Did Barack Obama do this?

Oh, I have to blog this before I forget and before I die from laughing after stifling the laugh when Grace actually said the following:
At dinner tonight we were talking about Christmas. I started by talking about how we need to do something for others, one of my ideas was to put together a box for a solider or two off the www.anysolider.com website or others that send care packages to soliders. From this, a discussion ensued ( as Grant was wolfing down more pasta and eating red peppers), in which, Grace learned that there was a war in Iraq, a simplified version of why it started, and a more complex discussion of what kinds of things soliders are doing now and what the insurgents are and why they are killing others.... As Grace pondered this, she starting asking what was happening to the mothers and children and were they dying- ouch, this was a deep question, and I had to gulp to answer it- in reality, I stalled and let Ryan take that heavy one. ( This is not the funny part of my story by the way....)
So, that was how it all started and I thought we were making great headway.
Then we launched into a tangent about Santa and what the kids were asking Santa for this year. I also started with a disclaimer of how the economy was affecting everyone, INCLUDING SANTA- meaning that Santa was having to help out lots of parents around the world more than ever, so it was best to be thoughtful and not be greedy- AFTER ALL, CHRISTMAS IS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT GIVING...
We really are trying to scale back our Christmas this year- I'm a bit weary from the materialism of our society, and I'm really trying to be better. I'm also done shopping - except for this dilema with Grace as you'll read...
Anyway, Grace has suddenly gotten interested in the American Girl Dolls- which are great if you're into them, but I really think it will be a waste of $$ because I just don't see this as something to grab her attention for any length of time- and I really think the $150 is sleep for the doll and accessories.
TANGENT #2: I have to leap here and fill you in on the other part of my brain and the struggle with the American Girl dilema. I grew up in a time when Cabbage Patch Dolls were all the rage- I was a bit too old, but I would have appreciated one I think- It was also the time of the ORIGINAL Strawberry Shortcake smell dolls with the hair, clothes and fabulous stuff. I also have a sister who is 4 years younger. We love our mother, but for reasons the universe only knows, she was more attracted to the HOMEADE ( meaning crocheted) versions of these popular dolls- My sister had 2 cabbage patch dolls ( knock offs) that were handmade and had nylon faces and stuffed arms and legs. I wished for the Strawberry Shortcake Dolls ( real versions) but ended up with the dolls with crocheted clothes and nylon faces with no smell whatsoever. I'm trying not to be an ingrate, but you know, these "old lady" creations were just not the same. Not something you're dying to bring out with the neighbor girls. So, here is my dilema with the American Girl Dolls- will my daughter have a crochet- or worse be a girl who never experienced the American Girl fun growing up? I also didn't have an Easy Bake oven, Barbies, and I'm sure other stuff I just missed as a child :-) Boo Hoo.

Back to my story... ( present day)
So after the Santa discussion, we told Grace that Santa really thinks about what kids will enjoy and need and sometimes its not what is #1 on your list- "After all, you didnt' have a hedgehodge on your list last year" ( you must go back to that post with the Christmas Letter from last year if you're wondering what I'm talking about- look for July 2008). We continued to talk about the economy and how some people dont' have jobs and etc. Then she WAILED "DID BARACK OBAMA DO THIS????". I almost bit my tongue off. Luckily, Ryan had more composure than I and was able to explain that it had nothing to do with Obama- she then said, "Why did this have to happen at Christmas?"- Uh, its been going on for over a year- Summer was worse with $4+ gas prices!
She continued to grouch, and we said when Santa called to talk to us about her gift, we'd tell him never mind. ( We have a DIRECT line to Santa by the way!- Its powerful. We consult with him through the season.)
After doing her spelling words she then said she'd write out her list, and maybe since she's taken care of Tommy the hedgehog and shown Santa that she can care for him, she might get a fish this year.
I'm going to have her write a list of a few items and see what the final word is.

Grant by the way- did not engage in this discussion, he's pretty used to Grace's drama. He has his own at other intervals. He has asked for a Star Wars Bed- he happened to see a picture in a catalog- and has been asking for that ever since. There is no way he's getting a new bed,he doesn't need one, but I did start to check into the bedding. The more expensive option is with Pottery Barn- the only other cheaper option is at Target- but I went online and read the reviews and they were sad but hilarious!
One mom posted that " my son begged for Star Wars sheets, and I went the cheaper route at Target and I'm really sorry we did- he says that his "bed hurts him" and in order to sleep in the sheets, he has to wrap up in a blanket and then get into bed.
After that, I decided this might be a case when its better to get higher quality- So, Santa is bringing Grant Star Wars Sheets and I'm still wondering if that is completely random gift for a 4 year old- they do look pretty cool- I don't think this is the same level as the crocheted dolls ... RIGHT?

Here is the link to the crochet cabbage patch dolls and clothese in case you want to traumatize your daughter....
http://www.geocities.com/smwcrochet/cabbagepatchclothes.html

The Dangers of Duct Tape

 

This photo documents 2 critical events-
Notice the large chunk of hair missing from the front of Grant's hair. Here is he story of how that happened- One night I was getting the kids into bed and on the bathroom floor I saw what looked like a chunk of hair- Grace quickly picked it up and tried to throw it in the trash- She then quickly confessed that she had cut Grant's hair- after which I immediately freaked out- she said that she had been playing with duct tape and had put some in Grant's hair. She couldn't get it out without him crying ( duh!), so she got the scissors and cut it out!
I then found Grant and saw the missing chunk right there in front.
Luckily he had a haircut coming up-
This is the second critical event- because as you may or may not remember, he's allergic to his own hair. This was the best haircut yet!

Here are a few photos - some of which will be blackmail later

 
 
 
 

Here's brief explanation-

Dress Up: A pasttime that is enjoyed by all- Grant might enjoy it a bit too much, but I also think his sister bosses him into it. Can you say High School Yearbook photo?

Karate: The kids are both in karate. And, at times, this is how Grant feels about it. It just happens to be at a time of day when he is tired from school, usually has low blood sugar and is ready to be at home. And, I guess, sometimes this is a picture of how he deals with life. He gets the drama from his sister, I think she gives him weekly lessons.

Mosquitos

Grant is all boy- most of the time. However, he is deathly afraid of mosquitos for some strange reason. I guess during the summer, there was a mosquito eater on the wall of the bathroom one night during his bath. He completely freaked out.. and now he randomly becomes paranoid-level afraid of them. Tonight he refused to go in the bathroom because of the mosquito fear. "Mom, I think there is a mosquito in the bathroom will you PLEASE PLEASE go in there with me?" We tried to explain that mosquitos are dead now- its too cold, and further that the REALLY big looking ones eat the mosquitos, and that really Grant, you are bigger than the mosquito and you can run faster-
all to no avail, I still had to do a clean sweep of the bathroom tonight.

Ok, So I'm only a month behind

I'm behind, which seems to be the story of my life. We've had a busy Fall. Its sad when your 7 year old tells you in the car " you and dad are the only parents in my class that travel a lot, well, except for Hayden's dad- he goes to Arizona- but you guys travel a lot, I mean you go for longer". Before you report us, let me atleast explain our side- This Fall has been really busy for us, its usually a busy time of year- it seems its a good time to have Speech and Hearing conferences.
In early October, I headed the Oregon Speech Language Hearing Association Conference in Salem for 3 days. I came home in time to see Ryan head out for Italy for a week, then mid week I left for Washington DC for a National Licensing conference. We were finally together at the end of October for a few weeks. The American Speech and Hearing Conference is always the weekend before Thanksgiving - which is possibly the worst possible time to have it, but they must get some kind of great rate because the date never changes. The conference was in Chicago, so I was out there for about 5 days. IT was freezing cold there! The high was 9-12degrees with a windchill on top of that of 10-15 degrees! In Chicago, no one makes fun of you for wearing big scarves, hats and earmuffs. Initially I looked at people kind of oddly, but after walking around freezing to death, I bought some gear and bundled myself. Fashionistas are just idiots in Chicago if they don't bundle up. Then it was back home for about 2 days, and we just got back from a roadtrip to Boise to see Grandma, Grandpa and my crazy family for Thanksgiving. All went well- considering no one got seriously hurt and there were not weapons brought out. I'm half kidding about this.
We did have to partake of some wild game while we were there- and I'm not referring to the turkey at Thanksgiving.
We started a tiny white lie- when the kids asked if we were eating "steak" we said yes, then as they persisted, this lie morphed into "eating steer". This was acceptable until someone blew it and then my dad didn't realize the phonics skills that 7 year olds have- he said " if you take away "st" and add a "d"- almost immediately Grace put it together and shouted "We're eating deer!". I wanted to throw up. My dad said he didn't know what happened to me, I used to eat wild game all the time (my response: I really didn't have a choice growing up").
The other highlights-( as the kids recounted tonight)
Grant: getting bucked off the horse with Charlie his cousin- then he said, " Why didn't Charlie's dad catch him when the horse bucked Dad?" - ( Charlie may need therapy for that)- luckily no one was hurt- I wasn't there, I was out shopping on Black Friday. Ryan did catch Grant and tried to break Charlie's fall.

