Random Thoughts

Just a couple of random things that aren't Halloween related since I will have another Halloween post tomorrow with the Trunk or Treat pictures. Spencer, our 6 year old, has decided that he wants to be an engineer when he grows up and design roads and bridges, and possibly cities. He love doing math and is quite good at it. We will be finding some serious math programs for him in a couple of years cause Travis and I are math idiots. Probably something like Math U See. Anyway, we found a Sim City game that we bought a long time ago and had Spencer try it out. He loves it! He loves designing the city and the streets and seeing the stop lights pop up. He spends all the computer time he earns each day playing Sim City. It blows my mind how good he is at comprehending things that I would struggle with. He didn't even have instructions for the game. He downloaded it and just figured it out! Dang, I'm glad my kids got their daddy's brains.
My other thought was Connor. I've realized the past couple of days that I'm gonna have some problems with him when Elizabeth is born. Connor is a mama's boy. He loves to snuggle and have me sing to him. Just last night he brought all his ratty, smelly old blankets in, climbed on my lap, stuck his thumb in his mouth and asked me to sing. I sang his favorite Primary songs, and then of course, "So This is Love", and then he went to bed. He got up this morning, like most mornings, and wanted to snuggle in bed. He'll wrap his legs around me and get as close as possible. So, even though he talks about his baby sister all the time, I think there will be a bit of a transition period there. (o: He's been my baby for over 4 years now, so I guess I don't blame him.

I said the "So This is Love" part like all in the universe should know what I'm talking about. Sorry. Each of my kids has a particular song that I sang to them when they were babies. Just songs that they seemed to react to more than others so I made it their song. Joseph's is "You Are My Sunshine"~which I really couldn't sing to him at all the first couple of months cause I always started to cry-hey-he was the baby that I was told I'd never get. Then Spencer came along when Joseph was worshipping the Wiggles, so Spencers song is a Wiggles song, the Butterfly song. I don't know the actual title, but he loved it. Connor's song is "So This is Love" from Cinderella. Actually, when he was a newborn, he was on my lap when a Disneyland commercial came on and they were singing this song. He actually turned his head towards the tv during the music. So, I started singing it to him. I even recorded myself on video singing that song so that Travis could play it for him every night when I went to visit my folks in Hawaii. Anyway, I wonder what Elizabeth's song will be. I never planned any of these songs in advance, so it will be fun to see what comes up.

Okay, so that's all the randomness I have in my brain right now. I work tonight after the Trunk or Treat, so Travis will have to deal with post-party hyper kids and fight for their candy. Tomorrow night will be my last night of work. It's really going to hurt to not have the money, especially at Christmas, but I never plan to work outside the home again. At least not while my kids are small. So, I'm very excited for Saturday to be over. (o:

The Final Product

I promised I would post our finished Jack-O-Lantern. I'm sure glad we only got one cause that was a lot of work to carve that sucker. It was so thick I had to use a monster knife to carve through. I let the boys each choose a part of the face and tell me what they wanted me to do. Joseph actually chose round eyes, Spencer a triangle nose, and Connor wanted the smile to have 3 teeth. So, here are the carving photos! (o:

I made orange popcorn balls before we carved so that we would have a treat after all our work. They were yummy but Connor didn't like his teeth being sticky.

Spencer got to do the honorary pulling of the top this year. Joseph ended up having to help him cause that puppy didn't want to come off.

Everyone got into the scooping action. Like Joseph's outfit? He took off his long sleeves because he was worried about getting them slimy. Then he decided he needed pajama bottoms because the jeans weren't comfortable.
Connor loved getting all slimy, but then he had to go wash his hands every five minutes. Speaking of outfits, notice his fancy attire? Only underwear. He would go everywhere like that if I let him!
And here is our final product. Isn't it just a fine piece of work?!

Halloween Activities (so far)

So the last couple of days we have had some Halloween type fun. Yesterday I took the boys out to a patch and let them choose a sugar pumpkin each to take with us to the pumpkin painting party at Jenkins Creek Elementary. We have some friends that are PTA there and one in particular that organized most of the thing, so we went. Plus we feel it's important to take our homeschooled boys out to be involved with other kids and see the public school atmosphere. (they informed me that they still want homeschool though) So, last night we did the party, and then this morning we did the pumpkin patch. We decided to just get one big pumpkin this year to carve because they got to paint pumpkins last night. They ended up getting each a tiny mini pumpkin to draw on, but we only got one pumpkin. It was a doozy! 41 pounds. So, here are pictures of the past couple of days. We'll post pictures of the final Jack 0 lantern as soon as it's done. I'm trying to convince the kids to let me do a fancy creative face, but they are insisting on the boring old triangle eyes like on Charlie Brown.

Waiting in line to go into the "bat cave" for a cake walk. Joseph won a cupcake!

Travis has had this shirt for years. I love it! He wears it every year and calls it his costume. I think he got it the year after I made him dress up with me like McDonalds french fries. I think he was so embarrassed that he got this shirt to be able to say he had something to wear and so that I couldn't make him do tights again.

They were very intent with their painting.Except Spencer who spent almost the whole time concerned about the paint on his fingers.
Connor loved doing this!!!

They were originally going to just be cowboys, but we got badges and plastic guns. (gasp! I know. I put them away immediately after we came home. Thing is, they knew just what to do with the things and we never have guns in the house. It's a built in boy thing) Needless to say they decided that they weren't cowboys, but Deputy Sheriff's like their Uncle Nate.

The Pumpkin Patch
I don't think they will fit on this together next year.

They were heavy!
Miss Preggers. Nice "baby bump", eh?

Cool Joseph.
Spencer

Connor was convinced that we should get this green pumpkin with the giant slash through it. He carried it around for quite a while and it was heavy! We convinced him a giant orange pumpkin would be best.

Spencer thinking. I love the hands in the pocket.he looks like this alot.

Here is Travis with our perfect pumpking! It was heavy! Weighed about the same as Connor!
Joseph got tired of waiting in line so he took a break. I ended up taking him over and letting them all pick out an ear of corn from their giant bins. Some of the sweetest, most yummy corn on the cob you will ever eat!

Something Worth Watching

I got this in an email from a friend and fellow member of the Church. If I could figure out a way to get the video on my blog I would, but since I can't, please just click on the link. It's a 5 minutes worth watching. Before the link is the description that came with it. Enjoy.

"For many years the Mesa Arizona Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has had exhibits on the temple grounds during the Easter season. This year, there was also a 'Reflections of Christ' photography exhibit in the Visitor's Center. The photographer was given permission to photograph Pageant cast members for the exhibit. They traveled to various locations in Arizona that the photographer felt looked like the places in Israel where the events took place and recreated the scenes. The photographer worked with a few other individuals to put together a 5 minute slideshow which includes every image from the exhibit set to the hymn 'Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.

'Remember when you're watching the video that the photographs are real, they aren't paintings. You can expand the screen to fit your entire computer screen for a better view by clicking on the lower right hand square icon (next to the volume)."

http://mabrystudios.typepad.com/reflections_of_christ/2008/03/reflections-sli.html

Liver and Tags-Holy Long Post Batman!

Yesterday I was making liver and onions cause we love it so much. (not saying that sarcastically either~the kids do like the stuff) I ran out the door for a minute and left Travis in charge. He flipped the meat and headed back to the other room when he heard Connor ask him, "What's that smell? It smells like a yucky toilet!" I had to laugh when he told me that one. Needless to say, the kid ate a big old piece of yucky toilet for dinner that night without complaint! I considered making broccoli because it's their favorite vegetable, but the thought of the smell of liver and broccoli cooking was even a bit too much for me to handle.

I'm having to give away cookies lately. I just have this incredible urge to bake lately. I made the gingerbread cookies a few days ago, and yesterday I baked pumpkin cookies. My Weight Watchers leader would have a conniption if she knew all the naughty baking I've been doing. But, hey, I'm pregnant, right? I should be able to bake to my little hearts content. Problem is, yesterday Travis came home and said, you have to stop making good and fattening foods! My clothes are getting too small! So, I gave some away last night. Can I say, they are some of the yummiest pumpkin cookies I've ever had. The pumpkin makes them really soft and moist! So, that's the trouble I've been getting into lately.

Lastly, I have a "friend" that I've never even met in person, but talked to on the computer and really like. Her husband and my husband were missionary companions and two peas in pod. They live in Nebraska and have 5 boys! So, she has sons and her husband is just like my husband. We have to get along! Well, she got tagged and tagged people and if I'm the Dawn she meant, then I will do that tag too.

SEVEN RANDOM THINGS ABOUT ME

1.My house is always a mess. No matter how much I clean, it always looks very...lived in. It doesn't help that our 4 year old lives for dumping things out. Fill a box with toys, they will all be on the floor five minutes later. So, if you are comfortable in a house that has lots of kid stuff all over you will fit in fine in my place. If you are like my mom and it makes you nervous, just make it a short visit. (o:

2. I've read the Harry Potter Series 8 times. Well, I've only read the last book 6 times and the 6th book 7 times, but books 1-5, yep, 8 times. I just can't get enough of them. They are great to read when I just want to relax. I've done nearly the same thing with Eragon, but not quite. When I come home from work everyone is asleep, but I'm all wound up, so I read to calm my brain. Reading something that is simple and familiar helps relax me. So, I'm sure that there will be a few additions to that number in the future.

3.I love history! I especially enjoy American History and Egypt's history. As I have stated in previous blog entries, Travis and I have been reading about Gettysburg lately. I love Civil War stuff. I wish I had been older and wiser when I lived in Virginia. Right next to Petersburg battlefield and on Fort Lee! I just didn't appreciate the history that I was seeing. Not to mention all the awesome Revolutionary stuff that I lived so close to when we lived in Boston. My parents took us to all of the historical sites they could. I can say I was there, but I wish I could remember it better. Someday we are going to take a US tour and see all that stuff. Retirement? I suppose.

4.I homeschool. I know, that's kind of a "well, duh", but it's a random thought. I love seizing teaching moments with the boys and letting them choose what they are interested in. It makes it so much easier to capture their attention. The best part is when they spit back information to us that we have taught them. Makes it rewarding and worth it!

5.I'm a Weight Watchers fool. I love WW's and have been a member for years. I lost 70 pounds after I had Connor, but then my stupid thyroid started acting up and I started gaining. Then I got knocked up. But I am determined to not gain too much! I vow to go back after Elizabeth is born and hopefully will be armed with some good thyroid meds so I can get back into the real swing of things.

6.I'm addicted to blogs. I have a whole list of blogs, half of whom I have never even met, but I check in on them every day and feel like I've known these people all my life. Kinda creepy, huh? At least I'm not a total hypocrite and have my own blog so that if there are any blog stalkers out there crazy enough to think my blog is interesting, I've made a contribution.

7.My husband and children are my only real hobby. (I know, I really need to get a life) I would do anything for them and that's that. Every once in a while I escape into my own little world of interests, (like Harry Potter or baking), but otherwise I am perfectly happy talking politics and watching football with Travis, watching Curious George with Connor, looking for new and interesting bugs with Joseph, or discussing freeways and stoplights with Spencer. All I ever wanted to be my whole like was a wife and mom. For a few years I thought I wouldn't get to be a mom. I'm glad they were wrong and that I will be the mom of 4!

That's it. Kinda lame, I'm sure, but that's okay. I tag Jamie, Stephanie, Kristina, Bobbie, and Shauna.

99 Days!

Did you see my little floaty baby? She says only 99 days to go! I'm in the double digits. That makes me very happy. (o:

Went to the doctor today. All is looking well. My blood pressure was in the normal range again, which is very unusual for me. With all my other pregnancies, by the time I hit about 5 months my blood pressure would be very high. I had to do medication and non-stress tests. So far it has behaved itself. Hopefully I am not jinxing myself by saying all of this, but it is nice to not have that worry.

I took Joseph with me on my appointment today as part of school. He got to shake the doctors hand that took care of me when I was pregnant with him! I love Dr. Lawrence. I'm so glad that he has stayed around to be there for all of my pregnancies. He's awesome! Joseph got to hear Elizabeth's heartbeat (he said it sounded like a thunder storm), and watch the doctor measure my tummy. He thought it was all pretty cool.

