Not My Gumdrop Buttons!

It's always a shock to me when the school year begins and Emma's theater teacher holds auditions after about three days. Emma is always eager to get going though. The fall play was announced last spring - it was to be Shrek the musical, but with a little twist. This version was going to be half in Spanish and half in English. I think every single person I told said, ".....huh?" Yeah, it was hard to picture, but I appreciate what the director was trying to do, which was to be more inclusive in his casting and for the audience.

Emma was really hoping for the part of the dragon, but she ended up with a part that I think she suited perfectly. She landed the roll of Gingy, the tortured gingerbread cookie who lost its gumdrop buttons (as well as its legs) at the hand of the evil Lord Farquad. Although Emma was officially Gingy, Gingy was actually just a puppet. So when she carried the puppet around, she was dressed as The Fairy Godmother and I think that blue and purple curls look quiet charming on her.

The show was great - the kids, as always, worked so hard. Following the quick flipping back and forth between Spanish and English wasn't the easiest. But one evening as I was out covering the concessions stand I asked a fellow drama-kid mom who is Hispanic what she thought about it. She expressed that she was touched and thrilled and grateful. So I'm really glad it happened. 

My sister Margaret came to town to do some presenting at Primary Children's Hospital where I work and it was so fun to have her be able to join us, along with Mary Grace.

Emma's friend Parker who graduated last year was super sweet and gave Emma a little handmade gingerbread cookie doll.

I, once again, was quite impressed with Emma's singing voice. She sings all the time at home, but there's something about hearing her sing her guts out on stage that is just really fun. She sounded great.

Romney Proves Her Mother Wrong. Again.

Before getting to my story about how Romney was right and I was wrong, I have to share this very silly photo of me. For the months of October, November, and December, I worked in about five different areas of the hospital, covering for coworkers who were out with babies or illness or injury. One of my favorite places was working in Same Day Surgery - I just love how confident I feel there and how clear my job is and how many kids are there who need me. There's only one thing I hate about it. That would be wearing scrubs. You'd think they'd be comfortable but somehow they just make me so hot and sweaty and feel so dumpy. I hate them. Troy was teasing me about how hot I look in them. I sent him this selfie to prove my extreme cuteness in this delightful color and style. Blah.

Also I must share that fall turned so beautiful. This is our gingko tree, whose leaves turned a lovely bright yellow. This is what gingko leaves are supposed to do - be extremely yellow. But for a few years our leaves have been the nastiest dull tan color. I have no idea what the problem has been, but we were nervous that we were going to lose the tree. I was so happy to see the brilliant leaves return this year.

Ok, on to my story.

Romney has been through quite the series of haircuts over the past few years. She seems to always be wanting some new haircut that I'm certain she is going to hate. Sometimes I'm right, and she has shed some tears over haircuts. Sometimes I'm wrong, and she likes her new 'do, but only temporarily. And all the while she's threatened to shave her head. I mostly thought she was joking, but was always kind of worried that deep down she wasn't. 

Guess what. She wasn't. The day after Halloween a little birdie told me that she was going to shave her head. She came over for a visit and I hugged her and whispered in her ear, "You are NOT going to shave your head!" She was shocked and kind of mad at the little bird, and told me that yes indeed she was going to. Troy said, "Well, if anyone is going to shave your head it's going to be me." And they headed to the back porch and got started.

I was positive she was going to regret it. Stupid me. Not only was she grinning the whole time, she was delighted with the result. She loved it so much and could not stop smiling. Also...she looked adorable. Absolutley adorable. Sort of to my chagrin. That girl. She always gets the best of me!

Halloween: The Gateway Holiday

I used to love Halloween just because it meant we were well and truly deep into the beautiful autumn, and that Christmas was just around the corner. But I've come to love it for its own sake. Halloween makes the early dark of the evenings seem cozy instead of bleak. Picking out a costume for work and with Troy has become so fun since we started dressing up together a few years ago.  And I've always got my eye out for good additions to our collection of witchy decorations.

A few days before Halloween itself was our ward's 4th annual chili cook-off, aptly named Spooks-n-Beans by my friend Bryan. Troy and I toyed with the idea of several different costumes - I was a little slow on the get-go and kind of ran out of time for my favorite ideas, which ranged from the queen of England and her husband to the Heat Miser and the Cold Miser. Check back in future years for the hopeful appearance of these fine characters. Instead, I went with something that turned out to be easy. We went as Drs. Grant and Sattler from Jurassic Park. Troy looked great. I looked ridiculous. Turns out that a crappy wig from Spirit Halloween just can't help me look like Laura Dern in any way. But it was still fun.

Huh. I'm searching for photos of us from that night and I can't find any which is actually fine with me because I really did look ridiculous. Fun night though.

Luckily I do have pictures of a much better costume than ours - Chase and Romney decided to attend the Spooks and Beans event as their own duo. Romney was bemoaning her latest haircut, saying it made her look like youtube personality Link of the show Good Mythical Morning. Chase thought that was super funny, and since he already looks like Rett, the other half of the pair, they decided to be them for Halloween. Not many people saw it, but anyone who knows Good Mythical Morning got a good laugh out of it.

