Happy Halloween!

We have survived another Halloween! The kids loved their costumes, had a wonderful time trick or treating and collected a massive amount of candy. Brady went as a zombie.Bryce went as Jason.Belle went as a dead cheerleader.I couldn't look at Bryce with his sucker sticking out of his mask and not take a picture of it.The only thing I wore was some black fingernail polish, black lipstick and heavy eye makeup as I tried to pull of a gothic type look. Because my hair is colored from February, I couldn't spray it so I was an out of place blond goth.Hubby made it home this morning and got to go trick or treating with us for the first time in a couple of years. He decided he was going to dress for the occasion. I had to have a picture of him painting his nails because what photo album is complete without a man painting his nails. Here is the finished product. I should've had him paint mine!He had fun with the paint and enjoyed watching the neighborhood kids watch him until he was out of their sights.And no Halloween is complete without candy. Hubby and I bought some while in town today and while it wasn't a three pound chunk of chocolate that costs $20, it's a 2 1/2 pound bag of tootsie rolls for $5. I think it was a fine trade.We followed up trick or treating with dinner and my parents house. The kids enjoyed hot dogs while the adults feasted on a nice big pot of homemade chili. Perfect for the cold night out. I can't tell you how much effort it took to get the makeup off the kids and I'm going to spare you a picture of their bathtub and all of the black that is now left behind. But I can tell you that I am now ready for bed and to end this day but a question first. Did you have a nice Halloween?

Eleven

Eleven years ago today, I naively entered into the world of motherhood with the birth of Bryce. I didn't have a clue as to what was in store for me each and every day.

But I wouldn't have changed it for the world.

Ten

Ten years ago today, I found myself in a hospital glad that she was finally here five days past her due date. She stunned us by being a little girl. I just knew she was a boy!
She says she had a good birthday today. She practiced hard at basketball practice after school, came home to carve pumpkins and eat grilled cheese sandwiches. She chose the evening meal tonight. And now on to the Jack-O-Lanterns. Brady's is first, Bryce's second and Belle's last.
My camera does not take pictures at night without a flash well so these were taking with the technique of my fingers across the flash. Not totally dark but not the strong bright light either. Oh and your missing my finger in the corner of the pictures that I expertly cropped out of the picture before adding it.

I had every intention on taking a picture of my twins today, but unfortunately I had all three kids in bed before I thought about it again. Today I have an eight year old and two ten year olds. Tomorrow it will all change. Stay tuned!

A Lazy Brood and Overloaded Truck

The animals here have been lazy lately and have been finding the oddest places and positions to sleep. Such as Callie asleep on the end of my ironing board.And in a strange position on the love seat arranged nicely between a Bible and the Sunday paper inserts.And poor Gracie just curled up and crashed in Hubby's lap just like the baby she is.I mentioned in my last post that Brady finally got a hair cut. Belle got a Bratz hair color doll set for her birthday and colored every child's hair that passed through our doors this weekend. Don't you love those beautiful eyes? I've missed them so.

And Hubby picked up the shingles needed to work on the roof. Here is all 18 squares loaded on the back of the truck.
I'm stunned he didn't blow a tire. They are now waiting impatiently in my way to be put on my roof. We've pulled out reinforcements to get the job done. My brother will be here Sunday to work and Dad will be here probably Sunday, maybe even Saturday if he isn't working. Gotta love family labor.

Bryce and Belle enjoyed their first basketball practice. They like their teammates and new coaches. Their concert went well last night, too. They had a blast dressing up so they could perform their "story." They are keeping me busy to say the least. Belle has basketball practice tomorrow after school, Bryce has it on Friday after school. Belle has strings practice today after school and Bryce tomorrow after school. Brady still hasn't heard from his coach about his team practices yet. Hopefully soon. Anyone think I'm gluten for punishment yet?

Our Busy Weekend

I am taking a break right now. I've got a load of laundry in the washer, one in the dryer and fifteen more loads waiting. Ok maybe not that many but it feels like it. I've got one birthday cake in the oven and will have a second one in the oven within the hour. Belle's birthday is Wednesday and Bryce's birthday is Thursday so we are blowing out candles today where Hubby can be here to join in on their growing up ritual.

