Nursing School - HERE HE COMES!!!

I know you've all been worried about Dustin (though not as much as I), but you can relax now! He got a call today from the UVU ... advisor ... admissions ... lady? And, she said that they had a place for the SIXTH ALTERNATE for this coming semester!!! Horray!! That means that he's doing it! Dustin's going to be a MALE NURSE (just like his dad)!! :) :) :) :)

Back to school, anyone?

At Reilly's kindergarten assembly, her school featured a new orchestra. They started it as a trial to see what the interest would be. They expected about 15 - 20 students to sign up and had 50. While they were playing, I had a disgusted look on my face and my friend thought that I was disgusted at how the violins played, but that wasn't the case. I thought that all those students for one teacher was a bit extreme! Some of the students had really bad posture because their teacher didn't have time to correct that problem. That's where a teacher aid or private teacher comes in handy. So, after talking to the teacher, and her thinking that I had a degree, I thought it might not be such a bad idea to finish my degree and teach in a classroom like that. I'd only have 2 years to go (if I kill myself) and she said that there will be a huge need for another teacher at their school in a year or two. It's perfect! She's going to contact me after the first of the year about volunteering in the class to help with posture and one-on-one needs.

So, I just finished my application to Utah Valley University. They are open enrollment right now because they're trying to beef up the student body since becoming a university. Hopefully there won't be any problems getting in. I'll know in 48 hours if I've been accepted and then I can enroll for the semester starting in January. Cross your fingers for me!!!

Reilly and Sean's Christmas Programs

Last Thursday we had a busy day of Christmas programs. Reilly's was early in the morning at 9:30am. We all went over to the school to watch her sing. The bad news (besides that they started 15 minutes late) was that Reilly was behind the tallest kid in kindergarten! Well, maybe not the tallest, but too tall to be in front of my girl. All I could see was her nose and eyes. Oh, well, still cute.

Here's the link for Reilly's performance:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BpUanC5a0U&feature=channel

Then, at noon, we had Sean's performance. It's his third program in front of parents and he FINALLY got it! They did a few songs and said what they were thankful for ... like Christmas cookies, stars, Jesus, etc. He even did that part of the program! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nS-_rFq5_Q) He did a great job with all the songs and signed along with Away in a Manger.

Here's the link for Sean's performance:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyIjBCTGnXM&feature=channel_page

We had a great time watching them!

Buyers Remorse - No More!!

I have been thinking lately about how little money I will soon have and take time out to really analyze a purchase. I have had buyers-remorse several times and it seriously hurts my feelings to see those items on a day-to-day basis. For example, I told Dustin that I wanted a toaster oven so that I could easily heat up frozen foods, or make hot sandwiches more conveniently. He bought one for my birthday and I was excited for like a week... You see, it takes forever for it to heat up (much like it's uncle the ... um... regular oven) and the food cooks in the same amount of time, but it's harder to keep clean. I feel bad throwing it away or giving it away because it was a present, but that means I have to look at it everyday! While it takes up precious real-estate on my counter... collecting mail, recipes, straws, etc. Anyway, that is the bad part about purchasing things, but there is another story. I have a few items that I treasure every day!

The first one is my water dispenser. I used to buy Brita filters for my Brita purifier, but was really bad about refilling it. We would have to drink straight from the tap and I hate that! Some of it is because of the taste, but most of it is because I like my beverages so cold that they hurt my teeth to drink. So, on one trip to the store, I was looking at the dispensers. This particular one cost $60.00 for the unit and a few dollars for the water bottle. I did the math and concluded that is would be cheaper than spending $30.00 on filters every three months for my purifier; five gallon water refills are $3 and we can refill 10 times for the same price... we don't drink anywhere near that.

The next one is my camera. I've only ever had Canon Powershot cameras, so it's all I know. But they're so easy to use and have great features. I don't think I'd ever get another brand. Incidentally, I just bought a digital camcorder that is also a Canon and am quite pleased. I've only had it for two weeks, so it doesn't qualify to be on the list yet.

The last item for my list are the two white shelves I bought for my Christmas decorations. I had some little trinkets that I didn't want to put on a table where my kids could easily get them (when they were younger - obviously now they can reach the shelves), so I thought it'd be great to have them on the wall. Well, not only have they worked for Christmas decor, but they've stayed up all year round to put pictures of the kids on. It just gives a different look than hanging them. I like it!

So, the point of the blog - I'm watching what I spend and trying to make this list the ONLY list!!

