Fall Fest

Tonight we celebrated Fall with some Friends at a good old fashioned hot dog cookout and s'more roast. The dads were at Poker (except Todd-he's white trashing at the races), and the moms got together for some fun. Tanner loves him some cheetos.

Madison is a pro apple bobber.

Birthday cake was shared by all-there were two Sams there to celebrate! Of course, the kids didn't want to leave-but I managed to corral them with promises of trick or treating tomorrow. They are snoring away in my bed as I type-slumber parties are part of the fun when Todd is gone. :)

so much to blog, so little time...

Today when I was at the Wal-Marts in Decatur, I overheard the employees end their staff meeting with a Wal-Mart Cheer. Not kidding. They chanted out "W-A-L-M-A-R-T! What's that spell? WALMART!" Yep. They sure did.

Then, I went to vote. Guess someone was in a super big hurry to cast their own ballot.

Finally, I came home to see Chrissy reading Horton Hears a Who. I mean, I know a person's a person no matter how small, but is a cat a cat no matter if she can read?? :)

Pumpkin Express

Wednesday, our playgroup made a field trip to Argyle to ride the Pumpkin Express. When we arrived, we were overwhelmed with superfun Halloween decorations complete with a mummy singing a Guitar Hero song (according to Grady).

I'm not sure we will ever outgrow trains in this house. Grady was quivering with excitement as we boarded the Express, and even more excited when he got to ride with "my friend Woobee" (a.k.a. Rubye).

There were also jumphouses, and those jumphouse obstacle course things. Grady found his way through one of them all by himself. This was the first time big brother or big sister wasn't there to help him find his way. He's getting so big.

There was a pirate treasure hunt. Grady was all about that. "Shiver me timbers" it was scary. :)

After a quick picnic lunch, and a stroll through the spooky caboose, we loaded up for the drive home. Grady was snoring before we left the drive. An exhausting, excellent day with some superfun friends.

Email Inbox

My email inbox is EMPTY. I have addressed, answered, and deleted EVERY EMAIL. This is the first time this has happened since....NEVER.

It's surprisingly exhilarating.

Letter to the Editor

I just submitted this letter to the ol' Wise County Messenger. Discuss amongst yourselves. :)

Crystelle Waggoner Park was built four years ago. Located next to Harmon Baseball Park, just off the Square, it was constructed of sturdy composite wood as well as beautiful wood decking. The play structure mirrors our own courthouse, and the maze within stimulates imagination. A beautiful wooden picket fence surrounds the park, keeping little ones contained and safe. A section of the park, designated for tots, has a huge sandbox and "just right" slides. My 2 year-old loves the farm yard mural, and walks around mooing and cock-a-doodle-dooing as he weaves in and out of the maze. Swings, tunnels, slides, chimes, bouncy bridges, fireman poles, monkey bars, and a rock wall complete the fantasy.

Vandalism completes the reality.

Within the walls of that mirrored courthouse, etched in permanent marker, words and pictures introduce toddlers to the profane and obscene. Names are carved into the wood supports, and personalized pickets have been kicked out and stolen. Tunnels and slides are now cracked and ruined. Chimes have been dismantled and stolen. Screens from the Courthouse Tower are now slashed. The sand box is just a box. The wooden chicks are gone from the farmhouse mural. My older kids see these things and ask me why these things have happened.

This once beautiful addition to our town is crumbling—sometimes even at the hands of those for which it was erected. It is painful to see such lack of respect by our own community for this wonderful facility. Decatur Jr. Woman's Club raised $110,000 to build this park. Decatur citizens worked together, and built this park in five days. Decatur Citizens, this is our park..

On November 15th, there will be a community work day to address many of these issues. Please join us this day to help restore our park, and afterward to help prevent its misuse. Police monitored security cameras surround the park; street lights illuminate the park; signs list park rules. But something more than cameras, lights, and signs is needed—Decatur Citizens, we ask that you take ownership of our park. Our children need your eyes and ears to help keep this place innocent. Let’s work together, hold vandals responsible, and protect our park, our community, our children and their future.

Danielle Scroggins
Decatur Junior Woman's Club

Weekend Wrap Up

Our weekends are usually busting at the seams with activities-either kid activities, family activities, or "grown up" activities...This weekend was no different.

Friday:

Yet another trip to the local Pumpkin Patch-but this time with my playgroup buddies. I jump on the chance to take Grady anywhere fun and to let him play with some friends. Although the simple life out here in the Decatur Metropolis is great, it has much to be desired in the stay-at-home-mommy-culture. I'm trying to cultivate that culture though-it's a work in progress. :)

Friday night, Sharyn and I took our girls to the Premier of High School Musical 3. Ya, we're that cool, and after a few glasses of wine, it was that good. I can totally see why the teenage types are all about this one-looks like a Grease in the making.

