Buckeyes

I HAVE to share this with you. I have never laughed harder at ANYONE'S posts, this one even beats out Heth's funniest (sorry Heth, but I'm certain you will agree!)

Please scroll down a bit to the entry titled, "Goodbye, Little Preciouses, Until Next Christmas."

Linda, you are so fun!

Those Wise Men

Ooh! I did want to share this really cool thing I learned when we went to church with Nate and Heth. It blew me away. Year after year, from early childhood, we hear the Christmas story. The Family, the shepherds, the angels, the manger, the hay, the animals, and the wise men. I learned something amazing about those wisemen. (I am probably making mistakes here in re-telling it, so please please correct me in the comments if I'm wrong so I can make it right in the post.)

They didn't just wear fancy robes and crowns and come riding on camels with expensive gifts for Jesus. They studied scripture!

After the Israelites were captured and taken to Babylon and Assyria, their scriptures went with them. And other people there, like the wise men, found them and studied them. They knew all about who Jesus was and what he was going to do!

Sooo...when they brought Jesus gold, they knew that he was the king, he was from a royal family (King David's family).

When they brought him frankincense they knew he was a priest, the GREAT high priest (frankincense was smelly stuff they burnt and let the smell waft up to the Lord, it's a thing only the priests did back in the day).

When they brought him myrrrrh (who knows how to spell that anyway? ha!) they knew he was going to die, because myrrh is an embalming thing.

That just blew me away!!! They understood it better than anyone else there! All from reading guys like Isaiah and Micah and all. Those Old Testament books. I find that amazing. I just thought I'd share that.

Celebrating!

Woohooo! We're all doing great here. Yeah, I was sick over Christmas. It came and went pretty quickly though. I woke up in the middle of the night before Christmas Eve day not feeling good. But by Christmas morning I was feeling great! I remember waking up Christmas day at 6:40 a.m. I realized I was feeling good and was so thankful. Then I realized...DANG! I missed Grandma Margaret's Christmas cookies (made by Jessie) AGAIN!

I moped into the kitchen to get a drink, and there on the counter was the box! Thank you Jessie for leaving me some cookies! I ate two right away and thought I better not overdo it. Pretty soon everyone else woke up and we went to church :)

Now, it's New Year's Eve day, and we are having Tracey and hubby and kids over YAY! I better get those smokies in the crock pot!

We're Home

Even though Eric and I got the flu over Christmas, we still had a wonderful week. It was SO GOOD to see everyone again before we move.

Right now I'm listening to Shane&Shanes album "Pages." I agree, "Beg" is a great song, but my favorite song so far is the very first one, "Vision of You" It brings a wave of peace over me as I look at the incredible mess of luggage, toys, candy, mail, that waits. It feels great to just leave it, but what if someone wants to come look at the house today??? I say they'll just have to wait till tomorrow.

Poor Little Buddy

Poor Ethan. Last night after the Christmas program during the cookie reception, Ethan was in the hall and well, lost his cookies all over the floor. I felt so bad, neither Eric or I were anywhere to be found. Eric was in the gym supervising Owen while Owen tried to retrieve a pacifier that Emily had thrown under the bleachers. I was in the lunch room chatting with another mom, we were waiting for the room to clear out because we were on clean-up duty. I'm hoping this is just a 24-hour bug and he'll be feeling better very soon. We are supposed to have a long car ride ahead of us tomorrow to close on the new house. Poor little buddy.

I Shouldn't Have Said It

Friday night at Bunco I was reflecting on the past year and I said, "In the whole entire year that we lived in this house, NOBODY got throw-up sick!"

My Ornament

Tonite is Bunco night. It's the last time I'll be able to get together with the other gals from church to play Bunco before we move. I'm really excited, because we're doing a "Good Ornament-Bad Ornament" exchange. We each will bring a nice pretty ornament and a not-so-pretty one.

In past years it sounds like the ladies have taken old ornaments with paint scratched off, damaged ornaments, unusual ornaments that wouldn't be put on a tree, etc. I decided I would just make mine.

The ladies all know we are a Star Wars family and I'm a gamer and definitely not gifted as a a scrapbooker/crafting type person, so I was going to take a Jawa or Ewok kid's meal toy from Burger King and hot-glue a little red pompom on it for a Rudolph-like nose and glue a red loop on to hang it up. But I just couldn't bring myself to damage anything Star Wars, even if it is just a kids' meal toy.

Soooooo...I got out the aluminum foil.

Voila!

Update

Woohoo! I'm sitting here with nothing to do! The house is CLEAN and Emily is napping! Okay, I could vacuum, but why wake the baby? She needs to sleep anyway, she had her one-year shots today. Everything went great, 20.08 pounds, 29 inches long, no one-year molars yet.

