Happy Halloween

 

The Mime…

 

The Ghost… (note for future years: the traditional sheet over the head with circles cut out for eyes does NOT work!)

 

Captain America (made mostly out of Duct tape!)

 

The Grim Reaper

 

Watching the crazies super-excited kids at the trunk-or-treat.

 

I made this hat for Daniel.  He wore it for a total of about 3 minutes.  Next year!!

 

This one is totally descriptive of our evening.  Caleb couldn’t hold still, Rachel had wardrobe malfunctions the whole night, Josh was the one who was too cool for everyone else, and Emily just wanted candy.  LOL!!

Hope you all had a great Halloween.  I, for one, am glad it’s over.  Bring on Thanksgiving!

Building a House: Headaches

This week has been one gigantic headache, all because of the people who are in charge of doing the insulation.

Yesterday, the 18-year-old kid driving the big insulation truck backed right into our brand new mailbox.  I was dumbfounded.  He had two guys with him, and neither of them stuck around to watch his blind spots.  The truck lifted the corner of the mailbox – including the cement pad – six inches off the ground.  It bounced right back into place and looks fine, but it broke completely off the rebar, so it’s going to have to be redone.  The kid got out of the truck and gave me a sheepish, “Sorry.”  I’d say I was pretty generous with my, “Thanks, but sorry isn’t gonna cut it!!”  We are sooooo not happy.

This all occurred around 11:30 a.m. – when they got there to get started.  11:30??  Are you kidding me?  The day’s half gone!  When I went back around 3:00, they were gone already.  Had been for an hour!  We got a whopping 2 hours of work out of them, and they didn’t even get a complete wall done.  I told Jared to fire them, and he was ready to.  But he got an assurance from the salesman that they would be there bright and early in the morning to get the job done.

Guess what?  They didn’t even show up today!  And the job was supposed to be done today because the drywall is scheduled for tomorrow.  I am so far past unimpressed – I don’t even have words for it!!

They’re still on the job, only because we’re between a rock and a hard place.  I suspect the screaming will be heard ‘round the world if anything goes wrong tomorrow.

21 Tidbits About Daniel

1. He is 18 months old.

2. His favorite food is anything that anyone else is eating, especially treats.

3. His most-used word is MORE.

4. His favorite activities are reading books, getting into drawers and boxes, and putting things in his mouth.

5. His favorite toy is his FisherPrice music-maker thingy that has a mirror.

6. He hates water on his head, face and near his ears.

7. He loves Nutella.

8. He is a champion sleeper.

9. He loves music.

10. His newest (spoken) word is TOUCH.

11. He cries every time I walk out of his sight.

12. He smacks his lips and tongue when he eats.

13. His newest sign is CRACKER.

14. He has reflux, and his medicine is working wonderfully (well, it was until today).

15. He is super flirty.

16. He always pulls off his right shoe when he is wearing his black dress shoes.

17. He likes to tease.

18. He has a fake laugh that makes everyone else break into hysterics.

19. He crawls about as fast as a spider, and cruises around furniture almost as fast.

20. He weighs 21 pounds, 10 ounces.

21. He has us all wrapped around his pinky finger – in a major way!

Never a Dull Moment

Last night I spent an hour in the E.R. with Caleb.  Yeah, of course it was Caleb.  That just kind of goes without saying.

He found a box cutter between the couch cushions.  No, I don’t want to discuss what it was doing there or how it got there.  But he found it!  And managed to put a nice slice in his index finger.  Nice enough that it was bleeding pretty bad and definitely more than just a superficial cut.

So we went to the E.R.  Amazingly enough, we were in and out in around 70 minutes.  We decided against glue because he would probably pick at it.  Didn’t want to do stitches because of the trauma.  So steri-strips it was.  So far they’ve stayed on and he only forgot to keep it out of the water a few times today.  Not too shabby.

I’m just hoping he’s got it all out of his system now, and next year will be nice and quiet.

And then I woke up!

12 Years Old!

Oh my gosh!  I cannot believe I have a 12-year-old.  Every time my kids have a birthday, I wonder where the time went.  But sheesh, this one has blown me away!  I really don’t know where the last 12 years went!

