Reflections on October

Is it strange or telling that last night I dreamed Martha Stewart told me I was carrying too much? Granted, I was holding laundry in my dream, although I was at the gym. (Yes...my dreams are weird.) But maybe she was trying to tell me something more. Do I put too much on my plate at one time?

It is probably the wrong time of year to ask that. The days preceding Halloween are always a blur of costume finishing, pumpkin carving, school party attending, parade watching madness. I actually didn't sign up to help in anyone's Halloween party this year. (I'm sure I'll hear about it later. But trust me...they have fun whether or not I am there.)

Also, I can feel NaBloPoMo breathing down on me. I often use November to catch up on all my blogging, but somehow I didn't realize it is three days away. I have plenty of posts, so I should have content for three weeks at least. (If I can keep up.)

Oh, and they asked me to be in charge of the Ward Christmas Party again. I have no comment at the moment. (Read: I can't say anything positive so I won't say anything at all.)

But I don't feel I am carrying too much necessarily. (Although I will try to heed your words of wisdom, Martha.)

In the meantime, let's catch a few fun pictures from the month.

June had her first orchestra concert. She has been doing really well on her violin. She started Jr. High in intermediate orchestra and I think she will be ready for advanced next year.

It was a good concert, and I have to admit that even beginning orchestra sounded fantastic, but I think it was due to the sheer mass of children playing. Sometimes more is more.

For her orchestra class, June had to attend and report on a second concert that she wasn't performing in, so she opted for the band concert because we missed choir. Of course, band was the only group that started at 6 instead of 7, so we only arrived in time to hear two songs. So June and Hannah found a free concert on BYU campus to go to. They attended OcTUBAfest. Wow. I dropped them off and they went by themselves. It was fine and fun for them, but it feels like they are growing up too fast. It isn't time for me to be dropping my kids off on campus yet.

Ivory and Robyn go to activity days since they fall between the ages of 8-11. Sometimes they go together, and more often they are in separate groups. For this activity they combined because who doesn't want as many kids as possible involved when you are baking cupcakes and cookies. They came back with some really fun looking treats.

But I admit that the popcorn hands were my favorite. I believe they are a four armed monster in this picture. Well, not so many arms actually. A four-handed monster then.

October is also the month that Reflections is due. I didn't push the kids at all this year. Only two got around to entering something. Ivory made this ladybug using Tyler's Photoshop program.

June drew her project much earlier. She did a zentangle in the shape of a bird. I loved how it turned out.

Oh, the theme this year is 'Let Your Imagination Fly.' I liked the detail on June's piece. I love the hearts spreading out here and especially the changing thickness of the lines down below.

That is all for today, but expect more in the upcoming month.