I must say, it's a pretty good feeling to have the house so clean. Part of me, a very small part of me, is thinking that maybe I will try to keep this up when we move to our new house. I pretty much just do a smaller load of laundry each day, I squeegie the shower really well to keep it from getting filmy and mildewy, make the beds right away, stuff like that. We'll see what happens when we move, right now I'm all talk.

So far, we have had no showings. I'm not that surprised, it's the toughest time of year to sell a house. I know last year everything went really well, we had lots and lots of showings and sold the house in two and a half weeks. This time it's different, but that's okay. Eric's company will buy the house from us after it's been on the market 60 days. We found out the average time a house is on the market here is 8 MONTHS. Thank you, Nationwide, for being on our side.

But I'm ready! In case we do get a call.

I wish I could take credit for how awesome the house looks, but the truth is, the stager told me to put this here and move that there and get rid of those and add some of these. Except the Christmas tree and stockings, those were my own vision.

I absolutely LOVE our bedroom. For the entire year that we have lived here, it's pretty much been no furniture except a bed, a floor lamp, two t.v. trays with little lamps and alarm clocks on them. No color or decorations. Well, the stager said we should really try to make it feel like a retreat. My husband had no problems having us spend a little money to warm up the room. We moved the t.v. cabinet into our bedroom and I got a chair, some pillows, vases, candles, a couple of side tables, some artwork and I LOVE it! Mom helped me hang everything up and arrange it. I just do not have any artistic talent at all. I know it's prideful boasting, but I'm going to share pictures because it won't last long. And looking at this room reminds me of how much Mom has done for me.

You know, things are going pretty well right now! It has, as it turns out, been MUCH easier to get this house ready to sell and keep it clean than it was last year when we moved. The boys usually make their own beds, but since everything has to be picture-perfect, I've been doing it. This morning I was up in Owen's top bunk making the bed when I realized I did this last year when I was 9 months pregnant and CLEARLY exceeded the weight limit for the top bunk. I'm surprised the thing didn't come crashing down on me. It's much much easier to get that bed made now!

The boys spend most of the day in school, and they are pretty good about not touching the walls or the furniture or sitting on the beds or accidentally drying their hands with the decorative towels, or leaving stuff laying around. We've all gotten pretty good at living here without living here. Emily's a little more challenging. I'm watching her now, she has figured out how to walk on her knees! YAY! Won't be too much longer and she'll be walking on her feeties! I see she has one of Grandma Margaret's really old books I had set on the hall table. She's into everything.

Her favorite cupboards to get into are the one with the cleaning supplies and the one with the coffee maker. The stager told us to completely clear our kitchen counters and just make a space in that cabinet there for the coffee maker. I put chairs up in front of those cabinets to keep her out. It makes her really mad.

But when I think about last year, I really don't have any stress at all with this move. I've learned that I CAN live far away from our families, that it's really not the end of the world. We'll be moving just a half a day's drive away from here, so we can come back here and visit anytime we want.

I just thought I'd throw a random picture in just for fun. Here's our tree!

Thank You, Jessie!

Awww, my cousin Jessie just called. She's making Christmas cookies from Grandma Margaret's special recipe. She made them last year, too because Grandma died, just a few hours before Emily was born. I was so emotional last year from her dying, having baby blues, and dealing with the fact that we were moving 10 million miles away from everyone that I didn't even eat a single cookie. I thanked Jessie for making the cookies again this year and told her to make a LOT. She laughed and said I could count on it, because it just wouldn't be the same without Grandma Margaret's cookies. I couldn't agree more.

Birthday Pictures

I felt bad. I kind of forgot all about my precious daughter turning one today. We've been so busy cleaning and getting our house ready to go on the market (which it is now, yay!). Earlier today we went out to eat at this really awesome Amish restaraunt with Tracey and Eric and the kids. Then afterwards we ran some errands and quick got Emmy some presents and a little cake.

Emily's New Trick!

Today Emily turned ONE! And she's surprised us with this new trick. By the way, in case it doesn't show up well, each time she says, "Mehhh" she's blowing a spit bubble.

Our Street

I just thought I'd share. Here's our street with our blue house. See it?

Our House

What a week we had. We were gone last week house-hunting. It was quite a roller-coaster ride. I bet we looked at at least 30 houses. It was tough because this was pretty much the only week we could buy a house. Eric's schedule is chaotic, this was it. We had to buy a house THIS WEEK.

We finally found a house on Wednesday and decided to place an offer on Thursday. Well, we weren't in any rush, as far as we knew no one else was lined up to buy the house, so we visited a church first, then the school.

