Pumpkin patch...or lack thereof

The plans for this weekend were Trunk or Treat at the elementary school thurs. night. Friday night was recreation (board games) etc. at our church. Today we were supposed to go to the pumpkin patch.
yes, supposed to....only one of the girls at our church brought pumpkins to carve last night. Really thoughtful of her but the boys carved their pumpkins and have no interest or desire to go to the pumpkin patch now. I have to admit that I'm a bit bummed. I won't miss the actual carving part, but I do like to go to the U-pick place and search out the pumpkins. Guess I'll have to get over it. :)
In other news, one of our mice died. It was Hyper, the one they bought as a companion for Austin's mouse, Minnie.




These pictures are from Trunk or Treat. Josh and Nate were Buzz and Woody. Caleb was a skeleton guy.

Paper Trunk

I mentioned earlier this month that I was chosen as Paper Trunk's TDOM. Carrie shipped her wonderful products super quick and I was able to play. I did a layout each of my niece and nephew and then a grown up style treat bag. (Kids aren't the only ones who like chocolate...as my hips will attest to.)
I love the texture of these papers. Things like that are hard to see online, but it has a great weight to it as well...and have I mentioned that the borders are 12 inches?! For the treat bag. I stamped it twice and then wrapped it around the project. Super quick and easy.

the dangers of propane

Today is Red Ribbon Week at my kids' schools. (BTW, saying that phrase is not the easiest....kind of makes one feel like Elmer Fudd.) It brought up some discussions about the dangers of drugs among classmates. Nate told me that one of his friends told him about one of the most dangerous drugs of all...."propane!" After a bit of discussion we think he actually said cocaine. :)

Did a layout of Kirby for Designer Digitals. (Credits: Pattie for the Gone to the Dogs Kit, Kellie for the Pacific Point kit and Katie for the curled notepaper--which I recolored a bit.Font is SP Toby Unleashed from scrapsupply...which I thought was appropriate since it was named for a dog.)Adjustment is going well. Mornings are a bit crazy. not that they werent' before, but throw a puppy in the mix and it's even more so. (Although puppy kisses are an effective way to wake a six year old up.)

I was mistaken about my dad's biopsy. His appointment on Monday was for further tests before the biopsy. The biopsy itself is actually scheduled on Tues. 30th. So, more of just waiting.....

OCt. 21

Well, the news is back on my dad and it's not good. He has a brain tumor. His mental abilities have improved over the past few days and he responds pretty much like he did previously. He was discharged Friday night but needs to go back to Columbus on Monday for his biopsy to determine whether the tumor is malignant or not.

In a completely opposite turn of events, we got a dog yesterday. It wasn't really in our plans...okay not really in my plans. The boys have been bringing it up for a few months. (We had purchased a beagle in 2003...Long story short...Josh was three..the dog nipped a lot...Josh responded as three year olds might and we ended up returning her...still feel bad that that happened...and wanted to make sure nothing like that happened again before we got another one.)

We went to an adoption event at the local pet store and met this laid back little guy. So even though, i hadn't woken up with the idea of "let's get a dog today", by the end of the day we were dog owners. Deciding on his name was interesting. I mean we've had had lots of experience in picking out boy names but it isn't one of those things that get easier just because you've had lots of practice. Of course, this decision was also complicated by the fact that we had to reach a consensus among six instead of just two. We threw names around. I created a list. We voted. Narrowed it down. Voted again. Narrowed it down to two eventually: Cooper and Murphy. Nate liked both. Some preferred Murphy. Some preferred Cooper. Josh didn't like either. He thought they were both "awful names". For some reason, Kirby popped in my head...kind of a melting of both names. It wasn't on our original list...but miracle of miracles everyone liked it. So Kirby it was.

medical condition

My dad is out of immediate physical danger. He is also recognizing family members again although his mental processes are not typical at this time. They're running a lot of tests to determine exactly what's going on.

Prayers appreciated

Last night, my dad was taken by ambulance to his local hospital. From there, he was life flighted to Columbus. They think he had a stroke and isn't recognizing anyone. Prayers would be appreciated for him. Thanks.

Recap

Yep, I know I need a more original title header.....however....it fits. (Warning: this recap is long and even more full of ramblings than normal.)

