Pumpkin carving

As part of Family Home Evening on Monday, we helped the kids carve their pumpkins for Halloween. Okay, for the most part, we carved them for them. They just told us how they wanted us to carve them. Jimmy did carve some of his by himself. Ended up breaking the pumpkin carving knife Russ bought, but it was bending when I used it, so I wasn't surprised. They were excited as they watched us dig out the pumpkin seeds and innards. Kept saying "Ewwww!" as we'd dump them on the cookie sheet I put out so they wouldn't get all over everything.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the kids with their pumpkins. Jimmy actually has a second pumpkin he got from Scouts yesterday and has since carved, I just haven't had a chance to take a picture of him with it yet.

Jimmy

It's Jimmy's turn now for a post about him. (Yes, he's been asking when I will make a post about him.)

Jimmy tells us that he wants to be an author when he grows up. He's made little books about a fish named Henry. He will sometimes even draw pictures of Henry and his friend Bob for his sisters to color. He once made some "posters" and put them up around the house announcing that a new Henry book would be coming out soon. You know, I don't think he ever wrote those ones. Some nights at bedtime, he will make up stories and tell them to his sisters to help get them to bed.

He is cute the way he takes his sisters out on the tramp and plays games with them. He will take Emma out and they will play for hours. Wonder what they are going to do when it gets too cold. Maybe he'll actually do his reading homework.

Leaves are Falling

The kids decided today to do their annual "Mom has just raked leaves, let's go jump in them" fun. Of course, I had to get out the camera for it. Ruth from next door decided to join with them. She did last year, too. Here are a few pictures of their fun. Jimmy didn't play long with them, which is why he's not in many. Hope you enjoy them.







Lyssa loved throwing leaves on everyone and here she's about to throw some on me.

Thank You Dinner Party

Last night our next door neighbor, Noreen, hosted a dinner party for us and four other couples in our ward. She did this because she wanted to thank us (well, mostly Russ) for helping her out late one night a few months ago. You know that book line, "It was a dark and stormy night?" Well, it was dark. Wasn't stormy, but was quite windy. About midnight she heard some banging and went out into her garage to see if she could figure out what was making the noise and the door to her house in her garage slammed shut behind her, locking her out. Of course, she had happened to decide this one night that since it was such a warm night, she would just sleep in her garments and not any pajamas. So she sat there for about an hour, trying to decide what would be best to do. Thought of a friend who has a key to her house, but it would be a bit of a walk and she pictured a policeman driving by and seeing her like that. She thought about waiting until it got light and then coming to our house for help and decided that wasn't a good idea. So she finally just came over to our house and rang the doorbell.

I don't think I've ever seen Russ jump out of bed so quickly. He went to the door and flipped on the outside light and opened it. She had kind of been hiding off to the side and he said, "Oh, I didn't see you at first." She said, "I didn't really want you to see me." She quickly explained what happened and Russ said he'd be over to help. I grabbed a robe of mine and handed it to Russ to give to her. In the meantime, she went into her backyard and hid behind a rose bush (which she later said made her feel like Eve hiding in the bushes). Russ handed her the robe, which she was grateful for. She had left her bedroom window open, so Russ climbed up and in through her window and opened the door for her.

She kept telling us that she would like to have us over for dinner to thank us and Russ would always say, "You don't need to do that." She insisted and kept telling us to think of a few other couples to invite. Russ would practically name half the ward. I ended up telling her the ones he would repeat and she set a day to have it. Russ got stuck in traffic and was a half hour late. One of the other couples came late because the husband also got stuck in traffic. They showed up just after Russ.

The dinner was very good and we all had a fun time chatting and eating. She started us out with a salmon chowder (now I'm not one who usually likes seafood, but this tasted pretty good), followed by a green salad. The main course was a stuffed and breaded chicken. We had creme brule (or however you spell that) for dessert. Everyone knew the story of the reason she had the dinner, so one couple brought her a gift of a garbage sack they glued jewels to for her to use the next time she locks herself out without clothes on.

Being just a couple's dinner, we asked a neighbor girl if she could tend the kids. After we got home, Jimmy said, "I don't ever want to go to Grandma's again! I want you to have her tend us every time!" They all had a lot of fun with her. She also had a lot of fun tending them. All in all, it was a fun evening.

