A (Belated) Halloween Roundup 2014

Wow, October was a little "rough"!  Perhaps that backpacking trip gave the impression that I'm high-adventure.  

KIDNEY STONE

One Monday night I started feeling pains in my belly.  At first I thought it was just gas, or maybe constipation, but after ruling that out, the pain persisted, and then got worse!  I tried walking, rocking, sitting, standing, ibuprofen, a hot bath. NOTHING eased up the persistent pain that radiated from the left of my belly button and wrapped around my back.  Appendicitis? Gall Stones?  After a priesthood blessing and more hours of pacing the floors, I decided it was time to go to the hospital, but it was now 12:30am.  By this time I'd soaked my shirt with sweat, and was in tears.  Something was wrong.  Our home teacher was standing by, and he and his wife (who is also my Beehive advisor) drove me to the hospital and got me checked in.  The nurse could tell just by watching the way I sat uncomfortably in the chair that it was a kidney stone!  CT scans and an X-ray confirmed it.  I have "several" ticking time-bombs still up there, but the one that was giving me trouble was right on the edge of my bladder.  I still don't regret going on.  That was the worst pain I've ever experienced!  At least labor pains come and go, and you get a cute baby at the end of all the work!  Some fluids and morphine, and I was as good as new.  At 3am they discharged me, and I took a taxi cab home, so Josh wouldn't have to wake the kids or arrange for someone to sit at home.  I passed the stone later that morning.  Both surprised at how small it was, as well as how sharp and dark it was in appearance!  I'm not looking forward to my next one.  UGH.

CRACKED TOOTH

It's no secret that in the past I've used my teeth as tools.  I remember our dentist would always remind me of that when I would go in for check-ups.  I didn't think much of it, since I always managed to get away with no cavities, and the fact I never had braces made me feel rather invincible!  Imagine my shock when snacking on a bowl of popcorn, I crunched into something small and hard.  Fishing out the chip made me wonder how a broken piece of plate or cup ended up in the popcorn bowl.  then I realized it was a piece of my tooth!  Just days away from Halloween, maybe I could go as a Hillbilly!  I kept remembering that line from Little Women when Jo cuts her hair, and her sister says, "Oh, Jo, how could you?  Your one beauty!"

The new, sharp landscape of my familiar teeth drove me CRAZY! I couldn't stop running my tongue across it.  The next day they fit me in for a patch-job at the dentist.  It's better than it was, but there is still a ridge along the tooth, and they line up differently than before (the new one is shorter than it was).  I'm just glad we live in an age where there is dental insurance, and they can fix these kind of things!

HALLOWEEN!

Halloween was pretty low-key this year.  Diddles adored the whole month.  She loves being scared and got a real kick out of those animatronic ghouls with glowing eyes, and skeletons that pop up and grab your hand when you try to take a piece of candy.  She loved creating costumes and running around the house in her imaginary world.  We were at a store one day, and the cashier asked her what she was going to be for Halloween.  "A bad girl," was her reply.  haha!  She meant a witch, but I guess it's the same thing.

Boo wanted to be Hermione from Harry Potter, and we were able to borrow a costume from our friends to easily create the look.  Yaks wanted to be a ninja, and we found a complete costume at Goodwill.  We bought some weaponry to complete the outfit!  The day of Halloween, he opted to just wear a crazy afro wig, because it was easy, and he could just wear his regular clothes.  Glad we didn't spend a lot on the other costume!  We had a trunk-or-treat in the freezing cold and wind.

Yaks doesn't like chocolate, so he sorted his candy out, and the pile on the right is what he'd actually eat.
Boo volunteered to gladly take the chocolate off his hands!

The school had half-days all week with parent/teacher conferences, so the morning was one big party!  A serpentine parade through school, and then class parties.  Boo volunteered us for cupcakes (I love how that's coming back around.  I remember volunteering my mom to make/create all sorts of things for my class parties.  I'm sorry, Mom!)  Yaks' class did a brunch, so we brought scrambled eggs and Clementines.  Diddles loved wearing her costume, and seeing the big kids all dressed up!

Yaks buddy reading a Halloween poem book with his friend, Francisco.
Mrs. Casanova is wonderful!!

October was my month for Art Docent with Yaks' class.  I tried to tie in an artist with a Halloween project and came up with this idea of Picasso Monsters.  Using a cardboard template, the kids traced two faces on two shades of green, then we created Picasso-like features that they then decorated.  They looked really great up on the wall!  The kids did a nice job.

 We carved pumpkins for FHE the day before.  I think we ended up with a geometric shape, a spooky face, a bunny rabbit and a cat.

Hermoine, a Fairy Princess and Crazy-hair disco man?

We went out trick-or-Treating with our ward friends, The Myers.  Diddles really got into it, and would race ahead so she could ring the doorbell first!  

Ari (in the prison outfit) is one of my Beehives, and her sister (in the mask) is the kids' good pal.
She's in Yaks' Primary class.