This Made My Day

And it made me think of my big brother, Jer. He's a big Star Wars buff. Maybe not as much as this kid, though.

We Are Thankful

The boys and I made turkeys last Sunday. I was trying to explain to them about Thanksgiving, but I don't think they quite got it. The next evening, for family night, we talked about being thankful for things that we have. We asked the boys what they are thankful for.

Drew is thankful for Corvettes, Grandpa, Samantha, Owen, the lamp, and the green crayon.

Owen is thankful for Mom and Dad, Samantha, Drew, the trains, and the book.

I've been thinking a lot the last few weeks about what I'm thankful for, and the list keeps getting bigger and bigger. I've been unbelievably blessed with a fantastic husband, wonderful kids, good health (we all have colds at our house, but at least we don't have Strep like last year, though even that is something we could deal with).

David works really hard (well, really long hours anyway; he doesn't actually do much at his job) to provide for us. I'm grateful that he has a job even if it's one that keeps him away from home a lot.

I can't imagine my life without Drew, Owen or Samantha. They drive me crazy, yes, but they've taught me so much about how to be a better person. I don't even pray for patience anymore; I've already got so many opportunities to practice it.

I have wonderful parents, step parent, in laws, siblings and siblings-in-law. I have amazing extended family and friends. All of these people have had a huge impact on who I have become.

I'm grateful for our friends with the property management business that let me work for them on my own schedule. I made enough money weeding and raking leaves in the last couple days to pay for a textbook (or two, if I can find them used at a good price).

I'm grateful for my beliefs and knowledge of my Savior. I'm looking forward to the Christmas season to celebrate His life and what it means to me.

A New Record!

I realized my last two posts were about Drew. It's not that Owen and Samantha are boring, they're just quieter. Squeaky wheel gets the grease and all that.

Samantha can now walk up to six steps in a row! She's practicing more and more. She can stand up by herself, now, without grabbing on to anything.

'Mantha has been pretty crabby lately. Turns out she's getting three new teeth (I don't know why the odd number; must be she's odd herself. She takes after her mom)! All the new teeth are molars. I gave her a good tickle the other day so I could get a peek inside her mouth. Her laterals and cuspids (gotta practice using the proper names for teeth--school starts in January) show no signs of popping through, but she's got tips of molars shining bright and white toward the back of her mouth.

Owen is getting really good at baseball. Well, really good for a three year old. He has a miniature wooden bat that Aunt Ace got in Louisville a while back. I don't think it's meant to be a toy, but it's the perfect size for a kid of his stature to use for practice. We pitch a smallish Spiderman bouncy ball to him. His batting average is probably about .200; there are professionals with only slightly higher averages!

Drew and Owen are watching the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special for the billionth time since it originally aired 24 hours ago. I'm looking at the "feast" Charlie Brown and Snoopy prepare for Peppermint Patty who invited herself over for dinner. It consists of toast, popcorn, pretzels and jelly beans. Peppermint Patty complains, but I think it looks delicious. Not that I would want it for Thanksgiving dinner, but it looks pretty good for kids pretending to have a feast.

A Somewhat Productive Day

Today was a go, go kind of day. My house doesn't show the proof of it, because I was kept busy doing other, more important, things. I cut hair for Drew, Owen and David. I've been threatening the boys with haircuts for a while now (to them it's a threat). We usually try to bribe the kids to sit still for the haircut. Last time we must have bribed Drew with a ride in the Camaro because the other day when I told him I wanted to cut his hair he said, "I'm not going in the Camaro. At all."

Today I cut Owen's hair first. He is less prone to tantrums than Drew so I thought if Drew could see Owen getting his hair cut without any crying or problems, Drew would not mind sitting still for his own hair cut. I let Owen play with a squirt bottle while I cut his hair, but I started to wish I hadn't when I looked up from cutting to see Samantha standing next to Owen soaking wet (at least she wasn't mad about it. She was probably just glad to have Owen pay attention to her).

