Halloween randoms

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Today is Halloween and it was a quiet night around here since the city changed trick or treat night to a random night.  Had they not changed it, we would've been out in full force since we missed TorT night Saturday.  We are doing Halloween this weekend, though.  We always get together with Christopher's family, have dinner and let the kids dress up.  It saves everyone from driving to each other's houses.  Then on Sunday we'll be hitting up all of my family.  We'll be the only ones in town trick or treating, but hey, it's still fun!

Preston had his class Halloween party today and he brought in the cupcakes.  He had two boxes and insisted on carrying them in by himself.  I was so scared he'd drop them, but they all made it safely into the school!  It was also his first day back this week from being sick, then he had to leave early for his ENT appointment.

The ENT appointment...  It wasn't a regular check, but the "emergency" appointment that his ped. insisted I set up.  Unfortunately, the soonest we could get in was exactly 30 days later.  The good news is that his ears looked great today.  It's not often that we hear that!  His left tube is still in, the right is completely gone and healed up.  I explained the situation with the antibiotics taking 5 days to relieve the pain and still running a temp 3 days into the round.  He didn't like the fever part, but said he thinks the pain was due to his right tube coming out, although it was already out and closed up at that point.  He does have anxiety about winter- he knows how badly Preston's ears handle winter and colds.  We went through the same thing last October after having just one infection and he said he'd feel better putting them in or else it would be a "long winter."  Right now, it's wait and see.  We got back in a month and we may know more then.  With him being sick now, I know what his ears do.  It was kind of a relief not to need new tubes right now, but at the same time, I feel like we're putting off the inevitable.  I think Dr. S. feels the same way, but he's hoping to avoid them.

We got our fireplace fixed yesterday and it's wonderful!  I'm not even sure I told you that it was broken.  We gave up on it last winter after Christmas because every time the wind blew, the pilot light went out.  It was so warm last year that we really didn't need it anyway.  I asked Christopher to get it lit a few weeks ago and he couldn't get it to light at all.  He tried again last weekend and nothing.  So we called the guy who put it in and it was completely clogged up and no gas could get through.  He also widened the opening on the pilot light so it won't get blown out all the time.  Preston and I spent a nice afternoon by the fire yesterday.  So nice!

Christopher and his dad insulated our attic today.  We've been here 5 years and we just decided to do it this year.  I was just glad they didn't have to come up through my craft closet in the house to get to the other side of the attic.  I didn't have a single mess to clean up!  Hopefully this will keep us toasty this winter- and save us some money!

Stay tuned tomorrow for an Etsy shop update!  I've got a few new things in there and next week, I hope to have my chevron Christmas dress up! 

Pumpkins and a party

The kids were off from school Friday so I figured it was the perfect day to carve pumpkins.  Coincidentally, exactly a year ago to the day, we were home carving pumpkins, but Preston had gotten his 3rd set of tubes that morning.  This year, he woke up with a soupy cough- but more on that later...

It was pretty cold, so I decided we'd bring the pumpkins inside and do them in the laundry room instead of the garage.  Best idea ever!  We did have a curious cat that had never been around pumpkins before...

 Kate dug right in and had hers done in no time flat.

 Preston...  He chose a very hard pattern and wasn't able to carve it, so I ended up doing it for him.  No fun for him.  I told him next year he might just want to draw a simple face to carve.

 Kate's Jack Skellington pumpkin.

 My Preston's pumpkin.

Friday evening we went down to celebrate my sister, Ashley's 16th birthday.  For those of you scratching your heads, I'll spare you the math- there's a 17 year age difference between us.  And yes, she's just shy of 3 years older than Kate.

She had a luau theme and dad's shed was decked out in full luau fashion- complete with 3 kerosene heaters to warm the shed up.  It was a COLD evening!

 Ashley and her boyfriend, Jacob seeing the party for the first time.

 Sweet Ashes.  I still LOVE her hair- I got the kinks, she got the curls.

 One of the kids gave Cooper a tail, and he loved it!

Four cousins keeping warm by the heater.

