Non-Paper Pumpkin

This was the first time Jonathan or I had carved a jack-o-lantern in quite some time, and Elena's first time ever, but I think we did a good job. We went to the store to get milk, and while we were there I let Elena pick a pumpkin to carve. She said she wanted a tall one and a fat one, and they just so happened to have this monster sitting on a bale of hay. I didn't think they'd have one that big this close to Halloween (I know, we're starting late, but we did pumpkin carving--200 of them--for FHE on my 22nd birthday, in Nauvoo, and I liked it) so I'm glad we got such a good one.


Since it was Elena's pumpkin, she had the honor of drawing on the face. It's harder to do an "up and down mouth" when you have to make it an open mouth, too.


Apparently we've been doing a good job of teaching her about knife safety because she absolutely, categorically, refused to have anything to do with helping Daddy cut the lid.


Inside was weird stringy stuff. And while you always start with a spoon, you inevitably end up using your hands.


Daddy cut the face out while mommy made birthday pancakes.


And here's our Jack, all lit up. Isn't he cute?

And, As Life Slows Down...

After a month of a record number of posts, we have this one. Trust me, we've had plenty going on, I just haven't posted it. Here's some of the highlights, though.

We've gotten to visit Zilker several times, this month, and Joseph loves running around the playscape and going on all the slides. Elena waves to the train and likes to watch the ducks down at the creek. She even got to see a heron, one time.


Elena's stick figures are starting to get more recognizable. The figure on the far left (now labeled as Cynthia) started off as the "other Elena." I don't know where that came from, but it was a bit unnerving.


The cat, Simon, showed off his hunting prowess by catching one of the lizards that keep sneaking into the house. It was not fun to head to the computer and find this blocking my path. (for the squeamish, skip past this one)


Trunk-or-Treat was Saturday night. There was the annual chili competition, a carnival for the primary kids (put on by the YM & YW, so the parents could sit and socialize), and of course the candy. Elena was Dora, so of course Joseph was Boots. She wanted me to be Swiper, but I didn't have enough time to pull that together, and Daddy was coming straight from work so I think I expanded his all-black theme quite nicely, for him. I love the picture of the four of us.



That's most of it. We had to get milk, first thing this morning, so we grabbed a huge pumpkin while we were at HEB. Elena's already drawn the face for it, and we're going to carve it this afternoon.

Oh, Horrors

I fell apart, last year, when Elena cut her forehead at my parents house, but at least there were plenty of adults around to help. Today, Joseph found and broke a light bulb, slicing up his finger. Jonathan was at work, so we have one crying mother, one screaming toddler, and one curious but delightfully obedient three-year-old. There was blood everywhere, though--all over him, all over me--and I couldn't get it to stop. No matter how long I covered it up and put pressure on it, as soon as I let go he'd bend his finger and it'd start bleeding again. This meant 1) I couldn't put him down, 2) I couldn't clean up the glass, and 3) no one could go upstairs. After a good 45 minutes, a bloody band-aid that never even got on his finger, and phone calls to my husband, my mother, and three members of the Relief Society presidency we managed to get everyone calmed down; Joseph's finger wrapped up and coagulated; the front hallway swept, vacuumed and mopped; and someone came to check if stitches were needed, and let me cry on her shoulder. Joseph's asleep, right now. We're both recovering fairly well.

I hate the total helplessness of seeing my baby hurt. If it were someone else's kid, I'd have them cleaned up, bandaged and sent on their way in a heartbeat. I've even done it a few times. It's different when it's your child, though. I'm not sure what the difference is, but there is one. And don't ask how he got a light bulb. The lest time I changed a light bulb was months ago, and I'm positive I threw all the old ones out (meaning, the trash bag they got stuffed in went to the dumpster). It just goes to show you how good kids are at finding the most dangerous thing in the house.

New Fun

The combined RS/YW/Priesthood lesson on Sunday was to learn how, then do, some name indexing for Family Search. It was fun, people calling out "it's Lewis, not Harris" (and if you've seen the handwriting, you know what I'm talking about) and things like that. So I decided to start, too. It's an easy way to start or wind down the day, and the detective work involved is just challenging enough to make it interesting without making it too difficult. There's censuses in both English (US or Canada) and Spanish (Mexico), plus Revolutionary War records, in the general list, and you can sign up for special projects, too. The church just started on a German census and I know at least three of you have enough fluency to help. I'm thinking about doing it, myself, and I don't have nearly as much experience with German given names or handwriting. Anyway, it's fun, it's easy, and it's a great way to help others with their temple work.