Goodbye 2010

What a crazy year. It seems like a really flew by, but we sure packed a lot in.

John spent a good portion of the year working mandatory overtime and taking classes on top of that. Early 2011 will bring graduation and we are very much looking forward to it. He hasn't had much time to do anything else, but does plan to build bunk beds for the boys.

I quit and went back to my job within two months. The current plan is to stay there until John's graduation and then start school myself. I became the parent representative for Nathan's preschool class. I survived another year of putting together our church's Christmas bazaar, but decided that a team of people is needed for next year.

Aiden is in the middle of his last year of preschool. He is reading and we fully expect him to be quite bored in kindergarten next year. He turned five in October and celebrated his birthday by getting a puppy, Buster. Over the summer, he completed one month of swim classes (every day Monday - Friday) and was a total "submarine" (his description) by the end. He also attended science camp and splash camp at his school. His love of learning about chemical reactions has continued through the end of the year. He had his first trip on an airplane.

Nathan started preschool and while it took him a little while to warm up it, really loves doing cool things in class. He was too young to take part in any of the classes that Aiden was in, so he got lots of one-on-one time with mommy. He was fed a bobby pin by his brother and got to have his first trip to the ER to get a tummy x-ray. It passed on it's own with no trouble.

As a family, we lost a house we wanted, but found a better one soon after and are now living happily in a home twice the size of our last apartment. We had our first adventure as homeowners when our washing machine exploded and water went everywhere. We are enjoying our new washing machine. We had our first family trip to Disneyland to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. Aiden loved every minute, while Nathan was apparently traumatized (he has requested that he stay with grandma for any future trips to Disneyland). We had our share, plus some, of illnesses and injuries (but the injuries were just Carrie). We may have actually become dog people, despite John's complaint that our dog is barely a dog.

We look forward to 2011 and the new adventures we'll experience as a family. It's hard to know what it will be like once John is done with school. We are trying to decide on a fun vacation for just mommy and daddy to celebrate graduation and our 6th wedding anniversary. But Aiden has requested that we either return to Disneyland or take a family trip to Hawaii for his birthday. He seems to believe that he wants to try surfing. I guess we'll just have to wait and see! Happy New Year!!

A Whole Decade

Ten years ago today, I started dating my wonderful husband. We'd been friends for two and half years and it took me five months to convince him to date me, but he finally gave in and I'm so happy he did. After many adventures, struggles, and two wonderful boys, I can truly say that I married my best friend. It's hard to believe we've been together for an entire decade, but I look forward to what the next ten years will bring. I love you, John Minthorne.

Phonics

Being a believer that children learn to read when their minds are ready for it, I'm not one to push Hooked On Phonics (because phonics don't do any good if you don't have a basic grasp of reading down first) or the whole My Baby Can Read junk on my boys. I've continued to read to Aiden and gradually work up to longer and longer books. He learned to write a few words over the school year last year and then sometime in late summer, began really reading more and more things. Once that took hold of him, he's progressed faster than I can keep up with.

Now that he's reading quite a bit, I thought it would be fun to get him some phonics flash cards for Christmas. We sat down with them today to see how he took to them. We discussed the different sounds letters make (showing him the long and short symbols over the vowels) and he continued to ask questions. After a few minutes, we went on to having him try to read the words on the back of the cards (there are four words per card, with a variation of long and short vowels). He would take one look at whatever card I was holding up and blurt out whatever four words were on the card. We blew through those flash cards with speed that I never imagined.

I am so proud of Aiden. I love watching him absorb everything he possibly can. I would like to get this on tape and post it on here, but John will have to help me with that one (I've never hooked the video camera up to my current laptop, so we'd have to figure that out first). John says we need to start him on math now. Because we apparently need to send him into kindergarten fully prepared for 2nd grade.

Is It??

We're here at the coast in a beach house for Christmas. The boys share a room with us here. Nathan woke up this morning and ran to the window. John asked him what he was doing and Nathan says, "I'm checking to see if it's Christmas!!". So sweet!

So Nathan is happy and ready for Christmas, while we can barely get Aiden to wake up. A five year old too tired for presents?! I'm sure wrapping paper will be flying all over the place here soon though.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Holiday Overeating

Guess what happens when your kids eat too much junk food? Yep, something that means mommy is up at 4am doing laundry and has been for the past hour and a half.

Aiden ate too much candy at Aunt Laura's Christmas party. Aiden gets carsick on twisty mountain roads. There was barf within 15 minutes of heading home last night. He's been fine since, but it definitely contributed to the barf laundry. It ended up all down John's back (yes, Aiden was sitting in the back seat and still managed to hit John in the front seat), all over Aiden, and all over the carseat.

Fast forward to 2:40am: John is passed out because he took a Tylenol PM (he didn't sleep last night due to having a cold that kept him awake). Aiden comes bursting into my room crying, saying that he can't sleep because of Nathan's screaming. I run into the boys room and find Nathan trapped halfway under his bed. I have no idea how he got there. I get the boys settled into my room. Aiden on the little mattress we keep on the floor and Nathan in my bed. Nathan starts coughing REALLY hard and then...barf. Somehow I managed to move myself out of the way quickly enough to not get hit. But it's all over my bed and all over John (again). I can barely get John to wake up enough to get himself into the shower for clean up. I get Nathan in the tub and change all the bedding on my bed.

Everyone is settled once again. I start some more laundry and Nathan comes out of my room to tell me that his tummy hurts. Two words: Overflowed pull-up. And no it wasn't #1. On to the 2nd change of clothes for him. As I'm getting that cleaned up, he barfs again all over the carpet. On to the 3rd change of clothes for him. I move his mattress into my room so I can keep an eye on him and keep him out of my bed in case he goes off again. I start more laundry and begin cleaning the carpet.

And that's why I'm up at 4:15am. I'm starting to feel queasy just from all the vomit and massive amounts of Febreze I'm having to use. My children are banned from having any more Christmas treats for the remainder of the holiday season. I just hope John feels well rested tomorrow because one of us sure needs to be.

O Tannenbaum

A few weeks back, we set out to find this year's Christmas tree. Since we now have a house, I finally was going to get my big tall tree. No three-footers for us this year! We've always taken the Hyundai and just stuck the tiny tree in the trunk (and had the tree farm guy tell us we could have two for the Any Tree for $20 price if we were going to get one that small), but this year we were going to tie the tree to the top of of the Subaru. We've gone to the same tree farm for many years now and I like the idea of being loyal to a local farmer. There's nothing super special about the tree farm - he's just a really nice guy who always has a warm bonfire going and gives the kids free candy canes. Yes, we do drive for 30 minutes to get there and pass about 15 tree farms on the way, but until he stops selling trees or we move way too far away to make the drive, we'll keep going back.

Setting out to find the perfect tree and I tell Nathan to smile. Yikes.

We found it! This was the 2nd one after my first choice was vetoed by John. Apparently an 11 foot tree wouldn't have worked with our 9 foot ceilings. :^)

"I'll carry it, daddy!"

All decorated, mostly by the boys. We've lost a few ornaments because of the dog and the lower branches aren't looking quite so full, but we love our big tree.

And a fireplace to hang the stockings!

Merry Christmas!!

Muffins!

As I was waiting for the dough for our hamburger buns to finish rising yesterday afternoon, I thought I'd see what I could do with the bag of cranberries I still had leftover from Thanksgiving. I randomly came across a recipe for Cranberry Cream Cheese Muffins from a Bed and Breakfast in Wisconsin. It just so happened that I had some cream cheese I needed to use up, so I went for it! It was quite easy and oh, does cream cheese batter smell gooooooood.

