just pictures of Christmas Eve and Morning

Merry Christmas to all

So as I'm sure you've all already realized because nothing has been in your mail box's for a while now the Fox's did not send a Christmas Card this year.. for that I'm sorry We love you all so much, but, well I'm over it.. I'll put forth the effort next year i promise as long as there are no ice storms which make us powerless and school-less for days on end then you can count on a cute card from us to you no problems...

But this also kind of gets me out of the dreaded Christmas Letter that I always send.. I use to make fun of mercilessly the Christmas letters we would get as a kid then of coarse I followed suit when I had kids and now since I blog it seems kind of well too much or redundant so if i can resist it next year I'll just direct everyone here to see what we are up to..

In all I'm happy with our our 2008 has turned out.. we've all learned allot and have had lots of fun family time.. don't get me wrong we have had our fair share of fights and tears among us all BUT that's what it's all about isn't it?? I am SOOO thankful for all of my family, what a great plan our Heavenly Father put forth putting us in Family's, We've experienced some great time with the extended fam on Both sides memories we will not soon forget... I am also Thankful for all of my friends... I have come to depend on my friends so much since moving far from family and it's something I have kind of had to learn to do and I'm so thankful Heavenly Father sent me good friends!!!

This Christmas time I need to say that I am so thankful for our Savior Jesus Christ for his Birth and for his ultimate sacrifice in the Atonement which helps me daily in making correct choices and giving me a break when I don't make great choices.. I have tried to make a renewed commitment to remember what Christmas is REALLY about and I feel like I still need work on that regard (not in the knowing but in the expressing and living) but it has helped me so much this year to take a breath and enjoy and remember the season...

We have had an awesome but FAST 2008 and I look forward to what 2009 has to bring..
we love you all!!!
ta ta

p.s. I'm getting irony that this post is kinda like the Christmas letter i always send.. I guess old habits die hard!!! haha

The Aftermath

So somehow loosing 2 days with out power and 3 days of school has sent my schedule into a tale spin.. how can this be I am wondering myself... So as of today don't expect a Christmas Card from the NH Fox's unless I can pull something together tomorrow it's not happening and I'm kinda leaning towards not stressing about it.. I don't know why I'm feeling so much like a slug this year for bagging the cards.. We haven't missed many years and when we have we have had "good excuses" usually a big move or something of the such.. this year a little Ice hampered my December, not only that but am I the only one who feels like 2008 has whizzed by and never looked back... I've got like 3 tiny little Christmas gifts to still get which I hope to find tomorrow then we take the kids shopping for each other on Monday, we actually ALWAYS wait until the last minute for the kids because they still can't keep their mouth's shut about what they have gotten each other.. but I'm feeling pretty good, I've stayed with in budget, I'm not completely stressed and I'm trying VERY hard to just take the "if it gets done fine if not oh well" attitude! and I"m trying even HARDER to have the Christmas Spirit and show my kids WHAT Christmas is all about. I mean we've always talked about the true meaning of Christmas we've had our fair share of FHE lessons.. so they know it but when they see a frazzled mother running every which way what message is that sending???
anyway I hope you all are enjoying the season.. I'm getting excited for a relaxing day and then taking off to AR the day after!!!
luv to all..
ta ta

School's in sesson for now...

So today the kids went back to school.. I personally feel like it should have been a 2 hour delay due to the road conditions BUT thankfully I'm not the one who has to make those decisions, and I haven't heard of any Bus accidents yet so all must be well... and yesterday I seemed to have come down with an AWFUL cold and am feeling like dying might be the best remedy but Ben feels I get a little dramatic when I'm sick..

Tomorrow very well may be a snow day it is still snowing as I type this and we are suppose to get ANOTHER storm with even more snow tonight into tomorrow... I have to say I'm not so keen on a snow day tomorrow as I stated before I HAVE THINGS TO DO although Brad could babysit he's been doing great lately I just don't know if my car can handle TONS of snow.. I have All Wheel Drive which is a step below 4 wheel drive but it's not a very heavy car so even though all 4 wheels turn it doesn't always mean I can get around EVERYWHERE.. in fact i got it stuck in the ice on our driveway Sunday night.. I don't think I'll live that down with Ben any time soon...

So I'd Ben in Bed right now if I didn't have to Take KayLea to school at 11:55 and as long as i know FOR SURE Ben will be home in time to pick up the kids I'll be taking the afternoon off and popping some NyQuil but of coarse it's snowing so I'm sure Ben has no clue when he'll be home.. story of my life~!!!

anyway hopefully this all made since I did take some day Quill earlier today and so there's no guarantee's I'm firing with all my brain cells at this moment..
tata

School is scheduled for TOMORROW!!!

only problem.. we are to get a wintery mix tonight and up to 3-4 inches tomorrow morning.. followed by ANOTHER storm coming in by thursday afternoon.. i REALLY need the kids to go to school friday I have some odds and ends to pick up for Santa and I have class parties on Mon. and Tue. then schools out for Christmas break so Maybe mother nature will take it easy on us poor new englanders for the next few days..
this poor mom hopes so!
ta ta

How could something so Pretty cause so much TROUBLE!!

