What To Do?

It is Halloween and I have nothing to do.  It is an interesting dilemma.  I am so used to the craziness of the holiday, but it is changing around here.  We didn't even carve pumpkins this year--didn't even buy a one!   Ya, what's with that!  And get this--T just left to spend it at a friend's house, M is leaving in a bit to go to a party at a friend's and the little girls were invited to go trick or treating with friends, so it will be just my hubby and I.  Ya, I know!  It will be a quiet night other than the doorbell rings from the many trick or treaters.  Maybe we will just turn off the lights and be one of those fuddy duds that don't give out candy, or better yet, go out on a date.  Hummmmmmmmmm. 
Hope you all have a great Halloween (however you spend it)

And So It Starts!

SNOW DAYS!
My last post I mentioned that I wasn't sure I was ready for school to start up again cuz I loved to sleep in and play with my kids all day during Fall Break.  Well, this is the end of the first week back and we have had one 2-hour delay and TWO snow days. So I guess I got the extra time I wanted and it feels good to have them back to school today.  But I have a feeling that this in only the beginning.  I think this winter is going to be a crazy one and I think those snow days are going to be abundant.  We hardly had any last year and it was nice for a change to have a mild winter.  But watch out--here it comes!

 Yesterday was so cold.  It registered in the 20's but the wind chill had to be in the single digits.  The kids wanted to go outside and play in the afternoon.  I told them it was too cold, but they wanted to anyway.  So they bundled themselves up and went out.  Half an hour later they were back inside complaining of the cold.  Wow, maybe moms do know something!! :)  So they got warm by sipping on hot chocolate while sitting in front of the fire.  Needless to say, we spent the day inside. 

We made cookies----

I made M's side curtains-----

That bedroom has always been cold.  We don't have a clue why since the one right next to it is not.  But when T was in there, we just put a sheet up every winter to try and keep out the cold.  But now that M is in there and we have decorated her room so cute, I wanted to make something nice.  I also wanted the shade to be able to be hidden in the summer when she didn't need it.  So the shade rolls up and ties at the top and once I get the wooden valance made, it will be hidden.  Her side drapes will then look really cute with the 2" blind underneath.  I love the fabric she picked out - it fits her perfectly.  I am just glad I finished the shade earlier this week since it has been colder the last few nights.

I think everyone enjoyed another day off school.  Although J would have preferred to be at school.  Because of the snow day, her class play was cancelled.  It always seems that when something from school is cancelled, it gets rescheduled on a day that has something else going on--it never fails. So let's hope they change it to a free night-this next Thursday would be great.

With cold days like yesterday, I love staying in and wrapping up in a blanket to read a book.  I have this great corner in my bedroom that is one of my most favorite places in my house.  It has a cozy chair with an ottoman.  It has a lamp on the wall behind the chair so I can turn off all the other lights in the room--it makes it cozier.  I keep a blanket on the back of the chair, so I can wrap up in it when it is chilly.  I can shut my door to close off the noise from the rest of the house.  The only thing that would make it more perfect---a fireplace!  But I love my quiet corner and I must say I enjoyed the time I spent there yesterday reading my fabulous book.  The only bad thing is I had to put it down to go make dinner.  Maybe I can steal a few minutes today amongst my busy day to find my cozy corner again.

Two weeks is over with already???

Well, our school Fall Break is nearing an end and it seems to have flown by.  I love these 2 weeks that we get every October.  I get the chance to sleep in every morning and spend the whole day with my kids.  I always try to do some fun things, but my kids are old enough now that they also like to just do nothing at home, so it makes it simple too.  This break signifies that we are also heading into winter and the holiday season. (Is it here already?)   It gives the kids a chance to rejuvinate and hopefully go back to school with gusto, but it sure is hard to get back into a routine of getting up early and doing homework.  This means that I need to start working out again too.  :)

We really didn't do a whole lot, but we sure have had fun.  We had an ice storm at the beginning of the break which was pretty bad-I am surprised they did not cancel church.  But it warmed up after that and we were able to get out and do the normal break things----shopping, library, dollar movies, reading whole books, and we even threw in getting our seasonal flu shots.  Fun, huh?!  Actually K was, again, upset that she could not get one too because of her age (10/30/08), but she got hers soon enough.