I would give you an after picture, but I forgot to take one before all of the muffins were eaten. All 24 of them. These are an instant favorite in our house. John said I might be able to go a little heavier on the cranberries next time, but I thought they were fine. It just depends on how much you like cranberries, I suppose. They do take between 25-30 minutes to fully bake, but they are so worth it. And the cinnamon/brown sugar topping is a perfect fit (I left out the nuts that were suggested). So we Minthornes highly recommend these muffins and they are actually fairly Christmas-y. Enjoy!

Blacksmith Inn Cranberry Cream Cheese Muffins

Presented by Blacksmith Inn On The Shore

Baileys Harbor, Wisconsin

1 c. soft butter

8 oz. soft cream cheese

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 1/2 t. vanilla

4 eggs

2 c. flour

1 1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

2 c. whole cranberries

1/2 c. pecans (I left these out)

Topping:

3/4 c. brown sugar

1 1/2 t. cinnamon

1/3 c. chopped pecans (again, left out)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cream butter, cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Beat eggs in one at a time. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; beat into creamed mixture. Fold in cranberries and pecans. Fill lined or greased muffin cups 2/3 full. Top with mixture of brown sugar, pecans and cinnamon. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes. Yield 18 muffins (it gave me 24 and also took 30 minutes to fully bake, but I may have not filled the muffin cups as full and our oven is set a tad cool).

Interviews and Self Assessment

As most of you know, I interviewed for and didn't get a library job a little while back. I was fine with that, as the schedule wouldn't have worked very well with having two little kids.

Last Wednesday, I interviewed for a receptionist position at a local athletic club's day spa. It sounded super fun, something I would be really good at, and the schedule was nice. I found out today that they went with someone else. I won't say I wasn't disappointed, but here's my take on things:

I am currently employed. Many other people are not. I'm just looking for a new opportunity in my life. Others are looking for a way to feed their family. I am at ease with not being hired because I believe that these jobs went to people who really needed them at this time. I am still eager to find something new and different, but it will happen at the right time. I also know that trying to branch out in a new field with the economy the way it is right now is going to be quite challenging. The fact that I have been called to interview for the two things I put applications in for is very encouraging and I see it as good practice for future interviews (I really hate interviewing).

So while I still want to see if I can find a job that's going to challenge me a little more, I'm going to take a step back until January and see where I find myself and figure out which direction I'd like to head. I am still eager to start classes, but after much discussion, John really needs to be done before I can start. Provided everything goes well, that should be in March, but we just aren't positive yet. Fingers crossed for new opportunities next year!

Mr Potato Head

This is what happens when you leave a bag of potatoes out on the counter in our house.

Latkes

Last week, Aiden's class learned about Hannukah. He actually remembered everything from the year before (he still has his dreidel), but this year he developed an interest in latkes. Not being at all Jewish, I had no idea how to go about making them, but promised him that sometime for dinner, I would make him some latkes. I found a recipe that sounded fairly easy and had some alternate suggestions for serving, so I finally bought some fresh potatoes and gave it a try.

It was quite easy and very potato-y. Having been told that they were "potato pancakes", I assumed they'd look like pancakes. Turns out they look a bit more like hash browns, unless you do something different to them to turn them into pancakes.

Anything fried in oil is my friend. And yes, I have had my cholesterol levels checked.

Here's the finished product. They were yummy and very filling. Traditionally, they're served with sour cream and applesauce, but I used a non-Kosher serving suggestion and served them with ham, cheese, and a fried egg.

If anyone is interested in exploring how to make and serve latkes (Aiden and Nathan think figuring out these traditional Jewish foods is pretty fun so maybe other kids would too), here's the website I used for the recipe: http://ridgewood.patch.com/articles/not-your-grandmothers-latkes-8-ways-to-serve-11

I think our next food adventure will be discovering how to make challah bread. I was introduced to it in college (John had a few Jewish roommates) and it was quite delicious. I've actually missed it since we moved back from Philadelphia. Yummy!

Jet Pack

This actually happened the day Aiden wrote out "chocolate milk" for me with no help, but I never got around to sharing it.

We were upstairs and I see Aiden grab the trash can from my room (it had just been emptied, so thankfully there was no trash dumped everywhere) and a roll of masking tape. As he heads into his room with Nathan, he calls to me, "Don't worry mom, we're just making a jet pack!". The door is then shut and the boys reappear a few minutes later.....

He was very proud of himself.

A few minutes after I took this picture, Aiden goes back into his room and I hear, "I think it's going to work....I think it's really going to work.........ow.". The next time I saw Aiden, he was no longer wearing the jet pack. I guess he decided it wasn't going to work after all.

Five Hands, Two Fingers

Holy cow, I'm 27. I'm not quite sure where the time went and suddenly, numbers are starting to seem significant. I have a five year old child. I've been with John for almost 10 years (on Dec 30). I'll be 30 in three years. Yikes. I'm at the point where I'm not sure how I feel about that. I don't think I'm dreading it anymore. But I'm not excited about it yet either. I think I've convinced John that I get to buy a MINI Cooper for my 30th birthday. That will make everything better.

Honestly, I'm enjoying getting older. Each year brings new experiences and realizations. This past year, I went through the process of attempting to purchase a home (actually four homes) with the man that I love and we finally found the one we were meant to have. We are continually finding out what being home owners really means and these experiences will stay with me forever.

My realization over the past year is that even though I'm a mom to two young children, I am still very much my own person. Thank goodness this finally got through. I was struggling with it for a long time. Yes, I am a mom and I do lots of mom things, but I am Carrie. I like pirates, Harry Potter, cheesy teenager dance music, laughing at silly things on the internet, reality shows about cooking, and reading about anything and everything from World War Two to vampires and werewolves. These things make up who I am and I am proud of it.

Something I couldn't say when I was 17: I can appreciate things a whole lot more. Art, music, history, budgeting, things that parents go through for their children, and things that spouses go through for each other.

So this birthday will go by without much fanfare and that's fine with me. My husband accompanied me to the movie I'd been waiting to see for a year (Harry Potter 7, Part 1!) after I was done with work last night, I got to spend the day with my children and have a few preschoolers make banana bread muffins for me, and I will end the day putting together my brand new vacuum (can we say finally?) and cleaning my floor. And yes, that will make me happy. I'm definitely getting older.

Written Request

Instead of asking me for things, Aiden is now writing it out for me. This was his request for a drink with today's lunch:

He definitely got chocolate milk.

Snow!

We didn't get a lot of snow, but the "powdered sugar" look is very pretty on the large green space out behind our house. Plus, it's just kind of fun to have snow before Thanksgiving.

The boys spent a little while out in the back yard this morning, eating as much of the snow as possible. They were pretty darn excited about the idea of it and didn't sleep much last night. It's been a challenge getting the dog to go out the door to go potty today though. He'll get about a foot out the door, then turn around and head straight back inside. Thank goodness for weewee pads! Poor thing just can't handle the cold.

The roads were covered with ice this morning and temperatures weren't expected to get above freezing (schools closed because of it), so my commute to and from work this evening might be interesting. Traffic on the road by our house seems to be flowing ok at the moment though and we aren't supposed to get any more snow or rain, so hopefully it won't be too bad after it gets dark. After what Seattle was hit with, we got pretty lucky.

