Christmas Time is HERE!

The second big event I am updating on was CHRISTMAS!!!  How can you NOT write about Christmas?  We spent both Thanksgiving and Christmas by ourselves this year.  And it was SO FUN to see Abby and Isaac BLOSSOM through this holiday!  Their eyes glowed at every thought of every aspect of the season!  Santa, reindeer, snowmen on t.v., Christmas lights, Christmas music/songs (Brianna sings Jingle Bells more clearly and often than anything else -- Isaac uses it to annoy us at the top of his lungs whenever he wants to get a point across or feels ignored), cookies and candy-making, caroling to friends and neighbors, you name it!  And we tried really hard to give them opportunities to give and to thank and to celebrate . . . and to get really excited about Christmas coming!!!!  We didn't put any presents out because they ALL would have been opened if we had.  So you would pretty much convince a rattlesnake to give you his fangs before you could convince Abby or Isaac that SANTA didn't bring them ALL of their Christmas presents.  Brianna was oh so cute as well!  Oh - boy!  That is an understatement!  How did I get the cutest kids in the world?  How indeed, indeed, indeed!  Without too much detail, here's the breakdown:

Isaac: Isaac started the season by telling Santa (and everyone who would listen) that he wanted a dinosaur for Christmas.  He proudly announced it on Santa's lap at the ward party and then repeated to everyone who asked that Santa was bringing him a T-Rex for Christmas! One morning as the girls were asleep and we were cuddled on the floor watching Toy Story 3, Isaac watched the final scene with the little girl wanting Woody.  He told me, "He doesn't share very well." I explained it was hard because he really loved Woody.  Isaac said, "Know what he should REALLY DO, Mom?  Trade her.  He should get the dinosaur back and just let her HAVE Woody!"  His expression was saying, "This boy is CRAZY!  He just gave up the DINOSAUR for that silly COWBOY?!?!!? Doesn't he know ANYTHING?!??!?!"  The problem: We bought him a Melissa and Doug Train Set for Christmas -- on a super, duper Groupon coupon sale that could NOT be returned.  So I went to Toys R Us on Christmas Eve to find him a dinosaur of some sort -- to NO avail (without going WAY over budget, anyway).  Fortunately for me, Daddy had gone to the Dollar Store and bought a T-Rex for our little boy.  Isaac saw it in his stocking as soon as he walked down the hall, yelled, "Santa got me a T-Rex!!!" and was M.I.A. for the rest of the day (week) with that thing.  Good thing we spent so much money on the train set!


Abby: Abby told Santa she was getting a horsey!  And her heart was set on it.  After a LOT of research and some help from some horse-loving friends on Facebook (and finding out that my mom got her a My Little Pony Mother/Daughters play set), we got her a 20" horse that was on sale at Target.  And the 18" doll that was on Clearance to go with it.  And she LOVED it!  Absolutely loved it!


Brianna: Oh our sweet Brianna!  Two years ago, we bought a cabbage patch doll for Abby on a SUPER Black Friday sale.  Two years later, we gave it to Brianna.  Skeptically, because Abby never really latched onto her baby doll from Dave's mom and I didn't know if Brianna would like dolls either.  WERE WE EVER WRONG IN OUR SKEPTICISM!!!  Bria LOVED that little baby -- she hugged it and kissed it and put it down and quickly picked it back up.  Then she handed it to me to give it hugs and kisses and smiled, bowing her head in approval, before eagerly taking it back from me and giving it more hugs and kisses.  And then she didn't let it out of her sight!  Until, that is, Abby opened her doll and Bria decided that Abby's doll was . . . better? prettier? simply Abby's doll? . . . who's to say?  But after Abby pitched a fit and we got the correct doll to the correct owner again, she was still happy.  She also got an 18" plush rocking horse that makes noises and sings galloping songs.  She was a VERY HAPPY almost 15-month-old girl!  


We have a Christmas Tradition in our family: Each person gets three gifts, like the gifts of the wise men.  They get an ornament that represents something about or from the year.  They get a book -- we LOVE books and any excuse to gift and read them.  And they get a toy.  In their stockings, they get an orange and something else.  This year the something else was a coloring book and crayons.


