Happy Halloween!

We had a ton of trick-or-treaters tonight. And, lots of cute costumes. I guess more people got out since Halloween fell on a Friday night. The girls wanted something different besides their Star Wars costumes. Anna dug out an old costume and dressed up as Mulan. And, Rachel wore the Incredibles costume that I got for her last year. I dressed up as Elastigirl and stayed home and gave out candy.

I always enjoy Halloween but then as soon as it's all over, I'm already excited about Christmas. We are already planning our Polar Express movie night. Last year we hosted friends and played the Polar Express on our movie screen and had hot chocolate and other Christmas season goodies. I can't wait to do it again! I'm trying to talk Jeff into wearing a Santa costume this year. I think the children would love that!

Ahhhh, Memories....

A person soon learns how little he knows when a child begins to ask questions.~~Richard L. Evans

On the way home from dinner last night, Rachel asked Jeff and I, "How do police know if a car is speeding?" Jeff and I then proceeded to explain the concept of a radar gun and how it shows the speed a vehicle is traveling. Then Anna jumps in with every silly question that a 5-year-old can think of just to be part of the conversation..."Is there anyone speeding right now?" Jeff's reply: "Oh, I'm sure there is someone speeding some where." "Are you speeding right now Daddy?" Jeff replied, "No, Anna, I am not." Anna retorted, "But you were caught speeding before..." Jeff sighed and in a calm but resigned voice he replied with a smile, "Well, yes, and thank you for reminding me." I, of course, was snickering in the passenger seat and thankful it wasn't me that just got bested by a five year old.

See, a year or so ago, Jeff was pulled over for speeding. And, the girls were in the vehicle with us when it happened. Kids are always good at remembering our mistakes ( so they usually remind Jeff of this at least once or twice a year. :-) Now, if I could just get them to apply that great memory to remembering to hang up their coat and bookbag instead of throwing them on the floor, I'll call my life a success.

The kids also remember that the reason Jeff was speeding that night that he got the ticket and it was because of their whining, fighting and complaining was in high gear making even the most patient of people feel like running and screaming into the night. He let it get to him. Jeff just wanted to get home and get out of our jeep away from the insanity. The kids were going at it.....you know..."She touching me." "She's looking at me." "She's making annoying noises." And, they were getting louder and louder. The only resolution we've found to date is simply to tell them both they aren't allowed to speak (and you must also add "no singing, humming, whistling, thumping the door, etc. " and any other item specifically telling them no sound) until we get to our destination.

We stopped at Walmart before returning home and while shopping I overheard a Mom tell her children, "Could you PLEASE stop talking?" And, I heard myself saying the very same thing at dinner earlier in the evening. Both girls never stop talking but Anna wins the prize as of late. She'll jabber on and on about nothing, anything....she just never shuts up! My Mom used to have a saying about people who talk a lot, "if you were to tape their mouth shut, they would fart themselves to death." Well, that's Anna. I remember when our children were infants. Like other parents, we were absolutely thrilled when they said their first word. We worked so hard at helping them learn to communicate. We even taught our daughters some basic sign language as infants so they could communicate before they were able to verbally. But, now, oh what we would give for just small pockets of peace and quiet. It is constant chatter from the time they wake up until they go to sleep and it usually ends up with some discussion on poo poo and pee pee (because there simply isn't anything funnier to children, and grown men, than bodily functions).

When they bring their petty squabbles to me and punishment is warranted, I discipline them both simply because I'm not going to spend all day playing judge and jury trying to figure out who started it...you simply can't apply sanity where there is none. As Bill Cosby once said, "Parents aren't interested in justice - they want QUIET!" And, by the way, if you're a parent and you've never seen Bill Cosby: Himself, it is a must see video.

Now, it's time to go wake up the little ones. I'm sure they are well rested and ready to begin the day with lots of great conversation on poop and pee. :-)

Pumpkin Carving

I've learned there are three things you don't discuss with people: religion, politics and the Great Pumpkin.~~Linus in the movie It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Interestingly enough, the choice to celebrate Halloween (or not) seems to have become a hot topic along with religion and politics. Christian, my neighbor's son, recently informed my daughters that those who celebrate Halloween were celebrating Satan's birthday. Ummm, no, not exactly. But, if that's what they really think we are doing, I'll bake a cake and invite my neighbors over to partake on Friday while we read incantations from Harry Potter. (Yes, I've read Harry Potter books. We've watched Harry Potter movies. And, no, my children aren't now practicing witch craft.) If someone is going to teach their child about why their religious beliefs dictate that they shouldn't celebrate a specific holiday, then at least tell them the truth. The fact is that it's never been about celebrating Satan's birthday. As for why we choose to celebrate Halloween....it's fun, you get to dress up in a costume, and people give you candy for free. Seems like a no-brainer to me...but what do I know? Now, I'll get off my soap box.

We carved our pumpkins this evening in preparation for Halloween on Friday. Anna wanted a Winnie the Pooh pumpkin which I helped her complete. Jeff carved his own pumpkin with Patrick from Spongebob Squarepants. And, Rachel wanted to have a traditional jack-o-lantern this year for hers. Anna also picked a pumpkin that was white in color so that was a bit different.

Here are a few pictures of our 2008 pumpkins (Rachel's is at the top of the post):

Pumpkin Patch

We visited our church today to pick out pumpkins. Every year, our church sells pumpkins and the proceeds go to charity. And, every year we go with the girls to pick out pumpkins to carve.

Seeing parents taking photos of their infants with the pumpkins brought back lots of memories of when our daughters were that little also. I found some old photos of Rachel and Anna when they were younger and we visited the pumpkin patch. Where does the time go?

We'll carve the pumpkins some time later this week. We are not sure yet how they will be carved. I'll post photos after we are done.

Rheann's Visit

Our friend, Rheann, visited with us today. Rheann was my sponsor when I first entered the USAF. We were both 2LTs assigned at Robins AFB together. She PCS'd for one additional assignment and then chose to separate after she became pregnant with their first child. They've been in Wisconsin ever since.

Her family drove from Wisconsin to Orlando for a recent Disney trip as well. And, they stayed the night with us on their way back home. It was so nice seeing them again.

The last time we saw Rheann was in December 2006 when they visited briefly while traveling through GA. At that time, she didn't have her fifth child, Addison. We were disappointed that we didn't get to see Kevin, her husband, again but there wasn't room in their vehicle for him so he flew back home. We haven't seen him since they left GA many moons ago. Her mother-in-law and father-in-law were traveling with her back to Wisconsin.

Jeff set up the inflatable movie screen and the children watched Narnia during the evening. We grilled burgers and hotdogs and we also built a fire in the firepit. We roasted marshmallows and had s'mores.

Rachel and Anna had a great time playing with all of the children: Isaac, Andrew, Eric, Alex and Addison. They were so sad to see them leave this morning.

I have a new found respect for parents of large families. I couldn't imagine preparing food for a family of seven at each meal daily. Rheann and I are a lot alike in terms of being Type-A personalities so I know if anyone can handle the organization it takes to keep some semblance of sanity in the home with five children; it's her! She home schools the children too. I miss having her close by so that we can visit with one another more often. One of these days, we'd like to take our RV north and visit her and friends in Ohio as well.

Rheann and her family did find the magnitude of "McCain/Palin" signs to be much more plentiful here than in Wisconsin. I see lots of bumper stickers and signs in support of McCain here as well as bumper stickers that say, "Women for McCain" and "NOBAMA." I always find it interesting how the media slants the news and how the coverage is slanted to Obama.

It was humorous on Friday night when the children asked us which political party we supported. Anna asked, "Are you a Republican or a Democrap?" Please know that we have never referred to the Democratic Party as "Democrap." But, Jeff and I got a good chuckle at her accidental transposing of letters nonetheless.

