Faces I Love

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Halloween and Happy November

Is this not the cutest bear you've ever seen? My kids wouldn't hold still long enough to take pictures. Taylor was Supergirl. Jasmine was a cat. Jaden was a ninja. We started off the day getting ready for the Maple Ridge annual Halloween Parade and party. I got the ambulance and met the neighborhood kids at my house. They all paraded up the street behind the ambulance while I flashed the lights and fired up the sirens. A party followed the parade. After the kids were all fed they went home to prepare for the major attack on the neighborhood for candy. I rushed off to church to help set up for "trunk or treat". Oh my goodness there were a lot of kids there. The town of Blacksburg is serious about their candy hunting rituals. We ran out of candy 3 times. When the clock struck 6 I was due back at home to help my own goblins rush out of the door for tricks and treats. It was daddy's turn to supervise our gremlins. He even got into the act and dressed up.
Yep, my husband can still wear his Marine uniform. Oh how I love a man in uniform. The kids finished their candy seeking and literally passed out after consuming as many pieces as they could stuff in their little mouths. It has only been a few days but they have managed to officially break every rule about the candy and daddy has stripped their little butts of all of it. I am now going through the bag picking out my favorites before I give it away. This halloween thing is paying off.

You gotta love these eyes

This is my nephew Richard. This poor child has so many names he will be very confused when he is old enough to talk. He was born Richard James. His mother calls him RJ. He also answers by the names Jamie and Booga. To be honest, he prefers Booga. Next month he will be one. It is so hard to believe a year has gone by. He is the most loving baby you will ever find. He loves to give me kisses. Today he called me Tee Tee. It was awesome. It is an aunt's version of "mama". I love my role as Tee Tee. I look into those big eyes and I can't help loving him.

The problem with lying

So I'm thinking this parenting thing is kind of messed up. They should have come with an instruction manual. Our current challenge is lying. Jasmine isn't very good at it. Oh don't get me wrong, she tries really hard. Today I walked in on her with a big glob of lotion in her hair. After several ridiculous excuses she decided to convince me that that same glob had been there since 7:30 this morning. I had two problems with this: 1. It was 4:30 pm and 2. I had combed her hair and found no lotion at 8:15 am. When I pointed out the holes in her story she decided the lotion just jumped in her hair and she has no idea how. Why don't they just tell the truth and get it over with? I remember encouraging her to talk only 5 short years ago. I need a time machine to go back and slap myself.

Today's adventures with Sarah included searching for the perfect picture for photography class. We grabbed our favorite responder and found an excluded spot to get motion shots. After 30 cold minutes outside, we were able to obtain some fun shots.
I then moved on to find a cute kid to take pictures of. My neighbor's little girl was only too happy to volunteer for the job. She is soooo darn cute. As soon as I got started I realized I was creating a monster. She loves the camera. It was so fun watching her play in the leaves. When we were done with the leaves I had to see just how fast she could go on her scooter. As you can see she moves pretty fast.


I am so suppose to be in bed right now. Jeff and I are going to my Rescue Chief's wedding tomorrow and I can't wait to try out some of the knowledge from class. I will post pictures tomorrow night.

So far in October...

We are only a couple of weeks into October and I'm still trying to figure out where summer went. Blacksburg weather is behaving its usual ADD way. It can't figure out if it should be hot or cold. We have been able to have some great mommy/daddy time. We went to the football game this past Saturday. Yep, VA Tech beat the pants off Boston College.

I started taking a photography class last week with Sarah It has been an eye opener. We had homework so Sarah and I went out to find things to take pictures of. Here are some of the things I found:
Yep, this kind of homework will be more fun than the homework I had 12 years ago.

I've only done a "Not Me Monday" once. I wish I would have done one yesterday. If I had, I wouldn't have written about my 9 year old who bites her nails. While showing my 9 year old how to open a clementine orange, I explained that nails come in handy and maybe she shouldn't bite hers. I did NOT find her later using her sharp toe nails to open another orange. I did not then hurt myself laughing at her and find it quite impressive that she came up with that option.

Jasmine started cheerleading. My biggest regret is that I didn't take video of her first practice. OMG that child has NO coordination. Her little legs look like a new colt with big tennis shoes on. Now picture those same legs trying to jump and kick. Yep, I'm a horrible mom because I almost wet my pants watching my child and encouraging her to keep going while holding in my laughter until I almost cried. She will never know my smiles were hiding amusement. Oh who am I kidding, I will so tell her when she is old enough to handle my humor.

I must go now and dash the hopes and dreams of the other two.

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Originally uploaded by toyjsu

The girls and I spent some time at the horticulture garden on campus. We had a great time playing in the flowers and watching the fish. I kept holding my breath everytime Taylor leaned close to the pond to see the koi. I fully expected us to drive home with one of them soaked. But, everyone stayed dry.

Stay at home mom, yeah right!

I'm not sure who decided to coin the phrase Stay at home mom. They clearly didn't know what they were talking about. I'm rarely at home. After getting them off to school I rushed out to get some grocery shopping done, order Jasmine's birthday cake, drop off groceries at home, teach a cpr class, grab lunch, pick up written prescription from the doctor's office, pick up Pampered Chef order, drop Sarah's order off at her house, and rush home to put away some laundry, get kids off the bus, help with homework, make dinner, and go to rescue related meeting. I started my morning at 6:45a and I finally stopped moving at 11p. I honestly believe my husband thinks I do nothing all day long. He has no idea! Being a mommy is hard work. I don't get a vacation or a decent break. Even on my business trips I'm still being a mommy but from a distance. Tomorrow will be here only too soon. I will get up and run around some more because I love my family and they would have a hard time surviving if I didn't do all I do. So, moms you are doing a great job no matter how unappreciated you may feel.

What really happened

I started out the morning as usual, hoping the children would wake up wanting to do everything to please me. Well that didn't happen. lol After suppressing my desire to scream so much that I'm sure my head did pop off a little, they all got on the school bus with butts still attached. I got the pleasure of hanging out with little Patrick today. Patrick is 15 months old and full of curiosity. We explored ALL of my cabinets, Jaden's room, and the new play set. He made sure every one of my doors worked appropriately. He was just as excited about eating grapes for the first time as I was that he didn't have an allergic reaction to them. While heading out to the swings we listened to the rescue radio as Miss Sarah suddenly called for a policeman to respond to Main and Ellett for a pedestrian on bike vs. vehicle. Since her voice was 5 octives higher than normal I figured she must have either seen it or been involved in it. Not to mention she was sooo excited she couldn't even remember who she was on the radio. Patrick found enjoyment as I paced back in forth in front of the swing waiting for more voices on the radio to tell me everyone was ok. I finally got enough info to make me feel better. It turns out Sarah is a magnet for special people on bikes who don't have brakes. Love ya Sarah but you can't take out members of our community with the responder. It just doesn't look good.

Not Me Monday

So my friend Sarah fell in love with a blog where people talked about what they "did not" do. She loved it so much that she has started a similar blog and convinced me that I need to join in the craze. So here I go.

I started out last week with great anticipation of the kids starting school and getting my house back. I did not dance in my front yard when the bus drove away while my mother took pictures of me. I did not have to convince my Polish neighbor that it was too early to start drinking alcohol to celebrate the kids going to school. I had such great hope and long list of things I was going to accomplish that first day. Well, I did not completely lose that list and spend the morning comforting my friend who just sent her first child off to school for the first time while realizing I too was a little sad about my last child starting school too. I did not squeeze in a quick birthday lunch with the hubby and rush off to do grocery shopping including finding him a present. So the college students are back and the parking lot of Walmart was deceiving. The aisles were packed full of rude parents and their clueless freshmen. I did not dream of running over them with my buggy full of after school snacks. I did not giggle while listening to parents explain to these same clueless freshmen how to do things my 5 year old already knows how to do like shake the orange juice container before they pour it. I did not whisper morons under my breath while walking by more clueless students who's mommy was explaining that buying the extra large box of goldfish was not a good idea just because that what mom buys for home. I mean really, are they that stupid but they made it into Tech. I did not then tell everyone I know about how pampered and clueless the new freshmen I ran into appear to be. After fighting the crowds in Walmart and reminding myself to have the doctor prescribe me xanax before I ever go back in that store again, I rushed home to put away the groceries and sit in silence for 10 minutes before the bus arrived home. I did not welcome them with open arms and admit openly that I really did miss them.

CKC Charlotte

So it has been 3 years since my last CKC. I'M BACK!!! I have escaped the nut house and am on the loose with Sarah. We arrived this evening and having been enjoying the freedom of no rescue pager, children, or dishes. I will go to bed tonight without telling someone 100 times to get back in bed. I will sleep tonight without the soft roar of snoring beside me. The best part is I don't have to change any diapers. We have a class bright and early so it isn't a sleep in vacation. I'm ok with that cause I get to use paper and scissors and I don't have to share.