Staceroo and Her Zoo: October 2009

Well, sorry we kind of disappeared there for a little bit. Since Chris didn't have any finals this last quarter, he took the time during finals week to knock out his 50 page thesis proposal for his online masters degree. I also had to hunker down and write the primary program and edit Chris' 50 page thesis proposal for submission. Kate watched a lot of Dora that week, poor girl. But she didn't complain too much, the program is finished - hooray!, the proposal got submitted, and Chris came out of his first quarter here with all A's once again. So, we are prospering, but are totally stressed out in the process. I'm not sure if that's a good thing. As always, we are looking to find better balance in our lives.

But it hasn't been all work and no play. Autumn is my favorite season and I wasn't about to let it pass me by. I love back to school stuff, changing leaves, cool, crisp evenings with a jacket, caramel apples, pumpkin cookies, etc. And we have had plenty of it! First of all, we've been getting some produce out of our garden - beans, tomatoes, cilantro, green onion - and we love it!! We have also been getting HUGE zucchinis out of our garden - which we aren't quite as excited about. I mean, there's not too much to do with zucchini, if you know what I mean. We've fried it, put it in salads, made a yummy creamy zucchini soup and I made a TON of mini zucchini bread loaves that we gave away to the neighbors and the girls school teachers, and yet I still have another huge zucchini sitting on my kitchen counter. I think I'll just start giving them away from now on.
The school also put on a Fall Festival, which was a lot of fun. The girls enjoyed the cake walk, games, and decorating pumpkin sugar cookies.

Another favorite part of Autumn for me is the October General Conference. Here's a picture of this year's conference tent. The main thing I got out of this conference was the need for more love, charity, and kindness in our lives, regardless of our circumstances. I know I could definitely improve in this area (and so many others) and I'm so grateful that Conference gives me the opportunity to reflect on my life and then gives me the motivation to strive to do better.

During conference weekend we also decorated the house for Fall. The girl's favorite is always putting the decals on the windows. Oh, and do you see that beautiful corn out the window? Well, it has been pretty beaten up and we are really sad about it. This past week we had a huge tropical storm blow through here that knocked the power out for six hours and knocked all of our corn over too! Chris has tried to salvage as much of it as he can, so hopefully we'll get some corn on the cob or else I'm going to be way bummed. So yeah, crazy about the storm, eh? We go through two hurricanes in Louisiana and lose power for all of a 1/2 hour, but come to California and get the worst tropical storm we've seen so far. Maybe it's just because this area isn't used to so much rain that it caused so much trouble. But anyhoo, during the power outtage it was interesting to see the girls level of understanding. After about four hours of no power Aly was like, "when is the power going to come back on, I am so thirsty!" I let her know that we weren't without water and she could still get a drink. Analise wanted to know why we couldn't watch a movie because "we watch movies with the lights turned out all the time." And Kate just couldn't understand why I couldn't heat her milk up in the microwave. Oh how dependent we are on modern conveniences!!

So, this past week the girls have had off school for "Fall Break." We started the week out running by going to JCPenny's for the annual Family Picture pow-wow. At least it's just once a year. Next it was off to lunch to celebrate Aly being the Student of the Month. Go Aly! She got a certificate for a free lunch at Islands burger bungalo. It was scrumptious. Next we had our "after 4 years we finally finished the Book of Mormon as a family " celebration by taking the kids to see "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" and by going swimming. It was all a ton of fun, but by the end of the day we were all worn out. We spent the rest of the week rotating the girls clothes, shopping for clothes, and going to playgroup at a pumpkin patch. As we were clothes shopping, the smell of cinnamon wafted out of Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Aly said, "What?! They're selling Christmas stuff already? Wow, they're always one step ahead . . . although, Louisiana is 2 hours ahead." The things that go through that girl's head!

Besides schoolwork, Scouts has kept Chris very busy as well. He's been to training, helped the boys earn their horsemanship merit badge, taught them some tin foil dinner cooking, and taken them on a campout with more to come. He really enjoys being with the boys, despite how busy it makes him - that poor guy is always on the run! Despite this, he has still made time for me and the girls. Kate got to go on her very first daddy-daughter date and thought she was the bomb! She yelled "see ya later guys!" as she went out the door to get ice cream with her dad. That little girl is just too smart for her own good. When Analise asks me what letter is next in the alphabet, Kate will answer her (and 1/2 the time she's right!). She is also learning her colors and shapes, and loves to do puzzles. She also thinks she's Aly and Lise's mom, which they just laugh at, of course. Oh my little Kater bug.

As the grand finale for the girls week out of school, they had a sleepover with their friends Andra and Aspen. I think it was a huge success, as I heard a lot of giggling. This was a fun week off, but it will be good for the girls to get back to school. And they're learning such awesome things at school, as illustrated by the following dinner conversation: