I just wanted to send some love and prayers to my friend Tara who leaves tomorrow to do some great work in a foreign land that needs it. Its so awesome what your doing Tara and I'll be thinking of you!

So at 8:00pm last night, we realized that we need to be sure we had everything for costumes, and that we have not carved pumpkins yet! Well, let me tell ya, we rocked out the pumpkin carving! done in like 30 minutes. Turned out pretty cute too! The girls each picked out what kind of face that they wanted, I drew, Jason gutted and carved I took pics. We really have this whole teamwork thing down.Costumes were modeled( Taegen didn't want to take hers off) List was made of things we still need(glowsticks, new handle for Summer's pumpkin bucket) I am concidering a trial run tonight for a photo shoot. We'll see. My pictures stunk last year because halloween is just SO CRAZY! By the time Summer and I get home from the school its 4pm. This year we are going to Grand Rapids to trick-or-treat at Jasons moms neighborhood. So we will have to leave ASAP. I just totally talked my self into the photoshoot tonight.

I LOVE Teagen's scary face! She is so funny. She wanted to pratice trick-or-treating by asking us with her pail. And she was so serious about wanting a smiley face pumpkin- not scary. I cant wait to see her all dressed up.

Summer is beside herself with excitement. I don't know how teachers handle these kids all day before the party. Summer and her friends have all been discussing costumes since school started! Halloween is pretty big among the 1st Grade crowd.

Allright, I'm off! Leighton will be here by 10:30 and I have things to do before I have to devote all my attention to the biter and the bitten. Wish me luck!

Whew..today was a long one. Most of it spent at my little job. Starting with a 7:30am meeting in Grand Haven. ridiculous. Its tanning, people, not rocket science. Whats funny is how much Midnite Sun & Cruise is like a Midwest version of "Sunset Tan". I've only watch the show a little, but that's because I have enough drama in the 12 hours a week at work that I really don't need to see their drama too.

So then it was straight to the salon to open until 5pm when we close. Lucky for me Amanda hung out for a while in the morning and then Autumn came in and tanned and hung out too. Makes the time go by.

I am lucky to have a flexible job and the free (or very cheap)tanning is cool too. The years I spent home all the time were not always easy and I like getting some adult interaction. I am the "old Lady" around there but I have fun with the girls.When ever I say I am quitting, Jason reminds me that the problems there are not as bad as the problems I Could have other places. I mean they let me work 12 hours a week. That's pretty awesome.

BTW- The biting Saga continues. I am looking for advice. We do time-outs(nope), send her to her room(just goes to sleep), spankings(solving violence with violence?), put toys in time-out(she doesn't care). I don't know what else to try. I'm sure by now Kelly doesn't want Leighton here. If Greg knows or finds out, I am sure he won't want Leighton here! I already don't even let them out of my sight but Teagen doesn't seem to care either way. Are there toddler muzzles? Oh, yeah, and she only bites him. and only on the finger. Weird.

OK,long boring post. Sorry. Should have some pics tomorrow. And maybe some new stuff in my portfolio at sisTV. Later Taters!

NOTE:

If I have you listed somewhere on this blog its because I love you story and/or I love your work. Please let me know if you would rather remain private! And don't worry- I am truely an innocent stalker. Harmless. Really.

Why God made 2 year olds so dang cute...

So that we don't abandon them on the neighbors doorstep.

OK, last night I took all three kids to Cee-Cees To meet Kelly and Leighton. It never occurred to me that this was the 1st time I've taken them out alone to a restaurant. Except for the full diet coke that Grady grabbed and dumped down the front of himself, everyone was good. If only Teagen would have actually eaten and didn't sit at her own table. Grady kept stealing Kel's fork and banged on the plate really loud. Needless to say, it was more stressful and less fun than I had hoped. With Kelly working full time, we really have no chance to catch up anymore and that didn't happen yesterday either. Then, somehow I still thought it would be fun to check out the new Target after "dinner". Kel rolls her cart over with her nice little germ-protecting seat liner for Leighton. I grab one of those limo-sized carts ( BTW-those thing require blinkers and mirrors) trying to figure out how to strap Grady into the toddler seat. You can't use the baby seat in those things, they have the leg holes blocked. So Kelly graciously removed her son from the germ-free cart to ride w/Teagen and pushed Grady in her cart. At this point Summer is crying because I told her she's too big to ride in a cart. Should have got back in the car at this point but no, I was not going to admit defeat. In we go. I left both carts with Kelly for 1 minute and I hear crying- loud crying. Its Leighton with teeth marks on his finger courtesy of Teagen. She hates if he points at her or pokes her so that's her reaction. If it happens at my house-I take care of it. BIG trouble. But I have no idea how to handle it in a store FULL of people. I give Kelly a lot of credit for not slapping her across her face(OK, Kel doesn't even have that in her) but man, I was SOOO MAD! Why is she doing this? It makes me crazy. And I thought the biting phase was over. She has bit Leighton on the arm a couple of times, but its been a while. Then while watch Leighton this week, I've noticed he has started poking and pointing at everything. He's 2 and very laid back. But he is starting to see that he can push limits and loves to push Teagen's buttons. So that is her reaction. The WRONG reaction. I cannot believe that one of MY kids is the BITER. Ya know, there's one in every daycare. Ugghh. I hate it, don't know what to do. I am Sorry Leighton. I am sorry Kelly. You guys are troopers for still loving her. Anyone have any ideas how to handle this? I'm totally at a loss.
So after about 12 seat swaps and 4 Teagen melt-downs in the middle of shopping isles, we check out. The woman in front of me in line looks back apologetically, "I'm so sorry...I've been there." I just got in line, was it that obvious that I was totally losing it? I have no idea who I've become. I can't understand how I lost control of the situation.
I'm not leaving the house again until hunting season is over.

