Down with the Mouse King

 When Toby grows up he has one more of those interesting tid-bits of information to share during a get-to-know you game or during small talk with a pretty girl.  ;)  Hopefully, it won't embarrass him to say that he participated in a production of the Nutcracker when he was seven.  We saw his performance as a family last night and Toby did such a great job.

The entire cast and crew of Rachel's Ballet has been up at Oakland late every night from Wednesday to Saturday (and many other nights) to rehearse and perform the Nutcracker on Temple Hill.  Rachel is a friend from our ward at church and asked Toby back in January if he would be willing to participate because they were short on boys.  He is a brave boy, a good sport, and loves to dance, so he said of course he would.  My parents got roped into it too, because Rachel was desperate for couples to dance in the opening party scene.  At least that's what my Dad says, because there is no other way he would be caught dancing on stage.  That and my Mom committed them before telling Dad what exactly it entailed.  He's never going to live down the fancy green handkerchief he waved around the stage during the dance.  ;)

The parentals with dear Marilyn.  She worked magic with the costumes and we had fun during rehearsals.

Even though he complained all the way, I think Dad really did have fun.

This production of the Nutcracker was a free two-night engagement that Rachel wanted to provide to the community so they could bring families to see one of her childhood loves.  I also have a fond memory of seeing the Nutcracker when I was young and wanted to share that with my chillies.  The problem was always that they wouldn't enjoy it at their current young ages for the $50+ a ticket we would have to pay at the San Francisco or San Jose ballet.  I was so glad Rachel asked Toby to be in it and I was happy to help so that we could be a part of this production.  What a wonderful Christmas present right?

Toby's performance this weekend was even more commendable because he has been so sick all week.   As a parent, they asked us to volunteer backstage for one rehearsal and one performance night, so I was also up late with Toby at rehearsal making sure he didn't hack up a lung.  Poor guy.  We got into a routine of taking it easy during rehearsal, going straight to bed by 11:30 or so, sleeping in (him, not me), drinking tons of water, vitamins, eating right, afternoon nap, a dose of Tylenol to keep his lingering fever in check, then back up to Oakland to do it all over again.  He tried hard not to cough onstage, and thankfully, didn't need to worry about any sort of speaking part.  "The show must go on" was uttered a couple times when he just didn't want to do anything.  Despite feeling all-around crappy on Thursday and Friday, he soldiered on and still had a fun weekend.  Rachel told me numerous times how much her and the teachers enjoyed working with Toby because he just has a natural ability to act and good stage presence.  He was a natural leader for the other little soldiers that participated with him.  The battle scene was the cutest part More importantly, he had fun!

Toby's favorites:

Using the popguns during the party scene (to bug the girls).

Being a soldier and shooting the big canon at the naughty mice during the battle scene.

Watching the big girls dance.

A sweet lady from church asking for his autograph after the performance Saturday night (isn't that adorable?!).

Dislikes:
Having Mom put make-up on him.  He could barely stand still long enough for some dark eye shadow and liner.
Being sick and not able to run around with the other boys.

So how did the ballet fair with the rest of the family?  The Littles barely made it through the second act, but loved the first act with the party scene and the big battle between the soldiers and the Mouse King.  Sydney's favorite part was the adorable little sheep and their costumes.  After the performance she kept asking to go see our friend Maya as the sheep.  She would have taken that costume home in a heart beat.  When the gingerbread house and dancers came out I whispered to Sydney, "Look at that pretty gingerbread house!"  She quickly replied, "I want to eat it!"  Logan was a typical uninterested little boy who barely made it through with the help of a couple iTouch games.

We sat in front of friends from our ward, and we Moms joked about how we were going to expose our kids to cultured events even if it kills them.  It almost killed off Logan tonight.  He was shaking with frustration a couple times towards the end. At one point Daddy told Logan to watch the show.  Logan replied back with genuine frustration, "What am I supposed to watch?!"  Jessie liked it, but got a little frumpy because she couldn't see very well.  I'm not sure if my Man enjoyed the night or tolerated it for Toby's sake, but he did like making fun of the prince's costume.  At least he sat through the whole thing and didn't leave after the first act like some friends we know.  Yeah, you know who you are, wimp!