The ornaments we got them this year:
Isaac got a picture-holder train.  Up until the dinosaur, I PROMISE he was LOVING his trains!  But more than that, the train for him is all things boy and adventures.  He is ALL boy!  And he has the most imaginative and creative and adventurous mind.  I'm going to start keeping better record of where that mind takes him (them, really) this year because between the two of them . . . I just might have all the material I need for that children's book series I have always wanted to write.  So our little adventurous boy got a train ornament for Christmas.


Abby got a picture-holder wreath made out of buttons.  This was a very tender ornament for me to find.  Because Abby has truly been - many, many times - the buttons that held things together for me this year.  She is the sweetest little girl!  She will often find me upset about something and quickly smile at me and say, "But Mommy, we HAPPY!"  She loves to play with Brianna and is so soft and tender with her.  I can put them in Abby's room for hours and never worry about Brianna being played with and loved and taken care of.  She is a little mother to Isaac, giving him love even when he is in trouble and needs some tough love for a minute.  And she is fiercely loyal to and defensive of him in those moments.  When she is making bad choices, all I have to do is look at her and tell her in a soft voice that that's not a good choice, and she almost always calms right down and apologizes.  And when my ALL BOY three-year old is tearing me apart at the seams, many times Abby comes right along and buttons me back up until I can pull the threads back together.  She blesses ALL of us that way!


Brianna got a picture-holder angel.  She is truly our little angel!  I was TERRIFIED to have another baby with the twins still so young.  And when Dave got sick just after she was born, I was even more terrified.  2011 was a difficult year!  And God sent us the PERFECT spirit to experience it with us without breaking us.  She is so even-tempered, so slow to anger, so quiet, so peaceful, so cute, so cuddly, so sweet, so full of laughter and music and dancing and all things JOY!  She balances out and adds to each and every one of our lives and, for that, has truly been our little angel sent from Heaven to move our family one step closer to Him!

Four YEARS! (Only Four? Four Already?)

This may or may not be a post most will read, but there are things I have to record.  I have been SUCH a slacker!!!

First of all, Dave and I celebrated our FOURTH anniversary on December 15.  We had talked about going to Disneyland because I found tickets for $35 a day, which is UNHEARD OF!  And Christmas time at Disneyland just HAS to be incredibly magical, right?  I mean, it's DISNEYLAND!!!  But we couldn't arrange things with anyone to watch the kids for an entire day!  And so . . . . drumroll, please! . . . . he surprised me with tickets to the Palmdale Symphony Orchestra's Christmas Concert.  That might not seem like much to some.  They weren't even a LARGE orchestra, and the first half of the concert was mostly performed by a bunch of young children/beginning violinists.  But for me -- it was perfect!  I don't remember the last time I went to a concert!  And I truly took for granted having so much at my fingertips in Moscow with the Music Department, Jazz Choir and Bands, community concerts, plays, musicals, you name it!  And most just a 10-minute walk from my front door.  So this orchestra might as well have been . . . well, whatever a really well-known and much larger orchestra is. :-)  See? I don't know the difference.  And I felt spoiled!

And sappy wife moment -- you've been warned -- I remember when I would hear people say that they grew more in love as they got older.  My friend Amanda once told me that what she felt for her husband when they got married was puppy love compared to what she felt a few years later.  These last few years for us have been HARD!  H-A-R-D!  Not that marriage has been hard, but life has been hard, filled with changes, transitions, and challenges I never dreamed of, let alone planned for.  And I felt so many times like I just WISHED I would understand what those people were talking about!!! LOL - no offense, Dave! :-)  Mostly a reflection on ME, really! ;-D

But this year, it hit me so strongly that I was feeling so in love with this man I get to spend every day with.  That the "falling more in love" has happened slowly, almost imperceptibly, as I have watched him as a husband, a father, a friend, a son, a brother, a dreamer; as I have felt his selfless acts of kindness, received his words of encouragement when I most warranted criticism; as I have felt his literal and proverbial steady hand when I wanted to crumble or even disappear.  The falling more in love hasn't happened on weekly date nights -- or even monthly date nights most of the time (Bi-annual, anyone?). :-)  And it hasn't happened over dinner or flowers or chocolates or jewelry (just another way he actually shows me he loves me, because my emotions and our finances couldn't have handled all of those things). 

