Girls weekend!

My husband and son went on a hunting trip so it's me and the girls for the weekend!!  I think it will be best if I write this in pieces, although it will be  together in one fun blog.

Friday started out fairly normal.  The kids and I got up to do school and Seth left to go to work.  He came home, we had lunch, and then craziness ensued.  Seth and J were packing and preparing for their trip.  The girls and I helped when needed but mostly tried to stay out of their way.  I sent the girls to quiet hour while the guys were doing last-minute shopping.  Finally, they were ready to go, just waiting for their ride.

As they waited, I received a phone call from a sweet young woman from church.  She wanted to take advantage of a coffee special and asked if I wanted to join in.  Not much of a coffee drinker, but love all the different flavors, I agreed to help her out.  :)  As the guys were loading up in my brother-in-law's truck, she came by and dropped off my coffee and some chocolate covered graham crackers for the girls.  It was very yummy.  We said good-bye to our boys, and off they went.  The house was now ours.

First, we had shopping to do.  Friday is my normal grocery shopping day but I also had plans to buy extra goodies for the weekend.  We were gone for nearly 2 hours, which is fairly normal for a grocery shopping trip, but this one was different and I didn't expect it to take that long.

As we unloaded the groceries from the van, a bird flew over my head and into the house as I held the door open.  I saw something fly above me, but I didn't realize it had flown into the house.  K was frightened as she saw something fly into the house.  I thought maybe it was a bat as that is not uncommon which scared K even more because I didn't realize it was in the house and she did.  I went back out to the van to get another load as K cautiously entered the house to discover the bird.  She met me on the porch and informed me it wasn't a bat, it was a bird.  Confused, I asked her what she meant.  This is when I found out what K was so scared about.  It was a bird IN the house.  I looked inside and there it was perched on our ceiling fan.  Great.  I was tired, ready for supper, ready to relax with my girls, and we had a bird in our house.  K and A continued to get groceries from the van while I tried to get the bird off of my fan.  I startled it and it flew around the living room, unsure where to go, and came right back and landed on the fan.  Now what?  I then thought it must have gone into the house because of the light and it was really dark outside.  I had already turned on our porch light when we got home.  I walked around the house and turned off all of the lights inside.  The bird freaked out.  The only light it could see was the outside porch light.  It flew straight to the door...the closed door...and batted against the window of the outside door until it realized it couldn't get out and landed on top of the opened inside door.  By this time, the girls had arrived back on the porch.  I quietly told them and motioned to open the outside door.  They did, very cautiously.  The bird didn't move.  I gently shook the inside door and finally, the bird took off and perched itself in the porch ceiling just above my wind chimes.  I asked if there was anything else in the van.  K said all that needed to be done was close the back gate to the van so she went out and did that.  By the time she returned, the bird was gone.  We went inside and turned on the lights.  Whew!  That was a crazy 5 minutes.

We quickly put the groceries away and I warmed up their frozen dinners (not my normal choice for a meal, but it was already 7:00!)  While we were out, we picked out a couple of movies to watch.  Actually, 1 movie and a 3-movie set so a total of 4 movies.  I put in the 4 new movies and since we had a 5-disc DVD player, I had to put in a 5th movie to complete the DVD player.  Perhaps I'm a little bit OCD?

First up: Home Alone.  I always long to watch the Home Alone movies during Christmas time (and, yes I realize it's not quite Christmas season yet), but the only one we own is Home Alone 3 - and that's on VHS which of course we can no longer watch because our VCR quit working.  We had already settled on How The Grinch Stole Christmas (the real people version with Jim Carrey) but I couldn't resist the 3 Home Alone movies in one for just $13.

We ate our "TV dinners" and then had some ice cream as we enjoyed watching Kevin beat up the 2 bad guys.  My favorite line that I always laugh at?

"Why on earth do you have your shoes off?" - Harry
"Why on earth are you dressed like a chicken?" -Marv

Hilarious.  (Language edited)

When that movie finished, we cleaned up our dinner trays, got on our jammies and I broke out all the junk food.  I'm sure I gained 3 pounds.  Popcorn, chocolate, Oreos, potato chips, and the drink of our choice.  K got her Mocha Frapaccino, A got a Sprite, and I got my Cream Soda.  I was hoping to get a 6-pack of the glass bottled Cream Soda, but they were out (and I was seriously bummed!)  The girls got their pillows and blankets and set up their spots for sleeping.  We would all sleep in the living room.  I cleaned off the big couch for myself.

