Drips in their lamps

Sundays are usually my favorite of days.  But today was the worst Sunday for me in recollection in many years.
First of all, we couldn't be on time.  We all showered and bathed last night, got our clothes ready, I had my lesson and singing time stuff ready to go mostly on Friday.  I thought we were doing good.  But no, some last minute things happen and we still can't make it.
We get to church and I'm a little flustered.  Then, we had some children who wouldn't give me any personal space and wanted to be right on my lap and tugging at me every second.  None of the kids were singing because their throats hurt or they were tired. And kids fighting over where to sit. And two of my kids telling me my teeth looked disgusting. The kids were zipping up their coats and putting them on backwards. It was a good testimony meeting but there were so many things getting to me already.
And then there was Primary.  I am the chorister and was a few minutes late so missed the opening song.  Lucy was supposed to get a talk but I never got a paper like I usually do so we weren't prepared.  The lesson prop I planned on using that I thought the kids would love wasn't working. None of the kids wanted to listen.  A few kept getting up and wandering.  Sydnie was in there (she plays with toys in the back) and kept taking this other baby's shoe which caused quite a disruption.  A couple kids said it was boring. I forgot to send the pianist the songs in advance and she's teaching herself so she likes them way in advance.  Emma was playing with her coat and had the hood over her head the whole time.  And the president was telling me we should've learned another song even though a couple of weeks ago she asked me to pick out a Christmas song.  I felt stupid and ill prepared though I thought I was so prepared.
Then I had to sub for the junior primary class.  They all kept wanting to go to the bathroom, they threw my object lesson I helped them use out the window (literally), no one wanted to sit in their seats at all, even though I break it up quite a bit, my own two kids especially didn't want to listen at all.  It was super hot in there, but if we had the door open, Sydnie kept sneaking out, and we couldn't have the window open because the kids kept going and putting hands/objects/talking to people outside.  I was trying to stay calm and keep the spirit, but felt like a wreck inside.
When Church was over, the Branch President made a joke about my big bag I brought to put all my singing time/primary stuff in but I was in no mood to joke. We were supposed to meet a bit about the Branch Christmas party, which we are in charge of.  I just left and let Dave take care of it.  I'm also a little stressed and overwhelmed lately about having 8 sisters to minister to and the card I sent one this week came back to me in the mail deliverable.
I avoided contact with everyone and went out to the car as quickly as I could, closed the door, and started crying.  The kids were concerned, because as they noted, I don't cry much.  They were asking what was wrong and trying to give me hugs.  I told them it was because I felt like a failure.  Emma started first and told us I'm not a failure because to look at her kids.  She said that I'd raised some great kids and they wouldn't be that way if it weren't for me.  She said she was 199% positive I'm not a failure.  Cal said I was the best mom ever.  I told them it was just frustrating to me because I love them so much and i love the Gospel and want to share that with them so they can be happy because I know the kind of joy it brings to our lives.  I said sometimes I feel like my efforts are in vain.  Lucy was really taken back and said she was sorry, she started crying and felt genuinely bad. Cov kept apologizing too and said I was the best mommy.  "If I had another mommy I'd cry every day," he said.  I told them they were the best, sweetest kids, and wasn't looking for compliments or a pity party but I just needed a good cry, which everyone does every once in a while.  Dave was also sweet and took my hand and there was a song on and it was kind of relevant and he was singing it and telling us it was the theme song for the day trying to break the stiff mood and make me smile, which he succeeded, of course.  When we got home, Lucy and Cov ran downstairs and wrote a little note to me.  It said: "Sorry Mom.  Me and Coverton and I thought church was boring because [another Primary kid] made silly faces we got on our  minds. And I didn't think about Church stuff. You are a great Mom. -Lucy , Coverton"  They had some cute pictures wit us in a heart and a table with flowers on it too.  Sweet kids.  They are so quick to correct! Cov kept telling me too "I love church, Mom!" all afternoon, as "Church day" as he calls it has been something he's always kind of struggled with and I've been trying to help make the Sabbath a delight to him by praying and finding ways to make it good for him and the rest of our kids.
As I was praying and breaking my fast, I was apologizing for my bad attitude today.  I know I should've kept pushing through, but my emotions were all boiling up and I needed to let them go.  The impression came while I was praying to not get frustrated, that I am helping to fill the oil in their lamps.  Though all of the oil might not make it, at least some will and these little drips will turn into drops and turn into a store of oil that they will fill their lamps with someday.  The FHEs they whine through, the scripture study they are wrestling during, the prayers we say they snicker sometimes, the failed Primary lessons I think no one is getting, the ministering visits I feel are fruitless.  I can help fill my family and others lamps by being consistent.  By keeping on going and trying my best to help them fill their lamps. By putting a smile on my face and persisting and putting my faith and trust in God.  I can do this with His help!
Drip, drop, fill.

Photo from lecacyicons.com

Totally tubular - flashback to an 80's Halloween!

Gnarley, dude!  We celebrated Halloween in 80's style this year.  Dave and I are products of the 80's, afterall.  So we all picked an 80's icon to be.

We decorated pumpkins the Sunday before Halloween, as usual.  The pumpkins came from Grandma Sue's pumpkin patch this year and were awesome!  Usually, I resent this afternoon a little because I used to have to do my pumpkin plus 2 or 3 others, haha!  But this year, everyone did everything all by themselves (minus Sydnie, of course).  Dave came up with a Hershey Kiss pumpkin, I made an "I love the 80's" pumpkin, Emma made a scary face pumpkin, Cal did a Slytherin pumpkin, Lucy made a sparkly Jack Skeleton pumpkin, Cov did a creepy frankenstein with a plastic hand coming out of the mouth, and I wrote "Little Pumpkin" on one for Sydnie, since we call her that.  Afterwards, we made some pumpkin seeds and they were the best recipe we've ever had!  The kids attribute that to being Grandma's pumpkins, of course.

Kids' Favorite Pumpkin Seeds

2 c. fresh pumpkin seeds, washed and slightly dried

1/4 c. butter, melted

1/2 tsp. garlic salt

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients; transfer to an ungreased 15x10x1-in. baking pan. Bake at 250° for 45-50 minutes or until lightly browned and dry, stirring occasionally. Cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

We made some creepy food leading up to Halloween.  I always love their delight when they see the creations.  The best one?  Buried alive pumpkin muffins were a hit!

Costumes started being created around the beginning of October.  They were all pretty easy to make except Lucy's which was a labor of love.

Dave was Bob Ross. "No mistakes, just happy accidents."  He started growing out his beard about a month ago, we found a shirt and acid wash looking jeans from the thrift store, and ordered a brown curly wig from Amazon.  Painted on a pallet and done!  He also went as Pie Face to work.  They were doing game things at the hospital.  So we grabbed the face thing and the hand and he wore it around, but didn't get any pictures.  But the Bob Ross was a hit, for those who knew who he was, anyways.

I was Mrs. PacMan. "Ready!" I wish I could take credit for this costume idea, but Pinterest for the win this time!  I just had a picture but thought it was so cute so I based it off that. Everything needed I already had at home, too.  So basically a free costume!  Black leggings and shirt, cardboard, felt, thread, stuffing, and safety pins.  Got this put together in a flash.

Emma was David Bowie from Labrynth.  "Dance, magic dance!"  We found her flowy white shirt at the thrift store for a few bucks, which was perfect.  She had the gray leggings already, we ordered her some new black boots since she needed some anyways, a wig since there was no way she was cutting her hair like that, and a crystal ball, which is for photography and she's been having a ball with it already.  She made her necklace out of bakers clay, then she colored it with silver and gold chalk markers.  Then we strung it on a leather cord.  She was the most misunderstood of the bunch.  Some thought she was a pirate or a rocker.  Only a few knew of her true identity.

Callahan was a Rubix Cube.  "Solve it."  This was appropriate because he loves his Rubix cube.  This toy was introduced in the 80's and still going strong.  He and I cut out squares of paper and rounded the edges, then cut out cardboard (thanks, Amazon!) and taped it all together, then glued the paper on tightly.  We did start modge podging, but it was making the paper crinkle, so we stopped that.  His costume got so many comments at school and as we were out and about. 

Lucy was Rainbow Brite.  "Rainbow colors will cheer you up!" After looking at many stars of the 80's and watching YouTube videos, this is what Lucy decided she'd be. We watched one video and then she wanted to watch more and more.  I told her it would be fun since I was Rainbow Brite when I was about her age as a child.  She told me she'd be Rainbow Brite but only if she got a Twink stuffed animal.  Deal.  Her costume took the longest, more than I like to spend, as I made up the pattern and kind of worked as I went.  We used the cheap $2 a yard fabric, so it wasn't that expensive.  I used iron on transfers for the rainbow and the stars to save me the trouble of doing applique.  I used some little foldable frisbees we got to do the sleeves.  I used foam and straws and fabric for the boots and made boot covers for her boots she already had.  It turned out SO cute I thought.  She loved it and was delighted.  During the parade and during trick-or-treating, she observed "Only the lady women know who I am!  They all love it but none of the kids my age even know who I am!"  

Coverton was Hulk Hogan.  "Hulkamania is running wild, brother!"  He thought this idea was great, and again we had to watch some videos online to introduce him to Hulk.  We got a blonde wig and red pirate do-rag from the thrift store which we made an iron on transfer for to cover the skull and crossbones.  Then we made an iron on transfer for his yellow shirt.  He wore some of Lucy's red leggings.  Put some ninja knee pads we already had on.  We spray painted some of Emma's old boots and sunglasses we already had with yellow.  He was good to go, Brother!  He really got into the part.  Everyone thought his costume was killer.  It was so fun seeing everyone's reaction!

Sydnie was an 80's aerobic diva.  "Let's get physical, physical!"  Everything for her costume we had around the house except the sweat shirt, which we found thrifting for a couple dollars and cut it up.  All we did was made her a little boom box for her trick or treat bucket.  She was super adorable!  And since she is so active, it was appropriate.

We started out Halloween morning with monster pancakes.  We used to do pumpkin pancakes every morning growing up but sometimes I like to change it up a little.  I made the kids pumpkin pinwheels, apple mouths, and BOO cucumbers for lunch.  Then I sent them off and Sydnie and I put the final touches on the costumes (ironing, pinning, etc.) and got all the stuff we needed to help out in Covey's class party.  We went to the school parade first and they had the cutest costumes!  At our old school, the kids couldn't dress up so this was fun for them.  Then, back in Cov's class, his class mates got a kick out of Cov's costume, though they didn't know who he was.  They were especially intrigued by the mustache.  We played a bunch of games (I brought all but one), and had some snacks.  We brought "rotten apple punch" (apple juice with gummy worms) and the kids were really funny about it.  Then they made a craft one of the moms brought - candy corn ghost shooters which were so much fun!  Lucy and Cal had fun parties too. In Lucy's class, they did pumpkin grams for each other.  A boy in her class, Easton, wrote "Having you as a classmate is a sweet treat because your nice to me.  You are so funny.  And you have good stories."  True that, Easton!  Cal said they had snacks, played some cool games and got the chance to just talk.  Emma said they did nothing really at her school and it felt like a normal day.  

Right after school, we did face paint and got in our costumes.  Then we had a photo shoot at the cemetery.  Is that bad?  Anyways, I think they turned out pretty fun.  We went to the downtown trick-or-treating event at local businesses.  Sydnie kept grabbing the candy!  She ate candy all night long!  She'd grab them and puncture the wrappers open with her teeth and suck things out if we didn't give them to her.  She whined for and ate candy all night.  It's just fun to get out and see all of the costumes and brush shoulders with our community members.  And it was nice and warm.  We hit a neighborhood where a few of Dave's co-workers live and then we drove home.  Dave stayed home and passed out candy.  We only had like 7 groups!  Everyone was telling us there would be tons of trick-or-treaters so we loaded up with 6 boxes of full size candy bars from Costco, plus some apples and other candy for our allergy friends.  So good thing Costco is good at returns of unopened items.  ;)  Then we dropped Emma off with her friend Brylee and they went trick-or-treating together and the rest of us went to the Baptist church here who did a Harvest festival with all kinds of games and activities - a photo booth, games, face painting, balloon animals, hay ride, food, a fish ball throw (which the kids were so excited about.  We ended up with 5 goldfish, oh goody!).  It was nice because it was indoors where it was warm. After each game, the kids got a prize or candy.  The people were all very kind and it was well organized and decorated fun, and we were able to remember Jesus through it all as they had Biblical related games and scriptures relating to each game on posters. The boys liked the laser maze best and Cov and Lucy like the fish.  Cal's friend Logan came with us for the night.  The boys had a great time.  He was dressed up as Spiderman and has been a good friend to Cal.  I forgot my phone there though so I didn't get any pictures of that part of the night.  Then we went home and hit a couple of our neighbors.  Our neighbor across the street thought Cov's costume was the best ever and was quoting Hulk Hogan ("Eat your vitamins and say your prayers, brother!").  Covey thought that was pretty funny.  Then we came home and told Daddy all about our night and he told us about his.  Sydnie was passed out when we got home.  But woke up when everyone was ready to go to bed and I think she had a little sugar buzz because she was crazy!

Before bed, they did a quick candy exchange.  Cal was pretty bummed because he didn't get as much candy as the other kids.  Emma was very sweet and didn't think twice and gave him a whole bunch of hers.  She also let Dave & I pick whatever we wanted before she had anything.  What a sweet girl!  She has enough sweetness in her, doesn't need any more sugar.  ;)

Sydnie's favorite part of the day was all the candy and she even learned to say candy that day.  Cov said his favorite thing was all the decorations.  Lucy's favorite was her Twink. Callahan's favorite thing was seeing everyone's costumes. And Emma's favorite part was trick-or-treating.  Halloween comes and goes too fast but it was really radical!