Saturday:

Todd's family celebrated his Grandad's 85th Birthday with a BBQ at Becky's house. Relatives came from miles around (literally-Justin was in from California!). We watched the kids run around, write letters to Colin in Afghanistan, and eat lots and lots of candy. Tummyaches were on the agenda later in the day.

That evening, we were at my mom's house to celebrate my sister's 27th birthday, complete with Cake Balls. Yep. Cake. Balls. There is some gene in my family that causes people not to like cake or icing. I didn't get that gene, but Patti did. Somehow Todd has this gene as well...we'll leave that alone for now though. So, because of this gene, we are always searching for birthday cake alternatives. Mom found someone who makes these lovely little inventions-they are just a little bite sized bit of cake covered in hard chocolate icing. Very yummy-and they work with candles too. We ended the night with the kids in the spa for a bath, and Tanner finally getting to have that slumber party in the Loft he's been wanting all these years. I hear it totally lived up to his expectations.

All day though, I thought of my friend Sean out there in Sunny Hawaii getting Maui'd. I hope the day was fairytale-esque, and can't wait to see the pics! Wish I could have been there. :)

Sunday:

We carved pumpkins as is our yearly tradition at Todd's mom's house. A day of fun with the cousins carving pumpkins, bobbing for apples, and snacking on more candy was a great top off for the weekend. We all headed home and crashed in bed to hit the ground running this morning.

Well, sort of. It was pajama day for Red Ribbon Week, that helped us hit the ground walking fast anyway.

Trauma Drama

Yesterday, Madison wanted to change her earrings. Todd sent her to me because he was confused by the entire earring back procedure. Only there wasn't an earring back. Not to worry though, I'm sure you are thinking the same thing I was-she's just lost the earring back. Once I start poking around, I noticed a bit of an infection. Eww. Even still, I was beginning to think her earring back was still there-inside her earring hole.

You read that right. Madison's earring back was stuck inside the lobe of her ear. Part of her body basically.

Madison started to freak out. I did some good self talk, and tried desperately not to freak out too. In my calm-yet-on-the-verge-of-losing-it-state, I called my pediatrician's emergency line and explained the situation. She heard Madison wailing in the background as she explained how this would all work out. We had 2 choices. 1-Go to the ER and have it cut out. 2-Come to her office ASAP in the morning. Madison almost passed out at the thought of going to the ER, so we chose to wait it out and have the doctor we love and trust do the cutting and stitching. In the meantime, she gave us a few at home remedies to prepare the ear for all the cutting and stitching. We also used that time to calm Madison's mental state.

That gets us to this morning. We arrived early and waited. Madison kept repeating "I'm scared." ... "Why did this have to happen?" Over and Over. I told her to focus on the positive, so we snuggled and gathered our courage. The nurse called her name and we were summoned to the back rooms. I called Todd so he could be part of the moral support. Our doctor met us and gave us a wink of encouragement. She looked Madison's ear over, and wasn't sure where the earring back actually was. That was so encouraging-let me tell you. At that point Madison was beginning Freak Out Mode again, so we tried to calm her with stories of our own injuries. I told her they cut me and pulled out a whole kid-so surely an earring back would be ok. :) Not sure if that helped or not-but it made her laugh for a second.

We positioned Madison on her tummy and the Doctor began that cutting and digging I referred to earlier. She had to numb her ear with a syringe-something that caused her ear lobe to swell to the size of a grape. She asked if we were ok-apparently, sometimes parents have a hard time watching that kind of thing. Through my rapid blinking I assured her I was good-watching blood flow freely from the front of the earring hole, the back of the earring hole, and every single syringe hole. Whew. Madison hated that part. I did too. We talked about our beach vacation this summer, specifically the jelly fish and hermit crabs. She was so engaged in telling the story that she didn't notice the Doc cutting her ear with a scalpel and digging around her ear lobe with some tweezers. 10 minutes later the earring back was out.

One stitch later she was good as new. We celebrated with donuts and milk before sending her off to school. I'm not that mean-I was prepared for a day of recovery at home, but Madison was adamant to get back and catch up on her work. No cutting and stitching would slow down her academic responsibilities. Or social life-take your pick.

Now that it's over-I've completely lost it. Stress after the fact is my specialty. Her earring back was freakin' swimming around in the abyss of her lobe. How does that even happen? What else is in store for me and my children? I'm scared to think! With my background in accidents, sky's the limit. Good grief.

