If Only I Had Her Confidence

Where would I be in life if I had the confidence to wear a tail in public? I noticed her wearing it the other night while we were out shopping.


And just another picture of her hanging around the house. I hope her confidence is life-lasting.

A Halloween Problem

I bought two new pairs of glasses on-line, from zennioptical.com. If you have to buy glasses, I highly recommend this site. I bought both of my pairs for $8 a piece, which included frames and lenses. And shipping is only something like $4, for as many pairs that you want to buy. But anyway, as soon as I put them on, I discovered what should have been my Halloween costume, if only I would have dressed up. I should have gone as my mother! When Megan got home from school she said, "You look just like Grandma." And Eric kind of just stared at me, and told me he thought the same thing.


If only I could wear them as well as she does. And if only I had her mouth. And if only my bangs fell the way hers do. If only, if only, if only.....

Also, Halloween related.....

I am curious what you all do with your Halloween candy. As you can see, I have a lot left. When my kids first got it, they sorted it and threw away all of the candy that they thought they wouldn't like. Unfortunately that only amounted to about 8 pieces. The pile doesn't seem to be dwindling, and I attribute it to 3 main reasons:

1) Eric is usually a candy eater, but this year for some reason he is not eating it. Eric if you are reading this, leave me a comment and let me know your reasons.

2) I don't particularly enjoy candy, so when the snickers are gone, I am no help at all.

3) Jackson and Sadie would eat candy all day if I let them, but I only allow my kids one or two pieces a day.

"Please let me know what happens to your candy?
Do you let your kids eat as much as they want on Halloween, just to get rid of it?
How much candy do your kids eat everyday?"

The Sounds Of Helicopters In The Morning

When you wake up to the sounds of helicopters circling over your neighborhood in the morning, you know that something bad has happened. Another clue is when you are awoken at midnight to the sounds of sirens. For those of you that don't live in Las Vegas, an off-duty police officer was shot in his garage early this morning about 12:15 a.m. (which is when I was awoken by all of the sirens). It seems to have been a random burglary. He was married and had 2 young kids. It is unbearably sad.

Here is one of the helicopters flying right over my house. They started flying over about 5:30 this morning, and have not stopped. It is now almost 11, and there are currently 5 of them out there.

We have had some burglaries over the years, but I am pretty sure this is our first murder. I am hoping the first and last. I felt like a crime photographer taking these pictures. There are five news vans and countless police officers.

It's strange to watch the news and see your neighborhood featured so prominently. It is also hard to be made aware so harshly that violent crime can happen to anyone. This could have easily been my family. Eric is often out in our garage around midnight unloading his truck.

12 X 12 - November

I really didn't feel like taking pictures on the 12th of November, so instead I did my 12 X 12 yesterday. Nevertheless, yesterday I started my day quite typically by getting the kids ready for school. Then my friend Melissa and I went to JoAnne's for some supplies for Christmas gifts we are making! I forgot to take a picture, but Melissa just think you could have been featured in this month's 12 X 12. I am sure you are terribly upset by it (insert sarcasm here). After JoAnne's, and right before picking up Jackson from school, Sadie and I went to buy a Dr. Pepper.

As you can see Sadie was very happy after we bought it. Not because she loves Dr. Pepper, but rather because when we go to this particular gas station (the Chevron on Losee), they give all of the kids fruit snacks for free. Sadie knows this, and as soon as we enter she continually says, "nack, nack, nack", which is code for fruit snack.

Kindergarten pick-up.

When we got home, I opened the pantry door to make lunch and discovered that my calendar was on the correct month. You might say, "Well I hope so. It is November 17 th for hell's sake." Well at least my mom would say that, because she is the one that taught me to say "for hell's sake!" But in my house the calendar is rarely on the right month because the nail I had holding it up was defective. Well apparently Eric changed the nail without me knowing, and now it stays in its rightful place! This may seem insignificant, but it is kind of like when we got TIVO. Life changing. Thanks, Eric!


For lunch we had leftover spaghetti. Well at least Sadie and I did. Jackson hates it. Notice how Sadie holds her juice box by the very top so it doesn't squeeze out.

After we picked up Megan we went to the D.I. I love it there! It is almost like guilt-free shopping. I purchased some books (one of which was brand new) , these lights (brand new), and one other thing that you will see later, all for $15.