That's all for now. I think I may have been tagged, but I'm gonna have to think on what to write for a day. I'll do that one tomorrow. Right now I'm just excited that all is going well with my baby girl so far. (o:

Our Weekend

It was sooo nice that Travis and I both had the weekend off. It's been quite a rarity for the past year. I have three more days of work, and then I will be done. It's a bad time to quit~with the holidays coming and me cutting our income, but I'm really beginning to waddle and after 5-6 hours of walking and standing, even a baby that's only 6 months along can begin to feel very heavy. The three days that I work are not until next week. I was so upset when I found out I have to work on Halloween. The Ward Trunk or Treat is that night. But, I think that if the party goes as planned and on time, we will have enough time to party and then get me to work. Travis has a plan for this night. He's going to allow the kids 5 pieces of candy and then the buckets will go out to the garage until I get home, cause those kids are sneaky and he doesn't want anyone puking cause they snuck in the junkfood.

Saturday I made a potato salad, (cause i was really craving one~with LOTS of onions!) and stuck a roast in the crockpot over night. Then we took it over to Travis's parents house and had lunch there. We watched lots of college football and just had a nice time. The kids love going over to their grandparents. They played in the back yard and got very muddy. Travis and I took advantage of his mom and ran out to the bookstore just to browse and have an hour together. I think we get that about once every 6-8 months, so we were very excited. Of course, after an hour we can't get home quick enough to see the kids. We browsed the US History section forever, making a list of every book we would love to someday own. I really wanted "Southern Storm" a book about Sherman, but it was full price. We were there just to browse. Then, I found this book...

It's 454 pages of pictures from the war and I got it off the clearance rack!!! That was our treat instead of going to McDonalds or something like that. It's a huge book. Weighs a billion pounds. So, Saturday night we read through the Sunday School lesson for Sunday, read some from our "Gettysburg" book, looked at this new book, and then topped the night off by watching the movie, "Gettysburg". Yes, I know, we have a bit of an addiction, but hey, it's better than drinking or smoking, right?

Sunday we went to church. Travis had to teach Priesthood~last minute. The teacher didn't come because he was sick. We had read through the lesson the night before so he was fairly prepared. He's a good teacher, so I think it went well. I got to go to Relief Society! I think they are going to do it twice a year, but they let some of the teachers out of Primary to go sit with the grown ups. It was nice. I only missed sharing time. I hope my class was good. It was nice being able to be with the older people. I really miss that sometimes. As for the rest of Sunday, we just hung out together, took a nap, read to each other and just had a nice relaxing day.

Now, if I may, just for a moment ask a question that I know is going through everyones minds...What the heck has happened to Washington's sports???? Washington State football-STINKS! University of Washington football-STINKS! Mariner baseball-STINKS! And my precious dear sweet wonderful Seahawks---STINKS!!! I am so sad about all of this. Remember when we were winning the Rosebowl? Remember when we were making the playoffs? Remember when we went to the stinking Superbowl? Hello? What happened? I'm most sad about my Hawks. I suppose Holmgren should have just retired. But that wouldn't have stopped all our guys from getting injured. I don't know. I just hope they can get it together soon. Give the coach a good retirement sendoff in the end.

That's all I have to say. Nice long post mostly about nothing, but I didn't think you would want to hear about my adventures of cleaning around the toilet. (o:

Kaboose

No, I'm not talking about my big old rear end. Kaboose is the name of the widget thing that I have down on the lower right of my blog. It gives a recipe a day. I thought that was kind of a cool idea. I've seen a couple of neat recipes so far. My problem is that I guess my blog is getting old fashioned cause you can't see the whole widget. Everyone I know is going from the old standard Google blogger formats, to these fancy personalized ones. I guess I may have to cave soon and change the look of our blog a bit. I think I 'm getting old because I'm becoming a bit more resistant to change lately. Maybe it's just because we have a huge change coming to our family soon, but I just don't want to leave my little comfort zones. Brother! You would think I had no other problems in the world. ("Oh, what shall I do??? I might have to change my blog!! Such tragedy has befallen me!)

