Headed Home

When we left, I asked each chicklet if they had fun.

Sean shook his head "Yes."

Andrew shouted, "YES!"

Alex threw his hands into touchdown mode and shouted, "YES!"

RyGuy shook his head, "No," but smiled all the while.

Story Time at Advent Night

A crowd of chicklets (minus one shoe each) listening to the story of St. Nicholas, the real guy (not the phatom in a red suit). When they retrieved their shoes, they discovered that St. Nicholas had left them a bag of chocolate coins.

Alex was highly suspicious. He said, "I have a suspicion that St. Nicholas was the blond lady in the red shirt."

"Oh, really."

"Yes. She was in the story room and then she left AFTER our shoes were put out on the place-mats. "

So, you don't believe it could have been St. Nicholas."

"Well, it is possible it was St. Nicholas. I'm just thinking it was MORE likely it was the blond."

Guess what, folks. The blond lady in the red shirt gave ME the job of being St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas was Alex's MOTHER!

And, I'll never tell!

Origami

Alex's teacher just taught them some orgami today! He was super excited to see it again.

Andrew needed a little help with his "Santa."

Jesse's Tree Coloring at Advent Night

Seany and RyGuy getting to work on their ornaments.

Alex and Andrew took coloring more seriously.

Jesse's Tree is where you read a little scripture quote and hang an ornament each day of Advent.

Card making at Family Advent Night

Andrew using glue.

Seany setting up his card.

Alex smiling and working. He has very badly chapped lips.

RyGuy hasn't even opened his bag.

It wouldn't be Advent unless the chicklets made Christmas cards.

1st, 2nd & 3rd Grade Choral Reading Performance

Alex's entire second grade performed one song to rhyme about ice cream. Though we couldn't hear a word they uttered, the kids did their very best. Not one microphone was on that stage, so how they were supposed to be heard, we don't know.

Before we left home, Alex was nervous.

"Mommy, they want us to wear our Sunday best. We don't do that. We go to CHURCH in JEANS! What are we going to do?"

I assured him he'd look good in one of his sweaters and brown slacks. Disaster #1 avoided.

"Mommy, we're supposed to act like professional actor's on stage and NOT WAVE TO OUR PARENTS! What if I forgot and get excited and wave? What if my nose runs? What if I fall down?"

I gave him a benadryl to dry up his nose and a couple tissues to keep in his pocket. I assured him the world would not end if he waved and reminded him that I fell down in 5Th grade at a performance and no one even noticed.

Disaster #2 avoided and a distraction! "You fell down! Did you get hurt? What happened?"

"I got up and continue where the song was."

Just as we're getting into the car, "Mommy, what if I forget all the words? I don't want to mess up everyone else. I really hope I won't mess up."

I assured him that he wouldn't, that he's friends would help him if he forgot, and all would be well. Disaster #3 avoided.


And here he is with his two best friends -- Anne and Ryland.

On stage where he spotted me and remembered to NOD and not wave.

Poor Kid, Crack Mom

Andrew was helping bake last night for Friday's Family Advent Night at church. I need 3 dozen cookie-esque items Friday night and our schedule is jam packed between now and then.

So I got started last night.

"Wow, Mommy I'm a POUR kid and you're a CRACK mom. "

Andrew got to POUR all the dry and wet ingredients into the bowls. While I got to CRACK all the eggs.

Good thing the guy who accused me of abusing my chicklets wasn't around.

Breakfast this morning

RyGuy wanted his picture taken. You can practically hear him saying, "Tcheese."

Seany doing his weird two-fisted eating thing.

"Mommy, why are you taking a picture outside? Take my picture," Andrew said. Then he mugged.

Alex was making sure he was well mannered with a closed mouth.

Sunrise this morning

The sunrise this morning over the lake.

Getting ready for Christmas

The porch has finally gotten the garlands, I've wanted since we moved in.

Seasame Street and Charlie Brown

Yesterday on the View, Whoopi was surprised by Seasame Street's warning for the early years (late 60's/early 70's) DVD. They're not suitable for today's preschools, just for adults.

I commented to Mark that I thought that was a little over the top. He felt they probably said some things that we'd consider inappropriate.

So, last night, Charlie Brown's Christmas was on. I wanted us all to watch it together -- a family night type deal-ie-o.

Charlie picks out the weakest, smallest tree on the lot. All the other kids immediately begin like this:

"You're STUPID Charlie Brown."
"That's the dumbest thing any one's ever done, Charlie Brown."
"You're a dummy."

