Vasoline

Sean and Ryan got into my backpack. They got Vaseline everywhere. My backpack has been washed twice, Sean's head four times, and Ryan's thrice!

Ryan gelled.

Unfortunately, none of Sean's pictures really did justice to the sheer amount of pertoleum jelly he had plastered his hair with.

After two washings, Sean's head is sporting a greasy curly do.

The finished pumpkins

The family line.

Can you tell that we're smiling?

Decorated at the Salt Lake City Children's Halloween Party. A free hour of fall fun. The chicklets trick-or-treated, got tattooed, and decorated pumpkins.

There was this guy at one of the booths. I knew, I knew him but couldn't place him. We had to walk right by him. So I thought, I'll just fake it. Moments before we got there, I realized, "I don't know, he's a newscaster on TV!" Sure glad I didn't go, "Hey, man. How are you? What have you been up too? Etc?"

Pumpkin Carving & Decorating

Sean and his masterpiece.
Ryan and his handiwork.

Andrew worked with Daddy on a bat and a happy face.

Alex and I made a witch (he thought of me, how sweet!) and a pirate ship. Seriously moved by being thought of as a witch lover. ;-)

Costumes

Sean, a pumpkin; Andrew, a police officer; Alex, a transformer known as Optimus Prime; and Ryan, another pumpkin.

Same line up.

Performers

We've got 3 performers and 1 kid who likes to watch the show. Enjoy!

Starring Alex, Andrew, and Ryan. Shake it, baby!

Football players

Alex has a Transformer (Optimus Prime) costume for Halloween. At school, they have all these rules: no masks, no face paint, no costumes that could hinder normal function, etc. He couldn't wear it to school -- the mask and its a one piece making the restroom more challenging.

I took out his football uniform. He went to school as a Raider.

Andrew then had to go to preschool as a Raider. He was not ok with his cop costume because, "Alex is a football player. So I have to be one too."

Ryan went and dug out their football jerseys and went into Alex's drawers and grabbed a pair of shorts Alex often sports with a football jersey. Apparently, if Andrew is dressing up, so are the twix.

So right now, we have 4 football players.

Brown

Andy likes to tell stories at bedtime. Every night he asks, "Mommy, can you stay in my bed for a while?"

Sometimes I can. But I never stay as long as he'd like.

He likes to tell stories. They usually go like this...

"Once upon a time, there was a little brown boy with brown eyes and brown hair. He had a brown mommy with brown hair and brown eyes. She looked just like you, Mommy!"

Airborne

Everybody but me has a cold. Why am I immune? Airborne, baby, Airborne. I love that stuff.

Alex is very concerned with his health, so I figured even though he wouldn't like it, he'd drink the kids Airborne. Should be just like grown up Airborne. So I dumped the packet into a glass of water, where it failed to dissolve. I stirred and stirred and told him just to suck it up and drink it down.

"Uh, (shiver) Mommy, Airborne tastes really awful. (shiver)"

"Yes, but it will keep the cold away."

Its then that it occurs to me I didn't actually read the box. I pull the box back out. 'Airborne Power Pixies' Hm-mm. Like Pixie Sticks? Surely, not.

"NO WATER NEEDED. POUR DIRECTLY ONTO TONGUE." There's even a picture of a kid on the FRONT of the box pouring the powder onto his tongue.

Alex said, "So, I'll just put this right in the sink then. And maybe you can give me one to take the right way. That's why we're suppose to READ the directions of anything we take right, Mommy."

"Right, Alex."

Pumpkin Patch

Andrew, Alex, Sean, and Ryan and some giant pumpkins.

Andrew, Sean, Alex, and Ryan showing how far back he can go.

Sean continued to explore around the the pumpkins.

Andrew pretending to be a pumpkin.

A bunch of chicklets in a jack-o-latern: Alex in an eye, Ryan in another eye, Sean and Andrew in the mouth.

Homework time

Alex hard at work.

Sean practicing Alex's hard at work look.

Ryan busy coloring.

Andrew knew the camera was coming around and was trying to look cute for the camera.

Playtime

Andrew and Ryan posing as superheroes!

