Candy Negotiations

A conversation earlier this week after handing Bella her trunk or treat bag
Me: You can have 2 pieces
(Bella takes out four pieces and lays them on two piles)
Me: Bella I said 2 pieces
Bella- What, I just have four
Me: But I said only 2
Bella: Well, 4 is 2
Me: No its not. You can have 2 pieces. (Pausing to think... it is hard to get her to nap, maybe I can negotiate) Alright, you can have 4 pieces but then you have to take a nap. Otherwise just eat 2
Bella: Fine, (she slams 2 pieces back in the bag) I'm not taking a nap

An hour later I was looking for a number is my phone book, when I hear a strange sound behind me. This is what I found.

(sorry the picture is so bad I took it with my phone)

The sound was her snoring. She was been a loud snorer (is that a word?) since she was a baby and it makes us laugh. Jared said I ripped her off and she should get two more pieces of candy. But, I didn't put her to sleep, she did that herself.

When I grow up...

I want to be a percussionist...




I want to be a comedian...

Halloween Walk

Since I don't have my regular camera to play around with, I finally got around to downloading the pictures on my phone. The quality isn't as good but at least I have some pictures.

We love to go to the Halloween walk at Carlisle Reservation. When we decided to make a pit stop in Cleveland on the way to the wedding we quickly added this to our "to do" list. It was so cold we almost changed our minds but we're glad we went in the end. We went early in the evening so we could get a good night sleep before continuing our journey. The problem with that choice was that the pumpkins were'nt lit in the lagoon. I love to see the pumpkin lagoon at night. We were just glad we got to go. I wonder if the Christmas walk will start over Thanksgiving.................

Its all in the perspective

This week-end was our stake conference. This was our first time at the stake center here. I thought it was a beautiful building. I was also impressed with the child size restroom off of the nursery. The mother's room left a little to be desired though. There were even people sitting on the floor. But, I haven't been impressed with the size of a mother's lounge since I left the Westlake Ward. We went out to eat with some friends after the adult session which was fun. Elder Condie attended our conference. He was a riveting speaker. I had trouble staying awake during the first hour of the adult session. When he started to speak, he captured my attention and I was actually surprised and disappointed when the second hour was over. He has a sense of humor that reminds me of President Hinckley and does a pretty good impression of our late prophet too!

During his talk Saturday, he told a series of stories. The first story was about a family who tried their best to have FHE, family prayer, and scripture study. When their oldest son was 12 he was tricked by a "friend" and ended up addicted to a pill, which led to an alcohol and drug addiction. For more than 4 years this son brought a bad spirit into the home and stole money to support his habit from his siblings and parents. One day he didn't come home from school. The parents wondered where he was but he never returned. Eventually the family went about their lives enjoying the Spirit now able to abide in their home but missing the family member now gone. They continued to wonder whether their son was alive, where he was, and what he was up to. To sum up the story, when he was 30 years old, he returned home and asked to be forgiven. His parents put him in rehab and he eventually turned his life around and went through the temple.

I sat in my seat asking Heavenly Father to please help me raise my children so that I never had to experience the grief I'm sure this mother felt for 13 years. I can't imagine not knowing where your child was all that time. I asked that if my children were to fall away and disappear that they would at least not take 13 years to change their life around and come home.

Then Elder Condie then continued to the second story. This story was about a little girl with a paper route. She went out one evening to collect money for her route. This usually took her a little over an hour. When she didn't return home by 8pm her parents were worried. By nine they started calling friends and neighbors. By eleven the police were notified. The community searched for her the following day. After about 5 days, the detectives knocked on the parents' door. The little girl had been found, but was not alive. A neighbor had asked her to come inside while he got change for his bill. He then locked the door, molested her, killed her, and dumped her remains in a local resevoir.

All of a sudden the first story did seem so bad. I found myself pleading that if one of these situations were to happen to one of my children that it would PLEASE PLEASE be the first story. A drug addiction and 13 years of absence didn't seem to be the worst possibility anymore. I guess I learned that whatever trials we may be experiencing, however awful and impossible to overcome they may seem, it could always be worse.

Unveiling of costumes postponed

Unfortunately, I lost my camera Friday night at the Trunk-or-Treat. I came home excited to post pictures of our costumes, and our prize winning trunk. We searched through the car, all the candy bags, but no luck! The camera was nowhere. Jared even went back to the church to search and still couldn't find it. Hopefully some kind soul found it and will return it to us. But, until then, no pics to blog with. I hadn't even downloaded the all the pics from our trip the previous week-end. I'm so sad :(

Who would have thought?

It is requirement of high school/junior high to whine and complain as one learns. Most (if not all) of us can remember saying "when am I ever going to use this". I remember using this phrase several times as I struggled through my geometry and calculus homework. Being interested in science I took more than my fair share of math classes. Geometry was always hardest for me and I could not figure out why I would ever need to find the surface area of a cone again- except maybe to help my kids with homework. But, if that was the only time I'd use it, why would my kids need to know it?
Then came college. Where you could actually study subjects you were interested in. I learned that there were some obscure equations you would need to know while working in a lab or conducting studies in the field. I wanted to scream at them. I realized that in a scientific workplace these equations and formulas were important, but still when would I ever need them as a stay-at-home mom. I hardly expected to ever use those equations again- except for helping with homework.
When I returned to my alma mater high school as a teacher, I hated that question. I wondered if I had been as whiny and annoying when I was in school. "Biology is important!"
Who would have though that while making costumes this Halloween, I would need to remember formulas related diameter and circumferences of a circle. Or, the height, radius, and area of a cone? But, I did. I needed a hat for a scarecrow. I had no pattern or example to work off. All I knew was the circumference of the head that would be wearing the hat. I dusted those equations of the back shelf of my brain, and now have one brown felt scarecrow hat! It is not a work of art by any stretch, BUT for someone as sewing challenged as me working without a pattern,I'm quite proud of myself (I'll post pics of the costumes in the next few days)

Grocery Store Giggles

At the grocery store today, Bella was entertaining herself by telling Knock Knock jokes. She would tell the jokes (most of which didn't make much sense) to herself and then laugh hysterically before starting the next one. Jacob thought this process was hilarious, or else the jokes made sense to him, and he would giggle along. We got quite a few chuckles and smiles from the other shoppers as they passed by. The best part was one time as Bella started a new joke. "Knock, knock" she asked herself. The college boy passing by stopped, stooped down next to her and asked "who's there?". Her eyes got as big as saucers and she looked up at me with an expression that said "what do I do, some strange kid is talking to me". It was pleasant to have them happily entertaining themselves for a change.

Fall blew in with a vengeance last night. It is rainy and cold today. Since tomorrow is the chili cook-off we headed to the store to by ingredients for soup tonight and chili for tomorrow. Apparently everyone was on the same wavelength. Although most of the aisles were easy to navigate through the soup aisle was packed with people. I couldn't even get through with my cart. Everyone was chuckling at the soup stock-up plan that seemed the prevelant thought of the day.

Happy 29th!

We went to Pittsburg last week-end to attend my cousins Asha's wedding. This week she is honeymooning in Barbados as she also celebrates her 29th b-day today. What a way celebrate your last b-day before the 30. Anyway, the wedding was beautiful and lots of fun- even if it was COLD in Pittsburg. It was fun to see relatives and dance the night away. Congratulations Asha and Shane!

Halloween Attire

Katy has been complaining lately because I haven't gotten out the Halloween shirts yet. Mostly because it is still in the 80's so long sleeved shirts haven't been at the front of my mind. This morning we went down and pulled out the shirts before school. They all insisted on wearing the shirts, and having Jacob match them. Hope they are not roasting at school today. It becomes increasingly more difficult to get all 4 kids to smile at the same time. I love Bella's bored look in the second pic!

Dance

Alexandra took a dance class at the YMCA this fall. Her class is officially over tomorrow and they are going to perform for the parents. She is going to miss the performance since we are going to be travelling. She was disappointed so I went into her class last week and took a picture of her before class started.

Don't you love her scowl? She had just found out she was going to miss the last week.

Random Rantings

My mother-in-law sent me a link a funny blog written by an LDS husband whose wife is in love with Edward. After skimming some of the comments I have come to the following conclusions :

1)there are some seriously Twilight obsessed people out there. Please don't allow me to ever join this group. I like the books and all, but if I ever start spending all my time in chat groups expressing my undying love for one of the characters and bemoaning the fact that my husband is not a fictitious character, PLEASE UNPLUG MY COMPUTER and pound me on the head with a frying pan.

