Because I'm insane, that's why.

Want to hear about our week?  It was a doozy...

On Monday I had a doctor's appointment and three hours of piano students.  I've been having Braxton Hicks like crazy.  I had them with Seth, too, but not this bad.  Every 3-4 minutes for an hour or so one evening (after a long, busy weekend).  My OB isn't too worried about it.  He told me to take it easy--if they start getting out of control (more than 4 in an hour) then I'm supposed to lay down for an hour and drink 30 oz. of water.  What a joke...I wish I could lay down for an hour!

For FHE we carved pumpkins.  Or, more accurately, we gutted two pumpkins and carved one.  Not enough time for both.  Seth was very clear--he wanted a 'mad pumpkin'.  He's completely obsessed with it.

Tuesday morning I spent working on Halloween costumes.  The afternoon was spent playing with Sommer's boys so she could take a much-needed hair-styling break.  Then I had to quickly come up with a costume for Young Women, because we never reveal our actual costumes until the ward party.  Here's what I came up with:

That's my Beehive president, Kendal, dressed up as Kendal.  And that's me, also dressed up as Kendal.  Notice the painted-on bruise I added to match hers?  Unfortunately I parted my hair on the wrong side.  Otherwise it would have been perfect!

Wednesday was more costume making, more piano students, and the stupidest thing I did this week: agree to make a cake.  Apparently I thought I would have our costumes finished in advance.  Ha.

Thursday was more of the same--relentless costume making (I was up at 6 every day with Jon and skipped every nap this week in my attempt to get these things done), piano students, a two-hour grocery shopping trip, and cake decorating.  I finished the cake that night, and I'm pretty darn happy with how it turned out.  Don't judge the basketweave too harshly--it was my first attempt.

And it's totally fondant free, which makes me happy.

Friday was the big day--the ward party.  I worked like crazy to get our costumes done.  Jon even helped--he painted stripes on one pant leg, attached Seth's costume to his hat, and assembled his bat tie.  I would have been done in plenty of time if I didn't mess up Jon's jacket and have to repair it.  Repeatedly.

The party started at 6.  I finished Jon's costume at 6:15.  Jon, Seth & the shrimp bisque left at 6:30, at which point I ran upstairs and threw on my costume.  I made it there by 7.  Our goal next year?  To have our costumes done the day BEFORE the party.  This is two years in a row we've been late because of costumes.

And here we are, in all our glory:

Seth as Zero

(he wouldn't wear the hat or carry it around, so basically he was just Seth in a white outfit)

Me as Sally

I could NOT find an auburn or brown wig, which really frustrated me.  I wish my hair was longer...

And please remember that I am pregnant, not just thick like I appear to be in this picture!

Jon as Jack Skellington

He had quite a few people asking if he was Beetlejuice.  We really needed a mask to get the round Jack head, but no masks are allowed at the church.  We did the best we could!  Oh, and we couldn't find skeleton hands either.  Maybe next time...

Our Nightmare Before Christmas costumes

These costumes were a huge amount of work.  I made my dress because the Sally dresses I found looked nothing like her.  I'd like to say a huge thank-you to my mom, who gave me my Christmas present early (a new sewing machine!) so I could make these costumes.  They would not have happened otherwise! 

I definitely learned a lot.  This was the first time I have ever sewn anything on my own.  Neither costume had a pattern, so I was totally winging it.  I'm 100% happy with mine, and Jon's is more like 95%.  Just don't look at the armpits, okay?

Seth loved the trunk-or-treat.  I finally gave him a sucker halfway through so he would stop looking at every piece of candy that was placed in his pumpkin.  We were super slow--by the time we made it around the church several people had run out of candy and were leaving.  Seth was too little to notice, thank heaven!  Next year we'll be faster.

Saturday I had a temple trip with the youth and a baptism afterwords.  It killed me to wake up at 5:15am (we were leaving at 6:15 to be down there by 8am).  I was so sore and so exhausted after this week.  But once we got there, it was totally worth it.  An amazing experience.

By the time the baptism was over it was 4pm and people were commenting on how tired I looked.  Gotta love that.

We carved our second pumpkin last night.  It was supposed to be a Jack Skellington face, but I just let Seth decide (this time we got a 'happy pumpkin').  Good thing, too!  That sucker was a full 3 inches thick!  No way I was doing any fancy carving on that thing!

And now here we are, Sunday.  I got to help one of my piano students play prelude on the organ for the first time this morning.  He did fantastically!  Then it was my turn to play.  I finally got an adviser, so I didn't have to teach today, but I did get to introduce a new song that the Young Women will be singing at Christmas.

Now I want a nap.  But my neighbor is outside sawing things.  Like he was doing at 11pm the night before the temple trip.  I love my neighbor, I love my neighbor, I love my neighbor...

Sorry for all those who called/emailed last week--I honestly didn't have a minute to spare.  I'll work on catching up on life this week.  Hopefully.