On and on it went. My mouth dropped open and I started to laugh in shock. Alex said, "I would totally not be friends with those kids. They're so mean. That poor kid liked the tree. WHAT is WRONG with those kids?"

Linus (weird hair kid according to one of the girls in the cartoon) turned things around with a monologue about the true meaning of Christmas. Charlie took the tree and went home. Dumped the tree in the yard and felt horrible.

The other kids came around (or so we thought) decorating the tree, etc. After a rendition on "O Holy Night," one of the girls said, "Charlie Brown may be a BLOCKHEAD, but the tree isn't so bad."

No wonder there's bullying in the classroom -- this has been on every year I can remember! When the kids come around to see things his way, they still insult him!

At which point, Mark suggested the warning label on the Seasame Street DVD might be entirely appropriate.

Jeans

Today, I finally had enough. Nearly all of Alex's pants have been 2+ inches short for the last month. Today he came down to go to church and his pants were about 5 inches too short. I made him change into his one remaining pair of long jeans.

We went to Ross and Walmart. He ended up with 5 pairs of size 7 pants -- 1 pair of jeans, 1 pair of brown slacks, and 3 pairs of school pants. NO SLIMS -- too tight on his hip bones. All regulars and all will require a belt. CRAZY SIZES.

We put all 11 of his old pants into the closet to save for Andy.

Andy decided to change into his "shooting jeans" -- camouflage pants. Maybe we've let them drag us to Cabela's one to many times!

Birthday cards, Christmas cards, and Invitations

Translation:
Dear Papa,
I am wishing with all my heart for you to have a lot of gifts!
Love, Alex

Andrew and Alex made lots and lots of cards -- 16 each for Christmas, 4 each for birthdays, and 20 each for party invitations.

Family Thanksgiving Day Picture

Andrew, Mark, Alex, Ryan, Kathryn, and Seany!

Turkeys

Alex's "potato turkey."

Andrew's "thankful turkey."

Alex's "hands and foot turkey."

Shopping numbers

I've saved up cash for the last 4 months and bought some items earlier to prepare.

I went over budget on both sets of grandparents, my father-in-law's birthday (but its his 60th), my sister, Alex, Andrew, and Mark. Sean and Ryan will come in right on target -- lots of stuff I made myself for them or got for $1.

I made 10 gifts at Staples for $100. I went to Toys R Us and spent $70, saved about $50. I went to Kohl's & Mervyn's & Ross earlier because they usually have about equivalent deals a couple weeks before t-day, between the three stores I spent $190 and saved about $205.

I talked my dad into picking up a gift for Alex at Kmart for $65 that would normally be $90. I'm paying him next Friday for that one.

Alex and I got to Wal-Mart at 5 am yesterday. I spent $150 on approximately $325 of merchandise. We went to Bed Bath & Beyond and spent $30 on a $50 item.

I went to the local Harley store for a special gift for my father-in-law's 60th birthday for $15. I went to ShopKo and spent $70 on $125 of merchandise. I went to Target later and spent another $90 on approximately $200 of merchandise.

I am almost totally finished. I'll buy Mark's Christmas gifts the week or two before Christmas to save cash now. I'll buy the twix's trikes the weekend before. And I have to order my mom's gift online as I can't seem to track one down in stores. And I have to go to the Lehi Mill to pick up mixes -- I'll do that when my parents are here to have help with the chicklets.

Last night, I boxed 8 gifts in the free Christmas boxes they came with, I bagged 2 gifts, I wrapped 65 gifts -- for 50 Christmas and 15 birthdays. So 75 gifts dealt with last night, took me 7.5 hours to prepare. Of those, 27 will be leaving the house.

So, my grand totals are:

Spent: $100 + $190 + $150 + $30 +$70 + $15 + $90 + $65 +70 = $780
Saved: $205 + $175 + $20 + $50 + $110 + $30 + $55 = $645

I will spend an additional $160 on the remaining gifts. Of which I will have saved $120 between now and then.

My grand total will be: $940 on 82 gifts averages out to about $12 a gift.

Last year my grand total was: $1250 on about the same number of gifts, I averaged about $20 a gift.

So, I improved. Next year, I will have saved the entire year for Christmas and will hopefully not have to worry about going over budget as much. I'm an impulsive shopper, most of the time I went over budget because I found something I thought was perfect for the recipient, and should have continued looking because it was over the allotted amount.

