Twelve!

Marleigh is 12 years old today. Hard to believe it's been that long. It just doesn't seem possible.


Seems like only yesterday she was this squishy little thing with barely any hair who loved to dote on her new baby brother...










Now she's a beautiful young lady with the thickest hair imaginable and her brother drives her crazy!







Wow. Twelve years. Impossible!

A couple more things

I thought of a couple things I meant to mention in the birthday post.

Yesterday one of Tess's little friends called on my cell phone to wish her a happy birthday. She wasn't sure who it was at first and then she finally realized it. She looked right at me and said, "It's Jacob, Mommy!" and then spoke into the phone and said, "You can sing me happy boorfday now Jacob." It was all about her yesterday!

Then this morning she woke up and came into the living room with a look of shock on her little face. She is a human heater while sleeping so she usually snoozes in nothing but her panties. Last night she apparently put on some of Selah's low rider panties that are just way to low. (I didn't realize that when I bought them or they never would have made it into my basket.) So Tess comes in and says, "Mommy look! When I toorned 5 I got too big for my panties!"

Love that girl!

On another note, Marleigh had her first real babysitting job this evening. She has of course stayed with her siblings before but we rarely pay her for it. She's also gone to friends homes before to watch their children while the adults were in a prayer group downstairs. So this was her first real alone-with-no-adults-around babysitting job. She did great! And heck, I think I'm going to start babysitting because she made a killing. Two hours and she brought home 30 bucks. I think she should pay for the movies tomorrow. Think she'll go for it? Nope, not a chance.

Well it's about time!

I had to switch over to the new version of blogger a while back. It made me. I wasn't happy about it either because I just don't like change. At all. And to reinforce my change issues, my blog decided to act up. I haven't been able to log in since I made that stupid switch. And I haven't been happy about it either! But here I finally am. Thank goodness.

Yesterday was Tess's 5th birthday. Hard to believe my youngest is 5. I still have issues with not having more children. Hubby says maybe we can adopt some day. I doubt we will, but at least it makes me feel like the days of little babies isn't over for certain.

Anyway, she had a great birthday. I had to work yesterday morning but after work the kids and I went bowling. After I finished her birthday outfit that I had started the night before. Hubby thinks I am insane and he's probably right. But she sure did look cute in that birthday outfit.

After bowling we did a little looking around. We went to the pet shop and then hit a couple other stores just to kill some time. Then we met Hubby at our local Japanese restaurant for dinner at the "fi-ore place". That's what Tess calls it since it's hibachi and they cook on the table and light the onions on fire. My step-dad joined us too which was a big surprise but it was nice to have him.

Tess got a new handheld Leap toy that she is in love with. I didn't think she'd ever go to sleep last night because she wouldn't put that thing down.

I sure do love that little Tea Pot. I couldn't imagine what life would be like with 4 kids when I found out I was pregnant with her. Now I can't imagine what life would be like without her. She is such a spunky little thing!

I did it!

Go me! The route I took was actually a little less than 5 miles, probably more like 4 1/2 miles. But I did it. And I lived to tell.

Now we'll see how I feel tomorrow. I know my legs are going to be sore. They were on fire going up a couple hills. I can deal with the normal soreness. I'm just hoping my knee is ok.

5 mile run

Yep, 5 miles. I'm getting ready to go now. Wish me luck.

After being off for a while with my knee hurting and then the whole family passing around colds and the flu, I'm finally back at training this week. Since the time until the big race is considerably closer now I had to start on week 5 of my training schedule. I'm using a program from a book that gives you the days and mileage/minutes to train before the run. There are several different options for the half marathon, I chose "To Finish". I'm not looking for some great personal best time. Although I guess any time at all would be my personal best since I've never run before. My point is that I just want to finish the darn thing.

So far my knee has held up. Although I've only run twice this week for 20 minutes each. I do 2 minutes of walking and 3 minutes of running. The guy who wrote the book I'm reading is big on walking breaks. I like his thinking. I need lots of walking breaks. So today I'm supposed to go 5 miles. Sunday's are the long run days. Hubby is out right now doing 7 miles. Makes me want to hoark just thinking of it. Yet for some reason I really want to be a runner. It can be quite addicting. Getting out there and doing it and then saying, "Hey, I just ran X-number of miles." It's inspiring.

Now I just have to pray that my knee will be ok. Hopefully it will.

5 mile run

Yep, 5 miles. I'm getting ready to go now. Wish me luck.

After being off for a while with my knee hurting and then the whole family passing around colds and the flu, I'm finally back at training this week. Since the time until the big race is considerably closer now I had to start on week 5 of my training schedule. I'm using a program from a book that gives you the days and mileage/minutes to train before the run. There are several different options for the half marathon, I chose "To Finish". I'm not looking for some great personal best time. Although I guess any time at all would be my personal best since I've never run before. My point is that I just want to finish the darn thing.

So far my knee has held up. Although I've only run twice this week for 20 minutes each. I do 2 minutes of walking and 3 minutes of running. The guy who wrote the book I'm reading is big on walking breaks. I like his thinking. I need lots of walking breaks. So today I'm supposed to go 5 miles. Sunday's are the long run days. Hubby is out right now doing 7 miles. Makes me want to hoark just thinking of it. Yet for some reason I really want to be a runner. It can be quite addicting. Getting out there and doing it and then saying, "Hey, I just ran X-number of miles." It's inspiring.

Now I just have to pray that my knee will be ok. Hopefully it will.

Veggie girl

A couple years ago Marleigh came home from school one day and said she was going to be a vegetarian. I said, Um...no. I explained that she'd need to eat whatever we were eating and that I wouldn't make a seperate meal for her. I also said that it was important that she get the protein and nutrients that meat gives her. She was fine with it and that was that.

Then last week she came home from school and said she wasn't eating meat anymore. I decided this is one of those battles that just isn't worth fighting and that if she truly wanted to do this then she would. She's gone a week now and is still gung ho about it. I explained that I wouldn't go to the trouble of making an entire seperate meal for her. However, I'll help her a bit. For instance, this week one night we are having spaghetti so I'll just leave some sauce out for her that doesn't have meat in it.

I also told her that she had to be healthy. There won't be any substituting junk food for the meat. She'll need to find ways to get protein and still have lots of fruits and veggies.

I actually went without red meat for one year when I was in college. I had watched the movie City Slickers and fell in love with Norman the cow. After that I just couldn't eat meat without seeing Norman's sweet little eyes looking at me. I lasted a full year before I got so hungry one night after a concert that I made the comment that I would eat a hamburger if I had one. Knowing that all my friends were just as broke as I was I figured I was safe blurting it out. Then there was a frantic digging in the car seats and enough change was found to buy me a 49 cent hamburger at McDonalds. That was that. I was eating meat again, and I've never looked back.

It'll be interesting to see just how long Marleigh can keep it up.

It's not broken

It just feels like it. My knee that is. I saw the doctor today about my knee pain. He said there is definitely fluid inside and offered to drain it but I passed. No thank you. If it consists and doesn't go away with the medication he prescribed then I'll have it drained but I thought I'd hold off on the needle for now. He gave it a technical term but I can't remember it and he said it's similar to Bursitis. My cartlidge is damaged, probably from a previous injury or strain on my knee. Hmmmm, wonder if it could be all those years of pom-pon when we dropped from a standing position straight onto our knees. That was pretty dumb. Anyway, because the cartlidge is damaged there is nothing cushiony to help the bones when they bend and move so they just rub right against each other which believe me, is not pleasant. I'm to rest it for 3 more days and he put me on 8 days of Celebrex. Hopefully that will help things and I can get back to training for that half-marathon!

I haven't seen this doctor before but decided to go to him since he's my boss. So since I was a new patient he checked me over and got my history. After hearing that my Mother died of Ovarian Cancer and her sister died of Breast Cancer and her Mother went through some female cancer (I think it was cervical, or maybe uterine?), and her Grandmother died of Ovarian Cancer he decided that I have a pretty significant family history of cancer. Ya think? Anyway, he has referred me to a Genetics Counselor that I will see on May 3rd. That should be interesting. I'd love for them to tell me how to prevent getting cancer because I'm afraid the cancer card may be in the hand I was dealt at birth.

In other news, I weighed 3 pounds less at my first WW meeting yesterday. Here's hoping those 3 pounds never find their way back to this body.

Just stuff

Lots to catch up on here!

My new job is going well. I am really enjoying it and like the people I work with for the most part. It's just enough hours that I can get out of the house and not be out spending money. Which is a good thing.

Tomorrow I'll be visiting one of the doctor's I work for but as a patient. After just a week and a half or so of running my left knee started hurting quite a bit. So I stopped for a couple days hoping that I'd just overworked it or something but it's still hurting. I know I said in my last entry that I was hoping for an injury but I take that back now. Hubby is still going strong and I have to say I'm a bit jealous. I want to run! Hopefully the doctor can tell me what is wrong and I can get right back into it and still do the run in April.

In other news, I started Weight Watchers last week. I have always done low carb eating which (when I stick to it) really seems to work well for me. But with the exercising I know my body needs some of the carbs I wasn't getting. So for a week or so I tried to just eat healthy and I couldn't do it. I needed someone to tell me what I could and couldn't have and how much of it was ok. Today will be my first weigh in. I'm actually looking forward to getting on the scale and seeing what it says!

Marleigh got braces a couple weeks ago. It's still a little odd seeing her smile. It takes some getting used to. She's doing great with them though and when it's all done she'll have beautiful straight teeth. At least she'd better after the chunk of change we're dropping for those things! This past weeked she had a volleyball tournament and her team ended up placing first! Last year, they were always the worst team at all the tournaments so this is quite a change. Hubby hadn't been able to see the new team play this year so he was especially excited to see the improvement they have made. Go Aces!

The kids went back to school on the 8th which was our 13th anniversary. Hard to believe it's been that long! That was also my first day of work. That Friday we had a big ice storm move in that caused all sorts of havoc. We actually got mostly sleet but many areas of the state got freezing rain which downed power lines and people are still without power because of it. I can't imagine! The following Monday was MLK day so the kids were out that day. But because of the 3 inches of sleet on the ground that thawed just enough every night to refreeze and cause the streets to be incredibly slick the next day, they ended up being out of school until Friday! I'll tell you, last week was L O N G. Lucikly, the weather guys who thought we'd get up to a foot of snow this past weekend were wrong and it ended up just raining all day Saturday. So no more snow days. Thank goodness.

So hopefully we're finally back to normal after the holidays and all the snow days and I can get back to doing what I do.

13 point how-many-miles did you say?!

There's no way. I'm thinking of all the awful illnesses and/or injuries I could come down with between now and April 29th. A half-marathon. Seriously, what was I thinking? I know what I was thinking. I was thinking that I'd prove all those people who think I can't do it wrong. Problem is, they may just be right.

I haven't thrown in the towel just yet. I have walked every day since the 2nd, which was my start date. The first couple of days I just did it on the treadmill. Then Hubby joined me after work on Thursday and Friday for a 2+ mile run/walk around the neighborhood. I'd love to say that I can run 2 miles but I can't. I have to stop to walk periodically. Unless it's downhill. Downhill running is my favorite. I feel so fast! Aren't I just pitifull! Today I did run a full consecutive mile before stopping, which I guess is an accomplishment. I just don't see how I can go from 1 mile to 13.1 in this lifetime, let alone before April 29th.

I'm hoping to lose some weight with this whole running endeavor. I've put on my fair share of pounds over the holidays and used "I'll be training for a half-marathon" as an excuse to overeat. Not cool. Now I'm big and the new pants I have to wear (scrubs, like a real doctor!) for my new job I start on Monday are showing the new dimples in my back side. Again, not cool. It seems as though I can either eat right and not exercise...or exercise but not eat right. I'm not sure how to do both things together. It's like my body and mind just won't let me do it. I'm hoping that this part time job will get me out of the house just enough to keep me away from the fridge and snacking all day long without any little eyes watching me. I can't stand when the kids tell on me. "We had cookies but Mommy ate them all." Not cool!

Um, oops?

I hadn't realized how long it had been since I'd made an entry here. I guess it's obvious that the holiday's have been busy.

We had Christmas day here at my house with my family. It was a nice visit with everyone but I had some major post-Christmas depression. The kids were all home with me and Hubby was at work and I just wanted him to hang around here and relax with us. Ya know?

Then last Friday we went to visit his family for our Christmas get-together. We just got back today. It was way too much time with the in-laws. I can't tell you how glad I am to be home.

So I just had pizza for dinner and tomorrow starts the new life for me. No more pizza. No more slacking off watching tv on the couch all night. No more bon bons! But the biggie is...and it's big...I'm training for a half marathon. I'm still not sure how I got roped into it. My little sister has done several walks for fundraising efforst and over a year ago she did her first run in San Francisco. Then my older sister got on the band-wagon and did a run a couple months ago. And somehow, somewhere in a phone conversation it was agreed that I would do a run with them on April 29th. The good news is that I got to buy some new workout clothes. But um, now I gotta put them on. Scary. Really scary.

Holy Hormones Batman!

This has been quite a week in our household. On Monday, I woke up feeling awful. AF (Aunt Flo for those who aren't familiar with her) showed up on Sunday and I was crampy and crabby. I also had a horrible headache that got worse and worse as the day grew longer. Elliot complained all morning of an awful tummy ache and ended up staying home from school. Then Marleigh called around 11:00 to say she felt bad so I had to pick her up from school early.

The three of us lay around the house most of the day, nursing our ailments and hoping it wouldn't last long. By 4:00 my head hurt so badly that I thought I would hoark. So off to bed I went. The kids came in periodically to check on me and ask about dinner. Finally at 5:40 I told Marleigh to come get me at 6:00 when dinner would be done and I'd come get it out of the crock pot.

When she came to get me up I went into the bathroom and she followed me in and sort of hung around. As I was washing my hands she finally spoke up with, "Mom. I think I may have started my period." If not for my horrible migraine I probably would have had more of a reaction. As it was, with my head bowed so not to disturb the pain I moved my eyes toward her and asked her what made her think that she'd started. I was doubtful that it was truly her time. After all, I was at least 12 if not 13 when I started and here she is just 11.7 years old. I figured she'd had some discharge that she just wasn't used to.

She told me that the day before she went to the bathroom and had some "stuff" in her panties. She didn't really think anything of it until just then though because she'd gone in to the bathroom just before waking me and it was there again. Still doubtfull, I asked her to show me. Sure enough, my little girl had started her period.

That was 3 days ago. We've made it through her wearing pads for 2 days and then deciding she wanted to give tampons a try. I am so thankful that she feels comfortable enough to come to me with questions and isn't trying to figure things out on her own. Let me tell you, helping your daughter...the same one that you nursed and changed diapers for...insert her first tampon is quite a wild ride. It doesn't seem possible that I have a daughter old enough to me going through this. Apparently I do.

This evening those awful hormones got the best of her. I picked her up after school (where she was supposed to stay late for a choir practice but didn't because her tampon leaked all over the place) and we went directly out to shop for clothing for a wedding this weekend. It was several hours before we made it home and then she got started in on her homework. Of course, she chose the busiest room in the house to work (the living room) and after acting frustrated with the noise I told her she could go to my room and work on my bed. Several minutes later when I went to check on her she was sitting on my bed sobbing. I asked her what was wrong and she responded with, "I don't want to be 11. I don't want to go to school. I have so much homework, it's just too much! I can't do it!" I finally got her calmed down enough to take a deep breath and realize that the changes she's going through are making her feel completely overwhelmed. Now 2 hours later she's just about finished and ready to call it a day.

