Caught

Ok, it's official, I (and Brett) are the biggest set of push-over parents EVER!!!

There were some good sales in town a few nights ago, so I popped in and grabbed a few Christmas presents for the boys. In a rush, I tucked them back under the stairs and shut the door, knowing that the boys never get into that closet unless there's a parent in there first.

The other day, the Big Boys (Brett and Pat) were getting everything together for their hunt, and got into that closet for something. I'd told Brett that I had Christmas gifts hiding in there but it must not have sunk in, cause I turn around and the biggest gift I'd gotten is casually leaned against the gun-safe in the middle of the room! The boys somehow immediately pick up that I don't want them to be seeing this particular box, which means they want it- NOW!

I gave up, I know I'm a wuse, and put it on Brett to say no. He got out the compressor instead. Now I have a 4' inflated trampoline in the middle of the living room.

At least it was a good buy.

*Graphic Images!*

Sorry about the graphic images, I just thought the deer looked funny with his tongue hanging out like that. Don't worry, Brett thinks I'm a doofus too.

Saturday, Brett and Ben (my boss's husband) went out on a day hunt. Brett got 2 relatively "big ones", meaning they had nubby horns (called buttons) and enough meat to make the process worth it.

Here's Brett doing some knife work.

Here's Christiana chopping too... (she used to work at a taxidermist and has some mad skills with a blade)

Here's Ben taking his dinner break- it was nearing 9 pm by this time, so he kindly stopped cutting to fixed food for the chop-shop crew.

Thier dog Smokey LOVES the kids! Austin and her got into plenty of trouble together while the adults were busy (and messy) in the kitchen.

Shane and Tristan had a blast with the toy trains (it's Shane's newest love).

Where oh Where Did They Go?

I lost my widgets and gadgets. If you can see the side bar with all my links and stuff, please let me know, because I can't. and I can't figure out what I did to make them go away! They must be sensitive, I haven't been spending alot of time with them lately. Hmmm...

Voting Day

I had hoped to do updates everyday on how my fast efforts were things have been a bit insane.

Sunday went pretty well. As I scurried around getting ready for my brother's arrival, I didn't really think about food, until I realized that I'd just absent-mindedly tasted something I was working with. Good going Tiff!
Monday was similar- I'd been trying to focus on my purposes and realized after I swallowed the Skittle Shane had shoved in my mouth that I wasn't paying attention. I was noticing more and more how surrounded by food a person is during the day. Especially while trying to get the boys to eat.
This morning I was feeling pretty well pitiful, I can't even do a full fast- what a bum! But we went to vote anyway. And I was fasting anyway. I was feeling a bit dehydrated, so I mixed up some vinegar and water (yes, weird, I know) and that in my empty stomach effectively quashed any thoughts of eating. It might be cheating, but I sure didn't enjoy it!
I may not have hit the ideal I had set for myself, but I did learn some lessons.
1. I may not be able to count for much on the national/ world-wide scale, but what I say and do in my circle of family and friends counts for alot. I DO count for something, somewhere, for someone. Someday, I hope to figure out what, where and who.
2. The amount of prayer in my life is sadly lacking where I need and want it to be. I know that that alone, could and did make my last few days easier. I am the weak one, not Him.

Aftermath

It's the day after Halloween. Time for some normal life, cleaning, playing and resting. We had Tristan come over so the dads could get some guy time in (not that they won't get sick of each other next week when Pat's here, but who understands boys... not me!)

Hopefully they'll get something- fish, deer, bear, anything!

So the little boys are veggin' and the big boys are playing... and the moms are going to need a break of their own!

Kat is joining in on all the guy fun, er at least wishes he could.

The BIG Day!

Is it just me, or did Halloween seem to rush up on us this year?

Turned out great anyway. Shane wasn't too wild about his costume until I got it on him. He was Lion King. (It was given to us by the friend with us- her son is younger than Shane but differently built.) Same for his nose and whiskers. Austin flipped at the skunk costume (I got that last year for Shane and it didn't fit, this year, Austin revolts- will I ever get my little Stinker?) so we pulled out the jaguar/leopard outfit I made out of an old pair of my PJ pants for Shane 2 years ago. Both the boys were cool with that, Shane thought it was Baby Jaguar from Diego and Austin wasn't down with the hat or mittens- picky kid.

At 4'o'clock-ish we woke up Daddy from his nap on the couch (he went to their feild day thing that morning and got the rest of the day off!) and headed downtown. The city closes down a part of the main drag so it's a little safer for the kids to trick-or-treat at the stores. There was even one restaurant that does NOT sit on the main road that brought their van and parked on the side of the road to give out free ice cream coupons. Normally, we don't condone or encourage the kids to take candy from strangers sitting in cars, so we did it for them. Don't want to start a habit.

We met up with Christiana, my boss and friend, and her little boy Tristan- who was JayJay the Jetplane if anyone was wondering. It didn't take long for the boys to figure out what the main theme was- CANDY! Shane even said 'Trick-or-treat' fairly clearly every time I prompted him.

It was hard as heck to ge Austin out of anywhere a girl was giving the candy. They'd coo and aww at him- all he wanted was the candy. Sometimes I think it was more the combo of Austin and Daddy, but I'm a bit predjudice. Daddy went as a Redneck (again).

We met up with Woods and Angie, they had a hard time keeping up wth the boy's rush. He was adorable as a penguin- that everyone thought was a puffin.

I went as a Native American- Midwest area (that was the only good pictur of face painting that I could find quickly online), but I'm sure everyone just thought I was weird.

Down town took us about an hour, the kids had a blast together. We saw McGruff the Crime Dog who gave us glow-bracelets. Tristan kept checking for Shane after every stop, and Shane kept running off yelling "Tristan wait a me!" (I say it to him all the time so h knows it pretty well.) With only one or two near misses from the boys running away (and into the road) it was a good night. We said good bye to our friends, and Thank-you to Tristan/JayJay (he can't have alot of stuff, like corn syrup, the main ingredient in candy- so he gave it to Shane). We headed home.

The pumpkin and my minimal decorations turned out pretty good. The spider-webs kept catching costumes. Just after we got home they shut down housing for the trick-or-treating, though there'd already been a ton of kids we'd missed. In the next 2 hours we gave out a ton of candy. I stayed to pass out the loot while Brett took Shane out around. When they finished (they dropped by twice to empty the bucket), Austin was still itching to go. So Shane watched a movie and attacked the catwhile Dad went out again, just to the best houses, this time with Austin in tow. They came back with as much candy as Shane had. I had to root through thier candy to find the stuff they wouldn't eat and even then I ran out of candy. Luckily, the only trick-or-treaters left were the teenagers with pillow cases.

The boys were beyond exhausted, and so refused to sleep. C'est La Vie!

Shaner Update

We finally got the report back from the FIRST Speech Pathologist and went into the Doc's to talk a bit about where we go from here and what needs to get happening.
He (in his dependable wonderful style) set his "business team" on getting us pre-authorized to have a month's worth of sessions with the Speech Pathologist and getting us in to get evaluated with a Occupational Therapist. He even called the Preschool to encourage them to speed up the evaluation process. They called immediately to set up the final meeting to iron out the times and transportation and sign the last of the paperwork. We're to check back in with Doc in 5 weeks so he can make sure we're well on our way before he leaves.
Well, it's late and I must be off to bed. I'm the only one that has to get up early tomorrow, and I'm the only one not asleep yet. G'nite

Hey Pun'kin'!

This years pumpkin was not the photo-rich and exciting experience I hoped it would be. First off, Brett wouldn't even let us get the pumpking until this week. And he's rarely home and/or awake long enough to be a part of the fun (darn Coast Gaurd!)

It turned into a step-by-step process. First step, cleaning out the guts. Shane seemed to remember (as he watched me pull out a gooey handful of seeds) but would have none of it (surprise surprise). He wouldn't even hang out long enough to get a picture.

Austin was enthralled with the idea. He watched me for a while, then, after A LOT of false starts, he got a fist full- and flung it everywhere as soon as his hand cleared the pumpkin.

When I pulled out the tools- he started to have real fun- he's such a guy!

And in true Austin style, he decided that he needed a bite! Yumm!

(While I ate dinner last night (30th) I put a face on the poor guy and got him set for his big day. I'll have to put up a picture with the trick-or-treat post.)

Copy Cat

Brett's sister Nikki and her family did an adorable FHE activity where they made tombstones to put up in thier yard for Halloween decorations. I thought it'd be a fun thing for me and the boys to do too... oh boy!

Shane did his part, but didn't get terribly involved.

Austin, like usual, gave himself to the creation, and tasted it a bit too.

These were scattered all over my kitchen, and up the stairs too when Brett called at a inoppertune time.

Austin had one bath that he did not enjoy a whole heap- Mom had to soap and scrub all over- and wash out his mouth, hopefully for the last time in his life. (yeah, right) Ewwww.. look at that dirty bath water!

In order to try to save myself some elbow grease while scrubbing the carpet footprints, I wrapped Austin in this swim suit cover-up (or head wrap) that was laying around. He thought he was pretty cool stuff.

So did Shane, he insisted that it was his turn and wore it the rest of the night. When Dad got home Shane was unafraid to show off his man-skirt.