Toby made fast friends with all the girls, as is his way, ;) Here he is with the beautiful Snow Queen.

I was excited to finally see the whole show from the audience instead of snippets from backstage.  It didn't disappoint.  Watching the big girls stuff lambs wool between their sore toes before lacing up those tortuous toe shoes, then move so gracefully onstage was amazing.  The costumes, scenery, and Rachel's ballet students were all so impressive.  A couple times during the performance I reminded myself that this really was a free event.  All around I think it was an awesome experience for our whole family.

Toby met up with his best bud Milo after the first performance.  He was sawing logs about 15 minutes after this picture was taken.  The poor kid was so tired.  Funny story.  When Milo's big sisters found out Toby was in the Nutcracker they were both shocked that Toby's Dad let him participate in a ballet.  Apparently, my Man is too butch to have any son of his dancing on stage.  We both laugh that one son has promise as a dancer and the other wants to be a "cake maker" when he grows up.  We'll see if they change their minds to more 'manly' professions as they grow up.  I don't think we mind either way as long as they are good at what they like to do.  If this weekends performance of the Nutcracker is any indication, Toby could have a future in the performing arts.    

Chaos in the Park

Today is a clean-up-an-over-flowing-toilet-and-spilled-cold-cereal-all-over-the-kitchen-floor-before-7:30 AM kind of day.  Let's hope the rest of the day picks up.  I'm escaping here for awhile in hopes of turning the day around.

I lamented to my Man before we went to bed last night that all school should be canceled the month of December in favor of celebration and service activities, and late nights having fun.  ;)  The whole family had a hard time waking up this morning after a fun and late evening at Christmas in the Park for Family Night last night. December flies by so fast as it is, and I don't get those slow days where we just BE together like I wish for.  Every year I imagine making beautiful gift packages for friends, cookie baking nights with the chillies, and homemade gift nights that just never happen.  I WILL figure out how to make some of those happen this year.  Even my Man expressed frustration with the fact that we don't have one day where there is nothing to do.  Not to be misunderstood, a lot of our busy schedule is filled with good traditional activities.   

 We missed Dan this year as he is serving with the Air Guard in Africa over the holidays. 

 Christmas in the Park was eventful this year.  This is the fourth year (I think?) that we have gone with my side of the family to visit the big man in red and enjoy the Christmas decorations and atmosphere.

I should have known we were in for craziness when our resident two year-old refused to take a nap.  I was so busy with work and house that I didn't slow down enough to realize I should just lay down and snuggle said two-year-old to assure she would sleep.  Actually, I know why I didn't;  I would have fallen asleep as well and wasted an hour or so of time that I really needed to use.  Sad isn't it?  Most days I think of a nap for myself as a waste of time.  I would escort Miss Busy-body back to bed and rush off, ignoring the sounds of play I heard every other time I walked by her room.  She fell asleep at 5:30 PM on the way to San Jose.  Then her dear mother accidentally squished her fingers in the door as we were leaving Aunt Lauren's house after dinner.  I was spent before we even got there and felt so bad about hurting Syd which made the night even worse.  Thankfully, Syd perked up to see Santa and was so excited to tell him about the "little scooter" she really wanted for Christmas.  She sat on his lap like a brave girl and wouldn't leave until she told Santa all about how her Mom smooshed "these two fingers" in the door.  Great.  She was an over-tired, melted pool of kid on the pavement the rest of the night.

While we were in line to see Santa we spied this guy across the street doing tricks on his bike.  We had to go over to get a closer look at the cyclist jumping up onto these concrete pillars.  My Man, being the crazy sort of guy that he is, wanted to ask him if he would jump over one of our kids.  I talked him out of that one and we proceeded on our walk around the park.  Hot chocolate was calling from the other side of the park, after all.