I picked up the makeup and hair color Friday for the kids halloween costumes. I bought five cans of black hair spray to make sure that I have enough. I swear the cans were bigger just two years ago. And cheaper. Bryce and Belle both have a concert on Monday. Each year, the beginning strings orchestra (with help from the advanced strings) put on a Halloween concert to show the kids and their parents how films get the cool sound effects. They get to perform in costume, which is why I had to have so much hair color.

Also on Friday, Bryce performed his first ever Quad State performance at the local college. He had a blast and the music was fantastic. I also realized the last time that I had been in that particular auditorium I was a high school senior for a choir performance. Time certainly flies.


Basketball teams were picked yesterday at the kids school. They seem to be excited about their teams and both Bryce and Belle have practice tomorrow after school. We haven't heard from Brady's coach about his practice yet. Hopefully that information will come within the next couple of days.

We have also spent the last couple of days looking at shingles for the house. When Ike blew through here a few weeks back, it left some serious destruction in it's path. Our house was part of it. We had to have a new roof as a result of the serious wind. Unfortunately, we had to wait on the insurance check to come in before we could actually start purchasing what we need. In the last two weeks, shingles have gone up over $10. The store didn't have the color (grey) of shingles that I wanted for the house and if we waited for the order to come in, we ran the risk of the price going up another $5 again tomorrow. So we bought black. Plain. Black. Shingles. Blech. But if my roof is fixed then I'll settle.

We got Brady's hair cut yesterday, finally! The poor boy had hair down past the tip of his nose so Hubby took him and had it trimmed. He had eyes! Blue-green hazel colored eyes. Who knew? At least he can shoot the basketball without wiping the hair out of his eyes.

I was excited when a Linens N Things was put in a building not far from here. I was seriously disappointed last weekend when I noticed a man holding a sign up that said "Liquidation Sale: Everything Must Go!" I knew then that the store was closing. The local newspaper confirmed it the very next day. We thought we'd walk through yesterday and see what we could find. The store was only showing 10-30% off all items. We saw a many things at 10% off, a few at 20% and I didn't see one single thing at 30%. We browsed silverware, fryers, bedding and others. Hubby found a salad spinner while we were there. He was investigating it when he pull the handle that made the inside spin. A collective "Whoaaaa!!" was heard. It's nice that it doesn't take much to entertain the kids. Or Hubby.

Branching Out

This morning started out cold. So very cold. Belle had to be at the football field by 9:45 for a 10:00 game. Except when we got there, the game that was already in progress was not quite at halftime. So we had to wait through the last two periods before we could even get started. The squad performed their halftime dance for the last time and did a wonderful job.

While they performed their halftime show, there was a player from another team on the field dancing his version to the music. This is not his first time performing but I did snag a few seconds of his show while the other teams cheer squad performed their show.

Belle branched out today as well. Up until today she has been my child. She would not come up into the stands to encourage the crowds to spell the school name. Today she came up into the stands.

After the game, I drove to get Hubby at his truck. After a quick trip to Wal-Mart and not finding a mask for Bryce's costume, we decided to drive up to the next town to Halloween Express and find one. He finally settled on this one. We went ahead and picked it up so we didn't have to make the trip again next week. We figured we couldn't waste the trip and the gas up there, so we walked in the local mall for a bit window shopping. I browsed new wedding bands and still haven't found one I want. We drove across town to Little Caesar's Pizza that just opened over the last year or two. We haven't had pizza from this restaurant since they closed the one in our town years ago, so we picked up a couple of pizzas. Since it's a 30-45 minute drive home from the pizza shop, we drove to the local park and had a picnic with the kids and let them play at the playground. Then I kicked myself for leaving my camera at home.

Tonight I went to work on cleaning up part of my bedroom. It's going. It's not going fast but it's going. I pulled down a few pairs of shorts that I put on my bookcase hoping that I would be able to wear them again. The first pair I tried on fit well. The second pair I tried on was a little tighter but still fit. The last pair were tighter than I would've liked so I'll put them back up and hope I can drop five pounds to wear them again. My enjoyment came from knowing that I bought these shorts the summer before my senior year of high school. They were a little big on me then but the fact I can get into them now without a lot of effort (at least the first two pairs) was cool. I have also found four different books that I haven't read that we brought back with us from Mississippi in July. I hope to complete them soon.

Bedtime is coming soon. Sleep left something to be desired last night. Maybe Hubby being home will help me sleep. I hope so.

Randomness

I am sitting here listening to Sophie do some serious damage to her bone. The kids are finally in bed after an exhausting afternoon. Brady has had four different meltdowns after a rough day at school. Belle went to bed pouting because she got into some trouble after taking her shower. Bryce had our typical issues. Hubby and I are having a hard time understanding how he could want to play with someone after finding out that the boy was just using him for his stuff.

Parent-Teacher Conferences went well yesterday. All three teachers raved over the kids and they all made the A-B honor roll. I was even shocked by a conversation that I had yesterday, one that I honestly expected to go completely different than what actually happened. For once, it was nice to be wrong.

Hubby will not be home tomorrow in time to attend Belle's last football game. I am grateful that he got to attend every game except for one. It could've been a lot worse.

I have been trying to get motivated to clean up a few things around the house. I got into the groove last night and had my dishes washed, counters cleaned and even wiped out the microwave. I started on one of our refrigerators when I fell out of my groove. I cleaned the door. Yeah. Maybe next week I'll finish the rest of it. I have managed to walk into my bedroom and clean a very, very, very small section of it. So small that if you didn't know what the room looked like before you walked in, you wouldn't be able to tell I had done anything at all. That's better than what it was. I guess.

I found myself laughing last night as I was watching a dvd before I headed off to bed. I heard Gracie making noises on the floor beside me and looked down, expecting to find her twitching or running in her sleep. I found her with her tongue halfway out of her mouth and making sucking noises as her sucking reflex worked in her sleep. It was too funny to watch.

While trying to get Brady out of his afternoon funk, I talked him into going out back and flipping on the trampoline so that I could take his picture. I got one really cool picture in the mix.
He loved it when he saw it. Be sure to note the two different color socks he's wearing. Today was crazy sock day at school in support of the 5th-6th grade football team for their tournament game tomorrow.

I think all three kids have finally decided what they are going to be for Halloween. Brady is going to be a zombie, Belle is going to be a gothic cheerleader and Bryce is going to be Jason. I have warped children. But I love them for their need to be different. They love the fact they're getting to wear makeup and hair paint. It takes so little to amuse them. Sometimes, it takes so little to amuse me.

Updates

I have neglected my blog lately and have had a few things happen that I haven't had the chance to update.

◦The kids returned to school yesterday after being home last week for fall break. The week wasn't as rough as it has been in the past. That still doesn't mean that I wasn't ready for them to go back.

◦Bryce's finger healed nicely and I pulled his stitches out a couple of weeks ago after one of them came untied. He is happy that it's over but I'm not happy the insurance statement came in the mail today on his e.r. visit.

◦I made the decision to rename Ernie (as much as I hated to) and her new name is now her old name. According to the friend that brought her to me, friends daughter called her Callie so Callie she is. The kids were constantly on me to change her name partly because they didn't like it and because I kept referring to her as him. Yeah. Time to go feminine. Callie and Gracie are growing like crazy and are still like sisters when they romp together.

◦Words cannot describe how excited I was to find my electric bill had dropped $70 this month. No, it doesn't take much to excite me at this point.

◦I finally got one of my jigsaw puzzles out of my closet after listening to it call my name for the last two years. I think. It is about 1/4 of the way finished.

◦Belle's last season game to cheer was this past Saturday. This coming Saturday is tournament day and her last day.

◦Parent-Teacher Conferences are on Thursday and I'll have updates on how the kids are doing in school.

That's all I can think of for now. Maybe I'll have more later. Maybe.

A Nice Surprise

A few weeks ago, Ladybird had this beautiful baby boy. A few days later, I was stunned to find that she had been in Kentucky visiting and I missed those sweet baby fingers and toes! The horror! Today, I received a phone call from her that she was back in town at her parents house. So I did what any self-respecting deprived baby lover would do. I dropped everything and ran. Ok so I wasn't actually doing much but still. It was adult conversation and a baby! What do you expect? It was great to see Ladybird and to smell that sweet baby smell. And feed him. And burp him. Thanks Ladybird! You have no idea how much I enjoyed see you today!

Dancing Pig, Dancing and More

I have been stalling. Every year, the music teacher at the kids school puts on two productions other than the usual Christmas show. One production is usually done at the end of the year for the sixth graders that are exiting. The other production is done around the end of the first quarter for the third graders. This year was Brady's year to do the third grade production. I was hoping that the school would get the pictures up on their website before I made my post because I only got one picture of the play. I video taped the rest with our camcorder. Unfortunately they didn't get the pictures up and this was the only still picture I've got of him.Brady told me he had a line in the play. Even told me what the line was. What he didn't tell me is that he had a duet with another pig as well as a dance solo. The kids did a wonderful job and my biased self is very proud of Brady. He did a great job!

I got pictures of Belle in her uniform taken about a week and a half ago so that I could post it.Of course the following week she got her picture that we ordered from the photographers the school hired.The same weekend that I got her pictures back, she did a dance routine with her squad during halftime of her game. She was excited to be going out onto the field. The routine was cute and well rehearsed given the amount of time they have actually had to practice.

The kids also got their school pictures back the same week.Belle hated hers and wanted them redone. Apparently they took one picture before they said smile so they took a second and this was the first picture. I refused to have it redone since it looked perfectly fine to me. Brady wanted his redone as well. He hated that he had that nice burn next to his eye from the trampoline fall the night before. I think it just shows how active he is and tells a story for people that see it.

We have been trying to clean up damage from the winds. The tree behind Belle in her cheerleading uniform is no longer standing. We knew the tree was in bad shape from a few of the knots on it so Hubby finally got his chainsaw out and brought the entire tree down just over a week ago. Sections of the center of the tree were rotten so we felt it was best to go ahead and control bringing the tree down rather than run the risk of it falling and causing damage to our house or the neighbors. After moving two loads of limbs and timber to the back yard so we can burn it later, Hubby decided he needed to "till" up the area where the pool will be.
The kids had a blast watching this show that he put on. The neighbors across the street enjoyed the show as well. Hubby was proud of himself when he finally put the truck up for the night.

We've been busy trying to get things set up for the insurance company so that maybe we can get our roof fixed. We received a call letting us know that we needed estimates and pictures brought to the office to expedite the claim. Trying to find a contractor that could/would do the job was frustrating all on its own. We had one contractor tell us that to do the estimate would be $100 unless he got the job then it would be free. Another told us that because of all the storm damage, he's busy and wasn't coming to our town. Wish someone had told our town that we didn't get any damage that needed to be fixed because apparently no one here got the memo. Before we could get more than one estimate, the adjusters for the insurance company showed up, took the pictures themselves and said they'd put everything in the file. Um. Ok. So we wait.

The kids are on fall break this week. They have already decided they needed to take advantage of this break by asking to spend the night with Memaw and Pepaw last Friday night. And they did. Since Mom and Dad had plans to go to a festival on Saturday morning, they dropped the kids off earlier than usual. They also decided that since the kids really didn't get to spend much time with them this past weekend, they intend on picking them up again on Thursday and letting them spend the night then as well. That means that Hubby and I had a night to ourselves this past Friday (and rented 88 Minutes) and that I will get a night to recoup on Thursday. I'm impatiently waiting.

Tonight, I went to tell Hubby about something and as soon as it started to come out of my mouth, it left my mind. I had no clue what I was about to tell him or what it had to deal with. So he informs me, that according to Bill Cosby, usually as soon as you sit down you remember what it was you were going to do so that you should grab your behind to remember. That's when I informed it that it was sad that I stood up at the exact moment the thought left my mind. Unfortunately, when I sat back down, I still didn't remember what I was saying. Maybe I'll remember it tomorrow.