Halloween-Not so Bad

As I mentioned, we boycotted Trick or Treat tonight. However, we had one of the best Halloweens EVER(even Nathan said so-high praise from a cool 11 1/2 year old)! This afternoon (the kids were out of school early again!) we went to see High School Musical 3. The kids loved it, even the boys! We made a quick stop at WalMart (my least favorite store on Earth, but necessary) for flashlights (all of our old ones were nowhere to be found!) and-because I AM a cool Momma-the HSM 3 soundtrack. When we came home, Gary hid the treats we made up for a Halloween Treat Hunt. This was Gary's brainchild and it was WONDERFUL. He gets bonus points for this activity! The kids had to use the flashlights to find their 12 labeled treats. They could only pick up their own unless they asked for help. Even Grammy and Grandpa Dud came over for the fun. Once all of the treats were found, we came in for yummy s'mores. We had a great-although not at all nutritious-night! I think we may have started a new tradition!

Searching for those little treats in the dark was a little challenging, but a lot of fun!

Enjoying s'mores with the whole family! MMMMMMM, they were good!

Not a Fan

I'm not a fan of Halloween. I never have been. Gary thinks that Valentine's Day was created just for the card industry, but I think that Halloween is WORSE. I think that a bunch of people in the candy industry got together with the people in the costume industry and decided to MILK ALL OUR MONEY. I was at Target and a bag of candy was $9.00!!!! That's nuts! (It wasn't the cheap candy because I don't want to get egged, but come on!) So, that being said, we are turning Halloween into Family Night. We are taking the kids to see a movie, having a Halloween Treat Hunt (in the spirit of Easter Egg Hunt) in the dark with flashlights and making S'MORES with our S'MORE maker. That's it. We are boycotting the whole Trick or Treat thing. Go ahead, turn me into the "Worst Mom of the Year" squad, or better yet, join me in more Family Fun! Have a good night doing whatever it is you do for this fake holiday!

A Wonderful Perspective

Our elementary school is going to do the play The Nutcracker for the winder program. Any child is welcome to try out. Of course, my two girls are all over it. The boys, not so much. No problem, it's not required. Claire's tryouts were today. When she came home I asked what part she wanted, fully anticipating she would want to be Clara. I was surprised to find out I was totally wrong. Claire wants to be a dancing fairy. GREAT!!! There is only one Clara, but I assume there are several dancing fairies. Our odds are great! When I asked why she wanted to be a dancing fairy Claire had the most wonderful perspective. She said, "Momma, I get to be Claire everyday. Claire is just like Clara. I think someone else should have a chance to be Clara since I am her all of the time." I LOVE it! Sounds great to me! I hope she gets to be a dancing fairy. I know she'll be the best Claire, the dancing fairy, ever.

Communal Living

When I woke up this morning I was thinking about communal living-not the Little House on the Prairie dress, funny puffy french braid, let's all marry the same old man kind and not the let's all sell everything we own, wear all hemp clothes, raise goats and smoke pot kind, but more like the Native American or Amish kind. Maybe more like a like minded-close knit community; everyone using their gifts to make our world better.

Here's my idea...Let's all get together on a large piece of land and use our "powers" for good. I think that we should all have our own living quarters, but we could have a "club house" where we can all come together and eat, watch movies, etc. and be together. Everyone would have their own job to do-but it would be one that you love to do. If you like to cook (OOH OOH OOH, ME, ME, ME!!!!) you get to cook. If you like to clean-and I hear that you crazy people are out there!-your job is to keep the place clean. If you like laundry, your job is to fight all of those stains and get the laundry done. If you love to play with kids that's your job. Of course, those of you that like to work, well, you pay the bills. All in all, I am convinced that if we lived like this we would all be happier. I guess that it's my own little idea of utopia, everyone living happily ever after doing what they were placed on Earth to do. What do you think? Would it work? Wanna come live in my little world?

