Saturday, October 31, 2009

October 30, 2009

After being woken up by the oldest at 3:30 a.m. the last thing I needed was to see THIS . . .



at about 5:30 Elvis ran downstairs with this little guy in his mouth and I had to have my husband extricate it from the premises. (*EWWWWWW).

As soon as I got Bayleigh off to school, I assembled the goodie bags for her class party . . .



and packed them up to take for a quick get-away.

I made it JUST in time to see their music program, and I caught my little grubby princess in NO SHOES.
I think the poor substitute teacher was just beside herself. A new sub, in a class full of rambunctious first graders, on Halloween party day, with a BIRTHDAY party thrown in for good measure. I'm so glad I'm not a sub.

The kids got a HAUL, and I know I'll be doling things out for several days.


And I'll be surprised, if my little girl doesn't get ill from all the goodies.

These two girls are a hoot. So different and yet such good friends. I think they will probably remain that way for life. Or I sincerely hope they do!
Another crazy busy day under my belt! I made it out alive, and that's all that matters at the moment.

Friday, October 30, 2009

October 29, 2009

As Fall kicks into full force, I find myself appreciating even the tiniest glimpse of sunlight. This little patch lasted all of five minutes, and I was rather surprised to see it, as it was still raining when I took this shot . . .



The rest of my day was spent running all out. Getting everything priced and packed up to take to the LSS Garage Sale . . . washing and packing costumes for the kids for tonight. And then hitting the road to pick up Bayleigh at school, before taking my plunder to the Scrap Nook, to set up my table.



It took me approximately 10 minutes to set up, and another 15 to get the kids pried off the walls (how embarrassing), and back on the road again. They had been playing nicely together, until another little boy came in and started to play a little rambunctiously, and of course they had to join in. And they continued to act like undisciplined little buggers all the way to Springfield. I caught myself yelling at them while the Eagles sang, "I've got a peaceful, easy feeling . . ." in the background. Point taken.




We met up with Dave's folks at Bass Pro, and Dave joined us after he got out of clinicals. The kids were really impressed with the alligator, but I think he was giving us the evil eye . . .




They've done quite a bit of remodelling since we were there a month ago . . .



and it seems to be a good place to take the kids, just to walk off some of their energy.




After everyone got situated, we made plans, to eat at Ryan's, and skip out on the second round of the Spooktacular, due to the rain.



Bayleigh looked so exhausted. And I'm sure she was after her late nights and early wakings. I wish we could figure out what's scaring her at 3:30 every morning. I know it's rough on her, but it's KILLING me.


We actually got done fairly early, and just decided to call it a night. I got to water ski the whole 60 plus miles back home in the POURING rain, and it was around 10:00-10:30 when I finally got the kids bathed and put to bed. Eli stayed up until after 11:00 and it was close to 11:30 before I finally turned in for the evening. Sheesh. I need SLEEP! And lots of it!

October 28, 2009

Waking me up at 3:30 every morning, seems to have an effect on my oldest . . .



she's coming home from school, just exhausted every day. I "REALLY" wish she'd get over whatever seems to be scaring her. It makes for a very long day on very little sleep.



Thankfully, I have my little retreat to bury myself in (literally). I'm still at the sorting/purging and putting away stage, but every day, I get a little closer to my perfect haven.


And this old chair that I bought at an auction last year . . . well it's found it's new resting place. I paid $5 for it, and it's the most comfortable thing EVER. Everyone in my family thought it was hideous . . . but in the back of my mind, I had big plans for it and now they are being realized. I think it looks pretty good with my Asparagus green walls. What do you think?

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

October 27, 2009

As I was getting Bayleigh ready for school this morning, I just happened to look out on the deck, and spotted these . . .



Freckles had moved her kittens some time ago and I figured she'd probably just lost them. However, I was mistaken. And a little while later I went outside and there was a THIRD. She must have just brought them for a short visit, because she took them back "home" sometime in the afternoon. I can't wait until she brings them back for another visit. Little kittens are just so cute and cuddly!

I scrambled through the housework, and managed to get everything done before Bayleigh got off the bus. As soon as she stepped off the bus, I was caught in a whirlwind of getting the kids ready to go to the Spooktacular. Dave had clinicals in Bolivar and I just met up with him there, then we took my Jeep south to meet up with his parents. However, on the way down, we ended up having a flat tire, and had to go back to switch out the vehicles at the clinic. In the interim, Dave's parents decided not to wait for us, so we ended up minus two at the event.