When it was Drew's turn, I somehow came up with the brilliant idea of snipping off a few rows of stickers from our sticker book. He sat really still and put stickers on his pants, on the chair, and on Samantha while I cut his hair. I also showed him how to blow the hair off of his arms and belly after it fell from the scissors, so he didn't freak out and end up wiping hair all over his face. It worked! I got his hair cut with no incident. It was like a pre-Thanksgiving miracle.

Here are some before and after photos of Drew (Owen is not cooperating for a photo at this time):

This is the pile of hair that came off Drew's head. The comb is for scale.

I spent most of my afternoon cleaning the Pocatello Business Park and Storage. PBP&S is a group of five buildings--a few businesses and a few storage sheds. David and I have friends who have a Realty and Property Management business. I don't know if they own PBP&S or just manage it, but in any case they hired me to clean up the grounds. The grounds look like your basic storage unit place; lots of pavement and grey buildings. I spent about two hours just sweeping/raking leaves and picking up trash, and I only got to about 1/3 of the property.

I found a lot of stuff in front of the businesses. M & D Auto Detail had a ton of litter on the ground in front of the door that looked like it'd been there for a long time. Here's a run-down of my loot:

• 27 cents (17 pennies and one dime).


• A Saint Anthony pendant (Made from sterling silver. It's been scratched up and the carving is smooshed and unrecognizable. Around the edges I can just barely make out the inscription. It's interesting to me that I found a pendant of the patron saint of lost articles, though it would probably mean more to me if I were Catholic.)


• A token for some batting cages. (If I'm ever in Salem, Oregon, I'll be sure to redeem it; I do love batting cages. I need to find out if Pocatello has any.)


• A token for an arcade at MGM
  
• A flattened penny with a tree imprint that says, "BOISE" under it.


• 5 fat earth worms. (I found them under big, damp piles of leaves on the pavement. I put them in some nearby grass, hoping that they would burrow underground before they die, also hoping that not throwing them in the trash bag with the leaves would offset the damage done moments before when I threw an aluminum can in the trash rather than saving it to recycle later. Always conscious of my carbon footprint.)

I probably could have gotten more work done if I had just scooped everything into the trash rather than take the time to pick the stuff up, examine it, wonder over it, et cetera. But it was back-breaking work and I was grateful for the chance to stand up straight for a few seconds here and there while I admired my finds. Besides, in this economy, who am I to throw away money, even if it is covered in months worth of mud and grime?

Captain Commando

I can't figure out Drew's aversion to clothes. He hates getting dressed, and tries to get away with as few clothing items as possible. Generally, he walks around throughout the day without his shirt and rarely sleeps with a shirt on.
Drew is learning to dress himself (hence all the backward outfits). He wants to control the whole process from selection of the clothing to putting it on.
When he selects a shirt, it has to be short sleeves. When we go out, he rolls up his jacket and coat sleeves, no matter how cold it is outside. He tries to wear shorts as often as possible, too. Pants are too constricting, apparently. Heaven forbid any cloth touch his skin!
Oh, and his selection rarely includes underwear. TMI? Sorry.

Jump! Jump!

Remember these guys?

Every single day I flash back to sixth grade when it was cool (for my neighbor friends and me, anyway) to wear huge baggy clothes--and wear 'em backward, if we were feeling extra hardcore.

I reminisce every day because every day Drew wants to dress himself and every day he puts on the Corvette shirt that Grandpa gave him for his birthday (whether it's clean or not), that will fit him better when he's about five, and every day he puts it on backward. Then he puts on his jeans. Backward. I don't know about Mack Daddy or Daddy Mack, but my boy wears his underpants backward, too.

And every day I walk around the house singing, "Jump! Jump! Kriss Kross'll make ya jump! Jump! & Daddy Mack'll make ya Jump! Jump! Wiggata wiggata wiggata whack!"