After we got home, Jackson and Sadie watched some t.v. I think it is safe to say that I will not see a cuter vision all week.

Eric brought me a couple of books home about learning to play the piano. He was doing a job for a lady that gave them to him. Yeah for more free stuff!


Isn't it amazing how Eric can be so intently watching television while children are climbing all over him? I am attributing it to being Monday night, which is synonymous with football.

Lastly a picture of Megan in front of another one of my D.I. purchases from today. I have been looking for a desk for her room for ages. It had to be fairly small, just big enough to fit in this corner. Well look what I found for $5. A school desk in perfect condition. And the best part is it is hidden by her armoire so I don't even see it when I look in her room.

The rest of the day I spent putting the kids to bed, watching some T.V., and reading. As we were going to bed around midnight, Eric informed me he was flying to California in the morning. I of course said in a slightly angry voice, "You are just telling me this now"? But then I forgave him, because after all, he did fix my calendar.

Megan On Monday

Megan.....

I find her hilarious. She is creative and can make a game out of anything. She found this old sheet that has provided hours of entertainment for her. Some of her concoctions.

She has been parading around as a ghost. But not just a regular ghost, but a ghost that continually dances The Robot. Complete with music I might add.


The sheet has also entered her bedroom and has aided in her a part meditation, part witchcraft game.

She sits on her bed with the sheet wrapped around her and says things like,

"HMMMMMM. May evening arise. HMMMMMM...."
"HMMMMMM. No matter, if it is dawn or evening. HMMMMMM..."
"HMMMMMM. May the blue moon rise. HMMMMMM....."

Lastly she has taken to sleeping with a sleep mask. It's rather cute, don't you agree?

The first night it stayed above her eyes.

But now she goes for full coverage.

Calico Basin-Part 2

Tuesday night Eric and I were watching the weather and they mentioned that Wednesday was probably going to be our last really, really nice day for awhile. Since the kids were out of school Wednesday and Eric was able to make it home early we decided to take advantage of it and head up the canyon again. This time we once again visited Calico Basin, but went farther up and found a great trail that took us to some HUGE rocks.

I love my little Sade.

Trekking up the mountain went quite slowly, until Sadie hitched a ride. However I can't blame all of the slowness on Sadie. I admit that I am not the fastest hiker, due to my lack of endurance!

Jackson and Megan do not suffer from my endurance issues, so they had no trouble climbing up and down rocks. They even took some time out to play hide and seek.

Not to be outdone, Sadie climbed the rocks with amazing 22 month old ability. She would not hold a hand, and my heart raced a few times envisioning her plummeting. But she ended up just fine.

Late afternoon is my very favorite time of day. The sun was behind the mountains and the weather was beautiful.

On our way home we stopped at Olive Garden to eat. Check out how hot our plates were. Eric is melting a crayon on it!

GIVEAWAY!

I bet you were hoping for something exciting. Sorry to disappoint, but I have gone back to Cascade and am now giving away FREE the 2 and 3/4th boxes of Electrasol I have left. If anyone would like them, just leave me a comment. They are the Gelpacs. And delivery is included for FREE if you live in North Las Vegas!

Today I'm Bored (And Tired And Nauseous)

Today I am bored, tired, and nauseous.

Let's start with bored.

I have approximately 150 hours of recorded shows on my DVR (some are movies) , but don't feel like watching any T.V. I am 3 to 4 weeks behind on shows that I don't want to delete because I do plan on watching them. But I have sacrificed some. Just the other day I deleted 67 episodes of House Hunters. That is 33 1/2 hours of time. I was quite proud of myself.

I was also bored yesterday. Yesterdays main cause of boredom was also T.V. related. I would just like to ask why football games have to be so long? I could handle an hour, or maybe and hour and a half. But 4 hours? That's just extreme. I don't watch anything that is 4 hours long. I couldn't sit through a 4 hour movie. How am I supposed to sit through a 4 hour football game?

I am bored with my wardrobe. I could probably get rid of 85% of my clothes. I need some long-sleeved shirts that are not tight around the stomach area. By the way I tried on some long-sleeved shirts that I used to wear before I had Sadie, and apparently now they would be considered mid-riff-bearing. Seriously I am the same weight, why have I become wider? And apparently longer-waisted.

