I've Been Sent to My Room

I have been sent to my room this evening. 

When Abe came home from work and realized I was not feeling well (sore throat and cough) he let me finish my dinner and then told me I was not going to read to the kids tonight and that we were not going to carve pumpkins tonight.  I was to go to bed.

This is the A #1 most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me.   All you mothers out there--- you hear me, right?  Surely, you would agree that having your hubby demand that you go upstairs to your room for some R&R while he cleans up dinner and puts children to bed is beyond a dream come true.  Forget a weekend getaway.  Flowers?  Chocolates? Who cares?  Time to rest and know that the house will not implode while I lie upon my bed?  GLORIOUS! I could not love that man more than I do this very moment.

And it has been almost a week since I've blogged, so this will be a post of my varied thoughts and activities over the past week.  First off, you may (or may not) have noticed that my blogging has been a bit sparser over the past month.  That is because I have been anxiously engaged in another very worthy cause.  I am done nursing and I am getting myself in shape!  I have been exercising mucho much and have lost about 12 pounds.  Yippee, skippy!  I am feeling great and it is well worth the state of constant muscle soreness I am living in.  I am doing a variety of exercises, including yoga (shout out to Christine), Zumba (shout out to Andrea), walking (shout out to Michelle), jogging, and DVDs by my lonesome in my living room.  Actually, I have quite an audience when I workout at home and they provide commentary about what trainers they do or don't like and what music they do or don't like.  They are rather distracting, but I suppose I am somewhat flattered that they find me so interesting.  That likely will not last.  Now that I am no longer nursing my appetite has been reigned in as well and I no longer feel the need to eat my house at each sitting. 

Do any of you remember Get in Shape, Girl from the 80's?  Just so you know I owned my very own set of weighted bangle bracelets.  I am calling my endeavor "Operation, Get in Shape, Girl".  I shall give updates on my progress.

Okay, new topic.

Elinor and her friend made cornbread muffins all by themselves last Saturday.  I didn't help at all.  In fact, I purposefully stayed very far away from them so they would not come and ask me anything.  I knew they could figure it out and I find it challenging to keep my mouth shut while they make a rather large mess in the kitchen.  My favorite part was listening to 3rd graders who haven't done much with fractions yet try to figure out and find the right size measuring cups.
"We need the one, two."
"No, that's a two, three"
"Oh, here it is... no wait, that is a three, four".

The first batch was woefully undercooked.  Nevertheless, they were thrilled with their work and insisted everyone taste test it.  I suppose it was "good" in the same way cake batter is "good"-- in that it has a lot of sugar in it and it was sweet.  Fortunately the 2nd and 3rd trays were edible and I could honestly compliment them on their efforts.

We had to document Georgie's first attempts to fold his arms for prayer.  Abe announced to the kids it was time for prayer for a meal and Georgie immediately did a little arm fold.  We were all so thrilled with his accomplishment and he was thrilled that we were cheering and clapping for him.  Ah, the joys of family life!

We took our annual sojourn to Gardner Village this week to go see the witches.  It was nice and I'm glad we went, but this particular outing was completed out of sheer respect for tradition.  It was cold and late in the evening when we went.   We knew if we didn't go that night, it wasn't going to happen this year.  So we went.  Is there value in doing something nobody really feels like doing just for tradition's sake?  I guess we think so.

They don't have the "Will Cast Spells for Chocolate" witch anymore.

It's for the best since I have given up chocolate for a while.  I know... crazy, huh?

The reason Abe told me I was not to read to the kids tonight is that we are racing to finish reading Robinson Crusoe.  We will have our older kid's book club on Tuesday and with Monday being Halloween we don't have much time.  And we have a lot of book left to go.  It is rather long, but it's fantastic and we're enjoying it.  I think I may have to swing by the library tomorrow to get it on CD.  With this sore throat my voice may not hold out for me to read it all aloud.  A couple of nights ago Bethany was saying our family prayer and we all got a good chuckle when she ended by praying, "And please bless that mom will stay up and read Robinson Crusoe to us".
Little do they know that I love nothing more than having them beg, plead and pray for me to read aloud classic literature to them!!!!  Ha, ha!  My master plan is working!!!!!

Clark had his last football practice tonight and his last game is at noon tomorrow.  We are all sad that football season is at an end.  It has been wonderful for him to have such a positive way to channel all that 12 year old boy aggression.  We need another outlet.  Fast.

Here is a sneak preview of the Halloween festivities that are to follow.  We were invited by Allison to bring the kids downtown to her work to trick or treat around her office at Zions Bank.  As you can see, I dressed up with them-- like I'm going to let them have all the fun!  But I refrained from trick-or-treating.  You know, "Operation: Get in Shape Girl" and all.  Clark has a toy machine gun to go with his mob-boss get up, but we thought he ought not take that into a bank.  People just have no sense of humor these days.
On Monday Abe will be with us and I'll put up a good family Halloween picture.

Well, this has been lovely chatting with you, even if it was somewhat one sided :)  I think I'll take Abe's advice now and go to bed.