Fun With Leaves

Adventures in Shopping: Part V

I've been going crazy trying to think of ways to keep the kids quiet while David sleeps; he's been working the graveyard shift for the last week and a bit, and goes to bed about the time Drew and Owen get up. We've had really nice weather lately, but I haven't taken advantage of it because even though the sun is shining it's a little chilly and the boys have had bad colds for the last week.

Today we made a somewhat unnecessary trip to the store. It was necessary in that we needed to get Samantha some diapers, but I could've done it Saturday while I was out. I sort of purposely "forgot" to get diapers Saturday so we'd have something to get us out of the house today.

Shopping with all the kids in tow is getting to be a huge pain (not that it was ever a ton of fun). Drew and Owen are too big to sit in the cart now, so they run around touching everything and getting in the way of others' shopping carts.

On the way out of the store, Drew ran way ahead of me toward the gumball machines and the pay phones. One of the phones happened to ring as Drew ran toward it. So he picked it up and said, "Hello?" Then he paused, then said, "Yes." Another pause, then he said, "Okay, 'bye!" Then he hung up the phone. I have no idea who was on the phone or what they said. I wonder if they realized they had called a Wal*Mart pay phone and a three-year-old answered.

Drew was so proud of himself. The whole way home he went on and on about how he answered the phone.

My Current Obsessions

I have been going nuts about two things lately (okay, three, if you count chocolate covered popcorn):

*Sunsets (I've taken pictures of the gorgeous Southeast Idaho sunsets almost every day this month. Following is a selection of some that I've seen this year. I love how they change with the season. Late Summer, or fire season, makes some really beautiful ones):

June, 2007: Saturn, Venus and the moon were in perfect alignment. I tried to get a photo with my cheap little camera.

April, 2008: I don't remember what was causing all the haze, but it looked cool.

July 2008

August 2008

September 2008

October 2008

November 2008

*Play Kitchens (Every time I see one I say something like, "Aww! It's so cute! I want it! I mean, uh, the kids would love this!" I want to purchase or make one. They're kinda pricey, and I think it would be way beyond my skill to make one. So we'll see if we ever get one. But I love them. I remember having loads of fun playing on the one at my friend's house when I was a kid. Here's my current favorite play kitchen by Little Tikes):

Learning To Walk

Samantha has finally decided she'd like to try walking. She started standing on her own the other day and now, just two days later, she's pretty good at standing on her own for a while. Until she tries to move...
Yesterday she tried to take a step but couldn't decide which foot to put forward first, so she did a little hop and fell to her hands and knees. She thought it was pretty funny. Then in the evening we went to Outer Limits Fun Zone to let the kids run around and play. It was really fun! They have a big play center that's sort of like what you'd see at McDonald's, minus the unsanitary ball pit. It's like a giant, netted-in jungle gym. Samantha thought it would be a good idea to try to walk on it. She wasn't successful, but she did have a ton of fun.

Today, while I was talking on the phone with my mom, Samantha took her first step! She was standing by the computer and decided she didn't want to stand there anymore, so she tried to walk away. She moved one foot and when she went to move the other she fell down.

Here she is standing by the computer, getting ready to try again. (My camera is too slow and I wasn't able to capture any of her actually taking the steps.) Note the shirt; more on that later.

I had to take a break typing to change a dirty diaper. After I changed her, I stood Samantha up and let go of her hands. She took three steps this time! As she walked I clapped my hands and when she fell down I told her she did a good job walking. Owen got down on his hands and knees and said, "Mom, you see I crawl like Sabanta? Clap, Mom!"

This shirt Samantha is wearing belonged to me when I was a little girl. I think it looks so cute on her and it's fun to share (soon enough she'll be raiding my closet without my permission). I have a bunch of dresses that I wore and that were purchased when we lived in Taiwan. They won't fit her for a few more years, but I'm looking forward to seeing Samantha wear them.

What We've Been Watching

I got a call a few weeks ago from Nielsen Media Research, Inc. inviting us to participate in a study on what people watch on TV. I said sure, no problem. They even offered me 30 bucks to do it. Bonus!


Thursday I got the packet in the mail and started filling it out right away. There is a booklet with tables in which I have to write what time we watched TV, what show we watched and whether or not we were watching in real time or a previously recorded show.


The whole process has been sort of enlightening. I was thinking my boys watch too much TV. For kids their age, they probably do. But as I've been recording everything in the little booklets I'm thinking, it's not so bad. I have noticed that we watch almost no real time television. Pretty much everything is pre-recorded.


Here is a sample of the booklet, which I have scanned. It reminds me of ledgers my grandma would give me when I was a kid that I could play bank or school with.

We have two booklets; one for the family room TV and one for the master bedroom TV. The master bedroom TV has more written in it; it's pretty full from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. or later because that's when I fold laundry and watch my non-cartoon shows.

Here is a sample of what we've got recorded on our DVR for the kids (we record plenty of episodes to choose from so I don't get bored listening to the same ones--my boys would be happy watching the same one or two episodes over and over, but I'd go crazy):

• Little Bill (29 episodes )
• Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! (18 episodes)
• Shaun the Sheep (17 episodes--this is my favorite of their shows; check out a sample on YouTube)
• Random Disney movies on TV: Finding Nemo, The Rescuers Down Under, Chicken Little, Tarzan
• Alvin and the Chipmunks (two Halloween movies that the boys love)

Shows that I record for myself to watch later include:

• Chuck
• Ugly Betty
• Jeopardy!
• Psych
• My Boys

David records things like:

• Criss Angel Mindfreak
• Any sporting event involving Penn State, Notre Dame, Boston Celtics, or the Pittsburgh Steelers
• Lots of comedy shows
• True Crime documentaries

We haven't been to a movie or even rented one in months! We've got so much TV to catch up on.

Oh, and the packet that arrived Thursday already had the $30 in it; in cash! Woot! Now I gotta decided what to buy with my "hard-earned" moolah. I'm thinking dinner somewhere fun sounds good--I'm really tired of cooking.

Six Random Tidbits

Lura tagged me a while ago, and I've been slacking on answering because I'm pretty boring. I am very random, though, so I think I can come up with six things (we'll just pretend the "interesting" clause never existed).

1: I love that my boys are big enough to come wake me up now. Especially since they don't usually wake up 'til around 9 a.m. (except on Fridays when the garbage truck wakes them up before 8). But I love hearing them clomp up the stairs yelling, "We brought you cake, Mom!" ("Cake" is a pillow covered with a blanket.)

2: I hate waking up to a messy kitchen. Not that it never happens, because I also hate cleaning up right after dinner, and sometimes by the time I get the kids to bed the last thing I want to do is clean the kitchen. But I try to make it somewhat livable--at least wipe the table and counters--so I'm not greeted by total chaos first thing in the morning.

3: I'm a total "foodie." I especially love to try new foods. I have a motto that I learned in Thailand: Try everything twice because chances are you won't like it on the first try, and you never know if that's because of the way the cook made it or because the dish itself is gross. Check out my favorite food website.

4: I don't get embarrassed easily--anymore, that is. I used to be incredibly shy and easily embarrassed, so I have a few embarrassing moments. Like the time I jumped on a skateboard in the hall in front of the Athletic Trainer's office after track practice. I was trying to show off for one of the boys in there 'cause I had, like, a total crush on him. The skateboard went flying out from under me and I landed on my tush right in front of the door. It would've been fine if the boy had seen the skateboard, but he hadn't, so he thought I was just running in the hall and fell for no reason. (Incidentally, my other most embarrassing moment involves a skateboard, too. I'll save that story for another day.)