Here is one of the shirts in question. The white shirt is hitting me where a shirt should, and you can see for yourself the discrepancy.

Although I am bored for a number of reasons, I will move on to tired.

I manage to make it through the entire week without napping, but on Sunday afternoons I find myself utterly exhausted. It's strange. And I don't enjoy napping because it throws off my nighttime sleeping schedule, and I am groggy the rest of the day.

I am also tired today! I went to bed at 11 pm and woke up at 7 am (although I didn't actually get out of bed until 8 am) so there is no reason for this. Luckily I have chosen to blog instead of nap, so hopefully my night time sleeping schedule will not be further compromised.

Now to nauseous.

I used to work with someone who explained to me rather long-windedly that you are not supposed to say, "I am nauseous", but rather, "I am nauseated". Whatever! I am nauseous. I was also nauseous yesterday. Yesterday I attributed it to not eating enough during the day, today I am attributing it to my lunch of Dr. Pepper and peanuts (I also had a few Cheetos: They were giving them away at the convenience store, and really who can turn down Cheetos?).

And no my tiredness, and nauseousness is not attributed to pregnancy. Although this last week I seemed to have developed an extra-sensitive smelling sense that can detect bad breath from everyone around me. But really, I am not pregnant.

I should also apparently add ornery to my list today. After re-reading my complaints I say that title fits. Fine with me. Today I will take that label on also. So to recap, today I am bored, tired, nauseous, and ornery. Perfect.

"How are you today?"

Livin It Up In Laughlin

Sunday afternoon Eric suggested we pack up and head out to Laughlin for a quick getaway. I am always up for a spontaneous night away, so I was all for it.

We stayed at Harrah's which was really quite beautiful. Especially outside. We arrived in the dark, but trust me when I tell you there is a beautiful pool behind us along with the Colorado river.

However when we got to our room we discovered it had not been cleaned, and there were bags full of garbage in it. But on a happy note, when we informed the hotel, they upgraded our room!

After our half-price breakfast buffet the next morning (when you don't go on a Fri. or Sat. night you get all sorts of free or discounted items), we headed out to explore the private beach for hotel guests.

We had the entire beach to our ourselves, and it was seriously relaxing. Unfortunately we had to check out of our hotel, and leave it behind.

However before we left the kids were insistent on playing at the arcade.

With our 100 tickets we won Eric and I convinced the kids to choose the Whoopee Cushion. The amount of entertainment it provided the remainder of the day was well worth the money we had to spend to win it.

Megan came down with a sudden fever, to go along with her cough and stuffy nose, so we had to take a detour to the Dr.'s. Who knows what she has, but they gave her a prescription for Tamiflu, so for once I am hoping it is viral and she will get better quickly. Oh, and also that the rest of us don't come down with it. Megan has had a tough sickness year. Just to mention, the Dr.'s visit along with the prescription ended up costing us more than the whole trip! Good grief!

We were going to head over to Oatman about 30 minutes away to visit an old ghost town, but given Megan's illness we decided instead to check out a couple of places that were more on the way home.

Jackson checked out the view from Davis Dam (the other 2 kids were asleep). And what a view it was.

Check out how blue that river water is.

We then headed over to Grapevine Canyon to check out some Native American petroglyphs and climb the rocks.


As usual, Sadie was none too please to be told what to do. Heaven forbid we ask her to sit still for one picture!

The weather was so beautiful, and being there during the late afternoon was perfect. Jackson noticed this mini-cliff with soft sand underneath it, and decided to jump off. We then all got in on the action, and had the most fun I can remember having in a while.

Jackson was definitely the best jumper. He jumped with complete abandon, and fell head first into the sand many times. But by doing so, he also got the best pictures.

Check out how much air he got, along with his arms flung out behind him. He was cracking us all up.

Even though Megan wasn't feeling 100% she too got in on the action.

With a little help from Eric, Sadie insisted she not be left out of the fun.

I jumped twice, and that was more than enough for me. The first jump ended up with me rolling down the hill and landing on my face. Good thing the sand was soft.

Eric was a pro-jumper. Just seeing him do this made me fall a bit more in love with him. I didn't even know that was possible.

We have been to Laughlin twice and I have really enjoyed myself both times. There is plenty of outdoorsy stuff to do with kids, and if you go during the week, it is super cheap.