Family Pictures

We finally did some family pictures today. I've been waiting for some snow and this week was the first time it's stuck! Last year, one day it snowed all morning and it got warm in the late afternoon so a lot of the snow started to melt. That night everything froze and in the morning, it was so sparkly! All the snow that started to melt had froze into icicles all over houses and trees and everything had an icy blanket. It was so pretty that I thought it'd be a great background for some pictures. We didn't do it because I'm lame, and it never happened again. So, this year, I'm determined to get some great outdoor, snowy pictures. This was take one. We had GREAT fun taking them, but it's not quite what I wanted. We'll be sending some cards out (late, of course), so you can all see what we did. This picture cracks me up!

Reilly plays the piano...

On Thursday this week, I had my Christmas recital and Reilly finally got to participate! I was teaching another beginner how to play Jolly Old St. Nick and Reilly was standing next to her. They are friends, so I figured Reilly was just waiting for her lesson to be over, but after she left, Reilly sat down and played the whole song! So, I put her in the recital and she did great! The only problem was that each time she played a note, her head bobbed forward. It was hard to get a picture of her without the head-bob. :)

**UPDATE**

Here's the link for Reilly on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqArXCcD12w

Christmas Craft

I just got a call yesterday about Reilly's kindergarten Christmas party. I guess I signed up to do the Christmas craft... Must've done it in a whole nother life (hahahaha, still not a word!) ... Anyway, as I was looking up ideas, I kept thinking back to their Halloween party. The craft was a popcorn hand with candy-corn nails. It was MESSSSSY and didn't take very long. So, I kept that in mind while I searched the net. I found this!



So, just to make sure that a 5/6 year-old could do it easily and use up between 10-15 minutes, I had Reilly and her friend from her class, Jacey, do it together. They had fun and it worked out perfectly! I'm doing it!

The Rolling Apple - Part 2 "No Easter Bunny?!"

Okay, so no one got my reference in the title "The Rolling Apple," so I'm just going to explain myself really quickly... The apple doesn't fall from the tree, but this one's trying to get away! Not to knock Mom and Dad, because I copy them all the time! People don't want to be like their parents, but it's bound to happen.

Enough about that! This one's for Mom. While we're stressing about Christmas crap like, 'do we have what they want?,' 'are we following all the traditions?,' etc... one thing keeps coming up, "Mom, is Santa real?" I don't want to burst Reilly's bubble so soon and with Sean only being 4, it doesn't seem right to ruin Christmas fun just yet. So, I've been thinking about my childhood and how long I believed in Santa. I don't think I'm any more out of the ordinary than anyone else, but I remember when Mom told me there was no Santa. I asked her and I think she asked me back, "do you really want to know the truth?" I said 'yes' and she broke the news. It didn't ruin my Christmas, but if I was old enough to remember the conversation, I must've believed long enough... Mom did an amazing job teaching us that Christmas is about the birth of the Savior (I was featured in the newspaper as a result - Mom, do a blog about that so I can show my kids) and all the other fluff was just ... fluff. She let us believe if we wanted to, but didn't push us to buy into the commercialized-Christmas. I have huge boots to fill when it comes to that, but I'm doing my best. I always respond to Reilly with, "Do you think he's real?" and then let her answer it. We have traditions that include reading children's books about Christ's birth and placing the baby Jesus in the manger on Christmas Eve. I hope it's making it more about that then presents and Santa, but only time will tell. Anyway, I was thinking about other fictional holiday characters and one stood out from the others.

The Easter Bunny! I do NOT let my kids believe in that crap! I've told them from the first Easter that we celebrated (and that they could talk/understand me) it that is NOT what Easter is about. If they want to have an egg hunt, we'll do it. If they want to get baskets with candy in it, we'll do it. But the purpose for the holiday is to celebrate the Savior ! It is NOT a gift-giving holiday! THE END!

Sean "Sings" Jingle Bells...

Sean's preschool class went to visit Santa yesterday. He didn't know what he wanted to ask for so Santa helped him think of something. He offered, 'football stuff' ???? He's kinda old... Anyway, so we did pictures of the kids, but they're nothing special, so I'm not adding them. We'll be getting famiy pictures taken on Tuesday, so check back for those! :) The kids sang to Santa, though, and it was Sean's best program so far! Remember Halloween he freaked out and pouted the whole time, then, Thanksgiving he wouldn't even go stand with his class... Well, this time he mouthed some words, but he did all the motions! He's doing much better!

**UPDATE**

Here it is on YouTube:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPKrNMaeBGU

Speaking of Reilly...