While Shane wasn't up for painting, he does LOVE to help me clean up. I'm so greatful that my cleaners are not dangerous for him to mess with! And inexpensive (while still being SO effective) because he does spray an area very, very well.

When the tombstones were dry, we painted the RIP on and used neon puff paints to write our names on them. Shane helped me write with the little paint bottles and thought that was wonderful- clean hands. I even swiped some abandoned stakes from the road construction project (if anyone turns me in, I'll know who! Sorry Jarred.) so we could plant them firmly in my overgrown "garden beds" so the school kids wouldn't knock them down. Hijacking some clear trash bags from work (with permission) so they wouldn't turn to mush in the rain and we were set!

Alas, it was all in vain.

Brett kept putting his off. Then I needed help finding the saw and staple gun to get them finished so I could plant them- Brett has the keys to the shed. So they sit on my table taking up space and collecting stuff on thier flat surface. >sigh<>

Movie Critic

A while back, I was talking with my younger brother (don't you hate it when they get to that point where you can't call them 'little' anymore? So what if he's 6'?!) who is down in Cali studying film (how cool does that sound). And we were briefly discussing clips and shorts he was working on, and what I thought would make a good movie. Well, I had to gloat a bit. 'The Greatest Gift' by Stovall, it's a inspirational feel-good book that I got from the Deseret sale last fall. I suggested it to him- it's been made into a movie (haven't seen it yet). We talked about Terry Pratchett, a British author I like to read- one of his has been made into a movie ('The Hogfather', not the one I would have chosen. Not worth watching, definately worth reading.) And finally, we talked a bit about the Orson Scott Card series about Alvin Maker. If anyone has seen the new tween movie 'The Seeker: The Dark is Rising", it has a similar basis- the seventh son of a seventh son has powers and has to save the world from the Darkness (or in the book, the Unmaker).
As you can see, I've seen some OK movies this week, and some rather stinkers. The next one that's on my list is the 'Twilight' movie, in theatres at the end of the month. I've watched a few trailers and spots and my hopes are not terribly high.

Double Fisting

We've all laughed at one point or another at the habit of little kids to "double fist" the best parts of life; food, toys, candy, mom, etc. Especially when they have food and are alternating bite from one hand and then the other. Austin was helping me in the kitchen the other day- taste testing and holding things for me. His double fisting backfired a wee bit.

Bite #1, a shelled hard-boiled egg. (He loved it and ate at least 3 more that day)
Bite #2, he didn't want to let go of this one long enough to let me shell it for him. But he kept going back to try it again and again. Eventually he DID actually succeed in getting a bite out of that one- I'm a bad mom and watched to see what he would do. He took his time spitting out ALL the shell, and kept on eating the egg out. Must have been good!

Politics, Religion and Her

There's a country song that I love, that mentions those 3 subjects to avoid. I'm breaking the rule today- brace yourselves.

I normally avoid politics as a whole- mainly because I don't like to argue with people, they're entitled to their beliefs as am I.  These days it's on the forefront of EVERYONE's mind.  The whole world (I'm told, I don't keep up on the news or talk to many people outside my little bubble) is on eggshells for this coming election and all that it will mean for the US- US!

California is fighting Proposition 8, again. The world's favorite for the presidential election is sure to bring Socialism full force to the country (sorry if that offends anyone- tough toenails).  And frankly, I'm more than a bit terrified about the world my children will be growing up in.  The family unit is being undermined, degraded, dismissed and mocked, and I will not sit by and watch it happen if there is anything I can do.  I have no money that I can give- but I know someone who has more power than all the money in the world could possibly buy.

One friend I spoke to was hesitant to initiate my next comment.  Me, I think that if you're going to hold it against me, it's your problem. 

 I am inviting everyone and anyone to join me in a Fast.  Sunday, Monday and Tuesday I will be fasting (to the extent of my abilities) and praying for...

1. Peace for myself and my family in the times ahead.

2. Help preparing physically and spiritually for whatever comes.

3. Strength for my family (as extended as it will go) and friends against the Adversary.

4. Guidance for the people of this country to choose a man that will lead them in righteousness.

If anyone has any adjustments, additions or words to say about my articles of focus, please let me know.  If you'd like to join me, please let me know, we can support each other- maybe have a FHE together.

Mindless Followers

So Brett's been giving me a hard time about going through and hitting everyone's blog everyday (that's how desperate I am to have news from the Outside World where people are taller than 3'). In response to that, I'm encouraging everyone to add a subscribe-er or a followers widget (look I'm using blogger-ese!) so that I can subscribe and/or become one of your mindless followers!  Yeah!  

Lead the masses and sign up under my Mindless Followers!  I garauntee pictures of cute boys, lots of everyday life and the occasional bit of hilarity.