Low-Key

The Primary Program is over! Hallelujah!! This was the 4th one in six years I've been in charge of. The kids did great, everything went fine, and thank goodness, I've got a year before I have to do it all over again. I intentionally planned nothing for this current week, so I could simply relax and enjoy doing nothing. The boys are doing well. Adam got his glasses and likes wearing them. I'll post a photo as soon as possible. He looks like a little professor. Matt keeps us laughing--he is a hoot. He's loving preschool and is starting to get out of his 'shy' phase--which is great, because he's beginning to share his sense of humor with others, and not just at home, with us.

Sad Day

It was a sad day today. This morning I finally put away my summer clothes. I wish I could wear shorts year round. It's always hard for me to do this, simply because I don't want winter to arrive. I guess I can now officially start my countdown to spring when I can pull them back out again.

Dr. Appt.

I took Adam to the doctor today. My baby needs glasses. He seems so young to get glasses. He's very excited, though. I remember when I was 8 years old, we were visiting my grandparents and cousins during the summer. My 12 year old cousin, who I thought was super cool, had both braces and glasses. In retrospect, she probably looked a bit dorky, but to me, she looked awesome. I told my mom a number of times that summer that I needed both braces and glasses. Go figure--it must be an age thing to want to wear glasses.

Halloween '09

Is there anything better than Halloween for a kid? Maybe their birthday and Christmas, but not much else. Halloween is pretty hard to beat. Adam and Matt were anxiously counting down the days until Saturday. It was all very exciting but boy, was it a busy week. The beginning of the week I was busy helping Adam's class, teaching piano, going to Liberal for Adam's appt., finishing up the Primary Program (at the library since our hard drive and printer are kaput but that's another story), going to a luncheon and visiting teaching (and that's what I can still remember). The second half of the week was dedicated to Halloween activities---and there were a bunch. Friday morning I helped Matt's preschool class with their party. Then went straight to the church to set up the Primary's activity for the ward party. From there we went to Adam's school to help with his class party. We got home and had a message from the library saying that Adam had won a pumpkin. So we raced over to pick it up. Ate a quick dinner and went to the ward's party and trunk-or-treat. Saturday was a bit calmer. We took the boys to see "Astroboy". We hadn't been to a movie in a few months, so they enjoyed that. Their Grandma had sent them some McDonald Dollars, so we went there for dinner. By that time, they were more than ready to start trick-or-treating. We left the house about 6:45 and were out 'til 9:00. They had SO much fun. The first hour they ran from house to house. The weather was great. We didn't even need jackets. We just went around our neighborhood and didn't have to drive anywhere. It was great. Most of houses were participating. One of them had set up a haunted house. It was sooooo good! We went twice.

Here's Matt's preschool class. He's kneeling, first one on left.

Here's Adam during his school's Halloween parade.

Matt was GI Joe. Getting him to cooperate for a picture is like trying to get a donkey to cooperate. I finally told him he could act tough and didn't have to smile. Whew, what a lesson in patience.

Adam is Dan from Bakugan (Japanese anime). Don't tell him I put this picture up. He, on the other hand, loves to take pictures and will ham it up.

YEAH, WE'RE TOUGH!!

Checking out their stash! Notice Adam's pile is larger--Matt gave him everything he didn't like. There is a dentist in town that is buying Halloween candy for $1/lb. The boys picked out what they don't like and we're going to take it in tomorrow, so they can earn a little money. The dentist is then sending the candy to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Fall Post

Well, we're in the thick of Autumn. There are lots of nice things about Fall--pretty leaves, crisp apples, Halloween. But to be honest, the first thing I think of about Fall is simply it means we're getting closer to winter and cold weather. And I can't stand winter. However, I'm trying to keep a positive spirit about the season. So, I'm focusing on the good things. We've got one week 'til Halloween. The boys are getting excited. I've carried on a Halloween tradition from my childhood. Every night during the last week before Halloween, my mom would come into our rooms after we had gone to bed but before we had fallen asleep. She would have a lit candle and would say in a spooky voice how many days 'til Halloween. Adam and Matt love this. Tonight is the first night of the countdown. I haven't reminded them about it, so they'll be surprised this evening. Here's a photo of the scary face I made for our front door. The boys think it's really cool because it's scary. The pumpkins are the ones we grew in our garden. The other two photos are of the boys helping with yardwork this morning.

Our Weekend

Last week, Robert got really sick. I took him to the dr. on Wednesday because he had started coughing up blood. They thought he might have swine flu so they did a flu test on him. Thankfully, it came back negative so he could take antibiotics. Initially we had plans to leave on Thursday for Kansas City to visit Rob's parents but we weren't sure if he would feel better or if we would go at all. By Thursday evening, he was feeling a lot better. I even let him sleep back in our room. He had been quarantined to the guest room in the basement, so we could avoid his germs. By Friday morning, he hadn't had a fever for more than 24 hours and he felt up to the trip. So, we quickly packed and got on the road in two hours. We stopped after a couple of hours for a break and some lunch. We pulled into Wendy's parking lot and Adam said, "I'm going to throw-up". We quickly opened and the door and he quickly did his business. I think he had just gotten carsick because he still had an appetite and wanted to eat lunch. He ended up eating 11 nuggets, oranges and a drink. We made it up to Kansas City (6 hours away) without anymore excitement. Saturday we did some shopping and had a nice bday dinner for Robert. We went to church on Sunday and saw old friends. We got a late start home--didn't leave 'til 1:30pm. Again, on the way home, Adam started feeling carsick. Thankfully, nothing came to fruition. We drove a few hours and stopped for dinner. By the time we got back on the road, it was 6:30-7pm and was getting dark. The last 110-120 miles we have to drive on a small state highway. It is desolate, has no shoulder and very seldom any traffic. We had 50 miles to go and BAM--a deer ran into our van. The driver's door, front panel, and headlight are all dented. In fact, the door will only open up about 8-9 inches without resistance. Thank goodness I'm not a big person. We have had the worst luck the past four months with moving objects and our van. Our car accident in June resulted in a $130 monthly increase for our car insurance. We haven't called yet about the deer because we're afraid what that will do to our monthly premium. Dumb deer!

What a Life!

Today I was thinking about the life of a 4 year old. They've got it good. They're old enough not to have to take naps, don't need to wear diapers, can get themselves a snack, don't have to go to school, and pretty much get to play all day. My 4 year old spent the day watching a little bit of Spongebob, played with Play-Doh, had lunch prepared for him, then made chocolate chip cookies, played with Mom whenever and whatever he wanted, watched a movie, played with his brother, had dinner prepared for him, and now gets to have someone read to him. It's like a permanent vacation.