Happy Halloween!

I know this is a very late posting from me, but I have been busy. This morning was my usual day to help in G's classroom, so it being the anniversary, Paul came with me and helped out as well. He took today and tomorrow off from his grueling schedule so he could have some fun. (I am poking fun at Paul right now because he hardly ever works) After help time we went home for some anniversary fun and than out to lunch at a very nice place on the water. We did stop at Wal-Mart on the way home to get Paul a costume for the Halloween Party at school. G could not understand why a 40 year old man would not want to dress up for Halloween, so Paul bought a costume so he could suprise G at school. He is wearing a Sombraro and a Poncho with a painted on mustache. Very funny, and of course I will post pictures. We really didn't plan much for our anniversary. We don't have a babysitter yet so we are out of luck in going out tonight. I guess we could just throw what we are saving on not going out into the 20th anniversary fund, because we are going to England and Ireland for two weeks when we hit 20 years.....of course, KID FREE! I have had an exciting week. I met with my academic advisor and registered for my classes. I start January 5th. I will take three classes during the winter term, two in summer, three in fall, and two next winter and I will be finished with a BA in Language Arts. I start the Master's portion in the spring after I get my BA. I am thrilled this is all working out according to plan. Paul is now finished with his classes and is a certified home inspector. He is going to hang his shingle out soon and see what kind of business he can get started here. I do think we will end up in the Pacific Northwest. I don't have much time for anything else because we have to get to the school, but look back later and I will try and get some Halloween pictures up.....I know you all want to see Paul's costume!

Melissa and Amy-I am totally jealous that you two get to visit!
Tara- I don't know why you could not leave a message, I haven't blocked you!
Laurie-I hope H is doing fine.
Michelle-I love the comment about not telling the kids until right before you have to leave. I agree candy is a powerful motivator.

We are having ? for dinner tonight, Papa Murphy's tomorrow (love the pumpkin shaped pizzas) and lean cousine for me over the weekend while the kids eat whatever I can make for them and not feel tempted by.

I have not added any new songs onto the IPOD for a while, as I left it in the car turned on and now the battery is dead and I never remember to take it out of the car to recharge, but when I do I am adding the new Sugarland song, the new Taylor Swift song and I think some vintage Bon Jovi!

Hello Thursday!

Good Morning Everyone. I am back from the school and ready to read and write. I needed the crash course at school this morning dontcha know. OK, so now I need to put on my thinking cap and figure out what happened this week to tell all of you. Paul is playing referee at a Coast Guard football game today, so you all know he is hard at work. H is getting ready for his first swim meet here on November 1st. G just finished her first gymnastics class and is starting her next one next week. She is suprisingly good at gymnastics. Paul really likes going and watching the kids do all this stuff because he missed so much, which is nice because it means I am not sitting there all by myself, but it also means that I am not really meeting all the other Moms during class because Paul is with me. Do you think he would mind if I asked him to sit on the other side of the bench? Just until I make some friends? I am really enjoying helping in the school Library. I like the librarians and they love having the extra help. I think if another part-time job came up as a media specialist at the school, I would probably be in line for it now. I have an appointment with my academic advisor on Monday to decide what is the best course of action for me to get through school in a timely mannor. I keep teasing Paul that he is now married to a co-ed. We are getting ready to celebrate our 10 year anniversary next Thursday, but we are not going out that night because we don't have a babysitter here yet. So we are going out for a nice lunch and a drive and maybe something else that I will not share with all of you. I finally found my travelling outfit. Melissa I know you will appreciate me wanting to have a nice new outfit to wear on the plane. It is a 15 hour flight and I don't want to wear jeans, so I have been hunting for the right outfit. Comfortable and stylish. I found it at Wal-Mart of all places and took it for a test drive today. Two different teachers said how cute it was, so I guess this is it. Maybe I will post a picture of it so you all can see. Not much else going on around here. It has been a pretty quiet week here. Oh, I almost fogot to tell you about the golf ball. Paul has been taking H golfing a few times a week and they have been having a great time, well yesterday Paul took along a few trick golf balls he got for his last birthday and put one on H's tee. When H hit the ball it blew up in a cloud of smoke. H almost wet his pants. It was so funny. Take care and I will see you all next week.

Not my post

This is not the Thursday blog......I am helping in the school today and will be home around 10:30 to write my blog. Be back soon!

Moments

We all recently made a list of our five favorite things, and I really enjoyed reading about what you all love. I was driving to Costco (shout out to Melissa) and the local radio station here does something everyday at Noon that always makes me proud to be an American. They stop the music everyday at Noon and ask everyone to take a moment to be proud of our service members, to remember the folks that make this country what it is and than they play the National Anthem. Everyday at Noon! So, this is the challenge, write moments that you loved, that help define you, that motivated you, five moments that are unexpected, just five moments.

1. Noon-everyday!
2. talking to Kathy for the very first time.
3. H calling me ya-ya instead of mama
4. camping with my girlfriends and kids every year
5. Thursdays!

Good Morning Everyone! I keep trying to get the hang of the picture adding thing, but alas I am too computer stupid to get it right. At least I got a blog going! What a week it has been at my house. As you all know my Mom was here for a visit, and most of you know what a stress inducing event that is. It was even more stressful this time because she has never been here before and I had to convince her that Michigan was better than Astoria even though it was further away. I also know that she holds the benchmark for all nice houses with my brother's house in California, so I was hopeful she would like mine. His house is very contemporary and mine, although newer, is a bit more country. Well she loved it! and she loved where we are living. She was so impressed with how clean and well taken care of the whole town is. She loved all the great places to go and the fun things to do here. I am not sure how many more times she will visit, but at least she made it here once and liked it. We took her to the pumpkin patch (thought of you Melissa and than saw your pics and knew we were on the same wave length) and got lots and lots of pumpkins. We tooke her out for a nice birthday dinner and to the local museum. She had so much fun and the kids loved having her here. We baked her a homemade birthday cake that I know was better than anything she would have had in CA, and had a nice little present party. I think my favorite gift for her was the Electronic Fish Tank that H picked out. It goes around and around in circles, but has no real fish in it. Mom thought it was great.

I did not give her the "Duck", and yes I do have it! I know some of you don't know what the duck is. In 1993 when I moved back to the States and I was living with my Mom she kept putting a little wooden duck in my bathroom and bedroom, and I kept giving it back to her by placing it in her bedroom or bathroom. When I moved out she put the duck in the Christmas decorations I took with me, so I didn't find it for a few months. I gave it to her for her birthday filled with ice cream. So for 15 years we have traded the duck back and forth. We can never give it the way we got it and we can never do the same thing twice. I have it, she gave it to me for Valentines day by sending it to Astoria Florist and they added it to a vase of flowers. I knew she would expect me to give it to her on her birthday so I decided to wait. I am going to give it to her on the cruise in December, actually, the Captain of the ship is going to give it to her at dinner one night.

In other news....H is on the swim team here. Tryouts were last weeks, and he really liked it and so we signed him up. G is still in lessons. I finally thought enough is enough, I could fund a college education on what I spent on swimming lessons, so I enrolled her in private lessons, and now she is swimming like a fish! School is going great. H is in the middle of MEAPS, which is the state testing for third through fifth grade. He is having no problem with it. I think he isn't stressing because he doesn't really know what it is. I just got back from the school which is why this is posted so late in the day for me. I was helping in G's class and in the Library. I am going to start helping in the Library once a week. I had the best time in there today and finally feel like I found my place. I loved every minute of helping there and can't wait to go back. The Librarians where wonderful and we had a rockin' good time together. G's teacher also asked me to be in charge of the Halloween party which sent me over the moon (I may have to buy a lotery ticket if this day gets much better). They have a big Halloween parade and a party afterwards. It is on our 10 year wedding anniversary, but hey it's a Halloween party with a bunch of little kids!

Paul and I got a very nice check from my Mom for our big anniversary, so we decided to splurge and bought a golf club membership. We have been golfing almost everyday this week. It is a two person membership, so I can go with Paul or one of the kids can go with him. H has turned out to be a better golfer than me, so he usually goes with Paul. Well the DH is home from his strenious day at work....NOT...and now I think I will trick him into taking me out for lunch. I hope you all have a nice week.

ooooohhhhhh before I forget

Tara-where are you in Gilmore Girls? The rest of you should all start watching this series, it is fab!

Amy- I can't believe they didn't vote out Sugar! and, I am bummed the geeks were philiminated.

Laurie-I am so happy for Dave that he got a job, and I am even happier for you that you get your computer back!

Michelle-I miss you!

Melissa-I am so happy that you are getting a super Target. I wish I had one, but at least I have a regular Target and a Starbuck's and a Wal-mart.

Good Night/Good Morning!

I am just about to go to bed, but thought I would say good morning first. Tomorrow morning I am heading into Grand Rapids to pck my Mom up from the airport. It is her first visit to Grand Haven and i am pretty excited to be showing off my new house and our new town. The kids are off school for the next few days and p took some time off work. We have some fun things picked out to do with her. Tomorrow we are going to show her around GH and take her to the downtown shopping area and the heritage museum and the water front. On Friday we are going to the pumpkin patc and for a hayride. Friday night we are taking her for her B-Day dinner at a nice place on the water. I spent most of today cleaning the house and threatening the children pure torture if they mess it up after I cleaned it. One nice thing that happened today was going to the florist for free flowers. When we frst got here we got a package from the welcome wagon...not kidding, really the welcome wagon, and there was a gift certificate for a dozen free roses from the florist. I thought maybe some nice cheap roses, but I got a beautiful vase of amazing yellow roses with orange/red tips. I have them in the guest bathroom for my mom. I put lillies in the kitchen and living room. In other news, I threw my back out earler this week. What a drag. It was kind of nice that P and the kids catered to me for a few days, it was pretty painful and i don't relish doing that again. I have been trying to double up my workouots and I think I pushed it too far. The bummer about all of it is that I haven't lost a single pound in ages.

Dinner-well tomorrow it is crock pot pot roast, than dinner out, dinner out, tacos, spaghetti, roast chicken and thats as far as I have planned.

Music-I haven't downloaded anything new, ut I did watch the new Alicia Keys/Jack White video. It was very weird. I never did understand what Rene Zellwager saw in him.

TV- Dancing was great this week, but I really wish they would get rid of Cloris Leechman and let someone that is really trying hard to continue on.
Amazing Race was great! I wish that the frat boys had come in first, not Tina (she did NOT get the airline to change planes for her).
Survivor-Bad move to get rid of Paloma and not Sugar, but cleary lack of food is effecting them. I hear from the blogs that a pretty big romance happens on Survivor this season.
Grey's-the new doctor is kind of hot in a weird way. I am loving t this season.
Army Wives-I finally caught up! Last week was pretty week, but this week looks so good!
I still haven't watched Desperate housewives this week.

Kids-G is loving her gymnastics and H tried out for swim team and wll be doing that this winter. Both kids want to try out for ski team as well, however they would first need to learn to ski!

I hope all of you have a wonderful week. I miss all of you so much and wish we could all go for coffee at coffee girl or the "pig".

My Favorite Five

OK M, here are my favorite five things RIGHT NOW, subject to change. The number one spot belongs to my new fireplace. I have yet to use it, but just knowing it is there to give me heat and something pretty to look at in the cold winter months brings me great joy. Above the fireplace is my "Near Bend" painting. It was painted by a local artist in Astoria and purchased at the Star of the Sea auction. The artist emailed me all the details to print out and place on the back of the painting, so now I feel very grown up!

Next on my list of favs.....my closet office. When we moved into the house I didn't want the computer in the family room because it is too small to have lots of furniture in it. I also did not want it in "my" pacific northwest room because it is too pretty to have paperwork in it, and it had to be somewhere we could see the kids on it, so I had Paul take out the hall closet in the entry area and make an office in the closet for me.

Third.....My dining room table! I went looking for a nice breakfast room table because I had a nice enough dining room table, and found this table at Art Van. It was in the clearence center. It is solid oak with two leaves that are on gears, so it is easy to add them. It was original price $1399 in clearence for $299, I asked if they would take less....I got it for $269 with two extra chairs thrown in. My mother would be so proud!