But for now, we're enjoying our day inside staying warm and looking at the sprinkling of white outside.

One hour, 22 minutes

I'm currently sitting quietly at my coordinator table at the church bazaar and counting down the minutes until I can say that I was able to pull it off for another year. I did take a self-imposed 2 1/2 hour break from the event today to sit alone in silence in my car. Yes, I sat in my car for 2 1/2 hours. I'm massively sleep deprived and my patience packed up and left earlier this week. Only two vendors had checked in this morning before I had to fight the urge to tell someone off when they insisted that they were promised something that they most definitely were not promised. Listen lady, I got four hours of sleep last night after working late and THEN finishing the set-up for today, you're a half hour early for set-up, and I wrote up all the specifications for the dang bazaar, so don't tell me that it said something other than what I, me, myself wrote. Thank you very much.

I did have a short talk with one of the pastors and we're going to go over everything that's involved with putting this whole thing together. That way, for next year, we can get a small teams together, I can still oversee everything and be the lead coordinator, but it's not all on my shoulders.

I love the feel of organizing things, but I have to admit that I can't do this alone again!

20 More Hours!

Just needed a place to scream and yell....I'M ALMOST DONE WITH THE BAZAAR!!!

John tells me that I'm not allowed to do it again next year unless I get a team of people together. Apparently I'm too stressed and frustrated right now. I suppose that did become apparent to me last night when I got upset over the "tone" of a spam email. To be fair, it was the most demanding subject line of a spam email I've ever seen. I don't remember it being this difficult last year (or else I wouldn't have agreed to it again), but I didn't have quite as many other things going on.

Ok, there was my breather. Now back to it.

Nearing the End

I'm a little too busy to blog right now and can't even really get my mind to think about blogging, so until I'm done coordinating the Christmas Bazaar this weekend, you probably won't see much from me.

I keep telling myself that I just need to get through the end of this week and then I can relax, but really, I have to get to next Wednesday before I have a day to breathe (due to work and school commitments through late Tuesday night). I'm almost there....

The bazaar has been more stressful this year, verging on being a frustration more than anything and I think it's because I just took on too many things. Since I do plan on being in school by the time bazaar planning would come around next year, we'll see if I even feel like I can do it again. If I do, I think I'll need a team of people in order to get through it.

If you're in the area, please do think about stopping by the bazaar to see all my hard work!

Relieved

I got a call from the library. They decided to go with someone else, but she was very insistent that they thought I was very impressive and she asked permission to keep my name in case they have another position open up. I've never been so relieved to be rejected.

That must sound strange, but here's how the past two days went. I came home not really knowing how I felt about the interview. As the day went on, something was nagging at me. It just wasn't feeling quite right. This position was going to be different from the one I had originally applied for because it would require me to work some mornings and afternoons, not just evenings and weekends. As John and I talked about it more and more, taking the job would mean we would need to find a daycare for the boys. I wasn't ready for that. My kids are so important to me and time with them, especially at this age, means more to me than anything. Yes, I wanted to work in the library, but was I willing to place my children in daycare to do it?

I was feeling like I didn't think I could do it, but didn't make a full decision on it. Finally, she called and gave me the news. I am honestly so at peace with this, it's ridiculous. If this had been something that we had been going for and had made the decision that daycare was something we were fine with at this point, then it would have been ok. But this came out of nowhere and I wasn't prepared to have to make that decision. I got off the phone and gave the boys HUGE hugs.

My kids aren't going to be this age again and I want to enjoy them as much as possible. I am happy to have a job that works around my current needs, allowing John to be home with them when I'm not. I'm surprised how little disappointment I feel....in fact, I'm not really feeling disappointed at all. Just interviewing felt like I did something to approach my dream job and that felt great. It will happen when the time is right and my gut feeling told me that now was not the time.

Interview!

I still felt sick this morning, but gave the lady at the library a call back anyway. She asked me a few questions and then said, "I'd like to interview you at 2pm, if that's ok". Oh my.

John had stayed home since now he wasn't feeling great (I'm still really hoping this is from us being stressed and exhausted and that it's not a bug), so luckily, I was able to say yes and not worry about what to do with the boys. I did have to find a replacement to cover my parent help shift at the preschool, but that wasn't a problem. John drove the boys to school and I headed to my interview, after lots of ginger ale and saltines to calm my stomach. I figured that as long as I didn't barf on the interviewer's feet, it would be a good day.

I arrived and found out that the assistant director would be joining us for the interview! Talk about extra pressure. They took turns asking me questions and we talked a little bit about how the library is run. I didn't feel very prepared since it was so unexpected, and along with not feeling 100%....I honestly can't tell you how it went. I never feel like I interview well, but I have gotten every job I've interviewed for, so I guess I'm not that terrible. Granted, I've always been prepared and not felt like I was going to pass out during the interview, so we'll see how it turns out. After the interview, they had me take a pre-employment test (to make sure I know how to put things in alphabetical order).

Now I wait and see what happens. I am surprised at how unsure I feel about this job. It would be a different schedule than I'm used to with retail and would require me to find some childcare for the boys a few times per week. Not impossible, but does make things a little more complicated, especially if I'm scheduled to work during a time the boys are supposed to be in school. We just have to talk it over and decide if it's a good fit in case they do offer me the job.

If anyone local knows of someone who might be looking for some part-time childcare work (paid, obviously), please let me know.

Libraries

As I mentioned about a month ago, I had sent in my resume to one of the local libraries. They were hiring for part-time library assistants and even though I haven't gotten my certification yet, I went for it. About a week ago, I received an email saying that they had chosen someone for the position. I was a little disappointed, but it was by no means a surprise. I had expected it.

Fast forward to today, I ended up with one of the worst migraines I've had in two years and spent most of the day throwing up. Needless to say, I wasn't answering my phone. After taking a shower this evening, I decided to check my phone for any messages. There was a voicemail from the HR person at another library. They've ended up with an unexpected position for an on-call library assistant and would like to interview me. I'm pretty sure I stopped breathing for a minute! I have to wait until tomorrow to call her back, but it sounds like she wants to interview asap.

I'm thrilled. And conflicted. Obviously, an on-call position would mean that I may need to find childcare for my kids at short notice. It also doesn't guarantee hours (and a paycheck). It also means that I would need to quit the job I just returned to (a job that does guarantee hours). However, this is what I want so badly. It's what I dream of doing every time I walk into a library. But I'm getting ahead of myself. An interview does not mean I'll be offered the job and I should just focus on one step at a time. John says he wants me to go for it. It's a step in the direction I want. So I'll schedule an interview and whatever happens, happens. I'm so excited, I could barf. But I think I've done enough of that today!

Christmas Bazaar

For you locals who read this, I'm coordinating our church's Christmas Bazaar this year and would like to extend a warm welcome for you to join us. Feel free to pass this information along to bazaar-loving friends and family. Last year was a lot of fun and I'm excited to have some new vendors join us this year. Here's the information:

Does Santa Need Some New Ideas?
Tigard Community Friends Church
2nd Annual Holiday Bazaar

Come join us for community fellowship and Christmas shopping!
With a wide range of unique vendors, you’re sure to find something for everyone on your list and meet some great people in the process.
Our popular bake sale is back this year too!

When: Saturday, November 20
What Time: 10am-4pm
Where: Tigard Community Friends Church
15800 SW Hall Blvd.

Are you crafty? We’re still looking for some great vendors to add to our event!
Spaces are $25 (table not provided).
For more information, please email Carrie Minthorne atTCFCbazaar@gmail.com.

