Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween!

Today was cool and autumn-y and perfect weather here in Ohio for Halloween. We had an afternoon neighborhood party to attend before trick or treating and the highlight of it was my friend Amy.
She and her husband had put together a "crystal ball" (can you tell they just got back from Disney:)
It was so cool! Our neighbor Sherri was dressed up like a witch, and would one by one bring the children in where they would get to ask the crystal ball a question.

Poor Amy, I think she was hot in there. I know Matthew said she grabbed his feet. It really was rather spooky. Even Summer was brave enough to go see:)

At the end she let each of the kids try it out:) Here is Matthew...
Poor Jake had a football game (they are to the playoffs now), and Mike had to work all day (BIG pizza day). Matthew totally ditched me for his friends and I so needed Tate to hand out candy....SO it was down to Sum and me...
My friend Malinda and I took her around.
After the first few houses she got the jist of it and was like...
THIS. ROCKS.
Candy in my bucket! Oh yay!
We pushed her between the houses in her little pink car and she did great!


Jake even made it home in time to throw on some roller blades and wrap himself in duct tape (I kid you not...he planned to be "duct tape boy") and get a killing in 30 minutes.
In was a fun night!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

A Moment in My Time

As I sat on Summer's floor watching her not pee, as we attempted our nightly attempt of sitting on the potty, I thought of how often I sit here ritualistic as of lately. But what seems the norm now, in a week, in a month, in a year will blur into a new norm, and then that will seem as mundane and as often and boring as this moment.
Soon this time will all be over, as I well know. It is already gone the days Tatum was this size and age. With her chirpy little voice and cute antics that at the time seemed endless. And Jake. And Matthew.

I know I have mentioned how terrible of a memory I have, and how this blog is a stab a recording a piece of our history.
What more is important to history I feel, than the daily grind, and the mundane?
So here we are....
Matthew has been put to bed early and is crying. Lying is a hard lesson to learn and when it catches up with you, and people have learned not to believe you, it sucks.
Jake is laying sideways on the recliner watching George Lopez. His favorite. Gotta watch it every night!
Mike is still at work, driving hot boxes across town.
Tatum is home from working at the YMCA and in a hot tub soaking the day away.
I am sitting here intermittently yelling with Matthew and encouraging someone to pee on her potty. In a moment I will tiredly put yet another diaper on.
There is Skyline wrappers still on the table and the cats a meowing to be fed.
PJ's and Dexter with Mike to look forward too. Life is full, busy and sweet.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Even When I'm Lazy It Bites Me in The Butt...

This week...okay this month/year/period of my life has seemed especially busy lately, and sheepishly I admit I tried to take the easy way out.

Oh but don't worry. Karma came and taught me a lesson. The lesson?? That Becky DOESN'T get to take the easy way.

Summer's little Dance class had a Halloween party during their dance class last night. The sign up sheet appeared last week, and juice boxes were already taken. Bah! I do have to admit it was pitifully cute seeing Miss Kitty Cat and and over sized Clifford dog hop around doing tippy toes, and I do so love a party, just every day I run to keep up with these four kids and my oblig...I mean their obligations.

So as I stood there debating how horribly hard baking would be, I devised my evil plan.

Popcorn Balls.

I have like a million of them, and they taste brilliantly good. They come out seasonally from Walmart and the kids love them. At Easter when they were shaped like eggs I didn't buy near enough, and the kids were Jonesing for them till Halloween. So this year I bought a ton. How hard could it be to unwrap them, put them in a Halloween bowl, and decorate them somehow? Easy Peasy!

As I trolled the aisles of the stores of what to use to decorate, I had a loose ideas of a strip of Halloween ribbon tied around each ball. Since I can't make a bow worth a darn, then presented the problem of how to hold the fabric. Cupcake toppers! I bought the toothpick Halloween cupcake packs (I'll use the cupcake liners later) and was very happy with myself.

When Tatum came home I announced "We have a project!!"

"Oh no!'' She groaned.

She dutifully sat there with me as we unwrapped sticky balls. Then we realized that the toothpick broke going through the fabric. As I cut strips, she poke pre holes with a nail. Soon there were sticky wrappers, sticky hands, mismeasured ribbons, little snibbles of popcorn, broken toothpicks, and a 2 year old Kitty Cat running wild through it all.

It took us over and hour.

Long and short, I could of baked brownies a whole heck of alot easier.

Was it hard to do?? No
Economical?? NO
Time Consuming?? YES

It did look cute, but I was embarrassed to have to answer "NO" to the question of other parents of "Oh my goodness...how cute!!! Did you make the popcorn??"

Heck no, lady!!! I'm the one who tied the ribbon around it!!! Lol!

