glow sticks are fun

at long last

a picture.

the pumpkin on the top of the cottage is Emma's
inside is Connor's
(good job carving that one, honey)
on the porch is Erica's
on the ground is Tim's
Ronan's stayed at Grandma's house.

by the way, I really like my camera

I didn't forget

I'm still here. I haven't posted anything new on here for a while because I haven't had very much for interesting stuff to add. That and I haven't taken any good pictures for a while.
I'm sure all that will change with Halloween in two more days. the costumes are all planed out and a couple of them are waiting to be washed because Connor wears them all the time. If he's not wearing Spiderman he's wearing Iron Man and if you call him Connor he'll be sure to remind you that he is not Connor ~ "you mean Iron Man/Spiderman". "Oh, yes that's who I mean. Spiderman get ready for bed"


I'll be back soon with pictures. I need to take pictures of the Jack o Lanterns the kids made at gramma's house the other night. I'd better do that today

awwwww

I know that I'm biased when it comes to my kids, but you can't deny that they are the most adorable people you've ever seen.

originally Ronan was going to wear a little 'tigger' costume which looked more like a bear because it didn't have stripes (kind of a long story), but he didn't fit into it so I went to the store with my sister this morning and I got Ronan a costum that fit (kind of)
He kept the head on for about three minutes and then I had to struggle to keep it on him for some pictures.

he's saying "raaaah" being a scary lion.

Finally!

last year I made my oldest 4 kids reusable trick or treat bags. once I figured out how to make a reversible bag with tidy seams I made them very quickly.

So this year I needed to make 1 bag for Ronan since he is now old enough to trick or treat. 1... a single tiny bag. who would have ever thought it would take me an entire day to make?!
I'm so glad it's over and I'm so very glad that I will never have to make another one for the remainder of my days.

so was it worth all my woes? maybe... it is pretty cute and oh so 'green'. This bag will hold Halloween treats for the next 10 years.

I made this

last week we went to History Fest near our home. It runs for 3 or 4 days and is quite a lot of fun. My oldest sister works down there each year - this year she was baking bread in a clay oven that she built. She has a friend who also works there who does henna for people. this friend also is learning to make glass beads. this is something that I have wanted to learn for a while now so I summed up the courage to ask her a few questions. She ended up setting up her equipment and showed me how to make a bead. she then asked me if I would like to give it a try. I did.
This is what I made mostly by myself. she did help and it was fun and I would love to set up a little workshop for it in my garage some time soon.

I chose a deep blue color for my bead. It didn't turn out quite like I had hoped, but it is cute. the yellowish gray swirls on the bead are where I accidentally burned the glass. who knew you could burn glass.

that was close

when my little sister was about 4 she made a grand announcement (or confession). she said "when I was young I used to smoke".
it's good that at such a young age she was able to kick the habit. ;)



but who knew smoking was such a huge problem for 3 and 4 year old kids!
tonight at supper we were chatting a bit and Connor got Erica's attention and came clean with her.
he said "last night I tried to smoke"
Erica "you tried to smoke!?"
connor "I tried to smoke. but it didn't work for me"

I'm glad it didn't work out. hopefully now he has it out of his system.

:)

court update

I’m not going to go into detail because I could go on forever and I really want this blog to be a happy thing.

 

So I will say that we are staying with the last order of minimal visits and although that is terrible for Erica and Tim it’s good that the judge didn’t change custody or anything like that.  But then we did have a different judge and I think he tried to be decent and not a bitter old fart like the other judge.

 

 

But this is not over yet for the kids and it could get really ugly soon and I’m afraid for that day.  But for today we can breath easier for a bit.

 

ugh

court tomorrow morning. That's partly why I haven't done much for blogging for the last week.

Wish Erica and Timothy luck to gain their human rights to be happy and safe.

I'm scared that the judge is going to make things worse for them because he's a big jerk.

party hardy

last night was the celebration!
my sister stopped by with some fun things for Emma and the kids. they played with party blowers until they were all blown out. She gave Emma some bubble bath and some glow sticks for her birthday. they cracked all the glow sticks and stuck them together. after the party and it was time for bed, Emma took the glow sticks and made a chain and then stuck them up under Erica's bed so they would be over her head while she went to sleep. I wish they would stay glowing forever because she loved it and stayed in bed all night (which doesn't happen a lot)grandma lynn and grandpa george came over too and had some great things for Emma ~ a fairy barbie doll and a purse with make up in it. Emma loves being a girly girl.

the whole family was excited to help Emma have a great day. Connor helped light the candles. those lighters can be kind of tough. but he and daddy managed to get all six candles going.

then Emma had to endure the birthday song. I just now remembered that I never told her to make a wish.

and blow! they were not trick candles but she huffed and puffed and those candles did not want to go out. maybe they felt like they owed it to Connor for working so hard on lighting them. :)

the birthday girl

six years ago, tonight

this morning

Six Years Old

another funny Connor moment

If you don't know Connor you are truly missing out.
yesterday when we were on our way home we drove past the state park. there are some dead trees along the fence line and every time we go by there Connor mentions the 'naked tree'.
as we drove by the first naked tree, thinking Connor would tell me about the naked tree or the place where he went pee outside last winter, I asked Connor "where are we?"
He promptly said "lost"

big kids

I promised some more pictures of the big kids. they may end up being the school pictures for this year.

a good day

This weekend I thought it would be a wonderful idea if we went for a walk. the original plan was to go on Saturday but that didn't work out very well. It ended up that on Sunday morning we had to go into town and I had grabbed my camera just in case. On our way home from town we whimsically decided to go for a walk then. It was cool but perfect for a walk in the woods.

an outing with Grandpa

Last Thursday Connor went to the park with Grandpa. Conn had a lot of fun and he got a new coat but try talking to him about it and you take your mind into your own hands.
I asked him questions about grandma because they met up with her and had an ice cream cone.
so here's our conversation
me "so, did you guys get gramma from work"
Connor "we went to the park"
me "I know, but did grandma come and meet you there?"
Conn "at another park?"
me "did grandma drive her car to the park you and grandpa were at?"
Conn "no"
me "oh, did you and grandpa get her from her job?"
Conn "at the park?"
me *big sigh* "did you drive to grandma's work and pick her up?"
Conn "no, Grandpa drove the car"

me *even bigger sigh*

So I'm still not sure how they met up with grandma. maybe she drove here or maybe they picked her up (grandpa drove). But all I know for sure is that they saw a yellow airplane on the lake and they had ice cream with grandma and that Connor had a fun time.

curse you seasonal allergies!

I am suffering again.

For the last several years I have realized that I have developed some allergies and the very most annoying is the one that effects my left eye. This time of year there is something in the air that causes my eye to feel like I've been punched.
I have some prescription eye drops that are supposed to be for allergies, but they only work for about five minutes.

I suspect the cause of all of this is the toxic bog of a lake near our house. the algae in that lake has been so terrible in some years that I could even smell it after it had frozen over. ICK




my sister once suggested pouring several gallons of bleach in it over a few weeks but the problem that would cause, besides possibly getting me arrested is that the fish would die and then cause a new horrible smell. But maybe my eye would be better. every years at this time I think very seriously of bleach.