This blog is really mostly for me -- a reminder for December 2008 on what I will spend and how much harder I will try to stick to my budget.

Turkey Day Run Down

Thanksgiving started out much like any other. Except, I decided to plan my shopping for Friday morning. After spending some time online, I had to go to Kmart.

Alex's gift was on sale there. I called first and was told they wouldn't be giving out information on availability -- first come, first serve, yada, yada, yada. Of course, they were already out of stock.

My parents live 2 minutes from their Kmart. My dad got himself out of bed and picked up the present for me! He's a great dad and papa!

So, I headed to another store, picked up a couple items and then headed home.

Dinner was ready a couple hours later. Mark made, turkey (the most tender, flavorful ever), dressing, green beans with red bell peppers (delicious, but didn't go with the rest of it), asparagus (over cooked), and mashed potatoes. Very yummy.

We decided to take a family picture on the couch before we ate. All the kids in 'nice' clothes -- nice means jeans not sweats. We ate in about a half hour and then we played Yahtzee.

The only way to make Yahtzee stressful is to include Seany and RyGuy. Seany was climbing all over the table trying to write on every one's tab. While, RyGuy, my dear, sweat, RyRy cried every time he had to pass the dice to Andrew.

We only managed one round.

Then we had pie -- Oreo pie. Delicious.

Right after that was when I started feeling sick to my stomach. At first I thought I ate too much, though I didn't eat tons. It can't be food poisoning because everyone else is fine. I'm still feeling slightly off. All night long, I woke to an aching stomach.

I was actually relieved this morning at 4:30 when I had to get up to go get the presents at Wally World! Alex came with me. Last night, just before bed he said, "Mommy, I changed my mind, I want to go with you in the morning to get the gifts."

So we went. We arrived at 5:05 am. I saw massive amounts of cars and people with carts full of MY printer. We found our items except Shrek 3 & Ratatouille for the twix and headed to the registers. We waited 4 minutes and I realized I forgot my wallet and cash.

At 5:55 am, I called my wonderful husband. He dragged himself and 3 tots out of their beds so I could save us approximately $175 -- of course, really I would have just found other gifts that fit the budget, but still. The man is an angel.

At 6:30 am, we paid for our stuff and headed over to Bed, Bath and Beyond. Nobody was in there but this one man who was watching us very curious if what we were buying was on sale. The cashier gave me a coupon, I bought Mark's birthday gift and we headed on out.

We hit Sears Grand, they had all wrong sizes and then we went to Target. The line wrapped around the entire store. As they get another truck full of crap in this afternoon or tonight, we'll hit them later.

I still have a tummy ache.

Thankfulness

Tell me what you're thankful for...

I'm thankful for my health, my kids, and my hubby.

I'm thankful that Ryan's spina bifida isn't worse and that he finally wants to talk.

I'm thankful Sean didn't have to lose the tooth he chipped.

I'm thankful Andrew loves the twix and preschool!

I'm thankful Alex does his stretches every night without complaint.

I'm thankful my parents and sister can visit in December.

I'm thankful that Mark usually is happy with me.

And mostly I'm thankful I'm starting to have energy again -- to clean, to play, and to generally be a nicer mom.

Turkey Day

Self explanatory -- we need no more words.

Little Books

While cleaning the playroom, I made a bag for "Little Books."

This pleased Andrew to no end. He would pick up a book, hold it up to the bag, and decide its fate.

"Yep. This is a little book. Little Pooh Bear book, you get to go in the Little Books bag."

"Nope. This is not a little book. SpongeBob book, you get to stay on the floor," he sang as he flung the book into the air in slow motion.

At some point, "Oh, no. This is terrible."

"What's terrible, Andy?"

"Well, I filled up my Little Books bag. There's no more room. You better make a new bag for BIG books, Mommy."

Cleaning up the playroom

Yes, you read that title right. I cleaned up the playroom with the help of Andy and Seany. RyGuy spent the day ignoring us and getting upset when toys made their way into storage bags.

To organize the toys, I bought 80 gallon sized storage bags, 8 XL storage bags (for the big stuff), 6 55 gallon bins, and 3 trips to the trash can. Not to mention the stuff headed toward craigslist or freecycle.

Andrew would eagerly await for me to "write my letters" on a bag, then tell him what went in it.

"Andrew, this bag is for all the frogs."

