hooo?

tonight a few of the kids are sick with this terrible cold that has been going around. Emma, Connor, and Erica are all coughing away and woke me up (this was about 2:20 this morning). I got Emma a drink and was about to go back to sleep when I heard something that I haven't heard in years ~ an owl in our tree. I thought that maybe I had imagined it and listened hard and I heard it hooting again. Emma was still awake so I pointed it out to her. I realized that there was someone in the living room coughing too so I went out to see who it was. Erica had come out and was on the couch so I had her listen really closely. by then we could hear two owls. They were so cool to hear that I decided to wake up Timothy so he could hear them too. we listened to the owls in our trees for about 15 minutes.
I wish we could have seen them. We tried peeking carefully through the curtains but we could not make out any silhouettes in the dark. I think we may have spooked them because they stopped hooting.

I hope they come back often.

what I'm thankful for

with Thanksgiving only three days away I have been wondering what I'm thankful for.

Today this is it ~ Hot and running water.

over the weekend our water heater died. it had rusted through and was leaking steadily all over the basement. This was especially irritating because I had bought the water heater, brand new, only four years ago.
Tim and I heaved the new one downstairs yesterday and he worked and worked at that thing and the pipes didn't want to seal so by 10pm last night I emotionally fell apart and we called it quits. This morning, thinking in case of the worst case scenario, I called my sister and asked if they could come and help and so they did. Now the water is back and it's hot and I am indescribably overjoyed to be able to wash my hands.

learning a difficult lesson

Today Connor was supposed to go play with grandpa and grandma. He was all gung-ho about it about an hour before Grandpa got here right up until grandpa got here. He got mad at me because I was winterizing my bedroom window and wouldn't play a game on the computer for him. Grandpa got here and Connor was still mad and instead of going to have a fun time away from home he chose to stay and pout. I asked him a couple of times if he was sure that he wanted to stay home and he was sure. I tried to remind him that it's fun to go on outings but he was resolute in his choice to stay and be grumpy. I don't know what he thought was going to happen. Grandpa couldn't stay long and had to go shortly after arriving and I'm still terribly sorry that he had to drive all this way only to turn right around with no Connor.
3 minutes after Grandpa drove away Connor was sniffling away in my chair. "mom, you were right *sniff, sniff* I should have gone with grandpa."
I was right.... that happens sometimes

setting a goal

I was just looking in on the blog this morning and discovered that this month I have posted a grand total of 8 times. I should be doing better than that. So today I am (apart from posting this) going to post.
I will try to make it a point to take some pictures and get them up.

I have teacher conferences today to meet with Tim's and Emma's teachers. I have to write a list of questions for them because as soon as I get there I forget everything that I was wondering about.

Connor's blanket

I'm calling done.
a couple of months ago I wrote about how I had started making a blanket for Connor and it was very slow going.

every time I look at it, it looks like it is too small. I wanted it to be big enough for Connor to grow with and something he could have for a long time.
but I guess I did okay because I can cover up with it pretty well.


I really could have worked on it for a bit longer but my hands were hurting from keeping that big blanket on the knitting needles.
not to mention it was a challenge getting anything done on it at all since every time I got it out to work on Ronan would climb on me and make it impossible to work on.


Now I'm finished I will be wrapping it up soon and it will wait for Christmas for Connor to take ownership of it.

I have 5 or 6 more skeins of this yarn. Tim has mentioned how he likes the colors of this blanket and so maybe I will have to make a snuggley blanket for him too and then Connor and Daddy can sit together with their matching blankets.

just incase

So if you thought I was just pulling your leg about the gas tank... I took a picture of it with my phone while I was still standing at the pump.

prepare to be amazed

it's a gas

Today I put 15 gallons of gas in our van for under $30.
:)

weeee

our first day of accumulation. I had to go and take pictures quick before it melted. Timothy came out with me this morning. We just ran out fast ~in our pajamas~ and stayed on the sidewalk and driveway.

I was so thrilled for Emma since she's been asking me for weeks when it was going to snow. Well today is that day.
So I woke her up and showed her the snow, but a cruel twist of fate ~ she is sick today and can't play in it.
She came in my room in the middle of the night and said that her head hurt. This morning her head still hurt and when I asked her if she wanted to go to school or stay home she opted for staying home. Knowing how much she loves school, she must feel really crummy ~ and she looks like she feels really crummy.


but she has some good company to help her stay cheered up. they've been watching a TV show about crocodiles. it must have been pretty interesting if Ronan wanted to see that verses grinning for the camera.

Emma and I decided that the snow looks perfect for snow men. We have about a half inch out there and it's coming down some more right now.
later I will go outside and make a tiny snowman and sit him in the cottage. I'll replace the saggy pumpkins with crisp little snow people.
Yay for winter, it feels so Christmasy. but the glee of having snow won't last long. Come January we'll all be tired of it. but until then, hooray for snow!

greeted with a song and a smile

this morning my sister stopped by on her way to work to borrow a cup of duct tape for her headlight.


when I got back in Connor was playing some 'music' on a kazoo he found and Ronan was dancing around (it's his Irish blood ~ he just can't help it).

hit the wall

I need one dream

so free kids.
they are not house trained but not for lack of trying.

tell your friends

I need terrific ideas

I am doing some Christmas shopping online today. I have most of what I want to get for the girls but I am drawing a blank when it comes to the boys but Ronan in particular.

I have two big problems. I need at least one more thing to at least plan for Timothy and 3 more things for Ronan so my real problems are these:

What would be something good for an 11 year old boy who is a little obsessed with video games - hopefully something that will broaden his mind beyond blips and beeps?

and what would be something good for a near 2 year old who seems to only want to play with everything that he shouldn't have?

Christmas is still 53 days away and I'm feeling a bit frantic already. I have two birthdays to figure plan and pull out of a hat in 5 weeks and Timothy's school music program is on the night of Erica's birthday.


~Stress~

the whole gang

Tim was darth vader.
Emma was a sparkly fairy.
Connor was Iron Man.
Ronan was a lion without ears or a mane so daddy kept track of them.
Erica was a vampire without vampire teeth. (erica says tooth decay)

it was a lot of fun taking these guys around.
Erica made out pretty well for someone who wasn't really supposed to be trick or treating. She walked around with us and a lot of people offered her candy which she gladly accepted.

Timothy was the only jedi for miles around. Star Wars is loosing it's appeal. We did run into another Vader passing out candy right before we called it a night.
Timmer lead the chorus of 'trick-or-treat' because Emma and Connor kept forgetting or we too shy to say it.

Emma was so shiny. another little girl (probably about 3 yrs old) passed her and said 'pretty. you pretty.'
Emma had it all figured out and at the beginning of the night was pointing out the houses with lights on and making the plan of which houses to go to first.

Connor was the leader. as soon as we reached a new drive way or yard he took off running. Tim made the comment at one point that Connor was a man on a mission.
on our way home right before he fell asleep Connor mentioned that trick or treating was hard work.

it took one house for Ronan to realize what we were up to last night. most of the houses we went to let the kids choose what piece of candy they wanted. Tim carried Ronan most of the time and when the home owner would answer the door Ronan was leaning way over with arms stretched in front of him trying with all of his might to get to that candy dish. a couple of times he started running in the air.
gotta get that candy!
Now Ronan was a man on a mission if there ever was one.


Now I can focus real hard on Christmas.