HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Matthew says,

"Why didn't the skeleton cross the road?"

(answer at bottom of page)

Here is Bethanie's 1st grade class. I was in charge of this party, so it was really fun arranging it and who brings/does what. The other moms were wonderful, and the kids had a blast. We played Fall BINGO, which is what the Primary kids played a few weeks ago, and the kids loved getting their BINGOs. Fall BINGO was also a game I chose for my second lesson plan to teach in my college Intro to Education class. Even the college students had fun with it (but it also involved chocolate). Bethie-Beth is the blue witch in the front left.

My three sweeties! Halloween (any holiday really) is always a struggle. Asperger's is often very challenging, and it is a test of OUR strength and endurance. It is now nearly 11:oo p.m. and we survived yet another holiday, and I know that it is only the fun memories that will remain.

I didn't get an individual picture of Miss Madison. She was in Cranky City so we just didn't meet up. I wanted to, and I tried to get the BINKERS away from her but she was just not going for it. She was a little witch like Bethanie, though her costume was different. I LOVED the colors in her costume for her. She had a good time tonight, she was really into saying THANK YOU for everything.

Here is Bethie-Beth. She had the sweetest little witch costume. I LOVE her eyes in this picture. Her expression is just lovely. I just love looking at her...I think it is her countenance.

She was so excited last night (for Halloween) that she just COULDN'T get to sleep. She is exhausted tonight, but no doubt, her dreams will be filled with all the Halloween fun she had today!

Matthew was so cool in his Bumble Bee Transformer costume. He is just getting too big for these costumes. Next year we will have to be inventive for his costumes. I think this was an awesome costume for him!!!

Here is White Grandpa (Albert, my FIL). He was teasing Madison by wearing her hat. She could care less. Usually she would grab it away from him and say, "MINE!!!"



In Salina, our Branch from Concordia teamed up with the Salina ward for a combined activity (church stuff). It was a carnival and trunk or treat. So we went down and decorated our trunks and passed out candy and that is how the kids went trick or treating. They had a great time but some of the pictures below show what happened. What a fun time.

Bethanie and Heather are bobbing for apples. This is huge for Bethanie because she HATES water in or near her face. I am so proud of her for trying this. Heather is a good example to her, and if Heather does it, she feels safe enough to try too.

Same goes for Madison, if SISSY does it, she can too. She grabbed an apple and started eating it. Then she would THROW it back into the bucket and go for another one. It was hard to keep her out of that water. She would just as soon as take a bath in it then and there if we let her!






Matthew also bobbed for apples! He caught one by the stem!







Madison was quite good at the pumpkin bowling. She played this several times and just had a great time.





Matthew did the cupcake walk, a few times. This cupcake was gruesome, it had an eyeball on it! OY!






Now he is bobbing for donuts. He did great! If it involves food, he is there, man!

There was a pumpkin decorating contest. The four pumpkins with the potato head pieces on them were our four. The one on the left (second from the left) was Heather's, the white one next to it was Matthews (he won $5 for 3rd place), then Bethanie's then Madison's (she won $5 for the smallest). Bethanie didn't win anything, she was so bummed. I told her we would go buy her some shoes tomorrow. She was happy then. LOL!

All in all the day was challenging. I had classes all morning, and the children were off the wall this morning before school. I had to leave my last class early so I could get to Bethie-Beth's school party, and it just was hectic and fast paced all day long. I am exhausted, but it was fun to say the least.

I cant believe tomorrow is NOVEMBER!!! That means Thanksgiving is coming soon, and our tree will be up in just three weeks! Well....if I can get it up when I usually do! How exciting! I just love these holidays, and fun times with my sweet family!






Answer:

Because he didn't have the guts!

She took my breath away....

Tonight, at Bethanie's dance class, they were dancing with scarves in a Ballet free form dance style. Bethanie is so graceful, and showing some real talent with her dancing. Watching her, it took my breath away. She is in her own world when she is dancing. She is so free and comfortable, and I can tell she really enjoys it. It nearly brought tears to my eyes today, just watching her.

