WOW!

Tyler won 1st place in the 3rd-6th grade costume contest! He was so happy. He was asking me before we left the house if I thought he could win. I walked into the room just as they were pronouncing him the winner. Yay Tyler! His prize was an art set: crayons, colored pencils, paints, scissors, etc...

I did get some comments from a couple of parents, who clearly thought I had allowed things to go a little too far by actually shaving his head. Hey, hair grows back, and we'll buzz the rest of it after Halloween. The army guys thought it was cool. One mom I know said she could tell it was inspired by Rock Band.

This is the picture I took this afternoon that I think is really great! He was just looking up from reading his book, and didn't know I had the camera ready. Before we left for the church, we gave him a 5'0 clock shadow (make-up), unbuttoned his shirt, and got him those tattoo sleeve things. He looked really cool. We'll do it again on Friday and get some shots of it.

We brought a friend home from church with us. Apparently they aren't having school in Bremerton the rest of this week for conferences or something.

I got the cupcakes baked, and they are cooling, getting ready to be decorated tomorrow. I'll try to take some pictures of them when they are finished.

One last thing...I had to laugh when I got home tonight and checked my caller ID. I guess all I have to do is call you out on-line, you both called me while I was out tonight. LOL! However, Rainbow, Melissa, neither of you left a message!

Jeff just walked in, it must be late. Good night all!

Is there anybody out there?

Hello!?! Is there anybody out there? Am I all alone in blogger land? Rainbow, Melissa, where are you?

Well, it's Wednesday. We have church stuff to do tonight. Right now Tommy is napping, and the older boys are off at the store with Jeff. This is why I have a few moments to type.

This week feels like it's dragging a little, maybe because we haven't been so busy. The Pack Meeting on Monday was fun. We seem to have some new energy with our change of leadership, and that's probably a good thing.

I turtled, again, at TOPS. So, I have renewed my dedication to exercise. So far, so good...I have managed to get in a 20 minute cardio each day, and at least 10 minutes of strength training. In addition to that, yesterday I walked a mile twice; the first time I walked the boys halfway to Billy's house, and the second time I met them halfway as they were coming home. It has been more difficult to get a walk in every day, now that all the evening activities have started, and we have school work to get done. I'm still trying to get that worked out.

Maybe next week I will renew my dedication to logging my food and tracking my calories. I know that makes a difference. I get it into my head that I don't want to spend the rest of my life writing everything down; I forget that I can stop writing it all down once I've reached goal weight. As long as I can maintain without tracking it, that's great.

First thing this morning Tyler got into his costume. They're having a costume party at WOW! tonight, and he's a little anxious. I took a picture of him reading his Cub Scout Book, and I just love the look on his face. I can't wait to share it with you.

I think I hear the boys home now. Gotta go!

Time to Settle In

Alright you guys, you haven't been blogging....what's up?

There was a luncheon at the church today after services. It was a Pastor and church staff appreciation luncheon, and I decided that we would just stay there and benefit from the food and cake & ice cream. The boys all seemed to enjoy it.

Desiree made it back to pick up her kids before Jeff and Travis made it back. They all seemed to have a good time, and all seemed to be tired. Des said I spoiled her kids....huh? Then she starts listing things: you bought them flashlights, they got cake and ice cream, they went to the corn maze, they got hot chocolate, they watched a movie, they got shiny gold dollars....oh. Well, some of that stuff wasn't from me, the flashlights came from the Dollar Tree, and the rest of it just sort of happened.

Scott, Amanda, & Josh were here earlier. They just left about 1/2 hour ago. Amanda, Tyler, Tommy & I got our fresh air and our exercise as we went up to the store earlier. Ty was on his bike, and Tommy in his stroller, of course. It was pitch black out by 6:30. We'll definitely have to move our walks to the morning.

That's it, nothing terribly exciting today. I am looking forward to sleep, after I get these kids into bed. They need to get back on schedule too.

Good Night.

The Corn Maze was Fun!

It took us more than an hour to get through it, but it was really fun. The boys had to stop and stare at the cows, and we had to take the long way around so we could say we went through the whole maze, but we got our cards punched at all 6 checkpoints, got some fresh air, and killed some time. I have pictures to post. I've blurred Tyler's friends' faces because I haven't talked to their parent's for permission to post them.


I'm tired. I was up until 2 this morning, and back up before 7. We got Jeff and Travis out of here by 8 to meet up with the Troop. Jeff dropped Travis off to ride with the Scoutmaster; then came home to load up more firewood and the camping gear.


Tyler, Tommy, and I went to Lowe's at 10 a.m. to build a pumpkin project and meet the other boys. I am very proud of Tyler for doing all the building himself. Most of the other parents were doing the projects for their kids, or at least doing the hammering anyway.


I bought myself a new hammer when Tyler told me he let Jeff take his camping. I'm wondering why Jeff didn't take his own hammer, but I needed to replace mine anyway, it disappeared a long time ago.


The boys were really good about going to bed a little after 8 tonight. We had dinner when we got home from the maze, they played a little, brushed their teeth, made up their beds, and settled in with a movie.


Now I just need to settle Thomas. He is getting into everything while I type this, and I'm tired. I think it's time to go to bed. I need to go start the dishwasher.


Good Night!

Time for a snack

The cows were pretty loud.

Where to from here?

Let's go that way!

Den Totem

This is the totem the Bear Den made at our meeting this week. The little yellow bird on top is the example I made, and is not actually attached to the totem pole.

From the top down, not including mine, we have a snake, a "jousting bear", a dolphin, a dragon, and a platypus.

I love that most of them have tails too, except for the snake, of course.

All the kiddies are tucked into bed.  Tyler had fun at the hockey night, but I noticed when he got home tonight that his "twitch" was back.  We're going to have to find a way to help him get over that. 

Travis and Jeff are leaving first thing in the morning.  All their camping gear is ready to go.  I'll take Tyler down to Lowe's in the morning for the project building, and our friend's will meet us there.  From there I will have two extra kids until Sunday afternoon, as their mom and older brother will be joining the Scouts on the campout.

 
 

I'm planning on taking the boys over to the corn maze that the youth group went to last weekend.  It looked like fun.  We'll stop on the way to pick up fruit snacks and granola bars, and we'll make sure we have gloves and hats and maybe even cocoa in a thermos.

 
 

I am pleased to say that we have Halloween costumes under control, but I'm not saying what they are.  You'll just have to wait for me to post pictures after the fact.  It is nice to have it out of the way this far in advance.  It is also nice to know that I will not be buying Halloween candy at all this year.  We will be gone long before the trick-or-treaters come out, and we won't be home until after they've gone.  That means no candy to snack (binge) on. 

 
 

Melissa, I hope you and your family enjoy your last get-together until after the holidays.  I pray that you will all be safe in your travels. It's weird to think we are that close to the holidays. You will be here when?

 

Rainbow, I never answered the Singing Christmas Tree question. It's a beautiful concert put on each year by the Christian Life Center in Tacoma. You can see information about it at http://www.life-center.org/events/christmas.php . Churches do this all across the country, you should go see one if you get the chance.

 

Oh, and about the 80's, big hair, and black mascara—while I was getting ready to go to the Board of Review on Tuesday, Travis was playing Rock the 80's in the living room. Try doing your hair and make-up to look like a respectable Scout leader while "Bang Your Head" is blaring in the background. I even commented on it at the time, I thought it was funny.

 

That's all for new, I'll keep you posted.

My Day Off

Alrighty, I have had a fairly slow day today. I even took a nap this morning, and I needed it. Yesterday afternoon I was reading some jokes and I just couldn't stop laughing, I was so tired. Travis came and took the baby from me, and looked at me like I was crazy.

I missed most of the Court of Honor last night, little Mr. Thomas just doesn't know about being respectfully quiet during ceremonies. Next time I think I'll have to get a sitter. I am very proud of Travis though. He looks all grown up in his uniform, and he stands up front nice and tall, and speaks loudly and clearly. He has really matured. (sniff, sniff) He even handled it very well when Tommy came running up to him to be held. Travis just stooped down and picked him up and held him, until it was time to recieve his badges and paperwork....then he handed him over to me.

Travis just earned his Tenderfoot rank, and I need to get it sewn onto his uniform tonight, as he and Jeff will be leaving first thing in the a.m. to go on an overnighter. It's cold, so I hope they remember to pack gloves, brrrrrrr.

My proud cooking moment...I was asked to bring a crockpot of spaghetti to the Court of Honor dinner, and I made the sauce myself. I know that's not a big deal for a lot of people, but for me it was. I usually only cook from scratch for my family, and would normally have used a canned sauce for the dinner, but I made it all from scratch and it turned out great! (if I may say so myself)

I have to run Tyler to a play date down the road, so will have to finish "catching up" later. I do want to say, "Rainbow, you look very pretty in that proud auntie picture. Melissa and I both said so, at the same time on the phone the other day."

Next week really isn't as busy as the past couple weeks. I will be able to stay more current for awhile.

