Hangin' In There and Thinking of Grandma Lemmon

 Here's me, still hanging in there and trying to survive being isolated from the rest of the world's population while Ollie gets over HFMD.

Actually, I shouldn't complain so much. It hasn't been as bad as it could've been. My older kids still have activities that they need to go to, and even if Ollie and I stay in the car, we still get to get out of the house and drive around and see the world while we cart the older kids to their stuff. So there's that small blessing to be grateful for.

We've taken the boys to their theater and art classes up in Orem. And Adelia to her preschool. And Lincoln to Harmony. Lincoln also had his last soccer game this week. I took him, while Aaron stayed home with everyone else. Linc played well. I didn't take any pictures though, because they didn't get their medals. Their real coach wasn't at the game, so one of the parents was subbing. I'm sure we'll get the medals in awhile, and then I'll take a picture of  Lincoln wearing his.

I love this picture of Del and Ollie being goofballs.

The boys also had piano lessons, And it was a beautiful day, so we decided to load Ollie and Del in the wagon and walk the boys to piano. Then we walked home, and I decided to let Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb play out in the driveway. They were cracking me up with all their silly antics. I think Ollie is starting to feel much better. He's been a lot more of his normal sweet, tease-bucket self. Thanks goodness for that.

When we do have to stay home, I've been trying to keep myself busy with projects. Adelia convinced me to start work on her Halloween costume. We (and by we I mean I, because I think I'm the only one who really cares) try to do a family theme for Halloween each year. This year Lincoln and Ivan really want to be Super heroes. Adelia, of course, wanted to be a princess. I talked her into agreeing to being a super hero by promising that she could wear a pink cape and a tutu. Heaven help me and my frilly, girly daughter. Ugh. Hehe. It's not anything I taught her, that's for sure. But I think I'll keep her anyway.

When I was a kid, my Grandma Lemmon sewed my Halloween costume every year. We'd just tell her what we wanted to be, and she'd make-up the pattern, and sew up a storm for all of October, and by the end my brothers and I had awesome Halloween costumes. I remember going over to her house for fittings, and to try things on, and to watch her sew. They are fun memories. My grandma loved Halloween, and she'd always tell us stories about the parties she went to when she was younger, and the costumes she'd made for those parties. The one I remember best is that she decided to dress up as a sailor, and she trimmed the hair off of her head and glued them onto her chest above her shirt, so that she could be a hairy-chested old sailor. And then she'd say, "I was so damn glamorous!" Haha! My Grandma Lemmon was the best.

Anyways, I can't sew a lick, so I will not be sewing Halloween costumes for my children or grandchildren, but I'd like to give them a little bit of Grandma Lemmon's magic if I can. I found a no-sew tutu tutorial (say that 5 times fast), and all it required was the ability to tie knots. I think I can handle that. So I got out the tulle and because cutting it and knotting it around a piece of stretchy elastic for Adelia's super hero tutu. There was glitter and tulle everywhere! But, the tutu turned out awesome. I'm excited for her to wear it.

As I was making Adelia's costume, and thinking about Grandma Lemmon, I remembered another tradition she used to do for us in October. Owl Cookies. I've tried to make these a tradition in our house as well. The kids and I make them together every year, and this week seemed the perfect time to make them again. I doubled the recipe so that Adelia had enough to take to preschool with her for her day for the treat bucket. Aren't they adorable?

Lincoln also had to give a report on bats at his Harmony class. So I've been working on helping him make his poster. Luckily, we studied bats for Science last year, so I already had a lot of templates and things saved the computer.

Lincoln decided he wanted to draw a picture of a bat cave, and a picture of a bat and label the parts. He also had the idea to print out pictures of different kinds of bats and glue them on to. I thought his poster turned out great. And he did really well presenting the information. When he brings his poster home from school, I'll get a video of him giving it again.