In other news, Travis's parents came over and had lunch with us because we both had the day off. His mom has been under the weather, so they weren't able to come over for Connors birthday, so they brought a cake and I made a meatloaf and we had a very nice little visit. She stayed the night last night and today we are going to take the boys to Pizza Hut and get them their pizza's that they've earned this month through the Book It! program. I have a coupon for a free lunch buffet, so it will be free pizza for everyone! (o: Travis's parents dryer broke down and their washer and stove are close behind, so Travis went with his mom to JCPenney's last night and helped her pick out new ones. She didn't want to shop with Dad cause those two argue over stuff like that, and since Travis is good at dealing with sales people, he went with her. I guess they got some nice stuff for their kitchen. His mom was grateful that he went to help her. Since they are older, making decisions like that can be very stressful. She came home from the mall last night and had to take Tylenol, Alka Seltzer, and Tums.

Anyway, off to watch Curious George with Connor, as we do every morning of the week except Sundays. Have a good one everybody!

Not Much to Say

Today I really don't have much to say, but felt like I needed to write anyway. We have been doing pretty normal everyday things the past few days. I have a million and one things that need to be done, but am just getting the basics in. Hence, nothing exciting to report. Oh, unless of course you consider the fact the we bought our first EGG NOG of the season!!! It was at Wal-Mart and a splurge very much worth it! We are big time egg nog lovers in this house and have been known in the past to drink it till we were sick. (don't recommend that one)

Tonight I set the Lowest Prices of the Season sale at work, so if you like shopping at Kohl's, starting tomorrow we will be having our last big sale before the holidays. It will be my last really big set before I quit. I'm leaving work on the first of November. Tonight will be a doozy. We change pretty much every single sign in the store. It takes a long time for 8-9 people to do the entire store. (I'll be home by 2am- I'm hoping)

Umm, not much else. I don't even have anything to report about baby Elizabeth because my doctor is on vacation this week, which is when I would be going, so for a report you will have to wait until next week. I think my appointment is on Tuesday, or Thursday. I do feel her kicking around and Connor is very protective of her already. I'm at 6 months now, so we are just cruising along. What does my little widget say? 107 days left? Remember when I was so excited to get into the 100's~and now I'm almost out of those. Very exciting!

OKAY~here is something that we did this morning. After my first post I went out in the living room and the boys had our tool box out and were pretending to fix things. I told them to go and get the old boards from the back closet and they can hammer those. So, they got the boards and started hammering away. Connor was so cute to watch. He saw, on a Curious George episode, George used pliers to hold the nail while he hammered, so Connor spent a good 5 minutes trying to get the nail in the, actually, I think it was an adjustable wrench that he was using. Then he hammered away and was very proud of himself. Here are the pictures.

I love the double hand action with the hammer.

Joseph had to be reminded not to hammer all the way through down into the floor.

(this all happened this morning so--don't ya love Spencer's morning hair?) Spencer didn't want to hammer, but was in charge of holding boards and telling his brothers ideas of what they could build. They ended up doing nothing more than hammering nails and then taking them out again, but they had a lot of fun and we can count this as shop class for school, right?

My Obsession

Just a real quick post here. I was just looking at my daily obsession. It's been a daily obsession for well over a year now. If I miss a day our two, I have to go back and see what I missed. I even have my kids dragged into it. Well, sort of. Sometimes they are more enthusiastic than others, but I know one day they will be totally hooked like me. Just you wait. Now, what is this obsession of mine you ask? No silly, not a soap opera! (haven't seen one of those in 20 years) It's the NASA Astronomy picture of the day. Seriously, you could get lost looking at the bajillions of past days pictures. Hours I tell you! So, I will share my obsession with you. Enjoy! http://http//antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html

And if that address doesn't entice you, how about a couple of these pictures.

This is mercury! Just taken a few days ago. Isn't that amazing???

This is earth at night. You can see where the big cities are. Look at Africa. It's pretty dark. All that Serengeti and stuff. (Lions don't need lamps I suppose)

Isn't the Milky Way (not the candbar!) gorgeous??

This is on Mars. I have really loved following all the awesome pictures and news about Mars. Super cool!

