Remember the Reason for the Season...Enjoy!

Wishing I Was Still Here...

TWILIGHT

Anyone interested in seeing "Twilight" tonight (Thurs. 12/18)??

Either at 7:05 or 9:40 p.m. CALL ME!

I Need Suggestions (please)

Davis "failed" the school's hearing test for the 6th year in a row. And every year I'm required to get a physician's signature to show that I'm aware of this and what recommendations are given. In the past, the ENTs have told me he can "adapt" which has always frustrated me. Anyway, this year our FAVORITE audiologist really listened to me and answered my questions and suggested Davis get a hearing aid. And Davis's reaction...

"NO WAY!!"

He's so afraid kids will make fun of him and say that he looks like a nerd. I'd like to tell him that kids won't - but I'm not sure if that's true. I really think the hearing aid could make a world of difference for him and was hoping you could give me some suggestions to help convince him to wear one. I don't want to spend thousands of dollars for him to "accidentally" lose it, take it out at school, etc. If you have any ideas or stories that might help please let me know - they'd be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

FRIDAY FLASHBACK

(Davis-3 and Kyle-2)

I came across this picture in Kyle's room and had to share it. It's one of my favorites of Davis and Kyle together. We were on vacation and playing miniature golf. There was a cow pasture right next to the course and it had a thin layer of fog. It was beautiful.

Awwwwwww

Aren't they just ANGELS when they're sleeping?!

OUCH!

Okay, so our car accident wasn't bad enough to read this sign - but we were just in one. I was driving home from Davis and Jake's hair appointment and was TOTALLY re-ended at a RED light. When the light turned green, I slowly pulled over to the right lane and the car behind me followed. So then I pulled into the TRAC parking lot thinking they would follow me there too, but NOPE. They totally took off. I quickly turned around and tried catching up to them to get their license plate number while dialing 911 (which I totally spaced the new law of no talking on a cell phone while driving - oops). He turned on a side street and I ended up following the wrong car. The police got all of our information and told me and the boys to take some ibuprofen tonight and gave us a case number for insurance and went searching for him.

Anyway, the boys thought it was very exciting to be in an accident and couldn't wait to tell Kyle and Bennett about it. Me on the other hand, I'm having some pain in my upper back/shoulder (showing my age, I guess) and am VERY FRUSTRATED with dishonest people!!!! There isn't enough damage to the van for me to bother with insurance, so if the idiot would have followed me into the parking lot - I probably would have said, "Aw, don't worry about it." And that would be that. But he had to try and get away with it. Sorry, I'm just disappointed and needed to vent...

Halloween 2008

I LOVE Halloween!

I love the dressing up, the decorating, and just having fun (and the CANDY of course).

I always look forward to it.

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This year we had a dolphin (for the 5th year in a row, thank goodness for hand-me-downs). Bennett was so excited he could fit in this costume. Sometimes he'd tell you he was a shark and other times he was a dolphin. In the end the dolphin won out. And he TIRED out after just a couple of streets of trick-or-treating.And a dinosaur... He got a lot of attention and loved every minute of it. Except if it was someone asking him if he was pregnant. He didn't think that was too funny. And Harry Potter...Kyle LOVES Harry Potter! And he LOVED that everyone went out of their way to acknowledge that he was a great looking Harry Potter. (I think he was casting a spell when I took the picture).
And an injured skateboarder (the flash makes his "blood" look more red than it was). He said people kept STARING at him and asking him what happened. It really did look more real in person. He thought it was great.

And Mick and I dressed up as bikers for the Ashton's annual Halloween party. I'm winning the race in this picture.

And I got a little carried away (too into character I guess) in the next picture. I just love embarassing Mick - it's too much fun (and so easy). It was a fun party, thanks Ashtons! I love ROCK BAND! and I LOVE Halloween!

BEFORE...

AFTER...
I do plan on cleaning it out - and it'll look much nicer.

Check out this crafty girl's give away!!!