Wednesday: I get the call from school. Now getting a call from school shouldn't be bad..but it kind of is. If they're calling, they're calling for a reason and it just normally isn't to say hey, how you doing? This call was because Josh was sick. Now I was skeptical. I received a similar call a few weeks ago. On that day, Josh had gotten sand in his eye and wanted me to come to the school. Within 30 seconds of my arrival though, he was good to go and ready to head back to this classroom. (Yes, I am very thankful that he was just fine...but I didn't want to keep driving out, him be fine and create some sort of pattern.) This wasn't the case though, as soon as I saw him, I knew this wasn't a false alarm. He crawled into his bed as soon as we got back home and stayed there for four hours.

Thursday (aka inching up on me): Nate and Austin had well visits for the doctor. Austin is now offically only an inch shorter than me. He also weighs 103....and well, yeah we won't go into weight comparisons.

Friday: Josh woke up and insisted he was fine. (He still had a fever when I last checked Thurs. night around 6pm.) He knew what he was talking about though. An hour after the boys went to school, I knew I should have sent him. Fortunately, Austin had the day off from school and helped keep him occupied.

Saturday: Not much...but it did mark the official end of popcorn sales. Hooray!

Sunday: We went to a pumpkin farm (complete with corn maze and hay rides. Oh and they also had homemade doughnuts. Mark is now on a mission to find donuts that are as good closer to home). We also stayed camped overnight at the yurt at Maumee Bay.
You know I like camping, mostly because I don't really have to do much...well except for packing...but when we get there I don't do much. Mostly, just read while Mark got dinner ready...(can you see why I like camping?)
The only thing I don't like about it is the bathroom issues. I wake up in the pre-dawn hours with a need. Then the debate starts...because the bathroom is far away, it's dark and I read way too many mysteries/watch too much CSI. To pee or not to pee. That is the question.
Monday: Finished our overnight and came home. (The boys had an inservice day, hence the camping trip.) On the way home, Austin said he didn't feel very good. Just when I thought no one else was going to get sick...yeah right. Oh and Josh cut his hair with scissors. Of course, class pictures are in one week, but at least he only cut his hair on one side.

PSA

Free shipping for costumes at the Disney Store today. :)

Oct. Scrapping

Wanted to share a few fun scrap related things that have happened recently. I was chosen as one of Paper Trunk's TDOM for the month of October. So very excited to be able to work with their papers and stamps! (12 inch border stamps-----so cool!)
Also, yesterday I received an e-mail from BHG. Unfortunately, the layout they requested had already been picked up, but it was still a fun e-mail to receive.
Terri
And the photo posted has nothing to do with either of these comments, but it fits in the category. :)

Recap

....and they're off and running. Forget about caffeine in the morning. Getting the boys on the way to meet the bus in the morning is all I need to get the adrenaline going. Today, they made it by the skin of their teeth; the bus got to the corner at about the same time they did.

This weekend was Birthday Weekend part 2. Activities for this one were easy since the cub scout family campout was on the same day as Nate's birthday PLUS his birthday gave me the greatest excuse for us not to stay overnight at the camp. (I really like camping but letting everyone at the school know my sleeping habits...and my occasional snoring...doesn't rank up there on my top ten list of things to do.)

And things were good...until they weren't. We arrived at around 1:30. Our plan was to go for the activities, stay to have dinner with the pack and then go home for cake, presents etc. (We also popped over to IHOP for lunch before going to the camp.)When we arrived, we learned dinner wasn't until 6:30...five hours was a bit longer than we had planned, especially in the 90 degree day. They jumped in to the activities, flag football, archery, water rockets, marbles etc. Then a behavior shift developed...long story short...we didn't make that five hour gap.

After we got home and the birthday boy had a chance to cool off (in more ways then one.), he wanted to go back for dinner. I felt a little silly going back just for dinner but a)Nate wanted to see what the dinner would be like b)it gave a more pleasant ending to the time at the camp and c) someone else was cooking and that's always a good thing. So we went back and then finished the day as planned.

On to other stuff:
1. Mark was home yesterday for Columbus day. It was very cool to be able to spend the time alone together. I also put mail in the mailbox to go out yesterday. It wasn't until late afternoon when I realized that it wasn't coming. Oh yeah..Mark's home...Columbus day...I'm a quick one.
2. I gave blood yesterday. I don't do it often, mostly because my veins like to hide from the technician and I really don't like the feeling of being a human pincushion. The kids had a blood drive at their school. (The Red Cross knows what they're doing...that's all I'm saying.)A little nervous about the whole process. And as I'm sitting in the chair, waiting to get hooked up, one of the dads passes out. Not...a....good...thing.. But the tech got me hooked up quickly, no passing out for me and the dad eneded up being just fine after awhile.
3. We bought another mouse. The guys (Mark included) felt Minnie needed a companion, so they got a white one to bring home. Only when they brought it home, there was a suspicious bulge to the mouse. Mark had asked for a female, but it didn't look like he got what he wanted. They returned him and exchanged him for a female mouse. Nate told the salesperson, we need one without "tentacles".

