The Responsible Woman: Fall Happenings

This past fall felt like quite a blur to me. Between homeschool, college, my calling, our trip to Washington, and life in general I didn't have a second to slow down. This Christmas Break has quite possibly been the best of my life. And happily, it isn't even over for a couple more weeks. I have had a time to slow down, stay in my pajamas, deep clean, read, organize, watch movies, pay bills, catch up my budget for the past four months, play the piano, clean out the garage, and sleep in. Plus, I told the kids they were on their own for breakfast and lunch, and sometimes even dinner. I have had time to call my own.

Now it's time to catch up on my blog and summarize the highlights from this past fall.

I nearly forgot to take a picture of the kids in their Halloween costumes. I was going to snap a picture when they went to the Trunk-or-Treat, but the battery in my camera was dead. In the chaos of trick-or-treating I didn't remember to take a picture until they came home and were cold and tired. Luckily, I did get a shot though. Brandon didn't go out this year. He passed out candy and then hung out with some of his friends for a while. Andrew was a boy scout, Connor was Draco Malfoy again, Nicole was a hippie, and Danielle was a bunny rabbit. They got plenty of candy.

A few days later I was in charge of our Stake YW in Excellence. We used the theme from Cami's ward, "Welcome Aboard." It was a lot of work but was a huge success.

That same weekend our friends the Fletchers came down from Walden (Nedlaw) to visit us. The kids didn't sleep all weekend, and they had so much fun. They invented a new sport called "Dally Diving" where you dive off the couch head first into a pile of sleeping bags and pillows. They played it for hours.

Next up was Thanksgiving. We shared it with our friends the Tolleys and had excellent food as well as excellent company.

The day after Thanksgiving, Nathan took the boys out to go hunt for our perfect Christmas tree. They found it, and we had fun decorating cookies and hanging them on the tree that night.

Danielle loved the Christmas tree this year, and she didn't mess with it too much. Connor was old enough to help string and tie them this year.

Brandon could reach the higher branches this year. He has passed me up in shoe size and is just about to be taller than me.

Andrew isn't too far behind Brandon.

We sang around the Christmas tree as many nights as possible.

The Tuesday after Thanksgiving was Connor's Pinewood Derby. Last year, he was the first of the Cherpeski boys to place at a Pinewood Derby, getting 3rd place. He told me on the way there that he was going to get 2nd place this year. I was worried that he was going to be disappointed, but low and behold, he really did come in 2nd!

I gave Nicole a cute new haircut.

I also discovered that Danielle finally has enough hair for a cute hairdo.

Connor took a few good shots of the deer in our yard after we had gotten a little snow.

Andrew's birthday snuck up on us. It was his party year, and his dream party was to invite his two closest friends, Bryant and John to play Memoir 44 for seven straight hours with pizza and cake during a break. They had a wonderful day.

He also got another cake on his actual birthday.

We were all relieved when Christmas Break finally got here. My semester ended, and I still have straight A's. I enjoyed my classes this semester and learned a ton, but I needed a break. We have been relaxing as much as possible.

I was such a bad photographer/mom I didn't get a single shot of any of Brandon's Football/Basketball games, or Nicole's dance/gymnastics, not to mention their swim lessons. Most of the pictures I took were honestly an afterthought. I don't want to run another marathon like that for a while, but I probably will next semester.

Brandon has been catching up on his reading, although Hockey started this week, so we'll see if I get a picture of that.

Andrew has been playing Memoir 44 by himself and anyone else who doesn't mind being skunked. In the rest of his spare time, he has been solving his rubiks' cubes (2x2, 3x3, 4x4, and 5x5).