I was on the Halloween committee at work - which basically just meant that I had to attend a meeting every couple of weeks to plan out the day, then gear up for a very busy couple of shifts on the 30th and 31st. It was indeed very busy but there's nothing like helping kids pick out costumes and collect some tricks and treats.

Our child life team voted for the group costume to be beanie babies. It's a great idea - you can really be any animal or character you want to be and then you just add the ty beanie baby tag and there you have it. I went with the Princess Diana bear - all purple with a silver rose emblem. Funnily enough, my former officemate Becca chose the same bear. I had an image in my head of how cute it would be but....I feel like I just look old and tired. 

 

Nothing a little diet coke couldn't handle

Another former officemate, Ashley, and I decided to demonstrate just how very tired we were.

Romney also had to dress up for work and she and her coworker went as Kermit and Miss Piggy. Super clever.

 

That evening we, for the second year, experienced what it was like to have no an empty-nester Halloween. Emma dressed as a flapper and headed out with friends which is just how it should be. I don't remember what Chase did, but he wasn't around either, and Romney...well, Romney doesn't live at our house any more. I'm sure she did something with friends.

Didn't Emma make the cutest flapper? And I'm remembering that she wasn't just any flapper - she was being Lina Lamont from the movie Singing in the Rain. Extra cute.

After Emma and Chase were both gone for the evening, Troy and I ended up having a really lovely time. We decided we didn't want to be alone and we ended up inviting the Bucherts over for CrioBru and a movie. We kind of thought we'd watch Ghostbusters like we did last year, but Martin talked us into a very fun and magical movie called Stardust. It was so fun to cozy up and enjoy the movie, plus visits from a couple of friends who had recently had babies and we got to see them for the first time. Times change. We used to have half the neighborhood over for soup on the porch before a long night of trick-or-treating, and now we hang out with old people just like ourselves. And it's still fun, if a little bitter sweet to think back on all the fun years of costumes and candy and parades and class parties. Boy that was exhausting. And fun too.

The Year My Son Bought His Own Present

With the end of October comes what one person in our family considers to be the most important event of the year - Chase's birthday. I can't believe my little premie 4 lb 12 oz'er is now 23 with a luscious mane of curly hair on his head, a beard, and pretty much towers over me. At least he likes to hug me now, which was definitely not the case for a long time.

Whelp, let's just get right to the good part. Chase wanted something really bad for his birthday, and it was not something I was going to get for him. In fact, I was just not too sure about the whole thing but he proved me wrong. Chase has long wanted a tattoo. Sigh. Yep, a tattoo. 

Ok, let me just say something here. When I was a teenager, tattoos were a big deal. Almost no one I knew had one and I thought of them as kind of a sign of rebellion. I'll be clear - I never thought that tattoos were evil or signified that anyone with one was any certain kind of person, but tattoos were just not part of the normal culture. I think that has changed a lot these days. But I won't deny that the thought of my son getting one was slightly jarring. I mean, they're just so very permanent. Plus when Chase had started talking about tattoos, he was talking about covering his entire arm. And the fact that he wanted to do it in honor of his brother Matthew didn't make the thought of giant markings all over one arm any better for me. So I told him that of course he could do what he wanted but I wasn't going to pay for it. Hmm. That makes me sound awful. I did not say that in an angry way. And he knew I was not thrilled and he actually very kindly reassured me. 

Chase started out with a much smaller plan than he had talked about during his high school days. He chose just the hand and foot prints of Matthew, and asked for help in deciding how to arrange them on his bicep. I arranged them into what looked like a little heart. He was excited and my heart immediately softened. It really was going to be sweet. 

Ok I should backtrack. We did have our regular morning celebration with Chase. It was kind of funny though - it had to be pretty early because it was a weekday and most of us had work and school. Romney and Nicholas came over for (what else) biscuits and gravy. Emma was still asleep so we whisper-sang happy birthday to you dear Chase before he opened a couple of gifts. 

Romney found a Godzilla Sweater - she knows her brother!

Chase took his sister with him to Provo to the tattoo artist he had picked out. It was kind of a long day for them - the client before Chase ended up taking an hour longer than expected. The benefit from this was that Chase paid about half of what he expected. And although he said he was quite nervous, he said it wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as he was expecting. And guess what, we all love the results, even Troy and me. I really do love it. Enough to get one of my own? Maybe. Not sure yet. 

That evening we hit one of Chase's favorite restaurants - Takumi, the all-you-can-eat sushi spot right by Trader Joe's. It's pretty good, and great if you want a LOT of sushi. I will never get over how much all three of my kids love sushi and other seafood. They will pretty much try anything in the realm of sushi. Will Emma eat a sandwich? No, never. But raw octopus? You bet. Half a crab? Any time. 

It was a treat to celebrate my eldest child. I love him dearly. He is kind and is always willing, with a smile, whenever I ask for help. He is figuring life out, and works hard, and is on his way to great things. Love you, Stomper.