Disney Drawings

I scanned two of the drawings we did while we visited the art studio at Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.
I only scanned mine and Rachel's. Jeff's was a combo of his and Anna's.

I couldn't scan all of mine because I drew mine larger than my scanner. But, what I wanted to contrast was Rachel's against mine. My version is pretty close to the actual artist rendering. I think Rachel did a phenomenal job on her own. Not too shabby for a 7 year old in my opinion!

Jeff Is Going To Be Jealous

Meet Christian.

He lives next door.

As I was updating the blog, I heard him yell for me...."Miss Angela, I have something for you." Then he walks up the steps and brings me a little rose from his yard.

Jeff calls him "Eddie." For anyone who ever watched "Leave it to Beaver," you'll understand the humor behind that. He is a precocious little boy. Although, people who work with Jeff also call him "Eddie" too because Jeff is the one in the office who looks so innocent yet causes the most mischief. I guess it's easy for Jeff to recognize his fellow bretheren. :-)

I've been blessed with two daughters who love to pick and bring me flowers too. I used to bring flowers to my Mom all the time when I was a little girl. But, I think it's sweet when Christian does it too. I much prefer him to our last neighbor's teenage son who had a crush on me. Their teenage son said he liked older women. His Mom used to get a good laugh from the whole thing. What can I say, the younger men love me! :-)

Once upon a time, the young girls loved Jeff. I distinctly remember some young girls...maybe 12 or 13....flirting with him at the movie theater when we first started dating. He had that really young look about him back then...still does in many respects. However, one of the neighborhood teenage girls who is friends with our niece saw him riding the skateboard down our driveway recently and she said, "Look at the old man on the skateboard." I didn't think Jeff would ever recover from that. Poor fella. That's OK. At least someone didn't think that a person who is as old as me was his child. That happened to me about a year ago! Talk about crushing..........

High Falls State Park, GA

Shortly after arriving at home last Tuesday afternoon from our Disney trip, I hopped in my van and drove north to Marietta for the remainder of the week for business. It was the first time I drove my own vehicle for business. Usually, I get a rental car. But, there wasn't time for picking one up after traveling from Orlando on the same day. During the second night at the hotel, vandals broke into eight vehicles. Two belonged to my coworkers. I was spared thankfully. The police said it has become common place as the thieves know there are a lot of business people staying at the hotels in the area and they look for lap tops, etc. They also look for suction cup markings on windshields (indicating the owner has a GPS). I was sorry that my coworkers were targeted but so greatful that I didn't have that to deal with; particularly since it was my first trip in my own vehicle. I'll definitely continue to get a rental car from here on out.

Jeff planned a weekend trip to High Falls State Park which is about half way between home and Marietta. So, I drove from Marietta to High Falls and met him there. Harold and Gail also stayed in their camper at High Falls before returning to Huntsville. They visited High Falls years ago with us when Rachel was an infant but had not been back since.

Friday was a very rainy day! But, the remainder of the weekend was beautiful thankfully. The temperatures finally cooled a bit so we also enjoyed some great Fall weather.

My van was a bit slow to start on Saturday morning and Jeff asked if it had been happening prior to then and I said, "yes." I had been meaning to tell him that I thought it was time for my battery to be replaced but like everything else, forgetfulness sets in and you aren't reminded until you experience the problem again. The van performed just fine on Saturday though but we both made a mental note that it was time for another battery when I got back home.

We hiked along the water at High Falls on Saturday morning. The falls were flowing well since it rained so much the day before. Afterwards, we drove to Indian Springs and enjoyed lunch at Pinky's Parlor and Cafe and then walked around at Dauset Trails. There was one goat in particular that had quite the personality. He started sneezing and then he started passing gas. Poor Anna was standing right behind him when it happened. Of course, kids think farting is about the most hilarious thing ever so Rachel was loudly talking about the goat "farting!" This same goat also urinated on the ground and then proceeded to lay in it. And, at another point, he furled his lip like many mammals do when they are trying to pick up the scent of a female in heat. He was such a male!

