I have to do Cinderella. 

But auditions aren't until December so we don't have to actually make up our minds yet. 

Still we did watch the Brandy TV version on Disney plus today and now Lydia is interested in doing it too. So yeah, this might be happening.