I've been trying out different hairstyles on her lately, hoping to come up with something for our family pictures before Tuesday... crossed fingers. I'd like to curl her hair, but nothing seems to hold. So, let me tell you the story, we start with gel through damp hair. Then, after her hair dries, and when I start curling it (I've tried a curling iron and hot rollers), I use hairspray as I'm rolling the hair, while it's rolled and after I take it out. Then, while I'm tossing her hair, to break up curls, I spray loads of hairspray... There's no happy ending to this story, though, because her hair won't stay curly for longer than an hour! And, it sounds like her hair should be super crunchy, right... because of all the product, but it's not! It's totally soft! I don't get it! I'm going to try curlers that she has to sleep in next. She'll hate it, but I think it's the only way.

Oh, BTW, remember how much I love Reilly's hair in a short-bob? Well, she always used to fight with me about cutting it that short. She has a friend with super, SUPER long hair and always wanted hair that long, but just when her hair is getting to a long length, she decides that it might not be such a bad idea to cut it again! Ahhh! Now I love it long and am having fun styling it!!! I'm going to keep pushing it off. I say, "After family pictures.." or "When school's out..." I hope she doesn't catch on.

Daddy and Reilly Go To School!

Reilly's class had a fun-Friday today! They invited their grandparents (or someone special) to come and did some fun activities. Reilly's great-grandparents are too old and slow for that, so she wanted her dad to come (not me!)... Really, I wasn't offended. I get to school with her twice a week. It was so great to see them go together and they had a fun time, too.

Dustin got to see what Reilly does every day. They welcomed their guests to school with the Kindergarten Welcome song. Then, they counted all the days they've been going to school and added a sticker to their books. Then, they did centers. There were three centers.

1. gingerbread houses

2. Santa beards

3. family trees

Reilly and Dustin did a great job... apparently, some of the kids and parents didn't have very attractive houses... Their's was awesome!

Funniest Sleeping Picture

Last night we rented a Christmas movie and watched it in my bed. Reilly's lastest thing is needing to watch movies in the dark, but in the middle of the movie, we noticed that they were both asleep. (Good news!) The funniest thing happened when we started moving them to their beds, though. Check out what Sean had in his mouth! I didn't even notice that he was eating crackers before he fell asleep! Hah!




PS - He is TOTALLY the cutest boy ... EVER!!!

Talk much!?

A few things baffle me about our English slang. One of which is the use of the phrase, 'a whole nother.' I know I can't be the only one that is annoyed by this, but it is used more than I care to hear it. I've even seen it written out. I know what you're thinking. "Lauren, we've heard it all before... " or "Lauren, it's not a big deal..." But here's the thing, 'nother' is NOT a word. Sticking 'whole' in the middle of 'another' creates a word that doesn't exist.

I have a solution, though! Here's a grammatically correct phrase with the same idea:

'a whole OTHER!' Huh? What do you think? Good, eh?!

BTW, I did a spellcheck because I don't like to blog with awful spelling and 'nother' came up yellow!!!

December 4th... still no snow.

I've been documenting the snow as is moves down the mountain, however, I was noticing today that they all look about the same ... so much for blogging about how the weather comes to get me, huh?! It's been fall for a really long time and, though I hate the snow being all wet and cold, I am afraid that when it comes, it won't stop.

I'm such a worrier... We had the longest winter last year, so I'm sensitive!

No, you're a potato head!

Sean has a new book meant to get him ready for writing letters and numbers. It has mazes and activities that make him control the pencil/pen. He was really funny doing it! He had to write his name on every page (he's getting so good at it) and he kept it open by doing a funny shuffle-kneely thing... I can't explain it, so watch it. Also, Reilly was having a really bad day and told me about it while I tried desperately not to laugh.

** UPDATE **

Stupid Blogger sucks really bad! I can't seem to upload videos anymore! So, here's a link to the video on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ6F1vQDrGc

Before and After Dresser

When Dustin and I got married, we took John's old drawers so that we each had one. I used Dustin's old one and he used John's. He never really had all the room he needed, but made it work. So, recently, when I was filling Reilly and Sean's dresser (they shared) with their winter clothes, they really didn't fit. On Saturday, Dustin decided to re-do John's dresser so that Sean could use it. I was TOTALLY against it because the drawers are messed up and it's just a piece of crap, but he persisted. BTW, it looks like it's 10pm outside in the pic where he's sanding it, but it's actually 6:30pm. Anyway, so after he sanded, primed and painted it, I was convinced. It looks great! Sean got to pick the colors - green for the dresser and drawers and blue for the handles - and he could hardly wait until it was done to start using it!

It's done now and he has so much space. Reilly was bummed at first that she couldn't paint hers (I told her we could do rub-on-transfers instead), but the more she helped with his, the more excited she got for having her own drawers.

This week random events...