Heaven help us when all 3 girls get their periods. Hubby may as well take Elliot and run away for at least a week every month.

Can we please?

Tonight we went trick-or-treating. Marleigh went with her friend. Hubby stayed home to pass out candy and make dinner and the rest of us all went out with our neighbor and her Dad. Thank goodness the Dad came because Tess got tired half-way-through and he ended up carrying her on his shoulder's. Gotta love those strong neighbors.

Tess was dressed as Rapunzel, Selah was a can-can dancer, and Elliot was the Energizer Bunny. We went through the whole neighborhood and got lots of goods. One family gave out bananas. Seriously. (That would be "seeweyuswee" in Selah terms, which she says all the time by the way.) Elliot was very nice at the door and came out to the curb and said, "Um, that's the new "penny person". They give out BANANAS!".

We got home and all three kids went through their candy, organizing it and getting ready to trade things with their siblings. Of course, while sorting it they each were munching on stuff. Elliot just went for the first thing he could get his hands on. Selah picked through several things, opening them and then deciding she didn't like it and then would move on to something else. (She doesn't like chocolate. I think she may have been switched at birth.)

Tess however, went straight for that banana. She's like that commercial where the kid is stacking up all sorts of fatty snacks to make a stool so they can reach the Life cereal. You don't think that happens in real life but it does.

I had a lot of fun tonight. And the kids came home telling Hubby how much fun they had, which made it even more fun for me. And then Selah closed the night with this...

"Can we go trick-or-treating again tomorrow night?"

Sure we can. Who cares what the neighbors say!

Mommy, why is the church man here?

Nothing like a visit from the preacher to really make you look at the way you're living. Right?

Hubby recently built a house that is right next door to our preacher's house. It's been finished for almost two months now and still no offers on it. We really need a contract on this house. So if you have any extra room in your prayers, a send up to the Big Man for an offer would be much appreciated!

So, when hubby built this house he and the preacher (JJ) put a fence up. Since JJ's house is next door, part of the fence is technically his. So he owed us a little bit of money for supplies. At church last Sunday he said he'd come by and drop off a check. Of course, we came home and made at least the front of the house presentable. He never showed up.

This afternoon was chaos. Marleigh had gone to her friends house to help her prepare for her birthday party. Then they showed up here to get some CD's to play. I was in the living room with the two of them making sure they chose appropriate music. Selah was in the living room watching tv and since we (Marleigh, her friend, and I) were talking she had it turned up really loud so she could hear it. Elliot and his friend who is spending the night were upstairs in the bonus room playing the X-Box. Of course they are screaming at the top of their lungs because you just can't paly X-Box silently. Then on the landing upstairs is Tess with her CD player blasting the High School Musical CD and singing at the top of her lungs. Like I said, it was chaos.

As I'm sitting in the living room with the girls I hear the doorbell ring. I fully expected it to be Marleigh's friend's father who had been waiting in his car outside. Instead, I hear Selah say, "Mommy, why is the church man here?"

I turn around to see our preacher in the door. There was nothing for me to say other than, "If you'd come by on Sunday, it would have been clean and quiet around here." He got a major taste for the real life in our house. Nice, huh? Ugh.

They really are exceptional

All too often I take my kids for granted. I just assume that all children are like mine. My kids fight and whine. They hate picking up after themselves. They blame everything on their siblings.

However, they are also exceptional. They are all able to sit and have a conversation with an adult. Like yesterday when Elliot took a costume over for a neighbor to borrow and was gone for twenty minutes. Turns out he went in and told our neighbor about the new music he was learning to play on the piano. He took the time to explain all the pieces of the costume to her. He told her 6 year old son he was sorry he didn't feel well. I take for granted that my children do these kinds of things. Then I think about my neighbor's son who is Elliot's age and could have more of a conversation with a brick wall then he could with me.

Last night I was reminded by a friend at church just how exceptional Marleigh is. As a Mother, it's always a treasure to hear someone talk about your child with such praise. But the comments I heard last night just made my heart leap.

Marleigh went on the Jr. High retreat last weekend. They went camping for 3 days and 2 nights out in the wild blue yonder of Arkansas. On the second day they were doing an obstacle course that was much like the ropes courses of my days. You know the kind, where you have to trust and depend on others to help you through. As Marleigh and several other friends jumped over a rope while still holding each others' hands, it was then Alex's turn to make the leap. Marleigh held her hand as she took her jump and cringed as she heard a loud snap upon Alex's landing. Thankfully, the person on the other side of her was an adult chaperone and he immediately told Alex, "Don't move. It's broken."

Marleigh has only known Alex for a few months. Yet she stayed by her side as the adults fashioned a stretcher out of a cot to get her to the car. Being in the middle of nowhere, the closest hospital was nearly an hour away. So when Alex was told she could bring a friend with her she chose Marleigh.

Last night my friend (the chaperone on the other side of Alex and one who also made the trip to the hospital) told me that he was so impressed with Marleigh's care and composure. He told me of how she stroked Alex's face tenderly, telling her it would all be ok. How she held her hand extra tight as they made their way through the bumpy terrain to get to the highway. That she kept Alex's mind off of the pain by sharing with her the story of Tess breaking her arm earlier this year and telling her funny stories about our crazy family.

At the hospital Alex was only allowed one adult in the room with her but was somehow able to con the nurses into letting her new friend Marleigh join them. And so Marleigh went back to sit by her side and help her not feel so alone.

My friend said he doesn't know many 11 year olds that can be as mature as Marleigh was that night. I feel so incredibly blessed that she's mine. At times like these, Hubby and I wonder how on earth we got such exceptional children. I need to say an extra prayer thanking the Big Man for choosing us to raise these wonderful kiddos.

Oh, and if you're wondering...Alex is doing all right. She dislocated her ankle and broke her leg in two places. From what I hear, if her ankle hadn't been dislocated she would have had a compound fracture. Ouch! It looks as though she won't have to endure surgery but she's been out of school all week. Marleigh's already been over twice to visit her. What a special girl!

Tomorrow I'm wearing tennis shoes

That's what Sela said as soon as she walked in the door after school today.

"Tomorrow I'm wearing tennis shoes. Know why? Because I can tie them now!"

She's so proud of herself. We wear lots of sandals and shoes that don't require tying around here. Not because she can't do it, they just tend to be cuter. I have never really worked with her to teach her to tie. I just knew she'd figure it out at some point. Sort of like at some point I figure she'll decide she shouldn't be sucking her thumb anymore. Right?

So today she got it. What a big girl!

I'll probably regret this

Watching my weight is a huge thorn in my side. It's been a constant in my life. It's way past old. For the last several months I've been like a yo-yo just moving up and down between 10 pounds. I get to the top of that 10 pounds and feel so disgusting that I get back on track, lose 10 pounds quickly, and then go through a couple days of bingeing and the cycle just starts right over. It's a pain. And what's so frustrating is that the bottom of those 10 pounds is actually 17 pounds MORE than where I was at one point earlier in the year.

So I'm tired of this yo-yo game and decided on Monday that I was going to get back on track and not give up when I lose those first 10 pounds. I've done great all week and am already down 10 pounds. But here's where the regret is coming...

I have a headache today. And I'm in a funk. And I just want to eat. I've been really good but then 4:00 rolled around and I ended up opening the bag of sugar free reese's peanut butter cups that I bought yesterday. Thank goodness it's a small bag with just 2 servings. I've got one cup left and then the bag will be gone. My willpower sucks. Ugh.

At least they're sugar free though, right? But the sugar free stuff usually gives me the worst tummy ache ever if I induldge too much. So I'm sure I'll regret that I ate this whole bag.

It's a viscious cycle. It really, really is.

Thank goodness that's over

Today's was Tess' last trip to the pediatric dentist in Oklahoma City. This was our 5th trip and it's just not any fun at all. Poor little Tess inherited Mommy's icky teeth. At her first ever trip to the dentist she had 7 cavities. Then when we went for more x-rays it turned out there were 10. So we were referred to a pediatric dentist who was more equipped to handle the amount of work that needed to be done.

After all was said and done, Tess has a total of 7 silver crowns on back molars as well as the enamel colored crowns on her two front teeth that she got today. $2500 on teeth that will fall out in the next 5 years. Nice, huh? Not so much.

In the beginning I gave her a weeks notice that she had an appointment coming up. Then she spent the next week being a huge terror knowing that the countdown was on. So then I tried telling her just the day before. That was almost worst. Well, until I just showed up in the parking lot without giving her any warning at all. That's when she looked around and said, "Why awe we herwah?!" That was way worse. I had to basically tackle her just to get her out of the car.

So I told her yesterday that her last appointment was today. She wouldn't get out of bed this morning. Then as we got closer to the office she got more and more upset. Until we were pulling onto the street of the dentist's office and she announced, "I don't want to go to da dentist. It feels like day awe widing a bike on my teef!" Never heard that one before. Poor thing.

Ah well, at least it's over. Now I just have to keep my fingers crossed that the next time we go for a cleaning she doesn't have another 10 cavities.

Spys like us

First let me say that I am a big loser for not updating sooner! I often have things that the kids say or do that I mean to write in here. But the last month just seems to have gotten away from me. Obviously.

So last night we were all spys. We got "booed" a couple days ago. You get a package of goodies on your front porch with a picture of a ghost and a poem. The poem tells you that you must copy the picture of poem twice and "boo" two other people in the next 24 hours. Luckily, there was no warning like on some emails that I've gotten threatening me with my life if the task wasn't completed within 24 hours.

I got bags of goodies made up for our two neighbors across from us and when the sun went down last night we all got ready to boo. Sela and Elliot did one house, they ran across the street and rang the doorbell and then ran over to the side of the house. All the while, the rest of us are crouched down in the dining room watching through the window. We don't have a great view to that neighbor's front door but we did see the man of the house open the door and get the bag.

Tess and Marleigh got to do the other house and it was much more exciting. They had gone over once and placed the bag on the porch and ran but then we realized that only the dad was home. He must have been upstairs because although a light came on in the house no one ever opened the door. Then as Sela and Elliot were hiding in the bushes the rest of the family came home. Luckily they weren't found out. After they all unloaded from their car and got in the house Tess and Marleigh went back over and rang the doorbell again. This time they came to the door and opened it. They must have been pretty excited to get booed because they immediately went to their study (which we have full view of) and copied the papers. Then they hung the ghost in the window so everone would know they'd been booed. The Dad went outside and looked around and messed with some of their Halloween decorations. He was just several feet away from Tess and Marleigh hiding in the dark at one point but lucikly they made it home safely without getting caught.

It was fun watching the look on the neighbors faces when they saw their goodie bags. But what was even more fun was crouching down in our dark house acting like spies and seeing the looks on my own kids faces!

We'll definitely be booing again next year!

No deal

Hubby called me earlier. He found out that they are interviewing 4 people today and then 4 more tomorrow for the position I applied for. Obviously I'm not one of them. I'm sad. I thought I'd at least get an interview. Hubby's just downright angry. I feel bad for him. I know he thought that the hurdle would be convincing me to get a job. I don't think he (or I for that matter) realized I would apply for jobs and not get them.

I found out too that the first job I applied for has been reposted. The coordinator for that job did tell Hubby when I first applied for it that he appreciated me applying. That was nice. And we have heard that they are looking for someone with a degree and with no children. I'm out on both counts there.

I had to go to Oklahoma City yesterday for another dentist appointment for Tess. While we were there we went by the State Capitol and I filed my business registration papers as well as my LLC. So I'm official now. I guess I'd better get busy and build this business because it looks like my only option right now.