"Andrew, this bag is for all the race cars. No trucks, SUV, or other vehicles, only racers."

"I got it Mommy, don't worry so much," as he tossed in a couple fire trucks and a blimp.

Sean didn't wait for instruction, he just picked up stuff and added it to whatever bag, seemed like a good idea.

Sean's method:

That bag of dinosaur needs a telephone, T-Rex might need to make a call.

That bag of Batman action figures, it really needs a baby doll bib.

And so it went.

Mark and I finished at 10:30 last night. Except I can't get rid of the rejects until Monday. Alex is very suspicious.

Birthday Party Season is upon us!

All year, Alex has said he wanted his birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. A couple days ago, I asked him if he decided which 4 friends he wanted to invite.

Yesterday, Alex said, "Mommy, do I have to have my party at Chuck E. Cheese?"

"No, why?"

"I want to invite more friends."

"OK, you need to make a choice. More friends means a party at home. Fewer friends means a party at Chuck E. Cheese."

"I want my party at home."

"I want my party at home, toooo." chimed in Andrew.

So off to the party store we went. It was closed -- Sunday.

So off to Target we went. Alex chose Transformers and Andy chose Spiderman (I was rooting for Cars). Andy said, "My next party will be Cars, Mommy. I really like cars." (For the record, I believe he chose Spidey because the plates are not circles, they're shaped like his head.)

Last night, I made the cut outs for the invitations. Construction paper invitations are not preparation free! I just finished Andrew's invitations and Alex and I will make his after dinner tonight. He's getting kind of particular.

Party game ideas, anyone?

Morning Love

This morning was unusually nice -- everyone woke up in a good mood. This almost never happens, with 4 kids someone is bound to have awaken on the wrong side of the bed.

Ryan and Andrew came downstairs while Alex finished getting dressed and Sean continued to sleep. Very soon after, Ryan ran his fingers down Andrew's cheeks ever so gently and mildly fussed with his hair.

Then, they held hands and wildly ran through the house together shouting a cry of delight as they went.

When their breakfast was ready, they sat down next to each other and quietly ate. That's when I heard the tiniest squeak from the stairs, "mommeee." Mark rushed to the stairs and whisked Sean into his arms. Sean responded with tight hugs around Mark's neck and then he was passed to me, where we repeated the hugging operation.

Why can't every day start like today?

---

A couple nights ago, Ryan was in a foul mood, the foulest of foul moods. He was furious with everyone and everything. Then I saw he had Alex's book. It would be shreds if left to Ryan's curious hand. I took it away, turned away, and started walking to the kitchen.

Ryan was even more angry. He growled, "RAHHHHRRRRRR!" He made to hit, then pushed at me with all his might.

His energy spent, he chased after me desperate for forgiveness, "Mommy, Mommy, Mom-meeee..."

A Crazy Morning

This morning, I went to the restroom -- quickly. I can pee and wash my hands in like 2 minutes. When I came out, Sean had stripped down to just his diaper and was eating 4 enormous cherry lollipops -- red corn syrup dripping down his chin to his chest. Andrew had cinnamon bread out -- I mean a whole loaf. And Ryan, dear, dear, dear Ryan had pushed a chair to the refrigerator where he proceeded to push the water button for probably a minute and a half. I actually thought the kitchen had flooded before I put it all together.

It was 9:30, the speech therapists would be here in 1 hour. I dried the water, wiped Sean's face and scolded Andrew.

I got in the shower at 10:10. At 10:12, Andrew came in with a light saber, a purple light saber that Santa will be dropping off Christmas morning for Andrew. Sean had the blue one that will be given to Alex. At 10:12 and 30 seconds, I said in my most ferocious, ragious voice, "You get all the toys back in that closet and close that door now." Andrew grabbed the toy from Sean and disappeared. Sean chased after him screaming.

I washed faster. I came downstairs at 10:18. Andrew saw me and said, "Ah Mommy, I'm really sorry but I think you need to give us baths. I tried to clean up all the poop, but I don't think we're very clean and one of the babies is really stinky."

My heart clenched. I thought, "Poop? Oh, my God! Where is the poop? Really, right now? Right when I'm about to open the door to two perfectly coiffed and well maintained superwomen. Right now. Please tell me this is a mistake....AHHHH! Sean is covered in it running screaming around the house naked while Ryan is chasing him and trying wiping him off with 10 or so baby wipes.