Monday, October 26, 2009

Saturday, October 24, 2009

No Animals Were Harmed in the Making of This:)

This looks more horrible than it really was.

Actually it was horrible, but in a funny way. First thing...the belt is around the kitty's belly. Second, I SWEAR the cat seemed to like it. She just kindof hung out and went with it. At the end when I took the belt off she was purring, Lol. I think the wood floor helped:)

Summer was DELIGHTED that her Kitty was giving her undivided attention.




She was NOT happy when I put an end to it:)
See! Everyone came out just fine!

Friday, October 23, 2009

A sad story

I have the most unbelievable story. It really is one of those stories that as you hear it unfold, you just can't believe it. It sounds SO unreal. Believe me...as it unfolded in real life, we couldn't believe it either. It seemed unreal.

It wasn't anything that happened to me. It didn't happen to any one I was really close to either. But the casualties hit all around our town. It was on the news, and in and out of the paper. The story took several years for it to even play out. And all of it was sad. Loud grieving sadness. I knew people in the story line and and watched from the side lines.

There was a family in our town. The woman who we can call Julie for the story was a teacher in our children's school. She and her husband had tried for years to have a child. They had even tried fertility treatments to no avail. After much disappointment and failure and money spent, and after they had not been able to conceive, they realized that on their own, once things had settled down, they had gotten pregnant themselves! It was a one in a million chance and when the baby was born, that is what they name him. Chance.

Now Julie and her husband had had quite some hardship in their lives. Julie's twin brother had been killed in a accident when they were 19, and Julie's husband was having medical problems too. He was in desperate need of a kidney and pancreas transplant.

When Tatum started Elementary school, this teacher was there and there were fundraisers and such going on for her husband who was quite sick needing the transplant. Chance was around 13 at this time. I remember quite clearly because this part of the story all unfolded while I was newly pregnant with Matt, and it shook me to the core.

One September Chance and his friend were out skating. There had been a big rain storm and no one is quite sure how or why it happened, but they believe one of the boys fell in the storm drain, and the other tried to pull him out which just drug him in too.

They were found hugging each other in each other's arms. They had both drowned.

Now Julie was at the site waiting to see if they could find him, and it was just so terrible. Our Principal who we will call Ms. H. was there to support her and was with her throughout the whole thing.

Their only child, their one in a million had died.

Julie continued to teach. Her husband ended up getting a transplant. They ended up getting a divorce though...alot of parents of children that pass have a really hard time making it.

Then her husband died too.

She had lost her brother, her son, and her husband.

By this time Tatum was in 4th grade and had her as a switch teacher. She was super nice. I remember she went through a faze where it was like she was trying to find herself. I believe she got her belly button pierced or something like that. I was discussing this with a friend, and they said...."you know...if your child died, you would still have other children and still be a mom. She doesn't know what she is anymore? She isn't someones mom...she isn't someones wife..." My heart just broke for her...

Rumors started spreading like rumors do about how close Ms H. and Julie were. They were BEST friends. They were always together. Ms H. the principal had been a teacher at my school when I was a little girl! She and I had worked together alot on the yearbook committee. She was a great great principal and really loved those kids! But Ms H. was in her 50's and single and never been married. Julie was in her 30's and attractive. They were an odd pair, but they loved each other's company. I thought nothing more of it. They had been through alot together with Mrs H. being there when Chance had died.

Around this time we moved away. To a new town. I heard updates about Julie and Ms H. and the rumors persisted. I was pregnant with Summer and the morning of my induction, early, my phone rang.

It was one of my friends from my old town. With baby being the only thing on my mind, when she asked me how I was doing I said "We are on our way to the hospital to have Summer!!". She wished me luck and we got off the phone. I thought it was odd of her to call so early, but I was off to have a baby!

Later that week, I found out why she had called. She didn't know that we were leaving for the hospital that day, and didn't want to ruin our special day, so she didn't say. The day before (the day before Summer was born), Ms H. had finished up a meeting a school, promptly hopped in her car...drove out to a bridge by where we live...stopped the car on the highway....and walked right off the edge.

Apparently her and Julie had broken up or had a rough patch the week before...it's still a little unclear. But the principal of the elementary school, a fighter who had dedicated her life to children, in a moment of despair, had without any hesitation, killed herself.

In water.


What do you do with that.

A trucker had seen her, and said she did not pause. There was question about a new med she had started. I still don't have answers to alot of my questions.

Julie was heard saying "Why does everyone around me, die?"

I have prayed and cried for this poor woman, who's life has been tumulus always it seems. I just don't know what I can do but be one of the many who gasp at the story and shake my head with how sad it all is. If I had an opportunity, it is now lost. Almost two years to the date of Ms H., Julie took her own life too. I found out this April. Off a bridge too.