We returned to the campground late in the afternoon and we grilled out for dinner and I made some home made hot chocolate and we roasted marshmallows over a camp fire.

The girls played in the woods behind our RV and chased grasshoppers on Sunday morning while we prepped the campers to return home. Meanwhile, as I tried to crank the van, the battery gasped its last dying breath. Luckily, other campers were gracious enough to jump the battery off since Harold and Gail had already departed. I guess the cold weather zapped the remaining life from the battery which wasn't long for the world anyway. I was able to then drive to an autoparts store and they replaced my battery. I was greatful it happened at High Falls and not while I was alone in Marietta.

Our friend, Rheann, and her family will be traveling through GA this coming weekend and will be staying with us next Saturday. We can't wait to see them as it has been a couple of years since we saw them last.

Political Humor

Jeff shared this with me today. I don't usually post about political stuff here but in light of the election season and the fact that I find this photo humorous, I thought it was worthy of sharing. Ought to get my liberal friends fired up! :-)

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween 2008

We arrived in Orlando on Thursday afternoon. My mother-in-law and father-in-law, Gail and Harold, and our neice, Mary Grace, accompanied us on this trip. Gail and Harold towed their own camper down though.

We relaxed at Fort Wilderness and had dinner at the Trails End restaurant which is located at Fort Wilderness on Thursday evening thinking we'd rest up as we had busy days planned.

Tour Guide Jeff already had the trip planned out along with cracking the whip on us slow moving people each day. Usually, I'm good natured for a couple of days of getting up early and hitting the parks but usually by the third day I'm ready to lynch Jeff. Add to that a blossoming head cold and you get a good idea of how perky I was after a couple of days.

Jeff planned our first park stop to be at Epcot for Friday. We were a bit concerned we'd get rained on quite a bit because the weather forecast had a high chances of showers each day while we were in Orlando but we were fortunate. We had a great visit to Epcot along with a good lunch at Biergarten (German pavillion on the World Showcase).

On Saturday, we went to the Animal Kingdom.

The kids (that includes Jeff) could not wait to get on Everest again. Yes, our children are completely desensitized to the thrill rides. Other children their ages won't even think about getting on something like Everest. With our children, the faster, the higher; the better.

Again, we had great weather with exception of a small shower as we were leaving the park in the early evening. But, with that, we were treated to one of the most beautiful rainbows we've ever seen. You could see the full spectrum of colors and the complete rainbow. Absolutely beautiful! We told the girls that it was a special Disney rainbow.

On Sunday, we we went to Hollywood Studios (formerly known as MGM). Our friend, Roger, who lives in Orlando, joined us at Hollywood Studios.

We had a great day including seeing the Indiana Jones, Lights-Camera-Action Stunt, and Fantasmic shows.

We attended the Art of Disney pavillion where we all attempted drawings of Minnie Mouse. When I'm back home from my business trip (I'm currently in Marietta again), I'll have to scan those and share them when time allows.
Additionally, both Anna and Rachel were selected for the Jedi Training Academy this time. This was Anna's first time to be chosen and she was fearless against Darth Vader.

The girls also constructed their own light sabers at the Star Tours shop to complete their costumes.

I almost forgot to mention that while we were waiting for the Jedi Training Academy to start, Jeff noticed a guy wearing an Auburn shirt so Jeff told him, "War Eagle!" And, the guy replied back with the same. Then the guy's wife asked Jeff if he was military...many people think he is because of his short hair. It turned out that this woman was the sister of a guy that was a fellow cadet at Auburn with me. His last name is Higgonbotham. It truly is a small world after all.

On Monday, we hung out at the campground during the day while trying to rest up for the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party that night. Our friends, Mike, Jen and their children Ellis and Cooper, had a delayed flight from the U.K. on Sunday but still made it for the Halloween party. Roger also joined us for the event. Jeff, Rachel and I dressed in our Star Wars costumes. Mary Grace dressed as a maiden.

