Tricks and Treats

the miniture cast of the wizard of oz had a lot of fun trick-or-treating tonight. we almost had to hold elliot at every house we were at -- he kept trying to go in. he's fast. we went around the block tonight, and on our way home she said her favorite house was the one with the old lady who gave her a popcorn ball. dan asked why she thought she was old. emily said - because she was crooked. i think we need to get some older people in our kids' lives.

the trick was to get elliot to pose for pictures...

the treat was seeing our kids having fun collecting & giving out candy to our neighbors. emily and ethan are so excited to give out candy. they both give people huge handfuls. every time the doorbell rings, she screams - mom! dad! we have customers!!

Flashback to the 80's

i went shoe shopping the other day. i was looking for some shoes that would compliment a new pair of pants i got for my birthday. they hit me a little below my ankle, and you know, not just any shoe will do. here's what i discovered; it's 1987 all over again. as i browsed from store to store i found a huge selection of flats. and if that was not disturbing enough, most of them were plaid, striped, polka-dotted and tied around the leg!! if only i'd known they'd be all the rage when i was 36. i could have saved some money if i would have just put away all my sam & libby and mootsie tootsie flats i loved in high school.

do you think late 80's apparel is starting to make comeback? i hope tight-rolling your jeans comes back; i look terrible in the now fashionable boot-cut. i hope modular clothing makes a come back though. i'd give anything not to have to iron again. i loved my Multiples!!

if you are wondering, yes, i bought a new pair of sam & libby flats. it'll be a perfect addition to my ever expanding shoe post-baby shoe collection.

Yo quiero Taco Bell

about early june the taco bell close to our house was torn down. one morning i was out with the kids and it was there, and when we went out that afternoon, it was gone! it was torn down to the slab. we drove by, i asked the kids where taco bell went! they were very worried - even though we'd never even been to taco bell. emily immediately asked if they were going to tear down our wendy's? where would she get her chicken nuggets? the kids made several guesses as to why it was torn down. my favorite was emily's -- they ran out of food. it was a very early 80's taco bell, so i'm sure it was probably infested with who knows what - that's my guess.

so all summer they slowly worked on our new taco bell. we pass it a lot, and i never fail to hear a comment on how far they are on getting it finished. yesterday emily was very surprised to see they had poured the concrete and they were working on the inside. taco bell does not serve peanut butter sandwiches, so emily will never go, but as soon as it is open ethan and i are going to have a date night and go get some quesadillas. he's excited.

Are we done yet?

a week or so ago emily told me how she wanted to come downstairs in the middle of the night and go outside to look at the stars. i told her going outside, especially at night, without us was not a great idea -- and she should never do that. poor emily, all she wanted was to look at the stars and she got a lecture.

anyway, last night not soon after it got dark emily & ethan asked me if it was okay to go out and watch the stars twinkle. i said, sure! they were shocked and surprised. i'm sure they were expecting me to say, no, not right now. i got the same shocked look from ethan that i do when he asks me (and he asks at least twice a day) if he can play in the water hose - and i actually say yes.

so the three of us went out into the backyard and sat and watched the stars twinkle. emily ooh'ed and ah'ed, and ethan too. it was actually a very nice fallish night. the breeze was blowing slightly and it was a cool one! i stayed out there with them for a while, then i said it was time to come in and of course, they asked it they could play out in the moonlight. my defenses were already down, so i agreed and they took off for 5 more minutes.

i watched them from inside and realized how incredibly wonderful they are. they have their moments where they frustrate the crap out of me, but that's okay. they are only little for a little while! i'm having a hard time with letting them grow up. i'll be sad when ethan does not want me to rock him before he goes to bed at night, and i'll be sad when emily stops asking me to play with her -- and of course, i just want elliot to be a baby - not an 18 month-old toddler!

i get asked all the time if dan and i are "through" with having kids. elliot is almost 18 months old and with the other two i was already pregnant (or had) another when they were his age. i guess i've got baby fever. the short answer is yes. i have always wanted to adopt, maybe in a few years we can think about that. but this is really a whole new chapter in our lives with kids. we have a toddler, and i'm not pregnant!! we've given away or sold the majority of our baby gear...dan has plans to make the nursery into a music room...as elliot outgrows clothes i don't have to save them for another baby. it's just plain out weird. anyway.

so anyway, i'm just enjoying my kids today....even though they think i don't know they are upstairs playing instead of napping. :)

also, i asked jaime turner if i could announce the birth of their 3rd child - and she said yes. :) Charley Reann was born yesterday around 4:30 or so! mom and baby are doing well. i went to the hospital today to meet her -- she's so tiny and precious! davy and jaime's other two boys were either 10 lbs. or almost 10, and little Charley was not even 8 lbs.! so, congrats to the turners!!

