Things Halloween-y

We've been having such lovely weather here, haven't we? We threw in a visit to the 'ol Pumpkin Patch after church the other day.

We all enjoyed riding the hay wagon out to the pumpkin field, but the boys were especially enamored of the tractor.




Helen was chomping at the bit to carve pumpkins. I told her we had to wait until the 28th so they wouldn't get moldy. As soon as we got home from gymnastics she was dragging the pumpkins in the house and getting out the carving kit. This is what we ended up with.



I do so solemnly swear that each kid drew the designs on those pumpkins. Helen's is on the left, DJ's is the middle one, and James' is on the right. I think his actually turned out kinda cool!

Sorry for the short update - I'm beat. James is just getting over a tummy bug in which he did not eat for 4 days and couldn't keep anything down. As soon as he started feeling better Helen scratched her eye and we had to take her to the doctor. I called the advice nurse Monday morning and said, "I've got two kids with two different issues. Who do you want to talk about first?" I called three times about James, but they never wanted to see him. The poor kid was in misery for days, sleeping and barfing, but I guess they knew what they were talking about since he's bounced back quite nicely. Helen's eye is fine now. A few drops and the passage of time and she's all healed up.

Good grief.

The state of Me.

People. I am LOSING MY MIND!
To wit: I forgot picture day at Helen's school. I wrote her conference date down and promptly switched it to another day in my mind. Her teacher had to call and reschedule. I couldn't blame writing it down wrong because I wrote it down correctly. I've forgotten about other activities and places we needed to be. I show up to teach Sunday school and it's not my Sunday. *le sigh*

I only have room in my brain for one thought at a time, and God forbid it's competing with another thought because one will always lose.

My friend Debra says to tell myself that I am not forgetful and that God can help me remember things (in other words, do not succomb to that ol' self-fulfilling prophecy of telling myself I'm a forgetter). Jimmy is getting me a 2-month giant whiteboard calender that I'll have no choice but to check on a daily basis. He's also in charge of telling me every night to look at the calender.

So sorry, no cute kid pics this time. Just requests to pray for my sanity and peace of mind.

I did have a picture that I wanted to post, but we never took it (forgot the camera-are you surprised?). My good friends Debbie, Karen, and Lynnette went to a Women of Faith conference this past weekend. What a great time that was! I heard some very inspirational speakers (one even spoke to my remembering issues) and some great music. Sandy Patti sang, and so did Mandisa. This young woman, who was on American Idol (which I do not watch) in the season that the prematurely grey-haired guy won (see, I don't even know his name-Hicks or someother), turned out to be a wonderful surprise. She has a gorgeous voice (the people who vote on this show obviously have no idea what a great voice is) and her story is very inspiring. She won more than a few new fans, I think.

It was great to see my girls, even though Karen got a nasty flu bug and missed the Saturday conference. I cannot believe I've known my college friends for 24 years now (!), and Debbie and I have enjoyed a 36-year friendship. Those numbers boggle my already beleaguered mind so I'd better go take a nap and take my Geritol.

But first, this: pinkyd, have you seen this yet? Hi-larious!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf1y9s73Nos

We made it

So I went away last week-end and we all survived. Stop reading now if you do not want TMI re: my boobs, and come back in a few sentences. I was going to wean the baby, but MAN! did those things hurt come Saturday afternoon. When I got home on Sunday the baby came snuffling around and I let him have at it. Guess neither of us is ready to let it go yet.


Okay, come on back....

The weather in Manzanita was GORGEOUS! And what a nice, little protected beach they have there with Neah Kah Nie mountain on one side and....whatever on the other. People were out and about enjoying themselves on the Oregon Coast like I hadn't seen in some time. And it was a fruitful time - I completed about 32 album pages in DJ's scrapbook, from 6 months to 9 months old. Yes, that's a lot of pages for 3 months, but hey! My kids will always know what they looked like as babies, unlike their poor parents who have little (Sena) or no (Jimmy) pictures of their babyhood. With the exception of much interrupted sleep, those left back in Sherwood didn't suffer too much. I am always impressed when Jimmy does stuff that I probably wouldn't, like take all 3 children to play at McDonald's. He even got them ready for Sunday school on time!






I tried to take some artsy fartsy pictures of the sunset...














Here is evidence that I do not always sit in front of the computer while my children run amok in the house. We actually get out the art materials every now and again!












Helen had her fun run last Friday. Any of my old 4-H buddies will appreciate this: I sewed on strips of patching material, a bell on the front rim, and two sets of buttons to make a clacking noise when she ran. Yes, I can still wield a needle and thread.

We have some great apples on our tree this year. I love watching the kids eat them (James is screaming, "APPP!" as he sees this picture).

Go Beavs!

OSU Beavers - 27
USC Trojans -21

Hahahahahahahaha! Now where's the OSU shirt I stashed away....?

Shouldn't every post begin with a picture of a cute dog? Helen took this picture of Kelsey at some point. We finally uploaded pictures from her camera and she's quite the photogropher. Also, she makes some great videos. We'll have to get them up at photobucket and let you all take a gander.