the pretty red bush in our side yard

So Yes i've been out of pocket or a few days.. and YES the state of New Hampshire is in a state of emergency but we are all GREAT!!! Thursday night (into Friday morning) we had a massave ice storm the likes of which Ben feels were worse than even what we saw in Texas or Arkansas... everything was covered in a lovely layer of clear ice which made things glissen and seem very pretty but which also wrecked havoc on everyone's electrical lines in the state.. 2 out of every 3 households did not have power we lost power after Ben left for work on Friday morning (he leaves around 2am) and didn't get it restored until around 11am Saturday.. it was a rough night but we all camped out in the living room with a sheet blocking the hall to try to keep in as much of the warm from the fireplace as we could.. this is actually the first time since moving here (to NH not just this house) that we lost power for more than an hour or so.. but on the whole we did pretty well, we had enough drinking water and food, we learned allot too.. we MUST MUST MUST buy a cord of wood or 2 when it is cheep again in the spring.. better yet Ben has grand plans to get a chain saw and cut our own from our property and do it early enough so that it will dry during the summer and be good for burning in the winter.. we need more back up games, entertainment for the kids.. they played every game we own more than twice and it was starting to get ugly by sat. morning... the only thing I hadn't gotten around to yet in this house is storing non drinking water in jugs to use to flush toilets.. see here in the sticks where you have a well and a pump no electricity also means NO WATER.. so I had to make a run to the grocery store that was running on generator to buy the last 13 gallons of DISTILLED water which wasn't 2 for a dollar like the drinking water it was a DOLLAR each.. but let me tell you i did it and paid happily.. because as ugly as it was it would have been WAY more tragic if we couldn't flush the toilet for 30 hours.. we also learned we need to look into getting a generator and maybe a fireplace insert.. see our fireplace is well just that a brick/cement enclosed with a rack for wood it does keep a fire but it doesn't really warm the room very well.. and if we got a generator we could at least run a space heater enough to warm the room and the fire could keep it warm etc..

I actually think the kids faired pretty well.. they took it on as an adventure and really only got board come sat morning when we all didn't sleep too well.. here are some pic's of our evening

above is Ben getting his clothes ready for work by flashlight

above the kids all with their beds spread on the living room floor playing monolopy... we survived but it was REALLY cold!!!

So we are all back up and running and we are grateful we were prepared.. of coarse we could do better but in all things it probably took something like this to really get us to know what we needed so i'm grateful this was a mild senario so we wern't out of luck! Keep the families in our great state in your prayers there are MANY MANY people still out of power, and they say those in the outlined areas (ALLOT of people) may not get power until the end of the week... we had a snow day Friday and today and they have already said no school tomorrow.. our elementary school still doesn't have power and with SO many roads still unpassable it is unsafe for the busses to run.. so I very well may be forgetting how greateful I am if we have too many more days off of school.. the only bright side to these days off are because the state delcared a state of emergency the state may very well forgive these days so we won't be going to school until AUGUST!!! all in all I am more grateful than anything else that we are all safe and no worse for ware!!

ta ta

Tis the Season

So we decorated the tree tonight for Family Home Evening... yes we have FHE on what ever night we can squeeze it in each week (if were lucky I'll admit it we don't get EVERY week in) Ben insists we got a "charlie Brown" tree this year.. only because we got a different variety, I have no clue what variety we usually get but this year I just fell in love with this Frazier fur it seems to have less branches and you can see right through to the trunk but I think it's cute and It fits perfectly in the space (after we cut a little bit from the bottom and the top) it's sucking up a ton of water so hopefully that's a good sign the guy at the lot swore it was cut down with in a day or so of when we got it.. so we'll see if I ever want to get this variety again.. we actually REALLY considered a fake tree this year but opted for tradition and so it was Chinese food and tree hunting at the same lot we've gone to since we moved here.. although i have to admit a fake one is getting more and more appealing..

So all is well in the Fox home as we are gearing up for Christmas

ta ta

Back among the Blog

So I've had my new keyboard for almost 4 days now but haven't had time to sit down and get it installed when tonight i got it out of the box and read the directions and it took all of 30 seconds to plug it into the usb port and whaaalaaa it works! so i should have let Brad have at it.. anyway so now if you e-mail me i can actually answer you in more than a few sentence responses (if you've received an e-mail from me in the last 7-9 days it was typed via an on screen keyboard that i hunt and peck with my mouse so that's the reason for the awful grammar and typos etc. my excuse now.. I'm getting use to a new fancy ergonomic keyboard)...

Anyway not much new we went and got a Christmas Tree today but it's not actually decorated it's at least up in the living room to be decorated tomorrow night for family night...

Well I'm about half finished with Christmas shopping and I haven't even thought of Christmas cards yet so hopefully something brilliant will come to me before the end of next week.. this is where i always swear I'm going to write myself a letter telling myself not to get stressed and frazzled and just go with the flow and the kids will be fine with what ever they get regardless..
but then the evil KyLeyne comes out and tells me all the lies we all hear.. my kids MUST have this and that and a little more this or they will be horribly disappointed and Christmas will be ruined etc. etc.. which I know in my heart is a load of bull but it's another one of those balance things I'm obviously still trying to learn... am I the only one who has such conflicting emotions this time of year??? don't tell me I probably don't want to hear I'm the only wacko... I've set kind of a strict budget for the kids this year and actually it has REALLY helped me to just be able to say "nope not this year" I've actually shared the budget with Brad and he actually seemed to appreciate and be able to narrow down his "list" and really think about what he wants this year.. KayLea still doesn't have a great concept of money etc. so sharing the budget with her would be futile but actually since she just had a birthday she's actually one I'm at a loss for what to get her.. the few things she has asked for are VERY inexpensive so she may actually come under budget and have the "most" things under the tree.. the boys are learning that the older they get the fewer actual gifts they have under the tree but they realize they are "better" gifts..
I'm rambling now... it seems a little therapeutic to write this all out.. thanks guys for listening!!!