Sanity

My dad arrived in town this morning, so blogging will probably take a backseat this week. It will be nice to have someone around to help if I need it and the boys love playing with their grandpa so much. My favorite part of today was when Nathan went up to him and asked, "Can I hold you, grandpa?".

But I did want to get on here and ask, for sanity's sake, that you say a little prayer for us. This afternoon, the dishwasher started not working correctly. It's not draining and seems to not cycle through entirely - it sounds like it's just filling with water. I know that dishwashers can have drainage problems if the garbage disposal is clogged, but the disposal is working perfectly fine and is draining quite well. Hopefully we can get it figured out soon and fingers crossed that it's quick fix. The vacuum is still broken (we're waiting on the part to arrive) and I don't know that we can take any more appliances breaking. At least dishwashers are cheaper than washing machines...

Getting Back to Normal

We're on day two after the great washing machine disaster of 2010. So far, cosmetically at least, the ceiling in the kitchen seems to be ok. We haven't checked the garage out super thoroughly yet, but it appears that the water didn't go into the central air system and just ended up draining off the side. I don't yet know how the power tools have fared and I personally haven't looked at the ceiling in the garage. Avoidance much? Maybe. I am about to tackle the rest of the laundry room as we finally have all the wet towels, sheets and blankets up off the floor and will be checking for any other damage that we might have missed so far. The carpet in the hallway is still damp.

Right now, I think the biggest concern is the insulation between the upstairs floor and the kitchen ceiling not drying out completely, causing mold to grow. In which case, we'd need to have someone rip everything out and replace it. I'm REALLY hoping that doesn't happen. So far, no claims need to be filed with our homeowners insurance, but they have been notified just in case something does come up in the future.

Thursday evening, we went to Lowe's to pick out a new washing machine. They had it installed in the laundry room by 11am the next morning and hauled the old one away for free. I am so relieved to have a brand new washer (that's a million times better than the old one!) so I can actually get laundry done.

The vacuum is still not working, but John will be tearing it apart today to see what's wrong. Today is a little rough as it's raining and the boys are bouncing off the walls. I have a ton of laundry to do after this past week and I'm preparing to have my dad stay with us starting Monday morning for almost a week. And I go back to work tomorrow morning. Things still feel a tad out of control, but I think the boys are contributing to that a lot.

Deep breath for the weekend and hopefully my first day back at work will go smoothly.

And this week officially stinks

On Tuesday, the washing machine stopped working. Earlier today, mid-vacuuming, the vacuum suddenly stopped and started smoking. And now, we have water damage to the house.

It's a long story as to why the washing machine was turned on to the fill cycle (the fill cycle and spin cycle work, but anything in between does not and aren't able to be repaired), but let's just say that it was on and...it didn't stop filling. By the time I heard it, there was water covering the laundry room floor and was starting to pour out into the hallway. I turned off the water and starting crying hysterically as I grabbed as many towels, sheets, and blankets as I could find. I called John in complete hysterics and told him to come home immediately. As I was on the phone with him, I suddenly heard water flowing downstairs (the laundry room is on the 2nd floor). I basically threw the phone down (hanging up on John and not saying another word to him) and started screaming as I walked into the kitchen to find water pouring out of one of the light fixtures onto the floor. I grabbed a bowl to catch the water and then ran back upstairs to put more towels along the walls in the laundry room to try to stop the water flow. John called back a few minutes later and I don't know if he understood anything I said, as I was just screaming and crying into the phone. He came home right away.

We did as much as we could to clean up the water, but John also discovered that water was pouring out of our central air system and into the garage. Hopefully not much is ruined in there, but it did happen to be right onto some of his power tools. The water did finally stop pouring into the kitchen, but we're not positive how much damage was done to the insulation or the ceiling in the kitchen or the floor in the laundry room.

All of our windows are open to try to dry things out and we're all freezing. I'm mentally and emotionally drained from crying hysterically for an entire hour. I just can't wrap my head around this. I am extremely hopeful that the damage isn't too bad. Obviously worse case is that we have to replace the ceiling and floor along with buying a new washing machine (John is currently at Home Depot for cleanup supplies and pricing a new washer). Most days, I love being a home owner. Today, not so much. As soon as John got home, I kept saying "I've ruined the house!" in between sobs. Although I think I'd be dealing with some massive embarrassment if we were still in the apartment and I'd flooded our downstairs neighbor's home.

John had to miss a mid-term this evening because of everything, but hopefully his teacher understands. I just hope nothing else breaks. I'm really ready for this to be it.

Another One Bites the Dust

A few weeks ago, the power cord to my laptop suddenly stopped working. John couldn't fix it, so we had to order a new one. Not a huge replacement expense, but annoying to be without my computer for two weeks - especially when everything I need for my parent rep job at the boys' school and all my files for the church bazaar on on my computer. Boo. Anyway, the new power cord arrived and all has been well since then. Until yesterday.

I had put in the first of MANY loads of laundry that needed to be done (I have boys and will do multiple loads of laundry every day for the next 15 years). After a while I went back upstairs to the laundry room to put those clothes in the dryer and start on the next load. But I opened the washer and found it full of soapy clothes and water. I tried restarting it, made it sure the cats hadn't unplugged it somehow, switched it back and forth between different cycles.....nothing.

Once John got home, he took the whole thing apart (yay for being married to a mechanical engineer!) and found the problem. Unfortunately for us, it's not a fixable problem. The washing machine is dead. The joys of home ownership are upon us. There's no calling maintenance to bring us a new one within 24 hours this time around.

We'll go appliance shopping on Saturday. Until then, I suppose I can wash our clothes in the sink. I'm sure I'll have a very good idea why the washing machine was created by the time we get a new one.

Bad Hair Day

About 2 1/2 hours after the boys were put to bed, I heard Nathan yelling for me. It seemed urgent. So I went into the boys' room and asked him what was wrong.

"I'm having a bad hair day."

Really? That's what was so urgent? And his hair looked perfectly fine.

I said, "Nathan, two year olds don't really have bad hair days".

He says, "Um, I'm three".

"Um, you're two," I told him.

He gives me a smile and says, "Nope, I'm three. Because three year olds have bad hair days".

This is not an 11pm conversation. But it was hard to be mad at him because as I was laying him back down in his bed, he says, "Mommy, can I hold you for a while?".

I'll let him have all the bad hair days in the world for sweet requests like that.

The Emotive Robotic Avatar

Aiden loves looking at all the different catalogs that start showing up around October. He gets to look at possible things he'd like for Christmas and he always finds something that he thinks is completely fascinating. This year, it was out of the Hammacher Schlemmer catalog. He discovered The Emotive Robotic Avatar.

The Emotive Robotic Avatar is a 75 pound robot. Here's a good description from the website:

"This is the robotic puppet that conveys nuanced emotions controlled by its operator from a remote command center. Using a combination of eye expressions, antenna colors, body language, and the digitally modulated voice of its operator, it expresses five feelings--happy, confused, angry, sad, and embarrassed."

Aiden found it and BEGGED for it. I told him that it was probably a little too expensive (expecting $300-$400), but that I'd look at it anyway. He handed me the catalog and and I immediately let out a "HOLY COW!!!". That robot, ladies and gentlemen, cost a whopping $65,000. Yes, there are THREE zeros after that 65.

I had told Aiden that there was no way ever that we could afford that for him and boy, he was devastated. I told him it would be cheaper to build our own. Once John got home, I told him about it and he didn't believe me. After showing him the catalog, he said that it MUST be a typo so he actually called the company to ask. Nope, no typo. $65,000.