Out on the Town

Last night we attended the annual Chamber dinner. Very Fancy Shmancy. We dressed up in our Decatur Finest, and hit the Casino night. I tried to wrap my mind around the craps table, but I'm not quite sure I got everything down. I was labled "lucky" though, and there are plans to take me to Vegas. Guess that's good?

I love getting dressed up-curling my hair and putting on high heels instead of the usual ponytail and flip flops. I'm such a girl. Superfun part of the night.

We even attended an after party consisting of snacking and SNL watching...allowing the fun evening to extend into the wee hours of the morning. Superfun ending to the night. What can I say? When you have overnight babysitting, you gotta take full advantage. :)

Peaceful Pedicure

Today I fell asleep in the pedicure chair. I actually nodded off in the middle of a nail salon with someone painting my toes.

I need to get more sleep.

Pumpkin Patch

Today we made a family field trip to the Black Creek Pumpkin Patch here in Decatur. I'm usually solo on these kinds of activities, leaving Todd at work. Since both big kids are in school these days, I have guilt doing all the fun stuff with just Grady. So-I've started moving some things like this to the weekends, and we go as a big clan. Todd is overjoyed! I knew deep down he felt a little left out of all the preschool fun. Everyone loves a jumphouse!

We started going to pumpkin patches when Madison was just a baby. We lived right by the official Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch, and the sea of pumpkins was just too fun. Sometimes I would misjudge the weather and dress the kids in winter clothes, only to sweat profusely once we got there. Sometimes we froze when I didn't put on enough winter clothes. October is like that around here. Sometimes we went in our halloween costumes. Sometimes we went with our playgroup friends. Many times it was just me and the kids, and I always had my camera in tow. Something about a mountain of orange is perfect for a kodak moment or two....getting that perfect kodak moment can be a challenge with my hoodlums....but I have these to look back on.

I have a few pre-digital-era pics in scrapbooks, but these were easily accessible. :)

The kids are so big now compared to then. (sigh)

Today we made new memories at a new pumpkin patch-part of the big move. The kids love a good petting zoo.... They fed a baby goat and some chickens. I always wonder if those animals ever get full...

There was a "corn maze"-really of Johnson Grass, but I guess only nerds like me notice that kind of thing. Grady and I tried to win the race, but of course, Todd turned on the nascar heat and won instead...bonus of having him along for the ride.

After a quick pumpkin, bat, and football painted on the little faces, we all hopped on the hay ride to finish out the pumpkin patch experience. It might have been the first time I didn't have to wrestle a small child into "enjoying" the ride. We all sat back and watched the Decatur Countryside...something of a tourist attraction I would guess.



Finally, with perfectly picked 'baby pumpkins', we said goodbye to the baby goats and headed home. Grady crashed about halfway here; Madison asked if the rest of the day could be a 'lazy Sunday', and Tanner (of course) begged to play Guitar Hero for the rest of the day. I'm guessing the exhaustion was a good sign of a successful Family Field Trip, and I'm also guessing next year when I'm deciding between sweaters or t-shirts, I'll look back on these pics and remember how little the kids were 'then'...

Mama Mia

I haven't yet mentioned that my Tanner-he's a little obsessed with music. Anything to do with music. He lives for guitar hero, and wants to play a real guitar so badly he can hardly stand it. As soon as my video camera becomes compatible with my computer again, I'll upload a video of him playing. He's better than Todd. Seriously. One day at church he literally ran into the person in front of him during Communion because he was staring at the instruments, and trying to figure out how the "flute worked". He's drawn into a rhythm or lyric before he even realizes what he's doing. He likes to rock-his words, not mine.

Today, I volunteered in Tanner's classroom while his teacher gave individual reading tests to each student. They were working on their "green assignment"; cutting, coloring, and pasting at their own pace. There seemed to be a soft hum going along with all this kindergarten crazy, and then one student busted out with "Mama Mia, here I go again. My, my how can I resist you?" The rest of them chimed in with him. Before I knew it the entire class was singing along, and guess who was their ringleader.

Yep. Tanner.

I almost lost it right then. Tanner's teacher laughed along with me, and told me how they all just started singing it yesterday. She had no idea where it came from or why they were doing it. I had to confess-yesterday, when Todd left for school, there was an ABBA singalong going on in the truck.

Everything you needed to know you learned in kindergarten, right? According to Tanner, Mama Mia lyrics are part of the curriculum.

i'm a blonde, aggie, stay-at-home-mom ...and yes, i do have a brain...

So I have a few strikes against me. There are blonde jokes. There are Aggie jokes. There are even blonde Aggie jokes. I've taken them all in stride, as that seems to be one of the lots of my life.

