oh yeah...

So I'm reading the latest blog entries of some of my friends, and I thought to myself, "Wow. This blog-thing is pretty cool. Maybe I should start one."

It's been too long.

Happy Halloween!

h

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TJ

My little boy turned five today.

For now, he still prefers "Little Boy" to "Big Boy".

I love that.

He got a bike with training wheels.

He rode it through the house until it was warm enough to ride outside.

We weren't sure he'd like it since he's a fan of tricycles, but he does.

I love that.

His best friend is his brother.

I love that.

He decided he'd finally wear his Cubbie vest at Cubbies last night.

In honor of his birthday.

I love this kid.

leftovers

Every time we head to my parents' house for dinner, my mother sends us home with a tupperware (otherwise known as a margarine tub) full of leftovers.  She is an amazing cook, and we always clean our plates when served. But sadly, once those tubs of food come home they remain untouched in our refrigerator. Over time they get pushed to the back of the fridge, forgotten, until one of the kids opens one, assuming it is in fact margarine as the label indicates, only to find a green gelatinous mass of ...something... way past its expiration date. What's worse is when my mother is the one that discovers one. *sigh*

We are not a leftover-eating family. Just saying the word makes my nose wrinkle a little. And yet, there are many days when I give my children my leftovers. You know, what's leftover after a busy day of homeschooling. What's leftover after giving my all leading Cubbies. What's leftover after a night without sleep.
Yeah, I don't like leftovers; neither does my family.

So how do I change this?

How do you as busy wives and moms find ways to give your best to your family instead of your leftovers?

The Great H Debate

My friend Joy's post on Halloween vs. Harvest got me thinking... How do Christian families celebrate this day? Do you celebrate it at all? Do you call it something else? Do you teach your kids a different side to the holiday? Here's what our kids know about Halloween:
You dress up.
You get lots of candy.

That's basically it. Ted and I haven't sat down with them to talk about the history of All Hallow's Eve, but we also haven't given them a purified version of the holiday, either. They don't consider it a "religious" holiday like Easter or Christmas. They just see it as a fun evening of wearing costumes and getting obscene amounts of candy.
Last year, we debated going to our church's Harvest Festival but opted to stay local instead. This way, the kids could do some trick-or-treating around our neighborhood while it was still light outside and the old folks could see just how cute they looked. :-)
After dealing with the yearly "It's-my-turn-to-ring-the-doorbell!" fights, we went to the El Morro Church of the Nazarene's Harvest Festival here in Los Osos. WOW. This thing ROCKED.

The picture above shows TJ enjoying the Trunk-or-Treat happening in the upper parking lot. People would dress up and even decorate their cars, then hand out candy to everyone who walked by. Kind of ironic when you think about it... Never take candy from a stranger in a car... unless it's Trunk-or-Treat... anyway, fun stuff.

Then it was on to the carnival games. They had tons of different booths with games to play, all free. Every kid won a prize from every booth. Seriously, they must have an in with Oriental Trading Company. And then...

the bounce houses. Oh my goodness. I've never seen so many bounce houses and inflatable things in one place before. There was even a mini one for toddlers. Again, all free. Remember the inflatable obstacle course at the AG Strawberry Festival that cost, like, $2 to do? Yeah, FREE here. The kids sweated off any face paint they had on, going from one bouncy-thing to another. Katie's princess gown will never be the same. And for Abby?...

PONY rides. Yes- FREE pony rides. This church has it dialed in.

I know this sounds like a commercial for the event, but it really was a fun evening of enjoying the holiday without the gore. We've tried trick-or-treating around the whole neighborhood, but our housing tract is apparently "THE place" to go, so people are practically bussed in for the event. To make it worse, we get a lot of older kids that think it's cool to dress up as something completely horrifying and/ or slutty. Do parents see what their children are wearing before they leave the house?? I cannot believe the number of middle-school prostitutes and high school chain-saw murderers we'd see in one night.

I'll never forget pushing Abby in the stroller one year, and when leaving a house, we ran smack into a group pf disgusting and creepy costumes. Poor Abby was just looking up at everyone in terror. Took the fun out of the event, for sure.

OK, where was I?... ANYway, we celebrate the chance to dress up and eat candy. We carve Star Wars and Disney Princess characters into our pumpkins. We let the kids pick a few favorite pieces of candy to eat before bed, then we tell them the candy fairy will come and take the rest, leaving a new toy in its place if that's what they'd like. (That's another post- what do you do with all the candy??)

I will leave you with a couple pics of last year's costume contest at Farmer's Market in downtown SLO. Nana made Abby's Raggedy Ann costume, and she won 2nd place! (The girl that won 1st had a store-bought costume, but WHATEVER... I'm not bitter.)

an awesome way to keep up with too many blogs

I did it. I finally figured out how some of you just "seem to know" when I've updated my blog. I am now officially part of the 21st century because I am using a blog reader. (Thanks for the help, Joanie!)

Back in the Dark Ages, I would simply open every single blog I am following, all at once. (Dark Ages meaning up until this evening, when I figured it out. See above.)
Yes, it took awhile to load all those sites. Yes, the computer would sometimes lose the connection, and I'd have to start the whole process over again and hit "open all in tabs". Yes, I was re-reading older blog posts and got good at using the "delete" button.
But all that has changed.  I now simply go to my very own cute little blog and manage all 34... yes, 34 blogs that I currently follow.

How did the list grow to 34? Well, I have many of you to thank for that. Someone links someone else's blog to theirs, someone offers a giveaway based on someone else's blog, someone blahblahblah... It just adds up, ok?

At least now, I can more efficiently stalk read all these lovely blogs. And still find time to be a mommy to four in the process.
And that, dear friends, is a very good thing.

pretty shabby blog

I just had to laugh at the irony of the blog layout program title I'm using...

My blog has been pret.ty shab.by lately. Oh, well, it's mostly an outlet for me anyway, right?
I mean, sometimes I actually have deep thoughts to share, but if I'm honest with myself (and the few who read this), I'd have to say I'm just not a deep person. And I'm OK with that.

I remember an old singles pastor once told me, "You like to know a lot of people a little bit, while I like to know a few people really well." Hmm. That's only partially true. (I never really liked that pastor anyway- he was incredibly conceited and self-absorbed.) I do like Sunday mornings at church where you can see a lot of friendly faces and give a quick "Hi, how are you?", and sure, I get intimidated at social gatherings where I feel expected to carry on longer conversations with people.
However, there are a few very close friends that I could spend hours, DAYS with, and never stop finding things to talk about.
I used to think I was a total extrovert. Maybe at this time in my life, I am not so easily defined.

And I'm OK with that.