I ran upstairs grabbed the baby shampoo and wash, a towel and wash cloth, two clean outfits, and ran back downstairs to start with the naked butt in the sink. At 10:28, I was on to Ryan, told Andrew to show me his hands, wiped them with a wipe and sent him up to get himself clean clothes.

At 10:33, I was still finishing Andrew when the phone rang and a lady needed directions, while in walked one of the therapists as Andrew saw her before his bath started and opened the door. I explained the situation, apologized and tried to focus.

Luckily, being that she is a superwoman, she was very nice about the whole thing.

Andrew, the Superboy, put the dirty diaper in a bag and put it in the garage. He didn't let Sean sit down and got the wipes out and cleaned the bottom the best he could. He IS a blessing from Heaven.

Hangman

Andrew was playing Alex's electronic version of Hangman. That old game we played on scratch paper as kids.

"Daddy, wook, wook! I fixed the man! I fixed him, now he's all back together!"

Old Chairs -- New Chairs

At this stage, they were partially sanded and I'd removed one of the seat covers.

Hard to see the color. But Alex and I stained them "Bombay Mahogany" and reupholstered them with denim. I think we did an OK job.

First Dentist Visit

Sean is picking his nose (SORRY!) -- at least he turned away. Ryan is smiling. It only to me three tries to get the idea to make going to the dentist as fun as going to the amusement park. They did great and Sean's chipped tooth needs no work.

Friday Afternoon ICE CREAM!

Seany was DRINKING his ice cream at this point.

Ryan thought he'd give the drinking thing a try.

Grandma's favorite words

Mother
Desire
Love
Gay
Glow
Besiege
Dawn
Laughter
Children
Smile
Shining
Butterfly
Bells
Sunbeam
River
Sunshine
Haunting
Shadows
Refrain
Water
Twilight
Waves
Moonbeams
Dimples
Roses
Darling
Violets
Cute
Lilies
Sweet
Trees
Lovable
Birds
Happy
Robins
Waltz
Bluejays
Chirp
Twinkle
Soft
Stars
Velvet
Leaves
Furry
Autumn
Lovely

Some thoughts on my Grandma

After deciphering Grandma's journal, a collection of one liners, favorite poems, and some of her own pieces, I feel gladness that she was mine, she was extraordinary.

Grandma was a woman of great faith and love. The themes most prevalent in the pieces she included in her journal was God's greatness and love for all man. Her own love for her husband both before and after his passing shines brightly off the pages. Her love for her children is captured in a letter-poem she wrote to my mother and then added a notation to, when my mom finally found her true love.

Grandma always loved with all her heart and she wasn't really all that impressed with a fabulous car, the latest styles, or flashy gestures. She loved music most of all, singing and playing the piano. She loved movies and reading and writing poetry.

I want to thank my mom for the privilege of transcribing all Grandma's thoughts. Though some of it was boring. Some of my favorite parts were Grandma's favorite words (everyone should keep a running list of their favorite words), her love letters to Pup, and some of the poems my mom and she shared with us as children.

To my beloved Al -- A love letter to Pup from Grandma

1996 -- Pup passed away in about 1982, 14 years prior.

To my beloved Al – 14 years gone
When the deep purple falls over
Sleepy garden walls,
And the stars begin to flicker in the sky,
Thru the mist of a memory,
You wander back to me
Beneath my name with a sigh,
In the still of the night,
Once again I hold you tight,
Tho’ you’re gone your love lives on,
When moonlight beams,
And as long as my heart will beat,
Lover, we’ll always meetHere in my deep purple dream!

Dear Al -- A love letter to Pup from Grandma

1998 --Pup had passed away in about 1982 so this is 16 years later.

Dear Al,
You are always in my heart
Even though you’re far away
I can hear the music of, that song of love
I sang with you
You are always in my heart
And when skies above are gray
I remember how you cared
And then and there the sun shines through
Just before I go to sleep
There’s a rendezvous I keep
And the dream I always meet
Helps me forget we’re far apart
I don’t know exactly when, dear,
But I’m sure we’ll meet again, dear
So sweetheart, until we do.
You are always in my heart,--Your Veen

Grandma's Memories of the Moon Landing

I thought some of you would remember this event and enjoy Grandma's memory of it. I found some great things in her journal. I thought though that this has the most appeal. Feel free to respond or post a comment with your own memory of that day.

Sunday, July 20, 1969

Today, I witnessed on television, man’s greatest achievement so far, reaching the moon via a rocket or spaceship. The first man to set foot of the moon was Neil Armstrong, and after him, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin stepped down on the moon.

They took pictures up there on the moon, they collected rock specimens, they planted the American flag. Of course, they wore especially equipped spacesuits since there is no air or oxygen there. Armstrong talked from the moon to the President of the United States, Richard Nixon, who spoke from the oval room in the White House in Washington D.C. I read about twenty years ago that this phenomenon would happen but I never thought I would ever see it happen during my lifetime. I can’t begin to describe the thrill it gave me, it was absolutely fabulous, unbelievable, when I saw that the spacecraft had landed safely on the moon it brought a tear to my eye and a prayer to my lips.

Al and I went out and looked up at the moon that has shined down on us for so many years and we knew that two brave and gallant Americans were up there standing on it. Wow!

In the meantime Mike Collins, the third man on the expedition, remained in the main rocket ship and kept orbiting around the moon. If he fails to pick up Armstrong and Aldrin off the moon, if something goes wrong and Collins can’t get them off the moon, it means certain death for them, for Collins will have to streak back to earth and leave them there. Rescue will be impossible because they only have oxygen for two days and it would take four days to send another rocket up there to rescue them. But I hope and pray that nothing goes wrong.

I forgot to mention that the astronauts left a plaque on the moon, made of stainless steel, it will last indefinitely, I’ve forgotten the words inscribed on it but will put them down later.

Monday, July 21, 1969

Today President Nixon declared a National holiday and many people are off from work but not Pup, Rita, or Vince, I don’t know about Dave.

The spacecraft, named “Eagle” took off from the moon, named “Sea of Tranquility” successfully, is now up in space, flying in orbit, will rejoin the Command spaceship, Apollo 11, sometime around 5 o’clock p.m. The astronauts remained on the moon 36 minutes and 20 seconds. So far everything has worked out perfectly, just as planned.

I still can hardly believe this wonderful thing has actually happened, when I watched it on TV, I felt like I was watching a science fiction picture instead of the real thing. It makes one realize how great God, our creator is, to have made man so intelligent as to be able to accomplish such great things and remarkable feats.

Monday, July 21, 1969

Thank God, the astronauts have successfully left the moon and have rejoined the main Ratchet Columbia, the two together, the Eagle and the Columbia are called the Apollo 11. Now I hope and pray they will. The stainless steel plaque they left on the moon have these words, “Here men from planet Earth first set foot on the moon, July 20, 1969 AD. We came in peace for all mankind.”

The first words said by Neil Armstrong as he set foot on the moon were, “That’s one small step for man, a giant leap for mankind!”

I believe that God meant all this to be, He gave these men and all men connected with the mission the brains and intelligence to do it. Praise God and may God bless those astronauts: Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins.

Thursday, July 24, 1969

I am watching on television the splashdown of the Apollo 11, the spacecraft that went to the moon, the first time that man ever went to the moon, the day was Monday, July 20, 1969. The Apollo 11 is now safely afloat in the Pacific Ocean, the astronauts: Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, and Michael Collins have arrived back to earth safely, thank God, how happy their families must be and how proud the whole country, USA, in fact, the whole world is of these brave men and of all those who work to make such a marvelous spacecraft as the Apollo 11, many people are there to watch the splashdown and I saw President Nixon on the aircraft carrier, Hornet, watching also.

The astronauts had to put on isolation garments and be in quarantine to guard against any moon bugs or contamination. They might possibly have brought back with them.

So we, the United States of America, have made a successful journey to the moon, the same moon that thousands and thousands or I should say millions and millions of human beings have gazed at and wondered about for centuries and centuries. This trip cost $350 million, it is man’s greatest achievement so far, who know what great achievements man will make in the future.

One thing is sure, as long as mankind exists he will advance in knowledge and achievement, he will go on and on and on, using the brains, the intelligence that God has given him. These men on TV are saying that we'll find out a lot about the moon from the rock specimens that the astronauts brought back from the moon.

Busy Bees

We've been busy!

Alex and I sanded and stained and reupholestered 2 chairs that were many more than 50 years old. I think they were last sanded and stained and reupholestered 50 years ago. Not bad for a 7 year old and a girly 30 year old!

The twix, Andrew, Alex and I cleaned out the mud room and garage. We now realize that we have an actual room that can be used as a mud room and storage for usable goods! AMAZING!

