"The Juice Joint"

The Kendrick adults had a murder mystery dinner for Halloween. It was set in a speak easy in the 1920's. We had a great time! Coming up with a costume for me was a bit tricky given my large tummy, but we managed. Doing my short hair flapper-style was a lot of fun!

Buster's first haircut

Before:


After:

Kendrick Kid Halloween Party

It's October! Last Saturday, the Kendricks had a Halloween party just for the under-12 set. It was great! They had hot dogs, decorated cupcakes, colored on pumpkins, and of course, had a piñata. This year, Kandy is a Japanese girl, Missy is Jasmine, Sunny is Cinderella, and Buster is Winnie the Pooh. Unfortunately, I took off his jacket so it wouldn't get messy for the food, so he's not wearing it in the pictures. Oh, well.

Buster gets a swing at the piñata (the swinging tombstone).
He took less coaching than some of our kids.

Kandy's turn!

Missy takes a whack.

Sunny's turn

At some point the bat was being re-taped, and Buster decided to use the chopsticks Kandy had taken out of her hair to go after the piñata. His 7-year-old cousin was very worried, but I told him Buster had no chance of breaking it with chopsticks!

That thing did not want to break! After falling off the rope a second time (all the kids had 2 turns), we dumped the candy out of the hole in the top.

Buster, wanting to do it all over again!

California

We had a fabulous trip to California! Ben's grandma is turning 90 this year, so all Ben and all of his six natural siblings gathered to celebrate. We spent a lot of great time with family!

At Gramma's open house:
(Clockwise) Ben, Kandy, Gramma, X, L, Buster

We were staying at Ben's aunt's house along with his brother and his family. Seven little girls and two little boys, total. I spent the first evening holding six-week-old "X" as he slept, thinking how grateful I am to be having another baby. As he cried through the night, though, I had my doubts. ;) He did better the next night!

Friday evening, we went to dinner with Ben's nephew (who is only 6 months younger than he is) and his family. We haven't seen them outside of the occasional family party, so it was nice to have good time with them again.

On Saturday, we spent the day at Aaron's, another of Ben's brothers. They have a beautiful swimming pool. I enjoyed the water so much that I stayed in long enough to get a beauty of a sunburn. Oops. That evening, we left all the cousins together, and the adults headed out for dinner at Macaroni Grill. After we got back to Aaron's house, we gathered to listen to Ben's dad and siblings share their memories of Gramma.

Sunday was the open house for all of Gramma's other family and friends to wish her a happy birthday. We started back home Sunday night.

It was a bit of a whirlwind trip, but it was great to see so much family.

Quotable Quotes XXI

Buster was dropping his sippy cup so Kandy could pick it up. After several times, she said, "Is this a game?"

"Game!" Buster replied, dropping it again.

He is really starting to talk a lot. It's not always clear, but it is so fun to see his vocabulary expand. He even said the prayer at dinner last night.

Kendrick Sick House

It has been a while since I posted because there hasn't been anything fun going on. Kandy started a fever last Saturday morning. We attempted to keep the illness limited to her by quarantining her in her bedroom, but Missy joined her there after school on Monday with her own fever. By Tuesday, Kandy's fever was gone, but we kept her home from school because she was still contagious. I think she and Missy had a fun day together. Kandy went to school Wednesday, and Missy stayed home.

On Friday, we finally ventured out of the house together, assuming everyone was well. It was nice to get out after being cooped up all week. As the day wore on, I realized there was more than one runny nose in the family, although no one seemed alarmingly ill. Friday night, though, Missy had a fever again. I didn't take it today, but this evening she was listless and tired. Her temperature was up, but it did come down with medicine.

It has been a very long and trying week. I hope the rest of you are feeling better than we are here!

In happier news, we really enjoyed General Conference today. I used to get stressed out about the kids' behavior, but we have since decided they each need to watch just one session out of the four general sessions. I am thrilled to report, though, that even we don't ask them to watch every one, they still tend to gravitate toward us and/or the television. They watched more than one session today, which makes me happy.