This week, Sean and Reilly did their Thanksgiving parties at school. I got to go to both because Reilly had school when Sean's party was going on and Sean was at school when Reilly had hers. So, in Reilly's class (sorry, no pics) she made a drum, necklace, Indian vest and head-dress. They had a pow-wow and we learned that Reilly can't do a rhythm dance. They did step-hop-step-hop-hop. She had the hardest time, but certainly wasn't the only one. Sean did really well during the school portion of his party, but when they came out to do the program for the parents, he froze again. He wouldn't participate again. I sure hope he grows out of that!

Sean's Birthday

We celebrated Sean's birthday the Saturday after it and had cake and ice cream with Ian, Dianne and fam. Sean got a motorcycle, some new cars and a Leapster. For Christmas, we aren't spending much, so we got them both a Leapster and a game and called it good. They love it!

My Blueberry Nights

Overall, the movie was good. Very artistic, but not in an annoying, 'am I still watching this,' kind of way. I just have a couple of problems with it.

First, recently, I saw an interview with Norah Jones (lead female) and she said that the three years that she spent touring with Come Away With Me and Feels Like Home, were the worst years of her life... BTW I saw her on that tour and she did great. She also said that she had her cake and ate it, so she didn't need to be famous anymore. The problem is, acting as a lead-role in a movie that did the independent circuit puts you out there to be famous... no?

The second problem might be nothing, but one of the songs from the movie that plays sporadically during the movie seems to be a knock-off of a Sarah McLachlan song. Last Dance is the last song on her Surfacing CD and follows the knock-off song note-for-note. Seems highly suspicious... Hopefully that didn't plagiarize.

I really liked the movie and was very impressed with Norah Jones. For never acting (EVER), she worked it.

Filthy Rich CEOs

After all of the media's revelations about how the CEOs of floundering companies are running business, it got me to thinking. Why is Washington so quick to do a handout? Why haven't they done any auditing? It's because the CEOs are paying off high-seated policital leaders so that they don't have to give up their lavish lifestyles.

Here's the deal: Even among the car manufacturers, CEOs and other execs have maintained their salaries and bonuses, along with company perks (such as living across the country and reporting for work each Monday on a private jet), while their companies have made dramatic cuts to avoid from going bankrupt... for example, laying off over 50,000 employees. That's the average American right there.

It seems to me that by keeping the money at the top, they are sealing the fate of the company. If you break down the spending, it does the company NO good to continually beef up execs pocket because they're not the ones making the company money, nor are they the ones who keep money circulating to other businesses. The average-American is. Let's call him Joe.

Joe, works a 50+ hour week as an engineer at a medical device company, we'll call it Meditronics. Meditronics is a small business that declares a market value of $4 million. Joe makes just about $79,000 a year with no perks. He doesn't recieve a company car to travel the 45 miles to work, nor does he receive compensation for gas or time. He buys his own life-insurance policy so that his family is taken care of if he should die. He also spends his own money on a PDA-cell phone so that he can keep in touch with co-workers off-the-clock. Joe is constantly being railed at work about making the devices better; lighter, easier to use, and, above all, cheaper to manufature. He works tirelessly with other members of the team to produce the best possible product. Joe works a little with their CEO, we'll call him Todd.

Todd is the only CEO at Meditronics, but he's also the mayor of a small town just south of Meditronics. He makes just over $400,000 with plenty of perks. He has a company car so that he can travel as much as he needs to. He also has a company cellphone and bonuses that are 10% of his salary. Todd comes to the office three or four times a week, but because he is also a mayor, his time is limited. He checks in with his officers and other execs to make sure business is running smoothly and on time; then, he's out to work elsewhere.

Back to Joe. Joe just bought a house and is penny pinching so that he and his family can buy new furniture in the near future. They could use some home upgrades, but can't afford them yet. They could also use a second car, but couldn't budget a car payment on his salary. They are the average spenders for our economy, but can't spend money they don't have. Todd on the other hand, drives a company car, gets a life-insurance policy through the company, has a lavish home and declares his vacations as company business. He is not the average spender for our economy, yet he makes the money.

Todd, Joe and Meditronics are small-potatos compared to car manufacturers and banks, but the story is the same as far as the aveage Joes in their companies. Joe makes the company more money and is being laid-off. After he gets laid-off, he has even less money to spend. So, all that construction that was going on, stopped. All those new cars at the showrooms, still there. Joe can't make the economy go anywhere if he doesn't have money and Todd isn't spending his own money on those things anyway. He's using the company dime to live, but taking a salary while he's at it.

