Matthew's First Soccer Practice

Pumpkins, Pumpkins Everywhere!

We carved pumpkins last night for family night.  I thought the kids would love it. 

The kids were so excited they were running up the walls!  Spencer started cutting the lids for everyone's pumpkin.  Then they asked what they were supposed to do.  When I told them they had to stick their hands in the pumpkin and pull out the "innards", they looked at me like I had just grown a 3rd eye!  "Really, are you joking, mom?"  Ben tried but then his gag reflex kicked in and he started to dry heave.  I couldn't help it I started to laugh.  (I am a mean mom)  Caitlyn just stared at the pumpkin and kept telling us how dirty it was!  Matthew was the only one that still wanted to do anything.  I ended up cleaning out 3 pumpkins and helping to carve 2 of them before finally getting to my own at 10:30 last night!  Before bedtime we had most of them done and lit up on the porch.  The kids were pretty impressed.  (Thank you, Thank you very much!)

I got tagged! Is that legal?

I got tagged by Katie...I veto all of the rules.

1. Where is your cell phone? On the couch, next to the laundry I was folding
2. Where is your significant other? Work, or at least that's what he tells me
3. Your hair color? Reddish-Brown or Brownish-Red
4. Your mother? Living in Missouri
5. Your father? Living in Oklahoma
6. Your favorite thing? Ice cream 
7. Your dream last night? Don't remember having one
8. Your dream/goal? Go back to School
9. The room you're in? Playroom
10. Your hobby? Scrapbooking, Crafts
11. Your fear? That Spencer will die and I will be alone
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Wherever God wants us, Happy
13. Where were you last night? Church/Home
14. What you're not? Thin, Sane
15. One of your wish-list items? A new couch or a new washer / dryer (can't have only one)
16. Where you grew up? Flordia, Nevada, Germany, South Carolina, Arizona, and California
17. The last thing you did? Laundry
18. What are you wearing? Clothes
19. Your TV? Sticky, I have children
20. Your pet(s)? No thanks, I tried it didn't work 
21. Your computer? My husband's other woman!
22. Your mood? OK, a bit bored
23. Missing someone? Yes, family, friends
24. Your car? Blue Dodge Grand Caravan (I really want an Odyssey!)
25. Something you're not wearing? Shoes
26. Favorite store? Hobby Lobby
27. Your summer? Uneventful

28. Love someone? Yes, but don't tell them

29. Your favorite color? Green

30. When was the last time you laughed? I am always laughing, I have children

31. Last time you cried? Last week, I had my quarterly meltdown, so I am good to go!

I guess I am supposed to pass this on so I will tag my sisters in law...Korynn, Merilee, Sharel and Andrea...Just copy and paste the questions into your next blog post.  Have Fun!!

Yes.

Yes.   It is 3:30Am and we are up.  Caitlyn peed allover herself and the bathroom floor and has a cold.  We have to give her a breathing treatment because she has asthma.  It is really counter-intuitive.  The child must remain still in order not to get out of breath.  Then you hook the child up to the nebulizer.  The nebulizer is like cocaine for tots.  It gets them all glassy-eyed and hyper.  I don't even know why we do it.  Plus, you have to tell them to "Suck the smoke in to your toes" which is a level of wrong-ness all in itself.  It's almost like we are training our children for the "pot-olympics"- you know...  "Hey man...  what?  Oh yeah...  smoke it, man... suck it all the way to your toes, man..."  

Dad is sick also, but I found some Histinex HC in the medicine basket...  Yummy... Antihistimine and narcotics...  YAY!!!

Just for fun-zies!!

So, this week and last week have got to be the lOoooOooOngest weeks ever! Am I the only one that feels that way - I think not!   I am so tired, so very tired.  I don't know what is wrong with me.  I guess my winter hibernation is setting in early.  I never thought I would say this but, I can't wait for daylight savings time!  I just want to see if the extra sunlight will help.  

Today, just for fun-zies I took the kids to Target after we dropped DH off at work.  We were having a pretty good time.  Then the baby (the one I watch) had had her fill and started to fuss.  C decided she HAD to pee!!  We were almost through the check-out process, but she could not wait!  The cashier offered to watch the cart and put my receipt in the bag so I could run all 3 kids into the bathroom.  