Bayleigh and I braved the haunted maze . . .




and the kids posed with Thing 1 and Thing 2.




Then we dug for buried treasure . . .



and came up with a handful of bones.



Bayleigh and Eli also enjoyed a round of ring toss, and it was so fun to watch their expressions.




We all had a wonderful time, but it was good to finally head home (after a stop at Lowes and another at Wal-Mart). I guess we'll meet up with Dave's folks on Thursday. I'm sure the kids will enjoy another trip through the Spooktacular, and maybe we can go without incident next time around.

October 26, 2009

My little "Iron Chef" helped daddy make 'football' biscuits this morning . . .



while I busied myself with laundry, laundry and more laundry . . . and cleaning the bedrooms and basically just catching up from a week of exhaustion. I think I've either worked over the hump, or I'm just acclimatizing myself to functioning on very little sleep. I'm not sure which.


So while I'm fighting exhaustion, I may as well add something else to my list of things to do . . . like getting serious about Eli's potty training. I started out last Monday with a timer, and this week, I've just decided to put underwear on him and let him figure things out the hard way. Another positive to having second hand furniture. ;)

Sunday, October 25, 2009

October 25, 2009

Another overcast day. I gathered everything up for Sunday School, and had my usual three. (My two plus my niece.) The girls like to color and Eli . . . well, let's just say he likes to decorate the room in his own special way. He has a certain fascination with paint brushes, but I'm not sure why. Maybe I need to let him paint more often . . .


After church we had a wonderful fellowship meal. And across from the church was this beautiful tree . . .

It was so bright, it almost seemed to glow. So after we finished up with the meal and got everyone loaded up, I drove across the street, pulled into the driveway and snapped several photos.

I'm glad I did, because this afternoon we received another deluge. I'm in hopes that it doesn't flood us out of house and home.

I managed to squeeze in a twenty minute nap after we got home, and I'm just now starting to wear down. Dishes are done and laundry is done, except for the putting away, and it can just wait until tomorrow.

October 24, 2009

I'm running so low on sleep, I'm not sure how I'm even functioning today. It must have something to do with the beautiful Fall scenery.



And Elvis seems to have an attitude this morning . . . JUST what I need; a cat with attitude.


Bayleigh is learning some "string" tricks. Here's her version of 'The Fish Spear' . . .


And I truly did try to get everyone to sleep early tonight, but we had an unforeseen occurrence. While I was reading Eli's bedtime stories to him, Bayleigh was brushing all of her My Little Ponies' hair out and putting them away.

When I came in to help her put them up, I noticed a strange, nasty odor coming from the vicinity of her Ponies. CAT PEE! Apparently Elvis had relieved himself amidst her Ponies and their container.

No rest for the weary around here. I took her container into the bathroom and cleaned it as well as I could (and disinfected the tar out of it) . . . then we dumped all 44 My Little Ponies in the bathtub full of running hot water and I washed every single one of them off, and laid them out on some towels to dry. It was after 11:00 before I made it to bed. I'm thinking it's time to research what might be causing the cat to do this . . . don'tcha think? I'm tired . . . just tired.


Friday, October 23, 2009

October 23, 2009

Another overcast day! The sun did manage to peek out for a few seconds before lunch time . . .



but then it commenced to rain the rest of the afternoon. Since Bayleigh was off school today, I decided to treat the kids to a trip to the library. Bayleigh played "hopscotch" on the alphabet rug . . .



and found some of her favorite style books . . .



while Eli did some exploring of his own.




I checked out two books for each of the kids, two movies, and even managed to squeeze in a few seconds to pick out two books for me! YAY! A good day indeed!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

October 22, 2009

So much for that good night's sleep I was hoping for. Up at 3:00 a.m. this time. Then Dave had to get up at 3:30 a.m. to make it to class in Columbia. No pretty sunrise this morning . . . dull, gloomy and rainy.


The view all day from my living room window. Although I'm severely in need of sleep, I managed to pull off a couple loads of laundry, a couple loads of dishes and sorted/organized more stuff in my retreat. I'm praying the kids sleep through the night. I don't know if I can make it without at least five hours of straight sleep tonight. Here's hoping!

