Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Braving the storms

Ben walks to the bus stop every morning for school. Up until the last few days, the weather has been decent. Some mornings have been a little chilly, but overall, seasonally nice. The last two days have been pretty nasty. Windy, cold, and yesterday, wet. We all went out yesterday morning for an appointment and it was pretty icky with the icy rain coming down. Gluttons for punishment, Ben, Henry and I all went to the store when Audrey was down for a nap. By the time we got out of the store, the sun was merrily shining as if nothing had happened. Somewhat like Albuquerque, we commented to each other.

At dinner last night, Ben commented on the lack of any kind of snow that stuck to the ground. Mom asked if he was disappointed. "Yeah," Ben replied somewhat mournfully. Later that evening I commented that for someone who talks about hating the cold so much, he sure was anxious for snow. Essentially, he said he liked having something to complain about.

Ben was checking some of the Albuquerque weather this morning and found that it had snowed in our old neighborhood. "Kinda ironic." was his comment. Here we were in Utah; cold, snowy, dark Utah and sunny New Mexico got a layer of snow before we did.

Perhaps it's suffering the cold weather without the joy and beauty of snow that disappoints him...

Friday, October 23, 2009

Why shouldn't life be a little magical?

While watching this video, I was thinking to myself: What absolute joy would someone have to feel to burst into song during normal life like they do in musicals? Or Dance?

This video was so surprising and so profound to me. We could all use a little bit of magic in our lives.

Note: Watch closely. It looks as though a few onlookers might have joined in the fun... either that, or they weren't as coordinated as some.. :)

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Halloween Crafties!

I love Halloween! It's been a good holiday for me for many, many years. Those of you who don't know, Ben and I met on Halloween night at a costume party. Our makeup was thick enough that when we agreed to meet at church the following day, we weren't sure we were looking at the right person at first. I think the mutual confusion on our faces is what clued us in. (Of course, there is always the possibility that I met a completely different guy at church that day and he was just really good at playing along.)

Anyhoo. Halloween is fun! It's even more fun with kids! So, I've been somewhat busy this month with decorations and whatnot.

Here are some fruits of my labor:


Snowy-glittery glamor pumpkin!

Blue-glittery glamor pumpkin!

And these, I just finished today:
Candy & toy-filled party poppers! Aren't they darling?! (You can also see my cute "B O O" candles behind them.)


These party poppers are super easy. It took me a couple of weeks to collect the tubes and another hour or two to get them put together. (I have done 13 so far.) If you want to make some, you still have nearly two weeks before Halloween!!

Supplies:
Empty cardboard tubes (from paper towels or toilet paper)
Tissue paper
Transparent tape
Pipe cleaners
Fillers: Candy, toys, stickers, etc.

Note: The tissue paper I used already had a halloween theme, but you can use any color you like and decorate with halloween stickers and markers or pens.

Just wrap the tube in tissue paper and secure with tape. Tie off one end with a pipe cleaner. Fill the tube with candy, etc and tie off other end with another pipe cleaner. Decorate as desired!! You're done!!!!

Monday, October 19, 2009

Corn maze Fun

Audrey and Henry's first corn maze experience was pretty fun. Aside from trying to find the "secret room" that was a secret to everyone, including the creators, we all had a good time and enjoyed the awesome outdoor fall feeling!


Tree - Emily, Scarecrow - Joshua (or his eyes, anyway) and Pumpkin, er.. Hugger - Audrey


Pumpkin People!


Peekaboo!


Ava's daddy helping her with her shoe.


Ears are a convenient handle when you're way up high on daddy's shoulders!


Too cool to be cute?


Mommy and Ava on our 2nd trip back to the start of the maze to see if we could find the elusive "secret room"


Ava's not scared of the scarecrow...


Joshua's not scared of the scarecrow...


This little clown was scared of the scarecrow...


This is what people look like BEFORE the realize they're being photographed...


Aaaaaand... here's the after...


As always, Daddy's pictures of Audrey always turn out fantastic.


I'd like to say that Audrey left the corn maze just like this and not, in fact, tired, screaming, crying and whining... I'd LIKE to say that...

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Grow, grow, grow.

Audrey and Henry just can't seem to get it in their heads that they're growing up far too fast. Just when I somewhat get the hang of the stage their in, they change it up, learn something new and snicker under their breath as they flummox me.

Audrey has started sassing: "Eat your food, Audrey." "Eat YOUR food, Mom!"
"Audrey, stop doing that to your brother." "YOU stop it!"
There doesn't seem to be any point in bringing to her attention that I eat my food just fine and that I hadn't even touched Henry at the moment of offense.
However, her understanding what we want and how things work has grown and it's much easier to reason with her. I may kick myself for saying this, but as a "why child" myself, I almost can't wait for Audrey to start that curious "why?" stage.


Henry is growing more active by the day. He's no longer the baloney loaf, or even a wiggly sack of flour. He's an inquisitive baby boy who constantly changes and challenges me. It's easier to get him to smile and laugh these days, but he's fairly choosy about when he'll crack that cute grin. More often than not, he'll give Papa the serious "what is YOUR problem?" stare, while almost always smiling at Grammy.
We got Henry a doorway jumper a few weeks ago, when I discovered that it's getting harder to make him sit down when he just doesn't feel like it. His legs are getting pretty muscular!


Ben is still job hunting. It's been very challenging to find anything available, and when he does find something that works with his school schedule, we've found that he's competing with massive numbers of other applicants. School is going well, though, so that's a plus.

I've started writing again. It's slow going, but the progress is positive. Dialog, though it's my favorite part of writing, it's also the most difficult. Maybe I'll finally pull out of this rut and actually get a draft out.

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