FAMILY LETTER 10.30.14

Dear Loved Ones,                                              2 November 2014

I am still in awe that it is November and I have flowers in my garden! I get sad sometimes when I think about how much produce we would have grown this year without that one killing frost in September. I even heard people talking about that on the plane last week. The more time I can have sunshine and vitamin D and miss the hassle of bundling up kids and navigating slick roads, the better!

Monday 10/27 was seven loads of laundry and a fun Family Night. We had the Petry’s over for dinner (potato soup, bread, carrots), pumpkin carving, and they brought some amazing pumpkin ice cream. It was so fun. (PS: We did a little experiment with our jack-o-lanterns. I soaked 3 of them in the bath tub with a cup of bleach in the water, and left 3 out on the counter. The bleached ones stayed nice and firm and fresh while the unbleached ones were soft and molding by Halloween night…so give your pumpkins a bleach bath and they will last way longer!)

Izzi Petry carving her pumpkin

Some Halloween decorations...
I don't really like Halloween, but I try to be a sport for the kids' sakes.
I do love fall, pumpkins, and the like, and I love to find decorations that are
a little creepy and very cute. This silly jack-o-lantern figurine fits the bill;
 I bought it at the farm where my Brittany works in New Jersey. My cute girls made
the black cats at a YW activity.
 

Mike Petry, Rich, and Vicki Petry in the kitchen
carving pumpkins 10/27

Adie, Heidi, Ava, and James working on their jack-o-lanterns

Ava did an awesome job on her pumpkin all by herself!

Tuesday 10/28 I did more organizing, baking, sewing, etc. getting ready for Halloween and other holidays coming up. I made 4 dozen cupcakes, saw my visiting teachers, sewed some gifts and made a fez for Heidi’s Halloween costume. Rich had to go up to the church to supervise the Young Men setting up their spook alley for Wednesday Night’s Trunk-or-Treat, so he took James and Niles with him. Good thing, because that night was also James’ pack meeting and we would have totally missed it otherwise.

Wednesday 10/29 was obviously lots of preparing for the Trunk or Treat. Cody was super helpful and pitched in by making a yummy chili for the pre-Trunking dinner, along with some fabulous cornbread. I got the recipe from Erin last week and they both turned out great.  He has been so helpful around the house, but I know he wishes he were working. Please pray for him to find work soon. Addie was in charge of the Bean bag Toss, so I took her early to set up her room, and Rich got the little boys in their costumes and brought them up to the church for Halloween fun. There were TONS of visitors as well as a great turn out from our ward. The chili was amazing, and Melinda Lowe won the cook-off with her white chicken chili. It was hard to get the kids to bed after all those treats and excitement, but once they got to bed, they slept hard!

Tired Little Ammon /skeleton

Little Bea made the cutest little woodland fairy!

James with his crew: James/Ninja, William/cowboy, Elanor the Fair/ witch,
 Curtis/ Indiana Jones, Niles/Monster int eh background, and Kinnick/ Iron Man.

Izzi and Addie/ Molly Hooper in charge of the Bean Bag Toss
with Ashley Strupp, Nikki Robinson, and Heidi/Dr. Who

Ammon has been so snuggly lately...
Here he is nuzzling his daddy...Good night, sleepy boy!

Thursday 10/30 I sewed in the morning, then my friend Robyn came over for lunch with her 4-year-old twins, Rex and Bea. The twins play so nicely with Niles, they had so much fun. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day, it felt like August, not the end of October. At 3pm we went and got all our other kids from school and let them hang out for an hour or so. When they left, we had tacos for dinner and enjoyed an evening at home. For some reason that night/next morning, Ammon decided to wake up at 3:20 am and squeal at is hands and whine about his teeth for almost 3 hours. I was SOOOO tired!
 

Vintage Halloween Devils...love!
 

Friday 10/31 was Halloween and the first day of the second quarter of school. James won a Chico Pass for having perfect attendance during the first quarter. He also took cupcakes to school for his class’ Halloween Party, followed by the traditional Eastside School Costume Parade at 2:45pm. I was home napping with little boys, but Rich went and filmed Heidi and James in the parade. After school Addie stayed for the middle school Halloween Dance and I took the kids to Trick or Treat at the bank and Albertsons as well as taking treats to some of my visit-teachees. At 5:30 we met back at home for pizza with dad and Uncle Mike. Daddy took the big kids to Robin Lane, to the Kindalls, and to the Carters to trick or treat first (Colton Carter is expecting his mission call any day now and he wanted to have one last big Halloween celebration at home—he decorated everything so cute and gave out the candy to the kids—we are excited to hear where he is headed!). Then they went around the neighborhood with Uncle Mike. Our neighborhood is getting more popular with Trick or Treaters. The kids saw many of their friends, and ended up hanging out on the porch with the iPod playing Halloween songs and dancing with their friends. It was definitely a fun night, and so great to see Uncle Mikey!

Some of the winning pumpkins at the bank

James & Heidi trick or treating at the bank

James, Niles, and Heidi at the bank

Who's that Ninja boy?!
 

Watch out for those weapons!

Blurry action shot of James the Ninja
heading out to trick or treat

Baby skeleton stayed in after the bank and the grocery store.
He was tired and he hated wearing his costume...

But what a cute little Mr. Bones!
Ammon's first Halloween
(I kept thinking back to last year when I was so nauseated,
sitting by the front door eating pumpkin seeds, waiting for trick or treaters,
guzzling ice water, trying not to hurl while the kids were out
 trick or treating with Rich...and now the nausea is a wee skeleton!)

Oh, how I love this cheesy little Niles/Monster!
 

Niles and his pal Kenny Howell

11th Doctor and Molly, "Sherlocked Forever"

Molly and Monster
going trick or treating

Rich was a bottle of sriracha! Loved t!

 Saturday morning 11/1 I got up and gutted the mudroom while Rich finished building the bench and overhead cubbies for it. At 9:45 am I dropped of James to go to a Cub Scout archery activity in Bozeman while I went to play the piano for Ava Petry’s baptism. It was a nice service, short and sweet. When I came home, Rich was cleaning out the garage and organizing the shed. I helped with that a little, and then did some sewing projects and cleaning. Rich took the James and Niles out to the ranch while I took a nap with Ammon and the girls had a Netflix binge of “Supernatural.” Cody and I made some chicken stir fry for dinner, which was ready exactly when the boys got home. After dinner everybody had their baths and we watched “Captain America” while I got some stuff ready for church ('tis the season for compiling the ward history and the annual dvd slideshow).
 

...and I gave you the good genes, so I'll take the Snickers, too!

Rub-a-dub-dub, three boys in a tub
Saturday Night Bathtime! 11/1

 Today (Sunday) was a lovely fall day. It was cold and windy, but we are due for that. Testimony meeting was sweet and so were our naps. Poor Ammon is having some sort of teething/intestinal infarction so it took us a while to get to sleep, both last night and at nap time. We sure are grateful for that hour we gained over night! The kids wrote missionary letters this afternoon so I will get those in the mail to Grandma and Grandpa and Sister Jordy this week. Hope you all had a fun Halloween and we wish you a wonderful week.

Maeby + James = Cousin Pals (2011)

Happy 8^th Birthday to our cutie niece Maeby tomorrow and to Aunt Angie on Friday! We love you all so much.

 

Love Rich, Jamie, and Family