Stuff I've been working on or Why I haven't had time to blog

Nothing exciting to report lately. Just the normal chauffeuring kids, making dinner, and doing laundry routine. I guess that is the way things go. But occassionally there are some other things that happen. So, here is a list (because I love lists) of our life lately:

Two sick kids this week.

I had 7 kids last week all week. Friends were out of town and we took some of their kids. Nearly double our usual 4. But it worked out just fine. The only time I really noticed a difference was at dinnertime and bath time. Our table doesn't fit 9 and bathing 3 little girls at once takes a while longer than one.

I've been sewing a bunch lately. I have a backlog of sewing projects that keep getting ignored. I keep adding new projects before I finish the old ones. Some get done, some get added to the work-in-progress pile. But this last week I finished capes, a dress, a jacket, bunches of mending and altering projects, a baby quilt and some pajamas. Still have more mending and lots more projects. But I love sewing. It is something I really look forward to.

Lots of piano practice with Hazel, percussion practice with Isaac, and flute practice with Aspen. She had a district band audition last weeekend. And now we are practicing Christmas music.

The weather has been beautiful here. 75 to 80 degrees in the day. 40's and 50's at night. One night we almost had a freeze. I wish it was a little colder to actually feel like fall. But this weather is nothing to complain about.

Finished reading Little House in the Big Woods with Hazel. The Little House series are some of my favorite books. I always wished I was a pioneer girl. I wanted to be Laura. Next up is Little House on the Prairie.

Started planning Hester's baby shower with my sisters. So excited for Hester, her baby, and the shower.

Watching Dukes of Hazzard reruns with my kids. Still my favorite show.

Had a movie party with the kids last weekend. We made pizza, a birthday cake (complete with candles) for no reason whatsoever, and popcorn in front of Toy Story 3. Cute and funny movie.

Premade some breakfast foods so that my kids don't just eat cereal every morning. Although they don't mind just cereal. I think they should have something more substantial. So now we are stocked up with veggie sausage biscuits, veggie breakfast tacos, turkey sausage pigs-in-a-blanket, and ham, cheese, and tomato english muffins to eat with our fruit, yogurt and milk in the morning.

We are still getting tomatoes out of our garden, peppers, jalepenos, onions, and basil too. We'll be having stuffed peppers every week for the next month. And lots of salsa. Yum.

Helping Toby with school stuff.

Helping the boys with scout stuff. We are also helping their friends with Eagle projects.

Helping Aspen with Personal Progress stuff. We have the Young Women in Excellence prorgram for our Stake this week. So Aspen is finishing up a cool project to exhibit. I'll have to take pictures of it and post it when she is finished.

Researching appetizer options for the cooking club that Nate and I are in. This month we are doing dishes featuring orange and pomegranate. It is going to be tasty.

Made atwo pumpkin pies. (The big can makes two, I can't help it.) And just about ate them by myself. I got inspired when I started planning our Thanksgiving menu. I like pie :)

Doing stuff for my church callings.

Thinking about Christmas: gifts, activities, vacation plans, food. Listening to Christmas music. I already bought a new CD for the season and have listened to it a couple times. Playing Christmas songs on the piano. We even wrote Santa letters the other day. I know kind of early. But I want to get Christmas shopping done early this year, and help the kids get theirs done too, so we needed some lists of ideas to choose from. Christmas season is so much more relaxing for me when all those things are taken care of early.

Finished reading the The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials by James Dashner. Very good books. If you liked Hunger Games, you will probably like this series. I think there is one more to come. But it will likely be awhile since Scorch Trials just came out.

Started reading the latest installment in the Wheel of Time Series. I haven't gotten very far due to busyness in the rest of my life. But hope to finish this month.