Does this make sense to anyone? I think the best form of action would be the following:

1. Audit Todd's company.
2. Get Todd a list of unneccessary spending to change.
3. Check back with Todd about how company is shaping up after much needed changes.
4. Bail Todd out with a loan if he continues to have problems.

Stop overlooking the problems! Deal with them! CEOs should NOT being showing up to beg for money in a private jet!

**Note: Joe, Todd and Meditronics are a fabricated scenario researched through Forbes.com.**

The Rolling Apple - Part 1 "Silence!"

I'm sure there are many ways in which I have implemented my parent's techniques, so as I'm aware of them, I'll add blogs about them.

*No saying, "Shut up!"*

When I was first married, a four- or five-year-old told me to 'shut up' at church. It was seriously APPAULING! I couldn't get over it. I know it's a commonly used thing to say, but hearing it from such small and innocent lips was just too much. It was then that I stopped saying it. Well, I mean, pretty much. It still pops out occasionally, but I try SOOOOO hard to say anything but. Other words/phrases have the same effect, but aren't 'mean.' My favorite alternative is, "Stop talking!" It's really great if you drag it out in a monotone... 'sttooopp taaallking!'

Blogged out?

I have had every intention of blogging for the past week, but haven't been feeling up to dealing with my STUPID internet! See, the thing is that it can't stay connected for long enough to upload any pictures anymore! I've talked to Comcast (don't get internet through them) several times and have had them out twice in the last two months. I don't know anything about it, but if I did, they would certainly hear a few words from me! Right now, this is what a typical conversation will be like:

Me: My internet doesn't stay connected while I'm uploading anything.
Them: Have you tried restarting everything?
Me: Yeah.
Them: Have you tried unplugging everything, waiting five minutes and then rebooting everything?
Me: Yeah... (but thinking, 'Why the crap does the five minutes matter? If you cut off power for 30 seconds, isn't that the same??')
Them: We can send a tech-guy out to check it out if you'd like.
Me: Are you going to charge me for it?
Them: No. Unless the problem is something on your side of it.
Me: What does that mean?
Them: If you've striped any wires or threading... or if you've damaged any of the connection boxes then you'd have to pay to have them repaired...
Me: Do people damage their own property often? This crap was expensive!
Them: .... No... Not often.
Me: Then, why do you even say that?
Them: I don't know...
Me: Yeah, then, send them out.
Them: How is Monday between 8am and 9pm? (just kidding, that's a dramatization... but is the real thing any less obnoxious??)
Me: Yeah... well, I think I'll be home all day?! I'll make it happen.
Them: Okay, you're tech-guy's name is 'blah-blah' (like I care what they WT guy's name is!) and he'll call you when he's about there.
Me: Thanks??
Them: Is there anything else I can help you out with today?
Me: No? (but thinking, 'Did you help me yet?')
Them: Okay, have a great day!
Me: Thanks?? Bye!

Was that too long? It would've been better if it were a video, huh?!

Best day EVER!

Usually Sundays are the busiest days for us. We wake up early, everyone bathes and dresses for church. Then we have church for three hours and head off to Nuns park to visit with Dustin's grandparents. We have dinner with them and then hang out for an hour or two. We usually would get back home just in time to get the kids to bed. Well! Let me tell you, they are back at their house (so we don't visit everyweek) and aren't going back down to the park to host anymore. Yesterday was the first day we didn't go to visit them and MAN was it great! Not that visiting them isn't fun, but just imagine hearing the same two or three stories every week and/or Grandma brag about her daughters that are sooooooooo white trash. :/ It gets old very quickly.

We had the normal rush to get to church, mostly because the Primary program was happening and Reilly and I had to get their early. She gave a talk and I played the violin with one of my students during a couple songs. Reilly's talk was great! But the funniest part of the whole program was her and her friend, Miki, entertaining themselves with their name cards. The presidency put up cards so that each kid would know where to sit. Reilly and Miki took off the cards and fanned themselves, stuck them to their shirts, and, best of all, covered their faces during songs. I had so many different comments about it. Reilly's preschool teacher said that their whole family was laughing hysterically the whole time. Miki's parents joked that Reilly and Miki would have to be seperated for next year's program (they did a similar thing last year - lifting their dresses). I had other people ask me if I was embarrassed... or how stressful it is when you can't control your kids and they don't know how to read your facial expressions... I was like, Reilly could see me. I was across the stand from her and she kept looking at me. I could've told her to stop and she would have, but it was funny! I was laughing, too. She won't like doing those things if they're not fun. Can you imagine, being five and having to sit still for a whole hour in front of a crowd? No way! It was good times.

