Trick or Treat

'Tis the night for witches and cats,
Ghosts and goblins, monsters and bats.
It has been a fairly slow night for trick or treaters. I thought that might happen this year, but second guessed myself today and decided to buy 2 more bags of candy. Just what I need. Candy, Candy, and more candy lying around. I should just dump it all into the next trick or treaters bag, but I don't think there will be one. The kids had fun tonight going out. Brett took them while I answered the door. Which brings me to tonight's soapbox. . .I'm apologizing in advance if you are in it. Many of our neighbors went out with: husband, wife, and kids. Which is great and all to go out as a family, but what if everyone did that? No one would be left to answer the doors. They said they left their bowls out with a note, "Take One". Great. What is the point of going if no one is there to open the door when you say "trick or treat" and see you in costume? It must be awfully fun to watch your kid pick a piece of candy up off of someone's porch and put it in their bag. I may have to join in the party next year.

Definitely. . .OLD

I don't know when it happened. It must have been sometime between me dreaming that I am 16, young, vibrant, active and having 3 kids. I guess I will have to blame this one on "Mom Brain". I am OLD. I am not even 30, yet, but it sure is creeping up on me every day.
So, why this sudden feeling of mortality? I started playing Church Volleyball. Ha, ha. I know. We have an alright team, comparable to an 8th or 9th grade level. Not the level of play I would like to be at, but like I said, I am OLD. We actually made it to Regionals. We lost last night but are still in the tourney.
The problem is today. I am so sore. My knees hurt (I even thought about icing them, but can only think of OLD men doing that), my back hurts and even my butt hurts. I haven't used most of these muscles in 10 years. . .10 YEARS. Do I really have to say it again? I am OLD. Playing volleyball has really made me feel that I lost a lot of things in the years gone by. And one of them is my athletic ability. I think I can dive for balls, which I will try, but fall short because my reaction is a little bit slower than it used to be. Then there are the times I think I can play the net and I get turned around and my court sense is lost and I am not quite sure what to do with the ball. But it isn't so much of what is going on in the court, because let's face it, it is just church ball, then what is going on today. The day I feel OLD. I have to peel myself off the floor because my knees are sore, and carrying Kid 3 is difficult because my wrists are weak. I have pains in places I forgot existed. But the scary thing is, I don't know that if I played volleyball consistently that these pains would disappear. I think my knees would always be sore, my ankles stiff and my wrists weak. The flexibility and agility I once had is long gone. That is why it has happened. Somewhere between it all, I got OLD. And to think, I will only feel that much more dated when Church Basketball starts in January.

Do You Measure Up?

Weird, my pictures are showing up as a bunch of letters instead of pictures, so I can't arrange them as I would like, sorry. Anway, we went to the zoo today and had a nice time. The weather was actually all fall like, wonderful, in the high 60's with a cool breeze. The kids were well behaved and the animals were fairly active. I know there are some of you out there who don't believe in zoo's, but they exist and the one way I feel that I can make them any better, is to support them. The Hogle Zoo has done some really nice things. Instead of the animals being truly in just cages, they have made some nice living spaces for them, somewhat comparable to their natural environments. I know, sounds like an oxymoron, but whatever. It is what it is.

Ghost of the Bayou

Here are some pictures of an alligator with a rare genetic mutation that has been at the zoo for the last couple of months. He leaves next week. He was somewhat territorial today and stared Kid 3 and I down for a bit. He is pretty spooky.

Permissions

I have decided to take away that extra step that allows others to view my blog. I guess I suffered from a certain degree of paranoia. I will trial this and see if I like it. So, if for some reason, you have to start signing back in, I am sorry, my paranoia has returned, or maybe it is "that one" personality.

Photo Fun

My brother-in-law did this with his kid on their blog, so I thought I would give it a try. Kind of fun to mess around with, Kid 1 pulled up mostly girls, so I had to play around with some different photos. Enjoy.

Celebrity Look A Like

It's true. Tom Cruise pulled up with a high 78%.

Celebrity Morph

%1

Celebrity Look A-likes

My Celebrity Look-Alikes

Night Owl

I returned to work last week. Well, that is, if you really call it "working". I worked a night shift and now struggle with deciding when the next shift will fall into my schedule. It isn't that I don't have the opportunity to work. Work calls me everyday to see if I can pick up a shift. It makes me feel really bad sometimes. I have the luxury of working whenever I want. When I started out in nursing, I wasn't too keen on the shift work and the schedule. Working full time is very demanding on the body, not to mention the night shifts, weekends and holidays that no one can escape. I struggled with the lack of respect that nurses deserve and struggled with the fact that I should have gone to medical school, but deep down inside knew I couldn't. It wasn't conducive to the lifestyle I eventually wanted and now have. So, why do I have this guilt when I don't work? I know it has to do with the fact there are sick kids out there who need me. I feel bad there are nurses who are working full time and then some to fill in for the lack of nurses. I feel bad that there is a "shortage" and think, "what if that was my kid up there, who would take care of them?". It makes me feel like I should be working more. It is something I have struggled with ever since I have had kids, even though I know what I am doing know, is what I should be doing. I find it interesting know that I think nursing is a great option for people to go into because of the flexibility of the schedule, the very thing I despised for so long. Even more so, I find it interesting that I will be doing "NIGHT" shifts only. I hated nights (PERIOD, END OF QUESTION). I have never been a night owl, always a morning person. But now, I find myself realizing that is what my work life has become. A mere shift to give me a slight break from the kids, excerise my brain, and to help those in need out, for just a brief time. I don't know that I will ever return to work more than this, because I am a mother, and that is the most important thing to me right now, and for always.