I wasn't crazy about this house. It was cute on the outside, had a nice level lot, beautiful grass, my husband loved it. But I didn't feel like the interior was functional for our family. I even woke up at 3:20 a.m. the morning we were going to make an offer, and I just couldn't go back to sleep. My mind kept turning and going, trying to figure out where we'd put our furniture, our stuff, I'd have to buy more furniture to make that dining room look nice, my red vases wouldn't go anywhere, there was no fire place, didn't have sidewalks on our side of the street, and on and on. It just didn't feel right, but I figured it would do. We'd figure it out.

So. After the visit to the church and school, we drove over to place an offer and got a call that the house sold. We were at a complete loss. I really thought Eric was going to break down. But for some reason, I wasn't really upset at all. I just knew things would work out.

We headed back to the realtor's office to start over. We ended up coming across this one house we saw when we made a quick visit back in October. I remember loving the interior, but the exterior...well...

Okay, it had a nice level lot, sidewalks on both sides, was in a great location. BUT....

Yep. It's BLUE. Actually it's "Ivy Green." And it really is pretty and cute and unique, but ALL the other houses on the street are neutral. You know, white, beige, cream...

We'll be known as The People In The Blue House. It'll be great. We'll order pizza for delivery, or have new friends over and tell them we live on Such and Such street, just look for the blue house. Can't miss it. And even better, we'll have our bright yellow Hawkeye flag hanging proudly off the front somewhere. Weeee.

I don't mean to sound ungrateful. I'm really really glad we got this house. I absolutely LOVE the inside, and all our furniture will work great in there. It's cozy and cute, it has a front porch, and the quality of the craftsmanship is outstanding. I'm happy!

We move in just 36 days...I've got a lot of work to do haha!

Mission Accomplished

I shot up out of bed at 3:20 this morning, washed my face and brushed my teeth and threw on a sweatshirt and jeans. Didn't care about bed head. My friend Tracey pulled up in her van at 4:00 and brought her boys in and we nestled them in bed here with my boys. Eric agreed to watch the kids for us so we could go SHOPPING!!

We were on a mission to get this one particular item that she wanted to give her husband for Christmas before he goes to Iraq. We arrived at Toys R Us at 4:30 a.m. and got in line. Actually, the line wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be, and no line seems long at all after standing in line for 7 hours to get into the Star Wars Celebration merchandise store.

As the crowd rushed in at opening time, before we even got into the store, a lady came walking out announcing that the item we were after was already sold out. Tracey and I were disappointed, but we decided to go on in and see what we could find for the kids. We found some really good stuff at outstanding prices, and only stood in line to check out for around an hour, spending a total of about two and a half hours in the store. It was fun to just visit with each other and the people in line around us.

We grabbed some breakfast on the go and headed to Target next. We found more great bargains and were really excited that this other thing Tracey hoped to get wasn't sold out yet. It felt really good to have most of our Christmas shopping done already, and we saved a lot of money.

After grabbing a Starbucks on our way out of Target, we noticed that Office Max was right next door. It had advertised that one special item we were hoping to get, so we thought why not. Of course when we got inside they told us that it had sold out within the first 30 minutes after the store opened. We were down-hearted but thought it just wasn't meant to be. We decided to head home, where we'd make one more stop at Radio Shack before calling it a day.

As we pulled into town, I watched the Home Depot sign, Best Buy sign, Office Max sign go by. Tracey and I both commented on how that new Office Max in town was now opened. I asked her if she wanted to stop there real quick, and I could just run in and ask if they were sold out of that special item we woke up at 3:30 for. She was hesitant and figured they'd be sold out but said sure.

I ran in and found the first employee I saw. " I don't suppose you have any Zunes left?" He said they did. "Where are they??" My heart was racing. It was 11:00 a.m., the sale had been going all morning, surely they were out of the brown Zunes on sale for half price. The sales associate pointed to the back left corner of the store. I raced over there. I found the Zune section. There was one black one sitting there, not on sale. Only the brown ones were for sale.

I hustled backed to the guy with the black Zune in hand. "I don't suppose you have any more Zunes in the back?" He said they did. "Any BROWN ones back there?" He checked. They had two! "Could I please have one?" I sure could! I was thrilled! I let Tracey know right away.

It was meant to be! After all that early morning seeking, at the tail-end of all the sales, we just happened to find a Zune that was on sale for half-price, an item that pretty much sold out everywhere else we looked within the first 15-30 minutes of the store opening. Really incredible, actually. I don't know if Jesus thinks Black Friday is bad and thinks it encourages everyone to be greedy, but I was thanking Him for providing that Zune. And thanking Him for the really awesome time I had with Tracey.