October 21, 2009

I've been up since 2:00 a.m. Since I spotted that baby scorpion and disposed of it yesterday evening, my oldest has decided that she's afraid to go to sleep now. So I sat on the end of her bed until she fell asleep last night . . . then I snuck off to my own bed. I was only able to get a couple hours of sleep before she woke up crying and afraid of every shadow she saw on her bedroom wall. I finally just gave up and took her into the living room around 4:30. I turned on the lights, fired up my computer and within 15 minutes she was fast asleep. *sigh*



I wish I could have went back to sleep. But I would have missed this . . .


and that would have been a shame. Although I am running very low on fuel and patience, I managed to make it through the day. Once again I ended sitting up with Bayleigh. I'm hoping tonight goes better. MUCH better.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

October 20, 2009

What a day, what a day! Bayleigh wasn't feeling well before bedtime last night, and this morning she got up with me at 5:00. As soon as the pediatrician's office opened I made an appointment to get her in, and after lunch we dashed to the doctor. We made a fairly quick trip of it . . . at least until we came upon this . . .



which I don't mind at all. The folks behind me might have been a little impatient, but living in a rural area like this, I'm used to such things. I wish others were a little more tolerant of farm machinery. And of course, I had to make a few side stops. Like the beach . . .




and although I had an unwilling subject, the scenery was beautiful!




After giving her permission to run . . . I DID manage to capture a few fun shots.




I also couldn't help but stop and grab this shot out of my side mirror, on the way home.




Bayleigh told me I was crazy for stopping in the middle of the highway to take a picture. And maybe I am! But I'm okay with that. Besides, I made sure no one was behind me before I stopped . . .



As soon as I got home, I had a call from Stacey, wondering if I could grab her kid +1 off the bus for her. So Bayleigh had a little company to play "Ponies" with. While they were playing, and Dave had Eli occupied, I ran upstairs to work on my daily layout.

Later, when I was picking up in Eli's room, I stumbled across a baby scorpion. He got flushed. I guess it's time to call the exterminator again . . . *sigh*

And after supper, baths and bedtime stories, Bayleigh insisted I sit at the end of her bed until she went to sleep. She's been doing this for the past week, which means I've been up until 11:00. This sure makes my 5:00 wake up come around WAY too early. This momma needs some SLEEP!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

October 19,2009

The washer, dryer and dishwasher have been going non-stop, and so have I. Mondays are my crazy cleaning day each week. Playing catch up from the weekend, washing every one's bedding, and trying to keep up with meals and such.

I was so busy, I didn't even think to take any pictures, until I went out to do the chores. The sun was setting and the light was hitting Dave's old "hunting shed" at just the right angle to get this shot. Something about that duck decoy and the shelves full of misc. grabbed my attention, and I was lucky I had my camera with me, because it was gone in a few seconds.


And those baby chicks that we got back in April . . . well, they've grow into these striking, and yet "simple" creatures.



Mr. Attitude is of course in the lead. He wasn't sure if he should retreat or come closer for a better view of my camera.

Monday, October 19, 2009

October 18, 2009

I spotted a hint of frost on the pumpkin this morning, and seeing the sun out again was an added bonus.



In Sunday School, Eli plays in a bag of toys, while I teach the older kids. Today he picked up the phone and called Jesus. How precious is THAT?!




As for the girls . . . we studied about Stephen. One of first people to die for Jesus' sake.




I've stopped trying to be so rigid in getting these lessons across to the girls, as I want to make it more fun and interesting for them. So I've gotten very casual about letting them color coloring book pages while I read a story and then we just do some question and answer stuff. I'm hoping that by the time we finish this quarter, the girls will both have a better concept of prayer and who God really is. Bayleigh has the basics down, but my little niece isn't quite sure what to think of it all. And it wouldn't hurt my little girl to get a refresher either!



And maybe I can work with Eli on memorizing some verses, like the "big" girls.



On the way home, I decided to take "the road less traveled", to enjoy some of the fall scenery.




I was surprised and a little disappointed, that the trees weren't as vivid as I would have liked, but taking the kids across the old bridge was a treat in itself.

After the kids ate and changed into their everyday clothes, Bayleigh went over to visit grandma and play with Kasey, while Eli and I attempted to nap. Eli got his nap in, but as soon as I dozed off, the doorbell rang. The neighbor stopped by to verify some directions, and not long after that another neighbor stopped by to pick up a pair of my old tennis shoes for one of her foster kids, and a little while after that, the preacher called to discuss some church business. I gave up on my nap and worked upstairs sorting and purging more scrapbooking stuff. And I'm glad I did. I feel like I'm finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel!