It's Looking Awfully Spooky Around Here...

I Can't Wait...

...to show the girls the perfect accessory I stumbled upon (at another one of my favorite haunts :) for them to wear to jazz class tonight. They've been learning the dance to Thriller during October and tonight's class will be the Thriller finale. How fun will it be to show up with this on? Thank you Tar-Jay!

Something's Gotta Give

*Image of my favorite house in one of my favorite movies as per listed above...

I'm finally just coming up for a breath from nearly a month of my life running me versus me running my life. I'm hoping this choke-hold I've got on it this week will last for a bit and slow down this beast known as our schedule. When life gets this crazy - something's gotta give ... and it's not only been my blog. In all the madness, however, there have been many shining moments and that's what I'd like to share and what I hope you'd like to hear (rather than what's been making me pull my hair out.)

1. On October 10th, a special little girl at our house celebrated her 9th birthday. It was a Saturday so the whole day was dedicated to indulging her - including soccer games, shopping, burgers and shakes with Grammy and Paca, a chocolate cake with a rainbow (her specific request) and topping the night off with a 3-d movie in Paca's theater. (Have I mentioned before that friend birthday parties only happen on "even" numbered birthdays? Love that.)

2. Kalli has been cast as Portia in "The Merchant of Venice" for her 6th grade play. We've been waking up early to attend 7:15 a.m. play practices and memorizing lines. She's amazes me every day. Keeping up with that girl's schedule is a full time job in and of itself!

3. Max is a boy with a sweet and sensitive heart. We had Monday off of school and we drove by a different elementary school that was having recess. (With the windows rolled up, of course) the girls and I laughed and teased, "You have school...and we don't...na na...na na...na." Max didn't participate in the teasing and with a fornlorn look on his face he said, "Aww those poor kids shouldn't have to go to school if we don't have to." Needless to say, we all melted and stopped our teasing immeditately. :)

His "sweet" does have a limit, however. After an afternoon matinee watching Aladdin with the girls, I asked him what he thought of the movie. Without hesitation he said, "Too much kissing."

4. I was in charge of a dinner for the faculty of our elementary school during parent/teacher conference night. I had most of it catered, but did make a little treat for each of them myself. I bet you can guess what these are. Think chocolate. I swear I'm never making them again!

5. We've been working hard on our primary program (which was last Sunday...whew!) and I love every minute I get to spend with the kids in my ward. Honestly, I do! I treat them much like I treat my own children. If they do particularly well on a song (I'm chorister, remember?) I praise them upside down and inside out and sometimes even surprise them with a treat. If the song is well...not so good...I'm honest. And we try it again. After one particular song that was only "so-so" I told them, "On a scale of 1 to 10, it was about a 3." One cute boy from the front row said to me, "Sister Roberts, you are the Simon of Primary Idol." I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

6. I spent one lovely night last week indulging myself in a little birthday shopping spree at a couple of my favorite stores. I told Bryce he is lucky I consider "a couple of my favorite stores" TJ Maxx and Ikea.

7. Bryce had a couple weeks worth of sick days when he came down with bacterial pneumonia. On the bright side, it wasn't the swine flu.

8. Ella has been obsessed with this song lately. I don't know why...but she won't stop singing it. I can't help but smile and sing along.

9. And speaking of music, here's another funny one. Josie fell asleep in the car on the way home from my sister's house. I knew it was all the nap she would get that day so I decided to pull into the garage, turn off the car, and let her sleep for another 20 minutes or so in her car seat. I left the radio on to mask the noise of the garage door closing and the car door open so I could hear her the minute she woke up. After about 10 minutes, I checked on her...still sleeping. Another ten minutes went by...still sleeping. A few more minutes passed and I went to check on her and sure enough, she was awake. Not crying, as I suspected she might be after waking up in the car alone. No - she was singing. This song! Down. Down. Down. Down. Down. I'm still laughing about it.

10. And lastly, you'll never guess what amazing invention I've been parading around the house this week. It keeps me warm and amazingly enough, it keeps my hands free to do what I need. Are you stumped?

Yes, the kids got me a Snuggie for my birthday. Naturally, they want to be assured how much I adore it and insist I wear it each and every time I sit down. I'm sure Bryce had no hand in it whatsoever. It's currently the single most loved item in the Roberts' household. If you've ever wanted to see or touch one in real life, come on over and take it for a spin.

P.S.
On a completely unrelated and yet related tangent, did you know the "Something's Gotta Give" house has been for sale for year or so? Check it out on the Sotheby's Real Esate Section here. Don't get too excited, though. I'm pretty sure I'll find the house key in my stocking from Santa this year ;)

Extracurricular activities: Long Weekend Edition

No school at our house for the last two days which have made for a lovely long weekend. When I asked the kids what they would like to do to fill the extra time, the suggestions included 1. going to a movie 2. baking 3. setting up Halloween decorations 4. thrifting at the D.I. and 5. playing board games. I had to chuckle at my little girlie clones - their ideas matched up with mine just perfectly. Poor Max puts up with us mostly because he has to. (Luckily, Daddy rescued him midday and they built marble towers and then went to play soccer at the park.) We're happy to report that we've accomplished everything on our list and its not even Saturday! Here's a glance at the baking portion of our weekend thus far. We even put some of our prettier ones on display under a glass dome on our Halloween candy table. Happy Weekend.

Oh, and if you love cupcakes like we do - run - don't walk to your local Target to pick yourself up the Wilton cupcake decorator tube. It just doesn't get any better.

Tonight

I'm thinking of cozying up to a piping hot bowl of this.