Then, to watch the Grinch.  Jim Carrey does a great job and the girl who played Cindy Lou Who is so adorable.  We snacked, we laughed, we snacked, we laughed.  I think the sugar started to hit A as she was jumping off the couches and doing flips on the floor.  After the movie, I ran downstairs to get my own jammies on (they were in the dryer).  I had some more sips of my Cream Soda.  We all took a bathroom break.  And started movie number 3.

Home Alone 2...another look at how Kevin beat up the 2 bad guys.  Different house, different city, same kid, same bad guys, same hilariousness.  I always laugh throughout this one and I found myself quoting the movie.  I hope it wasn't too annoying.  lol  My favorite line?

"What's that sound?" - Harry
Both put their ears next to a door as they hear this sound get louder and louder and all of a sudden they are pushed across the hallway and smashed against the wall.  As they push the door off of them, they're faces are crooked and Marv manages to say..
"That was the sound of a toolbox falling down the stairs."

I'm almost bursting out laughing right now just thinking about it.

By the time this movie ended, A was fast asleep.  K was still ready for more.  I told her I didn't think I was going to make it through this one.  We started up Home Alone 3.  Different kid, different family, same city as the first one, different bad guys, different plot and still hilarious.  Seth and I like this one a lot better than the first 2 mainly because the family is so much better than Kevin's family.  I think the plot is better too.  When Alex's mom and siblings discover that he could be in danger, the mom asks why but the FBI agent replies, "I am not at liberty to discuss it."  As he begins to walk out of the room, Alex's older sister walks ahead of him and closes the door.  She looks at him with great concern and says, "The 'it' you're referring to is my little brother."  The agent then gives them a quick summary of what is going on.  Although this family has their issues and the older siblings do poke fun at Alex, it is obvious this is a very loving family.  No jerks like Buzz or Uncle Frank.  Just normal happy family relations.

I did doze off during this movie while K stayed up and finished the whole thing.  I was awake by the end.  K decided she had had enough.  It was nearly 2:30 in the morning.  I turned off the TV, turned on sleep music on my ipod, and settled into my couch for the night.

But I couldn't sleep.  My nose was plugged up from allergies.  Some of the songs startled me when the volume changed from song to song.  The couch was no longer comfortable.  I finally headed downstairs to my own bed.  But that didn't help.  I was drinking caffeine and now I just couldn't sleep.  At some point, I came upstairs to use the restroom and it was 5:20.  Nice.

Eventually, I did fall asleep.  K was awake, dressed, and chores done by 9:30.  Then my phone rang.  I let my voicemail get it.  Then at 10:30, the doorbell rang.  I told K not to answer it.  But, that was it for me.  I couldn't go back to sleep.  So I sat up and tried to catch up on my Reader's Digest.  I was not ready to really wake up yet.  Both of the girls were up, watching movies or playing the computer.  Then I heard a heartwrenching cry.  A was hurt.  I ran upstairs to hear she was trying to change the volume and slipped on her stool leaving a large scrape in her little bum.  :(  After making sure she was ok, I went back down to my reading.  I finished the issue I was on and went back upstairs.

It is now almost 1:30 in the afternoon.  I'm still in my jammies and all we've had to eat thus far is leftover snacks from last night and the Swiss Rolls I bought for breakfast.  I think I may finally be awake.  I will go take my shower now and get to work on the plans for today.  Of course we should have lunch first....

More to come!

(My apologies for no pics.  I didn't think to grab my camera while the bird was in the house and I'm more into enjoying the moments as they happen than taking time out to capture them on camera.  So, if you like blogs with pics, sorry to disappoint!)

Here I am on a Monday morning getting back into routine, although not for long since Thanksgiving break is coming right up.  The weekend finished nice and relaxed.

By the time the girls and I had finished lunch it was about 3:00.  I decided I didn't have time to shower and that we should just get to work on the room switching.  First, we cleaned up K's room then what used to be A's room.  Then I moved all of our school things downstairs and put the futon back up in the couch position against a different wall.  That's as far as we got.  A's clothes are still down here but we'll figure the rest out later.

I finally got my shower, then we had supper.  I made tacos which I love.  I have always enjoyed Mexican food but since I was pregnant with A, it is my absolute favorite type of food and I'll eat it almost any chance I get.  :)  I wanted to watch Forever Young, one of my long-time favorites, and it happened to be on Netflix Instant play.  The girls weren't that interested so they played downstairs.  After a while, I had them take baths and go to bed while I finished the movie.