 I don't know if Preston had a stomach bug, or just ate too many chips and cake at the party, but he woke up early Saturday morning SICK.  Those of you who know me well know how much I dislike stomach bugs, so this was not a welcome visitor.  I fixed him up a spot on the couch and he spent the day there, coughing like crazy.  He never did get sick again, which makes me think it was the junk, but it was clear that he felt bad.  We even had to miss trick or treating that evening.  Boo!  We'll be T or Ting family this weekend to make up for it.  Then Sunday morning he woke up coughing even worse, but this time running a temp.  No other symptoms, just the cough and temp, so I figured he had bronchitis or pneumonia.  By that night, he was coughing so much that he couldn't catch his breath, so we broke out the rescue inhaler- a bad thing at bedtime because at 11:00, he was still wound up...  He was still running a temp this morning so we headed to the dr.  Apparently it's just a virus, but he's run a temp all day so he'll be home again tomorrow, too.  Then on Wed. he has an ENT appointment and will be leaving school early- that is if he's fever-free tomorrow and can go back Wednesday.  Please pray he's back to school Wed. because he's supposed to bring the cupcakes for their Halloween party at school.  He's got a history of being sick on the day he's supposed to bring treats, so I wouldn't put it past him this year...

Halloween parade

Thursday night was the annual Halloween parade downtown and it's something we always look forward to.  Kate marches with the 7th and 8th grade band, but this year Granny and Pa were chosen as the Grand Marshals, so it was extra special.  They were picked for over 25 years of service to our little community, and I couldn't be more honored to have them as my grandparents.  They really are special people!  Storms and a big cold front were slated to hit right at parade time and I did a LOT of praying that we'd at least get to see Kate and Granny and Pa!

When we left the house, it was 75 degrees and breezy.  This was taken at 6:00, right after we dropped Kate off with the band.  Notice the fairly clear sky.

Literally, minutes later...

As soon as those black clouds appeared, the wind hit and it was like ICE!  The wind took off with Preston's candy bag and I had to chase it down the block.  It was blowing lawn chairs, tables, everything.  Thankfully I had brought a sweatshirt and insulated jacket for Preston because by 6:15, it was down to 55 degrees- a 20 degree drop in 15 minutes!  We still had 45 minutes until the parade started...

Aunt Diana, Cooper and Grampy showed up and kept Preston entertained until it started.

Thankfully with rain starting, they got the parade going 10 minutes early.  Preston and Cooper were really excited to see Granny and Pa!!!  Earlier that day I'd talked to Granny and she said that she had her long underwear out for the parade, but didn't think she'd need them.  Boy, were we wrong!  She also found the candy she'd hidden from Cooper the last time he was there, so they threw out candy.

Here comes the band.  Kate has the red headband on.

Here comes cousin Sarah, who was the jr. miss county fair.  She was FREEZING when we talked to her about an hour and a half later because no one had brought her a coat.

We stayed until it was almost over (about 8:30) to see little Glen in the parade and I totally missed him!  Bad Aunt Alyssa!  We came home with a whopping 5 pounds of candy, which thrilled Preston to no end!

Right around 6:30, our power went out at home and I get a call from Christopher that the power was out and he wanted to know what to do...  He called Ameren and it was due to the high winds that came through, and ended up being out until 8:30.  I'm so glad we were gone while it was out and that it was back on when we got home.  I was worried we'd have a cold night at our house, but thankfully it was nice and toasty!!!

Halloween Past

Oh, it's fun to look back at the kids' old Halloween costumes!  We've had some doozies!  So I'm linking up with Kelly at Kellys Korner to share some of our past Halloween costumes!  I don't have all of them on this computer since we had to get a new one a few years back and I didn't put all of my pictures on here.  Not pictured are the year I made them Tom and Jerry costumes and people thought Kate was a donkey... 

Halloween 2002- Kate went at Snow White.  It took my mom, Grandma Lou and myself to get this costume made.  She loved it, though!  She was 3 years old and had recently been pushed down the ramp at preschool so she had a bit of road rash on her face, but she was a cute princess!

Halloween 2003- Kate was Cinderella (my mom made the costume- I had a newborn).

 Preston was just 4 weeks old, so he didn't dress up.  He was a pretty cute lil pumpkin, though!  Look at those cheeks!

Halloween 2004- Preston was a chicken.  A mad chicken.   He wasn't too thrilled with his costume at all.

 Kate wanted to be Peter Pan and wore the costume she picked out when we went to Disney World that summer.  She got to pass out candy to trick or treaters and it made her day!

 But wait...  She was Tinkerbell, too.  After Grammy bought her this costume was when she decided to be Peter, so she wore both costumes that year!

Halloween 2005- I don't even know what to say about this one!  This was during her Scooby phase when she insisted on being Velma!  That wig...  That was my grandma's that we always played with as a kid!  Preston went as Shaggy.

 Fast forward a few years- Halloween 2009.  Preston went as the late, great George Harrison.  He wanted to be a Beatle, so George it was! 

 Kate went as a hippie.  They did kind of go together, though!

Haloween 2010- Preston went as Luigi.  He's doing a Luigi jump in this picture!  Kate didn't dress up.  Technically, she was too old to trick or treat, so she chose not to dress up.