Aiden begged for it for a while longer, but has been informed of the price and now understands that it's very far out of our price range. I've just got a child with very....unique tastes in gifts.

Here's a link to the product page in case you want a good look at this thing:

http://www.hammacher.com/Product/11666?promo=homepage_hero

How Are Babies Born?

Aiden was two years, three months old when Nathan was born. We were not going to go into childbirth descriptions at that age and it hasn't really come up since then.....until Wednesday night.

It came about as we were talking about dinosaurs at bedtime. Aiden had asked, "Did all dinosaurs hatch from eggs?" and I told him that it was a great question, so we grabbed my laptop and looked it up. After some research, I told Aiden that yes, it's believed that all dinosaurs hatched from eggs and did not grow in the mommy dinosaur's tummy and born like human babies. I should have known that the follow-up question would then be, "How are human babies born?".

Hmm...approach this carefully....choose words VERY carefully....our pediatrician had just covered discussing human anatomy and personal areas with a five year old. I guess the timing was right on. The boys are already aware of the terms of their own anatomy, but I don't feel like they really need to know female anatomy yet. They know that girls don't have what boys have, but that's it. Let's face it, female anatomy is a bit more...hidden and mysterious and Aiden would have NO clue what I was talking about if I told him about it. I won't make up weird names, but I will simplify as much as possible.

So there it was: "How are human babies born?".
I said, "Do you remember Nathan growing in mommy's tummy? (He said yes) Well, human babies grow in their mommy's tummy and when they get big enough, they come out".
Crossing my fingers, hoping that would end it, but no....there came the next question: "How do they come out?".
Trying to choose my words very carefully, I said, "Sometimes the doctor has to cut the mommy's tummy open, but usually the babies come out through the baby tunnel". (Simplify!!)
He said, "How does the baby tunnel work?"
I will just say now that I felt like this conversation was never going to end!
I told him, "Well, when it's time for the baby to come out, the mommy's body works to push the baby out through the baby tunnel, but the tunnel can take a while to get big enough for the baby to go through and come out....kind of like a door opening slowly."
He says, "There's a baby door?"
"Kind of", I say.
He keeps going, "Where is this baby door?".
Ummmm.....here's where using the proper anatomy terms probably come in, but I'm sorry, I'm just not ready for him to know that word yet. I thought as carefully as I could and finally told him, "It's part of a mommy's bottom".

Silence. And then....

"BAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!". He was laughing so hard, he could barely breathe. I left him, hysterically rolling around on the floor, and wondered if that was going to be the easiest, least embarrassing reproduction talk we'd ever have.

Japanese Garden

Yet another "I'm sick and have no energy" catch-up post...

WAY back on September 9th, I took advantage of our wonderful library's Cultural Pass to the Portland Japanese Garden. It was a rainy Portland afternoon, but I didn't let that stop us. I didn't tell the boys where we were going and Aiden was very excited once we got there. The lady at the admission gate handed us some "treasure maps" and said that if the boys went through and found all the points on the map, then handed them back in when we were done, they'd get a prize. The boys really enjoyed it!

We had fun walking around and seeing all the cool buildings, plants, and sculptures. It rained off and on the whole time, but we had hooded jackets, so we didn't mind too much. They were definitely the youngest visitors in the garden and got lots of "Oh, how cute" comments from the older visitors and we went through with our treasure maps.

Click pictures to enlarge. I could have taken them down to this rock garden, but I could envision Nathan running out into it (there was no railing or anything to stop him) and destroying the raked formations. We decided to look at it from above instead.

I have no idea why Aiden was so happy to see this pagoda sculpture, but he was.

Going on a treasure hunt...

Mmm....so peaceful.

Another rock garden, but this one would have been harder for the boys to run out into, so I figured we were safe. :^)

Once we were done, we turned in our completed treasure maps and the each boys got to pick out a Japanese Garden bookmark. Aiden picked out a beautiful cherry tree bookmark and announced to the lady that he'd be using it in his Identifying Invertebrates book. That's right, my son is a nerd. I think it weirded the lady out just a bit.

Aiden loved the garden and we had a lot of fun talking about the things we saw. Next on our list is the Chinese Garden, but I think we'll take daddy along for that one. Aiden has already been to the Chinese Garden once before with his preschool class and he talked about it for days afterwards, so I know it's something he'll enjoy seeing again.

The Annual Pumpkin Hunt

Since I am ill today, I figured I'd set myself up on the couch with my laptop and two snuggle buddies (thanks for all the hugs, Aiden and Nathan!) and get caught up some some posts.

Back on October 2nd, the day before Aiden's birthday, we did our annual pumpkin patch visit to Baggenstos. We've gone there since Aiden was 1 (since he was 3-4 weeks old for his first Halloween, I didn't really feel like taking a newborn to a pumpkin patch, so that year was passed up) and no matter how much work daddy has, he knows it's a family trip....no exceptions! :^) So every year, either just before or just after Aiden's birthday, we go load up on the hay ride and find our pumpkins. We've had perfect weather every single year so far.

It was Baggenstos' opening weekend for the pumpkin patch, so it was a little busy around the farm store area, but I think only because there was some private Intel event going on. The hay ride and patch itself really wasn't busy - it was only October 2nd, maybe a little on the early side for most people? We were able to get on the hay ride right away and good seats right behind the tractor (Aiden LOVES it!!). We each picked out a pumpkin and Nathan had his eye on a super tiny one.

"See mommy? It's tiny!". We didn't even get charged for this pumpkin. They just laughed and said, "You can have it!".
Mr Aiden and his pumpkin.

After the patch, I picked out another Cinderella pumpkin to make my own pumpkin puree again. I have absolutely LOVED having pumpkin available in my freezer all year. Having pumpkin bread whenever I crave it is amazing!

We always get the boys a treat (usually Aiden just wants something to drink) and let them play around for a while. Nathan wanted to stand by the "How tall this fall?" board and I love the look on his face so much! This is definitely a favorite picture!

Click to enlarge to get a better look at Nathan's silly face.

Aiden wanted to do pumpkin bowling, so we had both boys give it a try. Aiden did quite well, but missed the last pin, so he refused a piece of a candy because he said he didn't do well enough to deserve it! Silly kid.

I love this picture! I can't believe I caught him mid-jump!

Nathan didn't do as well from the top of the ramp, but still enjoyed himself. They were very nice to him and even let him walk down to the pins to knock them over.

Flying pumpkin!! I ended up with a lot of favorite pictures from this year's visit.

Nathan took his piece of candy as his prize, but has recently decided that he doesn't like sugary things very much, so I ate it. Fine with me! :^)

After a bit of running around in the little kids hay maze, John looked into taking us through the big corn maze, but I decided against it. Back when John and I were dating, we (along with Laura) did the maze once year, but got so lost we ended up giving up and cutting through the corn in order to get out because it was getting dark. I didn't want to get lost with two little boys who probably wouldn't care much about the maze in the first place.

We had a lot of fun this year and our house looks very fall-like. Mine and John's two big pumpkins out front (which we'll probably carve this weekend) and the boys' two tiny pumpkins on our coffee table. We did end up with a peanut butter covered pumpkin one day because Aiden thought he could make a bird feeder out of a pumpkin. We definitely had a discussion about how you really need pine cones for that.

NOTE: The title to the post is a link to the full album, if you're interested in seeing more pictures.