But enough about me.  Emily is the one we’re here to talk about!  Look at this little cutie as a 1-year-old!

Emily has always been full of spunk.  I think it’s the red hair!  From the day she was born, she wanted to do things her way.  She ate when SHE was ready, and no amount of wiggling, tickling or wet rags to the feet would get her to eat any sooner.

She has always been a curious and creative person.  She blesses us with stories, pictures and even musical creations often.  She loves to figure things out, and she often sees things differently than the rest of us.

She is an amazing friend.  She has the ability to be friendly and kind to everyone.  She is thoughtful and sweet.  She has a real desire to do what is right.  She is so incredibly smart.  She is funny and silly and so innocent still (thankfully).

She is an amazing violinist, pianist, and singer.  Watch for her in the future – she’s going to do some amazing things for sure!

We love you so very much Miss Emily!  You are a wonderful blessing to our family and we are so glad to have you.  We are excited to see what the coming year brings to you.

Budding Photographer

Jared handed Caleb the camera at the Pinewood Derby this week.  He had a great time snapping shots, and it kept him busy and out of trouble for a good chunk of time. 

I couldn’t resist getting a picture of this:

Cute cute boys.  Maybe some day Caleb can take over the role of family photographer!

Building a House: Another Step Complete

The bricklayers wrapped up their work yesterday, and I am so pleased with how it all turned out! 

Look at that arch!

I must admit, I was a bit skeptical about the arch.  This was Jared’s idea, and I had a really hard time visualizing the finished project.  I am sure glad he has more vision than me!

Here is one of the pillars on the back patio.  (Great picture, eh?!?)

And this part is well on its way to being my favorite: the fireplace!

We’re going to have a lovely mantel around the brick, that will hopefully look something like this (but stained wood that matches our cabinets rather than the painted wood):

And now, a look at the entire front, with all the brick in place.

I *think* the electrical work is all done.  The insulation has started today, and will be in progress for a few days.  The sheetrock has been ordered, and that will start as soon as the insulation is in.  And now we wait.  Some more.

A Derby and a Concert

Tonight was one of those double scheduled nights.  Pinewood Derby for Josh and orchestra concert for Emily.  We decided to divide and conquer.  Jared took Caleb and Josh to the derby and I took Rachel, Daniel and Emily to the concert.  But since Emily’s concert didn’t start until 45 minutes after the derby, we dropped her off and planned to leave the derby in enough time to see her part of the concert.

Josh’s derby car was one of those last-minute “holy cow, it’s in two days?!?!” creations.  He and Jared got it all done, and it looked pretty slick.

His car toasted the first two competitors and couldn’t quite pull it out against the next two.  He had a lot of fun, though, AND he earned the “Most Aerodynamic” award!

(Somewhere along the line, this kid decided that smiling is about the most toxic thing he could possibly do.  I think he really is worried it will kill him!)

As soon as they presented him with his award, I grabbed my cargo (Rachel and Daniel) and ran over to Emily’s concert.  I was surprised that her group was already playing.  In fact, we had missed the first number completely!  Sniffle, sniffle.  I felt bad, but at least we got to hear three out of the four songs.

(I think she was looking around, wondering where in the world we were.)

She got her violin put away so fast that I didn’t even have a chance to get a picture of her with it.  But here she is with her cute smile and beautiful curls.

It was a fun, crazy night.  So enjoyable to see them in their element and doing well in what they do!

Winter? Already?

We woke up to this today.

That’s 5+ inches of heavy, wet, slushy snow.  I nearly cried.

The kids (with the exception of Josh) were overjoyed.  Can you tell?

Congratulations are in Order

Jared passed the beastly 5-hour test for the Certified Valuation Analyst class he took in San Diego!  I’m so proud of him!  (And he’s going to be really embarrassed that I posted this, but it needs to be told.)  He even took one part of the test without being able to really study for it.  He found out that his flight was cancelled and they assigned him to a flight that was supposed to leave during the last hour of his test!  So the class people let him take part of the test early.  He came home seriously wondering if he had passed.

And of course he did!!

And now he has to pound out the worst part of the test: a big, complicated case study, which is due in 6 weeks.

Keeping our fingers crossed…