We pulled into my driveway, and I hid the gifts I got for the kids in Eric's trunk. When we went in the house, Eric was sitting in the chair watching t.v. The kids were downstairs playing in the basement. The house was CLEAN. He had cleaned the living room AND kitchen, did laundry, and he made the boys French toast too! And, I found out that even though we thought all the kids were sleeping when we nestled them in and left at 4:00 a.m., they actually woke up about 20 minutes later and were playing hide and seek in the dark on the stairs. Eric got them settled back in and back to sleep. What a HERO!

Today has been an absolutely awesome day. I had sooooooo much fun with Tracey. Tonite we'll see their family again as we celebrate Owen's birthday at Chuck E. Cheese. Ski ball tournament!! It just couldn't be a better day!!

I Did It!

It certainly isn't glamorous, but I did it! I managed to time everything just right, didn't burn anything, and most of all I had FUN! It really was fun!Well, I ALMOST didn't burn anything. Looks like I also have the Curse of the Brown 'N Serve Rolls that you wrote about on Tuesday, Linda...

Ethan Loves Chicken

Got My Bird!

And I went big! As I was putting that little 10 pounder in my cart, I felt like we wouldn't have much for leftovers, and I want LEFTOVERS. With this lovely little 16.48 pounder in my fridge currently thawing, I think we'll have leftovers.

I'm sitting in the van right now. Having an attached garage is a wonderful blessing. It's cold and awful outside, but relatively warm in the garage. I'm in the van because poor Emily has the most horrible cough/icky nose that any of my kids have ever had. She is sleeping so soundly in her car seat that I just couldn't wake her up and make her try to sleep while laying down. I'm taking her in to the doctor at 3:45. And I have to pick the boys up from school in 30 minutes, so why not ramble on a little?

When I announced that I got my bird, it took me back the last few years when I'd go turkey hunting with my dad in the spring. I didn't shoot the bird with a gun, that was dad's part. My part was to get it all on video camera. And I loved it.

Dad and I would march out into Uncle Joe's land at dark thirty in the morning. We'd go to our spot that dad took time to scope out (which always seemed to be the same spot). We'd get settled in, dad's gun and my camera ready to go.

It was so peaceful to see the colors pop out as the sun came up. We'd even get visits from various wildlife as we waited for the turkeys to come into view. More than anything, dad and I just love being out there, observing, taking it all in.

Dad would use his call and I'd sit as still and quiet as I possibly could, all decked out in camo. Before long, we'd get our bird.

It has always been hard for me to observe the kill, but it helps to know that my dad isn't out there hunting for a trophy. I grew up eating pheasant, duck, goose, deer, rabbit, and fish fish fish. I love it and miss it. But more I miss being out there pheasant hunting and turkey hunting with my dad. It reminds me of the Indians, I picture an Indian boy out there with his dad making his first kill. Except I'm not an Indian or a boy. But I love being out in God's creation, especially with my dad.

Rising to the Challenge

I'm doing it. I'm going to the store right now to buy a turkey and all the other stuff for Thanksgiving dinner. This will be our little family's first time celebrating, just us. It'll be my first time making a big turkey. I'm looking forward to the challenge! My mom and my mother-in-law have full confidence in me, but I'll have some boneless skinless turkey breasts on hand as a back-up just in case.

Wrestle Mania

Dance Dance Bubblution

Emily has figured out how to open the kitchen cabinets. Her favorite is the tupperware cabinet.


I was upstairs putting laundry away, and I could hear the boys were up to something in the kitchen. I figured they were sock-skating on the wood floor, or wrestling, or something. This just cracks me up. I came downstairs and saw this:

The boys were stomping and dancing on bubble wrap! It still makes me laugh! I asked them where in the world the bubble wrap came from. They said Emily found it in one of the cupboards. I forgot I used bubble wrap to send a gift in the mail and shoved the leftover roll in a cupboard just to get it out of the way. Emily found it!

Jibber Jabber

Okay, this is my first video post. It's kind of long and boring at the beginning, but if you can hold out till the end it get cute. I was hoping to catch Emily jibber-jabbering like she usually does, but instead I was pleasantly surprised with her saying Mama and waving bye-bye for the first time! When you hear me saying, "Wow" I'm expecting her to copy me, she says "Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow!" all the time. Well, she didn't do that :) Instead she said Mamamama! YAY! And even better, she waved bye-bye!

Strength Will Rise

I recently discovered His Girl and loved how her whole family worked together to very quickly get a bunch of housework done. I need to know her secret, especially the part about how she got her kids to do it without complaining. That is awesome!



It makes me realize that the time has come. We have to get our house on the market SOON, we're shooting for before Thanksgiving. And I need help.