We had our annual Ward Fall Festival, a bit early this year.  I was happy that the kids wanted easy costumes.  Actually the 2 big kids don't care much, so I was especially glad that the little girls picked things we had in the costume box.  J was a vampire using M's cape from last year and was dressed in black underneath.  Since this was a church party, we skipped the blood running down her face and opted for black lips and eyes.  K wanted to be a dog, so we pulled out the dog ear headband and dressed her in black adding a black nose and wiskers.  M and I wore black Halloween shirts---can you see the theme that we really didn't plan? (black)  I was going to make my chili again this year for the cook-off, but with T's meet and all the other things happening that day, I had to back out.  It was nice to have several people come up to me and ask which one was mine and then be disappointed that I didn't make any this year.  I really do make great chili!

T has had cross country practice every morning still and a meet each week, so at least that gets him up in the morning rather than sleeping until noon.  He has also spent a lot of time hanging out with his friends.  One day after his morning XC practice, he called and asked if the team could come over for hot chocolate (it was a very chilly morning).  I said sure and about 10 of them came and STAYED until 4pm.  I was not expecting that, but it was fun to get to know them all a bit better.  He sure has enjoyed running this year and is quite bummed that the season is now over.

We were able to get away for a few days as well.  We actually didn't have a plan until a couple of days before we left and it ended up being pretty fun.  (even though T was not too happy to be away-ah those teen years)  But everyone, including T, had a good time.  We headed down to Durango and the drive down was gorgeous to say the least.  The trees were still changing and the colors were brillant.  I couldn't get enough pictures.  The weather was perfect-not too hot and not too cold.  We spent an entire day in Mesa Verde National Park hiking around and seeing all the cliff dwellings.  Not everything was open due to the time of year, but most everything we wanted to see was.  The Cliff Palace was amazing.  We loved the hike down and back up the best because we had to skinny through rock openings and scale steep ladders.  That made us long for a cave to explore.  But we enjoyed learning all about the people and the culture of that time period.  The little girls of course did the Junior Ranger Program and got their badges to display.

 We wanted to take the Durango/Silverton Railroad trip but with the price being near $500 for our entire family to go, we opted to take the drive ourselves.  We found a lake high in the mountains that we had a great time playing in the snow--IN OUR SHORTS.  It was gorgeous.  T had to re-enact a scene from Monty Python's Holy Grail which had us all rolling on the ground with laughter!  The snow was great packing snow so of course, a snowball fight began.  Our hands were so cold afterwards.  T ended up taking quite a run thru the forest after landing a snowball in the wrong place on his father.  I have never seen him run so fast with my hubby right behind him equipped with a snowball in each hand.  They were gone for quite awhile and so me and the girls enjoyed the scenery and watching a single bird flying from tree to tree.  It was a nice stop on the road to Silverton, which by the way is so small that it took us all of 5 minutes to go from one end of the town to the other end.  No traffic lights or even a stop sign to be seen.  There was a small building that graced the church's name so it is big enough for a branch at least.

We also spent time on our vacation by the river skipping stones, climbing rocks and just plain goofing off and having fun!........

....feeding the fish at the fish hatchery....

.......swimming every day at the hotel pool.....

....and eating!  We found this great BBQ place that was so good we went back the next night for another round. --- "SERIOUSLY!"

We had some great family time--something that we haven't had all year, and I was able to get some great family pixs too so watch for them on our Christmas cards this year.

Now it is back to the grind-----until our week off at Thanksgiving (Boy the kids sure have a lot of days off of school--are they learning anything???)

West Point HO!!

