Happy Halloween!

Last night the we attended the battalian Trunk or Treat. It was lots of fun and the kids got entirely too much candy. Owen actually went up to a few cars and got candy on his own. Those who have been reading for a while may remember last year when he refused to participate at all. After he got a few pieces of candy this time around he was more content to sit down and eat it than collect more.

We have received some flack about Owen's choice of costume for this year. This has come mostly from Scott's soldiers. Comments have included, but are not limited to:
1. That's the textbook definition of cruel and unusual punishment.
2. That's a kid doing what his dad tells him to do without knowing any better.
3. Hey Owen, come over here and try on my Notre Dame hat...





















And here are the three of them together (note that Owen now has candy permanently attached to his hand/face now)

Another new hat

After pining for Will's hat, Owen's finally came in the mail (thank you Lucinda and Nana). He loves it and wears it almost every day. He always has a hat on!

































Here, once again, Owen demonstrates the WRONG way to use the basketball goal Arden gave us.

The Finholms

We've known the Finholms since we lived in Alaska. They were also in Hawaii with us. Now they live in....Maryland? Virginia? anyway, someplace near D.C. Tim is gone a lot to secret places doing secret things and Jenn is busy with Zoe and Anne, but they have a blog going right now...

www.finholms.blogspot.com

The littlest soldier

Haley cannot make a single decision in her life without doing the obligatory "eenie meenie miney moe" and Owen has picked up on this. He has learned the words, but he does not realize that the outcome actually makes some sort of choice for him. However, when he and I walked into the BX here and he saw this outfit, there was no assistance needed from anywhere to let him know this is exactly what he's wanted his entire life. He threw his body on top of it like some sort of sacrifice and began screaming "YOU BUY THIS! YOU BUY THIS FOR O!"

Not one to make a scene, I bought it.

He wears it proudly, for at least a little bit, EVERY DAY. It is huge for him that it matches Scott's. Scott came home, saw him dressed in it, and nearly burst with pride. They sat down together and he checked it out from head to toe. It's amazing that it's got all the pockets exactly like the real thing.

Central HS Tailgate Party

Another week, another Supersquad event. This time it was the Central High School Tailgate Party. Basically we got there at 5, stood in the parking lot until 5:35, then watched Ashlyn and Haley's group perform 2 cheers, got in the car and left. Time well spent, let me tell you. I tried to take pictures of the girls cheering, but because of Ashlyn's height she is toward the back and you can't see her for the millions of pompoms people are shaking in all directions. Haley is on the front row, but she doesn't really perform as much as stand there. The money it costs every month for them to do this is really not well spent.

So this picture was taken right before we left.

My feelings exactly

Ashlyn's fall show

Last night the 1st and 2nd grade at Ashlyn's school had a short performance where they sang Halloween songs. When I say "short", I mean exactly 28 minutes. Ashlyn sang every song so we were proud. And she also had a part in one song where she whacked a tube on her hand along with some other kids. The tubes were all different lengths and supposedly made different sounds, but you couldn't really tell.

I feel all parents should have to sit through a performance like this. We were in a non-airconditioned gym in 110 degree heat sitting behind a hugely fat lady who had rolled her obnoxious kid's stroller through dog poop on the way in the door. Owen and Haley had a blast though, and we have pictures of the blessed event, and Ashlyn was so proud of herself she couldn't stop smiling, so in the end it was worth it. Plus, by the time we got out of the gym and to the car and home it was about 6:30 so we decided it was too late to cook enchiladas (the planned meal) so we went to Wok and Rice and got some kung pao chicken. Good times indeed.

The pictures are dark. Little people mess with my camera and the settings are all switched so you'll have to get over it just like I did.

Dog Hair

When Husker comes over there is an increase in the amount of time we spend vaccuuming, because he sheds a LOT. Today Owen decided to take matters into his own hands...

Exercise is fun

Last night Scott went to Sears and bought an elliptical trainer. He put it together while Lost was tivo-ing (we feel we're too good to watch commercials so we always watch the recording instead of the live showing). Right now it's in the bedroom, partly because I want to keep the kids off of it and partly because it was pretty funny watching Scott move it around the house once it was fully assembled.

After we go it situated I proceeded to get on it and try it out. I was on it for roughly 75 seconds before my right thigh muscle fell off my leg. Doctors always say to "listen to your body" when you are exercising and I feel mine was saying "75 seconds! Excellent! Reward yourself with some much needed rest!"

It's all good

And God looked down from Heaven and saw that Ashlyn and Haley had been in school for over one month now. And he saw that Owen was too short to reach the light switches, and that Jennifer would open the blinds and use the bright Texas sun to light the house instead of electricity. And he saw that if she needed a light for some reason, she was diligent about turning it off as soon as it was done. And he saw that there were not two girls in the house all day, turning on all the lights, including in the closets and bathrooms, for no reason or having their t.v. on in their room when they weren't even in there watching it.

And God saw that there was no electricity being squandered, and he was pleased, because he knows Texas is a deregulated state and electricity costs .19 cents per kilowatt hour here.

And God sent Jennifer the electric bill, and she saw that is was $187.55 cheaper than it had been the month before. And Jennifer was sooo happy, because $175.00 was the amount she was trying to con out of her father to finish paying for the elliptical trainer, and she knew that $187.55 would cover the rest of the cost AND get her some kung pao chicken.

And Jennifer was so excited she tried to call Scott, but he was giving a brief to the incoming soldiers. So she tried to call Amber, but she was apparently sleeping in. So she blogged about it. (she did not call her father, on the off chance that he had already put some extra money in her checking account...)

Max's fun day

Tomorrow Maxie the Patsy is going to the vet to officially do away with his manhood. What with the whole fence-falling-over situation while Scott and I have a baby on the way we decided it would be a good idea not to put ourselves in a position to have some paternity test thrown at us because Max cannot control himself around the other dogs that invariably break into our back yard and eat his food and drink his water.

After that I am off to Sears to buy an elliptical machine because obviously I am going for a new world record as far as my weight gain goes. The doctor seems to think that if I exercise I will be fine. He's such a party pooper. He's managed to get Scott all fired up about it also. But high blood pressure is nothing to laugh at and neither is being put on bed rest when you live with someone like Owen, who can get 6 inches of water into the bathroom floor in the other bathroom while you take a 2 minute shower. So if anyone would like to contribute to our elliptical fund, email me and I'll get your our routing number and account number at the bank.

Sears pictures

We took the kids to Sears on Sunday to get their pictures made. Owen was all pumped up for it and when we got there he went into some huge panic, so they are not as good as I'd hoped for. After he found the ball and started playing with it he calmed down, so there is a ball in just about every picture. The girls of course were pros.