Thanksgiving

We don't have the photos to corroborate, but we did celebrate Thanksgiving with our families as per the usual. We ate a delicious Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' house on Thursday, November 26 with Uncle T and his family and Aunt Jessica. Then we had another dinner at Grandma Susan's house on Monday, November 30 with Grandma Hendricks. 

Ana holding Flea at Grandma Susan's house on Thanksgiving. We stopped by their house for a visit on the actual holiday. This cat doesn't like anybody, but Ana gradually wore her down with her constant attention while living at Grandma's house for four months.

Fall miscenllany

 The spider Miriam made with cardboard and straws to carry her cookie at Grandma Scott's house on September 8.

Rebekah was thrilled to find that we had parked right next to another gold Hyundai Entourage at the Idaho Falls Public Library on September 12, so she made a note and placed it under the windshield wiper of the twin.

Evidence of the twins.

When we got back out to the car, this note had been left under our wiper.

Rebekah's neck after playing the saxophone Grandpa Scott bought at an estate sale. The neck strap left its mark on September 14.

Miriam and Winnie playing mad scientist (with Igor the assistant) at Grandma Scott's house on September 19. 

Rebekah peering at Grandma Scott's microwave on September 21. Grandma's microwave numbers are quite dim.

Detail of the rainbow drip cake Ana made for Andrea's birthday on September 23 (the day after the birthday). The buttercream separated, but it still had a cool effect. 

The finished product of the dresser Andrea refinished September 30. The dresser used to be painted pink, and it used to be Winnie's. 

Seth letting Winnie stand on his shoulders in her old bedroom so she can see what it looked like after the ceiling was torn out on October 1. We hadn't planned to replace the ceiling in that bedroom, but after the workers got the old metal roof pulled off, it rained and leaked, causing damage to the existing sheetrock.

Winnie looking through one of Grandma Scott's cup at her house on October 3.

Winnie trying to set a piece of egg carton on fire with the magnifying glass Miriam gave her for her birthday October 4.

The creative nails Rebekah painted on Andrea's hand with acrylic paint on October 15.

Winnie wearing the swim cap Miriam used to be Voldemort for Halloween over her nose and eyes on October 17. 

Winnie, Miriam and Rebekah watching Ana play Among Us on Seth's laptop at Grandma Scott's house on October 21.

Winnie and Miriam wrapped up in a blanket ("Look, Mom! We're a buddy-rito!") in Grandma Scott's family room on October 27.

Ana dressed up for decades day at middle school on October 29. Ana was in quarantine (she had sat within six feet of a student who tested positive for COVID and so had to spend a week at home in case she had become infected) and participated in dress-up week from home.

Winnie and Seth holding a bunny we caught in our yard on October 2. We had come over to check on the progress of the house and saw the bunnies in the yard. Through a group effort, we were able to catch one so everyone who wanted to could take a turn holding it.

Miriam with the bunny.

Seth lovin' the bunny. The bunny did not seem to reciprocate.

Ana and the bunny.

After bunny chasing, Bekah posed on the water skis that had been abandoned in our attic (and pulled down by the workers) on set on the old front porch.

A view of the attic above the upstairs bedrooms. Andrea climbed up there while working on the house with Grandpa Scott on November 3.

Andrea in the attic. She and Grandpa Scott were fixing the fan and light for the bathroom. Andrea had to screw something into a flange from the attic while Grandpa Scott worked below.

Winnie tries out her blue goo she made as part of the 3rd grade science fair on November 5. The kids were assigned projects. Winnie made goo from water, cornstarch and food coloring. Rather than having parents and families come see the posters and projects, students just presented to their classes this year due to COVID.

Bekah laughing after teeing off for frisbee golf from a willow tree at Peterson Park on November 7. Andrea and Bekah were on a mommy-daughter date. We tried golfing at Freeman Park, but there was a tournament going on there, so they golfed at Peterson and Eagle Pointe Parks instead. Teeing off from the tree was Rebekah's idea when we couldn't find the last tee box at Peterson.

Seth kisses Winnie good night in the guest bedroom at Grandma Scott's house on November 14. Miriam usually slept in the bedroom alone, but Winnie would sometimes join her for a sleepover in the full bed.

Bekah, Ana, Winnie, Grandma Scott (you can see her socks), Seth and Miriam participate in a Come, Follow Me lesson during home church at Grandma Scott's on November 22. Due to COVID, we had church at home for months. We would assign out parts of the lesson the girls to teach.

Winnie and Miriam help Grandma Scott display her nativities in her curio cabinet on November 23.

Ana participates in tennis lessons at the Apple Athletic Club facility on November 24. Ana started the twice-a-week lessons in September.

Ana and Winnie watch Seth play Among Us on his laptop at Grandma Scott's kitchen on November 25. 

A view of Seth's screen during Among Us.

The dining room chairs Andrea was working to refinish in the shop on November 26. The chair on the left has been sanded but not stained yet. The chair in the middle had one coat of stain. The one on the right had two. Andrea ended up doing four coats of stain on the chairs and the table.

Winnie's baptism

 Before the pumpkin carving, the movie watching or the candy eating, we got to spend the morning of Halloween doing something infinitely better than celebrating a fun holiday.

Winnie chose to be baptized. And since her baptism is in 2020, things are a little different. Rather than having a big stake baptism with lots of people in attendance, our stake has given the wards and families the reins when it comes to the scheduling of the ordinance and the program. Everyone wore masks. We helped sanitize the chairs and piano before and after our event. (Two more kids from our ward were baptized later that day.)

