October Happenings
/Noah is so funny. He loves animals SO much even though he is allergic to them. One day he was walking home from school and when his siblings made it home and he wasn't with them I went looking for him. I found him and his little friend Carolina on a street near our house. The first thing I noticed was Carolina struggling to hold all of the books and rubbish from Noah's backpack. "Noah needs a lesson on being a gentleman," I thought to myself. I invited Noah and his friend to climb into the van and the next thing I noticed was how Noah was cradling his zipped up backpack in his arms and how it started to move like there was something alive in it. Then it yowled. He immediately looked at my face to see what my reaction to all of this was going to be and it was so hilarious. His face read, "Uh-oh. My mom probably noticed that. What's she gonna say when I tell her what's in here?" It was a cat - the neighbors cat. He had taken off the collar to justify to himself that the cat was now "homeless" and needed to be rescued. He told me so and that he needed to take it home and give it a place to live. It took a lot of persuading to convince him that by doing so he'd be taking the cat away from his family, which would be wrong and that someone would miss him. Ugh.
Marilyn and I have had some really good Mommy/daughter moments this month. We celebrated "White Cane Day" together at the Hogle Zoo with the USDB and her friends from "Short Term" programs. It was so wonderful because there were docents all over with animal skins, skull, models, high contrast pictures and other tactile objects that the students could touch to help them "see" the animals at the zoo. They also told us a lot of interesting facts about each animal. At one station we got to see and touch a tortoise, a snake, a hissing cockroach, and a ferret.
One night Marilyn and I stayed up late after putting the boys to bed and I let her try on all of the special dresses I had saved throughout the years. She wore the dress my mom made me for my 9th grade promotion, the Sr. Prom dress my mom made me, the dresses I wore for Heidi and Linda's wedding, and we got out my wedding dress and she tried on my veil. It was a giggly night that helped us feel close to each other.
Marilyn had a piano recital where she played a duet with her piano teacher and did great! She is really maturing. This time around she enjoyed herself more, was pretty relaxed and didn't get so bothered when she made a small mistake or two. Plus she sounded great!
Max was especially excited to open an account at our credit union and we took the other two with to open up accounts for them too. Max had saved up $21 to put in his account!
I wasn't feeling well one day and Max curled up on the couch and had some snuggles with me. He's been my super-duper little sweetheart lately.
My Christopher and I have been fitting in some wonderful dates with each other. Those are the best of times. I sure love him! We took advantage of being alone with each other on Columbus Day when he had the day off work and the kids were at school to go on a hike to a nearby mine that I'd never heard of.
My Awesome Husby and I find time to date each other even when we can't have a traditional date. Earlier this month Max was still having soccer practice at a park after dinner once a week and on one of those nights we left Marilyn home, Noah to play nearby at the park and Chris and I went hand in hand on a walking date right there at the park. Look at how lovely it was! I LOVE walking with him and connecting. Sometimes I have a hard time getting my words to come out but walking will always loosen them up.
Megan, Joel, Paisley and Emerson came into town for a wedding and that Friday I went shopping with Megan, Paisley and Emerson to help them get ready. I had such a fun time being around my two little niecephew buddies again. That night all five of us sisters and my parents met for dinner at an Italian restaurant for dinner. It was fantastic to all be together again and celebrate my mom's birthday. We all went in together and gave her a beautiful amethyst pendant since amethysts are her favorite. She loved it! That Sunday both sides of Emerson's family met at the Park Park to eat cake and celebrate Emerson's first birthday. Then we went to my parent's house and had dinner together again. I love soaking up those family moments.
This fall break from school the kids and I have been enjoying ourselves. The first day we had a Princess and Prince Tea Party at the Memory Care Center Grandpa Parker lives in now. Grandma Parker and all the Utah Parker cousins came and it was a lot of fun to all be there together with Grandpa. There were fancy treats and lemonade to snack on, crowns to decorate, fall games to play, and even a "Sparkle Station" where the boys could spray their hair different colors and the girls could paint their fingernails and wear sparkly make-up.
Grandpa Parker is finally starting to settle in to his new home at the care center and we are starting to settle in to the idea of him living there. Bev takes SUCH amazing care of him and visits him for long stretches every day. I try to take the kids there a few times a week which is pretty easy because the center is right down the road from us and Noah begs to go there almost daily because he loves the cat who lives there, "Morris". I visit Bill by myself once a week in the afternoon when I take him to the kids' school to volunteer with me in my sister's classroom where we sit and listen to kids read out loud to us. Then we go on a walk around the park and eat ice cream cones or get a soda. Chris and I visit together at least once a week, oftentimes without the kids so we can enjoy our time with him without managing kids. Chelsea visits him at least once a week while most of her kids are at school and Brendan's family gets there as often as possible. He's also got great friends and ward members who go visit often. He is loved and being well taken care of. He's not nearly as bewildered at being there as he was.
The kids and I spent another afternoon at Lagoon with Grandma Buckholts and a bunch of their Buckholts cousins plus Aunt Krista. We enjoyed a blissfully warm October day at the end of another wonderful season full of fun Lagoon times.
One Sunday after church we were packing up in the car to go home and Noah was no where to be seen. We called for him and said to each other, "Oh, well. He's probably walking home or else when he sees us starting to drive away he'll come running. We decided to drive around the church with our windows down and keep calling/looking for him. From off in the distance we heard what I thought sounded like some kid calling from far away or my mommy's mind imagining something. It's a good thing Chris heard it too because it was real, it was Noah, and it was coming from a the furthest back grassy corner of our church's property. We pulled up, Chris popped out to inspect and what he saw amazed and freaked me out a bit. Noah had wanted to get to the farm on the other side of the fence and decided he'd try to crawl under the fence, and the concrete supporting it, and between a cemented in water overflow drain. He was stuck in the mud, with one leg wedged under the fence and the gap in the cement and couldn't get out. We literally had to dig him out! Chris hopped the fence in his dress shoes and I drove home really fast to get a shovel. I hurried back, passed the shovel over the fence to Awesome Husby and he dug and I pulled. Finally Noah popped out. It was a little like when Winnie the Pooh gets stuck in Rabbit's hole only Noah's crisis was due to mischief rather than honey.