Halloween 2009

Must be time for Christmas advertising. Oh, wait, that started weeks ago. Anyway, we survived Halloween, but only barely. Janet prepared and fussed about the event for weeks, tracking down super-cute costumes and modifying them. Then, Halloween morning she took violently ill. She was very dissappointed. Nevertheless, she braved rain and sickness for an hour to join the rest of us go trick-or-treating. As you can see from the picture, we were cow, cowboy and, um, native americans. It was fun. AJ had fun at a couple of parties as well (one for his co-op preschool and our ward "trunk or treat"). The cowgirl is AJ's "best friend" Adi. They did not plan the common theme.

So, Janet is still ill. Seems I may be coming down with something too. Ugh.

I meant to write about our new ward. Our stake added a ward a few weeks ago, and rearranged the boundaries of several existing wards, including ours. So now we're in a different ward from most of the people we know. The new ward is pretty high-falutin'. Bay Buchanan (well-known television political commentator and sister to once-presidential hopeful Pat Buchanan) is our gospel doctrine teacher. Senator Orrin Hatch gave the prayer in priesthood meeting. It was kinda cool to hear such influential people expressing devotion to God and bearing testimony. Our new bishop (newly called with the stake changes - was previously the stake pres.) is super organized and on top of things. He's been making visits to ward members and really showing interest in helping people. I don't know how he does it, since he is also a famous cardiac surgeon and director of the cardiac unit in one of the best rated programs in the country. Anyway, we're getting to know new people and loving that the gospel is true even in other wards!

My knee is recuperating nicely. My surgery went well a few weeks ago, and I hardly needed any pain control. I used, for about 10 minutes, the crutches they insisted I have. I still have a little trouble kneeling or twisting, but it is slowly getting better.

Elizabeth is getting to be a little chub. (I mean that in the most loving doting way.) She's a better eater that AJ was at this point. We note that her actual due date was this past Thursday. 'Hard to believe it's been eight weeks already. She's had some ups and downs, certainly, but she's doing great now. She's been fighting an oropharyngeal candidiasis (aka thrush) infection the past while, and this has made her extra fussy - particularly noticeable at night when she wont sleep more than a few minutes without grunting, gasping, and eventually screaming. I think it's probably been uncomfortable for her to get enough to eat at one feeding, so she gets hungry more frequently too. Fortunately, we have a doctor handy that knows just what to do. So awesome.

AJ is a good big brother. He's getting to that age where he wants to challenge our every request, and he wants to play with his yidow sitter all the time - even when she's asleep. He's getting to be a little man in many ways. I'm gonna miss his toddler-ness. Awhile back AJ's cousin Robert was in town, as was his Grandma H. They went to this place called Cox Farms that sets up a kind of autumn theme part. AJ got stuck in the big pumpkins.

Near our home is a little fruit/vegetable stand, coincidentally also run by Cox Farms, which has a pirate ship. AJ is a born pirate. He has the Argh! and Avast ye! down pat.