Harold and Gail usually surprise us with their chosen costume. This time it was Popeye and Olive Oyl. Harold got the most attention that night. Everyone recognized him or wanted a picture of him.

Roger dressed as Stitch.
Cooper dressed as Wall-E.

We had a bit of rain that night but it was clear for the remainder of the evening. I was in complete awe that Jen, Mike and the kids were able to stay up as long as they did after flying in from the U.K. that morning. Ellis and Cooper finally collapsed right before we left at 11:30 p.m. Rachel was so happy to be reunited with Ellis again and she was so sad when we had to leave on Tuesday morning.

This was Ellis and Cooper's first trip to Disney World. In previous visits to Orlando, they always visited Sea World. The boys had a blast while they had the energy to enjoy it.

And, this is a picture of Mike above with part of Cooper's costume. This is what someone looks like who is sleep deprived and dealing with severe jet lag. :-)
Overall, it was a great trip but tiring to some extent....it always is. We enjoyed seeing all of our friends and miss them all again.

The Weekend

My Mom


I left early on Saturday morning and returned home this morning. I visited with my Mom. I spent most of my time running a few errands and cooking. I made plenty of soup so that they could freeze it and then thaw it later.

My Mom is doing well but still needs assistance. She can move her right arm but has no use of her right hand which makes it pretty difficult to do many things that we two handed people get used to. I cut her finger nails which is something she can't do obviously with only one hand. And, she is right-handed (which is the paralyzed side) which requires adjustments for her as well. She is talking slightly better although she still gets frustrated when she can't quite get everything out that she wants to say. She has a lot of difficulty with saying the months of the year in her therapy sessions. She still gets upset when she tells me about the day she had the stroke. I can only imagine how long she was lying on the floor, unable to speak or get assistance, after she had the stroke. I've been meaning to check into that Lifeline service and I need to do that soon. That way, if she ever had another problem, it will be easier for her to get assistance.


While leaving her apartment complex to make a grocery store run, a woman (her name I later learned was Cynthia) stopped me as I was walking down the sidewalk. She asked, "Young lady, can I ask your assistance?" It was obvious that she had a disability of some sort. She needed someone to get a package of bottled water out of the back seat of her car and to put it in her wheeled cart. I offered to get the remainder of her groceries out and to bring it to her apartment as well. She was very grateful for the assistance and offered me $5. I declined and told her to keep it for herself or to give it to someone else who could use it. She said she would give the money to her church on Sunday. We talked as I walked with her to her apartment and found that she had a massive stroke 11 years ago which caused her paralysis. The doctors told her it was a miracle that she was alive after the stroke that she suffered. I guess it gave me hope that my Mom may still have some quality of life after she continues to recover from her stroke as well and that she may still have some number of years left to live. Cynthia and my Mom both reminded me how blessed we are when we have healthy bodies. I don't think I ever take my health for granted but I know there are days that I feel tired and I should think about how much more difficult it is for people like my Mom and Cynthia just to do simple, mundane tasks. It kind of puts my trivial aches and fatigue in perspective.



Metaphor for my Life


Meet Mount Cotton. Mount Cotton is the pile of clean, folded laundry that usually resides on the dresser in our bedroom.



While slightly embarrassing to share the photo, I thought it was the perfect representation of my life. You know....crap piled high with no end in sight, teetering on the edge of reason, and no organization to speak of. Yep, pretty much is a metaphor for my life.



Lane Peach Orchard



I got home around 3:30 this afternoon. I needed to make a quick stop at the Lane Peach Orchard to pick up some things for our friends who we will see next weekend. Anna went with me. We enjoyed some peach cobbler and a hay ride while there this afternoon. It was a nice break after the long drive this morning.

We leave for Orlando on Thursday. I can't wait to see Mickey and our friends from the UK!