2) some people really can't take a joke. There were two major examples to illustrate this point. At one point the blog author makes a snide remark about CS Lewis being an LDS author since he is quoted more than prophets. It was apparent that this was a joke and the author was quite aware that CS Lewis was in fact not LDS. Nevertheless, multiple people felt the need to publicly inform him that C.S. Lewis was not LDS. DUH! Thankyou to all the Mr. Smarty Pants. A second remark was made by the blog author was that if you were an LDS women not in love with either Edward or Jacob, or Jack or Sawyer(think Lost) you must belong to the 3% of LDS women who strictly watch only LDS films. Again, A JOKE. Although, since Jack has long been an object of one of my "crushes" and Edward quickly joined the ranks last week with other greats such as Mr. Darcy, Rhett Butler, Gilbert Blithe etc, I have to include myself with the first 97% of LDS women. Some insecure, UNmarried, painfully single female left quite a scathing rebuke. She apparently took offense to the groupings and does not feel the need to be included in his categories. LIGHTEN UP, this is just for fun. No one is going to force you into any category- except maybe the single and bitter box!!!

I came to a third conclusion this week while watching the trailer for Twilight. I'm getting much older than I realized. I was absolutely shocked to see how young the actors/actresses are in this movie. I had Edward, Bella, and Jacob pictured much differently in my head. But, then I realized I had them pictured more like 30 year olds and less like the 17 yr olds they really are. I will probably see the movie but it is a lot more enjoyable to continue to picture them my way. Seriously, how can you swoon over someone younger than your brother that is more than 12 yrs younger than yourself. YUCK!!

And finally, the fourth conclusion: There will always be a Jack vs Sawyer, Edward vs Jacob, Jake vs Andrew (Sweet Home Alabama) Ashley vs. Rhett. etc. There will always be women lined up in both camps declaring why their choice is better. So without further ado, here are my picks:



Jack vs. Sawyer- well there's no suspense and definately no competition here. I've already declared my love for Jack. Although Sawyer is not altogether lacking in the looks department. (I've definately seen worse!) there really is no comparison. I don't understand the draw to the blonde sarcastic, self-centered, "look at me, I'm so tough", unkept appearance, afraid of commitment, every man for himself kind of guy. I prefer the dark clean-cut, nurturing doctor, takes care of others, steps up to leadership, gentle, self sacrificing kind of guy. But thats just me.



Edward vs. Jacob- this one is a litte bit tougher. Jacob is a truely good kid (but I do have trouble with the kid part). He has dark hair which is a plus for me. I can only think of one exception to the fact that every guy I ever went on a second date with had dark hair. He also is the "best friend" and those generally make the best kind of relationships later on. Jared was my best friend before becoming my boyfriend. Jacob really truely loves Bella and I am kinda partial to his name. With that being said my pick is Edward. I'm not sure why, but I am drawn to him. It didn't take long for me to realize I was definately cheering in his camp. Maybe it was the way he was able to constantly protect her (although lightning speed was a bit of an advantage) and spend every moment at her side(again another advantage to being a vampire) . I'm not sure why exactly, but he is my pick. She was his whole reason for living, his "brand of heroin" etc.

Jake vs. Andrew- this one is the one that confuses me most. Based on my earlier arguements in Jack vs Sawyer one would predict me to pick Andrew- the rich, successful, well-dressed, good career, DARK haired choice. Half-way through the movie I still was unsure how I wanted the movie to end. This really annoyed me. In the end though, I knew she was destined to be with Jake. His undying, unwavering love for her was too pure to disregard.

Ashley vs Rhett- no brainer Rhett all the way. Besides the fact that Ashley is a sissy name. The fact that he lead Scarlett along despite the fact that he was married along with several other irritating personality quirks makes Rhett the better choice. Besides, Rhett had dark hair and Ashley was a blonde.

So, now that you are all convinced that I have absolutely no life and way too much time on my hands. I will leave you to get on with your busy productive lives and not point out that you just sat hear reading my random rantings, and wasting minutes of your own lives.

