Halloween Party & Weekend (31 w 3d)

OK.  The Halloween Party!  It went well.  Jake was silly and didn't have a costume.  I'd been asking him all week what he was going to wear, and he said he wasn't going to dress up.  I told him that it would be so lame if he didn't wear a costume at his own Halloween Party!  So, very last minute, he decided to wear his glasses (which he rarely wears) and went as "Jake with glasses."  I told him that if he would've put just a little more thought into it, he could've bought a black turtleneck and gone as Steve Jobs.  Oh well. :)

I wasn't sure how the decorations would work--because we didn't set them up until like a half hour before--but it looked good.  Just used fake black spider webs, some random Halloween stuff I'd bought that week, creepy curtains, etc.

Attendance was good.  The Cooks, Hendersons, Shumways, Whitakers, Hunts, Christensens, Randalls, the Burkheads, Derek Thompson (Alicia was home watching their sick kids, she told him to go), Mike, and Jake's co-worker Ben and his pregnant girlfriend Hilary (she's also having a boy in December).  Jake and I agreed that next time we should just invite a lot more people... we didn't want to invite a ton of people this time.

We mostly just visited and ate.  I think it was nice for Kate to meet a lot of pro-family, pro-children people. :)  Elizabeth Christensen had 3 kids in 20 months (she had a set of twins).  A lot of the women here have 3 or 4 kids; the Cooks have 5.  People were surprised to hear that she's 6 months pregnant and was carrying around a 9 month old baby :)  Ben and Hilary came towards the end, too.  I think they may have been a little bored at our Mormon party, but that's okay. :)  Jake took the guys downstairs to play old video games and his drum set.  And then we all played Psychiatrist, which was funny.  People were gone by 10:30.  It was fun.  Lila spent the evening with the Caldwells, and she had a blast too.  When she came home, she had fun playing with my Halloween mask.  Jake taught her that Halloween is funny, not scary, and to laugh like a witch:

So, that was that.  Saturday was busy.  Jake spent the morning helping the Hendrix's finish the playhouse they've been building for their daughters.  (Brother Hendrix broke his back falling off a ladder this summer; I wonder if it was while he was working on the playhouse.)  Jake is their home teacher.  A pretty awesome one, if I may so so myself. :)  He had 6 or 7 other men there helping.  I spent the morning at Holly's baby shower that Jessica Wesel hosted.  But, since Jess hadn't planned very well, she scheduled the shower a few days before Holly's due date, and Holly had her baby on Friday morning!  So, Holly was at the hospital with her baby, but we Facetimed with them as we were opening presents and got to see the baby.  Holly's daughter Ella (we babysit her for date night swap) looks just like Lila, super blond and fair.  Holly is also super blond and fair, and her husband is pretty fair too.  Well, this little baby (actually the same size as Lila was, 8 1/2 lbs), has a full head of dark brown hair!  Crazy!  So, Holly woke up early Friday morning (maybe around 4 or 5) having contractions and since she'd been having them every morning that week, didn't know if she should go in.  She called her doctor, who told her she should probably come in.  They dropped Ella off at the Wesels at 6:30am, and had the baby at 7:17am!!!  Yikes!!  Maybe we shouldn't plan on going to Mike's wedding if it's on December 17th.  I've heard that second babies come a lot faster than the first.  Yikes.  So, she obviously didn't have any drugs or an epidural.

Lila had fun playing outside during the shower with the Wesels' older kids and the Greens' kids.  (Robyn and Christian Green came back to visit for the weekend.)  I sat around visiting with them for a while.  They wanted to know more about Mike and Cassandra.  Robyn said, "So, Mike finally conquered the independent Cassandra."  And I said, "It took a lot of work!"

Jake came home at 1 or 1:30, Mike came by for a bit too.  We had lunch and then laid down for a bit before Jake went to work on fixing either the generator or the snowblower that he was thinking about buying from our neighbor Justin.  Emily came over at dinner and made us chicken and rice.  She always makes her food really salty. :)  And then we got Lila ready for the trunk-or-treat.

