Halloween/ Ice Storm/ Thanksgiving at Churchill Downs
We had our ward trunk or treat at a members farm the Saturday before Halloween. It was great having an event that was not at the church. It was cold, but nice to be in a big space where the kids could run around in. The primary was in charge of providing games, we had bean bag toss, ring toss, search in the hay game, and a craft. Ever since watching The Greatest Showman, Madelyn has wanted to be Anne Wheeler for Halloween. I looked everywhere for a costume, but couldn't find one so I decided to make it with a purple leotard she had. Ian wanted to be Calvin from the comic Calvin and Hobbes, I think Rylan convinced him because he has been that character for Halloween a couple times in the past.
There was a big debate on our towns social media page on whether to switch trick or treating nights. There was a horrible rain storm predicted Halloween night on the 31st. Some of the surrounding towns switched, and our town was firm on keeping Halloween on the 31st. But they got so many disappointed comments that they changed it by about 5pm on the 29th to the 30th.
On the 30th it was such a beautiful fall day, about 65 degrees I did a workout then joined Ian’s class at a pumpkin patch for a field trip. He gave me a hug and introduced me to some of his friends. But he mostly ignored me and did his own thing, and when I asked if I could sit next to him on the hay ride he said the seat next to him was saved for his friend. Then I sat with him while he ate his lunch and he told his friends that I sit at home all day and watch Ellen. Last time I go on a field trip with my hysterical son. When the kids got home they painted their pumpkins and started to get ready for trick or treating which started at 5. Madelyn was invited to go to Ashleah’s house for dinner and trick or treating, I offered to make some mummy hot dogs for the party and made some for our family as well. Rylan didn't get done with band practice until 6 so Ian waited on him and passed out candy for me until he got home. Then Calvin and Hobbes were off, Rylan joined some of his friends and Ian felt so special being with the big boys, they were out until 8:00. I passed out candy on the porch in my Mary Poppins costume, Scott sat out with me. It was weird not going around but kind of nice. We went through two bags of candy probably over 400 pieces in 3 hours. Ian said he saw our dentist and stopped him to show him the tooth he lost a couple weeks ago. I’m sure Dr. Peace loved that!
Ian's teacher asked me if I would be in charge of their class Halloween party. We had 4 stations, bingo, a spider web craft, skeleton puzzle, and the eyeball dig (in spaghetti noodles). There are 27 kids in Ian’s class and it was chaos! The kids rotated wrong but we couldn’t figure out how, and in one of the stations they always finished first and had to wait, but I think the kids had fun. We had about 20 minutes for snacks, I had set up an online sign-up and asked for some things and I had all of the slots filled with what I needed and some parents sent in more things, it was nice but kind of unnecessary and I had wished that they would have let me know. Anyway, after just being there for an hour I was sweaty and exhausted! At about 6 the thunderstorm that was forecasted rolled in.
Since it was mutual night, and it was supposed to be Halloween, nothing was planned so at about 4:30 Rylan and his friend Jonah decided to invite the teachers Quorum to come over to our house and watch a scary movie at 7:00. There were about 4 boys here and they choose to watch Signs. I made them popcorn and they pigged out on Halloween candy, I love that our basement is a cool place to hang out for them.
There was an ice storm in November and our house was covered in ice when we woke up. We got a call at 6 am saying that school was canceled which means that seminary was canceled too. The grass had icicles around the blades, we have a little tree in our front landscaping and the branches were bent down and the limbs were encased in ice, it was the craziest thing! Tree limbs had ice freeze to it and the weight of the ice made huge tree branches fall. We don't have any mature trees in our neighborhood but behind us, there is a grove of trees and I kept hearing loud cracks and booms from branches falling down.
Turkey-Leah (I just bought a pre cooked turkey breast )
Mashed Potatoes- Madelyn
Green beans with bacon- Rylan
Rolls- Ian
Pumpkin pie, sparkling cider, -Sam’s club
Chocolate cream pie-Scott
We made a shopping list and after lunch when I knew the temps were warmer and all possible ice was melted, Madelyn and I went to the store to get our supplies and also supplies for our ward thanksgiving dinner the next day. I signed up to bring stuffing, cranberry sauce and then I was asked to cook a turkey. I have been an adult for 18 years, and somehow I have always gotten away withOUT making a full bird turkey! But I was too ashamed to say that when the EQ president asked me to cook one for the ward dinner. Thanks to pinterest and oven bags my turkey was a success. Cooking the small turkey breast on the actual Thanksgiving day was not as hard or stressful. Especially with my little kitchen helpers
The morning of Thanksgiving, we all slept in, had a light breakfast then went for a 2 mile walk around Freeman Lake. The leaves were all off the trees and covering the path and it was beautiful. We walked on the route that Rylan practiced on for cross country that he knew really well. Then we came home and started food prep, I put the turkey breast in the oven, Ian and I started the rolls. Scott and Madelyn peeled and cut the potatoes, and about 20 minutes before the turkey was to be done, Rylan cooked the bacon and green beans, we almost forgot about gravy, we did that real quick before we ate. We always buy sparkling cider for special occasions and the kids love drinking out of our fancy goblets.
In the evening we played a round of the game Telestrations, then I taught the kids how to play Rummy, and we also played Quidler.
The day after Thansksgiving, the weather was supposed to be in the 50’s and we wanted to get out of the house so we gave the kids the options of a basketball game at the University of Kentucky or to watch some horse races at Churchill Downs in Louisville. ⅔ chose the latter, Ian wanted to go to a basketball game. He was mad and said he was just going to bring his book and not watch the horses. We drove up and parked and walked in, everyone was very nice and helpful and kept saying good luck to us, I guess most people probably place bets on the horses, not just watch the horses. We grabbed some burgers and waited for the horses to be brought out for the first race. They were beautiful creatures and they walked right up close to us with their trainer and jockey walking around a in a circle, then they put them in stalls that were open for the crowd to see and put on their saddles. Then they started walking towards the track and they had a bugler play the “call to post” tune as the jockeys and trainers took the horses to the start. Everyone had to rush to their seats to watch. It was pretty exciting to see, they had races every 30 minutes, we stayed for 4 races. To hear the thunder of the horses running at full speed was so thrilling.
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