I'm sure there has been more going on but for the life of me I can't think of anything.. hope everyone had a great thanksgiving ours was VERY laid back and GREAT!!!

love to you all!
tata

And so it begins

This is what we woke up to this morning the kids were so excited but by the time we woke up it had turned from snow to rain... our ski resort isnt going to be to pleased with all their expensive snow being melted away by the rain... i probably wont be posting for a couple days my key board bit the dust im posting now with the on screen keyboard and it takes FOREVER!!! anyways have agood thanksgiving everyone

tata

Prayers a plenty

So I know we are on the East coast and so it's kinda the middle of the night for everyone who probably reads my blog but I'm requesting some prayers.. Hunter has a Dr's appt today he's totally fine and will be FINE and i wish I could say what we were going in for exactly but I'm feeling like my little Man wouldn't want me to share this bit of trouble he's had his whole life on the world wide blog.. those close to us probably know and if you don't well just give little prayer that things at the Dr will go smoothly and the wheels of slow diagnosis and resolution will be swift, correct and lasting... and He has had this issue his whole life but he's getting to an age where it could create some issues for him (we've been treading water up until now) so it's time to take action..
I haven't been worried one bit about this Dr's visit until last night when I had some AWFUL dreams that had Hunter going to Boston to the Children's hosp for urologist appts and surgery which are TOTALLY the WORST case scenario's and anyway we have an EXCELLENT hospital just a half an hour away that I know for a FACT has pediatric urologists so the going to Boston although wouldn't be the end of the world is just un probable and my TOTAL neurotic tendencies and our history with Children's hospital brings up a FEAR beyond all others (for clarification we LOVED LOVED LOVED our Children's hosp with Lane it's just a trigger!)
so maybe I'm needing a few of those prayers for ME so I'll probably update this before ANY of you are even awake so don't fret I promise all will be well..
Ta, TA

UPDATE: Back from the Dr. the visit went well.. Hunter's Anatomy is PERFECT so nothing a urologist or any other Dr. would/could fix.. we have a new prescription and a new game plan.. Dr was very delicate with Hunter and Hunter took an active roll in the discussion.. Hunter's Mom has chilled out and is feeling much better!... this parenting thing can get rough.. who knew!
thanks for all your support and prayers.. luv ya....

KayLea's Birthday is DONE!!!

So KayLea had her friend party yesterday and we all have fun hangovers today... we had 10 kids she invited her whole class (12 kids) plus one friend from church for some reason I couldn't remember my hard rule as to why we don't invite the "whole class" the last time I was talked into this maddness was Hunter's 6th birthday party... is it something like not remembering how much having a baby hurts when your contemplating having another?? of coarse Hunter's 6th b'day class was twice as big as KayLea's so I justified it in my mind I think.. but I digress.

the Theme for her party was "Mad Hatters Tea Party" because when KayLea has been planning this party in her mind for the last few months she wanted a "fancy Nancy tea party" which is a very girly theme.. when School started she discovered her very best friend at school is Kevin a boy, so she was torn as to what to do she has also really formed great friendships with all her class mates.. so we fiddled a bit with the theme and made it a boy girl party..

I think the kids had fun, we made Mad Hatter Hats (thanks Mom for giving me the idea about the plates.. it took a google search but I found a variation of what you described) the boys helped by decorating the house with streamers (they also helped clean!) and Ben made a REALLY good cream cheese frosting for the cup cakes.. the boys also tried to do games but the kids weren't really into the games they just wanted to run around the house and play.. KayLea got lots of fun presents and 90 minute party seemed to pass by very quickly and all the kids were gone.. the house was in a little bit of shambles but really it didn't take long to get it back together and we are good for another year..

a few things we discovered.. as much as KayLea likes the boys in her class it seemed like the boys all congregated together and the Girls did the same.. so I think next year I'm not giving in and we'll do just a "girl party"

all in all it was a fun, exhausting, entertaining day KayLea had a blast!

ta ta

letter of the law vs. spirit of the law

So Brad has been ready to advance in scouting getting both is first and second class rank advancement oh for about 6 months now.. the hold up.. his scout leader was out of town the whole summer (he's a law student) THEN he was promptly released (AFTER he returned) and was hard to track down for a few months to sign his book and for some reason NO ONE else would sit down and talk with the boy and vouch that he had done these seemingly simple things (which in reality each individual thing was not so hard the on the hole was ALLOT).. ANOTHER hitch was our then scoutmaster was working a job where he was working tons of hours and wasn't available for many weeks then he moved leaving us with out a scoutmaster and the combo of it all put the whole program into kind of a tale spin.. we NOW finally have a new scoutmaster and the boys really like him but he's REALLY into scouting which on the whole is an AWESOME thing BUT he's also a stickler; in Brad's scoutmaster conference to get the for mentioned 1st and 2nd class rank advancements he asked Brad to show him some kind of knot which was passed off with a date way back in December of last year Brad couldn't show him the knot and so he wouldn't pass off the conference.. I was supportive of the leader in front of Brad saying "YEA you need to work on those" but REALLY FRUSTRATED with in my own mind and thoughts (don't worry i'm repenting)..
THANKFULLY in our scout committee meeting today I repeated a condensed version of the whole saga of why it's taken so long for Brad and some of the other boys to get these seemingly simple rank advancements completed and WHY some of the recollection of the elements of the advancements might be a little fuzzy and he understood and said he'd consider the scoutmaster conference done and let him advance BUT he'd still work on those knots with Brad because in his words "its ridiculous for a 1st class scout to not know the **whatever i can't remember the name** knot" in which I whole heatedly agree..

The other issue we have in the Fox home.. Ben didn't really do scouts he went to scout camp a few years in a row and got the EXACT same merit badges each year. he doesn't even remember what rank he made it to.. he was very into soccer and he had some leaders that insisted he choose which he did.. Soccer.. and so although we whole heartly support Brad and want him to succeed in scouting, it's as long as he's into it etc. we aren't going to be the type of parents who will prevent him from getting his drivers license or what ever else parents are doing these days to bribe their boys into getting their Eagles.. I want brad to get his Eagle as long as HE wants to get his Eagle.. enough said on that my only point with this is when I told Ben what our Scoutmaster said about the knot he basically said knots are knots who needs to know more than one way to get two pieces of roap to stick together.. then I reminded him that he knew several knots to get a fishing hook to stay on the line etc.etc.. he then gave me that look.. and said.. "those are useful knots!" HAHAHA!!! i guess you remember whats important to you..