But it HAS happened over every single day, every single time he respects me, elevates me, tries to understand me (complicated for the best), and looks for opportunities to give me wings to fly and make me happy! It HAS happened as I have listened to him read stories to my children at night to have special moments with them and give me a breather.  It HAS happened as he has created memories and traditions and made life happen when I was busy just trying to get through it.  It HAS happened as he has helped me re-focus on eternity when temporal trials and shortcomings had me so tied in knots I couldn't see straight.

So, yes! I have fallen more in love with the man I had just brushed the surface of understanding and appreciating just four short years ago.  And I know now, more than ever, that I am married to the man of my dreams, living the life I always wanted!

Happy Anniversary, David! The best is yet to be!

Father's Day Preview

We took pictures of the kids to send a picture to our dads for Father's Day.  Here are just a few of them!  We're still playing with a few others.  So Orlan - Nique - anyone else - don't tell Dad! ;-D  Everyone else, now you can't say I never post pictures! ;-D  And there are a few things we learn from this: 1) We know how to have fun doing things that really aren't that fun. OR 2) They have one Hil-LAR-iouS mom!  Either way, the gift of laughter is alive and well in the Chaffee house!  And I'm LOV-in' it!

My Favorite Things

This has been a "My Favorite Things" weekend.  In fact, it's almost as if Dave decided that my Mother's Day gift this year was going to be him giving me a weekend filled with all of my favorite things!  When he came home from work Friday night, he brought a movie.  And we had an amazing date night, just sitting together and watching the new Chronicles of Narnia movie.  When we were dating, we used to read Chronicles of Narnia together on Sunday nights.  And whenever we traveled, we listened to it on tape in the car.  That has ALWAYS been one of my FAVORITE things.

Saturday we went for a LONG walk.  We walked everywhere we needed to go that day.  And when we came home, we put the kids down to bed and cleaned the ENTIRE house to have everything ready for a nice, relaxing Sabbath!  Once we got everything clean, we had a laundry party/movie night.  We washed and folded and put away all but one load of laundry.  And we watched a few episodes of "The Ghost Whisperer" - a show I used to watch all the time at my mom's while I was literally FLAT in bed (on the sofa that was my bed) sick with Brianna.  He had never seen it -- and it was fun to see some episodes "where it all began."  It was also nice to NOT have him rushing off to do something that NEEDED to be done, returning home exhausted and not interested in doing anything more than going to bed.  AND working TOGETHER - doing laundry or sorting through boxes or cleaning or cooking or whatever - is also one of my favorite things!

Because the laundry took a long time to completely pull together, Dave fell asleep on the sofa Saturday night.  At least, I thought he stayed out on the sofa because he was too tired to get to bed.  But in reality, he had plans for Sunday morning.  He got up at 5:00 this morning and made me CINNAMON ROLLS - which definitely top the list of my favorite things (if you get a good one - but you already know my feelings on THAT topic).  And he did pretty well with the recipe he chose.  It wasn't the BEST, but it was far from the worst!  In fact, we ate an entire pan today . . . and I decided to let what happens in Mother's Day stay in Mother's Day and NOT count those additional sugar calories for the week!  When the kids woke up, he kidnapped them and got them to help him finish his job for mom.  And then he got them all dressed in their Sunday clothes and came into the room (where he had kindly requested I stay put until he came to get me) to present me with breakfast "in bed."  The kids were SO excited!  I could tell they had a LOT of fun cooking me breakfast with Daddy.  And those moments are some of my FAVORITE things.  He also got me a very small bag of a licorice mix you can buy in bulk at WinCo that has always been a favorite/temptation for me.  Like I said, it was a small bag -- and the kids loved it as much as I did and even got most of the colors right when they requested some of them.