Nathan's Class

Nathan's teacher created a video collage of their class over the past few weeks and I thought it would be nice to give you all a glimpse into Aiden and Nathan's school. They are a small class (four children), but that means they are developing relationships quite quickly. The video really shows it. I also love the cultural diversity of their class. It means Nathan has gotten to learn to make tortillas by hand and has tried (and liked!) sushi!! He's always been a very picky eater and I've noticed a huge change in his willingness to try new foods since he started school. Eating healthier is also becoming a natural progression and I love it. He almost always requests "regular" milk if I offer him chocolate milk or juice. His favorite snack is carrot sticks and ranch dressing. The carrot consumption around this house has tripled since school started! One of these days, I need to get a picture or video of the look he gets on his face when I get the ranch dressing out of the fridge. I've never seen a two year old get so excited about salad dressing.

Here's a link to the video collage: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=caseybetcher&target=PHOTO&id=5527308408051601410&aid=5521788917759669153&authkey=Gv1sRgCNSt65Tb3vvgRw&feat=email
It is about four and half minutes long and there is music, so if you don't to listen to kids folk music for four and a half minutes, feel free to mute it. There's no other sound you'll be missing. Enjoy!

"Welcome! What can I help you find today?"

I've been sitting on this for a few days to see how to write about it, but nothing good has come to mind so here you go.

Over the past few weeks, John and I have been doing a deep look into our finances and it's been really interesting. We expected to find a few places where we needed to tighten our belts a little or a few things to cut out entirely, but what we actually found was that having me quit my job was going to be a faster experiment than we anticipated. The bottom line is that until John graduates in six-ish months, I need to work. Yes, he is working overtime, but that overtime went down once he started classes this term. How does this give me any availability? It doesn't give much and I will essentially be working during all of his "free" time. What's stinky is that I feel like I don't see him anyway Monday-Friday. Now I'll be working on the weekends, so that time will be even more limited.

As was mentioned a few posts ago, I did apply for a library assistant position and I still hope to hear from them. But if that doesn't happen, I have already spoken to the manager at Coldwater Creek and she has offered me my job back. She is on vacation for a while, so I wouldn't be starting until the first week of November. That does still give me some time to hear about the library job before my re-hire paperwork is filed at Coldwater Creek. She was very understanding about my limited availability and that it would probably only be until he graduates. As much as I feel very done with retail, at least I'm darn good at it and they are eager to have me back! When I walked in, I was greeted with a "So, do you want your job back?" and a very loud "YAY!!" when I said yes.

I'm not upset about going back to work - I like feeling useful. It would be nice if it were something new....something that challenges and interests me, but the goal is to earn money and Coldwater is a pretty good retail gig that's above minimum wage, so I can just deal with it for now. My coworkers are excited to have me join them again and I feel very blessed to have so many good friends there.

I'd be lying though if I said there wasn't anything about this that bothers me. I am definitely going to feel the lack of time with my spouse. I will also miss spending time with my boys on the weekends (the past six weeks have been very fun and relaxing with no work to worry about). The boys' general behavior has also gotten so much better since I stopped working and I do worry about a potential increase in tantrums and destruction. This also means that I may have to put off school for me yet again, although I'm feeling stubborn at the moment and am still determined to make it work next term. Yes, all of this would still be a concern even if I got the library job (although school for me would be encouraged by the employer since it would apply to the job), but I go back to the thinking that I would be happier with my work and it would make it all worth it.

So there it is. Hi ho, hi ho, it's back to work I go. There will definitely be a time of adjustment and probably lots of stress since I'm now adding this to everything else I've taken on since I quit, but I know that this is what our family needs right now. I am still so lucky that I don't need to put our children in daycare to work full time. I still have lots of time with them and I enjoy every minute of it - even the rough minutes. :^)

Some prayers would be nice regarding the library position. I do still have hope for it, but it's nice to know that I have a job to go to if it doesn't work out.

Two Events

This isn't something I would normally blog about, but there were two events today that really took hold of my mood and it will take me a while to shake it.

I know quite a few people right now who are pregnant, an unusual amount actually. One of them, a family friend who I've known since I was four, had her second child today. A very happy experience. But quite literally at the exact same time that this friend of mine was giving birth to her baby, another friend of mine was losing her unborn child. At the exact same time. I know this happens around the world every day - life and death at the same time. But it's not something I've experienced until today. I'm overjoyed for one friend and my heart is breaking for another.

These two friends don't know each other and I will never make them aware of the unusual timing of their two respective events, but oddly enough, this is something I have to process for myself. Why should one get to experience the joy of having a child while the other does not? It's the reminder that life isn't always fair and what came to mind was this:

Ecclesiastes 3:1-4 (King James Version)

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.

If you think of it, keep these two women in your thoughts prayers today. For one, that her grief and recovery will be brief. And for the other, that her and her child remain healthy as they adjust to life together.

A Little Lonely

We're on week four of John's fall term. Let's just say that it feels like a whole lot longer than four weeks. Some days I'm really ok with him being gone until goodness knows when - it just means I can do my own little projects after the boys are in bed and disappear into my own world for a while, but other days are rough. Single parenting isn't super fun. It makes our weekends seem all too short when that's all the time we get together. I know other moms whose husbands are deployed or have to travel five days out of the week and believe me, I do not envy them. I know they struggle and I honestly don't know how they do it each week. This is hard enough.

I feel like I've got the boys on a fairly good schedule each week and we make it a goal to get out of the house on days that they don't have school (although the house is in dire need of some TLC today, so they may have to settle for the backyard). We've been doing some fun projects together as well. It's fun for them to make things and it's been fun for me to see what I can do with little to no cost - I've been on a personal mission to see where every penny we spend is going and it's been a true eye opener, but that's a post for another time.

So I can say that most days are fine. It's just these days where I feel a little lonely and get anxious for him to be done with school (it appears that it should only take one more term past this one, provided that the last two classes he needs are offered next term). The loneliness is making me crabby this week and I don't like it. The boys don't seem to be bothered by his absence too much, although they did mention it last night and wanted to know why I wasn't setting a place at the table for daddy. It's hard to not have him around for dinner during the week.

It's things like this that make me realize how much I enjoy spending time with my husband. This December will bring 10 years of officially being a couple and I can still get little butterflies in my tummy when I hear him come through the front door. So I suppose if I wasn't feeling lonely each week, it might be something to worry about. :^)

Thanks for working so hard, honey. We really do appreciate it.

The 5 Year Checkup

Mr Aiden had his five year checkup today. The drama of it started last night when I informed him that he would be going to the doctor today. He threw his hands in the air and said, "What?? My lungs are just fine! Why on EARTH do they think I need to see a doctor?!". I had to leave the room to keep from laughing at him. He attached himself to the idea of horrible, painful shots (which I tried to talk to him about so he wasn't surprised by them, but maybe I'll just keep the info to myself next time!), so he was grumpy the entire time we were in there. He relaxed a little bit during the exam (thank goodness for a fabulous pediatrician), but was right back to his grumpy self when they said it was time for shots. Part of the problem was that the usual nurse was swamped (they were behind in general and we didn't get called back until almost 30 minutes after our appt time), so she sent someone else to do the shots and that person didn't have a great bedside manner. Basically, she totally peeved Aiden. He didn't like her. So he kept trying to pull away from her and cried a lot when she gave him the shots. But I fixed everything by taking him out for ice cream afterwards.