I honestly cannot say why I felt so compelled to get this all out, but it is a story that has rattled me for years. It is finally finished at least. There are no more characters and now maybe they all can be at peace. I know some of you will argue, but the God I choose to honor has Mercy on all sins and ANY who call out to him shall be saved, so in my heart, maybe these guys are at peace.

I pray tonight for Chance and for Julie and her husband and for Ms. H.

ProJects Beware~Take #3...or is it 4?

Just because I haven't posted lately about my work on my projects/update/fixing and maintenance doesn't mean I have quit. Some things have gone on the back burner, but geez...throw a birthday or vacation in there and I am running to keep up just with the daily laundry again, Lol!

Mom and I have s.l.o.w.l.y. been working on Summer's room. Since she went from her crib to a big girl bed, and we installed the ceiling fans upstairs, we spruced up a few things.

BEFORE...

two different pictures of when her room was a nursery. But the one shows the window better and the other shows the color better.

AFTER...


In the window we took down the matching crib set valance and put up curtains and a branch of flowers. In the middle we put a waterfall of light catching plastic circles that drip down. They clink a little when the fan is on and is a neat sound:)
My mom painted a white birch on the wall ( you can click on the picture to see the butterflys and such closer).

Summer LOVES her new room and new bed. When the paint to the tree was drying we told her not to touch, and she took it to a whole new level. She doesn't want anyone to touch her tree (which is probably a good thing, so I'm aletting her go with that:) She says "don't touch!" So we say "O.K!"

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Tatum's New Car

One Dent
Pockets of Rust
Lots More $$ in repair bills than Daddy EVER anticipated
Five days past actual birthday
Still a leaky gas tank to fix
One obnoxious red bow

EQUALS=
a look that is priceless and all worth it:)




Wednesday, October 21, 2009

My Letters

Dear Baby...(Summer)

You crack me up on a regular basis. You also drive me batty. The other day in the car as you argued with Matthew you said the funniest thing. Matthew asked you to say (repeat) a simple word like "car seat". You refused to play that game and promptly told him "NO", even though we all know you surely can say it easily. Matthew persisted in this game and encouraged you to talk and continually asked you to say words to in with you would reply "No, no, no!". Finally he asked you to say a word that I agree was out of your realm of talking, and begged you to say the word "confiscate". You being quite irritated by this point with the whole thing, yelled "I AM THE BABY!!!".
I'm sorry we all laughed, and we dutifully noted that:)

Your Mama


Dear Husband of almost 17 years,

I sheepishly come to you with an apology over last night discussion in bed. I am sorry that I brought up the fact that it was the 17 year anniversary since you slept with someone else right before meeting me. I admit I am 3 days behind on my anti anxiety meds, and was quite surprised when Aunt Flo showed up today for a visit. I know that we don't really want to find her on Facebook and ask her how she is doing. I also know that you have been 100% faithful to me since the day you met me and adore me. I'm sorry about your shins. They must be sore today. I get carried away sometimes don't I??

Lovingly,
Your sweet again wife.

Dear Swine Flu,

Go away from my family. Do Not come near us. It is enough that I came to the realization that YOU are the flu shot that my dad got in '79 that activated his dormant Multiple Sclerosis cells. It is also enough that because of this he got full blown MS and suffered and died by age 50. I think it is pretty fair to say that you have the upper hand in this now that neither I or my children can get the vaccine for sheer fear of it happening to us. You are a bully and you are scary, and I can't protect my kids from you. Stay the hell away.

Not even kidding,
One mean Mama Bear

Monday, October 19, 2009

A Day Off

Today the kids didn't have school in our district. We used this day to sleep in some from the busy weekend (birthdays, football games, church) and go get our PUMPKINS!!!
This pumpkin farm I have gone to since I was a little girl myself. It has bloomed bigger and better every year:) They work so hard to set up really neat characters made out of pumpkin faces and things the kids can climb on.
This was all Peter Pan...

"Never smile at a crocodile!"


The girls actually "Followed the Yellow Brick Road". As you can see age doesn't matter;)

The Three Little Pigs Village
Look! What's that below....
sneaky Jake trying to dodge the camera! Ugh!
"Smiley Faces!"





My mom met us up there. Thank goodness or there would be no pictures! Every one took off in different directions, and Summer had plans of her own. So it was really nice to be able to snap away knowing Mom was on top of keeping track of Summer!
Me and my Momma;)

Summer faced her fear of "the witch!!" The motorized one at the grocery store has scared her silly, but this one she inspected and then bravely touched.

It was a super fun day. We came home with alot of carving to do! That will be next weekend!!