Technological Geniuses. . . or just Lucky

Yesterday, Kid 2 decided to call Grandma J. Both of my kids know how to call a few people on my cell phone because they are programmed into speed dials. Conversation between B, Kid 2, Grandma and S:

Kid 2: Hi Grandma
Gm: Hi Kid 2
Kid 2: We're having a Strawberry party, with ice cream
Gm: A what?
Kid 2: A party

In the meantime, Kid 1 decides he wants to talk to Grandma and Kid 2 doesn't want him to so she starts running and screaming

Kid 2: Hold on Grandma, I'm calling daddy
Gm: Bye Kid 2
Kid 2: Hi Daddy
B: Hi Kid 2
Gm: Hi B
B: Oh hi, when did you get into town?
Gm: I'm not, where are you, you're not at home?
B: No, I'm at work, Kid 2 go get mommy
S: Hi mom
Gm: Hi S
B: Hey hun
S: How are you on the phone?
B: I don't know, your daughter got us both on the phone
S: Do we have conference calling?
B: I have no idea, but she did it.

Still don't know how she did it but she did.

Six Months

one week, one month, three months, six months

Kid 3 had her 6 month birthday a few days ago. Today was her six month check up. She came in at 19 lbs 2 oz and almost 28 inches long. She remains about 97% in both. Right where my other 2 kids have been. Huge. I can't believe she has been part of my life for so long, yet such a short time. I really can't remember not having her as part of this family. She has brought so much joy and happiness into our lives and I love watching the other kids interact with her as well.

The Best Witch Show in the West

Gardner Village has to be one of my very favorite places to go in the month of October. It is one of the most unique places around to begin with. It is an old mill from the 1800's that was owned by a man named Archibald Gardner. Archibald was a polygamist who had 13 wives. Because of the size of his family and farm, he had a house for each of his wives. Gardner Village has taken each of those houses, plus the other "houses" that were used for various things around the farm, and turned them into shops. They are mostly all original, renovated for current times. Each store there is truly unique in and of itself. Some of my very favorites are "Posh Frippery" (a store with random stuff but mostly way cute wrapping paper, owned by one of Brett's high school acquaintances), "The Christmas Village Store" (Christmas all year round with every type of ornament, village, nativity and stocking you could imagine), and "Elsa Belle" (a baby boutique with the best baby bling that has a touch of French). But, the best thing about Gardner Village, is what they do during different holidays: Eggs and bunnies for Easter, Witches for Halloween, Elves for Christmas. Hands down, my favorite holiday they do is, obviously, Halloween. The witches come out, and they are everywhere. They are cute, they are funny, they are scary, they are hairy. They have every kind of witch you can imagine. A witch in an outhouse: witchy-poo. A witching well. A witch on top of a roof: can you hear me now?. A witch who will cast spells for chocolate. Witches making brew. Witches playing spook ball. Student Driver witches stuck in trees. Witches directing broom traffic through Spookwest, etc. I could go on and on. I didn't get pictures of them all, just a few. Enjoy them as much as me and the kids do.

Stroller Books

Kid 2 seems to have this knack for self entertainment that Kid 1 never has had. I don't know if it is the difference between boys and girls, or oldest child vs. younger child, but I love it. Yesterday she filled up her stroller with books, brought them into my room where I was getting ready, took the books out and flipped through each book. She makes these piles as she goes along. She stacks them in the order she wants them, flips through it and puts them in her completed pile. There seems to be some sort of compulsive science to it for her. Then she would leave the books and go and fill up the stroller again with books and bring them back into my room and start all over. I think she did it about 4 times. It is one of my favorite things to watch. I often wonder what is going through kids heads as they look through some of their favorite books. I am sure she has some of the stories memorized and breezes through them in her mind. And the best part about it was she took all the books back to her room when she was done. It seems some things actually do stick!!!

Pumpkin Patch

I was so excited when my friend called and invited me to go to this little pumpkin patch right by my house!!! I had no idea it was even there and it was so cute. A couple of my friends have gone to apple orchards and I kept on thinking how jealous I was because we don't have anything like that around here. And then, there it was. It had a little corn maze for the kids to go through, plenty of tractors for them to play on, oh, and of course, lots and lots of pumpkins. The kids were so excited and had so much fun. It was right by the highway, but you couldn't hear any of it. It wasn't out in the middle of nowhere to truly give it character, but it is what it is. It was fairly quaint and well done. The lady who ran it had all the spots for pictures and knew just how to make it kid friendly without losing any of its value. The weather couldn't have been any better either. The Famerall Pumpkin Patch definitely had it all.