PUMPKINS, PUMPKINS EVERYWHERE!!!

Carving pumpkins are always a lot of work, especially when the number of kids are greater than the adults! Princess Bethanie did an EXCELLENT job of carving her own pumpkin. I drew on the pattern but she did the rest! I designed Miss Madison's pumpkin (the tiny one) and Matthew and Jeff worked on Matthew's (the huge one in the back). I bought the battery operated lights that turn colors to put inside the pumpkins. This way the wind cant blow out the candles, and they last longer. Madison's pumpkin was too small, so it has a tea light candle in it. It was fun, and its over. Halloween is in just a couple of days!!! We are so excited!!!

The girls are hard at work cleaning out the pulp and the seeds. We like to bake our seeds with salt and eat them later. Madison said, "YUCK!" every time she touched the pulp!

Matthew did OK cleaning it out. He hates the feel of the pulp.

Bethie-Beth didn't want much help. She wanted to do it all herself. I am
so proud of the great job she did!





Madison is as cute as her pumpkin! She LOVED it so much that she didn't want to leave it outside, even though it was already lit and it had to stay outside.





Matthew and daddy worked together on his pumpkin. It was designed by Matthew free form.

Madison's pumpkin lid came up missing. We looked EVERYWHERE for it. Of course, I was imagining finding a rotten pumpkin lid somewhere in the house late next week. EEEWWWW!

The final products! How fun! I love Halloween!
(can you find the naked girl in this picture?)

They are so sweet!

All about Heather...

Today, Miss Bethanie, Miss Madison and I took Heather (our sweetest 13 year old niece) and her mom, Aunt Nanny (Ann) out and snapped some pictures of Heather. Dont you just love the dreamy look on her face? Heather is such a beautiful young girl-though she doesnt know it. It is hard to look at some of these pictures and know that she is ONLY 13!

These two are of my most favorites

I absolutely LOVE this one (above)

My baby...

just went pee-pee on the potty. I guess that means she isnt a baby anymore. :O(

Matthew, doing what he loves...

Here is Matthew. Sometimes he is rather antisocial. He was afraid grandma was going to snap a picture. He is sensitive to the flash of the camera. He is hilarious at his responses...

Copy Cat

If Bethanie does it, Madison will do it....This was funny. Mom did this for me while I was at a meeting today...

My mom...

has been coming into town and helping me with the great American Child Care Juggle. :O)

I am so grateful that our children have their grandparents around and active in their lives. It has been a huge comfort to us that we know where they are, and that they are safe, always. My mom took some videos today of the kids....this one is of the girlers.

Update on Phi Theta Kappa...

OK, I decided to go ahead and join. I found that I don't need to worry about time commitment. If all I can do is all I can do, then I am good. IF I have time to work on some of the things, I can, but I am not going to stress on it. So, the induction ceremony is on November 13th, and family and friends can come. :O) As it stands, with mid term grades, my GPA is still at 4.0. I stress and worry that I cant keep it up, but all I can do is my best.

THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING WOMAN...

Shewie! It has been a while since I have updated last! I think my last entry about this was September 3rd (I had to go back and look). I weighed in last night. I had not been (to Weight Watchers) in like 3 weeks just because life is really complicated right now, and I need a place to take kids during the meeting. It is also an evening shared with Bethanie's dance class, so I am struggling to get where I need to be all day long! So anyway, I weighed in and the GOOD news is that I am officially 4 ounces away from 55 LBS! It is coming off plenty slow, but the point is, IT IS COMING OFF. I didn't gain the weight over night. It was 20 years (or more) worth of gain, and to lose this much so far is amazing! I feel so healthy, so full of energy and a bit more confident with myself. It is so fun to buy new clothes that fit. Today I am wearing some old sweat pants and they are huge and baggy. It is hard thinking back to a year ago, they were actually a little snug on me. This year, they are a hazard to my health-literally. They are way baggy in the back and they catch on chairs. One day I nearly ended up on the floor because they got stuck on a chair the wrong way when I was trying to sit down. :O) Awe, such is life if it is a complaint that my clothes are too big! :O) Anyway, next week is a new week, it would be fun if I can get my next 5 lb star. I love those rewards!