So the lesson learned here.. I'm not quite sure yet.. that maybe the letter of the law is always good and OFTEN necessary.. but when a Mom pleads your case in regards to the Spirit of the Law and is NICE and not bit&&y then allot can get done...
ta ta

Busy Birthday for her or me??

So KayLea's Birthday is passed, She got to open ONE present in the morning (the sweater she's wearing in the pic's) although she wasn't too happy it wasn't toys (she was told she had to wait for the "toys" for when Daddy got home from work) she managed ok.. we went out to breakfast (Dunkin Donuts) and then she picked her favorite lunch (McD's) then off to school.. she brought in yummy brownies for her class and she had a GREAT DAY she came home to a Lasagna dinner and yummy brownie sundae's for her desert (does this girl know how to pick a birthday dinner or what?).. Then she opened markers for her doodle bear, an art set and some hair stuff and fun lip gloss (she has one more "big" presant waiting for her party) I had to quick sing happy birthday and eat quick cuz Brad and I had to skedaddle to the Church for a Temple Trip Ben was gracious enough to deal with the mess and kids so I could go with the youth.. did I mention I HAVE A GREAT HUSBAND!!! he actually had to wake up super early this morning for work and won't be home until VERY late tonight so yea, I'm sure he wasn't super excited for me to just take off amidst birthday kayos but he fared pretty well..

So I'm not sure we were the smartest parents on the planet KayLea's friend party isn't until next sat (Ben's work schedule couldn't handle a party today) so I'm sure we'll be in Birthday bliss for another week here in the Fox home but somehow it always seems KayLea's birthday lasts pretty much the whole month of Nov!
I'm recovering from little sleep but I'm a proud momma for sure!
Ta TA

Random Scattered Thoughts

So My thoughts are a little scattered this evening, Mostly because I'm worried I'm going to forget that we have a day off of school tomorrow... are we the only ones who have the freakish week of going to school Monday after a weekend then having tomorrow Veterans day observed on TUESDAY, come on people doesn't anyone realize the practicality of a 3 day weekend?? but I'm not going to b'grudge a day off of school i guess, not sure what we are going to do we FORCED the children to clean their little fingers to the bone this weekend so the house isn't looking too shabby a few touch ups and I think maybe a movie is in order but I don't have a clue whats playing any suggestions for the 6-13 crowd??

My hair is in desperate need of a cut again BUT because the original cut was NOTHING what i asked for I'm resisting, I need a little more length but short stuff in the back close to my neck is getting outrageous.. I've hit the "ugly stage" in the worst possible way.. I'm thinking of going in (insisting on anyone EXCEPT for who did it last) and asking for JUST the back done.. I'm sure that can't happen but a girl can dream can't she!?

My little baby girl is turning 6 on Friday, can you believe it?? I can't!!! I had a moment last week, she for some reason was very cuddly and she fell asleep in my arms, I'll admit i got a little teary just holding her realizing that her time where she'll cuttle with me might be running out.. I've never felt sad that I won't have any more kids it was a complete answer to prayer BUT it's that i am completely and utterly Totally out of Baby mode.. we don't have a stash or baby seats or pack and plays in the attic or basement.. when KayLea and the boys grow out of clothes that still have some life they go straight into the give away pile and not in cataloged boxes to be saved for more kids.. KayLea is a great girl and is kind and sweet and Very EAGER to learn just about everything she can.. She can also be a thorn in her brother's sides at the drop of a hat BUT in return her brothers defend her at even the hint of anyone being mean to her.. I pitty the boy who tries to date her..

KayLea came to our lives when we desperately NEEDED her.. we had prayed and prayed for a Healthy baby our hearts had been shattered in a million pieces and were it not for the VERY strong promptings that we had ONE more child waiting for us we might have just settled on the family we already had to not tempt our Hearts being broken in 2 million pieces, I have even admitted that I prayed for a girl, I felt VERY justified in this what i figured was a righteous desire due to the fact that the Heart Defect Lane had was more predominate in boys (purley statistical there is really no medical reason why more boys that girls have his particular defect).. We tried and tried and what seemed to be an answer to prayer we got pregnant, it resulted in a miscarriage and not a pretty one (is there such thing?) and we had to wait 6 months to "try" again, you might as well have told us we had to wait a hundred years I was upset etc. etc. it had taken us QUITE a few months (almost 7-8 i think) to get pregnant and our hearts had been broken again BUT I knew we had another child to add to our family.. this time I prayed for a Child not a girl, not a boy heck as long as what ever would grow in my body had a 4 chamber heart and was healthy I really didn't care what we had.. on my 6th month visit to get the OK to go ahead and try again I WAS PREGNANT.. I even have to admit it was a pretty smooth pregnancy except for my wild imagination and doing fetal movement counts every night in bed.. we had every sonogram known to man to make sure she was healthy and Ben and I both cried when we saw those chambers of the heart and SHE WAS A GIRL.. I could admit then that i REALLY wanted a girl but of coarse we would have loved another boy anyway.. she came right on time and she healed our hearts.. I know babies shouldn't be born in to this world to be or do anything for anyone else BUT she did we gave her Lane's name as her middle name so she would know she had a brother that she would only meet in pictures and stories but who was so much apart of our forever family..

I've rambled and for that I'm sorry it's been an emotional week for me really having LITTLE to do with KayLea's birthday but i'm feeling better and I guess I just had to get it all out!
ta ta

Hip-Hip-Horray!~

THE ELECTION IS OVER..

Ok I know I'm a few days late but I seem to be a BUSY girl these days so ya.. So of coarse the person I voted for didn't win but to be honest I'm not feeling like it's the end of the world.. Maybe because I have a very cynical view of both the candidates and I'm fairly certain that our new president won't be able to do nearly what he's promised.. I'm not so much worried about his tax plan mostly because again I'm not so sure things are going to change all that much.. if I'm wrong don't worry I'll whine and complain because you see I VOTED so i get to whine and complain if things go bad..

