First of all, I hope you all had a fabulous Halloween.  Ours was good, but I definitely have to disagree with Lily's statement that  "trick-or-treating is always better without husbands."  (She was trying to console me at the time, which is funny, since it was back when I was breaking the news to her that daddy would be gone.)  Our week has been a wild one – way too busy, especially with all the added stuff on our plates from getting back from vacation.  It's all good though, and hey, we have survived so far :).

You see, we got home from Disney on Saturday night, only to have our Primary Program staring me in the face when I got back.  (Back before our wards changed, I had the program scheduled for September, and so it wasn't even near our trip.  Oh well.) Things went well, the kids did great, Lily had her line memorized, etc, but I was still pretty frazzled. 

The one sad thing was that I realized too late that Lily should have been sitting next to me, as all she did the whole program was dance around, and she didn't sing a word – which is especially sad since she is usually the best singer in primary.  What could I expect though – she is four and she did JUST get back from a pretty intense vacation :). 

Monday was wild as well, between having a Presidency meeting at my house, doing laundry, Kevin getting packed for his training, etc.  And then Lily had been invited to her friend Ellie's birthday princess party.  She had a wonderful time, and the party was so cute and well done. 

Us being at the party also gave Kevin a chance to pack while we were gone, so that when we got back we could have Family Home Evening.  Lily had been waiting and waiting to carve a pumpkin with daddy – their yearly tradition.  And even with all the other stuff she did that day, she said that carving the pumpkin was her favorite thing.  She really is a daddy's girl! 

I'm especially glad she got the special daddy time, because Monday night, very late, Kevin left for WLC, his NCO training (Non-Commissioned Officer, for those of you who don't know all the crazy military acronyms).

  Tuesday I cleaned, cleaned, cleaned.  Between Kevin packing for his training, and us trying to unpack, we had definitely had a tornado go through our house.  That night was a Halloween party for our apartment complex, which is always a fun one.  Lily was Cinderella (How many events can we get out of one dress?), and Derek was Troy Bolton from High School Musical (Kevin's awesome idea, although the only jersey we could find was way to big for Derek.  Kevin even got to play "build your own costume" and put on the letters.)

 We ended up leaving early though, because Derek's shorts kept getting caught on the Velcro tabs of his diaper.  Eventually, one of the tabs ripped off, and I looked down at Derek to see his diaper sliding down his leg!!  Needless to say, we were not staying with a diaperless little boy :), besides the fact that his pants were having a hard enough time staying on with the diaper, and without it, he kept showing off his bare bum :).

Wednesday, Halloween, Lily had her school party.  Once again, she had a blast.  That night was our Trunk-or-Treat (where we have the kids trick-or-treat from trunk to trunk in a parking lot, instead of house to house).  It went well and the kids had fun, but the nonstop activity and late bedtimes were starting to wear on the kids, so we cut our time there pretty short.   

The best part of Halloween was the phone call from Kevin!!  It was only for about 5 minutes, and the phone kept cutting out, but it was still wonderful.

Thursday was going to be our down day.  My friend Kristi came over, and we took the kids to play at the soft play at the mall.  After lunch, we went home and I had great plans to take a nap while Derek was sleeping, but you know what they say about plans . . . Well, I got a phone call from our awesome sister missionaries.  They were doing what I told them to do – call if they ever needed dinner or help with anything.  They asked if they could come over and bring Kim, this sweet girl who is getting baptized today, so instead of sleeping, I had to clean up and make dinner.  It was totally worth it though – we had such a wonderful night with them here, and I loved getting to know Kim.

Friday I was running around to errands and appointments like a crazy person from the time I dropped Lily at school until I picked her up.  Then we chilled for a bit, before we were off for another birthday party, this time for Lily's friend Emmalyn.  It was another fun party, but I was so worn out, that I was happy to get home and get the kids in bed. 

I wish I could say the week's craziness was over, but I would be lying.  At least the two activities for today are really wonderful ones.  First we get to go to Kim's baptism, and tonight we get to visit Kevin during his dinner hour.  (Hopefully I can find the place – it is about 45 minutes away in the middle of nowhere.)  We sure miss him, and can't wait to see him!!

Next week, will be different . . .