Quick vent...with an edit

A little while ago, I ordered some black Spider-man boot covers to go along with Jimmy's costume (found a place that sold the gloves and boot covers seperately). Was maybe a week later that I received an email stating that it had been shipped via UPS and it included the tracking number. I looked it up with the tracking number and it showed that it was scheduled to be delivered on the 25th. Checked back a little while later and everything was still on schedule. The 25th came and went. No package. Got online and looked and it showed it as having been delivered. So now I'm wondering where they actually delivered it since I surely didn't get it. Emailed both UPS and the company I ordered from. Just hoping this doesn't turn out like the last package I supposedly had delivered that I never got and the company I ordered it from basically said, "Tough luck." Ah, well. Just glad it wasn't Jimmy's entire costume.

Hehehe...now I feel silly. I went out and walked around and found the package hiding behind my garbage can.

Thought...

I came across a thought tonight that I liked. Saw it in a place that I never expected to see a quote. It was on my bank's website. I almost didn't notice it because it was placed where they usually post announcements about their doing maintenance on the website. Decided that it might be a good idea to see when they would be doing the maintenance and discovered that it was the quote (along with a statement encouraging everyone to vote).

Here's the quote: The Constitution of the United States only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself. -Benjamin Franklin

Emma

Thought since I recently posted about Lys, it's only fair if I post about the other kids. Probably do it over time. Emma just seemed to be a good choice with being in kindergarten and how excited she is about it.

Emma loves school. The first day she went after they finished all of the individual testing, she practically skipped all the way home because she was so excited. Some days she still does that. Of course, she had been excited about starting school for a year. I had signed her up for a preschool for last year, but that ended up getting cancelled because the teacher was moving. I felt bad because she was very excited for that and I never could find another one for her.

She seems to be doing really well in school. Today she brought home her 6th reader book and sat down and read it all by herself. (She's supposed to read it three times before she turns it back in. She would actually be on her 8th or 9th, but forgot to turn them back in a couple of times.) She is still her quiet self (told me she doesn't talk at school), but seems happier or something since being in school. One night she told me her stomach hurt and I said she might have to stay home from school if it still hurt in the morning. She panicked. Did not want to stay home from school at all. Said she was fine from that point on. I thought it was funny.

Today was the exception of her seeming as happy when I picked her up. I finally figured out it was for two reasons. One being that I walked to get her instead of drive. I've been driving lately because it seemed to make my knee stop hurting to not walk to the school. She really liked being picked up in the car, apparently. But she wasn't really telling me what the other reason was. I kept asking her if she had a good day. When she didn't answer, I asked if it was a bad day. A neighbor was walking behind me and talking to her son and the boy who lives behind us. We heard her son tell her that they had a fire drill today. Emma pointed back at him, indicating that it was about what he said. I eventually got out of her that the fire drill scared her. I mentioned this to my neighbor, who laughed and said that her son cried when they did the fire drill today. So I guess Emma wasn't the only one it scared. She was happier after I figured out that she got scared today.

Alyssa

Sometimes Lys makes me laugh. Well, sometimes all of my children make me laugh, but she's been doing it more often. The other day she found a Dora book we have that has a lot of fruit in it. She kept pointing at things and saying, "What's that?" She pointed at a blueberry and asked. I told her it was a blueberry. She said, "No, it's a purple berry!"

Lately when she opens the fridge to get something out, she says, "Ta-da!" as she pulls it open. Will sometimes even say that as she closes it, too.

This morning I heard her calling to me and saying, "Help!" I went to see what was wrong. She was in the kitchen, with a container of cookie dough on the floor that she had pulled out of the fridge, spoon on the floor next to it, trying to open the container. She saw me and said, "I can't open it! Open it for me!"

With Emma in school, she and Molly play cute together. They were crawling around the house this morning meowing as they were pretending to be cats. I think Molly was the "baby cat" and Lys was the "mama cat." Which doesn't surprise me since sometimes Lys will come up to me and say, "I'm the mama, you're the baby." (Although I'll say, "Okay, hi mama," to her and she frowns and says, "No, I Lyssa.") She's just growing up too quickly.

Kind of cool optical illusion

Saw a link to this on aol's welcome page tonight. I thought this was kind of cool. Not totally convinced it's a true optical illusion, but I can get it to switch directions when I want....http://www.switched.com/2007/10/15/the-trippiest-optical-illusions-on-the-net/
Which way do any of you see it going first? At first I could only see it going counter-clockwise. It wasn't until after I voted on the poll thing that I saw it go the other way.

New Format/Template, whatever you want to call it.

I decided to try a new background setting for my blog. I kind of liked this one and thought I'd use it for a bit to see if I like it. If I decide I don't, I'll change it back to what it was before or something totally different. What do you think about it?

Guess since I started a post I might as well do the usual rambling thing....

