Some Bad Days and a Harry Potter Party

We have been struggling with Nikki lately and her feeling down a lot. I was called twice the week before last week by her school's counselor. The 2nd time they had me come in and meet with the counselor and the resource officer. Nikki has had thoughts of suicide and just feeling like everyone hates her and she hates herself. They have recommended twice now to take her to a hospital for mental health or to at least get her into her therapist as soon as she could. It was on a Thursday when that happened and normally she does see her therapist on Thursday afternoons but her therapist was out of town. Fortunately we were able to get Nikki in to see one of the other therapists that works at the same place. I actually liked her better because she actually pulled me into her office with Nikki after talking with Nikki alone. The other therapist doesn't talk to me unless I specifically ask questions so I don't really know what's going on. The therapist said she didn't think Nikki was to the point of needing to go to the hospital but gave me the suggestion to take her to a psychiatrist and gave me a couple of names she recommended. 

She didn't have the greatest day on Friday at school but she did go. Curtis decided that she needed to get out of the house and get her mind off everything so he took her out to Boise Saturday morning. They went to Freak Alley in downtown Boise where the building's walls are covered with artwork. Then they hiked up to Table Rock up on the cliff and then drove out to Lucky Peak. Taking her out seemed to do the trick. She had started out the day in a negative mood but then after they got back she was feeling good again and even started to work on her artwork. She hasn't done much of that lately. She also spent most of the day on Sunday doing artwork and continued to be in a good mood. That mood has seemed to have carried over into the whole last week because most of it she was doing good. Even though she was doing artwork for school it still made me happy to see her happy doing art again. However, Monday night she came into our room crying after everyone had gone to sleep.  She climbed into bed next to me and just cried for a bit and then I went out to the front room with her. Shortly after Curtis came out also. Between the two of us we were able to calm her down and talk to her until she was feeling better and so tired she was ready for sleep. Pretty much the rest of the week she was fine. I was able to schedule her with a psychiatrist but it is a month out. A couple others I had called were a 5-6 month wait. So I'm hoping and praying that we'll be able to help keep her on a positive path while we wait.

On Saturday October 2nd I watched conference with the kids while Curtis took Nikki to Boise. Then after the 2nd session was over I took the girls to a Harry Potter party while Curtis went to Garrett's band competition in Kuna. The original plan was to have Nikki take the girls so that we could go to the competition together but I decided I better just do it after her rough week. I'm glad I went though because I was having a bad day myself but not really knowing why. I just didn't feel like doing things and didn't want to go to the party. But that's exactly what I needed. I was able to visit with old friends and watch my girls have a good time and it totally changed my mood. We had a good time.

They had a craft to make a monster book because it was based off the 3rd Harry Potter book/movie.

The inside of her book, or the mouth. I thought I got a picture of Charlotte with hers but apparently I didn't. Oops!

They had the face painter there again. She wanted to be a unicorn.

Charlotte wanted to be a dog...or in this case Sirius Black.

We went out front where there were dementors (black balloons filled with confetti). We had to think of what makes us happy and then pop the balloon with a wand using the spell, Expecto Patronum! Alice got covered in confetti.

The kids had a field trip to "Hogsmeade" and found the candy store called Honeydukes. They each were given some galleons (money) to buy a bag of candy.

The food table in the same room as Honeydukes.

The other half of Honeydukes candy store.

The bogart in the cupboard. They take shape of the thing you fear the most.

The art of reading tea leaves.

Sirius Black was there in dog form!

It's amazing how just changing our circumstance can change our mood. Sometimes we can't do that alone though as I have learned. Sometimes we need others more than we know. I'm grateful Nikki is doing better because of Curtis changing her circumstance and taking her to Boise. And I'm grateful I was able to change my circumstance by going to the party that I wasn't really in the mood to go to and visited with friends.

Band Competition and Birthday Celebrations

The very next day (September 25th) was the band's first competition at Caldwell High School. Nikki was home to watch the girls so I could volunteer to be a bus chaperone. It was a fun experience as our band sat and cheered on the much smaller bands that performed in the first half of the day. Homedale's band is so small that they had only 12 band members plus 1 drill team/color guard. I had never seen such a small team but they did good considering. Our performance wasn't until about 4:45 I think. We watched other bands until they had an intermission and it was our lunch break. The nice thing about being a chaperone is that I get free entrance and a free meal. After lunch there was a lot of waiting around for our turn to warm up, etc. When the time finally came I was able to help pull the drum major stand out on the track for their performance while other parents also helped with other items. So I had a front row ticket to the see the show up close. Unfortunately, it's not the greatest view though.

There was a mix up on the awards later on but I do know that in the end our drill team one 1st place in our division and I think we got 1st overall. It's sounds great but there were actually only two schools competing in our division. I think the main thing they are concerned with though is how many points they receive and trying to improve the next competition.

And even after that long day Garrett still wanted to go to the stake dance that night. Needless to say, he and I were both exhausted by the end of the night. Thankfully, Curtis drove him out to the dance for me.

Garrett's birthday lands on a Wednesday this year and it's easier for us to celebrate on the weekend so that more family can be there. Nikki works on Wednesdays and my in laws are at the temple all day and would be exhausted. So we decided to celebrate his birthday early this year, doing it on Sunday the 26th. Fortunately Garrett wanted donuts and ice cream for his birthday dessert so it made things easy. I picked up the ice cream at the store on Friday and then Saturday morning before the competition he and I drove to Albertsons to get the donuts.  We ate Zuppa Toscana for dinner on Sunday and then the grandparents came over at 6pm.  