We saw many decorated trees that ran the gamut of quality from recycled water bottles and handprints to very professionally done.  The kids paired off with an aunt, uncle or Grammy and Grandpa as we walked around, and we all had fun spending the evening together with nowhere else to be.  Well, except for the fighting and tantrums sprinkled throughout the night it was enjoyable.  Our kids love each other so much that they love to tease too.  ;)

Christmas wouldn't be complete without lights plastered on everything which the kids also enjoyed.

The Little's sat on Santa's lap and talked to him about what they wanted this year.  The Bigs wanted to talk his ear off, and after their conversation and family pictures, Santa insisted Grandma have a picture taken too.  Isn't it adorable?

Santa asked the kids if they had been good this year, listened to their Mom and Dad and done all their chores.  I took the opportunity to chime in and ask Santa to watch very carefully to make sure they did their chores without complaining just to hit that point home.  :)  Sydney wasn't afraid at all of Santa this year.  Last year she tolerated his lap so she could get a candy cane when she was done.  This year she told Santa that she wanted a "red scooter," and listened to everything he said.  Jessie asked Santa for a robotics kit, and the jury is still out if she still believes in Santa or is playing along without saying anything.  Santa commented on Toby's crazy fish hat before Toby told him he "really, really, REALLY wanted a robe" for Christmas.  Logan was the most reserved as he quietly asked Santa for Bakugans.  He was a really kind and good-looking Santa who looked like he was having a great night talking to all the kids.    

The last stop of our evening was our traditional cup of hot chocolate fully loaded with whipped cream, chocolate syrup, a candy cane and cherry on top. Despite the road bumps through the night, we did have a good time.  Logan even quickly forgot that his big brother threw away his cup o'cocoa before he was done.  Gramma Evie offered the rest of her hot chocolate to Logan which he finished right before Daddy came to the rescue with a new cup of whipped cream-topped goodness.  By then the little Man was full and didn't want it.  Figures.

Guess who drank two cups of hot chocolate last night?  The slight sugar headache this morning is a nagging reminder.....

Again, it was all worth it.  We had a great time.  I'm thinking about, looking into, possibly wanting to plan, decorating a tree for Christmas in the Park next year.  Anyone game?

Dinnertime jokes

I dread dinnertime lately.  Five o'clock rolls around before I know it, and by that time there IS no time to plan and cook a decent meal.  I end up throwing something quick in the oven or whipping something together when the kids tummies start growling at me from across the room.  Not exactly Mother of the Year material.

Tonight over our green beans, Mickey Mouse chicken nuggets and meatless corn dogs (not a punishment, they're actually good) the kids and I started talking about abbreviations and weird spellings of words when Toby said AKA while telling a story.

Logan:  "What does AKA mean?"

Mom:  "It's the first letters of each word in also known as.  Known is spelled funny, with a silent K."

Jessie:  "I hear a lot of abbreviations like that at school; ASAP is as soon as possible, G2G is got to go,  TTYL is talk to you later, and LOL is laugh out loud."

*long pause*

Sydney: "Mom, there's crap on my chicken nugget."

Mom:  "You mean crumbs."

Toby:  *giggle* "Syd said C-R-A-P, AKA P-O-O-P!"

Logan, our cute Kindergartner,  for sure knows how to spell poop, so he totally got Toby's joke.  He started in with his wicked little giggle and before long the whole table was in a fit of giggles.

Syd didn't get the joke, but she really wanted to get in on the fun.  All the sudden she looked at me with a grin and said, "K-O-I-T, less rock, less talk!"

Totally unexpected and hilarious!  By then I was laughing out loud.  I couldn't believe she remembered the call sign and slogan of KOIT 96.5, the radio station we listen to in the car.  Well, she almost had it right.  It's ♫"light rock, less talk. 96.5 KOIT."♫  They play 24 hour Christmas music starting around Thanksgiving and we've spent a considerable amount of time in the car lately.  Kids really do say the darndest things. 

Tooth Fairy under fire!