So, anyway, after church was over, we had no where to go and nothing to do. We hung out in my room the rest of the day. We rented a movie on Saturday, but didn't watch it until yesterday... BTW Kung Fu Panda was as bad as I remembered. After the movie, we harassed Dustin for a while. The kids took off his socks and tried to take off his pants... when they couldn't, they resorted to giving him a wedgie. Then, I changed the sheets and the kids found that our king-sized pillow sheets were big enough to be 'sleeping bags.' So, while they weren't paying attention, I closed Sean into his and hoisted it over my shoulder like a sack and walked around the house saying, 'Ho! Ho! Ho!' They took turns being the sack and laughing uncontrollably! We must have been really busy because while I was walking around, I noticed how much warmer it was in my room... even with the fan on and the window open! :)

After a few hours of sure craziness, they were ready for bed. The end! Great day!

Presidential Election 2008

I was Sarah Palin for Halloween (pics to come later), but the things that I learned from being the VP candidate for a day was SICKENING. I went to my ward activity, the store, around the neighborhood and a karaoke cafe dressed as Palin and was SHOCKED by how many people didn't know who I was even after I said her name. :( Not good. Not good!


I have been unimpressed with the potential leaders of our country, and have resolved that voting really doesn't do us much good in the long run... the members of the electoral college will ultimately vote how they want (or have been paid to). However, this is NO excuse for not staying informed! Be active about getting to know who will be running our country because we will pay the price!



Please! The vote is tomorrow, don't go into the ballot and vote blindly. There's still time to find out about the candidates. Figure it out and KNOW who you're voting for before you vote.

Happy Halloween ... from Sean!

Sean almost didn't go to his preschool party, and ... maybe it didn't really matter if he wasn't there. Just kidding! He's usually great at school, but I think all the unfamiliar parents got the best of him! Poor boy's just too shy for a crowd.

I tried to upload the stupid 18 second video of Sean at the party to Blogger and YouTube, but couldn't get it to do it at either site... I'll try again later, so you can check out how Sean looked for his party. Come back.

Okay, here it is!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8GFoJdg0_Q

Close Call

See how cute Sean's costume turned out? Well, it almost happened again!! He woke up this morning super excited to dress up and go to his Preschool Halloween Party! We got him dressed and I asked him if he wanted to wear his vampire teeth, or if he wanted me to draw them on his chin. He said to draw them on and then insisted on seeing them in the mirror. I should NOT have let him because he freaked himself out and then threw a fit! I told him to put the rest of the costume on and then see how he felt. It didn't work. So, then I took off his cape and belt, got my shoes on, and said that I was going to go trick-or-treating at his party while he stayed in bed. He quickly stopped crying and bargained.



He came over to me and grabbed my leg. Then, with his cute, sad face said, "I don't want these teeth, but I really want to wear my cape." Whew! I thought he was going to go another year with no costume.

As if that wasn't enough...

My friend Kathy and I were hanging out one afternoon and she was showing me some of the knitting she had been working on. She had a beautiful sweater for her 2 year old daughter, Alice, and a GREAT idea for a present for her sister. Fingerless gloves! It just so happened that Bittersweet was playing an outdoor gig the next day and I would've benefited greatly from those gloves! So, I ordered the yarn and Kathy was gracious enough to help me thus far.

Look how cute!!! :) Hooray! I did all of that! Now, I just have to find the time to finish them.

I *heart* Dustin!

We started the kids' costumes a few weeks ago so that we'd have ample time to finish, and we made it! They're all done! We've been putting the kids to bed and then staying up late trying to get as much done as possible. Reilly's was the hardest because we had a cape and a dress complete with fur lining on the bottom of the cape, dress and sleaves.

Doing her's first also helped us do Sean's cape. We started at 7:30pm and were done by 10:00pm. I know it seems long, but it was amazingly fast. With me cutting the fabric, pinning and telling Dustin what to do, and him sewing everything, it went by very quickly. :)

So, anyway, doing all of this got me to thinking. Of all the husbands that I know, I have a hard time believing that many of them would kill their backs sewing late into the night to help their wives. We may argue about school, work, money, parenting (sounds like we're on the brink of marrital melt-down, eh?!), but, in the end, he's got my back and would do whatever to help me out. He's a great guy!

B - I - N - G - O

Dustin rented some movies on Saturday, but we didn't get a chance to watch them until last night. He got a movie named Bingo (1991 and it shows) for the kids and some dramatic thriller for him... er, uh... I mean us? Well, in the middle of our movie, Reilly comes running down the stairs in tears! My initial thought was, 'What are you two fighting about this time?!' I was wrong! It was the movie. Apparently, it's about a dog that gets treated very badly by all of its owners. From the time he's a puppy, he gets abused from owner to owner (one is a ring-leader in a carnival). Anyway, she was crying because it was too sad for her! How sweet is she? It was adorable that she cares so much that this very poor movie got her to tears over the main character!

So I watched the end of the movie with her and really had a hard time seeing how she was so emotional about it. I think it may have something to do with Fiona moving. On Saturday, the reason we didn't watch the movies was because we helped Ian and Dianne move more stuff to their house. They moved all the crutial things: beds, kitchen, clothes, washer/dryer, etc. They are officially living there now, but will come back during the week and on Saturday to clean up and move the storage things. It didn't hit Reilly right away, but at about 3:30am on Sunday, she had a break down. She woke up and couldn't stop crying. Dustin went in to console her and talked to her a bit. Turns out that she's really distraught about Fiona not living right next door. She's never known anything but having Fiona there and I think this'll be a hard transition for the poor girl. :( She's going up on Friday to have a sleep over with Fiona, so I hope that'll help her out.

Moving day...

Last week Dustin started helping Ian and Dianne move into their new house. We took up a load of furniture and the piano and got a tour of their new pad. After a couple of week imagining that it looked totally different, it was great to put a place to the idea. It's a new home that seems just the perfect size for them. The kids were the funniest (although Ian's flamboyant hand gestures were laugh-out-loud funny) when they showed their rooms.

Good luck, guys!!

Reilly's Witchy Costume!

It's almost done! I've been working 'round the clock (as you can tell) trying to finish Reilly's costume and last night it all came together. I just have to add a hook/eye to the dress and the fur on the bottom of the cape and the sleeves of the dress... THEN... IT'S DONE! Reilly was so excited to see it and try it on last night.

The time on the post is correct. Reilly was trying really hard to stay up all night last night. I don't know why, but she's been bugging me to stay up for weeks. Since she didn't have school today, and we were working on her costume, I said it was okay. She didn't make it very long, but late enough!

Makeup or Kids?

Dustin and I were watching E! this evening and caught part of a show called "Stars Without Makeup" and were digusted! They were ripping on celebrities that got 'caught' living without primping and painting for hours. They're still human and they look normal. So, every picture they would say what each celebrity needed for a makeover... um, when they're on screen they look fine (sometimes over-done, but fine), so what's the big deal?! Goldie Hawn and Diana Ross are old... GET OVER IT! Now, some of the pics were horrific, like Eva Longoria walking all around town with frizzy, crazy hair... I wouldn't go out looking like that, but that's just me. Anyway, besides a few pics, they just looked normal!



P.S. Have any of you guys ever thought that Annie looks like Julia Roberts? Minus the huge teethy grin, it's pretty close, no?

Halloween Costumes

I'm working on Reilly and Sean's costumes for Halloween and delegating some to Dusin... while I type his paper, he's cutting and sewing Reilly's cape. We went looking for ideas when the patterns went on sale for $1 each. I didn't expect to buy that day, but it was a great deal. While we were choosing Reilly's Sean was feeling left out and said he wanted to be a vampire, so that's why he's anything this year. Every other year we've fought with him to wear anything. His first Halloween, he was a lion - only because he couldn't fight then. The next one, he was supposed to be a lion again - different costume - but I couldn't get it on him. Then last year he was 'green' because he wouldn't wear a costume. He had a green sweat-suit, so that's seriously what he was - green. I'm excited to get him dressed finally!!

We're going to have a blast this year... we're even dressing Maya up like a witch. Fun, fun, fun!!

By. <---- Reilly typed this!

Like This and Like That

This is a bit of Sean talking. He's getting TONS better, but he's got a few letters (and combinations of letters) that he struggles with. After this was taken, we hit "th" hard and he's doing better. He's sooo cute!

School Pictures!

Here they are!!! Soooo cute!

New Floor

Dustin and Sean re-did the floor in the basement. The carpet was painfully stained, so Dustin had a great idea. There's a type of flooring that he's just recently started installing. It's sort of rubbery, sticky and he's going to make fun of me forever if he reads this. :) HAH! Anyway, it looks like wood floors, so I was in. I think it looks great, but Sean's the happiest because I let him keep out his road mat now. When we had the carpet, it looked cluttered if it stayed out, but now it doubles as a rug around the computer desk. :)

Crazy-Lauren Dream!