They are Listening!

I'm getting ready to go do some math work with Spencer. I asked him to wait at the table for me while I printed a new worksheet out for him. I can hear the conversation out there between Spencer and Connor. It's so cute. Spencer grabbed our Leap Pad teaching globe while he waits for me. (mom, you're getting your money's worth on that globe) Here's what they are saying.

Spencer."Come here Connor and I will teach you something interesting."
Connor. "Okay, you can show me."
Spencer. "Let's see. Would you like to know how many people are in China?"
Connor~very enthusiastically. "Yes!"
Spencer. You see, China is this large country here. Mommy said they have a lot of people that live there. Remember the Olympics were there?"
Connor chanting."USA! USA!"

Another quick story, then I must go teach math. The other day I was on the phone a lot talking to my family. My sister, Bobbie and her kids are going to go stay with my brother, David, for a short time while Bobbie's husband sells their little house. We were just talking about this move and the details etc. The boys wanted to know who I was talking to and why I was discussing "moving". I explained to the boys that we weren't moving, but Bobbie was and telling them that at the moment, their aunt Bobbie and cousins, Max and Mckenzie were getting ready to move to Uncle Davids for a little bit and so right now they didn't really have beds and toys etc. because they have to sell their house. Spencer felt very bad that their cousins didn't have all of their toys with them. Joseph sat there looking at me for a moment and then said, "Oh, I get it. They are nomads!"

Now, this is kind of a funny statement in itself, but to me it's priceless because a couple of weeks ago we talked all about nomads in our history lessons. Sometimes I really don't think they are listening to me at all. It's kinda cool how they pop out these little tidbits to show me that they really do hear what I say and it sticks in their brains. Wahoo!

Happy Birthday Connor!

My little baby turns 4 today!!! Happy Birthday Connor! We love you!!!

The Crazy Park

This week Travis had the entire week off. (paid!) I only had to work one day. We had grand plans of moving rooms around and doing some serious cleaning. We haven't done a darn thing~except play! We spent one whole day in Seattle at the beach.
Then we spent another whole day at a park in Renton. I have mentioned this park before. We went one other time, but there were busloads of kids from KinderCare there and our boys got stuck playing on the toddler toy the entire time. We figured that since all those kids were in school now, we would have most of the playground to ourselves. We were not disappointed. We had the whole place to ourselves. We counted this as an entire day of P.E.! This park is insane. Whoever designed it must have been no older than 21. Practically everything on it spins. Most adults would be dizzy after one rotation. (I know cause I played on them. Screamed like a girl and had to sit down for 5 minutes to recover before I could walk again) So, here are some pictures of the boys having a blast playing at the park.
This is the climbing section. Nothing spins here, but it's quite the web of ropes and plastic.

In the previous picture you could see Spencer climbing. This is a big deal to him and one reason we like to bring them to this not so typical park. He has very weak leg muscles because of his hyper-mobility (and floppy joints), so we like to encourage him to climb as much possible, but also safely. He spent a very long time climbing this short distance. He calculated every single move, but was determined to get to that hanging banana chair. He did it and was super proud of himself!
Here is Joseph in the same chair. Took him about 30 seconds to climb up there
Connor only wanted to try the lower chairs.

Here is one of the spinning items. You stand on it and it starts going. It's actually the mildest spinner. I got on the really crazy one and Travis even took pictures, but those have promptly been burnt because no man should have to be punished for looking at those scary things.

We were also impressed with Spencers balancing. It's getting a lot better. This thing he's standing on wobbles. Then there is a long bench looking item (the blue at the bottom) that looks stable, but once you stand on it, it wobbles as well. He didn't try the bench. The triangle was enough.

Connor had to go over to the toddler side for just a bit to play on the more traditional toys~especially the slide. He went down the slide a dozen times and then headed back over to the big boy side.
And what were the parents doing during all this fun????


Mommy was playing on all the crazy toys. (hope baby Elizabeth didn't mind) This is the only picture allowed of my big old self on those toys!

And Daddy, well, this picture speaks for itself. Although, I admit, he was the photographer of most these fabulous pictures as well. (o: