All dressed up...Where shall we go?

Have I ever mentioned the many reasons I love Fall? 
No?  Allow me to elucidate -
1. It's back to school time. 
I love my children, don't get me wrong.  I have dedicated the past 12 years of my life to their well-being but there's something wonderful about the first day that they all go to school and you have six glorious hours of quiet.
2.  The leaves start to fall down from the trees and, if the weather isn't too wet, they get crunchy.  I love crunchy leaves.  Especially when they've been down from the tree for a while and the weather's been dry and they've had a chance to really curl up.  Those have the most satisfying CRUNCH!
3.  HALLOWEEN!  This is for the kid in me.  I love to dress up in costumes and "pretend".  The candy's not a bad thing either.  I can eat several mini Twix's in one day and nobody will think anything of it.
4.  It's "96 season".  This is for the military wife in me.  Autumn marks the beginning of lots of 4 day weekends.   Labor Day, Columbus Day, Marine Corps Birthday, Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years...sometimes they even get time off for the Super Bowl (but I think that's only on Okinawa)
5.  The Marine Corps Ball.  This is for the grown up in me.  I still get to dress up but it's the fancy kind of dressing up and my hubby has to dress up too.  :O)  THAT'S the part I like the best.

The best of times,the worst of times...

...Halloween from two perspectives
Depending on who you are, Halloween can be either the best or the worst.

**For the mom trying to sew three costumes in one week, it's probably closer to the worst (although the three children
 placing that much faith in her should count for something...)
*For the children who get to wear the costumes - Party! Bonus! Definitely the best of times.
**For the parents who get to take their kids to the church Halloween activity the day BEFORE Halloween (at which costumes are a social must and they "trunk-or-treat" from car to car) - Worst of times.
* For the kids - two Halloweens in one year! YES! Best of times....
**Regarding the previously mentioned church activity - Dinner is provided---that's good. Good times...but not really best.
*Again, regarding the church activity - dinner is chili. gross. worst.
**Then there's the candy. I understand now why my mom always said we could go once around our block. 13 houses times 7 kids is plenty of candy. As a parent, this is abundantly clear.
*Here is some kid math: dress up + go to the neighbors house = get candy!
We should do this every day!!

**Definitely NOT doing this every day.  Once a year is enough!
*Mom's just afraid of having this much candy in the house all the time....killjoy.

Been there, Done that, got the pictures to prove it

For about the past month or so, Dan and a bunch of guys from church have been planning a big hike up Mt. Whitney. They've been talking and planning about all kinds of stuff, usually away from the house and making me wonder about their "secret combinations". In any case, this past week all that planning finally paid off. They left Wednesday night (could they pick a worse night???) and drove 9 hours to a base camp on Mt. Whitney which is about as high as the top of Half Dome in Yosemite. (Dan and the boys conquered Half Dome over the summer...he was due for another challenge)
They arrived at about 0230, set up camp and got everything all ready to hang around the next day and do nothing. (all that build up for nothing!) They did a few measly hikes around the area and played with some icicles on a frozen river but scaling the mountain was set aside for Friday.

So Friday came (his day started at 0300 or so) and the trek began. There were more pictures than this, but these are the ones with smiles in them.

They all hit the top by 1 pm and then turned around, trudged down, crabbed, packed, ate, and drove home...all on Friday. Needless to say, his Saturday was spent sleeping and walking VERY slowly.

Here are some lessons we learned:

1. 7 men motivated by high adventure trips can finish a lot of work in a little time so they can go have fun

2. It is not a wise idea to simultaneously try to pack and eat if you are in a hurry to leave....you will choke, throw up and worry people around you (once they stop laughing at you for eating so fast you choke yourself...)

3. No matter how tired a woman is, she worries (and hence doesn't sleep...at least not well...) until one of two things happens: a) He walks in the door, b) she passes out casue she's so tired and her body will not go any more

4. You are going to find out, on a hike like this, who you want in your foxhole. Be prepared.

5. Hiking up and up and up sounds easy but is actually very hard. It takes longer than you plan for to get up there and longer than you think to get back down.

6. Driving for a long time after you've hiked 22 miles in one day makes you tired.

7. The day after you come home, you will probably scare the people who love you the most when you try to get out of bed and nearly fall to the floor yelling something about "OW". (Apparently, a hike like this will make your calves and feet VERY sore and make it an exceedingly painful thing to stand up or walk)

8. Baby steps, after a hike like this are a good thing...they take a long time but they feel so much better!!!

THE absolute DUMBEST dog on the planet

So Oreo, our dog, has been with our family for about a year now and we're all pretty well adjusted. Every now and then we see him doing something completely retarded and know he was meant to be with us. He'll run laps around the table just to get you to play with him and one time he even nipped Stephen's rear because he was being ignored. He'll whine and cry if he's not getting any love ( Like when Dan and I are hugging and NOT paying attention to him).

These are all little things that he does...small and simple and very comfortable. And then there are things like the "making" of the bed. This is a very important ritual for everyone and each person has his or her own way of doing it.

Dan likes to twist up and sleep the BOTTOM sheet off the matress.

I prefer to have everything smooth and flat so that when I get OUT of the bed, I don't have to do much to make it neat.

Stephen is a burrito...very literally, a boy burrito.

Haley begins as a ball, breaks in the middle to make knee tents, and then goes back to the ball.

Nathan is all over the place...makes me nervous having him sleep on the top bunk.

Emily is a "star sleeper". Arms out, legs out...Ahhhhh.

Little did we know that Oreo also has a method to his madness. Observe.Watch the video here...

Ohhhh....I wish I wish.....

What to say about these choice pictures.....

There are days when I'm really serious about wanting this to be real. Take yesterday for example and we'll examine the angry boy in the white shirt.

Yesterday was a regular day. He came home from school, The Happy Wanderer/Hungry Hunter Gatherer, in search of food. Anything would do, EXCEPT the crust from his lunchtime sandwich. Three tortillas microwaved with too much cheese, a spoon ful of peanut butter, a handful of chips and a paper cup full of green Kool-Aid seemed to satiate his hunger. But then it was time for homework. (scary music here)

THE HORRORS OF ABC ORDER!!! And that stupid letter "F"! (it kept getting forgotten...) For an hour he was on the living room floor playing kewpie doll with his worksheet. (You know that thing you do when your paper is on a soft floor and you stab it repeatedly with your pencil to make many little holes...it feels sort of neat-o when you turn it over.) After that, he tried to spear it while it floated....this did not go over well with the older brother who kept getting speared because he was in the line of fire.

"Nathan, go upstairs and work please!!!" I shouted....? yelled...? shrieked...? You get the picture....imagine the exasperation.

He went and peace reigned downstairs. Then the little sister began to be tortured. Pencils were moved, marks were made on her papers, crayons were taken and broken with one hand (...she said I couldn't do it so I showed her....) and, the piece de resistance, she was knocked out of her chair (which her older sister cleverly balances on risers)

I arrived on the scene to find half of a worksheet, torn lengthwise so the words could still be used and punctured mercilessly, on the table next to a folder, torn in half in a fit of forgotten "f" temper. These were accompanied by a horde of broken crayons and the wadded other half of the aforementioned worksheet. The little sister was in tears under the table and the BOY was on a chair in the closet, berating the sister for falling from the chair.

WHY do they not offer to let parents use the jails a few days a month?!??! Do you know how helpful this would be??? *sigh*

As it was, I had to improvise...

I looked at my watch...5:15 pm. I looked at the BOY....

"GO TO BED!!!"

Snot So Very Easy....

Snot. Snot. This I have learned.
This blogging stuff can suck up some serious time! I thought it would be a simple enough thing to click, create and post (and given my limited technical knowledge, this is a good thing) but after several hours spent clicking, creating, trying to upload, downloading about 12 different things to help me upload, trying to figure out how to set up said things and failing all miserably, I came to my conclusion: Snot so very easy. I finally achieved success (after a few more downloads and a phone call to my internet service provider). NOW, we’re getting down to it.
Now I can post news on my blog and think I've done very well and have time to visit my friends blogs. Then I switch back and forth between theirs and mine and debate deleting mine entirely because theirs look so much better. *sigh* (what was it that girl in first grade said that her mom told her??? "Never compare yourself to others, you'll only make yourself miserable." I know, I know....but I'm still new at this.

And now I'm tired.

Kids...

I found this when I was clicking through old folders. It's about three years old but still applies...

These are NOT for the faint of heart!
In 9 years of being a mom, I think I can honestly say that this one line is applicable to every situation involving my children and the one common thread between them all.
I was all idealism with my first, convinced that he would be my little man. Wouldn't you know that, from the womb even, he only had ears for his father. After his birth, he would cry when I held him and shut up for dad. I tried not to be shattered.
With my second, I was still trying to get the hang of the first. Since she was a girl, she was completely different and it was with her that I realized that "the mother's curse" is real. She acts just like me. In my proud moments, I see her speaking kindly to other children, taking them under her wing and even teaching them to read. On my dark days, I see her crinkle her face in frustration or drop her eyebrows clear down to her chin in anger and (oh the drama) the feeling of being misunderstood.
My third was my little prince. We bonded right away and then he began to walk. He ran from me straight for the open pantry and as I watched him try to sneak gulps of pancake syrup, I realized that first and foremost in his little heart was his tummy.
With my fourth, I was somewhat leery about how she would "turn out". Given my previous experience, the only thing I knew for sure was that she would be just as unpredictable and mind-rattling as the first three. She's four now and, as with all of them, I'm still learning about her.
With all the challenges, though, the highs, the lows and the more-often-than-not-somewhere-in-between times, they stretch my heart to the limit.
Sometimes, I get so frustrated by the choices they've made that I struggle to comprehend the thought precess behind them. (What on earth makes you think it's ok to throw stuff out your window when you're cleaning your room? We live on the fourth floor of a 9 story apartment building!!!)
Other times, they come to me with such hurt on their little faces that my own heart wants to break so that theirs doesn't have to. The mother bear in me surfaces and I know that I would tear anyone who hurt my baby limb from limb. (It's a very good thing I don't see the punk kids who bully them on the playground)
Then there's the laughter...each one has a laugh that is contagious. You hear them laugh that little laugh and it doesn't matter WHAT they're laughing about (the words "fart" and " poop" are frequent favorites)...you laugh too.
The little smiles they give only you and the subtle nuances that only moms catch fill your heart till you want to hug them cause you love them so much (Mom...you're choking me) or just holler to everyone about how great your kid is. And with each one, it's different but the same and always bigger and more than you ever thought you could; and it, amazingly, still all fits inside your heart. You need a strong heart...
These are NOT for the faint of heart.

This Life is not for WIMPS!

I was just thinking today about how much stuff I am responsible for, individually. (I do a lot of thinking...)

• I am a wife and a mother, first and foremost, and those two alone bring enough responsibility to make me shake in my (awesome, high-heeled) boots. It's not easy work and nobody ever tells you that it will make you stretch and grow, whether you want to or not. "Bloom where you're planted" doesn't apply here...it's more like "Come up with the blooms, or else!" (Mom, what's for dinner? Will you sign this? Can I go outside and play? I can't think of a sentence... Honey, where's my thingamabobber?? I put it on the hooyah and it's not there anymore...)
  

• I am a daughter and a sister. These are responsibilities that I wished to be rid of as a youth but am so grateful for as an adult! (many times....my sisters can probably vouch for this...my parents probably just assume it) My sisters are voices of warning and wisdom and comfort when all around me madness ensues. My parents, I found out, really do know a lot! I don't have to follow their rules any more but I'm finding out that there are bits and pieces of them that make sense and I even understand why they made them in the first place! Who would have guessed???
  

• I am a friend. Sometimes, this one is much more fun than any of the others and it's hard not to let it become more important. These women become my "sisters" by default because almost all of them are military wives. When it's the wrong time of day to call a sister, I can always call a "sistah-friend". We can grumble or grouse or eat chips and drink soda and yell at all the kids in the house and be okay with it. We can dig through one another's dirty clothes (and wear what we find!), sew, pin, fit, dance, eat, exercise, stay up late, make crafts, sing, watch movies (chick flicks and stupid, old comedies that people nowadays don't even remember)...it doesn't matter. We understand each other...when they need me I'm there, and vice versa.
  

• I am the Young Women's President - This is a blessing to help me to become who the Lord wants me to be but it's hard sometimes!!! It's amazing to know that He has asked me to be in charge of something that could be run so much better by someone else....like the women who have to work with me! These are amazing women who, even though they are probably better equipped to do what I'm doing, are ok with ME being the leader. They follow me...(please don't get lost, oh please, oh please.....)

I remember thinking about all of this and wondering how on earth I was supposed to do it all successfully. Then I remembered that I can't do it all. I need help. (no big secret there...)
The really amazing part is that Help is available if I ask...divine help...guidance from God...tailored to me and my situation and my frustrations or strengths or weaknesses.
On my own, I'm a wimp. But with HIM, I can do it all!

Trying something new...

So I’ve had this Mac for about a year and just now realized that I have this cool application called iWeb that I can use to create blog pages and stuff without having to be online. Do you know what this means? It MEANS that I don’t have to wait for pages to load or save changes or any of that stupid stuff....I can create it all in iWeb and upload it and be done! (It also means that I can do this blog thing a little more often than once a quarter...) I’m a little slow but I eventually catch the bus.....and that was NOT a commercial.

In other news, I’ve decided to homeschool Stephen and Haley this year because the school they WOULD be going to is horrible. It works for some kids...but I’m not going to wait and see if it works for mine. (I’m not over protective...I’m not, I’m not, I’m not!)

So far, it’s been an interesting process. I am working through a charter school in the area so I do the teaching but THEY do the buying. (This is a good thing.) All the supplies I need, right down to pencils and paper if I want....they pay for. (A little secret about me...if someone else is willing to buy me stuff AND let me choose what I want, I’m all about it!)

It’s been difficult in some areas and easy in others and I’m finding that I’m addicted to things like office supplies, fonts for the computer, printing things, websites that have free stuff to print and pretending to be organized. That’s the fun sort of stuff. Plus, Since have a bunch of money per year per kid (and I haven’t spent it all yet) I keep thinking of things I might want or things I “need” or stuff I want to do. (Another secret about me....money has a tendency to burn a hole in my pocket. In order to save my pants, I must spend the money. It’s not such a good habit...I’m working on it. Right now...I’m working on it with someone else’s money...probably not the best way to do this.)

The harder stuff is not actually the teaching. It’s the practicing patience while I teach. There are things that they do that would never fly in a “real” classroom that seem to occur at home.

But we also get to have lots of fun. The first week we did a review of the parts of speech, just for fun (and to get them used to the idea of doing what I ask) but we used “Jabberwocky” from Lewis Carroll’s book Through the Looking Glass.

We read it and tried to figure out what the nonsense words were, i.e. noun, adjective, verb. Then we replaced the nonsense words with our own words. Here are the results:

Do You Ever Wonder....

...why a child will put their dirty body into a tub full of clean water, add soap and then proceed to drink the water? (I think my 6 year old is addicted)

...Why your kids can't hear you while they're playing the Wii until after your phone rings? (my 11 year old never fails!)

...where 8 year old boys get all their energy? (He RUNS everywhere)

...Where girls learn to roll their eyes and sigh in that way that sends electricity down through your arm and fills you with an overwhelming desire to reprove with a sharp slap? (My 10 year old excels)

...why children HAVE to sound like a herd of elephants when they go up stairs? (I've made them tip toe around before and it all sounds the same)

...why two boys can share a room and be bitter enemies until it's time to put pajamas on? (I guess we're all equals in our underwear)

...what it is about upstairs windows that tempts kids to constantly have the blinds open and the windows open, rain or shine, morning and evening?

...where Not Me and I Dunno live? (They sure create a lot of problems!)

...how a 5 foot 11 year old that weighs 80 lbs can put away half a loaf of bread, half a jar of peanut butter and half a jar of jelly in 20 minutes after school?

...if they get in trouble for fooling around instead of working far more often than you're told? (Cause they'd never get anything done at school if they worked THERE like they work at home!)

...If they'll always take everything you say literally? ("hmm...I need to cut this recipe in half..." "I'LL GET THE SCISSORS!!!")

... some kids have such a deep seated aversion to cleanliness?

...if those boys really know what a laundry bucket is for? (4 empty buckets in a room carpeted with clothing!!!)

...where all the clean towels went? (I just washed them!!)

..why they obey Dad and not you? (I just said the same exact thing!!)

...when they got so heavy?

...and if they are that heavy, why do they insist on sitting on your lap?

Just thought I'd ask....