Last night in Relief Society I and my friend somehow got into a political conversation with another lovely lady who I do like very much.. she basically said it was another sign of the last days.. I don't think THIS is a sign I think there are FAR more signs that this MIGHT be sort of the last days but I'm wondering if my upbringing and my parents far more liberal view of the last days (and mostly questioning ANY time someone said something like that) has more to do with my opinion that I can only do what I can do, if I'm living the way I know i should (but lets face the facts, i am in NO WAY perfect) I'm not going to be able to do anything about it being the last days or not and if i AM trying to live the best life etc. etc. it won't be a terrifying prospect will it?? I'm not sure all of that made since.. Yes there are terrible things going on in the world no doubt about that.. YES our very belief's are sometimes held up for reticule and judgement BUT I am but ONE person holding hands with 4 others (my family) doing what we can do... Maybe it's not enough but it is what it is..

So I don't think it's the end of the world.. I'm more curious than nervous or scared.. I might just have to bookmark this to remind myself but that's life.. we'll just have to wait and see! as far as the blues i was/am feeling, I don't know I'm still uptight about the stockmarket, our retirement, money in general but again i'm not so sure the other guy would have made that much diff either..
ta ta

Halloween in a Small town and I mean SMALL

So actually trick or treating in our own community (technically the one community over but who's keeping track) was an interesting thing.. the last few years (it was our 3rd Halloween this year) we've either used the ward trunk or treat as our trick or treating or last year we went to a friends house quite a distance away that lived in a real honest to goodness subdivision with mass amounts of houses and the kids came home with quite a hall.. that friend sadly moved away so this year we could have either driven quite a distance again to go with friends who also would be driving a distance and just glom onto another community to where we didn't know any one or know where the heck we were going.. we opted to go the next town over where there is a neighborhood of around 20 houses spread over about 2-3 miles and so the kids could get the experience of trick or treating and we wouldn't waste take of gas and get loss etc. etc.. win win right.. it was a great experience one that I think we will keep up (unless a better offer comes up of coarse) but here's the thing about doing this in a VERY SMALL town... most everyone gave the standard treats snickers, reeces there were still the cheep treats bit-o-honey and dum-dums and of corase the non decrypt dollar store fair BUT 2 places gave home made treats and one hadn't gotten them wrapped in what ever she was going to wrap them in yet and just gave a very cute spice mini bunt cake with an AWESOME frosting on it.. Bradley was the recipient of this little cake and looked perplexed of coarse we've, always had the rule no digging into the candy until mom or dad has gone through it all, I don't really even remember having to throw out anything for cause unless it was a sucker that's rapper had accidentally fallen off in the may-lay of the candy bag but of coarse you can never been too careful so of coarse out it went.. when I was a child this was the routine also, I remember someone giving out popcorn balls and My mother being torn but we did throw it out (unless of coarse it came from Pat Jung's house those Mom let us dig into because we knew her!. and to be honest Pat only gave those to the kids who she knew)... so as Bradley looked at this bit of bake goodness he handed it over to me and I seemed to look at it oddly also, "what should we do?" I asked Ben, I handed it to him.. I of coarse had to lick the icing that had gotten on my hand and it was GOOD! we considered chucking it over the overpass into the river trailing the street we were on but then as Ben held it for a few more minutes I said "you could probably eat it".. He looked at me and kind of shrugged his shoulders and down it went.. He said it was good I asked him if we should go back and take down the address in case he died in his sleep.. guess what.. he said it was REALLY good kind of pumpkinnie and very spicy and no razor blades (at least that were noticed in the biting and chewing so i give it the all clear)... so here's my question to you all.. would you have eaten it?? did we set an AWFUL example to the kids?? and I think I've seen some urban legend stuff that says the razorblades in the apple and poisoned candy was kind of a over hyped up thing anyway (but maybe that's my way of rationalizing this experience)..
we did end up checking all their candy and since there weren't very many houses everything passed with flying colors except for some ginger snaps that actually looked store bought but were in a zip loc bag.. guess what we did chuck them but I wonder if we would have if it was actually a cookie that we all would have enjoyed Hmmmmm.
ta ta

Halloween

Where the heck did October go??? I'm a horrible sister and daughter Happy birthday Steph and Mom when I call on Sunday I'll be apologizing over and over for not calling on your birthday and oh yea happy anniversary to you and Dad too HECK I'm just not doing well.. I have a million excuses but none that should keep me from remembering these things!

Ok On to Halloween this week for family night we carved the pumpkins.. this proved to have a slight slow start because I had put the pumpkins on the front porch after I got them (you know to look festive) and well they kind of froze a little bit not enough to make them yucky when they thawed only enough to when we brought them in and warmed them up they had ALLOT of condensation on them which made the first step of tracing the stencil kind of difficult especially with the market that was provided.. to top this off the boys convinced us they were old enough to be in charge of one of the pumpkins and with Ben's urging i caved and said ok.. so they chose their design from the stencils and off they went..

so here's the before pic of both pumpkins after the tracing (ok I get you can't really see anything but go with me here!)

So after that first step off they all went cutting and sawing following the lines looking back at the stencil to see if there was something they missed.. somehow I don't have any pictures of Ben cutting away but let me tell you he did and he was into it.. the boys they were also into it and I'll have to admit there were a few times I just couldn't watch i just kept reminding them to keep their fingers away from their line of cutting

I'm happy to report no human was harmed in the cutting of the pumpkins.. only KayLea's ego because there was NO WAY she was getting a hold of anything that could cut a pumpkin and she was none to happy about that but she perked up when she was told she could set in the candles.. yippee!