After we had consulted everyone's calendars, we offered two dates for Winnie's baptism: October 17 or October 31. She thought getting baptized on Halloween sounded like the perfect day, so we let everyone know we'd be doing that at 10 a.m. on October 31.

It was an intimate event. We had all four grandparents, her one great-grandparent, one great-aunt, one aunt, her sisters, her parents, her bishop, her Primary president and two people from the stake in attendance. Seth, Grandpa Scott and Grandpa Dennis stood in the circle while she was confirmed. Winnie picked the songs but left the rest of the program up to us. 

It was beautiful. It was spiritual. It was perfect.

Andrea doing Winnie's hair while Miriam brushes her teeth before the baptism.

Family picture before the baptism.

Winnie and Seth before the baptism.

Andrea and Winnie before the baptism.

Grover girls before the baptism.

Winnie and Seth making a Marco Polo for Emma before Winnie's baptism. Emma had been scheduled to be baptized in Italy the week before. We were going to be able to watch it via Zoom. But then Italy shut down any non-vital travel, so her baptism is postponed for now.

Winnie's baptism program.

Family talking after the confirmation. Aunt Patty, Grandma Hendricks, Grandma Susan, Grandpa Dennis, Ana, Miriam.

Grandma Hendricks, Grandma Susan, Grandpa Dennis, Grandma Scott, Grandpa Scott and Winnie at our church after the baptism and confirmation. We had a brunch at the church building after we were finished at the stake center.

Halloween

 Halloween looked a little different for all of us this year. The festivities started off with a party at my friend Robyn's house on Saturday, October 17. We all had specialty masks that worked with our costumes.

The younger girls had fun decorating cookies and playing games. We all had fun eating good food and visiting. The girls all loved on the dogs that were in attendance.

Andrea making Miriam's face white. Grandpa Scott shot pictures of us getting ready for the party. 

Grandma helping Ana with her apron.

The cutest scarecrow.

Bunnymort?

Grandma and Ana putting gingersnaps on a platter to go with our pumpkin pie dip.

Group photo outside Grandma's house.

Seth the magician and Andrea his white rabbit. Seth received the purple sequin jacket for his birthday from his brother Jason, and one of the first things Seth said was, "If I ever need to dress up as a magician, I have the right jacket." So we rolled with it. Gratefully our neighbors the Wests have a top hat we could borrow. Rebekah the scarecrow. Ana the baker. Miriam as Voldemort. Winnie as Snape. The Voldemort and Snape masks were difficult to make for this non-artist.

Miriam, Ana and Winnie loving the dogs at the party.

Andrea and her childhood best friend Lauralynn (Robyn's sister) visiting from Kuna. 

Then the girls dressed up for school on Friday, October 30.

Miriam and Winnie in their respective costumes. Sizing down a graduation robe for an adult is tricky business. 

Winnie and her mask.

Miriam and hers.

Ana was officially in quarantine since she had had close contact (sat within six feet in class) with someone who tested positive for COVID, so she reused my bunny costume and got to watch her student council friends play Just Dance over Zoom.

Seth and I had had a talk with the girls who are still of trick-or-treating age, and we decided to play it safe and not have the girls go door-to-door for treats on Halloween night. Instead we took them "shop or treating" as the younger two called it. We gave the girls a $12 candy allowance, took them all to Winco, and let them pick out their pumpkins for carving and their Halloween candy. 

It was pretty crazy taking a whole bunch of bulk bin bags to the checkout line. We divided up the girls' spoils on the conveyor belt with the pumpkins. The cashier wondered who got the pig ears as a trick or treat. (The girls picked them out for Peach.)

All the treats getting rung up.

It was a good lesson in budgeting and math. Ana learned that jelly beans weight a lot and therefore take up a good chunk of your allowance. Miriam learned that she needs to write down the number for each of the bins on the tags before we take them to the front to pay. Winnie learned that she can get a lot of different candies if she only gets a few of each. Bekah learned that $12 = two pounds of Swedish fish plus some gummy butterflies.

Then on the actual holiday, we turned the girls loose on their pumpkins.

Bekah scooping out her pumpkin.

Ana's mini pumpkin barfing out its guts.

Winnie carefully carving her pumpkin. It was the first time she actually got to do any cutting. She only cut through to where she wasn't supposed to once.

Miriam drawing on a mini pumpkin that accompanied her larger carved pumpkin.

Bekah with her Pennywise jack o' lantern (she picked a very complicated pattern that took her a long time, but it paid off!), Ana with her scary pointy-toothed jack o' lantern and her baby scared jack o' lantern, Winnie with her unicorn jack o' lantern and her mini self pumpkin (Andrea helped her carve this year), and Miriam with her half regular Jack Skellington/half spooky Jack Skellington jack o' lantern and her mini Sally pumpkin (Seth helped her carve this year).

Obligatory silly photo.

The jack o' lanterns all lit up on the basement stairs at Grandma Scott's house.

Our COVID-safe trick-or-treating station at Grandma Scott's.

Miriam and Winnie decorating the trailer with silly string. They had hoped to use it on the man who lives across the street from Grandma Scott who likes to silly string the trick-or-treaters, but we came up with an alternate plan since we weren't going door-to-door.

Miriam and Winnie dressed up in alternate costumes to trick-or-treat at their grandparents' houses.

From there, Ana and Bekah went down to Grandma Susan's house to eat pizza and watch Coraline with a couple of Ana's friends, and Seth, Winnie, Miriam and I watched The Nightmare Before Christmas at Grandma Scott's.