Loving October

Evie's first 6th grade Orchestra Performance

Since Evie has played the cello now for a couple of years, she was placed in the 6th grade advanced orchestra class at school this year, and she was able to participate in a concert with the 6th and 7th graders and the Meridian Chamber Orchestra (an audition only high school orchestra.) My favorite piece was spooky-sounding, and at the end the whole orchestra jumped up and said, "Boo!" Cute stuff. I love that Evie plays the cello. It's a beautiful instrument and I love the look of concentration Evie gets when she plays. She had the opportunity to play "Search, Ponder, and Pray" during the Primary Program this year, and Clark and I were really proud of her. Julianna is now taking violin lessons and we had fun during the concert noticing which performers were "collapsing their wrists," something that Julianna struggles with a lot. The performance was just short enough that Russell and Leila sat through the whole thing and actually seemed pretty interested. Jocelyn was occupied eating every last mint from my little box of mints, after which she honored Julianna, Clark and myself by dividing her time between each of our laps. Towards the end of the performance she began "conducting" with both of her arms, and I thought she was quite good.

I'm thinking about cutting myself some bangs. Or, actually, I'm thinking about having someone else cut some bangs on me. I know some people cut their own hair, but I've never been particularly gifted when it comes to anything to do with hair. I've been trying to learn how to french braid, and I think I'm getting better. I tried to roll Leila's hair into sponge rollers for the first time last week and the result was decidedly so-so. But practice makes perfect, so by the time I have these four girls raised I'll have to be better than I am now! As for cutting hair, I haven't gotten up the courage to try to trim Julianna's hair again after the uneven mess I made of it last time. Mary said that maybe she'll let me trim Jentrey's hair when I come down to visit so she can tutor me. She is brave and so is Jentrey. If I get bangs again I'll post a picture. I haven't had long hair and bangs since I was ten.

Clark is very busy trying to get things set up for the new practice. We haven't closed yet. We don't even have a date yet, but it should be in the next couple of weeks. The idea of owing our own practice is overwhelming and exhilarating! It's like when you go from renting a house to owning. Clark is big on lists and since all this has happened with the new practice his to-do list has become out of control. I'm trying to help where I can, but there's a lot I can't do. Last week I got to see the new practice for the first time and it was awesome. It's only a few years old so everything is nice and new and more or less ready to go. I am so glad he's not having to start from scratch. It would be so much more work!

Here is Jocelyn being her cute, silly self . Please ignore the colossal mess and focus on the cute baby.

Halloween is in a few days and I still have a few odds and ends to do for the kids' costumes. Jocelyn is being a pink octopus, using Leila's hand-me-down costume, Russell wants to be Frankenstein, Leila a witch, Julianna an angel, and Evie a mime. Russell still needs me to find something the makes him look like he has bolts coming out of his head (my back up plan is painting them on), and Julianna needs a white dress. We are supposed to go to a trunk-or-treat tomorrow night so I'm starting to get stressed. I'm sure it will all come together, though. It always does. Happy Halloween everyone! Wishing you happy haunting and that your little trick-or-treaters will have an abundance of Reeses Pieces for you to snitch and a shocking lack of Tootsie Rolls.