This girl is WAYYYY too cute!!  She didn't like it at first (obviously) but she was fine as soon as we got her socks and shoes on.  The trunk-or-treat was okay.  Lila was still too little to play any of the games, but she sure liked getting candy and carrying around her pink pumpkin bucket.  We stopped at Walmart on the way home.  When we got home, I finished getting my Primary stuff done and organized.  Jake gave Lila a bath with her new toys that we bought her.  (She only has like one bath toy, and a cup she plays with, and she likes washcloths.  We've felt bad for a long time but always forget to buy them at the store.  Jake said, "I feel bad when she gets in the tub and says, 'Dolphin!'")

Mike and Cassandra stopped by for a bit.  It was our first time seeing Cassandra since they got engaged.  She and her mom went dress shopping but didn't find anything.  She'd really like it if her mom and sister could make her dress, but that wouldn't be able to happen in time for a December wedding.  I think I heard Mike say to Jake on the phone today that she suggested waiting till January so that they could make her dress, but of course Mike doesn't like that.  (I do!!  I'd have my baby by then! :)   Jake and Mike played with Lila --

Funny.  Lila was up till 11 or later again.  ARGGH.  The girl isn't feeling well right now and we're not quite sure what it is.  I figure it has to be teeth.  She puts her hands over her ears a lot, is grinding and clicking her teeth, doesn't have a regular appetite, is very clingy to me.  After she went to bed I cried for a while because I'm really tired.  I've been more irritable with Jake than usual lately.  He's told me a few times that I'm acting weird, and I am.  But I feel like Jake's been pretty insensitive about my pregnancy (of course, I'm more sensitive than normal, so I don't know... maybe he's just acting like he always does).  I said the other night that I wish I could lay on him like I do when I'm not pregnant, and we cuddle that way.  He said, "You would crush me! And the baby!"  Thanks, Jake.  And when I tell him about my worries about having another baby and how hard it will be balancing the needs of Jared and Lila and running on little sleep, he just says, "It'll be fine."  That's what he almost always says whenever I tell him I'm worried or nervous about something.  Annoying.  So we talked about how he needs to be more understanding when I tell him about my worries.  He's a good husband and dad, and things like that don't usually bother me because I'm used to it... I just think the hormones are getting to me.  And I think I'm probably a little on edge because he's leaving on Tuesday for four days.

We were like 15 minutes late for church today.  Woops.  We were all pretty tired this morning.  But Lila did well during sacrament meeting.  She is the cutest thing.  Really.  I think she's going to be a musician.  She says, "I want songie" at church because she likes when we sing hymns.  She'll sit so reverently, holding a hymn book, and "sing" along.  In her Eloise children's book, there's a page that has some sheet music printed on it, and that's her favorite page.  And she loves pianos.  After church we sat in the Primary room for a bit playing the piano with her, and she loved it when we played "A Child's Prayer" and she calls it "Heavenly Fa-der" and likes when we sing.  Jake wants to buy a keyboard soon, for Christmas.

Primary went really well.  Our new presidency is amazing.  The most exciting thing that happened: a Valiant girl threw up right at the end.  Yikes.

Took naps after church, had lunch, played with Lila.  Jake cooked us dinner while Lila and I played with play dough for the first time (I look so big because I'm wearing Jake's shirt):

She's very delicate and gentle.  I think she still has some texture issues because she was very hesitant to touch it.  You can hear Jake chopping vegetables in the background.

And then Lila "helped" Jake cook (and I freaked out a few times because I thought she was going to touch the griddle):

And now Jake and Lila are home teaching the Randalls.  Their appointment started at 7, but I guess I'm not surprised they're still gone.  Jake's a pretty chatty home teacher.

Can you tell I love my new iPhone? :) And my daughter?