Ryan, Sean, Andrew, and Alex superheroes with light-up pens.

Andrew did his own hair.

Signing Time Live!

Party hats! Andrew in the back, Alex up front.

More hats: Alex in the back, Ryan up front.

Chase

(To Carolyn, I'm sorry about this story, but its what happened!)

Chase is a cat that lives one street up but likes our house and thinks of Gracie as his mom. She's been there for him since he first appeared almost 2 years ago.

Chase is not the smartest cat in Utah. He is definitely not the smartest cat in Saratoga Springs.

The younger three chicklets and me were outside playing. All of a sudden, a vole (rat/mouse like rodent) ran across the street from the gutter in front of our house to our neighbor's driveway. Chase gave ... chase. The vole was cornered in between the garage door and the wall to the hose. Chase should have a tasty meal.

I did mention that Chase isn't too bright? The vole jumped. Chase was scared, so he gave the vole a little room. At which point, Andrew decided Chase needed some encouragement, "Come on Chase! You can do it!" Chase, you can do it!"

Gathering up his courage, Chase tried again. The vole jumped again. Chase backed off completely and the vole ran into the lawn. At which point Andrew and another boy are pointing the vole out to Chase and Chase starts attacking dandelions with a 'wait-that's-not-right' expression.

Where was Gracie when we needed her? We have no idea. She always disappears when she will be called on to deal with a pest problem.

Chicklets and Chickens

Upon my return home, the chicklets responded in the following ways.

Alex gave me a BIG hug and hung around me smiling.

Andrew said, "Mommy I'll go put your stuff in the mud room so you don't have to leave."

Sean saw me and hid his crasins and then ran back to me to give me a hug.

Ryan didn't want to touch me but didn't want to leave me either. Until he hurt himself and then he wanted to hang out.

Yesterday, I said, "It so nice to be back with my chicklets."

To which, Andy replied, "Yes, and be back with Daddy, the Big Chicken, too."

Pumpkin patch

Monday night we went to The Signing Time Live! Concert.

Signing Time: PBS Show that teaches hearing kids simple signs to communicate better with non-hearing kids and also special needs kids.

EXCELLENT SHOW! Super fun for the kiddos. Thanks to Kids on the Move for our 6 tickets.

On the way home (about 10 pm), Andrew reminded me of Alex at the same age. I must mention that Andrew is very excited for Autumn, Halloween, all things pumpkin.

Andrew said, "Mommy, maybe we can just drive by the pumpkin patch and look in but not go in and then go home.

"I'm sorry sweetie its too late tonight to drive by. But maybe another time."

"But Mommy, if we just drive by it won't take very long and then I can just look at the pumpkins that I want to be MY pumpkin."

"Not tonight, Andy."

"Oh, my gosh! Andrew look over there quick, there's the pumpkin patch. Did you see it? What do you think?"

"Yeah, Mommy, I saw it. See Mommy, I told you we could just drive by it."

Bragging rights

OK, folks. I know its not kosher to do this. But I'm so proud of the kid. I cant stop myself.

Alex's parent-teacher conference was yesterday. I was very nervous. Last year, it went like this:"Kathryn, great to see you. And Alex, why are you looking so scared?""I don't know." And he starts to play with the crayon bin -- flinging crayons in and out, scampering under the table to collect them and repeat.

"Alex, you're a very smart boy, I know you can do the work I give you. But you really have to sit at your desk and do your assignments."To me, "Alex has to stop crashing into furniture, running as fast as he can, and talking to me without raising his hand."To Alex, "Alex, I will call on you, if you raise your hand."Alex says, "But sometimes I know I'll forget and its REALLY important."On and on it went, we were scheduled last for a reason, no definite time limit.

Yesterday, it went like this...

"Alex is doing great. He completes all his assignments, reads at a 6Th+ grade level. Alex that means that you read and understand the content of the text your reading. I'd like to see you start reading some other genres besides fiction." (He already does this.)He beamed."Alex's math skills are at a 3rd grade level and I'd like you to start working on fractions and multiplication with him at home. It would be great if you could teach him the times table through 10 or 12." (Yeah, we'll throw that in the daily to do list without disrupting anything else we've got going.)