How do I keep my wood floors clean??? Emily is 11 months old now, and she's learning to eat people food (I guess I should say table food, she's not a puppy haha!). Also, she's still crawling, so I often find little finger paintings all over the floors where she drooled or spit up and played in it with her hands. It's cute for me, the mom, but I don't think a prospective buyer will see the beauty in it.



So. What are some secrets to keeping those floors shiny new every. single. day? And how do I get my 5 and 7 year olds to scrape the globs of toothpaste out of the sink every. single. morning. after they're done brushing? And...



Oh I could go on and on. I do have some secrets of my own from last year when we moved. I remember being 9 months pregnant, loading baskets full of laundry, clean or dirty, into my car, along with any other clutter that I just didn't have a place for so that a realtor could bring someone through the house.



It's funny to look back. I did this a year ago when I was pregnant, then some more with a brand new baby. Here I am today, not pregnant, but it's harder. I have more house to clean and a crawling tornado to keep up with. But you know what? Just like we said last year, it is what it is. If those floors aren't shiny, well, then it is what it is. And we will still move. And the company Eric works for will buy our house if it doesn't sell in 60 days.



But that doesn't mean I get to slack off. I have to try...



Jesus helped me last year. He'll help me again this time around. Last year the song that pulled me through was Let Your Joy Be My Joy from a Women of Faith soundtrack. This year, it's Strength Will Rise by Lincoln Brewster. Of course, there are many many more uplifting songs, but it seems I've connected the current days to this song.



You are the everlasting God, the everlasting God, You do not faint you, won't grow weary. You're the defender of the weak, you comfort those in need, and lift us up on wings like eagles. Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord...

10-20-30

This is a meme going around. I thought it'd be fun to reflect.

10 years ago, I was in my second year of teaching second grade. Eric and I were living in our dinky apartment, and we still had that really awesome green couch. Eric was an underwriter. That summer, we had taken a vacation to Yellowstone, since we weren't able to go on a honeymoon because Eric had to work. Was 1997 a big year for Star Wars? I can't remember if we spent any time waiting in line for something Star Wars that year...


20 years ago, I was a freshman in high school. I still remember what I wore my first day! A yellow shaker sweater with white shorts and white moccasin-type shoes. I had a perm, short and kinda curly. I was really into teal and royal blue colored mascara and shimmery pink lipgloss. I was just starting freshman basketball, good ol' six-on-six 20 years ago at this time. I didn't have a boyfriend but had a huge crush on Troy Moats, this guy in my French class. I think he's an optometrist now? I ended up going to prom that year with a trumpet player I made friends with in band. I remember he was very outgoing. I was super shy. I loved loved loved my freshman science class, especially studying microfossils.


30 years ago, I was five! I'm not sure if I was in kindergarten yet. But I do remember kindergarten. I remember Pooh Corner, this little reading nook the teacher made. My favorite thing was to sit in there and read. I was already reading independently in kindergarten, I have no idea why. Must have been Sesame Street and Electric Company, plus the fact that my mom read to us a lot. I remember my kindergarten reading book, it was called "Hellicopters and Gingerbread Men." I remember telling my teacher that I wanted her to call me "Pepper" instead of Andrea. She told me that wouldn't work, because then she'd have to call my brother "Salt." I remember kindergarten had a play-kitchen and dress-up area. I never liked to play kitchen or house or dress-up. I liked the little balance beam she had set up in the room.


My favorite season in life so far has been right now. Being married to Eric, having our kids, taking care of them, being involved in our church. I love it.

My Boys

Yesterday, our church had a HUGE Christmas Craft Bazaar. The entire gym was packed with vendors. I was absolutely amazed, how do people make this stuff? And why can't I do that? I'm just not gifted in the area of crafts at all. It was so fun to see all the people, and I was able to help out by sitting at our Pray and Play table to sell crafts that the other moms in our group made.

They had a kids' area in part of the building with games and even a shop for kids to buy presents for their families. The boys spent the whole morning in the kids' area while I worked at the table. It was absolutely precious. Owen spent pretty much all of his tickets on buying gifts for Emily, Eric,and myself. For some reason, he omitted Ethan... And then Ethan used his tickets to buy himself stuff, "Because they had really cool stuff there, Mom!" I just thought it was so cute. It just shows how they are two different boys at two different ages of development.

Sometimes I can't wait for those two to get older, I can't wait to see who they'll be, the kinds of conversations we'll have (hopefully they'll still want to talk to me). I hope that we'll be able to go camping, hiking, kayaking, all kinds of outdoorsy activities. I hope that they'll be best buds with each other all their lives. I hope all our families will be able to stay near to each other.