I always remember the stupid dreams - relate much? (Refer to the HIV/AIDS blog.) My latest one was last week. It was reoccurring, too, so I got a lot of stuff from it. The first night I dreamed that we moved to a sort of compound. It was a huge house on a 30 acre lot. Complete with security gates and forest-mote surrounding the house. It was right next to my friends the Fishers (who live right around the corner from me in real life)... which is nuts because there's no way 30 acre lots would exist in Utah. Anyway, so that dream was all about how we moved and had to transition with the kids. We put up two GI-NORMOUS play sets with those slides used on aircrafts in case of emergencies. We were in a no-fly zone... who knows why or how... There were statues all around the house that we were deciding what to do with, etc. It gets better. The next night (or something) I dreamed that we were watching aircrafts fly overhead. We, as in me and Angela, didn't know why or if it was US planes, so we waited it out for a while. Eventually, we could see that these were terror attacks and quickly moved the families to the bomb shelter. (I know - like they even exist anymore!) Then we had to get to fightin' those 'hell-bent terrorists!' (That Sarah Palin! Hah!) We went to one of the play sets where, under one of the tower-floors, we had a stash of EVERY kind of gun you could think of. Angela and I took on the terrorists! I'm not sure that we won or not, but it sure does top my list of weird, crazy dreams!

So, how 'bout that stock market?

I just thought I'd do a quick blurby-blog about what's going on here. Firstly, Reilly did it again! She was getting sick of me being too busy to make her a sandwich (30 mins before dinner time) that she did it herself. While she was at it, she made Sean a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (no mess), but I have no pics to prove it. She's growing up so much lately... oh, and she's losing one of her top front teeth. We're going to sing 'All I want for Christmas...' Just kidding, that would be lame. Sean is starting to change his words on his own. I'll post a video of it soon, but he used to say 'this,' that,' and 'there' really funny, but he's been working on making them right. Okay, so besides that, (shout out to John A.) HOW 'BOUT THAT STOCK MARKET, eh?!

I'll just do it myself!

Yesterday... well, truthfully it's been for a few weeks... Reilly really wanted to make cookies. I've been pushing her off because I've been really busy, but yesterday, it came to a crutial time! I told Reilly I needed to clean out the sink so that the kitchen was prepared for cookie-making. There weren't that many dishes, but I just didn't have the time. Monday and Tuesday are really bad for lessons. Monday I teach from 12:30 - 5:30pm and Tuesday I teach from 2:30 - 7:30pm. I don't have breaks, either. It's solid lessons. She kept asking me to do the dishes between lessons, but it never worked out. Dustin came home to get ready for class and she bothered him, but he didn't do his homework for that class until then, so he couldn't help her out either. So, after she got sick of waiting for us, she did it herself.

She emptied the clean dishes...



Put the dirty dishes in and ran it!

We made the cookies today! :) What a girl!!

BTW, we posed the first picture because I didn't catch her doing it yesterday and the second picture is the actual way she loaded those dishes. It quite amazing that she didn't overcrowd dishes or cover up the dishwasher components. :)

Am I stupid? Cause I really don't think I am!

Last night, Bush made some statements about the $700 billion bailout. In reference to the 'jittery U.S. taxpayers,' he said that they will benefit from a number of safeguards that lawmakers wrote into the pending legislation, including ... assurances that taxpayers would ultimately be reimbursed by the companies that go under. Okay, so this is where I get stupid... if the bailout is supposed to help them from going bankrupt, because they can't pay on loans that already exsist... HOW WILL THEY PAY OFF THE TAXPAYERS?? Where will that money come from?

Seriously, am I stupid!?!?!!?

Oh, and as far as the picture goes, doesn't it look like they're getting down to business... sipping their coffee and all?

First Feild Trip

Today, Reilly had her first field trip to Nuns Park. It was the best time she's ever had a Nuns. Her great-grandparents host the park, so we go there frequently, but this time was different. She got to ride on the bus, for the first time; and she went with her friends from school. Our group was Spencer, Josh, Kamille and Reilly. They were great and had fun on the hike and with the art projects and leaf games. I was glad that I could go, too. :)

Halloween Preview

I have dressed up for Halloween in the past, but have been unsuccessful as far as picking a costume that people would recognize. I always wound up explaining who I was the entire evening. Well, this year, everyone'll know what I am... and it's not that far of a stretch from the truth, so it'll be easy to pull off!

P.S. This year will mark the first year... probably EVER... that Dustin will dress up. He's going to be just like me. We'll be Attack of the Nerds together!

Have I ever told you about the time I cured HIV/AIDS??

Well, I had a dream about it and, turns out, the cure for HIV/AIDS is ... ready? Orange juice and apple juice mixed together! SOLVED!! Now, on to the next chronic condition!!

P.S. I'm laughing so hard I'm crying as I write this!!!