Russ worked late last night. Not totally sure what he had to do. He just complained that he doesn't know why they have to do it after work instead of sometime during work. He also works late tomorrow and Friday doing inventory. He said something one time about maybe having to go in Saturday if they don't finish on Friday, but hasn't said anything else about that, so I don't know if it's still a possibility or not.

I thought Jimmy and Emma were funny this morning. It was raining hard, so I kind of expected to drive them to school. Nope, they wanted to use the umbrella Mom gave me for Emma to use when it was supposed to storm on the day they had a walking field trip. Of course, they argued a little about who got to hold it. I just wonder who got to take it once they got to school, since they don't come home at the same time.

Pumpkins...

Sometimes it's nice having a farmer as a neighbor. This year and last (and I think the year before but for some reason we didn't take him up on his offer then), our neighbor, Don Neville, has let us (and some other neighbors) take our kids out to his farm and pick out pumpkins for Halloween. We went out today to pick out the pumpkins. Of course, I searched and searched but couldn't find the camera to take any pictures. Ah, well.

Since his wife is in poor health and he can't leave her alone anymore, Brother Neville requested that we go out at the same time as our neighbors so he doesn't have to make lots of trips out there. Unfortunately, the best time for my neighbors to go was before Russ got home from work. He has fun helping the kids pick out pumpkins. Although in discussing when we would go, Russ did say that he thought we should go as early as we could to make it easier for Brother Neville. He kind of expected to not be home in time anyway. His only real complaint was that I didn't grab a pumpkin for him, just for the kids.

The kids had a good time picking out their pumpkins. Lyssa cried when I put her in her carseat to leave. Not sure how much of it was because she had fun picking out a pumpkin or the fun she had chasing the ladybugs that were around. After picking out her pumpkin, Emma sat on it to make sure everyone knew it was hers. I think hers is the biggest they picked out.

One last thing I will say about it: Don't wear a white shirt if you are going to be picking out and carrying pumpkins with your children. Just so you know.

Russ and his new job #..wait, I haven't been keeping track of how many....

Last night Russ told me that he almost wonders if they are giving him too much too soon at Dal. Robin, the guy he talked to the most about working for Dal, has made him in charge of ordering the caulks and the tools. And didn't tell him how to do that. Which is probably what is making Russ think too much too soon. I think the only reason he told me this was to explain why he wanted to try to go into work early today. So he can try to figure out how to order the things. Especially since they need to order more caulk now. He said Robin wants him to wait until after they do inventory next week to order more tools, but he's not sure they have enough to wait that long.

So now he's in charge of an account and ordering and keeping them stocked on caulks and tools. Maybe he should have started to work for Dal a long time ago.

Columbia's 25th thing

Thursday evening, the elementary school held the kick-off for their year-long 25th anniversary celebration. They wanted the students there by 5:15 because they were starting at 5:30 and had each grade lined up and ready to sing. A little after 5:00, I decided to go ahead and head over even though Russ wasn't home from work yet. I thought he would have been home by then though. I decided to walk over with the kids, since we live close enough and knew that finding a place to park wouldn't be easy. Took the wagon. So I had the three girls and a blanket in the wagon, while I carried the camping chairs. I eventually handed Jimmy one of the chairs to carry. Got really heavy after a while.

Got everything set up and called and left a message on Russ' cellphone saying that I was over at the school and had a chair for him when he got there. Saw a neighbor and told her she could use Russ' chair. Being outside, it wasn't the easiest to see the kids all in their rows. Kind of fun with each grade having a certain color for their t-shirts. The kids sang their school song (I even noticed that Emma was singing), then they had a letter read from Jake Garn. Then some of the older kids put on a couple of skits about things that were popular when the school opened in 1982. Like records. And Thriller. They even did some of the Thriller dance. It was kind of funny. The kids then sang a song called "A New Day," which I thought went on for a very long time, but didn't have much to the lyrics. Russ showed up just as they were explaining how things were going to work for the kids to set off some rockets. The kind with the 2 liter bottles and using water and pumping air into them. All of the kids seemed to really like that part.

Afterward, we bought some pizza from there and some drinks. Russ then went to the playground with the kids while I stood in line for the cinnamon rolls. Really long line. Emma and Molly had said they wanted a cinnamon roll instead of pizza. Of course, while I was in line, Molly ate my pizza. Finally were able to get the cinnamon rolls and then we headed home. Unfortunately, dropped some of the cinnamon rolls.

Jimmy kept saying it was the most fun he'd had at a party. Probably just because of playing at the playground, but that's okay. Here are a couple of pictures from it.
If you look, you can see Jimmy. He's the one in the lime green just right of center, looking to the left with another kid looking at him.
Emma is on the front row, right about center.
Jimmy with his bottle, waiting in line.
Emma with her bottle right after shooting it off.