Haloween 2011- Kate dresses up again just for fun.  She wanted to be a British snake keeper.  What can I say, my kids have a thing for all things British!  She came up with this costume idea all by her 12 year old self!  She couldn't trick or treat, but she came along just for the fun of it.

 Preston was Darth Vader

This year I had grand visions of a Napoleon Dynamite family.  Christopher looks just like Napoleon and we always told the kids that it was actually him in the movie, so he would be Napoleon with his vote for Pedro shirt, Preston would be Kip with his Lafawnduh sign, Kate would be the grandma with a pan of ham (Go give Tina some ham) and I'd be Deb.  That all fell through, so Preston is going to be Harry Potter and Kate's not dressing up.  We did find a Mitt Romney mask the other day that just thrilled her to no end, but considering one side of my family are hard-core democrats, I didn't think that would be too wise!

Thanks for stopping by!

Fall

Fall is my favorite season- even moreso than spring and the anticipation of warm weather.  And while I don't like the thought of cold weather quickly approaching (as in a high of 50 Saturday...), I absolutely love the changing leaves.  It's probably my favorite part of all.  I especially love the smell of fall leaves.  If Yankee Candle could bottle that scent, I'd be burning them all year!

I'll tell you that fall is Christopher's least favorite time.  He loathes the leaves.  We have 20 mature trees in our backyard alone.  Some of them are 60+ feet tall.  Every one of those leaves fall and get trapped inside our fence.  You can guess that he's the lucky one who gets to take care of those leaves, too.  That's what he spent the entire day doing today- chopping them up with the riding mower and burning.  I had to go out twice tonight because the wind kept re-igniting the burn pile and spray it with the hose. 

Here's a few views from our house.

Life

Things have been busy around our house again lately.  Thankfully after Saturday, we'll have a little bit of downtime before Thanksgiving and the holidays begin.  I'm really not ready for the Christmas rush!

Kate's Lego movie has been getting rave reviews!  She's just beside herself, too.  Yesterday, my mom's boss and good friend sent the link to her son who is a filmmaker in New York and he was thoroughly impressed!  My mom forwarded me his email with the comments and he offered to give her any help/advice if she wanted to make more.  How's that for a little Lego video made by a 13 year old?  We're quite proud of her!  Here's the video again, just because we think it's so fun!




I'm busy again sewing some new things for my shop.  I was going to take a picture of my sewing table, but it's currently a disaster!  It did look nice for a week or so while I worked on some crocheting projects.  Nonni enjoyed it being less cluttered and found a nice stack of fabric for a pillow.  I tried to take a picture while he was asleep, but my camera would beep and he'd open his eyes every time!

 Preston woke me up at 3:50 this morning.  Now, him waking me up during the night is nothing new- the child has never been a sleeper.  The reason he woke me was a first, though.  He wanted to know who won the debate.  Those were also the first words out of Kate's mouth when she woke up.  Not, "Good morning," it was, "Who won the debate?"  They really are my children!  Kate's really into it since she's starting to grasp some of the issues and because they are studying the election in school.  Last night she was busy decorating her election folder for Social Studies while we watched the debate- it's a hoot!

Being weird

I'm weird.  I can picture my brother rolling on the floor at this point agreeing with me, but that's a whole other concept.  The weird I'm talking about is the kind that only a fan of Dave Ramsey can attest to.  Who's Dave Ramsey?  Check him out- you'll be glad you did!  Basically, he teaches you how to become and live debt-free.  Yes, completely debt-free, and it's do-able, and it's a GREAT feeling! 

We're not debt-free yet, but compared to the majority of people our age, we really don't have much.  We have Christopher's car and our student loans (I'm not counting our mortgage at this time).  The car should be paid off next month.  I drive a 15 year old vehicle that still runs quite well, and I'll probably drive it until it no longer runs.  We don't use credit cards.  If we need to do anything online, we use debit.  We've whittled our expenses to the bare necessities.  We don't have smart phones with pricey contracts.  We have "dumb phones."  They have minutes, and we pay only $24 a month for *3* cell phones- one of which belongs to a 13 year old that texts.  They don't do fancy things, but they can call and text, and we use the internet at home.  We rarely eat out, and when we do, it's a real treat for all of us, and we enjoy it more.  I cook mostly from scratch, and you can really save money by just buying the staples and taking time to cook.  I coupon- not like the people on tv, but I keep track of my savings and usually have at least $1,000 saved from coupons at the end of each year.  That's just from our 2 little stores in town that don't double coupons.

