October (and a little November) happenings

Many of you took your kids voting. So did I, however, mine got to vote!

Trunk or Treating

Spencer plays a very convincing tin man.

Olivia, Donna, Grace and Uncle Robert. Good thing he went to law school. That costume is great!

Sarah and Nick are clearly going as the engaged almost married couple.

Robin is suppose to be a stick figure, which actually looks great in the dark with the glow sticks.

Cameron went as some star wars clone character. If I was the perfect mom I would know what the name is.

Cameron wanted a Halloween party and so after realizing how many Halloween parties my older kids had at this age with the Rochester friends I gave in.

Jacob's band concert was a costume party. They played Phantom of the Opera, which had a very cool Bassoon part in it.

I was going to post these a while ago, but then someone posted a really nasty picture of a broken, stitched finger on their blog and these didn't seem quite as impressive.
He fell down the stairs and the compassionate mom that I am I asked his brothers if Cam was crying or just making a sound like an airplane.

They had to push his toe back into place. That was pleasant. Fortunately, they numbed it up pretty good first.

Obama does equal change

Today in my study hall period a kid brought in a cardboard cutout of Obama and stuck it facing the window. It was so funny, the kids in all the other classes were trying to figure out why Obama was smiling at them! Then we had the bright idea to take it and sneak it into other classes windows (think the Burger King). It was SOOO funny!!!!! Best day of school I'v ever had!!!

reading-- what a wonderful thing.

What a great weekend of General Conference (LDS church thing). I always come away motivated to be better, do good things and make a difference. To bad I can't keep those feelings past a few days. Anyway, so this morning I am trying to figure out how to be a better person when it is time to go to school and we can't find the dreaded Library book. I really hate library books and would much rather buy a book then check one out ( I think I still have a fine in Rochester). So, trying to turn it around to being "gratetful" (we learned that this weekend) Here is a list ,although it be very small, why I am greatful for library books.
1. It incourages people to write books so people like me can one day rip apart their house looking for it.
2. I know where my spare change goes. Remember when a day late was 5 cents.
3. My child learns a healthy respect for the Librarian, or at least how to avoid her.
4. My child speaks to me at least once a day by telling me the librarian wants the book back.
5. I clean my house, even if is is under protest.

If you know where Henry and Mudge and the Wild Goose Chase is PLEASE let me know!

How high can you count

It has come to my attention that I do not always motivate those who hear of my exercise adventures into exercising themselves. So, let me inspire you with this latest installment of my learning to swim. I can NOT count. I usual swim with my friend Jeanne who is very good at counting and will tell me when we are done. Today I swam alone. As I swam back and forth I decided to try to swim a mile. That is 73 lengths. I should have known better. It should have taken me 50-55 minutes. I hadn't really thought that through. That is a really long time to swim and keep track of lengths. When I finished what I thought was my 73 time I stopped and looked at the clock. I don't get swim clocks, why can't they put the hour hand on them? The clock said 5 minutes to something. I'm thinking it better be 10, other wise I have been swimming a really long time. Oh, by the way, I am the only one left in the pool at this point. I get out of the pool and figure out it is 11:00! I swam for 1 hour and 20 minutes! I won't tell you that I am worried about being able to lift my arms tomorrow morning because that might make you not want to try swimming.

I think I can still smell pool water.

sounds of fall

Well, the leaves are turning, the nights are cool and the homework is piling up, that can only mean one thing...Marching band season is here. Last night was parent preview and wouldn't you know it, I forgot the camera. I guess it really doesn't matter since they all look alike and I can rarely find Ethan in the mix (what kind of mother am I). He has several more performances and we will try really hard to get a shot of him in his band outfit this year.

Jacob brought home "the farting bed post" this week. Some of you might know what that is, I certainly did not. It is the Bassoon. His band teacher apparently is desperate and begged Jacob to give it a try. He is excited to try something new, and as long as I don't have to pay for him to play it, we're all good. I guess I'll take his oboe in and get it tuned up in the mean time.

School marches on. Cameron has made it 2, count them 2 days (just this week) with out crying before, during or after I drop him off at school. I am absolutely sure he is a payback child with a little bit of "mothers curse" added just for good measure. The other night he woke me up twice just to make sure I was still there. Hmmm, where else would I be at 12:15 am and 3:39 am!

On another note, meaning lets talk about me, I have successfully learned to flip turn in the pool with having minimal water up my nose. Of course when I do take on water I am sure I am causing brain damage. At least that's what the pain in my forehead would lead me to believe.

What's for dinner?

So, I need to tell you about my new found friend. I don't really know her. She posts everyday and I love it. Her blog is crockpot365.blogspot.com If you are wondering what to have for dinner check her site out. Of course I don't really make the meals she does, but I could if I wanted to. She made buffalo wing soup today. Sounds good, I have the ingredients, and I have children who would not even try it. So if you are needing a daily blog fix or an idea for dinner you to can have a new friend you don't even know.

I can TRI, but I might fail!

So, Saturday was the triathlon. I could say it went well, but that would be a lie. I pretty much spent my whole summer learning to swim the front crawl so I could do the back stroke for the swim! I don't know if there is really a good reason for what happened, but here is my version of it anyway. We, my friend Jeanne and myself, stood in line to swim the 400 meters in the 9-10 minute section. As we stood there a fellow competitor asked the life guard if the pool was chlorine. WHAT!!! I have been learning in salt/ UV filtered pools all summer. Okay, I tell myself no big deal. WELL, apparently it was a big deal. I jumped into the pool when my turn came and I made it about 10-15 feet before I couldn't breath out my nose at all. I couldn't figure out what was going on. I pulled off to the side, let some swimmers pass and tried again, still, No air. Even worse, it felt like I was taking water in. At this point I have made it about 50 meters. I do the next two lengthens with my head out of the water. I can't believe what is happening, not to mention this kind of swimming is killing me. At 150 meters a girl close to me flips on her back and I say to myself, I can do that. 13+ minutes later I hit the last wall and climbed out of the pool. I am never amazed at how life teaches me these little lessons. I never even considered that I wouldn't be able to do the swim, I just figured I would be slow or it would be hard.
The rest of the triathlon went as I thought it would. The bike was a challenge. It had a big hill that we had to go up twice. I am clearly a social rider and this was not a social ride. When I finally hit the run I was so happy to be doing something I knew I could do! My total time was 1hour 21 minutes. Will I do another one? Probably, but right now a 1/2 marathon looks pretty nice.