As far as his development goes, he's right on track. We did talk about the fact that he will be reading by the time he gets to kindergarten next year and how that might affect him. Our pediatrician pointed out that most kindergarten kids aren't reading (because they are on the younger side of 5, whereas Aiden will be almost 6 by the time he gets there - poor kid's birthday is four days after the age cutoff!), so the teacher will focus on the needs of the class as a whole, not on Aiden's personal level of reading. Which means he might feel bored sometimes and will need some extra things to do outside of school to keep his interest level up. We're already there on days where there's no school. I have to keep him busy or he will find things to do....and the things he finds to do are not always good things.

His speech level is great (none of that early intervention junk from last year). He's been stuttering a bit, but we went over it (the doctor listened to him speak for a while) and he believes it to be a general speech development thing that tends to happen to boys around this age (he described it as his brain working faster than his mouth wants to), but the majority of boys outgrow it very quickly so he isn't concerned about it.

So everything looks great and here are some stats for you to compare from last year to this year:

Four years:
-Weight: 40 lbs (80th %)
-Height: 40 1/2 inches (53rd %)

Five years:
-Weight: 43 1/2 lbs (69th %)
-Height: 43 inches (51st %)

I was going to dig up a newborn baby picture, but they happen to be in a box at the bottom of a stack in the office closet and as soon as I saw what was on top of it, I just found the oldest picture I could on my computer. He's just over a year and I think it shows pretty accurately how chubby he was as a baby. And of course, a picture of the five year old right below it. He certainly has grown up!

We love you, Aiden! And sorry the shots made you cry - I hope the ice cream helped.

Library

As I previously mentioned in my post from WAY back in August where I discussed reasons for quitting my job, I brought up the plan for me to go back to school to get my certification in Media/Library Assisting. While it didn't work out this term, the plan still stands to start in January. I had also been checking the library job postings to see if there's anything that would be a good fit for me. Most of the positions available required an advanced degree and with the economy still not in great shape, the likelihood of seeing a library assistant posting seemed quite low. I had stopped looking about a month ago. But over the weekend, a former coworker of mine sent me a link to a job posting for the Cedar Mill Library for not one, but two library assistants. One being on a varied schedule under 15 hours per week, requiring availability on weekends and evenings. Holy cow. It's perfect.

My initial feeling was that I shouldn't try for it because I haven't even started the certification program yet, but after going over the requirements for the job, I realized that I am actually qualified to do everything they need. I don't have the certification, but that wasn't a requirement, just a plus. I spent a good portion of today revising my resume (which hadn't been updated since before Payless) and writing up a cover letter. I put more effort into making them attractive than I ever have before. This is the first time I've ever applied for something that I was sure I wanted to do for the rest of my life and it felt so different than applying for a basic retail job.

John joked that I quit my higher paying job to look for a lower paying job. And that may be true, but at least it's in my desired field. I don't know that I'll even be considered for an interview and I am quite aware that I will probably not be the most qualified applicant for the job. But I'm taking a huge step here for myself and applying, because I'd kick myself forever if I didn't go for it. They are supposed to start contacting applicants after October 19th. I would love this, but I know that it will only happen if it's meant to be right now.

Aiden's Birthday Party

We had Aiden's birthday party last Sunday with both family and some preschool friends. While it was the most people we've packed into our house so far and it was a little wild (it definitely would NOT have been able to happen in an apartment!), Aiden had a lot of fun and loved seeing some friends that he hadn't seen since June.

It was a Toy Story costume party! Aiden was Buzz and Nathan was Woody (a nice way to get more use out of their Halloween costumes). We had one more Buzz and one more Woody to add to the group, plus a Rex! It was very cute to see all the boys running around dressed up.

Since it was a Toy Story party, Aiden had begged for a Toy Story cake. Of course, everyone in our area had run out of cake toppers and decor kits. Finding decor for this party was the biggest pain ever, but a 5th birthday is a big deal for a little boy, so I was determined to make it happen. I had to go for some basic color items to match to Toy Story colors, but it worked and probably kept the cost down. After multiple store trips and phone calls (including a call to a certain Beaverton cake decorating shop which ended quite rudely and I will never, ever shop there because of it), I finally bought some very small Toy Story figures and food coloring and made the cakes myself. Yes, I said cakes. I made a Woody cake (shown in the collage at the bottom of the post) and a Buzz cake (also shown). They weren't super pretty, but Aiden was happy and that's all that matters. I just know that I will never be a professional cake decorator and that's ok with me! It was an experience and I'm glad I tried it.

Aiden got some very fun presents and they are still keeping him and Nathan busy. We are so happy that we were able to have so many people join us to celebrate our little guy turning one whole hand!

Here's some pictures from Aiden's birthday party - click on the collage to make it bigger.

Happy Birthday Aiden

Our Aiden bug turned five yesterday and I have to wonder where the last five years went. I don't want the next five to go by so quickly. I had this plan to upload a newborn baby picture and a five year birthday picture, but the power cord for my computer stopped working and until my new one arrives, I can't access my pictures. Maybe it will just have to be part of his five year check-up blog post next week.

Aiden is my first baby and my so very grown-up boy. It's hard to believe it was five years ago that I was handed this tiny little boy and I cried because I wondered how on earth I was supposed to know what to do! We've definitely had some challenges along the way, but he's a sweet, caring, smart little guy and we love him more and more every day. He doesn't always want a hug or kiss at bedtime anymore and while it breaks my mommy heart a little, I know it's part of growing up.

He's gone from Thomas the Tank Engine to Lego Star Wars and Batman (although Thomas is still ok). His play is more complex, his thoughts are maturing, he's interests are broadening....he's turning into an older boy. He wants to know why bugs look like they do and what's inside them (which has involved many bugs being dissected on the back deck). He is very interested in circulation and how your veins, heart, muscles, and joints all work within the body. He asked me what cancer was the other day and how it related to smoking. He knows more about volcanoes than I do. He knows the absurdly long names for various dinosaurs. He's reading more words every day. He loves to draw. His brain is always going and we can't always keep up! He is uniquely Aiden.

We love you, little guy. Never stop exploring or wondering how something works. While we may get a little frustrated at the mess your exploration creates sometimes, we know it's helping you to learn. And believe it or not, we enjoy learning with you.

Who Knew Turning 5 Was So Expensive?

Our little Buster was an early birthday present for Aiden. We knew the initial price of the dog was not going to include any neutering or vet visits needed later on (he had been checked out already and was started on shots, the first deworming, the first flea treatment, and heartguard treatment). No problem.

A few days ago, we noticed that his umbilical area wasn't looking very good. It was swelling and turning purple. He was due to go in for another round of shots anyway and we wanted to get the assessment on how soon we could get him fixed, so I called the vet on Wednesday and got an appointment for today (Thursday). Since it was our first visit, the exam was free. After going over the kinds of shots and treatments he still needed, they told me about their "puppy package" where if you pay for it all up front, the cost is reduced by almost 50%. Great - I will save money wherever I can. And it's a good thing I try to save money wherever I can. Here's why:

The vet said that the hernia was quite large and needed to be taken care of (if it's small enough and not going to cause problems, they sometimes just leave it). He also has dewclaws on his back feet which aren't attached very strongly. If those were to get caught on anything outside (if he escaped, which he does about once a week), he could very easily rip them off and it would be a $1500 procedure to fix his feet. The good news is that they start reducing the costs of each thing the more you have done at one time. At first, the assistant said that they would do it in 6 weeks when he would be scheduled to be neutered (they usually wait until they reach 5 lbs - he weighed in at 4 lbs, 8 oz - a full 1 lb, 8 oz heavier than when we got him four weeks ago!). But then the vet jumped in and said, "No, I want it taken care of tomorrow". It worried me that the hernia had gotten to the point where he needs emergency surgery, but I suppose I should just focus on the fact that we got him in there and it's scheduled.

So poor Buster-boo has to have emergency hernia surgery tomorrow, where he will also be neutered and have his back dewclaws removed. Because of the extent of the surgery (incisions in both back legs, all round the "doggy parts", and all up his stomach for the hernia), he has to have heavier and longer lasting pain killers during the surgery (extra cost), he will need at-home pain killers and a little bit of laser therapy to reduce the swelling and inflammation (mostly because he's so small and active and needs the additional healing help - also extra cost). At that point they said they would do a microchip for an additional $27, so I agreed.

After all is said and done with the dog, the party, and the few additional presents we got him, his 5th birthday is going to end up costing around $1000. He just might not get anything for Christmas! But while our wallet might be hurting after this birthday, I know the dog will be hurting a whole lot more. Poor Buster. It may sound silly, but if you think of it, please do keep Buster (and Aiden) in your thoughts and prayers tomorrow. Aiden is very concerned about Buster being cut on so much and we are hoping that Buster can handle all of that surgery. Aiden loves that little dog and would be devastated if anything were to go wrong. I am dropping Buster off at the vet between 7:30am-9am tomorrow morning and we'll pick him up around 5pm. Hopefully he'll just be quite drowsy and full of pain meds.

In Full Swing

We're very much into our fall schedule now. I'm in the boys' classrooms once a week and I think they've both adjusted quite well to attending the same school. My first day of leaving both of them was helped along by Nathan requesting that Aiden come see him in his classroom for a few minutes after I left. Aiden had his first field trip of the year yesterday and I do have some pictures from another mom (I left my camera at home again). I'll get them posted soon.

I'm settling into my role as parent rep for Nathan's class. It's not too much extra work, but I have been surprised as to how much I have to take with me if I'm parent helping, in charge of mini meal, and have paperwork to put in everyone's sign-in folders. I attend the once a month school council meeting each month (so just one so far) and it seems to be a really great group of parents and teachers. It reminded me how special this school really is.

Speaking of school, John has officially started classes again. It's hard to have him gone so much every week, but he'll be completely done soon enough. We decided to put off school for me this term once we got his class schedule. The only nights he doesn't have class are Tuesdays and Fridays and it wasn't desirable for me to be gone on those two nights (especially since he is still supposed to be working 50+ hour weeks). I was disappointed, but I'm sure next term will come up faster than I expect. We don't anticipate John having a super heavy class schedule next term (I think he has two more classes left, total, to complete his degree after this term), so hopefully it will actually work out. We knew it was going to be a challenge to try to get us both in school at the same time.

I think we've all adjusted to having a puppy around. There are still some training challenges that I'm experiencing, but I've never had a dog before so it's to be expected, I suppose. Buster has definitely bonded with us and he gets very excited when we come home from being out somewhere. I enjoy having a miniature dog sleep in my lap later in the evenings after the boys go to bed. And as much as John protests about having a "purse dog", he really does like snuggling with Buster too. :^)

I Shouldn't Be Surprised

He is a boy after all. I heard my oldest child calling for me from the backyard and this is what I found.

My days are never boring.

Santa Minthorne

I think someone is ready for Christmas....

Again? Really??

I walked into a door. No use starting this off slow. Might as well just put it right out there. I walked into a door and I broke my nose. Again. How on earth can one human being be so accident prone?

You see, our laundry room door has some cruddy hinges. They do not hold the door open by any means. I know this. I usually put the small trash can in front of the door to hold it open. I didn't this time. I opened the laundry room door, went inside, started the dryer, heard a bang from the boys' room, turned around quite quickly to head towards the boys room and ran myself smack into the edge of the door. I hit so hard that I knocked myself backwards into the washing machine. I heard the CRACK! as soon as I hit and before the pain even registered in my brain, I knew what I had happened. Crunching, crushing, pinching, sharp, throbbing pain throughout the bridge of my nose, across my eyes, into my forehead (I also hit my forehead and had a nice outline of the door for a while). Bloody nose, also ended up with a bit of a swollen top lip and my front teeth feel a little strange.

I am so tired of crushing my face. This is the second broken nose this year. Third of my lifetime. I know the drill now:

Have you stopped the bleeding? Yes.

Is your breathing obstructed? Not any more than last time.

Is it the same spot as the last two times? Yes.

Is your nose visibly deformed? Not really.

Do you want heavier pain killers than ibuprofen? No, they make me sick.

Follow instructions for standard simple fracture. Ice, painkillers, keep your head elevated when you sleep, call if you have any concerns, the bleeding returns, or the swelling gets worse after three days.

If you can't tell, I'm annoyed and frustrated. I don't like taking a shower and being in so much pain I could cry because a drop of water fell on the bridge of my nose. I don't like the horrible pain-filled sleep that gives me no real rest. I don't like feeling as though I have to hold my face perfectly still in order to keep the pain level manageable. But prescription pain killers cause me to vomit, so I can't take them and there's nothing else my doctor can do unless the break is more severe (and even then it would just be mashing my nose back in place). Argh.

But along with my frustration, I am happy that it's not a severe break. And I'm happy that my face tends to not bruise very easily, so I won't look like I've been in a horrible car accident. It really could look much, much worse than it does. I'm just annoyed with myself for slamming my own face into a door. Oh the things I should not have to say....

And of course, John's first question was, "Didn't you used to be a ballerina?". I give you a friend's (who used to be a dancer as well) response, "Dancers are the biggest clutzes around. We are graceful on stage, but as soon as we get into the wings, we're tripping over wires". So there you go.

John's 10 Year Reunion

Just over a week ago, John had his 10 year high school reunion. We were both fairly nervous about it (for him, well, John isn't super social and for me, I didn't know a single person and didn't know if I'd really be able to talk to anyone). But as it turned out, we ended up having a fabulous time and talking to most of the people in the room. Friday night was the adult only mixer at Manhattan Cafe in Portland. It was nice to get a little dressed up and also not have to worry about the boys while we mingled. The festivities were scheduled from 7-11, so at 11pm when they kicked us all out, a group of us decided to continue the party at a local karaoke bar. And while I almost didn't want to touch anything without first slathering it in disinfectant, it was so much fun to laugh, people watch, and hear some of John's classmates sing (very well, I might add!). We didn't get home until 3am.

The following day was the family picnic. It was scheduled to start at 11am and we ended up not getting there until 12:30 for a few reasons. One: we have boys who take forever to get ready. Two: I am too old to stay up until 3am. I ended up with a massive migraine due to lack of sleep and not eating the night before, so I was quite ill for a good portion of the morning. And three, mapquest stinks and sent us in the opposite direction. There's a reason why I haven't used it for directions in almost two years. After calling my wonderful sister in law Carrie for directions, we finally made it (thanks Care!). The picnic was pet friendly as well, so we brought Buster along to show him off. It was fun for John to show off his kids and to see his classmates' kids (there honestly weren't very many).

While the whole weekend made me realize exactly how old we are now (and what our bodies can and cannot handle), we came away with renewed friendships and in my case, brand new ones. I've added some pictures below (photo credits: Maxwell Monty) from the Friday night mixer (click on any photo to enlarge). Enjoy!