Fourth....My last bottle of Two Buck Chuck! Need I say more?

Last but not Least.....My new Pottery Barn Halloween calendar. It has little pockets so I can put candy in it for the kiddies during the month counting down to Halloween!

Not Thursday, and no coffee!

Hello Ladies:
I realize it is not Thursday as I am writing this, but I am helping in G's classroom tomorrow morning and thought you may all wonder if I didn't have my blog up first thing, so I am writing it tonight. Not a very busy week in my house. Tara called me this morning and asked what I was up too and I had to sheepishly admit I was catching up on my Army Wives. I had already watched two episodes when she called and watched a third after we hung up. I have fallen very behind and now must catch up. I am at the point where Roxy just got her GED and Pamela has a stalker. I am also still watching Gilmore Girls on DVD, along with Tara, we didn't plan on watching the same thing at the same time, just kind of happened that way. We are also on the same disc and episode! WEIRD! I have a goal. If I lose ten pounds I can buy the next season on DVD. I have lost the first 5lbs and I am on my way. I think I have enough extra fat to get through all seven seasons. What a great show. If you haven't watched it you really should. My Mom is coming for a visit next week. The kids have three days off from school for conferences. I am not sure what is up with that, however they also don't get out for Christmas break until the 23rd. We will be sending the teachers postcards from the Carribean for Christmas as we are leaving on the 13th! So, back to Mom visiting, she arrives on Thursday morning on the redeye and is staying until Sunday. I am looking forward to her visit, however I know she thinks we are living in the sticks with a bunch of hicks and I must make her think otherwise. I am taking her to the Muskegon Museum of Art and the Grand Haven and Muskegon County Museums. They are all really nice museums and I know she will realize there is culture here after all, besides she can get her New York Times here so that makes everything better. For those of you that don't know, Mom always thought Astoria was the end of the Earth because she couldn't get a New York Times there.

Paul took me to the movies during the day this week. We went and saw Nights of Rodanthe. I know, I couldn't believe it either when he agreed to go. I don't think he will ever agree again! It was very good and all the old ladies that where there kept stopping to chat with Paul about how he was the token guy in the theater. He was so beat down I don't think I will ever get him to go with me again. So the one good thing to come off the boat is that Paul is pretty much letting me have my way with the remote control. We are both watching Dancing with the kids on Monday, Tuesday we watch The biggest Loser as a motivator, Weds-nothing, Thursday we watch Survivor and Tivo Grey's, Friday-nothing yet, but I have plans for the new one with the Grey's girl, the Ex-List, Sunday we are watching Amazing race and Desperate Housewives.

Amy We need to start having a weekly phone call about Survivor and Amazing Race!

Everyone- I need some yummy low cal chicken dishes that don't take time to make.

I am very excited that we found a really good doctor and dentist. I got a recommendation from a girl at the YMCA for a doctor and ended up needing one for G (sinus infection) and we both really liked the guy and his staff. It took me three years before I found a great doctor in Astoria, so I was rather pleased it didn't take too long here. G had to have a tooth pulled last week. Her two bottom teeth would not fall out and her big teeth were already in place behind the baby ones, so out they came. Wouldn't you know it that one fell out the night before the appointment! The dentist uttered the words that every parent dreads hearing......BRACES! He thinks G may need them in a few years due to the crowding in her mouth.

So, what is everyone going to be for Halloween? G is a fifties girl, poodle skirt and everything, H is going to be a Clone something or other from Star Wars, I am going to be a cat, and Paul is going to be Mr. Cranky and not dress up! What a goober!

The leaves are falling here and it looks very pretty. I love having a real fall and cannot wait for the snow start falling. In one day it went from summer to fall and I think it will be the same with winter. It doesn't look very nice here when all the trees are naked, but with the snow it should still be nice. All reports say that this winter is going to be worse than last years and last year it was pretty bad. Global warming may be a bad thing for us this year.

I will check all the blogs when I get back from school. I hope all of you have a wonderful Thursday!