Have you ever tried helping a 3 year old with her pants and helping her "up" while holding a 6 month old and having to intensly pee yourself, all the while the 4 year old is singing at the top of his lungs in the next stall?  That was FANTASTIC!  

Next, we "herded" our way to the van.  I literally spent 3 minutes next to the driver's door pushing my key fob to unlock the doors!  It would not work!  I started to panic, how are we gonna pay to fix this?!  I glanced down, to see a "stow and go" sticker on the door, hmmm, we don't have stow and go.  You know it usually helps if you are trying to unlock the right car!!  

After finding the correct vehicle to pile into, I went around to help M with his buckle and promptly put my knee into his unfinished Strawberry biscuit.

That had to be the fullest packed 15 minutes of my life.

Now, wasn't that FUN!  

Pictures of the Kids.

We took Caitlyn out tonight to spend her birthday money from Grandma and Grandpa.  She bought a dress and some shoes.  We got some pictures of her and her brothers joined in for more pics.

Declaration of Independence

Today we had beautiful fall weather! - Have I mentioned that this is my favorite time of year!!  (Soon I will begin my hibernation and will be extremely grumpy! I think I suffer from SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder.  It is no joke : ) 

 On another side note I wonder if our church is going to offer any sort of "Church Widow" compensation!  Between a youth temple trip, moving a new family into the ward and Priesthood Session, I have not seen much of Spencer this weekend.  I feel like a nanny sometimes, forget the fact that they are my children, but that is a whole other topic for a later time.  

Back to my intended subect...we actually managed to go into Nashville today!  And not to the airport for once!  We took our children to see an original Dunlap Broadside of the Declaration of Independence!  It was really neat!  There were 25 original copies of the DOI that were printed the same day it was written.  These were taken by men on horses throughout the 13 colonies.  They were read in town squares as a way to rally the soon-to-be-Americans to the cause of freedom and seperation from England and King George.  This particular copy was found by a man who bought a picture at a flea market because he liked the frame!  He noticed a tear in the back of the canvas of the picture and found an original copy of the Declaration of Independence!  How awesome is that!  If I remember right, the copy was bought and sold a few times and eventually was bought by someone (can't remember the names)  who wanted the document to go on tour.  

How often in ones lifetime are you going to see something like that!  I was excited, to the point of goosebumps, at seeing it!  I love that time in history!  

They had actors dressed as Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, John Adams, Abigail Adams, and a few others, but those were the ones we saw.  We took pictues with them and the monkeys.  (to be posted at a later time.) 

As we were leaving the library M states, "I didn't see a single decoration!!!"  **Honey I said we were going to see the Declaration not Decorations!!!  (He thought we were going to see Halloween Decorations!)  That boy has me rolling everyday!  

Then we walked a few city blocks and the kids were in awe of the tall buildings and the trolley and everything!  We are soooo suburban!!  I was nervous the whole time.  My children are not known for being overly obediant and I just KNEW we were going to loose someone!  Ben was great and he and Matt stayed together the whole time ooohing and awwwing at all the new sites!  We had a really nice time.

 I hope that the kids will remember how much people have believed in our country and fought for our country and lost for our country!  We are so blessed to live here!    

"Into the Lungs of Hell"

The phone in my pocket rang.  I pulled the earbud from my ear, raised the phone and listened to Roxann's voice on the other end.

"Are you guys close?"

"Sure, why? is dinner ready?"

"Well, it's been ready for a while." She said.

Benjamin and I had been out on our nightly 2 mile walk about the neighborhood.  Before the phone rang a foul odor of burnt plastic filled the air, faint at first but strengthening with each step and breath.

Ben said:

"Smells like someone's playing with cap-guns."

"Nah, smells like an electrical fire." I replied.

I didn't say it, but I thought it, somewhere close a house was burning.  I looked around for smoke but saw nothing.  Then Roxy called and before I could finish telling her about how soon we would be home, I saw it.  To the north and on down Penny lane, black smoke billowed from a bright flame and lighter, gray smoke curled from the eaves of a single white house.  The fire and dark cloud of soot seemed to rise from the rear of the house in stark contrast like some menacing beast threatening to destroy the dwelling.