School is progressing nicely for the two eldest children. Helen's teacher has

very nice things to say about Helen - which is great because the girl doesn't say anything at home. DJ is having a more difficult time than he did his first week. He's getting to the point where he doesn't want me to leave after I drop him off and he tells me that he cries sometimes :( But the good news is that he hasn't had any potty accidents at school (I'm knocking on top of the computer desk as I type this).

Here's a picture of him at the school's jogathon.

Helen's school BBQ was last week. The boys and I joined her for a picnic on the front grounds. The school got the local firefighters to grill the burgers and here's their ride. The boys were in heaven looking up close at a fire engine.

I'm gearing up for a scrapbooking weekend at the coast this Friday. The baby is still nursing at night and occasionally during the day. Guess we'll be going cold turkey to wean him. I've got mixed feelings about it. I'm really looking forward to having some productive alone time, but I'm not that eager to leave the baby at this stage. It's probably for the best, as I don't think he'll ever get weaned if we keep going on like we do.

Y'all might want to give Jimmy a call on Saturday night; see how he's holding up - make sure the kids haven't tied him up or locked him in the cupboard under the stairs :)

Watch out, Nastia!

Helen wanted to take a gymnastics class, but they're 70 minutes long. Can you imagine trying to entertain the boys while she's doing her thing? But God was watching out for us...they offer a class for 3 year-olds at the same time, for 45 minutes, and DJ was game to try it. So they both get to do something fun, and then I only have to entertain James, and then DJ for a short time. AND...Metro (in Tualatin) has remodeled in the 2 years since we were last there and they've got this great upstairs observation area with toys and television monitors. And you can see your kids wherever they're at in the apparatus rotation. Cool!

So of course we missed the first lesson because we didn't sign up till last week, so we didn't know about a very special guest that was at the gym on Tuesday. There were all sorts of group pictures being taken and then a long autograph line. I had to ask another mom who the guy was. It was Paul Hamm, the Olympic Gymnast who won gold in 2004. Dude is pretty short. The kids seemed thrilled.

Helen nearly busted her nose falling while attempting a handstand, and DJ made me hold his hand for the first 15 minutes (at the same time I was holding onto James and wearing a 20 pound backpack), but I snuck away when they changed location. He ended up having a great time.

He just needs to try and take a nap between preschool and gymnastics class on Tuesdays. Hahahahahahahah. I tried 3 different times to get him to nap today, and he would NOT. I even drove around after Helen came home, and went to a park in Newberg to tire him out. He didn't fall asleep on the way home, and then he went into complete meltdown after we came back. The kid gets so tired but just won't give it up, and then it becomes a way bad scene. The good news is that out of 3 days of preschool, he hasn't wet his pants. *knocks on wood*

School Daze

The house is much quieter with Helen off to school. She's a second grader this year, but you wouldn't know it. She was not very eager to go back and has been quite shy, not even playing with her friends at recess. I think she just needs to ease back into the swing of things. At least I got her to buy some new clothes. Isn't this a cute "first day of school" outfit?

That night she lost her first tooth. There was a bit of drama because it was very loose and she was greatly bothered, but she let Jimmy pull it out. What a brave girl! And the tooth fairy left her a nice, new gold dollar coin.

And then there's DJ. I signed him up for pre-school, just because. I have since gone back and forth about if he really needs it. Mostly it's because he's not interested in potty training. He's pee'd on the carpet more than Kelsey ever did. Yesterday he did it in Helen's closet, all over her shoes (what is he, a vengeful cat?). And let's not even mention the poop. Helen was at least able to ask for a pull-up when she needed to poop and refused to do it in the toilet. DJ just stands there and does it in his underwear. That is a gross thing to clean up, let me tell you. But I had a nice conversation with my sister Christi, a preschool teacher, and she told me it's great that DJ has an activity he can call his own. Poor middle children often get pulled into the orbits of their older and younger siblings, but if school is a good fit for him, he'll have it all to himself.

So Tuesday after we get back from taking Helen to school, I get a phone call from DJ's preschool. "Where is DJ?"

"School starts today?" Uh....I thought it started Thursday. But it worked out well - we went to see his teacher after school that day and he got to see the classroom and playground and talk to his teacher without the other kids around. Like she said, I was busy enough getting Helen ready, and trying to get DJ ready too might have sent us 'round the bend. So we dropped him off this morning and all went well. Neither of us cried - the two other boys that were there were really wailing for their moms, so I guess that's good. And the teacher and her helper both told me not to worry about the potty thing. What lovely ladies!

Now James is asleep and I have the peace and quiet I don't get very often. My parents will be here soon - James has an appointment at OHSU this afternoon and they're watching the big kids. Hopefully this will be our last trip up there. James is now eating well and I don't think it should be a concern anymore.

Now I'm off to enjoy a grown-up show. Our TiVO has several episodes of last season's shows that I never watched. Maybe I'll get to see them before the new shows start!