5: I watch a lot of football with my husband. I have loved learning how to like football a little*. Actually, I really do enjoy football and if my favorite team is playing I'll even watch if David isn't home to watch with me. I like the Steelers because they're David's favorite so they're the ones we watch the most and I know the most about their team. I also like the Browns (the Steelers' rival) because they have my favorite quarterback (Brady Quinn) on their team.

* I stole this phrase from Brian Regen. He has a bit about trying to be open minded and learning new things. "I've been going to the opera. And have loved learning how to like it a little bit."

6: I have a goal to live in a city with a warm climate. Good thing it's David's goal, too. I had this crazy idea a while ago that I want to move to San Antonio, Texas. I will definitely look into moving there and other comparable warm climate areas when I'm finished with Dental Hygiene school, but for now we'll stay in Idaho.

To pass this on, I'll tag Abby, Adam (you need to update your blog!), Tricia (you need to update yours, too), Jen, Kadee, Tina, Madeline, and Marissa. And anyone else who wants to do it. Just paste the following little card on your blog and tag some more people!

For the First Time in Eight Years

The first (and last) time I voted, prior to today, was in 2000. I felt weird voting, since I knew basically nothing about either candidate except that Gore was the incumbent (am I using that word correctly?) Vice President and was running for President. I knew which way my mom would be voting, so I voted similarly.

Today felt different. I have spent the last few months paying attention; amazing the things one learns when one listens and studies! I felt proud to completely fill in the bubble next to my candidate-of-choice's name with the Number 2 pencil in the booth. As for the local candidates, I must admit that I haven't studied them much at all. I did recognize one name as the former County Clerk and I know she did a good job in that office so I voted for her.

So now David and I are watching the election results to see who will win. While we're waiting, enjoy some comedy:

Back Home

We're back! We went to visit my dad and step mom last Wednesday, and got home Saturday afternoon. We also took my sister, Roz, who will be living up there for a while to help out and save some money.

We had a good visit; I was glad to be able to go help out. Dad and LuAnn have been back and forth between doctor visits, so Roz and I cooked them some non-casserole meals and helped them catch up on cleaning. Drew and Owen "helped" by getting into everything. Samantha was actually really well behaved and just sat on the couch and chatted while Roz and I worked.

We also got to go trick-or-treating while we were there, in the little town near my dad's farm. I was skeptical, thinking the town is so small (like, 300 people), but I was pleasantly surprised (there might actually be 400 people there, and many of them were out on Halloween). The boys had so much fun knocking on doors and saying, "Churk-o-Chreet!" They were really polite and said "thank you" almost every time without much reminding. Drew even did a trick for an elderly lady who, as she handed him some candy, said, "Here's your treat, where's the trick?" I told him to make a Corvette sound, which he did. The lady looked all startled, then laughed.

Owen dressed as a cowboy (not really considered "dressing up" in a farm town, but whatever). I never finished the mummy costume so I thought one of the boys could be a scarecrow. But Owen ended up with the overalls and cowboy hat, and didn't want to keep the straw in his sleeves and collar (not that I blame him).

After much screaming, cajoling, wailing and gnashing of teeth, Drew dressed as Dracula. He threw a fit when I tried to put the cape on him. We told him if he was going to act like that, he could stay home. He sorta stopped crying and said, "Okay, I'll go." So I tried once again to put the cape on him. Once again he threw a fit. After repeating the scenario five times, he finally came running out the door after us with the loathed cape in hand. We put it on him in the car on the way to town.

Drew getting ready to suck the blood of a Teddy Graham.

Drew freaking out about wearing a cape, Owen sinking his teeth into some sugar.

Samantha was dressed as a pumpkin. I was really pleased with how the costume turned out, but couldn't get her to cooperate for a decent photo. Oh well. She had a great time trick-or-treating. We didn't take a bag for her, because she really didn't need a ton of candy (not like Drew and Owen did either), but a few people gave her candy anyway--she was so cute in her little pumpkin outfit, her chubby fists holding onto a Snickers bar for dear life.

My little Pumpkin Lumpkin.