Then I headed to bed myself, but I got distracted with the realization that I had the entire basement to myself and this was my last evening alone.  So I played the keyboard for a while, put some pictures in frames, and read some Reader's Digest.  I finally settled in to bed about 12:30.

Sunday morning was like most Sunday mornings, except I didn't prepare lunch.  So I had extra time to straighten my hair and K's hair.  K's hair is usually full of curls so it looks very different when I straighten it.  We picked up 3 kids in the neighborhood and headed to church.  One of the kids has ADHD and really struggled that morning during our worship service.  It was frustrating.  In Sunday School, we started rehearsals for the Christmas program.  Then we had an excellant message on thankfulness during our last meeting.  After working on a song with a trio I sing in, I took the neighbor kids home.  Then the girls and I quickly changed our clothes and headed back out for lunch.

The girls chose McDonald's with a playplace.  We ordered the food and sat in the play area to eat.  It was very loud and crazy in there.  There was probably only one empty table in the entire room and the place was full of kids.  Kids were screaming every time they went down a slide.  One little girl came down crying with a bloody mouth.  A came to me kinda crying because she bonked her head - somehow because of some kid going up the slide while she was trying to slide down.  K complained that too many kids were climbing up the slides so she couldn't go down.  Finally, every single kid had left leaving just my 2 girls.  I let them play a little longer.  Another girl came in and played with them but it was time to go home.  We ordered some ice cream and walked out the door.

Sunday afternoon was no different than any other Sunday afternoon.  I sent the girls to quiet hour after they finished their ice cream.  Then we went over AWANA sections, picked up the other kids, and went to AWANA.  We came home and the boys were back.  Our weekend was officially over.

It was a nice relaxing and fun weekend though.  The boys had a good time too and brought home some pheasant.  We have 2 days of school then we leave to go to Iowa for Thanksgiving weekend.  Two fun weekends in a row!!  I'm sure I'll tell you all about it when I get back.  :)

First snow!!

If you know me at all, you would know that I love winter, especially if there's snow.  Since I grew up in Iowa and my husband in Idaho, we both were used to snow covered ground all winter long.  Well, Kansas does not give us that and I miss it so much.  Here it may snow but not stick until around January.  When it does stick, it only lasts a few days and then it's gone.  I make sure the kids and I are outside to enjoy it while it's here because it could be the only chance we get all season.

It kills me every time I read about snow in Iowa, Idaho, or even other parts of the country while I live in the snowless Kansas.  But on November 8, we had our first snow of the season!!!  It's a bit unusual to get it this early but all of us were just ecstatic!

It had been raining for 2 days straight.  We all knew there was a chance of it turning into snow late that night, but I figured it probably wouldn't and if it did, it will actually be freezing rain or something along that line.  The kids were in bed and Seth and I were just hanging out.  J suddenly yells from his room "IT'S SNOWING!!!!"

Everyone ran to the front door and went outside to stand on our porch.  All 5 of us screamed with excitement - I'm sure waking up our entire neighborhood - as we watched huge snowflakes float to the ground.  The kids, in their jammies, ran back inside and grabbed their coats.  Seth and I just stood in awe.  It was snowing.  The flakes were so big and beautiful.  And it was sticking!!!  After we decided that our feet were too cold to stand out there any longer, (we were both in bare feet!  lol) we came back in.  But the kids stayed outside and played in the snow, in their jammies, at 11:00 at night.  :)

And how could I not let them?  It was the first snow of the season.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  It was actually sticking to the ground.  And it was perfect snow for making snowballs.



I let the kids have their fun but then it was time for them to go to bed.  But we'd all go to bed happy.  It snowed in Kansas in November and it was sticking to the ground.  Now, it didn't last long.  Shortly after the kids came inside it quit snowing and turned back to rain which then melted all the snow that had accumulated.  But nothing could bring down my mood at that point.  I'll take all the snow I can get.  I may get a few glares from my friends who know I've been praying for it but I don't care.  If I have to suffer through the allergies of spring and the heat and bugs of summer, I certainly deserve my snowy winter.

I always thank God for the snow.  I no longer take it for granted and on somedays, I think He's letting it snow just for me.  :)

Earthquake?

I live in the midwest.  And I pretty much always have, aside from one summer of living in New York.  I grew up in Iowa and now I live in Kansas.  That basically sums up my state residencies.  We get tornadoes.  I like tornadoes.  They're exciting and adventurous and most of the time, you can prepare to keep yourself safe.  I love stormy weather with big booming thunders and lightening that flashes and jolts all the way down to the ground.  I love the power behind it, knowing that God is the one providing this amazing show.  As a kid, I considered becoming a storm chaser.  However, I wasn't great at weather facts in school and decided I wouldn't be able to do it.  Still, as an adult, storms just fascinate me.