Grace: I really liked it when I got to pull that thing on the tow truck... I also like swimming.

Tow Truck- no, we luckily did not have problems on the trip- however, here is a brief summary of how we got involved with a tow truck.

On the way to Boise, a neighbor and I discovered that we were heading out to the same location for Thanksgiving. Her husband was working until Wednesday midday, we were heading out on Tuesday, so she and her 2 boys rode over with us. The trip was uneventful and went well.

On the way back to Portland- We got a call from this same friend, they were stuck on the side of the road 25 miles ahead. We eventually caught up to them, their van was broken down, we called AAA on our membership, waited an hour for the tow truck, waited another half hour for her brother to pick her up and take her back to his house ( where she still remains while the van is fixed) - and packed her husband ( whom we had not met prior to shaking hands on the side of the road) in our van with all of our stuff and 2 kids.
You know how when you travel with your kids, you might say things when you're alone in the car for 7 hours that you really can't say in front of strangers- well, that was how things went. It was a long trip- the husband slept most of the time or pretended to- and of course there was a long back up in the Gorge- which added another hour and half to the trip.
WE ARE SO GLAD TO BE HOME ALONE IN OUR OWN HOUSE!

* For 2 hours today we thought Ryan was going to Israel next week, but luckily, we've avoided that for now. The Italians have to cover that trip. ( really, they live in Italy)

Our Hedgehog, Tommy. Still Alive

 

 

In case anyone is wondering if we still have our pet hedgehog, whom the kids named after their Uncle Tom ( my redneck brother in Idaho), we call him Tommy. I have no idea why they named him after my brother, I was just relieved they didn't call him "pet" or "hedgehog". I took these photos a few weeks ago. The night before I left for DC last month, I decided his cage smelled too bad to leave for a few days. So, before bed the kids and I changed his cage and bathed him. He has some issues with his bowels.. he poops anytime you take him out. We keep hoping it will get better.. and it is, maybe. I have an issue with loading on a bunch of last minute tasks when I'm about to leave town. Its a nesting thing, in a really screwed up way.

The kids want to celebrate Tommy's birthday... I have no idea when that is. I'm not bringing it up.

Politics.. at a very young age.

I will start this post by telling you that I am not going to tell you who I'm voting for. The reason for this is simple... its a personal decision and there are some members of my family who have very STRONG opinions about politics. For example, when I was in college, the first time Bill Clinton ran for president, I voted for him. Then my parents called and asked who I was voting for... I told them, my dad had some sarcastic but logical comments/arguments... my mother hung up on me and didn't speak to me for 2 weeks. I could go off on this in so many directions.. but I won't it just gives context.
Isn't it a great country- we get the opportunity to VOTE and have a say instead of a dictatorship. Disagreement is healthy.

Anyway,in my own personal household, we haven't had any real discussions with Grace about politics- Ryan and I of course discuss things, but I don't recall her being around any of those discussions. We don't make a regular practice of indoctrinating our children over the dinner table ( not yet atleast). So, as this very exciting political season has started heating up, Grace, being the every close observer of all things, has started to make some comments of her own. Its amazing how insightful children can be.

About a month ago, she asked me who I was voting for- at that time I really was somewhat undecided- or really had not 100% committed, so I took that time to share that, that I was analyzing different options, both candidates etc. Then she said, "If I could vote, I'd vote for Obama." I said, "Ok, but why, why are you choosing him over McCain?" She said, well, I think he's a nicer person ( could this be from all the TV ads?) and I like his name better."

Sadly, a friend commented, that most people will use these similar decision techniques to cast their real vote.

Then, about a week ago, politics came up again in the car ride home from school. Grace said, " Mom, have you finally decided who you're voting for?" I didn't really answer, I'm still carefully analyzing my ballot- its not the president, its all the measures that are taking some time.

I said, "not quite yet" .
Grace: "Well, has dad voted yet?"
me: Yes, I believe he has already filled out his mail in ballot.
Grace: "Who did he vote for?"
Me: "I'm not sure, you can discuss it with him though".

This child is amazing in her persistence, atleast she has some excitement about the democratic process ( more than a large chunk of our country)

Then, 2 days ago, she said,
Grace: " mom if I could vote I'd for sure vote for Obama".
me: Oh- and how are you making that choice, what did you consider?"
Grace: (didn't answer the question directly- just like a politician)
"We took at poll in our classroom today"
me: "Mrs Halverson did? "
Grace: No, she didn't just Kyler- he started it.
"All but 2 people said they'd vote for Obama. The two people who were voting for McCain were X and X. But, they're first graders, so they may just not know."

"Then we asked Mrs. Halverson who she was voting for, and she said that it was a personal decision, and that she hadn't voted yet, but she will" ( good answer teacher!)

* From this, can you already see a budding lobbyist here?

Then, last night:
Grace: Mom, how do you get to run for president in an election?"
Me: (I then went through a very simplified version of the primaries, and the general election process- explaining the 2 main parties, but also giving voice to Independents)

Grace: "Mom, did you know, if you win and get to be President, you get to live in the White House and you can bring your pets."

then, a few seconds later,

Grace: "Mom do they have maids and cooks a the White House?"

me: I truthfully answered, but the question scared me a bit. I then went into a discussion of how expensive a campaign was, how people are funded, and the job of the President in the White House.

Then, Grace said this...
"mom, I wish Dad would run for President so we could live in the White House".

Now, there is nothing wrong with the above statement, except that out of the 2 adults in this family I WOULD BE THE ONE TO RUN FOR OFFICE!- I was saddened that she didn't see a woman runnign for president at this point. I made a point to myself to talk to her about woman's options, potential and all that that entails.

I didn't say anything, but I just knew that I've got to talk to her more about this... after all, I'm the one who is President of the State Speech and Hearing Association, I've served on that board for years, I'm on the licensing board for the state, and I've worked on various commmittees at many levels- including the PTA at her school.

Fascinating perspective of politics from a 7 year old. And to think her ideas were picked up by advertising, some discussion and osmosis really....

Hey Mom, he speaks Spanish

After the drama of the Dentist appointment, I ( we- the kids and I) decided to go to a Mexican food restaurant for dinner tonight. They were relatively good, the wait staff is very courteous at the restaurant we went to- we've been many times before. They greeted me with Seniorita- which I think is so polite. I think our waiter might have thrown in a "Gracias" or something minor and then all of sudden Grant says very LOUDLY- "Hey Mom, He speaks Spanish! Isn't that cool!". I was really hoping at this point that the waiter wasn't offended because he was clearly bilingual. Then the kids started rolling their /r/'s and couting to 10 in Spanish in a loud voice. The waiter smiled graciously and walked away. It might have also helped that Grace refused to sit on the other side of the booth- so we all 3 sat on one side of the booth seat-- until Grace burned her finger on my hot plate- then she decided that wasn't a good idea anymore.
Grant also started throwing out any Spanish he had picked up from Dora and Diego. I was just hoping we wouldn't look like ignorant English speakers.... Atleast they think speaking more than 1 language is cool- I think.

The Dentist Office

Grace had a dentist appointment today. Grant had one last Thursday, and I have one tomorrow. All of a sudden, they had some openings, so we didn't have to all wait until January to get in ( by then it would be 5 months PAST our 6 months due date). I never understand how their calendar gets soo booked out.

Anyway, it was Grace's turn. She had a 5pm appointment, so she was one of the last ones in the office. We got there in time, had her X-Rays done, had some more X-Rays done once we got her in the chair, and finally got her teeth cleaned. It was relatively fast, and I had asked if she had any tartar because Grant did last week and we didn't brush her teeth before showing up. All went well, until the dentist came in to check things out.

Turns out she has 2 cavities. I wasn't sure that she was completely following the conversation, since the dentist was talking to me and the Hygenist. But, I guess when you're nosy, you pick up on indirect adult conversations.

As we get out to the lobby, to book her follow up appointment, she starts to cry and generally fall apart. I tell her that they are not taking care of the cavities today, so there really is no reason to cry. ( I'm not the most compassionate mother at times).

She continues to look worried, goes to the bathroom AGAIN and then we finally get on the elevator and go to the car. As we are making our way, she starts to voice her concerns- which I'm happy she feels she can, they are kind of funny in a way ( although I didn't laugh- I promise)

1. Worry about drilling- this was followed by lots of questions about feeling the drill, if you can feel the drilling, if they give you a shot to make it so you don't feel it ( I lied here, because her appointment isn't until December at this point, and I don't want her stressing for 2 months). I told her they put on a topical ( which I guess they could, but she'll probably get the shot).

2. Concern over having cavities at all- how did she get them, what causes them, why she now needs a Sonicare toothbrush.. and concern that she now wants to brush her teeth at school after lunch ( on my Costa Rica trip last summer to the Special Ed School, I learned that they are BIG on teeth brushing after the kids eat or have snack. Every child does this atleast once a day at school- could we do this here too?)

3. Concern that her teacher won't let her brush her teeth... not sure why- but I assured her that we'd talk to Mrs. Halverson and see if she could quietly do this. She is also worried to tell her teacher that she has cavities! You would think she had some bizarre disease or rash. I never thought she'd get soo worked up over having cavities.

4. And Finally- " Mom will they use silver or gold to fill my cavitity?""Because I dont' want that, people can see that and it makes your mouth look funny". So in the end, Vanity takes a place in her thoughts.

When we pick up Grant, she says to him, "Grant, Sissy has some bad news- I have 2 cavities". Again, the drama continues.

 
 
 


The big day came for the CHILL RIDE at Grace's school. She was very excited as you can tell from the prior post about this event. I was a chaperone- it was funny to watch her have such a great time. Of course she has to have her hair put up in foam curlers the night before so it would be curly for the event.

School is making Grant tired...

 
 


The other day I took a picture of what life has been like for Grant lately. He has been really tired from his day at school and play. He is still in preschool- 3 days a week, but its sucking some energy from him. It seems he falls asleep in the car almost every day in the car. He is also usually hungry in the afternoon- so he saves some food from his lunch to eat on the way home. Yes, that is spaghetti you see in the picture, as usual, my kids eat weird stuff in their lunch.

 
 
 



Ryan finished the Marathon in 4 hours, 1 minute, 12 seconds.

We finished our race dead last, but the kids thought it was cool that the police car was following us- they didn't know what this meant. We did run about half the race, and about 3/4 the way through, Grant said, "Mom, I think I'm getting tired". Grace had said this LONG before Grant admitted this.

We also really enjoyed the route because there are many different bands and music along the route to cheer you on. It was great!

Marathon Weekend.. a real one

On Oct. 5th, Ryan ran the Portland Marathon. Its part of his mid-life crisis.. err, I mean training. No really, we are really really proud of him. Its amazing that he got the fitness bug in the Spring, and since then has done at least 3 Triathlons, and got the courage to cap it all off with training for the Portland Marathon.

It was a really exciting weekend. We all stayed downtown in a nearby hotel- HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Portland does a great job of blocking off streets and generally making it a really fun event.
The Portland Marathon has several other associated events- a 5K, a walking marathon, a 10K and a "Kids Marathon" that was about 2 miles long.

So, as Ryan took off for the marathon, the kids and I got ready to run our run. It was really fun. There were a good number of parents and kids out to get into the event.

I had some serious worry that I would lose Grant- because he can run faster than me- so I had to come up with a way to tie him down. I couldn't find anything besides harnesses for kids- which they were not willing to wear. So I had an epiphany and made my own- Which by the way, I got A LOT of compliments on my ingenuity!!!

Here is what I did- I created this great key ring idea to attach my kids- both kids wore a ring around their arm, and I wore one on my arm- Then, there is a retractable key device in the middle- this allowed the kids to have some "room".

In the next post, there are some more crazy photos from the start of our race- notice how I cut off the Quik Rabbit's head in the photo- The before picture is where Grant is grouchy- looking like he's taking a mug shot- then afterwards, they are thrilled because there is free food everywhere- including chocolate milk, juice, cookies.

I wanted to pop the stupid balloons- some brilliant person decided to hand those out to kids BEFORE the race- so try running with both of them attached via the key ring device with balloons popping in your face constantly- no wonder we were last.

Ham Radio UPDATE

Remember how much fun I made of the whole HAM Radio experience. Well, I've been humbled a bit... here's why:

(1) In my travels to John Day, Oregon ( aka "the middle of nowhere"), I don't have cell phone service for atleast 3 of the 5 hour drive. So, since HAM radios are able to get service when cell phones don't- this turns out to be a helpful tool.

(2) Due to #1, I could write off our HAM radios as a business tax write off. Woo Hoo! I'm always looking for a tax write off.

(3) Most importantly, I FAILED MY TEST on Sept 29th. I did make an attempt to study beforehand. However, I only took 2 practice tests, and I didn't think it would be soo hard. It was much more technical than I had thought.

(4) I had to retake my HAM radio test the following weekend, Oct 4th- and believe me, I studied my butt off this time. I think I put more time into it than my DMV test- which by the way, is also hard to pass here in Oregon.

(5) We haven't bought our HAM radios- we will soon. However, I still am wondering how I'm going to learn how to "patch" into a repeater, so I can connect to a phone line to call for help when I'm in the middle of "Spring" or "Condon" Oregon.

We just got our "call signs"

Ryan is KE7WGN

Ashley is KE7WJS

Feel free to call us by our signs,it might help me memorize mine.

Thomas the Train is for babies

The other morning, as Grant was getting dressed, he got very passionate about his underwear choice. Evidently, he searched through his collection and set all the "Thomas the Train" underwear to the side. He then told Ryan " Dad, those are for babies- Thomas the Train is for babies, you need to give those to a baby".

Luckily, we've never been into Thomas the Train in this house. I suppose this is for 2 main reasons:

(1) Many boys with Autism are fascinated with Thomas the Train- you can't catch Autism, but in a tiny bit of my subconscious, I decided it wasn't something I wanted my son to get sucked up in. Who knows, he could just appear to be obsessed with Thomas, and therefore, show "autism-like" behaviors.

(2) Thomas the Train toys are made in China, and in a sense, Ryan has banned all things from China in our house- because of the lead and poisons ( he has only been somewhat successful at this). Atleast we're done with the baby formula stage.

School Picture Day- Take II- literally

If you follow this, or not- go back to the previous entry of Sept 16th- ( I can't believe I haven't posted since then, its obviously been really hectic around here)

Anyway, I was at the school last Wednesday, and it was the day the School Pictures had come back, so as I was chatting to the school secretary, she offered to give me the kid's pictures to take with me.... she looked and looked, and couldn't find them.

Then I recalled the details of school picture day ( when I wasn't there). Ryan couldn't find the paperwork the evening before- I ended up telling him to just send them, the school will take pictures and let you pay later...

Well, it seems, this is only true during Spring Pictures ( does that make any sense at all? I don't think so)

So, it turns out, for Fall pictures, you have to actually complete the picture paperwork and send it in that day in order to have pictures printed. For Spring pictures, they will take the pictures regardless ( even if your parent has forgotten that it was school picture day, and you look like a bit of a ferrel child- wearing jeans, an old sweatshirt and scuffed boots-- which has happenend for past years) and then send the whole package home in hopes that it will get lost in your abyss and then they'll just bill you for the entire cost.

Hmm, so regardless how I feel about this entire situation, we will be doing picture retakes on Oct 29th... outfits to be decided later.

School Picture Day... and mom is out of town

Today was school picture day... when I told Ryan I would be out of town and he'd have to cover this, I think he actually mouthed "I hate you". But this also has its pluses. Usually on school picture day, Grace wants the most bizarre hairdo she can imagine and so she ends up looking really odd in her picture.. nothing like she looks everyday. Last year, she elected to have the "Leia" hair from Star Wars with big buns sticking out the sides of her head. Cute picture, but in a few years, we'll wonder why she looked like that, and I want to have proof that she CHOSE that hairdo.

This year, the kids picked out the outfits on Monday night. Last year I was able to pick out Grant's outfit without a fit. When I called home, he evidently almost picked out the same shirt he wore last year! that would have been really confusing.
But, as of last night he had picked out something acceptable, and evidently Grace has finally come to the side of dressing where she is willing to wear matching items. This is huge.. and as of a few weeks ago, this was not happening in our house. But, now, we love matching. She picked out her red heart outfit with skirt, shirt, socks and matching hairband. I love matching, and I've not been able to enjoy it until now.

All went well this morning, except that Grant suddenly was adamant about changing his outfit. Overnight he decided to wear the navy blue blazer that has hung in his closet for several months, that he has refused to wear to church or weddings or anything more formal.. but today of all days, he chooses to wear it on Picture Day. Then, they had to find a shirt that "matched"- shocking that its a shirt that actually has navy blue in it.. and for the topper, he managed to find some plaid shorts to finish it out... thats right, my son had school pictures in a blue blazer, striped shirt and plaid shorts. What a great start.. I think he and Grace have switched places.

In the past 5 days I've.....

I've got to sit down and blog before I forget all the crazy things that have happenend in the past 5 days. There is wide range, and believe me ALL of the following actually did happen!

Last weekend, we were planning to head to the beach for a weekend trip, I had arranged to rent a house near Rockaway Beach- BUT IT WAS A NEW PLACE I HAVEN'T BEEN TO BEFORE. ( remember this detail). Ryan was out of town for the week, but would come over on Friday. So, Thursday was really crazy, I had an appointment to take the car into the shop for a repair that was supposed to be 4 hours.... ended up, they had to keep the car, and put me in rental. I explained that I was heading to the beach, and wouldn't return the car until the weekend. So, after getting the kids from school, we headed home to get ready for their soccer game before leaving for the beach....I had planned to be ready for the beach when the repair was only taking 4 hours..but instead we had to pack before and after the soccer game. The kids packed themselves- and I have to say, they are actually REALLY good at this! They actually were so excited that they even took their luggage out to the car ( rental car) managed to open the back door and threw their stuff inside!
I digress, I have to talk about the soccer game.... Grace did great, but it was hot and she didn't look like she had a ton of energy out on the field. She did say that her team "was lazy and didn't want to play in the sun". I'm not sure if she is in that group or not?
NOW, on to Grant; Really, I think the game resembled more of a rugby game. He was pretty aggressive.. even the "mom ref" said it was cracking her up because it looks like he was waiting for the kids to swarm together in a clump and then dive into the crowd and tackle. He just keep tackling kids- I had to take him out of the game. It was pretty funny. While throwing in the ball to his own teammate, he chucked the ball directly at her, and it bounced off her head- luckily she didn't cry. I can tell his coach is torn because he actually kicks the ball and gets into the game, but there is a price.. he tackles the other team, and his own teammates.

OK,so now its about 8:30pm and we're leaving for the beach- its only about an hour and 15 minutes or so... the kids get settled with a blanket and "luvies" ( remember this point too), they talk me into taking them to Burgerville because "I didn't feed them dinner- whatever..." we had a heavy snack before and after soccer... but I did go ( luckily). So we drove out to the beach... I had the directions, but in all fairness, I DID NOT HAVE THE HOUSE ADDRESS... I just had directions that said L on Nedonna, R on Sunset... I couldn't find the initial turn, I had to call Ryan, I was about 15 miles past the turn, I turned around, headed back, and finally called Ryan to "Google Earth" the place so I could find it ( THIS WAS VERY HELPFUL!). Finally made the turn off, took the directions to "Sunset Dr"- From the directions I thought that the house must be on the corner of Nedonna and Sunset... and the lockbox was supposed to be by the backdoor. (Its now 11pm), I get out of the car, and search around the house. there is no lockbox near the back door--- Now, I feel I must explain my train of thought.. on the website, the house I rented DID have a firepit on the property and a kid's fort. This house on the corner, did have a firepit and kid's fort.. it also had a similar house shape... I then called the contact for the rental at about 11:30pm at night when I couldn't find the lockbox. I didnt' get an answer. Grant had long ago gone to sleep ( we were driving in a Dodge Jeep vehicle) in his carseat. Grace was awake, she keep giving me suggestions on getting into the house. I didnt' have a flashlight, so after midnight, I took my cell phone and tried to use the lit up screen as a flashlight and walked around the entire house looking for the "lockbox". I ended up going back to the car... and telling the kids we were going to "sleep in the car".. "yes, kids, this will be fun, something we've never done before"... Grace was very unsure. She did have to pee, so we did do that over the next few hours... several times, on the road. I decided that I didnt' want to smell Burgerville all night, so I found a high place to put the trash-I didn't want to attract racoons or something else...Grace wanted to be in the front seat, so in our very packed space, we managed to move the food in the front seat to the back seat, and Grace settled in the passenger seat, Grant was in the backseat in his carseat, I tried to push the pillows around him to make him comfortable, luckily they both had their blankets. Grace and I tried to sleep.. I was freezing, I didn't have anything but a sweatshirt and beach towels. I wrapped the towels around me, I was wearing sandals and tried to wrap up my legs. At about 3am, Grant woke up briefly and said "MOM! Why are we not inside the house?", I explained, and then he said "the key is inside the house, mom, you need to get it". He then wanted to be near me, so he came up to the front seat ( which was reclined partially) with his blanket, pillow, etc. The front seats were "bucket seats" with a big console in between. So then Grant was smushed into the front seat with me- I was then warmer, but much more uncomfortable.... at this point my legs were so cold, I reached around for something to help, ended up grabbing a pillow. I first tried to SHOVE it down by my feet- this didn't help much, then I tried to get my legs inside the pillowcase ( this ended up not being possible)... so I continued to freeze. At about 5:30am, Grace woke up again and had to go to the bathroom- this time she peed on her pj's. So, then she got back in the car, and we had to find her suitcase to change clothes. This woke Grant up, who was hungry... he started reaching for any food- we ended up finding crackers to eat- we had no water or liquid. I think we found some other things, nothing really substantial. I found sound Pop Tarts, and thought this would be a big hit ( I had thrown them in last minute). My kids have never had them, they just looked at them, and wouldn't even break them in half to see what was inside. They just tapped on the frosting- then gave them back after a bite and said " these aren't good, I think you need to do something to cook them". I called the contact for the rental house at 6am or so.. no answer still, my message was a bit more frantic. Now, you may be asking why I didn't just drive home... well, it was midnight, and I was tired, and didn't think I could drive home, plus I REALLY wanted to be at the beach- I "felt" like I was close. Then Grace asked if we were going out to breakfast.. "I don't know yet". She then asked if anyone had ever had to Poop on the road.. ( I didnt' answer) I just said, lets drive around now that its light and see what we can find. We drove down the block, and we came around the corner to a house that looked pretty familiar to the house on the website.... hmm, I went around back and THERE WAS A LOCKBOX!. I had driven by this house in the dark, but in the light it looked very much like the house on the website I had rented. We went inside, we were so happy to be warm! We had a great time at the beach with our friends. The house person called mid-morning.. she was so worried she said when she heard my message- I just said " I might just be the stupidest person on earth right now"- She just laughed and said I better write this down.

Then, we came home Sunday, returned the rental car, I then had to drive to John Day, Oregon for a 3 day work stint there that I'll be doing monthly. Luckily, I'm driving with someone else, but she's in her own car. The drive was OK- its really in the middle of nowhere- all these little towns. Luckily we had enough gas, because there wasn't even gas stations in each small town along the way... or the station closes by 6pm or? About 3 hours into the 6 hour trip, in the middle of nowhere again, I HIT A DEER OR TWO OR THREE... We had been seeing deer on the side of the road through the day, I had looked ahead and saw 3 deer on the side of the road, I started to slow down, hoping they would be out of the way before I reached the spot, they stood there "like deer in headlights" and then started moving as I got up to them, I hear this big bump bump bump- Karen was freaking out behind me, I looked at the car first... there was no damage ( GOOD!), then I looked for the deer- there were no deer anywhere near the car, so I guess I just hurt them and they ran off. We finally got into John Day later that night. We'll fly to Redmond in the Winter, but will still have a 2 hour drive.. we could really use a private plane right now...

I'm still here. In John Day. Its a pleasant place, the hotel we stay at has a large group of motorcycles coming through each time i'm here. Its a funny town, everyone knows everyone else, or is related in someway... but they have a lot of sped kids, so Karen and I are traveling SLPs 3 days a month. I'm hoping my drive home tomorrow will be deer free.

Hiding is making my blood pressure explode

Grant is now 4- but I am having some doubts about him reaching age 5. He has recently started hiding in the house. He has progressed from hiding in predictable places, to more unique, steathy locations. AND he will not come out when you call his name.
This has what has been going on the last week. During the following occasions, we were not playing hide and seek- in fact these were at very inopportune times to hide... I hope my neighbors can't hear the yelling through the closed doors.

This started innocently enough the other night while getting ready for bed- he hid behind a toy chest in the playroom. I called and called, but not word from him, and no coming out. He's actually able to stay quiet. I think it took about 5 minute to find him, but I was pretty sure he was still inside.

Later that evening, after he had gone to bed, we couldn't find him in his room- or anywhere obvious. I went in to Grace's room and "she hadn't seen him", we called, we tried to remember if we heard the door alarm opening, looked in the garage, outside etc. The more this goes on the angrier I am getting- finally, we go back into Grace's room and he is hiding in her be under covers- and she thought it was OK not to tell us when we were looking. I think she now understands how incredibly frustrating this is.

The hiding occured again last night before bath, it took about 10 minutes to find him, this time in a different place.

BUT, this morning is what made me absolutely crazy. It is morning, and its a school day which means time is precious. After he eats breakfast, he is supposed to be upstairs getting dressed. I go up after a bit to check on him- and of course he is not anywhere to be found. I call and call, and get no response. I start raising the threat level in the house, and again no response. I am so mad at this point I don't think I can speak. Finally, he comes out- he has been hiding at the bottom of my bed, and we've now wasted atleast 15-20 minutes of precious time in the morning. I think that child might have vinegar flowing through his veins before he reaches adulthood. He had to come down and drink some vinegar again- for hiding and not comign out- and I kept adding a 1/2 tsp to the cup after each 5 second period... I ended up adding 1 1/2 tsp by the time he got down there. Amazingly they both seem to know that we're going to increase the amout of vinegar etc with the longer they take to drink it. I have no idea how to put the fear of you know what in him, because he just turns and laughs at you. He thinks everything is funny.

I explained that it is only OK to hide if he is playing hide and seek with OTHER KIDS ( not just his mom or dad), and its a game that everyone agrees on.

If this hiding thing doesn't stop immediately, I think I might have a cardiac arrest from high blood pressure. AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Who knew parking in the garage could be so cool....

I think since we've owned a house with a garage, and maybe even before that when we lived in a duplex, we've had a goal of parking in the garage. I don't know why this is so challenging for us. For one, I think we keep buying houses that have the smallest garages on the block. This was of course a discussion point when buying this house, but I decided that not having a larger garage was negotiable for other things. I've since even looked into how to expand the garage ( not possible without looking like a hodgepodge house- I could explain this in an additional way, but I'm afraid I'll offend someone)- so we're kind of stuck. Even with nothing in the garage, we couldn't fit 2 cars in- unless they were SmartCars or MiniCoopers ( which I've thought about as well- if I didn't have to haul around 2 kids). I have a friend that seriously has a VERY LARGE 3 car garage. The ceiling is soo high that you can suspend those garage racks that hook to the ceiling for even more storage, and you could seriously walk around each vehicle to get to the door- In my garage you have to suck in your stomach just to sneak past once you shut the door.
When my neighbors leave their garage doors open and I can look inside, I seriously COVET their garage size. We "supposedly" have the equivalent of a 2.5 car garage- but the configuration of the water heater and door make it impossible to park 2 cars- plus its not wide enough. Then, add in the shelves of food storage and other kinds of paraphenalia, and we're parking outside the garage most of the year. I dug in the other night and seriously worked on clearing things out for a good couple of hours. ( I also had to sweep up any possible sign of the mice.. which made my skin crawl). I got things looking great, and actually pulled in the garage that night.
The next morning, Grant goes out through the garage to get to the car, and starts shouting "MOM!!! THE CAR IS IN THE GARAGE! ISN'T THAT SOOO COOL" (like the car magically appeared there).
Yesterday evening, after we got home, Grant was insistent that I put the car in the garage. He kept saying "MOM, PUT THE CAR IN THE GARAGE- HURRY!"- like if the car doesn't get back in the garage, the opportunity will end.
Today, again, the car was there in the garage. The same excitement occurs again with shouts like "Hurry Grace, get in the car!" " The car is inside the garage Grace! Isn't that awesome!".
Who knew that this simple change could be such an anomoly for my children...

When I got home this morning, I decided I would make a parking stop with a tennis ball hung from the ceiling. I tried everything, but I have no idea how people make a hole in a tennis ball, the things just bounces or bends to any pressure. I started with a razor blade, a screwdriver, scissors, a knife, and finally pulled out Ryan's drill. None of these worked. Luckily I then spied a wiffle ball with holes, so I was able to feed a string through, then I climbed ontop of the car ( since it was already in the garage) and hammered a hook into the garage ceiling while standing on the hood of the car. Luckily I didn't break my neck....

Babies the next day

This evening the kids and I connected with our friend on the way home to pick up our share of produce from our local Co-Op Farm. ( its a great deal, they deliver to the Intel sites, then you can pick it up there after work- they have other places as well of course). Anyway, this pick up on Tuesday USUALLY works well. Except in certain circumstances: (1) Ryan forgets (2) Ryan forgets the bags to turn in (3) Ryan is out of town. Today, Ryan is out of town, so we/he had arranged for a fellow friend/coworker to go inside the building and get the produce for me ( I can't go in- its badge only). Well, that worked OK until she had been given the wrong lobby address ( RA1, 2, something like that).. and she forgot her cell phone today. So I was waiting outside while she spent a good 30 minutes trying to find the produce pick up inside Intel somewhere. The security had no idea what she was talking about- ( which makes me wonder who set this whole drop off up? how do the produce bags get inside initially?)... anyway, so she finally calls her husband, who then calls me, and I say here's where I am ( Her husband then says.. "OH.. RA1 is a very different place than RA2...etc). I felt so sorry for her, she had kids at home, and here she was following some bizarre schematic from Ryan on how to find the produce that he had drawn on a post it note. :-)
Anyway, finally got it. Luckily I had some food in the car and a movie, or this would have been a total disaster with the kids.

On the way home, Grace says, " Mom, I remember when K and E were different."
Me: What do you mean they were different? Before they had kids?
Grace: Yes, before they had kids.
a few minutes later...
Grace: "It was like one day then didn't have kids, then they had ___ (1st child)and like the very next day they had _____" ( 2nd child)"
They have 2 babies when everyone else has a baby and a kid.

I laughed to myself- their kids are barely 18 months apart. I'm sure they feel that way. I just thought it was funny, that that seemed to happen "the next day". I somehow don't think pregnancy has ever felt like "the next day".

Chill Ride

I despise most school fundraisers... they are the bain of my existence. I totally get school fundraising-I thinks its really important, does great things for the school... don't get me wrong, I'm willing to write the check, most of the time I just don't want the item on the other end so bad. So, its the school's magazine fundraiser at Grace's school ( and Grant's but he really had no idea that he could win prizes- its hard enough with one kid, we'll keep him in the dark as long as possible- he was wondering why Grace was picking up some cool prizes this morning)

I actually like the magazine fundraiser- because I like magazines, so I can just renew some subscriptions and its all good with the school. I think last year I might have sent in 2-3 subscriptions.... and that became mistake #1. Because on the 2nd turn in day, if kids bring in a total of 12 orders for magazines they will qualify to go on the "CHILL RIDE"- which is a Limo ride to Cold Stone for ice cream, and one lucky participant will win free weekly ice cream for a year. Last year I was not as in tune with this, and of course Grace did not even come close to qualifying for the Chill Ride. Of course one of her girlfriends did qualify and did end up being picked for the free ice cream ( her mom says you can't even pretend to eat that much ice cream in a year) So, all year I've seriously heard the guilt trip about not going on the chill ride.

This year, she actually finagled it so that I was present at the assembly where they talked about the magazine prizes so I would understand the whole process. Well of course, we don't pay too much attention and at the 11th hour ( last night) I tell her that the Chill Ride turn in is tomorrow and we're at nothing in terms of magazine sales. So she/I start calling up grandma, grandpa, talking to neighbors to get some orders. Then she puts on the charm and tells me that "MOm, I know you really enjoy cooking, and I see some cooking magazines in here, so I think you could order them for yourself. You also like to decorate ( ??) so you could get this.. blah blah blah)". Well, at the end of the night after shamelessly pitching to grandparents, and neighbors, we had our 12 orders. I feel like I should take my neighbors dinner just for ordering at the last minute.

This morning, Grace gets up and she is all excited, she is talking about what she is wearing today ( the outfits haven't been that outrageous so I haven't taken a photo yet- just wait until its cold enough for tights... then the adventure begins)

Anyway, after talking to her, it turns out she thinks the Chill Ride is actually TODAY and she has got to wear the perfect outfit in the limo. I then explained that it was not today, on a different day and that she'd have plenty of notice. She was a bit deflated at this, but I assured her she'd get to go. I"m a little concerned about her riding in the limo- only that after that she'll add that in with her expectations, and next thing you know, she'll want to take a limo to ride over to Boise and other wild ideas.

At school after we turned in her orders, she picked up the additional trinket prizes and her Chill Ride ticket- she said " MOM, you've made all my dreams come true!" If only it was that easy. Last night I was thinking $200 is an expensive ice cream... but the limo I guess is what is putting over the top for her.
(I did also figure out that she thought she had also won an IPOD- turns out she won some light up speakers for an IPOD- this was after she said I'd made her dreams come true- maybe not now)

While all of this was happening, I had Grant with me- he hadn't been dropped off yet( bad idea). He horrified me by slamming the door to the teacher's workroom while a few teachers were in there making copies. I think after that, I mentioned something awful like... "I need to get rid of this child and then I'll be back..." I did explain later so people wouldn't think I talk like that all the time ( because I don't, right?)

Following up on the HAM radio class

I was thinking of my weekend and what I did. At first it was all blank, and then I remembered that we went to a HAM radio class at 8am Saturday morning. Let me just review off the top of my head what I learned: ( go back to July postings for the first part of this)..

HAM Radio Class

The teacher was great. He was NORMAL, thorough but not too chatty, and went through things fast- he also brought candy and snacks. We arrived, found a seat and started looking through the 150 slides of the powerpoint presentation... Then I looked around...

I counted 40 people here. 6 of them were women, and I think 4 of them were actually there by themselves ( meaning they were not dragged there by their husbands). Then I started looked at who was so wrapped up in this class. I have theory, I really think HAM Radio technology was started years ago by a club of men/boys with Autism- specifically Aspbergers Syndrome- high functioning autism ( bascially what this means is that a person is SCARY SMART, but socially has some major issues)

I think this class may have attracted a very large contingent of these followers. Seriously- remember we live in Intel Land, this was a magnet for those engineers. Lots of fathers and sons ( I asked Ryan why he didn't bring Grant :-).

I leaned over to Ryan to remind him of a few things we WON'T be doing:
a. Installing GIGANTIC antennas on our cars or house
b. Changing our license plates to our "call signs"
c. Attending any group meetings

Here are the top 10 things I got from the class...

(1) I still don't know what the HAM acronymn stands for ...

(2) The HAM radio network is a really tight network- you've got to do it right or they will report you to the FCC, who may show up at your door..

(3) I can actually use my HAM radio to send a signal which will bounce off a repeater tower, and I can place a call to someone's cell phone. OK- that could seriously be useful here.- This will work when the cell service is out. Or, if I want to call someone in Asia... for free.

(4) I could actually register to get my own "VANITY" call sign- Sounds great, but it just has a combo of letter and one number, and I'm never good at figuring out something clever like that... wish I was- especially when it has to start with a "K".

(5) I may actually contemplate getting a HAM radio for my car... more on that after I think about that one. It could be my own version of AAA, especially when there is no cell service.

(6) I could make international friends- talking to people all over the world ( remember the film "Frequency"- I could be Dennis Quaid)

(7) I learned the complete list of the ITU Phonetic Alphabet- I thought it was just for the military, and didn't know it went past "Delta".

A= Alpha
B= Bravo
C= Charlie
D= Delta
E= Echo
F= Foxtrot
G= Golf
H= Hotel
I= India
J= Juliet
etc. if you're really into this visit the website for the International Telecommunications Union.


(8) I could easedrop on other people's conversations. OK, there is a part of this that is VERY Appealing to me! I can also listen to the police, fire and even the Costco parking attendant's radio conversations if I find their "frequency"

(9) I seriously see a huge benefit to having this certification?? and tools- ( meaning the Radio), but I'm not sure I'll be listing it on my resume or Facebook page anytime soon.

(10) I still have to pass the test, and surprise, there is a bunch of electronics on the test ( again, remember my theory is that it was probably developed by engineers with autism- so its somewhat technical) The next test is the first Saturday in Oct- wish us luck. If you want to join our club, I can pass along the powerpoint presentation... then we could talk... on our radios...

Grace's wardrobe choices

I've decided that next week I'm going to take a picture of what Grace wears to school each day of the week for posterity purposes ( and to show later on). Since she was very small ( like 2) she has had a DEFINITE opinion of what she wanted to wear. We ended up with 2 rules- (1) It has to be in season (2) It must fit modesty standards.Everything else goes, and I think these rules are pushed almost daily. My sister often says, "How can you let her leave the house that way?" I just say, "Hopefully by now, if people are familiar with Grace, they must figure out that she dressed herself, and I have no influence", and really its not worth the fight. We struggle about a billion other things, and I've decided this is not one I'm going to get totally invested in.

This week as we're into the second week of school, we are once again forging the oh so familiar territory of what is appropriate to wear to school. Now, things could be worse. I could be worrying about her wearing something that was showing too much skin etc. But, it seems that is not our problem. In fact, it might at times fall into the opposite category- of really bizarre combinations, and too many clothes. For example, here are a few from this last week-

Tuesday: I think Tuesday may have been semi normal
Wednesday: I went into Grace's room- now the temperature was a bit more chilly in the morning ( 50 degrees or so), but I assured her that it would warm up by noon to 75 at least, so dress accordingly. At that time she had on a pair of hot pink pants and shockingly a shirt that was short sleeved and actually matched. Fabulous! I thought to myself, maybe this year will be different. But, no, that lasted 2 seconds or less. - Because she was then laying out a shirt that was completely different than what she was wearing- and come to find out, she was planning to wear that shirt OVER the short sleeved one. I at this time recommended that she wear a light jacket or sweatshirt or something. Well, it turns out that was incorporated. As this conversation continued she got more upset because of course, I'm making comments about what she should wear, and this is an area that is really touchy-

Me: Why are you wearing that shirt on top of the short sleeved one, it will be warm enough today, just wear a sweatshirt. ( The 2nd layer shirt looked like this: it was pink and looked like a long sleeve V-necked shirt, but then it had a SATIN texture busy material sewn around the cuffs and neck to make it look like 2 shirts)

G: Helen wears 2 shirts, I can wear 2 shirts too.

ME: Helen does not even go to your school anymore, and I think that was in Preschool or Kindergarten, you are now in 2nd grade.

G: I don't care. I want to layer my shirts.

Me: Fine, but it may look a little silly, and you may get hot- ( I left the room, I'm obviously not winning this one)

Later she appears and of course she has on the short sleeved shirt, then the second layer of the "faux 2 shirt pink thing", and then on top of that, she is now wearing a bright hot pink sweatshirt that is zipped up all the way to the top. I think in an attempt to not show me how many shirts she was wearing. She also has added hot pink socks.... A bit over the top. I let it go, and she continued on her day.
After school- SHOCKER- she is only wearing the short sleeved shirt. Of course I asked if she was hot, and at what point in the day did she start to "unlayer" and take off the top 2 - I think the answer was sometime before lunch- which is at 11am.

THURSDAY: Today was the school picnic and back to school night- I of course also brought this up this morning. ( I just have to.. I'm a control freak- and I swear she knows that not wearing matching clothes drives me completely CRAZY!)

After some deliberation, she comes out in a long sleeved pink sweater-type shirt, and hot pink ( again!) shorts that look kind of like "gym" shorts- they aren't really tailored, and they have a bit of a rough edge at the hem. They also go down to her knees and tie at the waist. In addition to this wonderful combo, she has also added a pair of knee high socks that are bright hot pink/pink striped. Another odd combination, but I didn't really say anything because I was thrilled she was only wearing 1 shirt.

I also hope at this point that its obvious that I don't have any influence. Pictures should be entertaining next week if its our typical wardrobe.

Light SABER

I was told late last night that I should have been referring to a "LIGHT SABER" in my Star Wars post-not a "light saver". I believe I heard comments such as "its not going to save someone- its a weapon, you know like a saber", and my favorite-
" There are reasons why you haven't been asked to play..."

Things are a bit too serious around here.. and the exterminator is coming tomorrow. Things are looking up.

I feel like I've been violated...

If you've know anyone that has gotten lice, you know they're not bad people, or really dirty people, just people that happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time- or maybe standing next to someone at the wrong time- and using their hairbrush. We've not had lice at our house- and I PRAY regularly that we will not, because I will have a VERY hard time with it. I know its nothing that we've done wrong, it just might happen. Just like bad things happen to good people- like cancer, and cancer sores, or warts.
We don't have lice, but we do seem to have mice. Yes, I'm completely freaked out of my mind over this. COMPLETELY!!! We've spent the last week going through each and every shelf in our garage and thrown away a good amount of food storage that was vulnerable. If you don't have stock in Rubbermaid, you should because I'm now putting vulnerable foods like sugar and flour inside rubbermaid containers before they go on the shelf.The only things that are safe are in metal cans or plastic buckets. The stupid creatures seem to also have come up through my island to the cupboard that houses pots and pans.. there is no food in sight, but they've left their markings. Again, I'm completely freaked out. I'm now storing pots and pans on the dining room table. We are calling an exterminator and I've gone to Freds to find whatever means I can to get rid of them.
The reason I'm such a freak has something to do with growing up- and visiting this again, may bring me in for therapy. Growing up in California my parents bought an older house that had large oak trees out front with lots of ivy. Do you know what lives in big oak trees with lots of ivy? Mice and Rats. I'm getting ill just thinking about this. Anyway, my dad tried to get rid of a few mice/rats by using DCON in the garage-because thats where they were initially- and evidently sometimes this makes them "search" for water. So, they got inside the walls of the house... its was right out of Poltergeist. I had to call my sister to talk me down. She and I went over how awful it was, then I called my mom again, and she reminded me of even more horrors during that time, as well as growing up. Like the fact that mice can jump pretty high and get into really really small spaces. Don't worry, I've got OCD and one of my issues is germs, so I've taken over the top precautions with food and cleanliness. If you know a good exterminator, please let us know. I'm calling in a HAZMAT team if I don't get some peace in a day or two. I sent Ryan to Fred's tonight to find that expanding foam stuff, we looked for any and all small holes in the garage and under the island. I"M FREAKED OUT!!!!! Bad things happen to good people, remember... How do you have an outside cat that will take care of your mice problem? Do you still feed the cat? These are my questions at 1am on Thursday morning. Is this worth getting an outside cat? Could we do this and never let it in our house- I mean NEVER. The hedgehog seems to have no effect on the mice issue.- Oh and we're not telling the kids because Grace would start asking her class to PRAY for us during morning prayer requests at school- and Grant would talk about it at show and tell- then we might become pariahs at the school.

The Magic Glove..

This is another weird post. Grant has somehow latched onto this single winter glove ( mitten) that he found somewhere in the house. There is only one, the mate seems to be lost. Somehow, this glove came along with us to the beach a few weeks ago. The glove was discovered, and then Grant wanted to wear the ridiculous thing. He started out by wearing it on one hand to eat a cob of corn - and swore that it was so helpful to eat the hot corn.
The glove has continued to appear at random times. The other day, he wanted to wear it to school. I tried to fight it, and Grant kept saying "but Mom, its cold outside, I need this glove to keep my hand cozy. See- I'm outside, and this glove is keeping me warm." Too bad, we don't just need a random single glove to keep us warm.

Alls fair in love.... and Star Wars

We have a Wii- if you know my house, you shouldn't be surprised. After all, its electronic, and its new on the market- so of course its a MUST HAVE. Although, I do admit its pretty cool, I just don't know how to use it very well. I end up looking like a Kindergarten student just learning to use a mouse for the first time. Half the time I can't find the cursor.
One of the treasures we have is a Wii Lego Star Wars game- its not violent, the characters just break apart into legos and then get put back together if they have any lives left.
Of course one of Grant's favorite things to do is playing this Star Wars game on the Wii. It is perhaps the only motivating reward I have for Grant at this point. Unfortunately for Grant, he can't read. And Ryan and Grace take full advantage of this.... because in our house, Star Wars is serious business- even if its the lego characters in the Wii game of Star Wars.
There are several things that make Ryan crazy...
First of all, Grant refuses to call R2D2 by his full name- instead he calls him R2-DEEE ( and when corrected, he calls him r2d2 deee. Its hilarious, I think he must know how much that bugs Ryan, but if not, he's sure to find out.
Then, the kid is only 4- so he's not all the great at the video games, I can totally understand, my skills are in the same arena. But, he loves the game, so he needs to feel like he's playing.
Grace will play the game and "use the force" on him to make him move out the way. He gets really upset, because he's figured out what she's done to him.
But, today, Ryan played with him, and I'm a little ashamed to tell you what low he went to in order to win at Star Wars. Ryan is a bit miffed anyway because somehow his "saved" game got erased.. not sure how that happenend, maybe when I was trying to figure out how to turn the thing on, maybe when I let Grant click random buttons on the screen... any of these are possiblities.
So, Ryan and Grant are playing. Grant accidently "kills" Ryan's character a few times with his light saver- and they are both "good guys" playing on the same team. This of course is not OK. Within a few minutes Grant has done enough hops and jumps off the steep cliff to use up all his lives. When a character needs to come back to life, you have to push an additional (+) button to become "active" again. Grant can't read remember... so he doesn't know this, and evidently Grace and Ryan take advanatage of this all the time. Now, it seems Grant's character has gained amazing skills, because magically he's following right along with Ryan's character ( probably Luke Skywalker), and has superior skills in defending himself and Luke against Darth Vader, Darth Maul, and every other nemesis in the game. This allows Ryan to keep on playing, and Grant thinks he's playing but his character is not active.......I can't decide if I should show him the (+) button or not. Ryan's ego seems to be in charge at this point. Whatever happened to Father- Son bonding.. maybe when it comes to Star Wars, that happens later, when you have competent skills. ( I've NEVER been asked to play Star Wars with Ryan.. I think that's a hint)

Hair Dye- Part II

I got my hair cut and colored this afternoon. Yeah, I know after the previous post, the timing isn't exactly great. I have a lot of gray ( it was shocking today! before the hair dye), so its a process- with an all over color, weaving of another color to offset the gray and give variety, and then a toner on top - not sure what that does, but in the end I think it looks pretty good. Anyway, I picked up Grace afterward from school- and she knew I was going to get my hair cut-
G: "Mom, your hair does not really look any shorter or trimmed".

Me: "Well, I did get my hair trimmed, and I think it looks shorter" (At this point I'm thinking, why do I have to justify this to you?)

G: "Mom, why is your hair so dark?"

Ok, seems innocent right? And by the way, my hair is really not dark- its a light brown color as usual with some blond streaks weaved in. Not a whole lot different that the previous couple of months.

Well, later tonight, my neighbor Holly comes to the door and tells Ryan " The girls just told me that Ashley's hair is black with white streaks, I had to come see for myself". ( this makes me sound like a skunk!) Ryan said at this point he was worried he had not paid attention to a major style change on my part- from the description it sounded terrible.

So, evidently, my hair became a neighborhood spectacle. ** by the way Holly said my hair was NOT black, and that it didn't look much different from a week ago. I can't wait until next color appointment when I change to chestnut. That will be a freak show for sure in Grace's eyes.

These moments are few....

I recently found this photo from this Summer. This is one of my favorite activites. Napping.. and getting Grant to hold still enough to sleep. I love sleeping children and babies. I could of had a lot more children if they would just sleep all the time. I love to hold sleeping babies. So, I'm posting this so I can remember later a time when Grant would sit on my lap and sleep.

Hair Dye

If you don't know already, Grace is a VERY VERY observant child. She notices that I have acne, gray hair and a host of other things. Yesterday was her first day of school in 2nd grade and her school has a new principal this year. ( Whom I met earlier, but that's another bossy parent story for another time)
Anyway, she tells me today that they had an assembly yesterday to introduce the new principal, Mr. Kingma, and he spoke to the students. This is what she deduced from his presentation;

"Mom, we met our new prinipal yesterday. He said he lived in Hawaii for 30 years ( I'm not sure that part is true), and he also said that he is OLDER than he looks. But, you know what, I think he dyes his hair just like you and grandma so he looks younger"

I had to bite my tongue big time! She has recently been obsessed with hair dye- we had a long discussion about my hair, my gray hair, why grandpa ( my dad) has always had white hair ( he grayed prematurely- thanks dad, for some reason it fell to me not my brothers), and why people color their hair.
It was close to an interogation. Luckily, she has no desire at this point to color her hair because she thinks you only do it if you have gray hair.

