Happy Halloween!

I have a few minutes before I have to get ready to leave for a day full of teaching and I wanted to write a quick post since it's been awhile. I have a bunch of pictures to share, but I have yet to do it. Now about my last post, I tried something new where I have Picasa upload the pictures onto my blog (Picasa and Blogspot are both google programs), but it didn't work. I'm not sure why, but I won't do that again. I might try to re-post those pictures, but I may not. Anyhow, I hope you are all having a fun Halloween. Here are our plans:

9:30: take William to babysitters
10-1:30: teach lessons
2-3: help with Claire's class Halloween party
3-4: carve our Jack-o-lantern
5:00: pick up missionaries for dinner with friends
5:30: have dinner with friends
6:30: possibly take kids out for a little trick-or-treating
8:00: read a scary Halloween book, baths and bed for the kids

That's roughly our day. It should all be a lot of fun, but I'm going to be running around all over the place. I still have to make some repairs to Claire's costumer this morning before I leave. She is going to be a mummy, but some of the bandages fell off at the church Trunk-or-treat last week.

Happy Halloween!

Conference Pictures

Ryan asleep during the Sat. morning session.


I tried to do some scrapbooking during the Sat morning session,
but the kids' rolling around under my work table made it a bit difficult.

We had to get the kids out of the house between session, they were driving us crazy.
Due to the fact that I had already put the pool away for the year,
we used the sandbox lid as an improptu pool.
We all ended up in a water fight - the neighbors think we're crazy

William was helping Ryan in the front flower bed (which we have had to totally re-do)
- I'll let the pictures explain the rest.

Conference Weekend

Two weeks ago was conference weekend. For those of you who are unfamiliar with what conference weekend is, I will quickly explain. There are two a year (April and Oct) and we don't have to go to church - if you have cable or satellite. That way, you can watch it in the comfort of your own home and pajamas. Now there are those poor souls who dress up in church clothes and drive to the church and watch there - but all four sessions together are 8 hours!! That's a long time for anyone, let alone small children! Being a "Mormon", going to church every week is not optional. You go rain or shine, except conference weekend. Secretly, it's every one's favorite weekend because either they don't have to go to church and have an excuse to sleep in and/or because of the wonderful talks and inspirational music. Either way - we had a good weekend.

Sick Ward and Crazes

It's a little after 1pm and both of my kids are asleep in bed. Claire is home from school again today. She had a fever yesterday and went to the doctor - nothing but a virus. She went to school today, but had to come home after a couple of hours. William is fighting a cold, but has had no fever so far. We all have swollen throats - you know how it goes. So the house is dark and quiet today. I stayed home from work to take care of the kiddies, and I'm using this time to get a few things done around the house (laundry, paperwork, bills, etc.). This is the first day I've been on the internet is about a week. I go through cycles where I'm great about checking and responding to emails, I write in my blog every day, post lots of pictures, etc. Well, as you guessed, I'm on a "I don't want to deal with it or think about it" cycle. I dealt with a very stressful insurance fiasco a few weeks ago and it made me not want to take care of any "business" for awhile. I finally looked at my pile of bills today - saw the due dates - and had to jump back into the business side of life, emails and all.

I don't know if it's just me, but I go through all sorts of crazes when dealing with life. I go through the "let's fix up the house and repair, repaint, and re-do" craze, the "let's eat healthy and cut out all junk" craze, the "lets be very careful about our money and not buy anything unless we NEED it" craze, the "I'm going to write in my journal, read my scriptures, do everything right spiritually all the time" craze, the "I'm going to totally re-vamp my parenting style and read tons of parenting books" craze, the "I'm going back to college" craze, the "lets socialize and have everyone over all of the time" craze, the "I'm going to go the library every week and read at least a book a week" craze, and the "I'm going to keep my house spotless and throw everything away that we don't need/use" craze (to Ryan's annoyance, this one happens a lot) etc. I try these thing (among many others) for a few day/weeks (I don't usually go longer than a few weeks) whole-heartedly and then I get burned out or something goes wrong or someone gets sick and then it's over. I usually slip back into eating badly, watching too much TV, letting the house go to pot phase between crazes. These slips may last a few days or a few weeks (or in the case of fixing up the house, a few months). Now don't get me wrong, I don't get depressed or anything, I just get lazy and tired.

Does this happen to anyone else or am I the only crazy person that does this here? Just thinking - I'm on a couple of crazes right now (eating healthy and trying to fabulous every day - cute clothes, make-up, hair, and accessories etc.). Looking at myself today - I think the looking fabulous every day craze is out the window. Illness can do that to you.

I had better take advantage of having two sleeping kids in the middle of the afternoon and either get a few things done, or take a nap. Hmm...I think you know which will win out.

Columbus Day

So today being a holiday - Ryan and Claire had the day off. Technically, Ryan never gets a day off (everyone is his lab works all hours, all days), but he didn't work today. Instead we stayed very busy doing things around the house. I made more salsa with the tomatoes from our garden, cleaned the kitchen, swept, wiped, took out trash, organized toys, folded clothes, washed dishes, made beds, etc. Ryan worked hard in the yard planting some bushes that were a steal at Lowe's. Fall is the time to buy plants (perennials anyway); you can get some good deals. We also made two trips to the hardware store and a trip to the lumber yard. Our next major project is putting up a wood fence. We're going to get the planning and buying done this week and build it next week. Hopefully the weather holds for us. I made fried chicken and cornbread for dinner and then we were back outside, aerating and tilling the lawn for reseeding. It got dark, so we'll have to finish in the morning. I then replaced the toilet handle with broke this afternoon and re-caulked part of the kids' shower while Ryan attached a hook in Claire's ceiling for her bed-net thingy. Now Ryan is trying the re-caulk around the base of the bathtub.

Needless to say, there is a lot to do and we have been working hard. We have a huge list of things that need to be done to the house. It's more than I want to think about. Owning a home has opened our eyes and clarified what we want one day. We used to think it would be fun to fix up a historic home. Well, that ain't happenin'!!! We have now decided to buy a piece of wild, wooded land and then have a modern, modular home built. They are very "green", easy to maintain, very sleek and clean, and we would buy a small one. The bigger the home, the more to maintain and pay for. So that's our plan; now actually being able to do it is another thing. We can dream, can't we??

I want to write about or conference weekend and post some pictures, but I'll have to do that another day. I'm off to bed!

Night Owl

So it's after midnight and I'm wide awake. I thought I would take this time to write a quick post. There are several reasons I'm awake right now: long, late nap, 16 oz Dr. Pepper and lots of chocolate. I can only blame myself. However I would not have needed that nap if William had been a good boy during the previous night instead of crawling in and out of my bed, whining, etc. So here I am, the house is dark, everyone is asleep, our eccentric neighbor is out working in his yard, and the toilet keeps running (don't you hate that??). I decided to quit trying sleep and to do a little online browsing. I have browsed IKEA (I'm looking for end tables for the living room), read a little news on CNN and checked my email since I didn't get a chance earlier today. After I'm done here, I think I'll curl up on the couch and watch some reruns on the TV.

Tonight we went to Target to pick up a few things. I love Target, but there isn't one anywhere near my house. There is a KMart fairly close, but it's incredibly trashy and most of the employees there seem lacking in the intelligence department. Don't get me wrong, they're friendly, but "off" somehow. So then the next closet place is Wal-Mart: a little less trashy, but always crowded, loud, and sometimes smelly. There always seem to be a lot of mothers yelling threats at their children as they try to get them to behave at midnight. Who in their right mind expects small children, after being in day care all day, to behave when their cranky parents drag them to Wal-Mart for a shopping trip at 10:30 at night? Screaming at them to get their "butts" over here is not the solution - try "bed" people or give them a break!! Anyhow, so then there's Target two cities over. I made the extra effort to go to my favorite store and it paid off big time. While we were walking up to the store, to my surprise and delight, there were two little girls calling out the sweet words "Girl Scout Cookies!!". Twelve dollars later, we are enjoying some Thin Mints and other cookie treats (enter the chocolate). We found everything we needed and more (enter the Dr. Pepper to wash down the Girl Scout cookies) and left in good spirits despite the kids running around the lighting isle with lamp shades on their heads. I think Ryan took a picture - I'll have to post it later.

Well, time to hit the couch, maybe with a box of cookies. I hope you all slept well and I hope I get to sleep soon; I have a lot to do tomorrow. Goodnight, or should I say good morning?!

Photos- Trip to Maeystown, IL

We were searching for a run-away frog in the Maeystown creek.

Papa with Claire and Willam

Group photo

William was unhappy about having this photo taken.

Who says playgrounds are just for kids?

Beautiful children.

Lots to Share

Our family has had a busy few weeks. Ryan's parents flew in to help us paint some of the interior of our home. They were kind enough to purchase paint, prep and paint the living room, dining room, and kitchen. We could not have done it without their help - as it was, we barely got it done with their help. Previous owners mangled the walls by not removing old wallpaper glue and then doing who knows what to it so that paint would not stick to the wall!! It was truly amazing.

While they were here, we took trips to two historic towns in the area. One was called Mayestown and the other Lebanon.; both are beautiful and very old. It was wonderful having them here and it was sad to see them go. Who knows the next time we'll see them - we average about once a year - SAD!!

I had to get back into the swing of things today. I spent the entire morning doing laundry and ironing clothes. Then I spent the entire afternoon on the phone with insurance companies and paying bills. Then when Claire got home, we made a trip to Sam's Club for some much needed items (one of which was diapers - I forgot them and Ryan had to go back tonight). Then it was dinner, baths, a book and bed. No nap for either of them, so by 6pm, I had had enough of them. Some kids get grumpy when they get tired, mine get psycho. They were literally running around, screaming and running into each other; and that was just the beginning.

So now that the kids are asleep, the dishes are clean and Ryan is home, I'm going to call it a night. I have a ton of pictures to share (thanks to my mother-in-law), but Ryan updated our virus protection/firewall and now I can't upload photos or use my laptop. Good times.