I did Abby's hair as I ate my cinnamon roll breakfast.  Just as I was finishing, Dave came into the room.  Her eyes BEAMED up at him as she simply said, "DADDY?!?!?" anticipating that he would tell her how pretty she looked with her hair done.  And Daddy sure did rise to the occasion.  He said, "ABBY!  I thought you were so pretty this morning when we got your dress on but now . . . with your hair done . . . you are just so BEAUTIFUL!!!  Come here, give me a hug!"  And she beamed and she twirled and she ran into his arms and gave him a hug that even I felt just watching it!  And those moments - moments when I know that my daughter has a daddy who treats her like a PRINCESS and teaches her every day that she is beautiful, irreplaceable, the apple of his eye, and everything in the world to him - those moments are among my favorite things.  Because in those moments my daughter is learning how she should be treated and gaining the confidence that will help her find an eternal companion who treats her the same.  Isaac coming for "his turn" of Mommy doing hair and his big, thankful hug after I comply with some hairspray or even a butterfly clip temporarily in his hair is another favorite thing! ;-D

After church we ALL took a nap - also a pastime that has been MISSING in my life as of late.  I woke from my nap to the sound of Isaac, not calling me to come and get him, but singing at the TOP of his lungs so I would KNOW it was time to come and get him.  The song, sung under the door and echoing down the hallway to my room, went something like this: "Twinkle, twinkle, e, f, g, la, la, la, la, what you AAAAAARE!!!"  And then he moved away from the door and continued to sing a song that went something like this, "I yuv you; you yuv me; hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, yuv me TOOOOOOOOOO!"  Hearing my children sing is one of my VERY favorite things!

Once everyone was awake, Dave made dinner.  Now, we would have had kebabs - another favorite thing - but that would have required one of us to go to the grocery store last night instead of enjoying the night together.  So we opted instead for his homemade spaghetti sauce over cooked shrimp with some Romano cheese on top and a mixed green salad on the side (hey - had to make up for the cinnamon rolls somewhere, right?).  It's always been one of my favorite meals and doesn't take long to throw together.  Consequently, the kids didn't fight us clear through dinner!  And a meal without fighting kids to get them to eat is DEFINITELY a favorite thing.

While Dave cooked, I went back and laid on my bed to feed Brianna.  Soon Abby and Isaac joined me, playing in my quilt, hiding from each other, playfully wrestling each other, giggling that contagious giggle that they get right before they hit their too-tired-to-sleep point.  But it was fun tonight because, as I lay there feeding Brianna, Brianna started kicking her feet at the sound.  And Isaac, who originally came out fully loaded to yell at her to stop kicking him, saw her face and simply asked her not to kick him.  However, when she saw him peek out from under the blanket to tell her to stop, she thought he was playing peek-a-boo with her and started just giggling like crazy!  And Isaac's annoyance literally melted away as the two of them had a hide-and-seek-and-tag-each-other giggle fest!  It is SOOOO much fun to see my kids playing together, hear them laughing together, watch them working together.  And to see their infant sister be included as ALL THREE of them CELEBRATED EACH OTHER tonight -- oh, it was a tender mommy moment.  And I KNOW it will continue to be one of my favorite things!

We got them to bed and played a game of Quiddler - also one of my favorite things!  And though he was over 40 points ahead of me going into the LAST hand - well, he got a whopper hand dealt to him and so did I.  I managed to beat HIM by over 40 points!  And, I'm not gonna lie - that's also one of my favorite things! ;-D  And, hey - it's only at Quiddler that I EVER beat him, so I have to take what I can get!

In the midst of all of this, Dave surprised me by telling me that he took Monday and Tuesday off so we could go hiking/camping.  That tops my list of top ten favorite things, for sure!  And if we can find a safe place to go, we're escaping this crazy city life and taking a much-needed break.  We probably won't stay the night . . . the weather took a turn and Brianna is too young still for really cold/roughing it camping.  But if we can build a fire and do tin foil dinner and smores with the kids at the end of a day hike . . . it will be HEAVEN to me!


Oh - and I can't forget to add that Brianna said "Ma-ma-ma-ma" for the FIRST time today!  And hearing my kids say Mama -- most of the time, at least -- is DEFINITELY one of my FAVORITE things!  Hearing it for the first time from her -- PRICELESS!!!

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Scrooge Meets Valentine's Day

So remember when you were (perhaps still are) single and had anti-Valentine's Day parties with all of your girlfriends and non-boyfriend boys who were your friends to just get together and celebrate (with a hint of longing and bitterness) that you were single and unattached and therefore NOT going to waste your time on a silly holiday about LOVE unless you got to have a party to make fun of it?  Love-schmove, right?  Well, I'm NOT single.  And as I was making dinner last night while Dave read over the lesson he was teaching in church today, we suddenly had the following conversation:

Dave: Melinda, we need to talk about our Valentine's Day budget/plans.
Me: (wondering where in the WORLD that came from and where in the WORLD it was going since I wasn't aware we HAD a Valentine's budget category OR plans) Uh-huh?
Dave: Yeah, like I don't want to spend ANY money on this holiday.
Me: (staring at him for a long time to try and determine if this is a trick because he already spent money on me but doesn't want to be outdone or . . .) Are you being serious?
Dave: Yeah. I mean, really, look at what this holiday has turned into - people thinking they have to go out and spend ridiculous amounts of money on candy and flowers and dinner and jewelry and who knows what?  No!  That's not what love is about.  So I think we shouldn't spend any money.  We can get a babysitter to watch the kids while we go for a walk or something, but I don't want to buy into all the commercialism surrounding "love."
Me: (amused, not gonna lie - and with all that has been going on the last few weeks, I hadn't really given the day any thought yet) Okay - sounds good to me.  I really hadn't thought about it yet, but I don't mind not spending money.
Dave: Okay, good.
Me: Okay, good.

Is it strange that I totally get where he's coming from and really, really, really DON'T mind NOT spending money on THE day of buy or make people things to show them you LOVE them?  Or do I really secretly WANT him to have gotten me a gift or to give me permission to do something romantic for him that would require me spending money to either have something to give or to buy the stuff I need to make something to give?  Does this mean we are Valentine's Day SCROOGES or say something about our relationship?  I would say it says we're cheap if it was me that came up with the idea cuz - frankly - until we are 100% debt-free, done with Dave's education, done having children, settled and more established, I am CHEAP about all things spending money.  But Dave -- Dave isn't.  Dave's the one that talked me into working fun money for each other AND our family into our budget.  He isn't cheap.  He's frugal - sometimes with some friendly persuasive reminders from yours truly, but he isn't cheap. 

Overthinking - totally overthinking!

Hmmmm . . . I wonder how we'll feel about it in 10, 25, 50 years down the road? :-0

Crafty Crafty

I know I already have a laundry list going for things I want to do in the very near future, but I found a few other things this morning.

#1 -- Christmas Tree ornaments, focusing on our family this last year and Dave's family (since they are coming here for Christmas) for the last . . . . forever.  I found an idea to take six inch blocks of wood, paint them black, trim a picture, paste the picture on the block with Modge Podge (not sure what this is, but I am sure I can find it at Michaels on Black Friday and probably get a good deal), and staple a ribbon on the back to hang them with
. . . . EXCEPT . . . .
I am going to put scrapbooking paper behind the picture and buy a stamp pad to fudge up the edges around the picture a bit.  I think this will make a really personal, really fun tree with ornaments I don't have to worry about my kiddos breaking!  Need I say more? ;-D  I'm thinking I'll print all the pics off in black and white or an antique-looking brown and buy a brown or magenta ink pad, and then I will send a lot of the ones from Dave's family home with -- well, his family! ;0)

#2 -- A family values canvas.  Check it out here.  I really love this idea -- and if you have a cricuit-type machine (or know someone who does), you can make one a year with goals/absolutes for your family for that year and make a tradition of evaluating/changing it each New Year's Eve.  I just thought of that, actually, and I think it is a FABULOUS idea! :-D

More to come, I am SURE!!!!

UP-date

So, yes, I really did like the movie Up!  Though the dogs were a bit over-kill I think.  Other than that -- SUCCESS!!  I was really impressed with the story and the little discoveries along the way.  Sort of predictable, sort of unpredictable.  Anyway - Nique if you haven't seen it, we'll bring it for Thanksgiving.  Anyone else in Moscow that wants to borrow it -- let me know!  I think it's a PERFECT date night movie.

Our Veteran's Day date:
Hahahahaha!  First of all, if it weren't for the A&W billboard saying that Veterans got a free combo meal on Veteran's Day, I would have had NO idea it was even close!  Sad, huh, considering my husband and dad are both Veterans?  So about a week ago, Dave casually said to keep Wednesday open because we had something he was planning.  I LOVE it when he does stuff like that, so I complied and then slightly put it out of my mind until Tuesday night when he walked in and handed me Up.  I asked if that was what he had planned for Wednesday, and he said, "Partly," and then I started getting really curious but left it at that.

Then Wednesday as I was out running errands and running people with broken cars around and trying to finalize baby shower stuff, I saw the A&W Billboard.  I called Dave and asked him when Veteran's Day was.  And he slyly said, "Um - I'm not exactly sure.  Why?"  I told him he could get a free combo, and he said.  "Huh.  Yeah -- I guess I could." Then he paused and said, "Actually, Melinda, today is Veteran's Day, and Applebee's has free dinner for Veterans, which is the other part of what we are doing tonight."  Though I have to admit that I wish he would have kept it a surprise, and it would have worked because I have just been spacey lately (as in the last two years or so), it was also nice to know because it gave me a chance to do my hair and put on make-up and get READY for our FREE (kind of) dinner and movie. 

We got to Applebee's and had a 25-minute wait (or so they said). Twenty minutes later, we checked in to see how things were going (starving, tired babies in tow) and found out we had five or six people (groups) ahead of us on the waiting list.  FANTASTIC!!!  Dave had just talked to a fellow-soldier in the parking lot who had gotten his dinner to-go; and we made a wise decision at that moment to do the same.  Dave ordered his free dinner, and we went to the car to wait.  But, as any wise Veteran being offered free food would do, we maximized our wait by getting a free appetizer (compliments of Arby's and THEIR free combo meal for Veterans on Veteran's Day).  The kids were DYING at this point, and the Arby's Turkey Swiss Market Sandwich helped a TON to keep them held over - not to mention the two of us with their curly fries.  We got back to Applebee's and still waited another ten minutes before getting our food (good thing we didn't decide to go in and wait).  The babies finished off the sandwich and were still HUNGRY, so we stopped yet again on our way home and picked up appetizer #2 at . . . you guessed it . . .  A&W!  They love cheeseburgers (from the whole three they have had in their lifetime), so a double cheeseburger combo it was!  And we made them wait while we drove the two and a half blocks home. Oh, torture, Mom and Dad! 

Then we got inside, transferred the Applebee's 7oz. steak with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli to a plate, said a quick prayer, and proceeded to share the official "meal" of the evening (and finish off the french fries and double cheeseburger the kids left once they figured out how YUMMY the mashed potatoes were and how FUN their toys still were).

To be honest, even though it might sound a little white trash in some ways to take advantage of ALL the free food offers, it was really quite fun -- like a traveling dinner date!  I feel a new date night idea coming on . . . . Needless to say, it was a DARN good thing for my diet that I hadn't had much of anything to eat all day!  And that I had three other people to share it all with!

Eight Weeks

There are eight weeks until the end of 2009.  EIGHT WEEKS!

Know what I've been thinking?  I want to leave 2009 with some solid gold things that I can look back and see and say that I DID in 2009.  So I've come up with a short list:
1) Make a date file for weekly dates with my husband for 2010.
2) Make a memory book for each of my children of their first year of life.
3) Make a family memory book of things that have happened to us this year.
4) Read the Book of Mormon -- here's a 60-day schedule, so I'll have to read ahead a few days, but still! ;-D

I would LOVE to finish my tree skirt/mantle piece; but we'll just have to see how THAT goes.  I may add more later, but I think this is a good start!  I mean, we ONLY have eight weeks, right? ;-D

What unfinished New Year's Resolutions are left on your list?  Any you could still salvage -- I mean, seriously, folks, we have EIGHT WEEKS!!!!! :-)