Later!

Another Week

Wow! I made it through last week in one piece, and thought this week was going to be much easier. Ha ha ha.

Last week went pretty much as planned. Friday night Tyler went to a friend's house and Travis went to Josh's. That was a little break for me. Saturday morning I got some of Tommy's clothes packed up until he grows into them. Saturday afternoon I picked up Tyler and then went to pick up Travis and Josh. I dropped the older two of at a youth group outing (corn field maze) and took Tyler window shopping at Toys R Us. Then we picked up the other two boys and went home. At home I got to clean up the kitchen, make dinner, chat with Rainbow for a few minutes, make sure we had clothes to wear to church, and go to bed!

Sunday was pretty normal: church, home, dinner, kids running around house, housework, etc… I did get to play Monopoly with Travis and Josh until the Seahawks game came on.

I was talking to Travis's Boy Scout leader tonight while Travis was in his Board of Review. We were talking about training and me figuring out what my job is, and he said he would give me something on Thursday…huh? Thursday? Yes, Thursday, at the Court of Honor. Is that this Thursday????!!!! Yeah, it is. Oh. That's right. That's why we are hurrying up and getting these Boards of Review done last week and this week. That's why I have to go tomorrow to sit on 3 more Boards of Review. Duh.

Where has the time gone? I kept thinking things were weeks away still. All of a sudden everything is here…the Boards of Review, the Court of Honor, the Pack Meeting, Halloween and Fest A Fall (which I volunteered to bake cupcakes for), then Jeff's work dinner, Tyler's birthday party bash (which I need to bake cupcakes for), popcorn orders will come in, then Melissa and Geoff will be here and it will be Thanksgiving. Wow! That's fast..

I think I would blog more if I wasn't on dial-up. I have been waiting an hour for my e-mail to download, and I'm still on 6 of 31. Urgh! It takes forever for pages to load too.

Tonight in our den meeting the boys made a totem pole. The boys will get to add stickers, beads, and feathers to for things like attendance and earning awards. I think they had fun making it. I'll try to post a picture of it sometime this week.

I told the boys I was going to blog about something they did today, but I can't remember what it was. I hate it when that happens.

Ah well. It looks like the e-mail is finally done down-loading. I don't know when I'll be back to blog some more.

Later,

Lori

I survived Monday

We had a very short school day. We did our spelling, homophones, and Mad Minute Math, then some Christopher Columbus papers. That was it. Tyler kept telling me that there was no public school today, so they shouldn't have to do school either. I informed him that if he wants the public school holidays he should go to public school, and then he can miss out on our family holidays. He stopped bugging me after that.

When I got to Scouts I realized I had left half my supplies (snack included) at home, and I couldn't run back for them because I had a leader's meeting to attend. Urgh! It worked out though, one of the boys had brought a snack that I could sign off in his book. We also took the time to go over some Scouting basics for our new boys, played a game, and gave them some time to just talk and get to know each other. We are responsible for the flag at our Pack Meeting this month, so we talked a little bit about flag ceremonies also. The two scouts who have been through this for a couple years got to be helpful, and we all got a review of how to do things.

The boards of review for the Boy Scouts went well. Travis was asking me questions about it on the way home. I think all the boys are a little nervous, as this is a first for them. They will get through it, and will know what to expect next time. I think it's a great experience for them, and will help them later in life. Picture this: one scout, about 12 years old, sitting in a chair. He's facing a table, and behind the table are 3 adults (2 of them in uniform) questioning him about his scouting experience. I would be terrified. I saw one boy actually visibly relax a little tiny bit when he was told I was Travis's mom, at the end of my introduction. I guess that made me an eensy-teensy bit less scary.

Well, I need to get some sleep. Happy Anniversary to Rainbow and Manny. Thank you mom for sitting with the baby. Good night all.

Getting Ready for Another Week

Amanda's cake table

Getting ready to blow out the candles

Whew! We made it through last week, and are headed into the next one.

I may be coming down with something. I got a horrible splitting headache this afternoon, which is very unusual for me. Then I couldn't taste dinner. That was disappointing because we barbecued steak for Amanda's B'day party, and I made garlic mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. I couldn't even taste the cake. I could only make out sweet and spicy. Oh well!

I am officially done with selling popcorn. The boys still want to ask people they know at church, and people in the neighborhood; but I am done standing outside of stores for hours at a time. At least until next year. They have about 10 days before they need to turn in their order forms.