But. Recently, we played a game of Catch Phrase with some friends-a hilariously funny game by the way. If you have never played, you really should go out and buy it immediately and play tonight. In any case, during this game, one of my teammates was describing a line of longitude-a line I knew as the Prime Meridian. Silence, and all eyes on me. I'm sure I gushed 3 shades of purple at the added attention and praise of knowing the term, and then they all had to go on and on about it. I'll be the first to admit, my "area of expertise" if you will, is I guess not mainstream information. I mean, I don't know how many out there know how to taxonomically classify grasses, or know the functions of a cell's organelles, or know how to draw a Bohr model of Oxygen. These are things I know, along with the Prime Meridian, of course.

But it got me to thinking. This wasn't the first outlandish praise I had received because of a piece of knowledge in my brain; it happens constantly. More often than not, I'll describe something to one of the kids or just simply observe something in my world, and get a look of surprise from someone. Surprise at the information, or surprise that the information came from me-I don't know. But still-surprise. So all this thinking led me to ask-is this an image I am somehow portraying? In my limited research resources, I asked my husband.

Do you want to know what he said? You really don't want to know; but I'll tell you because this is a blog, and that's what it's for. I'm sure as soon as the words escaped his mouth, and he saw the fire fill my eyeballs, he wished he'd kept a lid on it. He said there is a perception that stay-at-home-moms don't really use their brains on a daily basis.

Yep, that's what he said. He did clarify many times that it's not of course, what He thinks, but nonetheless, what The World thinks. There are so many facets to that statement, I don't even know where to begin. But, back to our game night, he said when I came out with my answer, it was surprising on many levels. Yep, I'm blonde. Yep, I'm an Aggie. Yep, I stay home. So in the eyes of the world, I have no brain?

Wow. Like I said, I have some strikes against me already, but I'm not out. I feel I should be shouting my anger from the rooftops, except I'm not really that angry. That probably says something about me that I don't want to acknowledge, but I've taken these stereotypes in stride all these 33 years, and will continue to do so with this newest one. I'm just surprised. Surprised at me for being so naive, surprised at Todd for voicing that opinion, and surprised at the world for thinking it.

Gotta run-baby's up. I think I'll sing the Periodic Table of Elements to lull him back to sleep. :)

Backyard Campout

One of the great things about living in the "country" is being able to make fire. This weekend we had a backyard campout. The kids have been begging for it since we saw John and Kate plus Eight do it. I thought it was a grand idea...tents in the backyard, fire in the firepit, and no packing up all the crap and taking it somewhere to set up. Yay that.

Our friends, Shelly and Jared, came for the evening, and while the kids sat around the campfire with their packets of meat and veggies (idea courtesy of our girl scout campout), we sat on the backporch with our steak and salad. Everyone thought it was awesome.

The dads took up scary storytelling during s'more snacktime, which sent some of the younger ones into their mommy's laps. No worries, the stories always ended ok, and all the fingers were sticky-not bloody. :)

Current Addictions

Current Addictions - The Rules:

1. Write a post about five current addictions (with details)
2. Mention the person who started this meme (Being Brazen) and also the person who tagged you.
3. Title your post “Current Addictions”
4. Tag at least two people and pass on the above rules.

Thanks to Natalie over at the 3 Girls and a Guy for tagging me.

1-Blogging: To copy Natalie, I do enjoy perusing other people's lives on the ol' internet. I also like this digital scrapbook I've begun compiling for myself. I hope I can keep up with it, and the internet doesn't die in this crazy future we got goin' on.

2-2008 Election: This election is so unique on so many levels. I'm desperately trying to wrap my brain around all of them, and to educate myself daily on the latest economic crisis of my generation. That, and laughing hysterically at Tina Fey's impression of Sarah Palin.

3-my yard: I am absolutely obsessed with growing things on these 2 acres of ours. I am constantly watering, snipping, replanting, browsing, and planning for future watering, snipping, replanting, and browsing. Now I'm concerned with planting red tipped bushes between our house and the newer neighbor's house. Then I'll move on to trees-lots and lots of trees...

4-pictures: I need more hours in the day. I love to organize, scrapbook, file away, and frame my memories. I'm so behind I need another lifetime to catch up-but then there'd be those pictures to organize and scrapbook. So here I am...

5-finding time for us: Life is getting pretty crazy with all these kids. Finding time for a date is dang near impossible. I'm always shopping for the opportunity.

I tag Brandi over at Order Envy, and April at the House Blog...have fun!

Quote of the Day

"See you later mommy!"

-Grady, MDO

:)