Busy weekend

we've had a busy weekend. it started at noon on friday afternoon with the arrival of the first grandmother...then the grandfather, and finally, after a looong trip from baton rouge, the other grandmother. it's been a while since all three of them were here at the same time, and let me tell you - the kids worked it. it was nice though - we finally had more adults in the house than kids!


we had her party at build-a-bear. she had a bear from another party she went to, so Buildy got a new outfit and some accessories. she was very excited to finally get some clothes for her! this location does not have a party room, so it was a little chaotic but the kids had a good time.

she got a couple of interesting toys - a fur real kitty (now ethan's fur real dog has a playmate), a belle doll that drinks tea with her (it's a little on the bizarre side) and a sewing machine. the next time someone orders something from my site you'll have to wonder if emily sewed any of it. :)

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Music appreciation

y'all know about ethan's love of "daddy's" music. well, he has moved on from james brown and is into stevie ray vaughn. during a recent PBS pledge drive, they featured some stevie ray concerts...and dan dvr'd it. well, the kids LOVED him. they like to turn off all the lights, move the coffee table and let loose and dance. ethan loves how stevie ray plays the guitar behind his head. of course, emily asked where stevie ray was now, and dan told her heaven. she told me the other day how she could not wait to get up to heaven to tell stevie ray how much she liked his music. she told me right now he was playing his guitar in heaven for Jesus. side note: dan said stevie ray had come to know Christ shortly before he died. :)

anyway this morning i was in my sewing room and the kids were playing in the game room. i hear ethan put on some music, and then i hear footsteps on the table, so i grabbed the camera. i took a couple of videos, but the other was longer so i posted this one. in the other one ethan plays the guitar behind his head.

i don't know if y'all catch what ethan tells emily - but listen for him telling her to get off the stage! and, at the end, watch him end on beat. he's amazing. :)


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36 things

i'll be 36 on friday. wow. 36. in honor of my 36th birthday, i'll try to come up with 36 things random (and i mean that) about me.

1. one of my favorite movies is peggy sue got married. why? too many reasons to list.
2. i love doing something behind the scenes.
3. i google britney spears at least once a week. she's a train wreck & for some reason i'm obsessed with her.
4. i love tim gunn. but i do wish him to be a heterosexual and come to Christ.
5. i have to sleep with my foot slightly hanging off the bed -- any bed, even our king sized.
6. i did not have a relationship with Christ until i was 21. i lived many, many years being deceived.
7. i'm not superstitious, just a little stitious.
8. one of my new favorite shows is the office. see number 7.
9. i was 5 years old when the "king" died. i remember it clearly. i was outside and my dad came out and said, michelle, the king is dead. i knew exactly who he meant, and i was sad.
10. one of my favorite blogs to lurk on is photographs on the dashboard. somebody tell lauren her kids are stinkin' funny and her posts about them (and others) make me laugh.
11. i love seinfeld.
12. twelve is my favorite number, and was always my jersey number in high school.
13. i wish i lived in michigan. see #11.
14. i have to fall asleep with the tv on.
15. i like to be the 15th comment, and sometimes i wait it out just to be the 15th.
16. the picture i took my junior year in high school was the best school pic i ever took. i had great 80's hair that day, and the pearl necklace i was wearing was totally awesome.
17. most of the time i don't sing out loud at church. i sing in my head.
18. i prefer hymns to praise music.
19. i know all 5 verses of "just as i am" by heart. see #18.
20. my favorite flower is a TULIP. pun intended, but i'll never debate it.
21. i admire working moms.
22. i admire single moms more.
23. when i grow up i want to be a fashion designer.
24. i'm obsessed with ebay, and more than once i've pushed up the price of an item i did not want just to make someone else pay more. it's evil, i know. but doing that did bite me once - i won it.
25. i've been known to pick a piece of furniture up on the side of the road and make it a part of my decor. especially things for my sewing room.
26. i'll tell you if that outfit makes your butt look big.
27. i gave up years ago trying to be grammatically correct in writing and speaking. i only hope my children have great grammar teachers.
28. i collected shopping bags from macy's when i was in high school.
29. for a short period in high school (1988 i think), i drove a Yugo. it was hott.
30. five days before i turned 30, my precious daughter emily was born. if she would have waited those 5 days, she, i and my mother would all have shared a birthday.
31. i rarely wear make-up.
32. i don't wear product in my hair.
33. i have a vera bradley luggage collection, and i still use it. am i too old for that?
34. i hate surprises.
35. i had postpartum depression with all three of my kids.
36. i only listen to christian music in the minivan, but i rock out to van halen and bon jovi at home. my kids are probably very confused.

SO! i think i probably could have come up with more - if anything, i'm random. :) congrats if you got to the end.