I found that not everyone shared my enthusiasm for tornadoes, especially at the Bible college I attended.  Because there were people there who had never experienced a tornado or even a good Iowa thunderstorm.  Thunderstorms frigthened some of them and tornadoes terrified them.  They preferred the earthquakes.  I had never experienced an earthquake, and as adventurous as I am, I had no desire to be in one.  Earthquakes are what terrified this Iowa girl.  There was no warning whatsoever.  All of a sudden, the earth begins to shake and there's nothing I can do about it.  It didn't sound exciting to me at all.

So, still being in the midwest, I assumed I was safe from earthquakes.  However, I began to wonder when earthquakes were happening in other unusual parts of the country how safe I really was.  Well Saturday night, I found out.  I'm no longer in an earthquake-free zone.

My husband and I went to Topeka for a marriage conference.  Some friends from church watched the 3 kiddos while we were gone from Friday afternoon until Sunday morning when we went to church.  Seth and I came home late Saturday night, the kids staying another night at our friends' house.  We stopped to get some ice cream and then came home to an empty and quiet house.  Seth decided he wanted a bath so that's what he did.  I sat on the toilet to talk with him like I often do when he takes a bath.

Suddenly, the toilet started to shake beneath me.  I'm extremely grateful I wasn't on it to use it!  Things in the living room were rattling.  At first I thought someone was running through the house, but then realized no one else was there.  Then I wondered if a big truck at driven by.  But it was lasting quite a bit longer than a truck.  As everything continued to shake, I grabbed a hold of the doorknob on the bathroom door and the side of the sink.  I looked at Seth, very wide-eyed, I'm sure, as all I could think was, "Please don't tell me this is what I think it is!"  Finally, the shaking stopped.

Seth was in a very big earthquake as a kid so I considered him an expert.  I looked at him and asked, "Was that an earthquake?"  Apparently, the earthquake wasn't quite over.  Seth sat silently in the tub and listened.  I didn't understand what he was doing.  I was still holding on to the doorknob and the sink as I waited for his answer.  After a bit, I thought maybe he didn't hear me.  So I asked again.  "Ssshhh" he responded.  Then he finally decided that it must have been as he had heard the final rumbles stop.

The earth may have stopped shaking, but certainly I hadn't.  It was nearly 11:00pm.  We just had an earthquake.  And my kids weren't here!!!!  My kids just experienced their first earthquake without their mother to comfort their fears.  Were they scared?  Did they even feel it?  Were they even awake?  Those are questions that I would not get the answers to until the next morning at church.  But I couldn't stop thinking about them, or what I had just gone through.

Meanwhile, Seth started looking up information on the earthquake that hit Idaho when he was a kid.  He told me the story, for the umpteenth time, and looked up pictures and reading articles that he thought I would find interesting.  However, in my state of fear at the time, I had no desire to hear what earthquakes are capable of.  Seth had to poke fun at me a bit, because I was quite a bit more freaked out than even I thought I would have been after my first quake.

We did go to bed eventually, and I surprisingly slept very well.  But Sunday morning, I just wanted to hold my kids and couldn't wait to see them.  At church, we heard several stories about different people's experiences as this was the first earthquake most people had ever felt.  Finally, I could hear how my kids handled it.  K and A were asleep in the bed and didn't feel a thing.  J was on the floor next to their bed and thought the girls were shaking the bed so much that they shook the room.  He did admit to me that he was kinda scared.  Only one other person in the house felt it.  So, it was in general, a normal night for them.

Now that I have actually felt an earthquake, my opnions have only been cemented in my thinking.  Tornadoes - good.  Earthquakes - bad.  I don't like being unprepared and earthquakes hit suddenly, without warning, no way of preparing.  I'm minding my own business, and then all of a sudden, I'm shaking with no control.  Nope, don't like it.  I guess I missed an aftershock last night, but that's fine with me.  There's no need to be shaking up my house without warning.  Just give me the thunderstorms, snow storms, and tornadoes and leave the earthquakes in California, please.

Trick-or-Treat!!!

As I stated in a previous blog, I love Halloween.  I love dressing up.  I love getting the kids all dressed up.  And, of course, the kids love getting the candy!  First, we had to figure out what we wanted to be.  J, A, and I already knew.  But K was having a hard time deciding.  Partially because I refuse to buy any main part of a costume.  We must be able to create most of the costume from things we already have at home.  I tried putting together a skirt and fairy wings to make a mermaid tail, but it didn't look that great.  After going through several different ideas, K finally settled on something I could work with.

Then we went shopping for accessories.  We needed to get those few items to complete our costumes.  I still spent more money than I wanted to spend.  Mostly for K's costume.  She can be such a diva.  lol  "I want that!  I need that!!  I should have that!!"  Oi.

With all the busyness, we weren't sure if carving pumpkins was going to be possible.  We certainly didn't make it to a pumpkin patch as I was hoping to do.  Well, Friday, we finally went to Walmart and picked out 3 pumpkins for carving.  We came home, ate supper, and waited for J to come home from cleaning the church.  He really enjoys going with a family from church and helping them clean it every week.  He does a good job.

Finally, J came home.  We cleaned up supper and started to figure out what kind of things the kids wanted to carve.  A figured hers out pretty quickly.  J took a bit but finally decided on a skull.  K had several different ideas but could not settle on the one she wanted.  (Notice the pattern here.)  She had a few drawn out on paper.  She tried at least 2 different ideas on the pumpkin with the small dotting tool.  I drew a couple out for her.  I looked online and printed one idea but we decided it would be too difficult.  She sat and cried for a bit simply because she could not make a decision.  We did our best to help her but making a decision for someone else isn't that easy.  Finally, she found a fun face in the book that came with the carving tools.

Now it was time to gut them.  I have always loved this part.  Here's my tomboy coming out.  :)  I love the gunk, the slime, the goo.  I had no problems helping the kids with their pumpkins in this area.

Obviously, K didn't share my enjoyment of the mush.

J and A didn't mind so much.

Once the pumpkins were gutted properly, it was time to carve.

J carved most of his by himself.

A was finished with hers pretty quickly since Daddy helped her out.

K carved hers once she decided what she was doing.

It was after midnight when we finally finished, but it was fun and well worth it.  Back left is K's, back right is A's and J's is in front.  They all did a great job!

Well, what comes after carving pumpkins?  Waiting.  The weekend seemed to drag as Monday could not come soon enough!  And what a horrible thing to have a weekend drag, right? ;)  K especially had a hard time waiting.  She wanted to put on her costume so badly!  Ok, I couldn't wait to get all of our costumes put together to see how they looked either.

Finally, Halloween arrived, but we still had to wait until mid-afternoon before putting on our costumes.  We had chores and school in the morning.  Then lunch and quiet hour.  After our snack, I let the kids start getting ready.  Myself included.  We spent the afternoon getting our clothes just right, finding the perfect socks, doing hair and makeup, adding jewelry, etc.  I also had to get supper ready, fill the candy bowl with candy for other trick-or-treaters, and clean up the living room.  We were all finished and ready to go by 4:30.  Kids would be coming by any minute.

Is she not the cutest Strawberry Shortcake?

J is really into the XBox 360 and one of his favorite games is Halo (all the different Halo games).  So here he is as a Spartan from the game.

And Cleopatra.  A queen.  Surprising?  Not at all.  :)

I'm a rock star.  I can't sing like one, although I try.

So we're all dressed but still waiting.  Seth had the van so we couldn't go anywhere.  I wasn't sure when trick-or-treating actually started.  Plus I had supper cooking in the crockpot.  I had thought about going to the mall where they had stores handing out candy but I wasn't sure if I wanted to deal with crowds of people.  Seth came home, trick-or-treaters came to the door, and supper was ready to eat.  Seth went downstairs and put on a bunch of hunting and airsoft gear, ready to hand out candy.  The kids and I quickly ate supper and headed out.

Getting ready to head out the door for some trick-or-treating!!

Normally, there's only about 3 houses on our block that are handing out candy.  This year, there were a couple more and we even crossed a couple of streets and found MORE houses ready for us.  Since we don't live in the best of neighborhoods, I don't usually go passed a certain point.  However, I found some very nice people living over there.  The kids' candy buckets were about half full by the time we had come back around to our own house.  I looked at the time.  There was an hour left to go to the mall, but I decided it wasn't going to be worth it.  Instead, we hopped in the van and headed up to where my sister lives.

When we arrived, my sister and her family were still out trick-or-treating their neighborhood, and it was obvious to see why.  Most of the houses in her neighborhood were handing out candy.  We decided to hit a few while we waited.  After a few more houses, we headed back to my sister's house and found her and the family across the street on their last house for the night.  My sister and her husband did not dress up.  But with them they had Optimus Prime and Belle, my nephew and niece.

After a little chat, it was time to head home and get the kids to bed.  After all, we still had to get up the next day for shool and chores because the day after Halloween is just a regular day.  We came home and we trick-or-treated at the door for Daddy and they got their last load of candy.  Seth said there were a few more kids that stopped by after we left.  That's good.  I wouldn't want the temptation of that huge candy bowl sitting in my house.  We took one last picture before heading inside.

It was a fun evening.  But I walked in those high heel boots all over my neighborhood and then around my sister's neighborhood and I could not wait to take those things off and give my feet some relief.  After the kids enjoyed a few pieces of candy, I sent J and K to bed and A to the bath to wash out the red hair color.

Here is the bath water when she was finished.  And there's still a little bit of reddish tint in her hair.

Halloween is now over.  Costumes are put away.  Most of the makeup and hair coloring is washed off.  Candy is sitting in bowls, tempting me.  And November is here.  School has resumed, and regularity has returned for a short time.  Soon we'll be Christmas shopping and holiday planning and celebrating the birth of our Savior.  Time never slows down so cherish every moment.

Busy, busy, busy!!

I have had so much on my mind lately that my brain is like mush.  I can't think clearly, I lose things I don't normally lose, and I just can't function well.  3 times in one week I lost my keys.  I never lose my keys.  In fact, once I didn't actually lose them, I just couldn't see them while they were sitting in the exact spot they were supposed to be.

Here are my keys sitting where they should be sitting.  There a couple of other places they could be, but this is always the first place I look.

I had been approached with a few different ministry opportunities that I had to turn down.  The most recent one was offered to me just last week.  I wanted to and couldn't think of a good reason not to, but by the end of the week I realized I had too much going on to be responsible for yet another activity.

I am feeling better this week though.  I've dealt with a couple of the things that have been on my mind and my head is a little bit clearer now.  One was going through the kids' clothes, bringing out the winter clothes and storing away the summer ones.  Trying on the clothes to see what still fits and what needs to be handed down.  And then figuring out what each child needs to survive the winter.  That's always a big day and quite exhausting.

Summer clothes put away in bins until next spring.

Another was the need for a change in our schedule.  I decided that I just could not get up at 7:00 everyday but I couldn't sleep in until 9:00 every morning either.  And the kids were struggling getting their school done in the time I gave them.  So, I changed it up.  We all get up at 8:30, do our chores, then do school.  I've added more time for schooling and even included a short break.  It makes our afternoon activities shorter, but most of the time, we don't need much time anyway!

J working on his schoolwork.

Yesterday I was able to donate a bunch of stuff that had been sitting in our basement for months, waiting to be donated.  It was all downstairs for much longer than that, but they weren't sorted out and set aside to donate until several months ago.  I finally got rid of every item I had for babies and pregnancies and other things I didn't use.  My youngest is going to turn 5 soon so it was about time.  lol

Next up, shopping for winter clothing needs and for halloween stuff.  I make it a rule not to buy full Halloween costumes or anything expensive just for Halloween.  But I will buy a few accessories to finish off the costume.  I use whatever I can find around the house to create a look of whatever character the kids and I want to become for the night.  I have always loved halloween.  I love dressing up and becoming someone else.  It used to be my favorite holiday.  We also have pumpkins to buy and carve.  I was hoping to go to a pumpkin patch again this year because last year we had so much fun at Walter's Pumpkin Patch.  That one is a bit pricey so I was wanting to find one less expensive and closer but we just didn't have the time.  So, Walmart pumpkins it is.

 2003 - J is a soccer player, K is Boo from Monster's Inc., and I'm an 80s chick.

 2005 - K is a cowgirl, J is Bob the Builder, and I'm MaryAnn from Gilligan's Island.

 2006 - K is Fiona from Shrek, J is Superman, and I'm Cinderella.  A very pregnant Cinderella.  I had this dress as a bridesmaid for my sister's wedding when I was very pregnant with K.  This time, I was pregnant with A and wanted an excuse to wear the dress again.  :)

 2007 - We were all sick with the flu, so no trick-or-treating for us.  But because of my love for Halloween, we still dressed up.  K was Sonora from Wild Hearts Can't be Broken (she has a stick horse next to her), J is Superman again, A is a cheerleader, and I'm a pirate.

 2008 - Star Wars theme!  K is a stormtrooper (I think), J is Darth Vador, A is an Ewok, and I'm Princess Leia.

 2009 - K is Punky Brewster, J is Indiana Jones, and A is Cinderella.

Still 2009 - one of my sisters from IA came down to visit us.  Another sister also lives here.  So the 3 of us decided to be Charlie's Angels.

 

Then, the holidays race in.  And that has been filling up my brain as well because we have one Christmas celebration right after Thanksgiving so we have less time to think, shop, and buy!  Then of course it's on to more Christmas celebrations, New Year's, and it all starts over.  I rarely have a moment of unbusiness throughout the year.  Even though I turned down a few ministries in the last couple months, I have plenty of ministries that I AM involved in and those do take up a lot of my time (and brain power) when they role around.  And I am now teaching my own Sunday school class with a partner which is a new ministry this year.  I'm loving it!  I can finally use my Youth Ministries college degree again!

My Sunday school class with one student missing.  I pray for each one of them throughout the week.

So anyway, life has me hopping and my brain can barely handle it.  But I find each day easier to handle if I sit and enjoy the Lord's presence.  He gives me peace, rejuvinates me, so I can keep going.  The busier we are, the more we need to be sitting in God's presence.  Read, pray, listen.  Aaaahhhhhh.  :)

Losing Things

My husband occasionally misplaces things.  We have to go searching the house for his wallet or, just like we did a few mornings ago, his lost keys.  We look in the usual places, check his pant pockets, check his truck or the van.  But on this particular morning, they seemed to have disappeared.  He usually leaves for work between 7:15 and 7:30 but we were still on the hunt when 7:30 rolled around.  He called in to work to let them know he would be late because he can't find his keys.  This is when one starts looking in the unusual places.  I had by this time asked God for help.  I researched a few places.  And then thought, if he had put them on the couch by the kitchen, they could have fallen off and....there they were: behind the couch next to the kitchen doorway.  Whew!!  I hate searching for other people's things because I can't retrace their steps.  But when I can't find something that *I* lost, I am completely frustrated because I almost always put them in the same place every time and I know exactly where everything is - even if my house looks like it's in disarray.

Last evening, I had a wonderful time with women from church for our ladies fellowship.  We cleaned the chapel and then sat down for some food and fellowship.  I came home around 10:00 and found A watching Barney while everyone else had gone to bed.  I did some work on the computer, played a little bit, and then A and I headed for bed.  Every night, I take my keys, lock the door, and then bring them downstairs with me.  This is just in case I might have to escape through our window and then open the door from the outside to help the 2 kids that slept upstairs.

Last night, I couldn't find my keys.  I was quite tired, but I ran through my actions over and over in my head.  Usually when I come home, I put the keys on top of the entertainment center in a little basket.  I searched there several times coming up with nothing.  Sometimes I put them in my purse.  I searched every pocket of my purse.  Nothing.  I looked around my computer.  Nope.  I began other places where I might have set them down...even on the shelf by the bathroom.  I was so boggled.  I was afraid I had locked them in the van but was too tired to look any more.  As I rest my head on my pillow I asked the Lord to help me sleep and not worry about the keys or else it would keep me awake all night.  And then I asked Him to help me to find them in the morning.

This morning I got up with Seth.  I looked again in a few places I had searched last night.  I was still groggy and still unsuccessful.  I went back to bed until it was time for school.  As I was slowly waking up, I ran through my actions in my head.  What did I do when I pulled into the driveway?  I wanted to finish the song that was playing on my ipod.  I turned off the van and waited for the song to finish.  Then I unplugged my ipod and stuck it in my purse.  I remembered that I couldn't get the zipper closed over my ipod so I left it, got out of the van, pushed the lock button and walked into the house.  But what did I do with my keys?  I think I was carrying them in my left hand.

I was surprised to see A still up if everyone else had already gone to bed so I'm sure that threw me off of my normal routine of putting the keys away in the basket.  I put my purse down by my computer chair and at some point, went to the bathroom.  Then, it hit me.  I had gotten on the computer to finish my menu planning and grocery list so I could go shopping today.  I put my recipe box on the desk next to mine, where the kids' computer sits and I kept pushing MY KEYS!! with the box!  Sure enough, as soon as I sat down at the computer this morning, I moved the recipe box and there they were, hiding behind the box.  Thank You Lord!!

Now I can go grocery shopping.  :)

Coffee

I would say that about 90% of the people I know drink coffee on a regular basis.  It seems that in today's society, coffee is the new ice cream and Starbucks is Ben & Jerry's.  Coffee isn't just coffee any more.  Nowadays, a person walks into a place like Starbucks and has choices of various flavors and sizes and types.  One could even get it cold or frozen!  Every coffee drinker can tell you what flavors they like best and what they order nearly every morning.  Some flavors are seasonal, like pumpkin spiced coffee and it seems that several of my friends look forward to the day it is back in season.

