Reverse Trick or Treating

Our family has had a tradition since Owen's first Halloween. We dressed him up in his Halloween costume and he and I took candy to the university (SUIC at that time) and handed out candy to the teachers and students in the theater department. Since then we have kept up the tradition. Every year I take whichever kids are home during the day, we dress up in our Halloween costumes, fill a bucket full of candy, and we go visit Bryce at work and hand out candy. We've called it reverse trick or treating.

Today River fully embraced her role in our annual reverse trick or treating ritual. She chased people - students, teachers, and staff alike - around the Browning Center at Weber State University giving everyone she saw a piece of candy, until her basket was empty. She told me afterwards that she had a lot of fun and wished that she had more candy to give to people. I know my other kids have enjoyed doing this in the past too, and I hope that in a small way it has given them the opportunity to experience the joy of giving at Halloween time - and not just focusing on what will fill their candy buckets later that evening. It has also helped me enjoy this holiday more and I find myself looking forward to bringing a piece of candy and a smile to others on Halloween.

Nesting

Our new little baby girl will be joining our family in just over 6 weeks. I'm a bit nervous and apprehensive while also becoming more excited every day.

 

As my pregnancy progresses, I've been trying to get my home and family ready to welcome a new little baby in just a short time. One big change that we've implemented is upgrading our front room furniture. Bryce's brother, Jon, and his wife, Laurie had a friend who were getting rid of a couch and love seat and they brought them over for us. The kids and I got to scrub them down and get them clean and now they have replaced our worn out couch and chair in the front room.

Another huge change happened this past weekend. River's room is going to eventually be the baby's room, and that meant moving River into MayLynn's bedroom. Friday afternoon,  all three of my kids helped sort through all of MayLynn's toys and everything, and got everything clean and organized. On Friday evening, my parents came and helped me get MayLynn's bed taken out of her room, assembled the girls' new bunk bed, and got the new mattresses in place. On Saturday we got the bedding put on the beds, the kids and I cleaned River's room, my sister, Emily, helped me assemble a new bookshelf, and we got both girls' toys and books organized and put together into their "new" bedroom. The girls love their new beds and they made it though their first night sharing a bed room.

We still have a few things that need doing - Bryce is refinishing a dresser for River, I need to sort through the baby's things and get her room organized, and we need to get our room reorganized so the baby can be in our room for the first little while after she is born. But I still have 6 weeks, and by then we should have our home ready to welcome our new little baby girl.