So the finished products they were quite cute if I do say so my self.. the one on the right is the one the boys did the left is what Ben did under KayLea's direction

Anyway we had a fun Halloween Day ... I am room mom for both Hunter and KayLea's rooms (something I'm putting in the remember bin to NOT do both again) thankfully there are a whole troop of Mom's that understood my dilemma of not being able to be in 2 places at once and pitched in.. and luckily at least for this party KayLea's was before the Halloween parade and Hunter's was After so except for some set up in Hunter's room and clean up in KayLea's room I think I fared pretty well and we'll cross our finger for the winter party (ie: Christmas who are we kidding!) they keep the same schedule (I'm afraid no chance there!) and frankly Hunter's class really only wants the treats the crafts and games they are way too old and cool for so why am I complaining??
these first ones are of KayLea's party

Here's the parade

Hunter's Party

KayLea was a Princess Elephant, the story behind that was a conversation we had about a month ago.. but first you should know KayLea has wanted to be this Elephant for as long as she could choose a Halloween costume because it was Bradley's Elephant costume he used when he was about her age (if i was a good blogger I would scrounge up the pic of Brad in the costume but I don't wanna sorry!) it's been in the dress up trunk well before she was born.. but it was always too huge for her so this year it FINALLY fit and she has been talking for a good 6-8 months that she can FINALLY be an elephant so there's the set up here's the conversation;;

KayLea: Mom, I think i want to be a Princess for Halloween

Me: ok that's fine we can do that

KayLea; but I REALLY want to be the Elephant

Me: Fine KayLea you can be either we just need to make a decision so I can get things going if you want to be a Princess..

KayLea: But it's hard to choose

Me: I know but you HAVE TO CHOOSE

KayLea: Why do I have to choose, Why Can't I be a Princess Elephant??

me: I don't know why, I guess there is no reason YES, YES you can be a Princess Elephant!!!

So she was a princess elephant and Hunter was Elvis..

I almost forgot (probably cuz I didn't take any pictures, go figure!) we did go trick or treating.. the next town over actually has a neighborhood and by that I mean 20 or so houses semi close together.. it still was probably about a 2 mile walk but we did I guess the good part the kids felt like they fufilled their need to trick or treat but they didn't come home with too much candy.. now we had no clue if we'd get trick or treaters at our house we live on a major road so we knew we wouldn't get foot traffic but everyone knows we live here we lit the jack o lanterns i got a bag of candy (at Sam's) and NEVER cracked it open so I guess it IS a good thing the kids didn't get much candy cuz we have a TON that i purchased myself I can't win!!!

Ta, TA

busy busy busy-- or depressed not sure??

So I think I've kind of been in a depressed funk lately not sure, because usually when i feel this coming on I dive DEEP into something to pull myself out, like when in Texas years and years ago after Lane I felt a little blue and decided that would be the year we would have a HUGE garden I spent days tilling the soil getting bags of pete soil planted at least 4 different varieties of tomatoes, peppers and watermelon then I didn't feel blue anymore but I had that dam garden to tend to.. it didn't work out to well as you can imagine..

But this time I can't seem to get "into" anything.. I pulled out my scrapbook (my depression life saver when I had post pardom with Brad) and I went through it got out pictures that needed to be scrapped and just left it in a pile to be dealt with later.. I certainly have housework that NEEDS to be done but that's not appealing (but I really can't blame that on being depressed that is a constant in my life!).. and I have other projects that need started also but somehow I can't seem to get it together.. I'm keeping pretty busy at the school I'm doing both kids Halloween parties on Friday so I spent yesterday getting everything done with that.. so its not boredom for sure..

Last night I think i decided it was this darn election and the financial crisis our country is going through.. I know i vowed I wasn't going to get political again but obviously this is consuming my thoughts and sleepless nights so I have to get this off my chest and it's all just my opinion anyway so hopefully no one will take offence and If you do it's just a warning just keep it to yourself OK! I"m not to thrilled with ANY of the candidates.. for once in my life I felt like I had really researched the candidates and could really support someone in the primary election and felt my reasons were far reaching but he didn't win and it got ugly and felt like I had to defend my very belief system due to some swarmey things his running mate (who also did not win THANKFULLY) campaigned with..but NOW in this current financial mess I really feel like my candidate would be far better qualified to step in and bring us all out of this mess but of coarse that's what people call "sour grapes" ... I see the Republican candidate making every mis step you can and realise he has DONE this campaigning stuff HOW many times? and he's still stammering on meet the press which i do realize he's not getting a fair shake in the press, i get it but COME ON!!! I see the Democrat candidate resting on his laurels because he's got the election all sewin up, I don't have confidence in EITHER of the candidates.. I still haven't decided who I'll check when I'm in the voting booth and If I didn't think it was going to be such a close election I might just pick whom ever is on the ballot on the green or libertarian ticket but I don't feel like that is a good choice either right now..

I think I might have a seasonal blues thing going too my pretty fall that I love so much has pretty much led to seeing what looks to be dead trees and a big mess and not even pretty white yet.. it flurried off and on all day yesterday Ben and I took a drive up to the mountain and it was actually sticking about 20-30 feet up so it's coming. the Heater is in a constant state of on although we are trying to keep it lower than we have in the past and asking the kids to put on socks and sweaters.. we'll see how long that lasts..

I don't want anyone to worry about me I"m find I've got this all off my chest and I can only pray that after next Tuesday I'll have a re-newed energy no matter what happens!
ta ta

I got it!!!

So I got my Fall Family Picture today... After MANY wines and cries about what i wanted everyone to wear and how I wanted a little girl's hair.. I think it turned out OK.. it was a little cold so everyone claimed I was freezing them out but this is the price we pay for NOT doing it on Monday when it was sunny and warm...

So for now i'll have to be happy with it.. we'll curl up by the fire and with in a few days all those pretty leaves you see behind us will be gone and nothing but dead looking trees will remain now if I could only photo shop my double chin and make Brad look a little more HAPPY!!!

ta ta for now

is it still????

