Update

Brenden had a fever Saturday night and it lasted until Monday afternoon. He missed school Monday and Tuesday, but is back today with only an occasional mild cough. Brenden is so lucky - he gets over things in half the time it takes everyone else. I went to pick up his homework Monday and quite a few kids were missing. I have heard that many classes averaged only 9 kids Monday. Nolan has been stuffy (and impossible to understand), but hasn't had the high fever. Ethan had the fever for a day and is perfectly fine now.

Doug made lunch for Brenden last week. Usually I do that, but Doug was trying to help with the hectic morning routine. When Brenden came home he told me that he couldn't eat his sandwich because it was yucky. He told Doug that later - along with, "But it's okay Dad, you do other things good... like build stuff... like the swing set... and you... uh... do other things good." How sweet - he was trying to spare Doug's feelings.

Nolan sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night screaming that his leg hurts. It's always the previously-broken leg, so he is going in for x-rays on Friday. Brenden often complains that his legs hurt when he is having growing pains, but it is always both legs and Nolan only ever complains about the right one.

I discovered two weeks ago that my Utah teaching license expired in June. I thought I had until next June. So now I have been working on getting my Alaska teaching license. They make it very hard and very expensive. The district also makes it very hard to substitute. I have to apply like any other employee, get a physical exam, go to a class, fill out oodles of paperwork, and on and on and on. I have calculated that in order to be a certified substitute, it will cost me $467. I will only make the equivalent of TWO HOURS of Doug working - even less if I am non-certified. I am only planning to sub on the days Doug is home - if someone calls. I have everything I need to re-license in Utah (other than the money), so I don't know that it's worth it to certify in Alaska. Decisions, Decisions.

10/7 Doug had cleared all of the leaves from the lawn two days earlier. Boy do we have a lot of trees!

Brenden has chores to do everyday after school. I write them on a chore list that he can see when he walks in the door. This day his chore chart only said: 1.) Make Halloween Cookies 2.) Decorate Halloween Cookies

10/8 The temperature in my kitchen while cooking dinner.
10/10 More leaf clean-up. We are very fortunate to have this tractor with a sweeper that pulls behind. I can't even imagine raking ALL of these. A good deal of raking still happens, but less.

And then the fun begins!

10/12 Doug was home with Nolan for the day, so they went fishing. Last year the lake was frozen by now and this year we haven't even seen any snow yet!

Brenden had a cub scout meeting that night.

They decorated Halloween cookies.
10/13 Ketchup or Blood?

Silly Faces

10/14 We rented a bobcat so that we could move our greenhouse and knock down an old shed. I am still so thrilled with everything Doug got done that day!

I need to blog more often again. I know there were little stories I wanted to share, but I can't remember them now. But - imagine this - I had time to read a book. READ A BOOK. Wow. (We might have laundry piled to the ceiling, but I read a book!)

Monster Mash

I have some pictures to share, but I don't feel like uploading them right now. Come back later.

The vegetable hiding was awesome... Ethan ate vegetables... I am so sly.

A daily frustration:
Me: Brenden, get your implant.
Brenden: I can't hear you.

This is quite possibly one of the funniest things I've ever seen. I can't even tell you how many times my children have watched it. (This is my brother's family.)

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Fall Outdoors

Broccoli

Nolan asked for broccoli for lunch today. Is that weird?

Currently I am hiding vegetables in my meat loaf. Brenden and Nolan will eat all of the veggies I give them, but Ethan won't even take a single bite. I'll let you know how it goes.

Update

9/15/09 - Thanks for the bears, Jim and Linda!

9/23/09

Doug dropped Brenden off at the bus stop

and then went fishing.

He was supposed to be home in time for dinner...

... can you tell he wasn't?

10/1/09

Yesterday there were three moose outside...

... so the boys watched them from the safety of the swing set.

Newman - usually he chases the moose all over the neighborhood. He was surprisingly calm.

Yesterday we had a bit of excitement around here. We have been trying to conserve energy and build a fire every morning to heat the house. Doug built the fire, we got Brenden out the door, I threw another log on the fire, and then Mandi from the Alaska Special Education department stopped by. Mandi had barely sat down when suddenly, there was a snapping sound and a fire-engulfed round log came rolling out of the fireplace and onto the floor. In order to save my new carpet, I immediately rolled it onto the rug and ran for water. Mandi beat the fire with I don't know what and then inteligently picked it up by it's ends and put it on the tile by the fireplace. Eventually, we got the log back in the fire and the only harm done was to the rug, some minor charred ends on the carpet... and my fingers.

Three of them had black all over them yesterday. I scrubbed them until they were raw but no longer black. This one finger is the worst. It still has some black on the end. Do you know how hard it is to take a picture of your right hand with a big, heavy camera?

This morning as I made crescent rolls, I was a little homesick - not sick for another home, but sick for the people I love. As I twirled, getting butter on the ceiling in true Aunt Carolyn style, I missed watching to see how many crescents Greg could down and the smell of Sheryl and Carolyn's kitchen on crescent days. Why can't you all just move to me? Then I can have the place I love AND the people I love.

Now that it is October - I am decorating for Halloween. Yippee!! I love Halloween.