The treasured phrase

This morning I was playing with Jacob. As he lay on the floor, I bent over him, kissed his forehead and told him I loved him several times. Then it happened. The skies parted, the light shone down from heaven, and I could hear a chorus of angels singing. Okay, not really. But--- I did hear a sound just as magical. Three simple sounds imitating the ones I had just spoken. Not quite the same as mine, but close enough to realize he was trying. "I la lu" I heard from my own little angel. Some of you may be skeptics (like my own husband- but he's mostly just jealous), but I know what I heard, and I saw his whole face light up when I gave him the reaction he was looking for (a shocked gasp followed by a BIG hug). The next time I feel myself choking up as he grows up WAY too fast, I'll hold on to special moments like this. Moments that can only happen as he does grow and progress. Thank you my precious little boy.

Race day

I woke up Saturday feeling worse than I had all week, but there was no time to mope around as we had a full day planned. The older two girls and I had signed up to run in a race. The girls ran in the Kids Fun run and I ran in the 5K. The entry fees were to benefit the local nature center. I had been looking for a 5K to run in and when I found this one I got excited. Here's a cause I can get behind. So despite feeling like I wanted to cut my head off or sleep for years we headed out the door. There were only 5 kids signed up for the fun run. They girls came in 2nd and 3rd. Katy was annoyed that the event workers did not time them not did they have medals. Good thing for the t-shirt, I guess. I have decided Xandy has an aversion to sports. She will be one of those girls who drove me nuts in high school- too afraid of breaking a sweat, messing up her clothes, or having her make-up smear to play sports. She had originally wanted to run in the race, but when we woke up her whole mood changed. She tried to weasle out of it. She wanted to know if she'd still get a shirt if she didn't run(couldn't pass up clothes). As she lined up to start she asked if she'd ever have to run a race again. I told her that I hoped she'd have so much fun she'd want to run more. She answered "I don't think so!" At the end of the race (which I think she secretly enjoyed) she was very disapointed at the shirt. I think her exact words where somewhere along the lines of "that shirt is SO ugly!" Sometimes I wonder where she comes from. I had orginally planned on trying to run within a certain time. But, considering how I felt, my goal was just to finish. I did better than I though I would considering, but I'm definately not the runner I was in highschool. Such is life I guess. After the race, we jumped in the car and were off to Katy's soccer game. She was worried since we were going to be late. (Complete opposite from Xandy) Katy's world revolves around soccer. She's very mad we'll miss her last game to go to PA. More on the rest of our week-end later

The 3 runners

waiting at the start for other runners

Field Trip

Friday I went on a field trip with Alexandra's class. We went apple picking at a local orchard. I went apple picking with Katy's class when she was in Kindergarten so it was fun to do this with Xandy also. They had animals the children could pet also. Xandy got to feed the goats, but petting the pony was her favorite.

Xandy and the Pony

My friend Crystal and her son Christian

Xandy and her friend Sarah

Buckeye blood

While I looking at my blog page, I could see rhythmic movements out of the corner of my eye. I turned to see Xandy making the O-H-I-O forms with her hands every time the song got to that part. She was busy watching TV at the same time. It was almost like a subconscious movement. It was contagious too. Before long, Katy and Bella joined in.

Life problems through the eyes of a 5 yr old

Xandy: "Are we moving back to Ohio now?"
Me: No, why, don't you like it here?
Xandy: Yes, I just wished Mima lived here. If she doesn't live here she won't be my grandma anymore.
Me: why is that?
Xandy: Some other little kids will steal her as their grandma
Me: Don't worry, Mima, PopPop, Grandma Jackie, and Grandpa Gary will always be your grandparents. No other little kids can steal them away.
Xandy: Alright, but if anyone steals them I guess I'll have to try to find new ones.

Like a lemming, I went and jumped off the cliff...

Yep, I did. I "joined the pack", "jumped on the bandwagon" or numerous other cliches. I procastinated it. I tried to fight it. I held out as long as I could. But in the end, I gave in. My desire to not be like everyone else was overpowered by my curiousity. I wondered what it would be like. Was it really as good as everyone claimed? So I succumbed and it was good, too good. I couldn't get enough and now I am a statistic. It took only two days to to be fully addicted. I can't sleep, eat, or function without it on my mind. Yes, I am now a Twilight junkie. I won't tell you how many pages I've read in two days. That would be embarassing to admit. You're opinion of me would greatly diminish as you'd imagine all the chores I must be neglecting. But, actually I have been sick the last two days and thats why I picked up the first book to begin with. A mom, even a sick mom, can only take so many episodes of Dora before wanting to rip off her ears and eyes. It made for a nice distraction.