Weekly Highlights

Seth was working in Utah this week, which I never like to advertise until he is home. Would you like to see how our routines change when daddy is away?

Wednesday night at 10:30 PM I hear a strange noise in the other room, an exaggerated breathing sound. I investigate. I find a 2 year old sipping a soda. She greets me with, "Hi Mom...I'm just gonna drink a soda and watch some TV. Alright mom? Alright? Say Alright Mom!". I do not say alright, but rather take the soda and lay her on the couch as a compromise. She promises to lay down.

Before you look: I know this chair is disgusting. I have scrubbed it and tried to throw it away, but they keep dragging it back out.

Ten minutes later she is "putting together a puzzle".

She even looks up and smiles after she hears me take that first picture. She is returned to her room. The couch didn't work.

Just past midnight. The bedroom escapes have continued, so I finally lay down with Chloe in my bed, until she is out. Of course, since daddy was gone my bed was already quite crowded, but she quickly fell asleep in our little can of sardines.

I am sure you are wondering why I let my kids run amuck when Seth is gone. In my defense, I will tell you that they went to bed beautifully every other night. They ate their food and behaved well and cleaned up their messes. Okay, strike that last one. But really, they were pretty good.

Alex spent his afternoons decorating the hall by his room. He thought we needed it to look more like Halloween in here. Oh brother, is he going to be my mother? I allowed him to express his creativity. He is very proud. He will not even shut the bathroom door anymore because he wants to be able to see his masterpiece from the toilet.

Along with having an interior designer in Alex, I also have a personal shopper in Jen. Slight tangent coming, so that you know why we were shopping. I have always wanted to have Jen take a few family pictures for us, but was too chicken to ask because I don't like to take advantage of my friend's talents. I usually think you should keep business and pleasure separate. But last year after we had a gorgeous Fall, I wished I'd done family pictures. We have NEVER taken a family picture. Lame, right? This year, I decided to get those Fall pictures. However, we are having a weird Fall in our little corner. Even the foliage tracking websites agree. The trees are changing one at a time and then shedding, before the next one changes. Some are also turning brown this year instead of red and orange and gold. Still some great colors, but too spread out to get a proper backdrop for pictures. We decided to just do some downtown shots instead. We did that today, but yesterday I realized I needed to get our clothes ready. I was going to have us in gray, with a little purple to match Chloe's purple dress. Jen shopped with me all day to help me add in some greens and purples. I think she is the first person EVER who will shop with me, without cursing or leaving me at the mall. I am very picky, and a little bland, but she drags me from one store to the next until I make some decisions. She has actually shopped with me several times even. I find her patience with me quite remarkable.

Here is what we wore.

Me (Gap Outlet on Sale): Purple sweater, gray flats. Jen ruled out combat boots, and the only other option in my closet was high heeled boots. These were just $15 at the Gap so she plucked them from the rack and handed them to me. I think they are super cute, but I do have an open wound on my ankle now that reminds me why I usually wear boots.

Alyssa(Gymboree Clearance with Gymbucks I earned at the Outlet during Back to School): We actually used the colors in her tights as a guide for everyone else.

Chloe (Also Gymboree Clearance with Gymbucks)

Seth (Banana Republic Clearance) and Alex (JC Penney)

You will have to wait to see how the pictures came out, while Jen works her magic. Jen coached me on how to focus her camera and I attempted to get some shots of her crew as well, for their Christmas cards. I am nervous to see how those ones turned out. If you get a Christmas card with a "photo not available" sticker from the Hawleys this year, I am deeply sorry.

Guess what else we did today? The music may have tipped you off. We had our final practice for the Primary Program. For the past two years, we have made a Saturday practice into our fourth quarter activity. We run through the program in the chapel, and then celebrate. Last year we made a fake pizza and put it in a real pizza box. It was cut in to 8 slices, each one corresponded to a song in the program. When they perfected that song, that slice was velcroed in to the pizza box (velcro so that it could be removed again if they struggled later). Because they built the whole pizza by practice day, we had a pizza party. That was expensive, so we mixed it up a bit this year.

We came up with 8 ice cream fixings. They earned one for each song they passed off. As of this morning they were still struggling with one song, so we sneakily switched that song to chocolate syrup. That was the topping they all wanted the most, and it was going to get left unopened if that song didn't improve. Thank goodness for the miracle of chocolate. They kicked it in to gear and nailed that song. Then they got to choose which toppings they wanted on their sundaes. Good times!

I am not even nervous about tomorrow. The past two years I was nearly sick. This year I am okay (which probably just means they will release me soon and put me somewhere that makes me nervous again). We have done all that we can to prepare and it always comes together on game day. I have faith that this year will be the same. The only thing left to do is think of what I am going to say. Easy peasy!

Wish us luck!

Oh, oh, oh...one more thing. The kids got their school pictures back this week.

I can't believe I am going to say this, but for the FIRST TIME EVER, I can kind of see Seth in one of my kids. Do you?

As for this guy...still looking like a clone of my dad.

If you were not around when I posted the picture of my dad as a child, click HERE to have a look. Too Creepy!