So this blog post came to me last night while i WASN'T sleeping and I thought about waiting to post it since I just did a post yesterday BUT alas I'm sure I'd forget it so here goes..

• will I still get the blessings of donating hair to Locks of Love if I'm Cursing the haircut that was the result??

• Is it ok if with every good intention I purchased aprox 14+ pounds of Butternut Squash (it was on sale at Sam's) to only realize WE ALL HATE Butternut squash soup.. I made a HUGE pot of it and now it's in my freezer to await the assignment of taking a meal into someone.. is it still service if it's actually a blessing that someone is taking this stuff off my hands?? ok I actually found the soup kind of yummy but it needed ALLOT of salt which made me think of the time when Gina and I went to New York and my awesome aunt Carol took us to a Mediterranean restaurant we we both had a Hummus platter for the first time.. we were STARVING and we kept piling on the salt its when i discovered I'm not so adventurous in the food department (which I REALLY should have considered before taking this recent culinary leap with B.N.Squash)

• in the same token I'm thinking of making ANOTHER big pot of it because I still have 4 squashes staring at me.... judging me.. but I've only been asked to take 1 meal in the last YEAR so the chances of unloading 2 yucky meals is slim to none! but the guilt of throwing out produce is just too much to bare.. what would you do with them??



• I've decided TEACHING is a noble profession and a PERFECT "mom job" but volunteering on this musical has made me realize it's just not my calling I want to ram the kids heads together when they are acing up, Hunter's teacher has WAY more patience than I do.. I kind of already knew Teaching was out for me after teaching pre-school if my kid isn't involved I'm kinda board and not that excited (which begs the question as to why am i having issues with the play... Hunter is in it! hmmm) but with the prospect of going back to school in the next few years it has come across my mind to give it a go again (teaching I mean) is that bad that I don't want to do that??

so that's my wacko post for today.. hopefully no one thinks they need to call CPS or even worse..

tata

Ramblings about my Day

So Fall has FINALLY arrived and since moving to New Hampshire (the above pic's are of our creek in the back yard) I have declared Fall my FAVORITE season of them all with a close second to a tie between Summer and Winter those are the FUN seasons.. Sorry Spring due to awful allergies "you are out"... i know, i know we need spring to have the others it's the growing season but I can be un-reasonable it's my blog!!!

Anyway Today was a great day because Ben had the day off and because the kids had the day off of school I had planned to take a family picture today only because the only family picture I have the boys were 2 and 4 and KayLea wasn't even born so it was HI time!! I have been seeking out the most perfect spot for a family photo since we moved here and have been waiting for JUST the right FALL moment and I think today was the day.. Ben and I had to do some errands this morning (I even picked up a tripod.. I wasn't foolin around folks!) and while we were gone the Boys had strict instructions along with a list of 2 chores each to be done by the time we got home.. huge surprise (not) they weren't done and so we said fine we'll do the pic when your done and showered and and and.. and guess what we missed our awesome opportunity Ben has to work tomorrow so he's already getting to bed and i just KNOW the wind or the rain or our busy lives is going to prevent the awesome picture I have in my head to come about.. and to prove to you what an awesome location it is here below is where I want our family pic taken...

First Choice (above)

2nd Choice (above)

3rd Choice (above)

So if you get a Christmas card with an awful pic of us in front of our Christmas tree (AGAIN!) you'll know that I was RIGHT and we missed the PERFECT day to take a pic with the fall colors.. I just know all those beautiful leaves (including the ones the boys are begging to rake on the ground but I won't let them because I WANT them in my perfect picture!!) will be GONE due to wind or rain or even dare I say it SNOW...

enough of my rant

ta ta

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FREE Weekend!!!

We have a free weekend FINALLY.. It's Columbus day weekend here and evidently new englanders take this holiday seriously in Boston there is a big parade etc. etc. here it means everyone gets the last chance garage/barn sales out of the way because cooler weather is coming.. but it ALSO means we don't have any soccer games Hunter's last official game is next Saturday but he plays both the girls teams on Tuesday and Thursday.. I have to say I'm NOT sorry to see this season be done.. Both boys have had a good time but they both have struggled with different things Hunter; with his growing pains I wish this kid would just grow and be done with the aching ankles and knees (yes he's definitely my kid) and Brad the middle school has had some orgazional and coaching struggles Ben's actually thinking about seeing what it would take for him to be able to coach next year.. we are thinking he has to be a teacher but maybe not to volunteer..

So as i said before I think I am helping with the school Musical of the Music Man Jr. and that has taken up ALLOT of my time this past week and I was asked to be the Stage manager (Ash aren't you proud) which only really means I help wrangle the kids and get people where they need to be etc.. (OK ash maybe your not so proud now haha) and I'll be the one behind stage getting kids where they need to be... It's fun but exhausting. I'm also helping with costumes which I guess i really shouldn't have said it's a "free" weekend because I'm going to go beg borrow or steel some costumes from our local summer playhouse in the next town over later today.. I just hope they have what we need.. if not there's a community theatre in Concord that let us borrow last year... Hunter got his part he's Mayor Sym's (watch the movie) he's VERY excited it's a major part so his practicing etc. paid off..

so that's what we are up to I have some pic's from soccer i have to organize but I'll get them posted some time

tata

Dog's Gone, Huge relief and weight lifted... in the words of Forest Gump "Thats all I got to say about that"..