Warming my heart...

I have never made it any secret...I love the relationship my daughters have with each other. It tickles my soul to no end when I see them sitting here together, coloring, enjoying just being side by side to one another. Bethanie is so wonderful with Madison. She is so patient and loving toward her and what a good example she is. She just loves being a big sister. Sometimes she pretends to be her mommy. I can hear them over the baby monitor. Don't get me wrong, though. She does her fair share of teasing her (today she was teasing her about spiders because she knows Madison is afraid of spiders-not counting those that she stomps to the ground pulverizing them in to bits of dust).

This is a typical site. Bethanie is giving Madison a horsey ride on her back. Madison just loves this. Bethanie could be laying on the floor-minding her own business and Madison will jump on her back at a dead run. It would clobber my back, but Bethie just giggles and laughs and takes of for a horsey ride. !!!! I love this. It is so sweet seeing them so loving.

I tried and tried to get pictures of Matthew to share. He is being anti-social these days. He is maturing for sure. I can tell. Here is one that I did manage to get of him, doing what he loves to do best...

BBrrrrrr...

Where is my hot chocolate? Where is my heated blanket? I am loving this weather, but darned if I cant get warm!!!

A brief video from the pumpkin patch...

My dad took a brief video today of the kids at the pumpkin patch. Just so you can see them in real time. It is neat to see a video from time to time.

You may have to pause the music at the bottom of the blog page...

Lots of fun Fall pictures of today...

Did I mention how much I love Fall? We took the kidlets to the Zoo today because it was a "Pumpkin Palooza" day. They all got in free, and a free pumpkin too! Jeff unfortunately had to work, so he couldn't be there. My parents have been wanting to visit this Zoo, and since they are now retired, they can! So we all went together-but I felt like something was missing (Jeff).

I really love this picture. It is pretty rare to get my children in a picture with "Brown" Grandma and Grandpa. I am so glad that they are retired now so that my children can get to know them better, and be able to spend time with them doing fun things.

Here is Matthew, and his PUMPKIN PICK! It was huge, and heavy. He asked me if I would carry it for him, and I told him that it was so big it wouldn't fit in the stroller so he would have to carry it...

So he decided to pick a smaller one so it would fit in the stroller. :OP

Here is Bethanie's pumpkin pick! She is so excited. She is hugging it like a baby!

Madison went pumpkin shopping again. She had like 4 pumpkins in the stroller. Finally Grandpa started sitting them on the ground each time she went back for another one. We ended up dragging her from the pumpkin patch. She wanted more.

Here are MY PUMPKIN PICKS with THEIR PUMPKIN PICKS!

I love this picture of my mom! I sure had a good time with them today!

Here is dad. He was assigned as Madison's adult. She kept trying to lose him.

There were little games for the kids to play (sort of like carnival games). One of them was the kids got into a pile of hay and dug around for mini pumpkins. When they found one, they could get a prize. Madison was totally in LOVE with these Zebra sunglasses! She put them on and posed!

The Giraffes were out, and you could feed them hay. This one was coming down for Bethanie, you can barely see her face, she is the one in the pink shirt. It came down to nibble her hay, and it got so close to her she freaked out. She tried to feed it again later with my hand on hers, but I think it knew she was afraid because it wouldn't come to her again, but it did me. They were so beautiful, and their lips were all soft and gentle.

What a fun time at the Zoo today. I only wish Jeff could have come with us!

What an HONOR!!! I have been invited...

to become a member of Phi Theta Kappa. It is a Honors Fraternity (International Honors Society). I was shocked to get the letter in the mail yesterday, certainly was the last thing I had expected. For this privilege, only a small handful of students are invited to join. You have to have a GPA of 3.5 or above (mine is a 4.0 right now). I will be eligible for scholarships too. If I do this, induction into Phi Theta Kappa will allow me to have a Golden Key Membership Pin, Membership Certificate, Notation of membership on my diploma and transcripts and if I can maintain my GPA, I will get to wear the Regalia at graduation that sets me apart as a Phi Theta Kappa member. This would look EXCELLENT on any resume because just the words Phi Theta Kappa tells any employer that this person has worked hard, had taken extra care towards their grades, and that they are committed.