We do spend money, we just think before we spend.  If we don't have the cash, we don't buy it.  Plain and simple.  If it's something we need, or just really want, we save up.  We have an emergency fund for things like our plumbing disaster, car repairs, etc.  We save up to pay for Christmas with cash.  Once the holidays are done, we don't have to worry about a credit card bill showing up to pay.  We're also teaching our children great money skills along the way- about saving and giving, and not living outside our means.  It's neat seeing their perspective of this plan.  I have one saver (Kate) that just recently gave me a huge wad of cash she'd been hoarding in her safe and asked that I put it in her savings account.  I also have a spender (Preston) that wants to spend every single dime he comes across- mostly on candy and junk.

I'm not writing this to gloat about not being over our heads in debt like so many people.  We don't want to be "normal."  We want to be weird and not spend money like nobody's business, but instead be debt-free and to be able to feel liberated not having any bills other than utilities.  We want to "live like nobody else today, so that someday we can live like nobody else."  We want to teach our children that God provides for us financially and we need to be responsible with His money that He gives to us.  We want them to be able to go into life as adults and not accrue any debt in the first place, so they can have financial freedom.  We want to be responsible for ourselves.

I know there are so many people right now that are in way over their heads, struggle to make it day to day.  But it doesn't have to be that way.  Check out Dave's website.  Check out Total Money Makeover from the library.  Listen to his radio program.  Call him up maybe you'll get on air to discuss your situation with him.  Once you realize that this is do-able, and you retrain your thoughts on money, you'll be motivated to make a change.  I love hearing couples call in to do their "debt-free scream."  Some of these people were in debt to the tune of $100,000+ and they've been able to bear down and pay it off and transform their lives.  I can't wait to do ours!

Kate's lego movie!

Here's Kate's lego movie that she made.  She spent hours shooing over 700 photos.  It's the most focused I have EVER seen her- and that says a lot!  She did such a fantastic job and I couldn't be prouder!  I told her she needs to keep doing more movies because she's so good!

And yes, I know the song doesn't exactly go with it.  We were going to use "I Fought the Law" but I wanted to see how to add sound before I purchased the download, so I stuck this one in as a joke and out of all the other songs we tried, the tempo on this one was perfect.  And since Kate is such a huge One Direction fan (She's BEGGING to see them in Chicago next summer), we left it.  Enjoy!!!

Lots of randomness

It's been a busy 2 weeks around here.  Next week will be even more crazy, so if I don't start putting stuff down, it will be lost forever.  As is often the case...

It's been a stormy afternoon.  Right now the wind is howling so badly I had to turn to channel 5 to see if we were under a tornado watch.  I think it's just the cold front.

I've been busy making things for my Etsy shop.  The newest addition is my Big Button Bag- I made it for my mom and she was THRILLED!!!  Right now I'm crocheting some cute bow headbands and hope to have them in this week.  Then I have GOT to get some Christmas-y items up.  Busy busy.

Tomorrow I have to bake like a mad woman for the band's annual soup supper.  Last year when we were setting up, they had 800 tickets sold and only enough desserts for 300.  They had to go to IGA and buy more.  So far I plan to bake 2 pans of brownies, a batch or two of cupcakes and some cookies. 

This Saturday is my nephew, Glen's 5th birthday party!  I have to get him a gift tomorrow.  I've been queen of the last minute lately...  Next Friday is my sister, Ashley's birthday party.  I'm trying to be a little more prepared for hers!

Kate had turned into my little political partner in crime.  Yes, she hears a lot, but that girl can watch the debate and point out faults like nobody's business!  The kids had Grammy night tonight and she came home telling me that she and Pa-pa had a discussion about the debate!  She definitely has her mothers' blood!

via

Next Thursday is the Halloween parade and I am SUPER excited this year!!!  Why?  My Granny and Pa are the grand marshalls!  I couldn't be prouder!  So we get to go watch them ride in the parade and then get to watch Kate march.  And then come home with enough candy to choke a horse!

I'm ashamed to admit that Preston does not have a costume yet.  How sad is that?  I might go to Effingham tomorrow morning to see if they have any patterns at their Wal-mart so I can make him something.  He says he wants to be Harry Potter...

Kate spent 3 days a while back shooting a stop animation Lego video that is amazing!  I just finished editing it today and as soon as I can figure out how to load the thing to You Tube, I'll be posting it!

Once again, the train has derailed and I can't remember anything else I wanted to write.  I may have to get back to this one!

Going for the gold

This past Friday, Preston's school hosted a school-wide olympics.  It was a big undertaking and quite the day!  They made each of the students passports, they had a torch, an opening ceremony, various events, medals and a closing ceremony.  The kids spent the day having fun outside of the classroom, but learning at the same time.  I know it took a LOT of work to organize, but it's something they need to do more often!