His donut musical notes. I love that he loves music!

Since Grandma Vernie's birthday was just a few days ago we decided to sing to both of them.

Grandma Vernie got the musical candle and Garrett got numbers.

Star Wars puzzle and card from Grandma Vernie and Grandpa Tony.

Drum brushes from G & G Butterfield.

Reese's are his favorite candy bar!

Two new belts for church or concerts. One black and one brown. His other was worn out.

His own nice set of scriptures with his name printed on them and a leather cover.

Curtis picked these Halloween shirts out for him.

He's collecting Harry Potter Lego sets.

This is a fun game we learned years ago with my sister in law Jeanie. Curtis also picked this one out.

With Great Grandma Norton "GG"

My in laws left before this picture was taken because they were tired from traveling home from Pocatello that same day.

Had to get a silly picture!

Our growing family.

It was a good birthday for Garrett even though he was probably disappointed that he didn't get his own cell phone for a gift. The boys are still sharing our old phone that has a cracked screen. We really need to get a better phone but it just hasn't happened yet. 

A couple days later I told Garrett we need to trim up his hair and that we should do it before his actual birthday. He still wanted it long on top so we only trimmed the sides.

Looking good!

On his actual birthday he requested waffles for breakfast so I obliged.  I also decided to try making a new recipe I saw posted by a friend on Facebook for Apple Cider Doughnut Cake for dessert after dinner. It was SO good! Garrett doesn't really like cake but he loved this cake so much that he asked for it again for his friends' party on Friday night. Two cakes in one week but it was good!

It's covered with butter, cinnamon and sugar. The inside is dense and moist. Loved it!

And to finish up the birthday celebrating Garrett had 4 friends come over on Friday October 1st. They ate pizza, played games, had some cake and ice cream and watched a movie called "The House With a Clock in its Walls". He also opened a few gifts from his friends which consisted mostly of candy but he also received video game gift cards, another Harry Potter Lego set and I think something BSU related but I can't remember! They all had a good time.

This is the first time we have shrunk our table down this small. They wanted it small for playing the card game Golf.

Charlotte had her blue microphone and was singing the birthday song loudly. It was funny and made it hard for the rest of us to sing.

Vera, Kayla, Garrett, Ryan, Austin

Happy birthday Garrett! I can't believe you're 15 years old now and soon will be getting a driving permit. Yikes! I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet.

Birthday Surprise/Field Trip/Football Game

So much has happened over the past few weeks that it's difficult to wrap my mind around it all. It's time to catch up on blogging again.

Back on September 23rd the girls and I decided we wanted to do something special for Grandma Vernie for her birthday that day. So Charlotte made a cute little watermelon shaped card before going to school and instructed me to buy Grandma a watermelon for her birthday because Grandma likes watermelons (her kitchen is decorated in them). We dropped Charlotte off at home and then drove to the store to buy some decorations. Then Alice and I headed over to Grandma's house to do the decorating before she got home. I thought she was at the Rec Center but I guess she was at the temple. We finished just in time because we got a phone call right as we got back home. Grandma Vernie loved it! Mission: accomplished!

On Friday September 24th Alice and I got to go to the MK Nature Center in Boise with her preschool for their first field trip of the year. I haven't visited this place in years so I couldn't remember most of it and I'm sure they have improved things over the years. I do remember that it had something to do with fish though and I was right.

This is where we sat to wait for everyone to show up and begin. We met at 9:30am.

There are hieroglyphs or pictures marked on the rock she's standing by on the trail we were walking.

They built a huge Eagle's nest for kids to climb in.

Along the path there are windows where you can view fish and other creatures. She's pointing at a crawdad.

Whooo is that? It's my little owl, Alice!

Inside their visitors center they had this beehive with live bees in it!

And lots of taxidermy mounts (real stuffed animals). Watch out for the mountain lion and bear!

Uh oh! Look what's behind us!

It was a fun trip that only lasted about an hour. Then Alice and I ate our packed lunches in the car. Actually, I ate my apple because I forgot to pack my salad dressing for my salad. I had to wait and eat that at home. However, we didn't go straight home. We went to WinCo to do some grocery shopping on the way home. 

Alice is sure loving preschool and our next field trip will be at the end of October to go to the Farmstead to pick a pumpkin. Funny enough, our family is going to the Farmstead tomorrow for a family activity. I have never been there so I don't know how it differs from Linder Farms where we usually go.

Well, that very same day that we had that first field trip was also a night where Garrett had another football game band performance. Curtis took Jack on a camping trip and Nikki was at work, so I took the girls with me to go watch their brother. I'm so glad I did because they had so much fun, especially Charlotte. We again got there in the middle of the 2nd quarter but I don't think they would have lasted an entire game. This time we sat by the band and could see Garrett down on the track performing with the band in the 1st half. The girls wanted to sit as high up as we could so we sat at the very top of the section we were in. Later on I bought the girls soda and popcorn and they loved it!

Skyview got brand new uniforms this year. They look so good! Garrett doesn't wear a hat because he's in the "pit crew" where they look down a lot so they don't want the hats falling off their heads.

And they got their band t-shirts.

Enjoying some popcorn.

And a swig of root beer!

It was so fun to watch how excited Charlotte would get. She even found one of her friends from school there and went to play with her in the side field by the bleachers. Our football team didn't do very well but we had fun anyway. Then the girls were happy to help Garrett wheel his drum back to the band room afterwards.

Skyview's last football game is tonight and I plan on taking them again as long as it doesn't rain. There are chances of rain throughout the day today. And it's about 20 degrees or so cooler than it was at the last game. We'll see how it goes!