Today I stayed home from church to be with Tommy, he was acting kind of sick. I also made Amanda's birthday cake and cleaned up the house some. It was a slow day after that. My mother-in-law was here for awhile, along with Scott, Amanda, & Josh. We all sat around and watched the Seahawks bomb out. Boy were they bad. I'm almost glad I'll be missing Monday night football next week.

I think I'd like to see a chiropractor. My neck and shoulders have been really bothering me for a couple of weeks now.

My step-sister sent me a friend invite on myspace. That was cool, I haven't heard from her in years. She's a nurse now, and a good one apparently. She has a lot to be proud of.

Here's a run-down of what's going on this week, in case I don't get a chance to blog. I don't have time to be sick either.

School with boys all week.

Monday night: Boy Scout Meeting 6:30-8, Cub Scout Den Meeting from 7-8:, followed by Boy Scout Board of Review from 8-9. I'm supposed to be the leader of the review (ha ha, yeah right) because I am technically the advancement chair. I need to find a way to get out of this particular position. I haven't actually planned out the den meeting yet either, but have several things to fall back on if need be.

Tuesday night: Church teachers dinner and training session, 5:30-7:00ish

Wednesday night: WOW!, Youth Group, and Adult Bible Study 5:30-8:00

Thursday night: Martha Circle Bible Study 6:00-whenever we get done.

Friday night: Collapse and hope the boys don't want friends to sleep-over, or hope they do so they will be entertained?

The good news is that I have no plans whatsoever for next Saturday. I hope to get some of Tommy's clothes boxed up until he grows into them.

Okay, that's enough for now. Have a great week everybody!

Popcorn

Go to orderpopcorn.com to check out the wonderful products we are selling! Our family especially recommends the chocolate, yum, yum!

Use order key TEJUCXS to support our Cub Scout and his Pack (grades 1-5)

Use order key TEN80X0 to support our Boy Scout and his Troop (grades 6 and up)

The scout will get the credit for the order, and their unit will benefit. This can be done year-round, and the order key will never change for either boy.

Thank You & Have a Nice Day!

Thursday

Shhhh!.....Sweet Sleeping Baby

Tyler's picture of Travis

check out the biceps!

School today, working on spelling.

Our dining room table.

Not much to report. We'll be selling popcorn tomorrow evening from 5-7 at Albertsons. I don't have a babysitter for Tommy.....mom?

I found a weather shield that I want to buy for Tommy's stroller. It would make it more feasible for walking during our fall and winter weather.

Got school done. Nothing too exciting. I haven't kept up with working out this week, I need to get back on that. Seriously, it was a dull day. That's nice sometimes.

WOW!

Worship On Wednesday! We got home almost 2 hours ago. It was a good day.

I know from my test that text comes through just fine, but pictures aren't super easy unless I find a different storage place online for my pictures, or unless the pictures are already uploaded to Picasa. Oh well, I can still do the pictures the way I was before.

I don't usually decorate for Halloween, except for the day of Halloween and maybe a day or two before. We do jack-o-lanterns and have a creepy spider thing, ghosts, etc… This year I bought the kids some placemats, and am considering getting those skeleton hands holding goblets, but haven't decided for sure.

I do decorate for autumn. I put some finishing touches on that today, and smiled when I realized that it will still look like that when Melissa and Geoff get here. Jeff picked up some cool pine cones for me in Tacoma last month, and I kept meaning to use them in a candle arrangement. Today I soaked them in some liquid potpourri and then sprinkled some glitter on them. I love the way they turned out, and I put them in my crystal candle holder with four tall tapers. I set that on the china cabinet, and scattered some loose fabric leaves around it. The candle bowls on either side have butterscotches and candy corn in them. (The candy changes with the seasons too: summer is usually life savers, winter is peppermint and Werther's, and spring brings jelly beans. LOL)

I also got out my scarebear and set him on the dining room table, which already has autumn table linens on it. It's not fancy, but it works for me. I keep praying for a dining room that doesn't have to double duty as a school room; the books, and other school supplies take away from the simplicity of my décor.

The fireplace simply has an autumn leaf garland draped across it, a couple of little scarecrows, and the standard oil lanterns. I'm debating about putting a pillar candle up there.

I talked my grandpa into giving me the tortilla bowl basket that was hanging on the wall in the basement. He only hesitated slightly, conceding that he would probably never use it, that my grandma probably never used it, and that I could have it if I would use it (there's drama there, but I'm not going into it here). Long story short—Melissa and Geoff I have to make you the tostado salads I made today. The boys raved about them, and they were great! Tyler said it was the best meal I've ever made. Even Jeff was impressed. Yum!