Some weeks ago, I applied for a post office data entry job -- evenings, no weekends, etc. They sent me a thing saying I take the test Saturday. We'll see if it works out!

Alex is doing stretches every night and has orthodotic inserts to wear in his shoes. Hopefully, he'll avoid surgery this way!

Sean's ear doctor said tubes are a way away. His ears are starting to drain the fluid so in a couple months, he'll hopefully have normal range hearing again!

Mark reorganized all my clothes! I'm not kidding when I say I forgot about some of the cute stuff I have!

I have been transferring my grandma's journal into a Word document for my mom to enjoy. I spent 4 hours today and am still not even halfway through.

I also made the kids gifts for grandparents and godparent types, today. I think they'll like 'um. It took 2 hours.

So in the cute news...

Ryan pooped a tiny bit on the TOLIET. Sean pooped in his diaper and then went to the bathroom door to wait. So folks its true, we are working on potty training 2 2 year olds!

Cute stories will come tomorrow or the next day, when things have calmed down.

The Continuing Adventures of Chase, Le Dummeeeee

Last night while trick-or-treating, I noticed a little friend out and about, Chase. Coming toward me were a pair of skunks, one age 3 and the other about 5. The 5 year old was running straight at me, candy flying behind him in his rush to the next house.

That's when I saw Chase. Chase was hiding behind two little maple trees and attacked the skunk's tale with great vigor.

To Mark, I said, "Did you see that? Chase just attacked that little skunk. Of all the creatures to attack, skunks are probably not a good idea. I guess we should be glad its not a real one!" And laughing about Chase's antics, we continued on our way.

Then the skunk's father turned toward me and said, "Maybe you should keep him from attacking small children."

Dude, not my cat.

Halloween Run down

The day started out much like any other, except I couldn't rid myself of this pressing feeling of urgency. I felt like everything had to be done immediately.

Andrew had preschool and a preschool party. When I picked him up, I asked how his preschool party was.

"Well, it was not so fun. We didn't have a REAL party. We only made stuff like my spider webs and none of the kids except me gave presents (sigh.....)."

For the record, Andrew's 'present' was a spider ring, eraser, and vampire teeth. It wasn't a big deal.

After Alex's got out of school, we went to the school's Halloween carnival. This meant the twix were on their leashes and we parked about 4 blocks away -- lots of cars were parked close for pick up. It took us 15 minutes to walk there -- a normal person would have been there in 3 minutes. Alex was super excited, "Mommy, are we really going to the carnival? Do we really get to do the games? Can we do the trunk-or-treat too?"

You'd think his mother was not the one that dragged everybody out of the house to go to a 45 minute festival 30 minutes from home on Saturday. "Yep, we're here to have some fun!"

"YES!!! Come on, Andrew! Let's Go! I can't believe it! (Pause) Uh, Mommy, do you think you could carry my backpack around for me?"

They collected treats. They threw darts at balloons (well, not the twix). They even tossed some rings.

Then we went home and I felt frantic again. I heated up some kind of kids pizza thing. I went upstairs to find all the elements of the nights costumes -- snug pajamas, the actual costumes, socks for the twix. Meanwhile, I hear screaming, lots of screaming. Andrew screaming in pain. Sean manically screaming delightfully. Ryan screaming "NO, DOP DOP." And Alex trying to corral all these nut jobs yelling at the top of his lungs.

When I came back down. Everyone was uncermoniously placed on the couch. No one was allowed to move. Everyone was in trouble. Andrew pouted with a red cheek -- Sean hit him in the face. Ryan was nodding in agreement with everything I said. Alex was trying to ensure everyone would get to trick or treat. Sean was just waiting to be excused -- he couldn't have cared less.

Eventually everyone was dressed and ready to go. We did our street and a couple more. Then Mark to the babies and Andrew home and Alex and I continued for about another hour. His bag of candy was so full, I almost couldn't close it.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Night costumes

Andrew, a cold police officer.

Ryan, a cold jack-o-latern, he's wearing a decoration Alex made at school because he likes it.

Sean, a fiesty jack-o-latern.

Alex, a transformer.

Football players

Andrew, a Raider, #2.

Ryan, I don't know what team is baby blue and navy, but he's #89.

Sean, another Raider, #24.

Alex, the last Raider, #6.

Princess Fiona

My niece, Jazmine, in her Halloween Costume. Is that not amazing?