Introducing: RAGGEDY ANN & ANDY

We just had a fabulous Halloween!  Since the babies were just over two months old last year, this was our FIRST HALLOWEEN as a family, and I am so thankful we got to spend so much of it together!  Dave had Drill this weekend, which was originally scheduled to be a three-day overnight trip to . . . . somewhere.  So Friday afternoon, Dave finished his homework, came home, got the ADORABLE OUTFITS grandma had sent in the mail, and helped me get the babies ready to go Trick-or-Treating DOWNTOWN MAIN STREET here in Moscow.  At first, they weren't so sure they liked the whole make-up thing, and they're still NEVER sure about the shoes thing.  But once we got downtown and they saw kids running around everywhere and figured out that when the nice lady/man held out the basket full of colorful packages, they got to reach in and PICK ONE OUT and then, even better, PUT IT IN Mom's BAG, they started to have a LOT of fun!  Isaac even reached a point where he decided to switch things up a bit and take the color form Mom's bag and add it to the nice lady/man's basket -- before going back for an even BIGGER fistful to add to Mom's bag again, of COURSE! :-)  It was really a lot of fun.  And Dave was not the only one who said that our babies were the BEST dressed and had the CUTEST costumes of anyone else. :-)

After going downtown, we went to A&W for a quick bite to eat before heading over to our ward party for about 20 minutes and then rushing home to get Daddy dressed and out the door for Drill.  Dave's sister Rebecca arrived just after we got home, and she and her daughter Hailey spent the evening with me while Dave headed off to do men's work at the National Guard.  (I'm still not sure what they did -- don't think Dave is too clear on it, either -- but it was manly and necessary, nonetheless).  Rebecca headed off to the Single's Dance for about an hour before coming back to crash our MUCH MORE INTERESTING Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory party!  Yes, the new version, which is NOTHING compared to the older version and very WEIRD and CREEPY at times, which makes it a PERFECT Halloween selection! ;0)

Saturday morning came all too early for EVERYONE. Dave headed to Drill, Rebecca and Hailey hung out until they were dressed and ready to head to their Spokane parties, and then I crashed on the sofa!  I have been sick all week, and my body is NOT recovering very quickly.  I had just called the hospital to check on my friend Glenda Holder's condition after her weekend surgery when my friend Desi knocked on my door.  Bye, bye nap time -- but it was a really GOOD substitute! ;-D

We chatted, Abby woke up, Desi graciously played with her while I took a much-needed shower and got ready to face the rest of the day, and when Isaac woke up, we all went for a nice long walk.  It was GREAT, minus the bitterly cold winter wind that we couldn't get Isaac to stay bundled up to get through.  So he was pretty much ice by the time we got back to Desi's house.  For the most part, though, he didn't seem to mind.  He just HAD to see everything there was to see - no way we were covering his face or taking away his exploring and pointing hands. NOT A CHANCE! ;-D  Abby, completely bundled, even her face hidden from view, did the smart thing and FELL ASLEEP!

Then . . . . surprise, surprise, Dave called me to see where I was (presumably from Orofino and some gravel pits they were supposed to dig up this weekend to practice using the BIG equipment).  Turned out HE WAS HOME with a FABULOUS chicken salad dinner just waiting for us to return.  Desi and Austin contributed organic soda MADE WITH REAL SUGAR and NO CAFFEIN OR SALT (how they manage that with cola, I have no idea); it was DELICIOUS!  Picturesque, even -- wish I had a picture to prove it.

After dinner, we got the babies dressed up again and headed over to a party with the Ragsdale's.  They had HOMEMADE DOUGHNUTS and ROOT BEER and a party that spanned THREE APARTMENTS: One for food; one for dancing (also with food), and one for Video Games (also, I imagine, with food).  It was a lot of fun!  HOWEVER, Isaac was stone faced and emotionless the entire time (NOT characteristic of my little man when food, dancing, lights, and singing are involved), and Abby finally just broke out into very LOUD tears.  So we headed out to try to find a few friends to say hello to before going to bed.

It was great -- just so much fun!  And I cannot tell you how THANKFUL I am that the National Guard didn't get things pulled together to be out of town all weekend long.  SO. VERY. GLAD!