Bennett's First Field Trip

Bennett was so excited for his first field trip. It was with his Kinderheights Preschool class to the pumpkin patch. Mick was actually on vacation that week and was able to go too. It was so much fun.

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First we visited the petting zoo. He loved the cow and horse, but the pig scared him a little bit.

Next he conquered the hay pyramid.

Then he was challenged in the hay maze. (He tried peeking his way through)

Finally the search for the BEST pumpkin ever. He was pretty serious about this adventure. Needless to say, we were the last ones back to the tractor.

But he found it and couldn't have been happier.

SKATE PARK

For those of you who don't know, my boys consider themselves "skaters" and beg everyday to go to the skate park. We've been to all three (that we know about), but Davis and Kyle prefer the Richland skate park. I took them there on Monday when they had no school and took pictures. Davis is the only one that actually skateboards. Kyle prefers to ride his scooter.

Jake likes to ride his Heely's and his scooter.

Bennett loves to watch his brothers and try to do their tricks in his flip-flops.

I figure it's all harmless and fun as long as they don't end up like these guys and hang out at skate parks in the middle of the afternoon when they're in their 40's and aren't there with kids?

Or end up with too many of these.OUCH!

CALGON TAKE ME AWAY....

Today has been one of those days. After babysitting, I took Kyle and Davis to the orthodontist and found out they will both need braces. Neither one need them right away, but Kyle does need some work done now. First he'll need a rapid palatal expander placed in his mouth. Which I'll get to turn the key to expand his palate. Then he'll get upper braces (on 4 teeth) and lower braces (on 4 teeth) and be given a reverse pull headgear to wear every night to bed for a year (for his underbite class 3). Here's a picture of Dakota Fanning sporting this headgear Kyle will be wearing.

Not too bad and it's only at night. I was totally picturing the headgear that poor girl had to wear in "16 Candles." Remember her trying to get a drink out of the drinking fountain? Thank goodness Kyle's actually excited about all of this. I'm just seeing dollar signs and stress. Oh, and then he gets to wear a retainer until it's decided when he'll get full braces. Yay! I'm just thankful that we have the best orthodontist helping us!

Anyway, I get home from that, try to explain it all to Mick, then he asks me if I've checked the courthouse message to see if I have to report to jury duty tomorrow, which I hadn't. Guess what?! I have to report to jury duty tomorrow morning. So, I have to frantically call around to find somewhere for Bennett to go. And thankfully Brenda saved me and he'll have a play date with Landon. Thanks Brenda.

Oh, and while I'm checking to see if I have to report tomorrow, I have a "beep" through from my brother-in-law's attorney wanting to talk with me and Mick tomorrow. All the while kids are going crazy, tv's loud, computer's loud, etc. Aaaaaaah. I'm so hoping tomorrow's a lot less eventful.

McDonald's Grand Opening Pictures...

We had a great time at the McDonald's Grand Opening in West Richland on Saturday. We went with Mick's family, the McDonalds, and enjoyed the show and the $1.99 Happy Meals (which goes through the 24th).

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Has anyone else wondered about the gender of Grimace?? Well, I asked yesterday when I met HIM for the first time. He's male...another mystery solved. Then I asked him if he minded getting his picture taken with my boys. He gladly agreed.

(Davis, Kyle, Jake, and Bennett with Grimace)

Grimace couldn't help himself from flirting with Mick... Mick was totally unaware of Grimace's gender too, that's why he hugged back. After the show, Grimace came "out" and introduced himself to Mick. He came up to him and asked, "Did someone pat you on the head and hug you?" And Mick said, "Yes, Grimace did." And the guy said, "That was ME." Mick was totally embarassed.
Jake got chosen out of a bunch of kids to help participate in a magic trick (see video in post below). Everyone was laughing and having a great time. Especially Jake and Ronald. Ronald's quite the tease.
Ronald's giving Jake some special instructions below.
Ronald told Davis that HE's the oldest McDonald brother. The kids thought it was great that we have the same last name. (Ronald, Davis, Bennett, Jake, and Kyle)