Then about 10 minutes later, she related this observation:
History: (Grace really wants her ears pierced, I really don't care, Ryan cares BIG TIME and has set a ridiculous age for this to occur- so I'm taking the 5th here, or we'll end up fighting again)

G:Mom, I think Dad has a hole in his ear
Me: Really? Why do you think that?
G: Because I was looking closely at his ear and I saw it.
Me: Well, I'm not sure you can see a hole in someone's ear ( this is a big fat lie, I'm just trying to deflect here)
G: I'm sure I saw it. I can see right through it.
Me: Well, I don't think you can see right through it. Have you talked to Dad about this?
G: No, not yet, but I'm going to.

This is hilarious also because in high school, Ryan had his ear pierced and had a mullet- which was bleach blond and green at times from swim team. He tells it that people commented all the time on how much they liked his hair. Its a photo that doesn't even look like the same techno that he is today. If I can get a photo, I'd love to post it here. Its enjoyable. If Grace ever finds out about the earring, he is sooo dead.

The Birthday phenomenon

The Northam side of this family has funny birthday phenomenon... Ryan's brother Jared was born on his exact birthday 3 years later- so they share the same birthday in May. I think there is also some of this in the older generations.

And now, today, my sister-in-law, Chelsea, has had her twins today- Aug 26th- ( she also has a 5 year old and now a 2 year old, along with newborn twins). Her youngest son Tate- his birthday is today- 8/26, so he now shares that with his new baby brother and sister. How odd is that? ( and the birth was not induced) Now all 4 kids have birthdays in August. Payton is earlier in the month.
Good Luck to Chelsea and Jared in so many ways!

How funny, my kids just have their birthdays on obscure holidays- Cinco de Mayo and Flag Day.

UPDATE: Ryan's Dad let me know that his Grandmother Northam had one of her daughters on her birthday as well, so they also share a birthday.

I thought my children were sleeping through the night....

I really thought my children were old enough to consistently sleep through the night.. FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES. But, apparently, not so. Grant is 4 and we have been wondering when he might be totally out of Pull Ups, and dry through the night. I was not in any rush to get this done, he wasn't dry, and really, I'm not great at laundry anyway, so why add a set of sheets or more each morning? But, he latched on to the idea when he saw that other friends and cousins were out of Pull Ups. OK, so we laid down the rules- you have to be dry for a set number of days before we're even attempting underwear. Now, don't think I'm being all mean on this subject, I know that all kids mature and different rates, and that boys take EVEN longer than girls to get a handle on this skill. So, seriously, I'm not getting my hopes up. But with the potty training, now we're back to 3 times a night practically!!! Getting him up before I go to bed at midnight ( this is really Ryan most of the time- but you have to agree this is the EASIER time to get up- you're not even asleep yet!)
Then, Grant wanders in at about 3am- mainly I think because he has to go to the bathroom, so like a crazy person, I tell him we have to get up and go to the bathroom before he can get in bed with me- he's not fully awake, so this takes SOO much longer than it should, and I'm practically fully awake before we get back to bed for a few hours. And of course, he gets more awake, so he doesn't fall immediately back to sleep, so I'm conversing with a 4 year old at 3am...

Update: We're still working on this little at a time, still haven't moved to the giant faith leap of underwear- I'm not caught up on my laundry yet. I pledge to have this under control by cub scout camp- and I think I have several years with that. We maybe can handle that. - He's now started to get into bed with Grace- but she's not awake enough to get him up to go to the bathroom ( maybe we can pay her to take him to the bathroom in the middle of the night)

The cruel thing about getting in bed with Grace is this... They ( grace and grant) always want to sleep together- and Grant insists on sleeping in his bed. So, he tells Grace that she can sleep in his bed with him- Then about 10-15 minutes later ( enough time for her to read him a story or 2), he tells her he doesn't want her to sleep in his bed- at first he might give her the option of sleeping on the top bunk, but sooner or later, he throws and all out fit, and tells her he doesn't want her in his room. I'm not sure how to handle this, because I really just want them to go to sleep and be quiet! Poor Grace is now crying ( even though this has happened about a thousand times), and sulks back into her room. Grant gets yelled at, and hopefully they go to sleep.
But, now, we are finding that after Grace has gone to sleep in her bed, Grant has snuck in her room and is now asleep in her bed. What a manipulator..

When it rains it pours...

It seems our house is broken.. well, not broken, just that several things have decided to break or need fixing/painting NOW. I had plans to have a door installed out the back deck that REALLY shuts. The current one has driven me crazy since day 1- its not set in the jam quite right, so if you don't work with it for atleast 2 minutes, you can't shut and lock the door. I've finally had it and I went to Home Depot and signed up for a measurement consult. I picked out a great door that has the blinds INSIDE! I know this seems simple, but if you consider that I'm a bit crazy with OCD when it comes to safety, you'll understand, that I take great comfort in turning on my house alarm, shutting all windows, blinds, and anything else I can secure. So, I was excited to get a door with blinds inside. That plan was going fine. With a few bumps... We've been looking at the exterior of our house and thinking that we'd need to repaint next year, but as summer has gone on, I don't think we're going to be able to wait until next year. Its starting to look really faded, and the longer we wait, the more damage may be done.
I'm excited for new paint, I have some great ideas on paint. The only problem is that Ryan and I will have to agree on a paint color, and that is probably harder than getting out of Iraq. My ideas will all get vetoed, Ryan will waffle on what he thinks may look good ( without any concrete ideas, I might add- this is the problem- he just wants to veto my ideas).
So this morning it looked like we were headed toward replacing a back door, and the side door out to the garage ( its had a cat door in it since we moved in, its also warped in the jam and needs to be replaced). I thought it would all fall in line with house painting, but, tonight Ryan BROKE the garage door. ( not really). The garage door has been shutting only with force recently, so we should have known we were on the last leg. Tonight I heard this very loud sound from the garage- I find this strategy works best: "Ask myself- where are the kids? Could they have anything to do with that loud sound? Is anyone crying - not whining, really crying like they're in pain? Is Grace running in here to tattle on what Grant has most recently done?- if all the above are answered with a "no", then I know its Ryan, and I know he's working with tools, and that tells me to stay away unless I hear him crying ( not shouting- thats just anger or frustration, I want to stay away then).
But I didn't hear any of that either, so I casually sauntered out to the garage, and he was calmly examining the garage door spring- which just broke. GREAT! The cascading domino of home improvment continues to go on.....

** oops, it looks like the photo is posted up top. I went on to the Sherwin Williams site and tried to find a house I liked to put virutal paint on. ( I know, this is not my house- and I'm not crazy about the brown shed color on the side, but I like the main color and trim)
Lobbying may not work, but if anyone has some ideas on color combos, let me know. I hate the color blue in house color. Don't suggest blue.

Mom, I"m ready for the beach

( 8/12/2008)
Tonight after a long struggle to get the kids to bed, I hear Grant come downstairs at 9:45pm. *He needs very little sleep for a 4 year old! Bedtime is usually around 8 or 8:30 and sometimes like tonight he doesn't fall to sleep until 10- then he's up at 6 or maybe 7, if we're lucky and wants to eat- NOW.
Anyway, he says "Hi Mom, I'm ready for the beach!"

I said "What do you mean?" Meanwhile I'm looking more closely at his chest, there appears to be some white stuff smeared all over his skin ( he was only wearing shorts).
I'm thinking at this point, that this must be sunscreen that he has gotten into.
I say in my mean mommy voice " Show me where the sunscreen is!"
I walk with him upstairs, and start to smell something "minty". Hmm, I wonder what that is from?....
I tell him at this point to show me the sunscreen... turns out he had found a tube of Colgate toothpaste, and smeared it all over his chest, arms, and even some on his back. He said " but mom, you said we're going to the beach" ( we arent' leaving for a few days- next time I'm not saying a word)
He also added a few more thoughts while I was cleaning him up-
"Mom, (pointing to my deodorant) I also put that on, you're wiping it off right now"
* I just kept saying " we do not put toothpaste on our bodies, it only goes in our mouths, you do not go into mommy's bathroom and get into stuff"
Then, he pointed to a glass of water solution that holds my retainers. "Mom isn't that cool, you have dinosaur teeth in there! See that, that looks like a big dinosaur mouth".

I seriously don't think this even phased him.