I am not a coffee drinker.  My parents are not coffee drinkers.  My grandma is.  She always ordered a coffee at restaurants and "having coffee" was her social gathering of friends on Saturday mornings.  To me, only old people drank coffee.  A person would either get decaf or regular, and can add cream or sugar if he or she wished.  That was all that coffee was.  I remember once when my older sister came home from college, she had herself a cup of coffee.  We all stared at her like she was from another planet.  Why on earth would she have coffee?  I was very boggled by her that day.

However, I found myself drinking coffee in college, too.  I don't like the taste of coffee but there were those nights when I had to stay up late, or even stay up all night.  I got myself some coffee and added hot chocolate, hoping the double caffeine would work better than just hot chocolate.  I was not a habitual drinker nor did I drink it for pleasure.  It was business only.

I will never forget the first time I went to Starbucks.  I was on tour with my college choir on the East coast.  My roommate for the tour suddenly became ecstatic when she saw a Starbucks in the town in which we were staying.  I, of course, had never heard of Starbucks and had no clue what it was.  After finding out it was a coffee shop, I was less than thrilled.  Somehow, my friend had made it known to our hosts for the night that she wanted to go to Starbucks.  I believe their daughters took us out for some coffee at Starbucks.  We walked in and I was confused by all the choices.  I was hoping to get a hot chocolate, but they didn't sell any just plain hot chocolate.  I settled for a mocha.  We sat down and the other 3 knew I had never been to Starbucks before and didn't like coffee.  They were curious to find out what I thought.  It tasted like coffee.  I was not impressed.  I was hoping for a little more chocolatey flavor.  One of the girls started laughing, "You don't like coffee, but you got a mocha."  I drank as much as I could but I don't think I was able to finish it.  Oh well.  My friend got her beloved Starbucks and we headed back to our hosts' home for the night.

Well, as coffee as become full of varieties, I have broadened my own horizons and started drinking a little coffee here and there.  I'm still not a fan, nor a regular coffee drinker by any means.  I guess my weekly Sunday morning coffee at church could put me as a regular drinker, but I can certainly live without it.  One of my younger sisters is one of those Starbucks drinkers.  She knows her drink and takes me to Starbucks whenever she's in town...or if I'm visiting her and we travel to a location with a Starbucks.  I must say, it is rather tasty when I get the right flavors.  I've ordered some mistakes here and there, but it's really not that bad.  My youngest sister has her own cappuccino machine and occassionally makes me some when I'm at her house.  Or she brings it to me.  :)  I have also, on my own, purchased my own coffee-type drink from Walmart or QuickTrip.  So, I'm not totally against drinking coffee any more and it certainly isn't just an old person's drink.

Now, my daughter is a coffee drinker.  Whenever my in-laws visit, she gets her morning cup with them.  Otherwise, she has to wait until Sunday and drink at church.  There are a few times she'll get herself a frappuccino at Walmart or QuickTrip when I get one.  But, if I made coffee every morning at home, I'm sure she would have a cup herself every morning.

With all of my non-coffee-drinking habits, I was surprised to find myself wanting coffee the other morning when I got up.  Me?  Have a cup of coffee in the morning?  This was very unusual indeed.  I knew I had instant coffee in my cupboard, only for the purpose of making my family's famous birthday pudding cake, but I wasn't sure if I had any cream.  I checked, and no cream.  Hmmm, what to do?  Then I remembered my late nights in college.  I asked my kids if they wanted any and all 3 very enthusiastically said yes.  (Do you think I may be depriving them of today's most beloved legalized addictive drink?)  So, I got out 4 cups, made coffee and added a half a packet of hot chocolate to each cup.  I heated mine up in the microwave.  My older 2 and myself decided we needed to add some sugar.  My youngest didn't even touch hers.  K, the coffee drinker, wasn't too fond of it.  I guess she's going to be a picky coffee drinker!  I loved mine.  I thoroughly enjoyed every sip, every swallow.  Am I becoming a regular morning coffee drinker like most of my friends?  Nah.  I had no desire to have one this morning, even though my kids asked.

So, my coffee loving friends, enjoy your coffee of whatever kind, flavor, or size.  It is your personal identity.  I will keep my identity in ice cream.  A pint of chocolate brownie chunk will do just fine, thank you!