Bloody Moon

Do you ever feel discouraged when the weekend arrives? I always do on some level. It seems I work all week to repair the "damage" the weekend clutter piles on. By the time Friday comes all my hard work is replaced with constant clutter. I am feeling claustrophobic in my own home. Justin, it must be time to move. I really do hate all the clutter, but also hate spending loads of time cleaning when I could be playing with the kids.

It was my turn to teach the FHE lesson this week. We had a lot of fun making hand and footprints with acrylic paint on black paper. After the paint dried we turned the prints into goulish ghosts, creepy spiders, and terrifying bats. We even included Evelyn in the fun. Her little prints were so tiny and cute. While the paint dried we got some ice cream from DQ. We like it when Justin has the treat! Soon, Jared and Jeremy will receive scary packages in the mail. Amelia wrote a cute letter to each punkle as well. I am terrible at writing more than my blog each week. At least we can send fun packages every once in a while.

Amelia heard about the lunar eclipse in school on Tuesday. She pleaded and begged me to get her up at 4 am to see the bloody moon. I was totally game. I got up first to make sure the moon was visible. We watched the lunar eclipse from 4:45 to 5 am. The moon was really a dusky red color. I really wanted an extension tube for my 70-200mm lens right then at 5 am. It doubles the range by spacing the lens away from the camera elongating the focal range. Still I got some good captures of the moon.

Evelyn is working on her leg extensions this week. I crack up every time I look over and see her chubby leg resting on a chair, step, or anything taller than 6 inches. She finally climbed up the two steps from the sidewalk to the porch. Her smug satisfaction was pretty awesome. She is also adding bruises to her collection. She earned one on the corner of the bookcase with her forehead. Later that same day she bonked her head on the concrete. She was not too bothered with her injuries. Evelyn is crusing around like a lightening bolt. I think she will be walking very soon. I showed her how to use her little activity walker. She toddled across the room several times, much to our delight.

I appliqued a cute candy corn shirt for Evelyn to match some pants that Amelia wore at her age. It was a nice change of pace from the constant housework, playing, and editing. The boys helped me take some autumn photos of her in front of the Rubbish Room during Amelia's piano lessons. The Rubbish Room is the cutest store full of refurbished furniture. The owner and I struck a compromise yearly photos for borrowing privileges. I can borrow chairs, benches, signs, etc for a couple hours then return the items. Perfect. 

A bottle of milk leaked under Evelyn's carseat. The van smelled disgusting. It was time for a good clean anyhow. It took Everett and I three hours to vacuum it, windex the surfaces, and clear out the crumbs. It now smells better and looks a bit cleaner. I had Evelyn sit in Everett's car seat while hers got a wash. She was excited to see me driving the van from her seat, she squealed most of the way home. That night Amelia offered to empty the dishwasher. Then she emptied it. I was grateful and almost dumbfounded. Her kindness came at a stressful moment.

I held mini-sessions Friday and Saturday afternoons. I have 20 families signed up this year! That is pretty amazing. Several folks called me last minute needing a slot. I had 4 on Friday and 8 on Saturday. Next Friday I have 8 more signed up. The weather stayed clear both evenings. Right as I left for the Saturday sessions the radar showed severe rain to the north and south of us. It was cloudy and threatening rain but we ended up with just a couple drops here and there. I was a little stressed out because I did not have the back up space set up since the forecast showed clear weather. I think next week I will have it set up so the stress is gone. The second huge stressor came Saturday as well when a full memory card slipped out of my jeans pocket. I have a huge hate for women's pants pockets. Most are only two inches deep so anytime you sit the items fall out. I cannot count the number of times my phone almost landed in the toilet due to pants pockets. I went back and searched the field 4 times, Justin once, and the Rognon's checked a couple times. I went back after Evelyn woke up and crawled around on my knees for 20 minutes with a stick swishing the grass around. The little card was in the deep grass black edge facing up. Finding the card was a miracle and huge weight of relief lifted. Now I have the card drying in rice, hoping the data is still intact. I will know tomorrow.

I was gone most of the day Saturday. The RS held a super Saturday at the church. I signed up to make 4 crafts: a wood craft, chicken wire frame, candy jars, painted Mason jars, and coffee filter wreath. The wreath looked too complicated so I did not do that one. I am too OCD and the filters were not even around the wreath. Course, the best part was chatting with all my awesome friends. I came home to many hugs and kisses. Everett is the sweetest boy, he always says he misses me and gives me hugs and kisses. I love when he tells me I am his favorite mom...I tell him he is my favorite Everett. In Nursery today he hugged the song leader's leg and told him those were his favorite songs. I am glad he is so loving because it off sets the whining witch he is acting like since the weather changed.