Being a Mom

Can you pinpoint the day where you actually felt like a mom? You know the day when you hear yourself saying or doing something and realized that you have officially morphed into mom-dom.
For me, it was when the kids were toddler sized. Shoot, it may have even been "kid" in the singular, which was way back in ancient times. I remember driving behind my house where a new subdivision was going up. There were some young, cute, buff shirtless construction guys working on the roof of a house on a hot summer day. My first instinct was not to appreciate the eye candy. Nope...first thought in my head was "I hope they remembered to put some sunscreen on". Yep...total mom moment.

And you can't mention motherhood without the guilt. Received a big dose of that yesterday. It seems that my nine year old is having flash backs to 1995. (Is it still a flashback when they weren't born then?) Anyway, Nate and Josh dug up some old Toy Story videos and have been into them lately. Nate's birthday list included a Zurg toy/action figures. I didn't really find anything in my birthday shopping rounds. Well, turns out that this was THE present he wanted. (Who knew?) I don't have it...and his birthday's tomorrow.......Guess I'm out of the running for Mom of the Year.

Update: found one. Let's hope he's still in to this toy by tomorrow. :)

Terri

conversations from today

I'm trying to get Josh out of bed this morning and tell him that he needs to get up, get dressed and go have his breakfast. His response:
"What?! You expect me to do all that when I'm so tired?!"

Nate (reading from a joke book he got from the library.)
"What's the difference between chocolate and dog poo?"
"I don't know"
"If that's the case, remind me never to send you out to buy chocolate!"

World Card Making Day

You know, I had never heard of this day until earlier this year. According to the their blog:

World Card Making Day is a holiday especially for card makers around the world to:

Celebrate the creativity of handmade cards and the personal connection that they create between friends and family
Kick off (and get a head start on) the holiday card-making season


And I LOVE cardmaking, so this is right up my alley.

World Card Making Day was actually started by PaperCrafts magazine and they are celebrating all this week.

At Designer Digitals, I am uploading some digital and hybrid cards this week on the Designer Details blog. Katie will also be hosting a chat on Saturday morning complete with a freebie.

I also joined in on some card swaps at ScrapSupply. I haven't participated in a swap for a long time, so that was really fun. It sounds like Wendy has some cool things planned there for Saturday as well.

As much as I like cards, I won't be joining in on any of the online stuff on Saturday, since World Card Making Day is also Nate's birthday. I'd send him a card, but I think he'd prefer cake and presents. :)

(Card Credits: Patterned papers, diecuts: Luxe Designs, rubon: American Crafts)

Looking forward to a nice, relaxing...Monday

I think the weekends are supposed to the be the days for relaxing....but definitely not this past weekend.

Friday: My oldest turned twelve. Crazy. I know everyone says things like this, but how did he get so old so fast? We went out to dinner at TGIF's (The last birthday kid celebration was Josh's in May and he chose Chuck E. Cheese. So even if Austin has to get older, at least the restaurant choices are more adult friendly.)
Afterwards, we bought his mouse at the petstore. She's brown and white and he named her Minnie. (Th photo is not good, but evidently mice and kids have the same game plan when it comes to moving fast and creating lots of blurry shots.)
Side note: This is the first birthday that I can remember where I didn't buy any of the presents. Besides Minnie, everything else was computer related. Pets and computers are Mark's domain.

Saturday:
Show and Sell for Boy Scouts
Putt-putting (continuation of Austin's birthday activities, we just couldn't squeeze it in on Friday night.)
University of Toledo football game

Sunday
Show and Sell
Church
Show and Sell

Whew, I'm tired. BTW, the show and sells are when you go to a store, have the popcorn displayed and ask the customers if they'd be interesting in purchasing from the boy scouts (Yes, we were one of those kind of people this weekend.) Even though, I cringe at the thought of sales, my boys evidently do not feel the same way. Caleb and Nate are naturals at it. At their age, I would have rather eaten a worm than sold popcorn that way. (all those time slots btw, were divided among the three kids---they didn't spend the whole weekend selling popcorn---that was just me. ;) We did get results though, the boatload of popcorn that we were supposed to sell is now the size of a small canoe.)