"There's a house on fire!  I've gotta go."

I hung up the phone and dialed 911.  The dispatcher put me through to the fire department and I was told that help was already on the way.

As I approached the house the neighbors were standing outside.  A woman - my age and her daughter.  Lots of words were exchanged, but I don't remember much of them.

"Is anyone in there?" I shouted to the woman.  I was now standing at the side of the house.  I could see the bright orange flame rocketing skyward from the kitchen window.  I stripped myself of my Ipod and my phone and handed them to Ben.

"No!" she shouted, "But there are 3 cats in there."  As I looked upon the deck I saw an older woman desperately trying at the door.

"Nana, Stop!  Come back!" the youngest girl shouted to her grandmother.  The calls fell on deaf ears as well as my own admonishing.

"Don't open that door!"

She wheeled back and with strength from some unknown force inside her, the elderly woman kicked the door and it swung open.  Black smoke poured from the opening and she shrank back.  Not to be deterred, she tried to enter the house but the heat and fumes held her back.  She began then to yell for the cats.

The sound was immediate and devastating like a jet taking off then exploding.  It felt as if the earth around us shook slightly, though it did not, as a woosh of flames exploded from the eaves pushing a small bit of debris into the air with a loud Whump!  Instinctively, I ducked my head.  My eyes turned to the old woman, she flew backward and scrambled off of the porch, smoke filling the air around us and the sky.  The smoke saturated the atmosphere and added an ominous glow to things around us.

Two large men approached us from the front yard.  All the usual questions about anyone being home.  The three of us scrambled to push the two automobiles from the rear of the house to the neighbor's driveway as one of the men popped them into neutral from the drive-train.  Then we removed the propane barbeque grill and a gas can from the deck and side of the house as quickly as we could.  Another, thin man ran to our aid.  He ran to the back door and fell to his stomach and slid into the house.

"Is anyone in here!!" he bellowed.  Satisfied with no answer he plead with bystanders for a wrench for the gas meter.  One returned and he disappeared to the other side of the house just as the first firetrucks arrived.

I rushed to Ben who was scared.  I had tried in the confusion to send him home but he didn't make it.  Are you OK? I asked him.

"Please untangle these" He said handing me a wad of headphones intertwined from our Ipods."I want to put mine on and make the noise stop"  I hugged him and assured him that things would be alright.  We watched as neighbors an firefighters worked together to unroll the great hoses.  A pumper truck moved down the street un-coiling a hose behind it to the hydrant.  Soon, the water began to flow.  The house was consumed now with thick smoke and bright orange flame.  The sun was setting and the glow was eerie.  The heat standing across the road was felt and Ben and I watched with almost the entire neighborhood and the gallant firefighters gave all they had to save the house.  At one point the front door was open and the bright, flickering flame glowed from inside like the lungs of hell, consuming all around it mercilessly.

After sending the ladder truck and a man up to fight the fire from above the roof, the men retreated to defensive positions and all we could do was watch as the house continued to burn.

Roxy and the rest of the kids came to get us.  We went home and ate our dinner luke warm and prayed for the family who lost so much tonight.

Not Much

There isn't a whole lot going on in my neck of the woods.  Things are running in their usual "barely contained chaos" state!  I did want to post though because I haven't in awhile.  

I am feeling very blessed right now.  I have a wonderful family.  My husband is fantastic!   He works very hard for us.  (Honey I love you and you are perfect for me!)  My children are angels trying their hardest to be devils!  Ben is so smart and willing to help.  Matt keeps me laughing and is such a good big brother.  Caitlyn is a cuddle bug that gives me all the kisses I could ever want. 

We are so lucky to have made so many wonderful friends here, it has helped to keep me from being homesick.  I know that we made a good decision to move to Tennessee.  I know that Heavenly Father was and is always looking out for us.  I am so thankful for the gospel, even when I have a hard time doing my best.  To have a perspective beyond this life is truely a blessing when things get hard.