My only concerns are that Alex continue to work on writing neatly. Including spacing between words and letters and size and shape. This has already dramatically improved. And Alex needs to work on self-starting to keep distractions from keeping him from completing his assignments."

I was so happy for him. He was dreading this conference. I think, he remembered the disastrous conference of last year and wanted so much to not have to work on everything from remaining seated in his seat to actually doing the work assignments.

When Mark asked how his parent-teacher conference had gone, Alex smiled. I think with the ADHD, Alex often feels inferior to other kids. He often says stuff like, "Why can't I just do what they want me to do." Its was nice for him to get a home run!

Crazy dressers

Ryan chose all his own clothes -- including his pimp cane.

Ryan and Seany.
Seany's pants are on backwards.

Zucchini Harvest 2007

Next year will get some miracle gro and use garden soil instead of the clay that is the natural soil here.

The Coffee Monsters

Ryan saw me coming and picked up plates as if to clean up the mess!

Here Ryan is pointing out the worst of it.

My evidence that Ryan is at least equally responsible is the coffee on his face.

Sean denied all knowledge by playing dumb to my inquiries and obsessing about the shovels.

Andy's manners

Yesterday, Mark called me to come right away. Andy was crying, very loudly. Andy had been talking to Mark about something and did not see the counter. He walked right into the corner. Luckily his brow hit the corner and not his eye.

He snuggled up, accepted ice and pain meds and took a nap. When he woke up, he untangled himself from me and went to the other couch to lay down.

"Oh, Andrew (sigh), you don't like to snuggle with me?" I asked.

"Oh, Mommmmmmeeeeee (whine). I do like to snuggle, but I need to lay down on the WHOLE couch."

"OK."

"Mommmmmeeeeeee, can you please get me a sippy cup with milk in it, and popcorn in a big bowl, and a big napkin and turn on my Scooby-Doo movie?"

Yeah, he's not demanding at all.

TV and lies

Last night, Mark and I were watching a show, Life, on USA. It stars a guy who was in Mark's favorite mini-series, Band of Brothers. The premise is simple. The guy, a police officer, was wrongly convicted of murdering his family and went to jail for 12 years. Totally exonerated, he is back on the force and received an undisclosed settlement from the LAPD.

Obvious who-dun-its, but he is a very interesting actor to watch.

After the show a commercial aired.

"Eat all the food you want and still lose weight!"

"This has to be true because we've just said it on TV."

Yeah, you can't tell a lie on TV. I'm falling for that one.

Appointments

Yes, its that time of year. Where all the little boys -- except Andrew -- get checked out by specialists! Yippee! I'm so glad that they all have MORE appointments! I'm really quite thrilled. Couldn't ask for anything more...

Sean, small but mighty. Or so I thought. He had some hearing screenings done related to being enrolled in speech therapy. He failed twice miserably. This turned into a hearing screening by an audiologist. This turned into a sort of diagnosis. Severe hearing loss in both ears due to massive amounts of non-infected fluid behind both ear drums. Now he has to see an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist. But no "worries," after the fluid is magically drained (surgery for tubes) his hearing should be restored.

Bottom line, although happy that he's hearing loss is most likely not permanent, I am worried about tubes surgery. Anyone who's kids have had this want to give me a summoning up?

Ryan, not quite as small but also mighty. In November, he is due for a bladder study test. I haven't heard from the spina bifida clinic yet. And I'm not reminding them. He hates this test. He's had no infections, and shows no other symptoms that his cord has re-tethered. In December, he is due for his clinic visit. I'll casually drop in such remarks when he sees the urologist, and with any luck, he won't have to endure the 2 catheters and scope and leads all over his body.

Bottom line, he's been proving his amazing health to the specialists for almost a year now, give the kid a break.

Alex, not small but very mighty. His toe walking has led to a new complication. Hammer toes. He sees the podiatrist next Wednesday. I'm hoping we don't have to spend $500 on shoes he'll grow out of in 6 months. But we'll do what we must.

Bottom line, Alex has to stop toe walking.