The boy's twin cousins Dayne and Madisyn were also chosen to particapate in different acts with Ronald, that's why Dayne's wearing his Ronald mask in the cousins picture below. (Dakota, Ronald, Madisyn, Davis, Dayne, Tylan, Bennett, Jake, and Kyle)

If anyone goes to the W. Richland McDonald's after Tuesday, make sure you check out the bulletin board. They took lots of pictures of my boys, their cousins, and even us adults - especially when they found out we were McDonalds. We plan on checking it out and enjoying the $1.99 Happy Meals again!!

McDonald's Grand Opening

We went to the Grand Opening of the new McDonald's in West Richland yesterday with Mick's family and Jake was chosen to be Ronald's assistant. I recorded most of their act - I ran out of memory on my card (dangit). Enjoy the video.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Lessons in Mother Nature

For Kyle's 9th birthday, he wanted everything to do with bugs. So, he got a bug vacuum, bug habitat, and a bug net gun. He was so anxious to put a "pet" in his habitat and quickly found a neighborhood slug and named her Shelly.I'm not sure what happened to Shelly - but she disappeared one day.

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I was telling my VTs about it and one of them told me she finds Praying Mantises (not sure what the plural is) all the time in her bean plants.

So she graciously caught one for Kyle and we went over to pick it up. Kyle named "her" Treeko. Well, almost a week later she died. So, I contacted this VT again and asked her to keep an eye out for another one. A few days later she found another one and Kyle named "her" Treeko too.

A couple of days later Bennett found a brown Praying Mantis at our house and Kyle caught "him" and put him in with Treeko. Kyle was so excited and ran in to tell me all about it. I reminded him what happens when Praying Mantises mate (which he thinks means dancing and playing together or getting married), but he wasn't worried about it.

About five minutes later he came running to me and said, "MOM! Treeko's giving the brown one (I forget his name) a piggy back ride!" He was so happy they were friends already. Well, that night the brown one had Treeko in a "headlock" and needless to say, killed Treeko and ate HIM. Kyle was devastated and couldn't sleep that night. I told him he knew that could happen, which he said he knew - but he thought Treeko was the girl and he wanted to see Treeko kill and eat the brown one. Silly me...
~
So, if anyone finds a GREEN Praying Mantis, please let me know...Kyle's hoping for Treeko the third.

QUICK UPDATE

Some very thoughtful friends and family have shown concern because I have not posted or commented on blogs in 5 or so weeks. I just wanted to let everyone know, I am fine - but my computer isn't. I finally took it in and it's the motherboard. It's hopefully getting fixed and will be hooked up again soon. Dang lightening storm!

Momma's Boy

What can I say, my youngest is a big momma's boy. Which I love and enjoy, but today on his first day of preschool I was hoping he'd be ready for a little separation. When I woke him up this morning, the first thing he said was, "I don't want to go to preschool." And he continued saying that all the way to Miss Kim's.

~

Here's pictures of him crying on the kitchen floor before we left...so sad.

But as we pull into preschool, Bennett hops right out of the van and I'm thinking "YES! He's going to do it and have no problems." And he's still fine while I'm filling out the paperwork (standing right next to me though) so I'm still pretty hopeful. And Maddie was standing right next to him, staring and wanting to play and I know he thought about leaving my side, but was still a little unsure. Then I tell him goodbye and he says, "I'm scared" and starts crying. Miss Kim came over, took his hand and comforted him as I left.

When I picked him up after preschool he was so excited to show me the cool dinosaur book he checked out from the library and Miss Kim and Miss Diane said he only cried for probably 2 seconds after I left, which is was hoping for (thanks guys). I asked him what his favorite thing about preschool was and he said, "EATING!" Typical boy answer.

Bennett and Maddie hugged goodbye and I'm hoping next Tuesday will go even smoother!

Aren't they cute?