During the opening ceremony, they invited the jr. high marching band over to play the National Anthem.  That meant that Kate was able to come for a while.  They did a fantastic job!  Kate is the 4th from the right with the pink jacket and yellow shirt.

 Preston chose to run the 100 m. dash.  He came in 3rd in his race! 

 Some of the 3rd graders cheering on their athletes.

 Preston also competed in soccer.

 The closing ceremony was a lot of fun.  They presented the medal winners and then had a dance party.  If you've never seen a gym full of 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade girls going crazy over One Direction, it's a sight!  The teachers even got in and were dancing and really having a great time.  At one point they had the entire school in a giant conga line around the gym- close to 400 people!

It was a long day of coming and going since Preston's events were all an hour and a half apart, but it was fun watching him.  He didn't win any medals, but he gave it his best, and that's all that matters.  I'm just glad he had fun!

911 What's your emergency?

Remember our plumbing disaster Saturday?  Well, that disaster turned into an emergency yesterday morning.  A flat out, emergency...

I mentioned that Christopher was going to run a garden hose down our sewer vent.  I asked where the water was supposed to go, and he told me it would go into the septic tank.  Right after I dropped the kids off at school, he was up on the roof to do this.  Thankfully, his dad and uncle were hauling grain and had a flat, so they insisted they come over while the tire was being fixed.  First, they tried sticking a long metal bar down it, which sounded like they were tearing the whole house down.  Then I got called up to stop the sink drains and "keep an eye on them."  The one thing that all three of them did NOT consider were the overflow holes.  As soon as they turned on the hose, water started coming in Christopher's sink (which was already full of water that wouldn't drain) really fast.  I heard a pop, ran to my bathroom to find that the water had shot out of the overflow hole in my bathroom like a volcano and spewed black water ALL OVER the entire bathroom- the walls, counter, toothbrushes- yeah, it was bad...  I ran back to his bathroom and the water was almost to go in the floor.  I ran outside screaming to stop the water.  I grabbed a towel to keep it off the floor, but ended up having the get a bowl and bail water out into the toilet because all the water in the vent just kept coming into the sink.  It was at that point that they decided this was over their heads and called the plumber, who was there in 15 minutes.

I am VERY pleased to say that the plumber was able to break the clog in the vent.  It was a big ordeal and he almost had to cut into our pipes and replace them, but he called in the main guy and they ran a special auger down the vent and got it out.  We have no idea what it was but now our sewer vent has mesh over it to keep the leaves, gumballs and small wildlife out of the vent. 

Later on when Christopher was downstairs replacing the ceiling tile that was ruined during the leak last week, I asked him, "So who told you a week ago that we should've called a plumber?"  Some things just aren't DIY projects.

The great plumbing disaster

Remember last week when I said that I had to buy a new toaster oven on Friday and a microwave on monday?  Well, on Thursday, we sprung a leak.  We're on a three day cycle around here, folks...

Thursday night Christopher came home to find his bathroom sink full of water, but the drain wasn't stopped.  He put some draino down it and a few minutes later, the water went down.  A bit later I was down in the laundry room and noticed a basketball sized wet spot on the ceiling.  Once the ceiling tile came down, so did all the water...

But will my husband call a professional?  Nope!  He insisted he and his dad would do it.  That meant we were left to brush our teeth in the kitchen and wash our hands in the bathtub.  Fun times...  Well, Saturday morning Keith showed up and they explored their options while the destroyed the bathroom.

Back when we first bought this house, we had a leak in his bathroom.  Unfortunately, they were copper pipes and needed to be replaced, but that would've involved taking out the entire wall, so they decided to tape it.  Yeah...  So when this all happened, that's where they assumed the leak was.  They bought more sealing tape, taped it up and put some rubber gaskets and clamps around it.  They turned on the water and it turns out that wasn't where the leak was.  The leak was in MY bathroom!  So they made another trip to Rural King for parts and got it taken care of around 8:00 that night.

Sunday morning, his sink filled with water again.  Christopher got under the sink and messed around and found a nut that was broken so he sent me to Rural King at 8:00 to buy a whole new piece of pipe.  I can tell you though, that this problem is NOT fixed.  His sink filled with water again this morning after washing my face in my bathroom.  Even his dad agrees it's time to call in the pros, but Christopher still thinks this is a DIY'er.  The only other thing they have up their sleeves to try is running a garden hose down the sewer vent on the roof to see if it's blocked and therefore clogging the drain.  I don't even want to think about what could happen with that!