If only I believed in Reincarnation

So We have ALWAYS said that it's too bad we don't believe in reincarnation (i know I'm sure I've butchered the spelling) because Hunter has almost ALL of my Great Grandma Mockridge's tendencies when it comes to getting ready to leave the house.. First i have to say I loved my Great Grandma VERY MUCH.. I lived with her and my Grandma Merry AND my Other great grandma Nanny, when my parents moved to Arkansas I was in College and could never have afforded to live on my own so these 3 ladies saved me in more ways than one.. Grandma Mockridge never learned how to drive she actually told a very funny story of how my her Husband (Pappa Mockridge) tried to teach her and she didn't make it through one lesson and just said something like "I'm done" and never drove ever, she always someone take her where ever she went... All of my memories of her are after Pappa died and because she didn't drive etc. she moved in with My Grandma Merry and Grandpa Jack and although i have a few flash memories of Pappa it's hard to tell if they are real or from pictures etc.. Anyway on to how Hunter and She are just alike.. When i was living with the Grandma's one of my favorite things to do was to take the Great Grandma's to do her weekly errands.. Nanny usually took her on Friday's BUT soon after i moved in Nanny had a series of strokes so the system drastically changed after that.. and although i was going to school and working full time I really tried so hard to help Grandma Merry as much as I could.. Grandma Mockridge LOVED LOVED LOVED the mall my only complaint was it took her FOREVER to get ready I mean I would have to tell her at least 2 hours before we were leaving ANYWHERE so she could primp and prime to get ready, here's the funny thing. she wasn't so much a very over done lady she just TOOK HER TIME!!! I do remember one time though that I came home unexpectedly and thought I'd just shoot her up to the mall but only had a few hours.. I came home and told her I could take her up to the Mall if she could be ready in 30 minutes.. I don't think I ever saw her move so quick and she WAS ready on time!!!
so how's Hunter like her..

Hunter Loves the long shower.. his shower yesterday was only 15 minutes and he even commented "hey I was only in there for 15 minutes that's good right mom?" which it was but the 40 minutes he was in his room brooding over what to wear kind of cancelled that out.. but his average shower is about 30 minutes and that's because after 20 i go in and tell him to "rinse and run please" He can have 40 minutes until he's got to catch the bus and all he had to do is get his shoes on and eat breakfast (we keep it simple cereal or a bagel in the morning) and he STILL is running out the door bagel in mouth almost missing the bus... I've even tried my little trick i used with Grandma (you can go _______ insert fun place.. if you can be ready in xx amt of time) it doesn't work... I think he calls my bluff and don't get me wrong Grandma would call my bluff pretty regularly too.. so you see Grandma Mockridge died just after Brad was born and so she had to give a bit of her tendencies to the next one HUNTER!!!

I've had fun remembering Grandma Mockridge so i just had to include my most favorite memory of her in her last year with us was when Dad and I went to Southern Ca for Grandma Merry's retirement party (Ben and I were down for a wedding and it just so happened to co-inside with her party) It was a surprise to Grandma Merry that Dad was down so we kind of snuck in to see Grandma Mockridge at the nursing home she was in She recognized Dad right off the bat and kind of recognized me but I was hugely pregnant with Brad and she couldn't quite place me I was warned that this was a possibility she had kind of gone a little down hill but it was a great visit.. THEN after Brad was born we visited S. CA to show him off to all the relatives Grandma Merry and I took him to the home again so Grandma Mockridge could meet him.. She just Loved on him and you would have thought she was the bell at the ball with all the other seniors gathering around like she was the pied piper with the Baby, it really sparked everyone attention and everyone there had a smile on their faces... We kept reminding her who the baby was "it's KyLeyne's Baby, Bradley" and then it all became clear why she couldn't place me before she said "No, it can't be, KyLeyne's said she'd never have babies".. and you know what, I DID SAY THAT AS A TEENAGER!!!
ahhh memories

Do you know anyone who wants a dog??

Ok so I guess I spoke too soon about the Dog staying.. We've had a few "incidents" and so we are actively looking for a new home for the dog and it's not looking good for his continued life!

Rangler, bit KayLea week before last.. Ben nor I saw the incident and after hearing the "whole story" from all the kids we surmised that she was taunting the dog with his rawhide bone (waving it in front of his face and not letting him have it when he would get close to her).. no skin was broken but she was DEFINITELY not happy and kind of skittish then he bit Hunter when they were playing (the Dog seems to get into the hipper hour like the kids each evening).. again he's still kinda a puppy so we figured no skin was broken if he REALLY wanted to bit him he could for sure..

Then he bit KayLea again and I saw it this time, he has become Bradley's protector, Brad takes him for a walk everyday and does do allot with him (cuttles with him etc) and KayLea for what ever reason looked like a threat and he nipped her wrist (same place as before) again didn't break the skin but this time did leave a pretty good bruise.. we decided then and there KayLea would have no more contact with the Dog and we had to get rid of him.. the STRAW that broke the camels back (if it wasn't already VERY STRAINED) is he bit our appliance repair guy when he was trying to get him to smell him so he's stop freaking out (again Brad had him contained and we think he took the hand coming to him as an aggressive move).,.. no skin was broken and although the guy was not happy we cleared the air when he was done fixing the washer (a story for another time it's STILL not completely fixed!).. and he said all was well..

Soo, we CAN NOT have a dog that bites but if we disclose he's a biter no Humane Society will take him either.. so we could lie but I'm just not comfortable with that because what if another family with kids gets him?? He's a very nice dog that needs to be in a family with no kids (or at least no small kids.. he loves Brad)..

So we've made some calls and are waiting back on a few Humane Society's (the ones who didn't ask if he's a biter) and we'll see if we can get him gone that way.. if not we'll have to put him to sleep.. and if you know me the thing that REALLY urks me is we just spent all that money at the VET!!!

so that's my rant for today.. I guess our reasoning that getting a dog out of "puppy stage" was the greatest idea was not so great.. they are already set in their ways and if their not use to kids etc. etc. then your screwed.. and that outweighs not having to house train OR the fact that he didn't chew etc. etc.

Oh how do we get ourselves into these things!!! We thought we were doing a great thing "rescuing" this dog and it's turned into a disaster.. i guess IF (and it's a big IF) we do this again we'll have to get a puppy from a Breeder.. it all works out to be the same cost regardless.. lesson learned!