We went over to the church tonight, and one of the first things I did was have a talk with the head chef, who also plans the menus.

I said, "Steve, what's on the menu for the next week?"

"I haven't decided yet, why?"

"Well, I would like to not make the same thing before I come to the church."

There was a slight pause, then he said, "You made spaghetti last week, didn't you?"

"Yep."

"Did you have tacos today?"

"We had tostado salads."

"Don't make hot dogs next week, Lori."

You have to admit, it's kind of funny that we had same thing both at home and at church two weeks in a row. I jokingly told his wife to just e-mail me every week when he decides on the menu.

Bible Study was good tonight. We had a few more people. I told our fearless leader that I had indeed invited my friends, and that at least one of them would probably come when she gets here from Australia. He chuckled, a little, and then said he would try to up his game before you get here, so you'll have something to look forward to.

That's enough boring you for now. I have nothing planned for tomorrow, other than school and general housework.

Congratulations Auntie Melissa and Uncle Geoff. I'm starting to feel a little left out, there's not much chance I will ever have a niece or a nephew that wasn't already born when I married Jeff.

Testing

I am playing around with a feature I just discovered in Word 2007. I should be able to type my blog posts in Word, while I'm offline, and then post them when it's convenient to me. I'm pretty sure the writing part will work just fine, but I'm not sure how pictures will work. So this is a test.

Shopping--What's Your Opinion?

I'm looking for a new outfit to wear to Jeff's company party. I found a couple things that I like, similar but different. One is a dress, and one is a pant set. They have similar cuts, and are both black.

The company party is a dinner cruise/casino night. So, while I'm thinking dressy, I'm also thinking it could be chilly.

Leave your comments!

More on life soon.

Love ya!

Getting Back on Track

This was from last Thursday....Tommy disconnected me before I had a chance to actually post it, and I have been fairly busy since.



Hey, the TV stayed off most of the day. At least until Jeff turned it on this afternoon. That was a good start to getting back on track.



I started the day ironing, of all things. The boys got their chores done, we did some reading, and I had to give Tommy's stuffed duckie CPR after Tyler ran it over with his police truck. Tyler made "Tyler's Homemade Vegetable Soup" for dinner, which meant I didn't have to worry about it, and we managed to find 20 minutes between rain for a walk.



It was a typical day around here...nothing much to report. Oh, and nobody really gave me the impression I'm not fun. it's just a fact I've lived with most of my life. Melissa may be right, it may be the level-headedness. It may be sitting around listening to people talk about their social lives, too. It does get depressing realizing that other people actually get out and do stuff. I'm sorry if I was having a pity-party. At the Bible study last night the suggestion that we take one Wednesday a month and make it date night came up, and I was left thinking I would be hanging out in the church nursery, since Jeff works nights.



We are going out on Nov. 8th. Jeff's company party is that night, and it's a dinner cruise. Maybe I can buy a new dress for that night.



We're also planning Tyler's birthday for the 9th at Kart Trax. We're teaming up with another boy from church whose birthday is the same day, and one whose birthday is a week later. That way we can all afford it a little better, and we'd all be inviting each other to separate parties anyway.



Melissa, the Singing Christmas Tree tickets are on sale!

Picking Up Life

Well, now that we are all over the cold (for the most part) we have to pick up where we left off. It's amazing how one week can blow all well planned schedules apart. I was frustrated to realize that the TV had been on almost all day today--yikes! I told the boys we are back to business tomorrow.

Tonight was our first night of WOW! Worship on Wednesday. I think we all had a good time. We have started a new format at the church. Elementary kids, youth group, and young adults Bible study all meet at the same time now. Yay! We have dinner from 5:30-6:00, then separate. For my family that means we all go in different directions. Travis is a first-year youth grouper, Tommy's in the nursery, Tyler is with the the young kids, and I get to (for the first time) not teach, but go up to Bible study after I've finished my registrar duties.

This being the first night, it was a small group--two men and me. It was interesting, and I know the group will grow, but when the group leader suggested inviting friends, all I could think was that my friends are soooooooooo far away.

Most of the people I know here, I know from Scouts or sports club, and they already attend church. I was thinking it would be fun to have Rainbow, Manny, Geoff, and Melissa at Bible Study. You are all such fun people, so are these couples at the church. I know I'm not a fun person, I'm reliable (usually), trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, clean, and reverent (LOL, Boy Scout Law, or most of it). But I'm not fun...and I can live with that.

Nothing terribly exciting. Off to bed after I fold laundry.

Good night!

--Lori