Rockin' the Sunday Tunes and a Piece of Peace

Yesterday in Relief Society, the teacher gave a lesson based on a talk from Elder Packer. She talked about how answers to our concerns in life can be found in the scriptures. I know this. I've experienced it. But not for a while. Before she began her lesson, she had everyone write down a concern they had. Then she gathered them up, distributed them (nobody wrote their names on them), and we had 5 minutes to find an answer to that concern in the scriptures. Mine was "children with financial problems." A doozy. Can't look up "money" or "financial problems" in the Topical Guide. And besides, that would be giving advice to the child with the financial problem, not the mother worried about that child and what to do for him/her. But, what do you know, I found this little gem in Alma 7:27:  "And now, may the peace of God rest upon you, and upon your houses and lands, and upon your flocks and herds, . . . your women and your children, according to your faith and good works."  So, this is one promise for the woman with this concern--she needs to continue in faith and good works and the peace of God will rest upon her and her child. This 10 minute exercise brought the spirit of the scriptures into my heart again and helped reignite my own desire to continue in faith and good works. After all, I want a piece of the peace!

Can I Be Done Posting Halloween Pics, Already?!

This morning when I was braiding Sweetie's hair, she said, "I can't decide if I'm going to be a vampire or a mummy for Halloween next year."  Ummm, good thing you have about 353 days to decide, my dear. As for me, I am DONE with Halloween and have long moved on. Except for in my blog. So let's finish this holiday up, shall we? This year we had a werewolf, a Wonder Woman (whose costume was a labor of love and a lesson in patience on my part), a Hulk, and a Cabbage Patch Kid. By the week before Halloween, my sewing machine and my sanity could take no more fur, lycra, satin, etc. I ordered Little Zelly's wig off of Etsy the first week of October and it arrived at 5pm on Halloween. I had frantically run around trying to borrow another costume for her that afternoon because, even though she didn't trick or treat, the kids were shocked that she might go without a costume.  

The Great Pumpkin(s)

Ahhh, pumpkin carving. J's favorite part of the holiday (ha ha). But he survived and so did the pumpkins and the kids (with all of those knives around, it's never a given).  And we ended up with some beauties!

  

Corny Cornbellys

On one of the warmer minimal Mondays in October, we hit Cornbellys corn maze and pumpkin fest, much to the delight of H, as he had been sleeping with the Cornbellys flier by his bed for over a week. It was a lot of corny fun. We spent so much time on the random activities that we didn't leave much time for the maze. And we underestimated how cold it would get once the sun went down. We were hot in the afternoon and freezing in the evening. Numerous expensive hot chocolates didn't do much for the situation. So we tried some pumpkin donuts just in case that would help. They did have some bonfires going, which was nice. In the end, we did a cursory walk through the maze, took an unauthorized shortcut, and emerged victorious. Maybe next year we'll conquer the maze. H kept on his Cornbellys wrist band until I made him take it off on Halloween. He was determined that if he kept it on, we would return. He even prayed about it a few times.

  

Watching the pig races

It Would Be a Grave Mistake . . .

not to post about our Halloween activities. And we did have a lot of them. I think I'll give each one their own post so this one isn't a novel.

First, Mister and Sweetie wanted to have Halloween parties for their friends, and I thought it was a good idea so we could get to know more of the neighborhood kids and school friends. So Mister took one weekend and Sweetie another. It was a little crazy, but worth it.

Mister wanted no dressing up, marshmallow roasting (and, by the way, is marshmallow really spelled marshmallow and not marshmellow? so weird), lots of Halloween treats, and a movie--Monster House. So that's what we did. (Oh, and we tested out the glow-in-the-dark stick on mustaches.)



Sweetie, on the other had, was all about dressing up, doing crafts, decorating cookies, and then watching Monster House.