Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

Friday:

I got Hyrum off to school at 8:30 then made frosting for the cupcakes I baked the night before. It didn't turn out quite right, but I was out of time and had no other options, so I frosted what I had, loaded everyone in the car, and we went to Mindy's for play group. I left Mercy with her friends while I took Abraham to school and delivered the cupcakes to Hyrum's classroom for the pumpkin festival at his school that evening. I then retrieved Mercy and we raced home so I could get started on another batch of cupcakes for the ward fall carnival also happening that evening. I've apparently been watching too many episodes of Cupcake Wars because I tried to get fancy with the frosting that turned out more like fudge. I decided to make little balls of chocolate and bake them into the cupcakes. Instead of becoming a gooey filling, they melted into nothing and created weird holes in the middle of the cakes. I just stuck some more chocolate in and figured it would be okay once I frosted them. Well, my second batch of frosting was even worse than the first and was completely inedible. Before I attempted yet another batch, however, I found out the cupcake walk for which I was baking them had been canceled, so I put my holey cakes aside and started working on a gambeson for Matthew to wear under his ring mail. I didn't finish, but got enough done for him to benefit from the extra padding. We got everyone dressed and made it to the church just as the party was getting started. 

Mercy loved her froggy costume and kept it on far longer than either of the boys did when they were two. Hyrum was Groot and Abraham was able to be a ninja like he wanted thanks to Mindy's costume box. Matthew dressed in his ring mail, and I was supposed to be a zombie, but only had about two minutes to throw on some makeup and didn't end up doing a very convincing job. I made an effort though, and even got a picture, so that's more than I can say for year's past. 

The carnival was fun enough and we stayed until Mercy started taking off clothing, the definitive sign that she's ready to be done. Matthew helped me get the kids in bed then went over to Jeb's for his first adventure with a new Dungeons and Dragons group. I sent the holey cupcakes, un-frosted, with him.

Saturday:

I had a health screening at 8:00 am. It was relatively quick and painless and it turns out I'm in excellent physical condition. I came home and did the bike ride I was supposed to have done the day before while Matthew and the kids worked in the back yard. I bathed, made grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch, cleaned up a bit, then drove down to the Los Lunas stake center for the baptism of one of my primary kids. It was a lovely service. I spent the rest of the afternoon in the kitchen. I did a trial run of a new gingersnap cookie that I want to serve for book club, did some prep for the pizza we planned to make the next day, and made breakfast burritos with sausage and red peppers for dinner. The kids played in the back yard with the neighbor's granddaughter. After dinner, bathes, scriptures, and prayers, I put the kids to bed and Matthew ran out to the store for supplies for Pack Meeting next week.

Sunday:

I had Ward Council at 8:30 am, but got there a little early to work on getting a new stock of Sunbeam snacks organized into plastic containers. The meeting ran long and there were some more discussions afterwards, so I just stayed at church and Matthew brought the kids in the truck. We did a run through of all the songs for our upcoming primary program and I did something of an impromptu sharing time. After church, Matthew and I worked on getting pizzas made. The brown's came over at 4:00 for dinner and games. The men and kids played Hero Kids, a role playing game kind of like D&D, while Hannah and I sat on the couch and talked. I had a lovely time and I think everyone else enjoyed themselves as well. I worked on some primary stuff after the kids went to bed, and was more than ready to fall asleep myself when the time came.