Radio

After reading Linda's post about Amy Grant, I got to thinking about how Christian music has changed my life and impacted my relationship with Jesus.

It started I'm thinking back in 1995 or maybe '96, when Nate and Heth sent me a Jars of Clay cd. I'd never heard of them, and at the time I was listening to pop stations on "regular radio." My first reaction after receiving the cd was, "Oh." To begin with, I didn't have a cd player. I was still using cassettes. Secondly, I'd never heard of Jars of Clay. I decided to keep it and traded it in for a tape.

I really wasn't all that impressed my first time listening, mostly because I didn't know any of the songs. But because it was a gift from my brother, I kept trying. After a few days, I started to remember lyrics and found myself singing along. Before I knew it, I was obsessed with Jars of Clay, listening over and over again. I was so excited when they came to Perry for a free concert! Eric and I went, and even sat right near the band at the local Pizza Hut!

From there, it just boomed. I discovered the local Christian radio station, it played all kinds of really good music that paralelled secular bands. I remember taking the 30 Day Challenge. "Listen to our station for 30 days, and we GUARANTEE you won't ever listen to another station again!" Yeah right...

Well, I took the challenge, and they were right! The music was so uplifting and encouraging, there was no going back for me!

I've found 5 different Christian stations here. They range from encouraging talk-shows to good old fashioned hymns (organ included!) to soft and mellow, to heavier stuff, to really heavy sounds-like-they're-belching-in the-mic kinds of stuff. I flip between them all depending on my mood.

One really wonderful thing is that many stations can be listened to online. Two I listen to online include KZZQ and RadioU.

Warm and Cozy

I love our fireplace~I usually sit or lay on the floor right in front of it. I love the warmth and the glow. I'm going to miss it when we move. Hopefully we'll find a house with another fireplace.

We can't let Emily be free when the fire is turned on, but the pilot light alone doesn't generate enough heat to burn her.


Last night when Eric got home from work he lit the pilot light and got it going. We ate supper and the kids wanted to play a game. We usually play at the table, but Eric suggested we sit by the fireplace. I put Emily in her exersaucer and we all sat on the floor and played Sorry. When the game was over, we put the kids to bed and watched t.v. Eric fell asleep almost immediately, laying right in front of the fireplace. I ended up watching a movie with Natalie Portman and Susan Sarandon called "Anywhere But Here." It was such a cozy evening.

Bearing the Shame

It's been a busy day. Just today I've had the drywall guy come in and sand where he touched up different areas of the house, the garage door guy came to repair the garage door after I back into it while it was still halfway down, and then the appraiser came to measure and take pictures of the house so we can get it on the market.

It's so wierd. What do you do when you have people working in your house? Do you follow them around? Watch t.v.? Check email? Read? Is it okay to eat in front of them if they are there over lunch time? I've had to leave countless strangers alone in my house while I either run Ethan to school or pick both the boys up when school is over (and for at least a half hour at that, 15 minutes there, 15 minutes home).

Well, something interesting happened today while the appraiser was here. I was holding Emily, and we were watching what was going on behind our house. They built a new home, and a guy was running a little bulldozer thing all over the lot to smooth out the dirt. Not so interesting, I guess, but it was cool to see him turn instantly at a 90 degree angle with that thing.

I stood there holding Emmy for a good 20 minutes or so, watching the bulldozer go back and forth. As I was sort of spacing off and trying to figure out how he turned so quickly, I just kind of sort of passed gas in a really big loud smelly way. I didn't think much of it (I come from a gassy family. Our motto is "It's better to bear the shame than bear the pain." You've heard that before, haven't you?) Then I heard "beep beep" coming from upstairs. It was the appraiser's special measuring tool. I forgot the appraiser was there! And the way sound bounces around in this house, I'm sure he heard me. Almost certain he smelled me.

He came downstairs and commented on how cute and smelly (I mean smiley) Emily was, asked how old she is, etc. all the while I was trying with everything in me to NOT bust out laughing.

Favorite Things

Heth said when you don't have anything to post, post pictures...

Check it out. I actually snapped the picture when the door stop was bent down as Emmy boinged it.

All Better!

I took Emmy in and had them try to fix her bangs. She's still sporting that Martin Luther look, but he was a pretty cool guy, and Emmy's hair will grow.

Emily, Honey, I'm So Sorry

I promise I will never try to cut your bangs again.

Just a Thought

As I was typing that previous post, I could hear Emily in the living room playing with something that sounded like a box. I figured she'd gotten into her tub of toys.

Just now, I peeked over the counter at her, and she was pulling the baby wipes out of the container! I just kind of said, "Emmy...no no..." in a cute "I'm gonna getcha" voice. She smiled really big, giggled, and tried to crawl as fast as she could away from me! It was so cute!

It reminds me of Ethan, when he was about 18 months old, he snuck into the pantry and got a cereal bar out. He came waddling into the living room with it. I said the same thing..."Ethan, no no..." and as fast as he could, he crammed that whole cereal bar into his mouth!! Owen had a similar experience with the dog's Pupperoni treats.


I feel a song coming on, to the tune of "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands..." (mom always made up songs about us, I sing the same ones to my kids)

I've got three cute kids...yes I do!
I've got three cute kids...yes I do!
I've got three cute kids...yes I do!
And I love them oh so much....

I Think I've Changed My Mind

Last night was pretty rough for my 5 year old. He woke up twice in the night, scared from that house that turned its garage, driveway, and front yard into a scary graveyard. The house was awful. I didn't even want to go near it. Ethan and I kept right on moving while Eric walked Owen up to get candy.

I cuddled Ethan till he fell asleep. He asked me why people make scary decorations. He said people should make their windows look nice for people. All I could do was tell him he was right and just cuddle him some more.

I love all that candy, too. And it's so cute and fun to see the kids dressed up in friendly costumes. But I don't think it's worth letting my kids see creepy stuff that scares them that they will remember for a long long time.

I remember being in third grade and I saw E.T. It TERRIFIED me. Many people couldn't understand why I was scared of E.T. He was a good guy, a friendly alien, etc.

I knew E.T. wasn't real, but it was my own imagination that got me all scared. I had a night light plugged in under the window, and the shadow the window valance made on the ceiling from it looked just like E.T.'s body from the side, with his neck all stretched out. It made me remember the scene when E.T. was really sick, all powdery white, laying on the floor of Elliot's bathroom, reaching out to Elliot's mom and crying.

I don't know how many days went by that I couldn't sleep because I couldn't take my eyes off that shadow, watching to see if it actually moved, which meant E.T. was in my room! Which meant he'd sneak up on me and stretch his head up over the side of my bed! And maybe he had fangs! And he might show me those fangs and growl at me...and on and on and on my imagination went.

You know, to this day, I can't sleep with my back to the edge of the bed. Maybe it's because of that old childhood fear.

I think our days of going out on the street are over...there are a lot of cute costumes out there, but there's lots of scary stuff, too. If we find a church that has a carnival, we can still dress up and have fun without the icky creepy stuff.

Trick-or-Treat

Each year we've done trick-or-treat with the kids, even though I have mixed feelings about it. While I did pumpkins with the kids, I shared that story that's been going around the internet for awhile, how carving a pumpkin is like how Jesus picked us (like we picked our pumpkins), he cleans all the yucky stuff out of our hearts (like we clean the yucky stuff out of the pumpkin), makes us a new creation (like how we make a new face on our pumpkins), and shines his light in us (like we shine a light in our pumpkins). Not sure I got it exactly right, but that's the general idea.
The boys were really grossed out trying to clean out their pumpkins. I was just being silly here.

We've never put up decorations or anything like that, but this year Eric and I even dressed up with the kids. We went out with them while my parents, who were visiting, passed out candy.

It was nice to walk along and say hello to everyone, and we certainly got a lot of comments on our costumes, especially Eric.

As we went from house to house, once in awhile we came to one that had scary decorations. We also landed on a street that went all out on being scary. The kids didn't like it, and I didn't try to talk them into approaching the scary houses. It really spoke to me. More and more I feel like I want to substitute trick-or-treat with a different fun family activity. I love how many churches have a carnival on trick-or-treat night. Maybe we'll find a church like that when we move.

Even with my mixed feelings, I look at all the candy and can't help but say YAY!!

We'll see what next year brings.

Yeah, I Could Live Here

Well, I must say, I LOVE it here! The view is absolutely beautiful. These aren't the snow-capped Rockies, but still spectacular.

I'm pretty tired right now. We spent the day looking at houses in all kinds of neighborhoods. I loved the developments that were more at the top of the mountains, an incredible view. The tough part was that living on a hill means a sloped yard. Hard to mow.

Another area we visited was not surrounded by mountains but had bigger, flatter lots. More than anything, it was really good to get out here and see some of these places in person after studying them online for the last few weeks.

We aren't ready to buy a house yet, still need to get ours on the market, but we'll be coming back here in another month (without the kids, what a challenge that was!) to look more intensely.

And Away We Go!