Now, I have not decided to do this as of yet. I am concerned that since this is a great honor to be a part of (really just neat to receive this letter), I know that members of this Chapter are busy with doing special things for the college. It helps promote leadership and there is responsibility that goes along with it. I don't know if I can commit to being away doing these other things while trying to parent my sweet children, and keep up my grades. This is a hard thing I am doing right now, and I don't know if I would be able to swing it. Isn't it a neat thing? I was excited about it, anyway. :OP



So with this news, and I don't know how these things work, it brought about a great deal of concern and confusion to my brain (which is fairly fried- midterm week, tests, kids...) I talked with my Advisor about it. She gave me some great advice and counsel about what I should do. Then while at my Practicum today, I talked to Mrs. Brewer (the teacher that is mentoring me), she gave me some great advice too, similar to what my instincts told me, and also what my Advisor advised me. I felt concerned because of my age, and not wanting to be the old woman sitting in the back row trying to act like a 20 year old. I was firmly corrected and told that it is the non traditional students that make the BEST students, because they are there because they want to be, not because it is expected of them. I feel the same way, and glad to know that IF I do this, I wont be the old woman sitting on the back row. Really, it is just an honor getting the letter, so we will see what happens.



So, my orientation session is on Tuesday, October 21st. It is the initial meeting I will go to-to make my final decision, seeing what the commitment will be on my part. If I do it, the formal induction ceremony is on Thursday November 13, 2008. If you made it reading this far, you deserve an award! LOL!



Here is a website incase anyone wants to view it: http://www.ptk.org/ This explains a little more of the Phi Theta Kappa program.

Um...now what?

That is all I can say.

For my Music Appreciation class, I have to attend 5 concerts. Then I have to write about the concert and hand it in. That has proven to be nearly impossible for me. I tried to at Fall Fest, but the kids would never let me get any of it done. That was 2 concert possibilities missed on that one day. Tonight, I took the kids to the Jr. High and tried to view their Vocal Concert. Jeff was where? Of course, anywhere but here, so I had to take the kids with me. Near the end, there were about 4 songs left, a man came up to me and asked me (because Madison was very wiggly and noisy, that is why we sat in the back of the auditorium) if he could watch him (he thought she was a boy) out in the hall so it was more quiet. I said, she was fine with me. He then asked me if there was an older sibling that could watch her. I said, um, NO (as if I would let Matthew tend her). So then he started telling me that he needed it to be quiet and I said fine, we would leave. He was all, I can watch him in the hall for you, and I was all, I don't even know who you are, why would I let you watch my child? He said (in a rather saintly way, I almost saw a halo around him) "I am the Vice Principal" and I am all, so? I still don't know who you are. We will just leave. Then I proceeded to tell him that there were lots of people in the back row cursing and talking and texting and so on, he needed to get on them as well. So, here I sit, half a concert behind me, feeling rather humiliated that because of my children, I was asked to leave. I am so sad that I have NO ONE to help me with children when I need it. Jeff's parents are out of town, so it is just me. Disappointed and let down.

Pity Party is now over. Back to my homework, I have a midterm in the morning.

Fall Primary Activity...

The kids went to the Church today to participate in the activity where they practiced for their music program in a couple of weeks for Sacrament Meeting. We have worked all year long on learning how we are all each a Child Of God, and it is finally coming up to perform our program in front of the congregation. After the practice, there were other fun FALL activities to do.

Here they are playing BINGO. They got neat-o treat bags with it when they had a BINGO. It was so cute!

Here the kids are decorating pumpkin cookies, and then they got to eat them after they decorated them! It was a ton of fun! Sister Richey did a great job, and the kids all had a great time! I am so glad that we had this!