Can I tell you that this momma is so very proud and I am jumping off the walls I am so excited! (Can you picture it?)

I guess I better start from the beginning so you are not all lost---

About 2 months ago, T comes home from school with an application form that his ROTC teacher had given him for a special leadership program. First off, he has to be recommended by his teacher and he was one of only three that was asked to go from his school. This was quite an honor for him and so we set out to gather the things he needed to send in with his application, i.e. resume, photos, recommendation letters, an essay, proof of good grades and being a team builder. The application packet needed to be in a month ago and we had no idea when he would hear back. We also didn't know how many kids would be selected since it was a national program. All we knew was that the semi-finalists would get a phone call for an oral interview. Well, a week ago, he got that phone call and we were so excited. We were all standing around watching him as he talked to this man on the phone. He was overjoyed to say the least after hanging up from him. T said he sounded so optimistic about his chances. He told us that we would hear by the end of that week what his standing was and if we didn't, we needed to call the following Monday. Well, we heard nothing and Monday was a holiday, so we had to wait until Tuesday. He had to leave a message but the lady called back and told him he was an alternate. He was quite bummed until he heard that only 14 people from all around the nation was invited to attend this program and he was number 15. We felt very proud that he ranked so high. The lady told him that IF anyone cancelled, he would be able to go. Well, today, she called and someone had to back out so T IS GOING TO WEST POINT NEW YORK!!!!!! Can I say it again---I am so very proud that I am close to tears. He leaves next month for 5 days.

It is called the Frances Hesselbein Student Leadership Program sponsored by the Military Child Education Coalition. Click here if you want to know more about it.   And the best part of this----we pay nothing. This organization pays for the tuition, airfare, lodging, food---everything. He is thrilled to be able to go to the United States Military Academy at West Point even if it is not Air Force.  It will be a great week for him--he will learn tons and what a great experience it will be for him.  You know there will be future posts about this for sure.  WAY TO GO T!!

The Dark Night!

(Cue the Batman music!)
That was the theme for Sand Creek Homecoming this year. And this is the year my son can actually go now that he is 16. He was going to go without a date and we told him he needed to ask someone, so he did. Her name is Bree and she is on his Cross Country team. She is a cute girl and I was glad to see that she wore a dress that was not too revealing. He was so excited to buy her a corsage and take her to dinner before heading to the dance. I hear the gym was quite the sight, so I hope I get some insider pictures. They had search lights out in front, which my little girls thought was so cool. (we could see them from our house)I guess the band blew a speaker 30 minutes before the dance was to end, so a bunch of them went over to Village Inn for dessert. He had a blast as I knew he would. And so it starts---am I ready for this dating machine of a son??

Since this was Homecoming week, there were many events going on at the school. Of course, every day was a different dress up---PJ's, class colors, super hero, spirit day. There was also the Peach Fuzz game as well as Powder Puff. We all know that Powder Puff is girls playing football, but Peach Fuzz is guys playing volleyball. I don't get that since they play that sport anyway, but it was fun to watch each of the grades play each other.T's team didn't win-they had guys that knew nothing about playing volleyball, but he had fun. Then there was of course, the Homecoming football game last night. They got killed-something like 54-0. yuck! There was a Chili Cookoff with each of the teams or organizations making chili. T actually was involved with the ROTC and the XC ones. He said that the ROTC chili tasted almost exactly like mine, which is loves ALOT. So we will see which one wins. He sure is having a blast in high school. I am proud of him for getting involved in so many things.

It's BAAAAAAAACK!!!

Hurray, my computer is back. Life can go on now! :)

Make sure you go back to the post of 9/24 that I wrote on my hubby's computer. I just posted them this morning with pictures-finally. (The 2 F's and Busy? NAW!)

The following pictures are of what my life has consisted of the past month-watching my kids play sports. T is in Cross Country which he absolutely loves and M is in Softball which by the way, she absolutely loves!They have done well but most of all, they have had fun. Soon it will be on to another sport.