I'm just gonna get this one off my chest right now.  I now hate it when the Tooth Fairy is due to visit one of my offspring.  I have retired from stealthy tooth-snatching duties as of this minute.  The tooth fairy is now definitely male in our house.  You've probably seen him in that Santa Claus movie with Tim "the Tool Man" Allen, right?  You know, the tooth-collector with notably broad shoulders, a deep voice and tiny little wings?  Well, in our house he has speckled gray hair, a killer smile and a huge crush on little ol' me.

The older the kids get, the more it freaks me out to trade their newest pulled molar with a handful of coins.  I try to sneak under their pillows to retrieve the family tooth box, but lately I either get caught or have to blurt out a good excuse to be fumbling around on the top bunk at midnight.  Even if I get the box out without a child stirring, it is a miracle if I can quietly shove it back just far enough under the pillow so it won't fall off the top bunk.  All this only happens if I actually remember that it's a night that the tooth box is full and waiting under a pillow.  My poor kids are now used to the Tooth Fairy being "really busy" because it takes her a couple (the record is seven) nights to remember there's a tooth waiting to be cashed in.

I really was caught red-handed while trying to trade a tooth several months ago.  Toby lost his 6th tooth and I was so impressed that I remembered on night one!  Hold on, let me preface this with the fact that Toby is a DEEP sleeper.  We can get him up at night to pee and he won't even remember walking to the bathroom, washing his hands or climbing back up into bed the next morning.  The kid talks in his sleep sometimes, and I can't wake him up to get out of his dream without pulling him out of bed.  So, on this fateful night of tooth-nabbing I felt confident I could whip in, switch his tooth, quickly be in bed, and wake to shouts and cheers that the Tooth Fairy came the first night!!!  I slipped my hand under Toby's pillow to find the box when he scared me by bolting upright in bed and staring over the top bunk right at me!  I should have stood there and made up some white lie, but I was so scared that he woke up so fast I just ducked and ran in hopes he wouldn't see me.  LOL!  So lame.  He said, "I caught you, MOM.  You're the Tooth Fairy!"  I came back in and fed him something lame like I was just checking that he was okay and that he had remembered to put his tooth under his pillow.  He still ribs me that I'm the Tooth Fairy while I continue to assure him that I am not for the Little's sake. 

Poor Jessie has got to know by now that Mom and Dad carry on Tooth Fairy duties in our house.  She lost a molar at a friends house last Tuesday which she brought home in a plastic bag.  I forgot to get it that night and then we were out of town from Wednesday to Sunday.  By then it was like the tooth had never come out until Jessie complained yesterday that the Tooth Fairy still hadn't come.  *Sigh*  I should just break down and tell her point blank that her lame Mom can't remember to switch her tooth.  Even if she suspects there isn't a Tooth Fairy, I can't do that to her.  Here it is a week later, and I still haven't switched that darn molar.  I went to do so just now when two things foiled my plan; 1) I couldn't find the silly tooth box.  Heck, I'm not even sure she put it in the tooth box! and 2) she totally woke up while I was trying to gently swipe under her pillow for the dang thing.  It was easy to tell her I was looking for a rice bag to heat up because she currently has a bunch of stuff cluttering her bed.  All that clutter means there is no flippin' way I'm going to locate a small tooth box in the dark while J is still semi-awake.  I gave up until she's gone to school tomorrow to find the dumb tooth for tomorrow night.  Heck, I almost left the quarters I had set aside with a note under her pillow that said, "Please give your tooth to your Mom because your bed was too messy for me to find it.  Your Mom will turn it in to me tomorrow night." 

Ugh.  I'm such a bad Mom when it comes to the Tooth Fairy.  That's why I've decided to put this one off on Dad.  He can get caught with his hand in the fire once or twice for a change.  We'll see how well he dances then.  ;)

Did I mention that Logan has his first loose tooth as of last week...........

Maintenance Monday

We run into some strange people and even stranger circumstances managing an apartment complex.  There was that time when a tenant burned right through the kitchen linoleum and set his drapes on fire with a hot plate that tipped over.  I didn't even witness that aftermath until he moved out months later.  There was another incident when an old lady's pressure cooker exploded on the stove and shot the lid right through the stove hood and up to the ceiling.  The hood and fan were ruined, and there was half-cooked rice on every inch of the kitchen.  She tried to say it was the stove's fault.  Seriously.

Sometimes, my (maintenance) Man and I crack up at the funny ways people try to tell us about things that need attention in their apartments.  I thought it would be fun to share some of those here.

Here's a poor soul whose electrical outlet in the living room is shorting out and needs rewiring.  He said it like this;  "The electric line in the living room has problem.  I open the light, but it turn off quickly every time.  I can hear sound like Ka Ka Ka."

Here's one that we never quite figured out.  "Moth built sand house inside one of the cabinet."  I didn't know moths were such accomplished carpenters.

The overly dramatic, "my heater is just not working please hurry before we freeze to death."  It was the end of November and I'm pretty sure the temperature wasn't below mid-40's that year.

"The toilet paper holder is unglued old got dried out."  Besides some editing problems, this tenants complaint described a new TP holder being mysteriously ripped out despite the careful use of her 4 kids.

Property management has proved to not only be a huge learning experience, but very entertaining as well.  

Kibble and Bits

At the dinner table on Sunday night we were talking about dog food.  Delicious, right?  Daddy referred to dog food as kibble; Kibble & Bits.

Toby asked, "What is Kibble & Bits?"

Jessie pipes up, "I know, me and Toby are the Kibble and Logan and Syd are the Bits."

My Man and I busted up laughing, and J was a little embarrassed until we assured her she made a funny joke.  The kids are used to us calling the younger ones Littles and the two older kids are the Bigs.  So naturally, Jess thought it was a term of endearment for our kids.☺  Now we have another term of endearment to call our different aged kids.  They are all still chillies, and we now have the Littles/Bits (5 and under) and the Bigs/Kibble (7 and up).  Gotta make this crazy zoo fun and interesting, right?  When we are running errands or deciding who takes kids to what event or family members house to stay, it's much easier to split up the Littles with an older kid.  My Man and I communicate faster calling them by their nicknames.

Isn't it fun to get a glimpse into the mind of a child?  I still laugh about Kibbles & Bits.......

Costumes and Candy Weekend

With bringing home Ruby late Friday night, our Halloween weekend was set up to be a little chaotic.  The Mister pretty much took charge of all things Ruby, so I had time to sew on last minute things to various costumes, whip together my Man's costume needs, and get cupcakes baked for the church Halloween party Saturday night.

Our ward activities committee puts on a sweet Halloween bash every year, and this year didn't disappoint.  We got there a little late because Ruby needed to go potty before we could leave and painting everyone's face took a little longer than I expected.  Once we arrived though the whole family had a great time.  There were lots of carnival games, cotton candy and popcorn, Jessie and the other girls her age ran a face-painting booth, the ever-popular bounce house, and trick-or-treating upstairs rounded out the night.  I was so impressed with the huge spread of cupcakes that members brought for the cupcake contest.

This huge table was full of such cool cupcake creations!

I ran out of time to really decorate my cupcakes like this for the party, but the ones I took won best tasting.  Thank you Better Homes and Garden's sweet potato cupcake recipe for that one.  They are so divine; fresh sweet potatoes, cream cheese frosting, and a little orange zest on top, the perfect autumn treat!  Never mind the calorie count and number of fat grams per cupcake.  I made the mistake of reading the nutritional info at the bottom of the recipe.  You ready for this?  17 grams of fat in one cupcake!  Today I ate the last three that were staring at me on the counter.  I couldn't resist those chocolate eyes staring at me.  I probably shouldn't eat until Wednesday to balance things out.

I went easier on myself this year with making less costumes than usual.  Syd, Mr. Cooper, Jessie's, and my costume were mostly store and thrift store finds.  My Man's voodoo man costume is a thrift store suit, a dress shirt altered into a vest, and some store bought accessories.  Toby's costume was my main creation.  Toby was not onboard with our skeleton theme this year (he insisted on being a "skeleton ninja"?), so the only way he agreed is if he could be Skeletor.  His costume started with this women's light blue sweatshirt from the thrift store, dyed purple here.

After a couple baths in purple dye and lots of puzzle-piece altering, I transformed said sweatshirt into this.

It turned out well for 1 1/2 days work and Toby loves it.  At first Tob didn't want to have his face painted yellow.  After explaining that no one would know he was Skeletor without his signature yellow face he agreed to let me try it out.  He left it on the entire day and didn't want to wash it off for bed.  ;)  Toby won scariest costume at the church party too.

After a non-spooky morning at church on Sunday, with sugared-up kids, we came home to spend the day with family.  The kids carved pumpkins while Grammy Evie and I prepped pizza toppings.  Home made pizza has become a weekly ritual that we missed out on while traveling to pick up Ruby on Friday, so a family Halloween dinner was the perfect excuse to make pizzas.  Afterward, we threw costumes on the kids (no time for face paint) and met some good friends up at the in-laws for a quick visit.  We caught up on life, the boys kept an eye on the baseball game, and we walked a few streets to trick-or-treat with them.  Funny, we could tell right away what neighbors were watching the Giants play in the World Series because the game was blaring from the open door, or the resident would shout out the score to all the adults standing on the sidewalk.  It was nice to touch base with friends that we don't see often enough, even though they live ten minutes away.  I need to be better about extending myself that way.

 Yes, those are pizza toppings hanging out right next to the pumpkin guts.  We're daring like that.

The Great Pumpkin pulled off his annual visit despite not being prepared at all.  He, she in this case, whipped up some change holders to give the kids in exchange for most of their candy.  They got to pick a handful of their favorites to keep, and the rest went away.  Now if only I could get rid of the Costco-sized bag of chocolate on my closet floor that we didn't give out we would be in great shape.......

Niece Maddie (5 months old) getting to know the new pup, Ruby (9 weeks old).  

Software upgrade

A few entries ago I mentioned how the Mister and I have been talking in code around the house to keep a certain surprise on the down low for weeks.  It didn't take us long to code name said surprise as "software."  We could almost freely discuss plans for a software upgrade, different kinds of software, extras that go with the software, etc.  The kids had no clue what we were talking about and time marched on. 

About the same time, the Mister decided to tell the kids that we were having a special visitor come to the house soon.  We decluttered rooms, cleaned up the back yard junk, moved furniture around, and tried to train the kids to keep their toys put away and stuff off the floor, so that our visitor could be comfortable when they came.  A couple weeks ago we told the kids that it was almost time to go pick up our visitor.  They didn't mind too much that we would be gone on the Friday before Halloween for all their parties at school because the mystery visitor that the Mister was talking up for weeks would be coming home with us.

We decided to take the whole family on the road trip down to southern California to pick up our "visitor," so we could split up the 15 hour drive into two days.  I thought it was a great excuse to sleep in a Marriott bed again, and I knew the kids would love another night in a hotel after our summer trip to Oregon.  We left on Thursday night and got to the hotel in Bakersfield a little after midnight.  After a disappointing nights sleep, ( I woke up at 5 AM and couldn't get back to sleep even on that wonderful Marriott bed!) we ate an early breakfast in the hotel and went for an hour swim before getting on the road again.  The kids loved the nice pool and spa surprise which I was banking on.

Here's where the story of what really happened and what I wanted to happen differ.  Sorry babe, we should have done it my way.  ;)

You know those Disneyland commercials where Mom and Dad videotape their kids reaction to the news that they are soon going on a trip to the Magic Kingdom?  The kids reactions are priceless as they scream, jump up and down, or just stand their with a mystified look of happiness on their face.  That's kind of the scenario I wanted to set up with our chillies when we told them that our "visitor" was actually this little beauty that was staying with us for keeps.

