October

What better way to mourn your parents leaving and not living on the beach and enjoying carefree days with your kids and husband than getting a tooth ache and going to the dentist the day you get back from the beach  only to find out a week later that it was actually a brewing and terrible cold (which causes your family to miss the ward camp out that everyone was so excited about because you and the baby are sick and dad was working anyway) and then becomes a horrible sinus infection (that lasts until the end of October after going through 2 rounds of antibiotics)?? 

I'm good at mourning in style and feeling sorry for myself!

But, life went on (in between the naps I took with E and the constant painkillers I was on)

 So I made cupcakes for the baseball treats that we were signed up to bring...and Evaleigh figured out how to cleverly move the stool while I went to clean dishes up in the sink.  She made sure to get the one with the most frosting an sprinkles and then quietly eat it (so PROUD of herself!)

 While I cleaned up the cupcake mess she just made she managed to get out every possible toy/cord/piece of exercise equipment in the family room AND to unroll all of the toilet paper in the bathroom.

See that blur?? It's because she is ALWAYS moving! :) If I hadn't been so sick this might have been as funny then as it is now--I knew it might, that's why I snapped the pictures.

 We somehow got this kid to every game and almost all of his practices (I had to let a few balls drop during the month, especially on nights when Tyler was working late).

 I did make it to Walmart once to get some serious essentials (along with a box or two of crackers that made this little one happy the entire trip as she held them tightly in her lap and even happier when I let her open them on our way out to the car)

I did "put up the tent" for Conference and we all "watched" every session (Evaleigh was a bit distracting, ok a lot distracting, especially the times that dad wasn't there to hang on to her so that the kids could snack and work on their worksheets without her "help")

 There were a few incidents, like this one, when I went out in the garage to get a new box of kleenex and came back to find her on top of the table with homework supplies in her hands--YIKES!

Or when she decided to climb up on the couch and then randomly see if she could throw herself back with all of her strength against the cushion--she could--but she was light enough that the cushion threw her back forward, flying off of the couch and into the edge of the red table with the side of her nose.

Sometimes, ok lots of times, she takes me by surprise.  My mind just doesn't churn like hers because I can't usually see what's coming next.

 But I did keep her fed, and dressed (usually).

 She got better and better throughout the month at using her own spoon.

 She also got a bit tired of hanging out in the house and refused to come in after walking the kids down to the bus stop a couple of times. (poor kid!)

 So we tried to go on a few short walks a few times a week.

 The best walks were the ones that we ended up seeing an animal during.

 ESPECIALLY if it was a kitty!

 So she got better and better at entertaining me--like making me all sorts of noodles and juice concoctions in her little kitchen.

 and then, THE packages arrived in the mail!

 Grandma is always GREAT at sending exactly what each kid wanted.  Can you tell they're thrilled??

 Evaleigh ran around the house for days pretending to be a lion.

And looking at this picture at least once a day of grandmas kitties.  "OOOH, meeeeow, meeeow. MUh! Ahhh." She would say (in a really whiny, I feel sorry for you sort of voice--not sure why this is the voice she uses when she thinks an animal is cute??) as she kissed and hugged the picture of the kitties.

Everyone survived mom being sick for a month and things actually went pretty smoothly considering...