Smarties

Ginger has the endearing trait of willingness to share. Once in a while, I let her buy some candy at the grocery store, and without fail she'll make sure to save some of it for "her friends" (her brother and sister) As soon as I got out of my room this morning, Ginger came up to me and asked: "Do you want a smartie so you'll be smart"?

She not only a good sharer, but usually is also very willing to do anything to help. When I asked her a few minutes later, to throw the rapper in the trash, I got: "Now you'll be smart, right mom"?

Trunk or Treat

Tonight our ward celebrated its annual trunk or treat. It's fun to be in a ward where the grown-ups dress us too.

Winter was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz

Sterling was the leopard (just like last year)
I was the wicked witch
Ginger wore her unicorn outfit, just long enough to take this picture
I barely recognize myself!
I got quite a few stares, and some people couldn't figure out who I was. Note to self; don't grow a big nose, get glasses, and get too old... it's not flattering.

Unfortunately Joe couldn't be there, he was on the way home from a week in Phoenix for work

Easy to Please

I wish I was as easy to please as my kids. The elementary school had their annual Fall Festival/fundraiser. I usually shy away from these kinds of events, but I've been feeling cabin feverish, without Joe around. In an effort to ward off nagging, and disappointment, I decided to give the kids an appointed amount of money. If they would do their chores, without fighting or whining, they would each get $5. Winter and Ginger ended up only getting $4, after being docked for fighting.

Once we got to the junior high parking lot, they had to buy some tickets to be able to do the activities. When I asked for $5 and 2x $4 worth of tickets, I got a little bit of an annoyed/confused look from the helping moms. All the cool kids get to buy $5 wads of tickets. I distributed the tickets, determined NOT to be the one to tell them what they could and couldn't spend them on. They wanted to spend 8 tickets ($2) on a tiny thing of cotton candy? or 4 tickets to go down a blow-up slide ONCE? Fine. I wouldn't have. But the kids were happy as clams. Winter lost track of one of her tickets, and the only thing she could get from me was "sorry, I dont' have any more money". (which was planned of course). They excitedly threw bean bags in cans, went "fishing", and picked out candy and so-called prizes. I wouldn't give a penny for those Sonic toys.

The one thing that irked me most about this whole thing, was that their teachers wanted the kids to "donate" $5 so they could rent the bounce houses. So, you want me to pay $5 to rent it, and then come and spend another $2 to let my kids jump on it?? I think my $13 donation was plenty for 1 night. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for helping the school raise money, but I'd rather they don't use the money to rent huge bounce houses, and instead buy some art supplies with it! Neither of my kids have ever come home with any art. What's wrong with that picture?

Cat Maniac

I've been struck by the craziness of our cat situation at the farm. I wanted to know how many cats we've had here, but I can simply not remember. We don't have pictures of most of them, some never had names, and some were only here for a few days. Here's what I do know.

11/6/2007 - 11/30/2007
Sunny - grey girl kitten. She disappeared after a few weeks

11/6/2007 -2/13/2008
Pumpkin - orange boy cat. He was our "dog" cat. He f0llowed you around everywhere. Unfortunately he followed the suburban a little too closely.

2/15/2008 - 9/25/2008
Brownie - calico girl cat : from Teresa's house

3/13/2008 - 9/15/2009
Scat cat - black boy cat for Sterling's birthday. He was our best mouse hunter. He started coming around the house less and less, until he just stopped coming back all together.

4/23/2008 Brownie's 1st litter: 5 kittens
2 went to Teresa's house
2 went to ward member's houses
1 died

8/30/2008 Brownie's 2nd litter: 6 kittens
4 went to the Brooks house
1 died
1 came back to our house (on 10/10): can't remember her name (whitish fluffy calico)

9/25/2008 Brownie disappears

10/10/2008 Patches is adopted from Brooks house, as well as whitish fluffy calico..

5/1/2009 - 8/30/2009
Ariel - Aubrey Brooks gave her to me at church. She died while I was at Education week.

7/5/2009 Whitish fluffy calico has 2 kittens.
Both die while I'm at Education week, and the whitish fluffy calico disappears too.

8/30/2009 Tiger - brown girl cat with cool patterns. Joe and the kids pick her out at the pet store, while I was at education week.

10/15/2009 Socks - black and white boy cat, coming from Teresa's house

So at this time we have 3 cats: Patches, Tiger, and Socks. We'll see how long they'll stick around. Patches has been with us for over a year, and I think it's because he sticks close to the house. Coyote's haven't had a chance to nab him yet. If my count is correct, that is about 21 cats/kittens over a 2 year span......

Pure Bliss

We love to get together with the Allreds. We were lucky enough to have them all last night until this morning. When we are with the Allreds, the rules change; especially for the kids. They get to eat whatever they want/don't want. I think they horked down a sleeve of Oreos each, plus a bag of candy and a bunch of 's mores. Bedtime does not exist. Sure, they'll be little helliens the next day, but we can deal with that the next day. It's just a whole night of pure bliss.

Poor Charlie isn't even a year old, and is already hosting riders. He was a little stubborn, and wouldn't walk very well, but what can you expect from a steer? When I put both Olivia and Winter up there, the poor thing just about toppled over.

We have been saving up our firewood for almost a year now, and this was the perfect occasion to burn it all up.

The cats got plenty of attention

We also found out that some door are mostly made of cardboard. It was scary to see how fast those doors went up in flames, and how much heat they created.

Mobility

After venting my frustration with my super duper slow computer on Facebook, Joe offered me the use of an extra work laptop. At first I was only using it to work on my blurb book, but I soon started using it for all my other computer needs. The more I use it, the more I don't think I can't ever live without it again.

Instead of being cooped up in my office, I can hang out with Ginger in the living room.
Instead of a hard office chair, I now sit on a soft couch.
Instead of printing recipes, I just put the laptop right on the bar, and work from there.
Instead of taking a break for going to the bathroom, it comes with me. Okay, hold on. Let me explain. I have only done this once. When I was in the middle of reading a long article, and I didn't want to rush in the bathroom......
Instead of reading a book during downtime at grandma's house, I can work on my blurb book.
And most importantly, instead of a slow internet/computer combo, I can now watch shows online, and easily browse the internet without frustration.

Unfortunately I won't have access to this laptop/sprint internet card forever. So eventually I'll have to go back to the lame bogger. Maybe next time we're up for buying a new computer, I'll choose a laptop instead of a PC.

Sell-a-bration

My baby is 4. Yep, I don't even have a toddler in my house anymore, let along a baby. I haven't had to change diapers in almost 2 years. All my kids can, and will, make their wishes known. Soon, all my kids will know how to read. We celebrated Ginger's birthday at Joe's parents house, so that everyone could be there. When I asked Ginger if she wanted to celebrate her birthday early, she looked very hurt and confused. Turns out, she thought I wanted to "sell" her birthday away. Yeah, at least they are still little enough to make cute comments like that.

Ginger loves anything to do with horses. She plays with her stick horse "Jenna", and is quite the master rider. She loves to pretend play with dress-ups, dolls, and little figurines. I was super excited to find this magnetic dress-up doll. Ginger seems to like it too!

Winter helping Ginger turn into a ballerina

She's good at twirling

Ginger decided she wanted chocolate cake. I asked her what kind of frosting she wanted: chocolate. She got very frustrated when I then asked her, what she wanted for dinner. Exasperated, she told me: CHOCOLATE CAKE!Ginger's friend Emma from Plano 8th ward

Poor Joe was feeling under the weather. Flying always seems to get him!