 They would have flipped out and been so surprised.  The anticipation and excitement would have built to a tangible level on the 3 hour drive down to pick her up, so that by the time we rolled up to the breeder's house the kids would have jumped out of their seats.  I was curious to hear all the things they would talk about that they wanted to do with their new puppy, what they wanted to name her, what she would look like, etc.  It would have been awesome!

Instead, the whole situation went like my Man planned except, unfortunately, it backfired big time.  The kids were thinking someone like Aunt Tori, or their cousins, or some other relative was coming to stay with us.  We did say "visitor" remember?  We still made that 3 hour drive, but the kids were totally in the dark and a little short-tempered by that time.  When we finally rolled through the breeder's front gate in the middle of the barren desert ALL the kids were asleep.  The Mister wanted to go in, get the puppy, and walk out, puppy in hand, to be met with shouts of surprise and cheers of delight. 

Well, after waking up all the kids, laying out a blanket quick so we could sit, and being surprised myself with how quick my Man came out with her, we all just kinda stood there.  The kids had no clue what to think.  They didn't get it and were probably too out of it to understand Daddy was bringing out our new puppy, not just a visitor.  Sadly, it was a very anticlimactic introduction.  Mr. Cooper asked, even after we explained that she was ours, if we were going to bring her back to that place.  We should have done it my way.  ;)

Aren't those wrinkly puppy haunches and faces adorable?  They have so much extra skin waiting to be filled out.  And just in case you were wondering how big she will get, notice the considerable size of those 8 week-old paws.

Our house is now filled with chew toys, a big old crate, dog food (weird), and oh yes, poop bags.  We named her Ruby and she is a Red/Rust Doberman.  She's 8 1/2 weeks old in these pictures, but she's going to grow so fast.  I'm kinda sad that she won't be tiny for long, but no peeing at a moments notice is a favorable trade-off!

Busy is good

 The last two days were so busy I think the most time I spent home during those days were a couple 90 minute stretches.  For the amount of work I'm supposed to be doing in the next week that's not good odds.  I really felt like the stereotypical Mom-taxi all Wednesday and Thursday.  Actually it was more like a personal escort because I walked most of the time.

Wednesdays have turned into back and forth madness to school and such.  Jess has running club early in the morning, then boys to school, then me to Logan's class and home with him, then back to get Jessie since it's an early day, then back to pick up Toby, and finally Jess to and from sewing. 

Thursday was more of the same with Syd and I making two extra trips to the boys school to watch them run in the annual fundraiser.  Add in some plumbing problems at the apartments, juggling that schedule with meeting the plumber, and it made for one hectic day.  

Thank goodness for Fridays!  The pressure is off and I can relax a little bit to concentrate on my list and relaxing with the kids.  Wait, it's really Friday already?  I suppose that's one good reason to be actively engaged.  Time zooms right by.

I know this isn't a record for me, but check out how fast these pictures made it to cyber-space.  This was yesterday folks.  Talk about an update!

Below are all 3 school-aged kids running at the Fall Stampede.  We don't really care about how much money we raise (if any), but how many laps were run.  The kids like to try to outdo their laps ran from last year.  Mr. Cooper ran 14, Toby ran 18, and Jess ran a much longer 20 laps.  There's so much difference in personality between these three.  Logan was just going along with the flow, and was ready to quit half way through.  Toby was out there dancing, hopping and playing for the duration.  I noticed he ran with the same cute girl the whole time, and would speed up every time he came our way.  Jessie is a fierce competitor already, so she took this lap running stuff seriously.  I've learned she just needs a lot of encouragement and support.  There is usually no need to motivate her because she drives herself pretty hard as it is.

In other news, Halloween costumes are coming along slowly, and if I can reproduce what I imagine them to be it will be a great year!  It IS proving harder to do a family theme every Halloween as the chillies get older.  This year was definitely a compromise.  One week left until the big church party.  It's gonna be spooktacular!