My Mother's Words

This summer when I was soooooo hot, I swore that I wouldn't complain about being cold this winter. I would very happily put a sweater on and move along on with my day. Well, I can't help it, I AM COLD! Our mild fall here in Maryland has quickly run off and left us with a preview of winter! As I am sitting here I am wearing a sweatshirt, sweatpants and socks. I HATE socks, but without them my toes are numb. Now, a smart person might ask why we don't just turn the heat up. Great question! Our heat is electric (the old house was gas and always warm) and expensive! Actually we have the heat set at the same temp we had at the old house, but electric heat just isn't as warm. This brings me to My Mother's Words. I just heard my mom come right out of my mouth! Picture this:

Claire runs by with her new playdough creation wearing nothing but a tank top and pajama pants.

Momma: Claire go put a sweater on please.
Claire: Why Momma?
Momma: Cause it's cold!
Claire: No it's not, not to me.
Momma: Well it is to me. Go put a sweater on.
At this point, my hand covers my mouth because mom's words just came right out of ME! I see on Claire's face just what I always thought as a kid-Momma, I'm not cold. If you are YOU put a sweater on.
Momma: Never mind, honey. You run around cold just like I used to and one day you'll say the same thing to your kids.

What can I say. I really have become my mother!

BFF

If you know us, you know that I have REALLY close children. So close, that 3 had to be born at the same time (the triplets)! They are each others BFFs. I was watching the kids yesterday and realized that they are so LUCKY! I have one brother and he is wonderful. As a matter of fact, there has never been on the face of the earth a brother loved more than mine. That being said, he is 8 1/2 years younger than me. We didn't have the normal sibling relationship-it was more of a maternal thing on my part (shocker I know). So, watching my kids-5 in 5 years-has been interesting to me. Collin and Danny in particular are really neat. Being identical, they have a different bond than "normal". I was watching them play with Collin's remote control Hummer and they don't have to talk to communicate. It's not the first time I have noticed this, of course. It is natural to them thus happens often. That's cool to me! They not only look alike, but they share a brain! Collin is right handed and Danny is left, so their brain split in an interesting way-they complete each other. I don't know about you, but I would love to share this brain with someone! I think it would be great to know that no matter what, there is someone out there that "gets it". My prayer is that the kids always stay close to one another. What a blessing it would be for them.

Milestones

I admit it, I'm now addicted to this blog thing. I went to bed to get some much needed sleep...but do you think I am asleep? Nope, I'm laying in bead writing IN MY HEAD a new entry for this silly blog. Well, maybe after I get it out of my head and into the computer I'll go to sleep!

Anyway, when your children are small, milestones come pretty quickly. First smile, rolling over, first giggle, first steps...you know what I mean. Well, as they get a little older, those milestones are fewer and farther between. Well, today, Kaylyn and I have had a milestone. Today, Kaylyn gave me a pair of HER earrings to wear. She bought some earrings at Target this weekend with a gift certificate from her birthday, and today she had me wear a pair because it matched my shirt. Now, are they my style (hot pinkish/purple dangle hearts)...not really, but you know I wore them all day today just because she gave them to me. I was in bed thinking that this is really the first time I have been able to share jewelery with Kaylyn. Hmmmm, I think that was worth writing about-a true Momma/daughter milestone. Thanks, Kaylyn, for being such a wonderful "big girl" and sharing with your Momma!

Now that that's out of my head, maybe sleep will enter it! Sweet dreams!

The Sweetest Words

Ok, about a year ago, we moved to the country. We moved from my hometown and away from the only home the children could remember. As a momma, this caused a considerable amount of stress in my life-worrying about the children and how they would handle it. Thankfully, it seemed to me that they settled in nicely, loving school, making friends, and generally seeming happy. Of course, being a over anxious momma, I still worried. Well, today, my wonderful, sweet, very sensitive daughter, Kaylyn, said just the right thing. As we were making jello jigglers for Claire's class party, Kaylyn looked at me and said, "Momma, I think that we have grown closer as a family since we moved. Don't you, Momma? Don't we spend more time together as a family?" Ok, the heavens opened, the angels sang and my eyes filled with tears. "Yes, honey, I think we are much closer. I love it, what about you?" Thank you Lord for the affirmation!

Welcome to the Nest!

My girlfriend, Susan, is to blame for getting me into this silliness. Thanks for visiting my little blog. Hang on and you will get a little window into our crazy world of 1 daddy, 1 momma, 5 chidren and a puppy living in the country. I hope that you have as much fun visiting as I do living it! Please come back soon for future blogs. We'll try to keep you entertained!