Alyssa and MOlly sitting in t heir chairs, waiting for the program to start.
Just threw this one in as proof that Russ actually made it for part of it. Note, he stopped and changed into his shirt that matches Jimmy's.

More with Russ and his job...

Russ called me this morning and said that he's a little stressed and kind of excited at the same time. Said Larry, the manager there, pulled him aside and asked him if he thinks he's ready to be over some accounts. He said he was, so Larry gave him the Kay Riley & Sons account. It will be his job to make sure they get everything they need and stuff like that.

Russ told me that one of the guys who picks up things for Kay Riley was in right after Larry talked to him so he said something to him about it. Russ has known this guy for a while. Russ said something like this guy knew he'd be working for Dal before he even really knew. Makes me wonder if they requested Russ to work on their account, since he seemed happy that Russ is.

Russ said that this, while being a little stressful because if mistakes are made, it's on him, has kind of reinforced his decision to work for Dal. Shows him that they have confidence in him and such. Something Contempo never really showed.

Ah, Ghosts....(beware...ramblings...)

Seeing as it's approaching Halloween and I sat and listened to the radio this morning as the morning guys on the station I listen to (The End) talked with some ghost investigators, it got some of the discussion online this morning with Mom, Di and Stacey on the subject. Partially because I mentioned that they are holding a contest where you send in an email to the morning guys of a short essay saying why you should win. The prize is going with the ghost investigators on an investigation sometime this month. Di told me I should enter. I am almost tempted to. Except for the fact that I've had enough ghost stuff, I really don't want to intentionally have more. Yes, you read that right. I believe ghosts are real. After all, Joseph Smith said that the spirit world is on the earth. It would make sense then, that occasionally there are interactions with them. And growing up close to the Bountiful Cemetary, I've had a few. (The Bountiful Cemetary is listed on haunted places in Utah.)

Most of the ones I had growing up were simply hearing voices. Usually calling my name when no one else was around. Makes you feel really silly when you call back, "What?" and then discover that no one is actually there. Then there were the times where we'd watch the cat watch something move across the room and then totally freak out. He'd refuse to walk on the floor and would act like something was touching his back in a way he didn't like. Plus there's the basement. Sometimes I still don't like to go down there. Feel like someone watches me and really doesn't want me down there. Usually feel like something is chasing me up the stairs as I go back up. The last couple of times going down there haven't been that bad though.

One time Russ and I were staying at the house while Mom and Dad were on vacation. Jimmy was 5 months old. We were expecting De to come that night because she was going to be induced in the morning and didn't want to have to drive early in the morning from Grantsville. Jimmy started crying because he was hungry. Russ and I went into the kitchen to make a bottle up for him when we both heard a woman's voice. We both turned to look at the front door, expecting to see De come in. She didn't. Russ tried to say it was Xena, who was outside at the time. I said that wasn't the dog. The dog doesn't make a sound like a woman talking. And Russ understood what the voice said. I only heard the sound of the voice. Russ told me it sounded like she said, "It's okay," like you do to comfort a baby. A few years later, a neighbor boy came over to play with Jimmy. He started to go downstairs but stopped and asked, "Are there ghosts?" I didn't want to scare him so said no. Russ laughed and said, "You just lied to him."

Then there are the couple of things during my mission, and two since moving here. But I won't go into them now. Just remember what I've said and still stand by: Do not ever live by a funeral home.

So, anyone else have stories they want to share?

Prizes 2

Remember a few posts back when I said about how Mom wins the contests I enter her for? Well, I received a package in the mail today. All I could think was, "I didn't order anything." Had a movie company's name in the return address. I opened it up and it had a little note that said that I won a prize from the Shrek the 3rd game thing that was online. Funny thing is, I only played it once.

Anyway, here's a picture of Molly holding the prize. It's a mug. Guess I can't say I never win anything.

October Birthdays

Since today is the start of a new month, I thought it would be a good time to wish everyone a happy birthday who is having a birthday this month. So happy birthday to Maddy, Dom, Livi, Bryce, Jenni and Kathryn!

Guess I could throw in there a happy birthday to Columbia Elementary. This year they are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the school opening and are going to have a kick-off for the year-long celebration on Thursday. Apparently they are going to do something with rockets made from 2 liter bottles for each student attending this year. Also have t-shirts for all of the kids. A different color for each grade. Russ ordered an adult one for him. And kind of funny, he happened to order the same color that they have for the 3rd grade. He and Jimmy will match. And no, he didn't know that was the 3rd grade color when he ordered it. (Hey, I had to come up with something to make this longer than two sentences.)