I'm so excited!! We're leaving today after lunch for a half-day's drive to check out the area we'll be moving to in February. I've heard it's absolutely beautiful there, and our area is even at the tip of a mountain range. In high school I went on an extended hike through the Rockies and love love loved it. I'm not sure if these mts will even come close to the beauty of the Rockies, but we'll see! We've been warned that they have bears there. Bears?? Bring em' on! At least I know they won't be sneaking into my house or crawling into my bed at night like spiders do!!

I'll take my camera so I can post pictures as we go.

My Jedi Name

Find out What's Your Jedi Name at LiquidGeneration.com

Happy Birthday Grandma!

We love you and we're so happy you're here!

Boy Talk

The boys had this conversation in the van today...



Owen: The first is the worst. The second is the best. Third is the one with the treasure chest. Fourth is the one with the polka dotted dress. Fifth is the one who lives in the West. Sixth is the one with the hairy chest....

(PAUSE)

Owen: Hey Ethan. Do you want a hairy chest or a beard?

Ethan: Oh a hairy chest. No wait. A beard. Can I have both?

Buddies

I love it when the boys play nicely together. Here they are playing Zathura. What's really great is Owen can read the cards.

Well, mostly. Each card starts with a description and at the bottom has a command. For example, the card might read, "Pass Planet Galactagon and encounter less wind resistance" or "Your navigational experience is needed" I found Owen calling out, "Mom!" every time they drew a card, which was about every 30 seconds, so I finally showed Owen to just read the command at the bottom of each card, which would read something like, "Lose a turn" or "Move ahead 1 space." That helped them be able to play more independently, and I was able to get stuff done around the house.

Well, mostly. Emily is getting more demanding every day it seems!

Thinking I Should Cut Back...

I read this.

What's Your Name?

I saw this meme on Linda's blog and it looked super fun! (Not to mention you get to create a Star Wars name!!)


1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car)

Duke Odyssey

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)

Brownie Oatmeal


3. YOUR “FLY Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)

A Mat


4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)

Pink Owl


5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)

Lynn Sumter


6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)

Mat An


7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)

The Green Dr. Pepper


8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)

John LaVern


9.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names)

Iona Arlen (I actually love that. If I had another girl, I would consider naming her Iona Arlen).


10. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)

Piehl Pittsburgh


11. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower)

Summer Daisy


12. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + "ie" or "y")

Grape Jammy Pants


13. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)

Special-K Maple


14. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”)

The Reading Sunshine Tour

Pumkin Patch

Ethan's class went to a pumpkin patch for their autumn field trip. Emmy and I went with. We had to bundle up. It's amazing how just three days before it was 95 degrees outside, and for the field trip we needed coats, hats, and gloves.




We began with a really nice hay ride. They took us on a trail through the woods. It was beautiful, and the most fun part of the ride was finding the animals along the path. They took a variety of animals (I'm assuming they were originally roadkill) like skunks, squirrels, raccoons, groundhogs, deer, even a couple red foxes and had them mounted and placed all throughout the trail. The kids had fun finding them.




The hay ride ended at the pumpkin field. Each child got to pick three gourds and a pie pumpkin. Ethan was so excited! Of course, he grabbed the first three gourds he saw, but took his time finding the perfect pumpkin.

We saw some live animals, too. I didn't get a picture, but there were pigs in the barn. The kids could also feed the goats.

I'm 100% anti-petting zoo, unless I can actually be there to scrub my children's hands practically raw so they don't get super sick like the kids I've heard about in the news. I remember Owen went to a different pumpkin farm for his field trip. I asked him if there was a petting zoo. He said there was. I asked if he went to it before or after lunch. He said before. I asked if he pet the animals. He said no. I said good boy! Then he said, "But I fed the goats! And got goat slobber all over my hands." Ugh. I asked if he scrubbed his hands really really well and made lots of bubbles, or did he just kind of rinse the soap off without scrubbing. He was honest, which I want him to be, and said he just rinsed it off. BLECK! Needless to say, Ethan chose not to feed the goats.

They had a miniature donkey mother with its baby. I'm not sure if this is the mom or the baby.

This is a rabbit village.

Here's a close-up of the rabbit village. These bunnies were huge and fluffy and adorable.

We stopped to take a class picture in front of this wall. Pretty!

In one of the barns they had a rope ladder. The idea was to climb it to the top and ring the bell.

It looks like it'd be easy, but it was very very wobbly. One of Ethan's buddies held the ladder while he climbed. I wanted to try it too, but there were parents watching.

This was fun! They made slides out of this huge tubing. I don't know what the tubing is for, but the kids really zoomed down those slides!

When we got back to school, the kids used their gourds to make a gourd family. Since we are a family of 5, the teacher gave us a couple more gourds.

We had to impale the gourds on nails hammered into a board.

Then add faces....

And here is Ethan's finished project.

We had a lovely day!