a little boo for you!

Just a little decor for the holiday! Its small(5x7ish) and hangs from the cutest tiny hanger! Old picture of Summer but still a fav.

One Last cheer...

Whew...the season is OVER! Its been fun,interesting and long. Pratice started in July And has been 4 days a week for 2 hrs a night. Lakeside takes football very seriously and the cheerleaders follow the same schedule. Such a different experience for us here than what it was in Whitehall last year. They learned A LOT of cheers and pratice was pretty serious.( they even ran laps!)

I didnt like some of the cheers- to provactive. One in particular is "jiggelo". We alway did as "wiggelo" when I cheered(back in the day) Its not meant to mean anything, but I still hate it. Lots of sing-song, hip-hop cheering too. Not what I was used to. I think Summer was uncomfortable with a lot of it too. It was a bit odd to watch how differently all the girls were...by race. Summer has always had very mixed groups of friends in school. Totally unaware of race, and I was very proud of that. Summer would be telling us about someone and say " Ya know, that girl with the soft brown skin that has all the cool barettes in her hair." The words black and white were no more than colors of crayons. But in cheerleading there were sudden obvious differences. In any free time, the girls seperated. But I think just because they played differently. The black girls did little dances and cheers learned from olders kids. Summer and her friends would play "secret spy" and other imagination games. The white girls seemed almost younger. One thing was always the same- if Teagen and Grady came to pratice, ALL the girls wanted to play with them! Teagen actually learned most of the cheers and Grady loved the cherring so much that he would clap after they finished. Grady loves the ladies!

But anyway, Its been fun. Great coaches. Thanks Renee and Ashanta. We might try soccer next year. Who knows. My questions is...how am I supposed to do all these activities when I have 3 playing?!?!

this kid.

a born-comedian. he knew that this was funny and refused to quit! i was laughing so hard I couldn't see. the kind of laugh that hurts. most of my photos didnt turn out because the camera was shaking so badly. i love that these kids are so funny. a sense of humor will get you through a lot in life.

Ok, off to start my day. pumpkin pie latte in hand, I plan to have a productive and highly caffinated morning.

sicko.

Oh, my. Its been a LOOOONg weekend. I actually can't believe it's Monday. Feels like Thursday. Teagen is sooo sick. in her 2 1/2 years she has only had 1 or 2 colds. But this is baaad. Jason took her to the medi-center (new experience for us) on Saturday while I took Grady and Summer to her last football game for cheerleading. Teagen ended up having bronchitis and strep throat. She won't sleep unless one of us is touching her. She will not eat and is barely drinking. And she whispers. That goodness I am very fluent in Teagenese and am now learning to read lips.

All this is such a bummer because she finally started using the potty last Tuesday! And she was really doing well. only a couple accidents and going all by herself with out us bugging her constantly. This. Is. Big. I really have learned to never expect anything from Tee. She knows it and will do the opposite of what you think. I guess if I expect the worst, she will give me the best. Well, bring it on sweetness, I'm up to the challenge!

So back to the illness...she's on amoxicillin. Summer is allergic to all "cillins" Its a total pain when shes sick because we have to usually get a very EXPENSIVE antibiotic that doesn't work as well. Ok, now Teagen has 3 hives on her face. her face is usually perfect, she's never had a rash, bump or any thing. These are hives and hives are a reaction. Apparently Summer's reaction has nothing to do with anyone else being allergic to pennicilin in our families(my Mom, Jason's sister...) Dr says "only allergies run in families NOT allergies to specific things." He has said this on several occasions. So I called the office and talked to the nurse. She said it could also be cause by the fever she is still running. Keep giving her the med and if she gets any more hives GET HER IN IMMEDIATLY. Wow, so reassuring. We've been so lucky with such healthy kids that I am a mess when something comes up. I am trying to not be crazy-mom-who-calls-Dr-for-any-little-thing. NOt as easy as it sounds. Also try to keep off webmd. I am not a doctor so why try to make a diagnosis on my own. I'll be even more of a freakshow. Wow,I need a nap.

Ok, I'll try this...

This is just an attempt to join the fun. No promises that I'll keep it up but it makes sence for me to be journaling online. So this is a sample to see if I did everything right.