Happy Halloween!

From our pirate, princess, and cowgirl:

I worked hard on these costumes, so, dang it, I get to show them off!

And a very happy day to you all from us punks.

This is how we dressed for the church party.  We're so awesome.

Random Thoughts Thursday

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It is so cold in my house right now. But I refuse to turn on the heat until at least November. We’ve made it this far before…but I’m running out of sweaters to layer on. And I’m kind of puffy.

I did find my slippers, though, so at least my feet are toasty.

Why does it not bother the kids like it does me? I'm wearing four shirts and two pairs of socks and they're all watching TV in their underwear. I don't get it.

This morning Chris overslept and nearly missed his plane. Thank goodness for a small child who wanted help with the TV at 6:30 in the morning (I never thought I’d say that!)

I need to update Project 365. I haven’t missed another day, I just haven’t had time to sit down and post so many pictures. And, of course, every day I put it off just adds one more picture to put up. But still, I put it off.

We took the Girl Scouts to the pumpkin patch yesterday and I forgot my camera.  I'm an idiot.

I love my new van! The best part is, I don’t have to listen to “she’s touching me!” anymore!

We need new family pictures. Ellie is two in our most recent ones. It's time.

I only have one Halloween costume left to sew. I think I’ll make it.

My fingers are so cold I can’t type right. But I’m not stubborn. I’m NOT!

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Just Call Us the Swagger Family

We’ve gone through a few cars in our 11 years of marriage. Our first was a 1989 fire-engine red Audi 5000. It was an old boxy grandma car (truly, it was. We bought it from Chris’s great-aunt and -uncle, who bought it from his grandparents) and we loved it. We drove it until the day it died, quietly and without fanfare, on a stretch of 7th East in downtown Salt Lake City.

After that we got a Toyota Corolla. It was small, simple, and reliable, although as basic as you could possibly get. No automatic locks, no cruise control (which, let me tell you, would have come in really handy on our move to Oregon), but still a great car for a family of four. Once Ellie was on the way, though, we realized the little Corolla just wasn’t going to cut it for a family of five.

So we upgraded to a Subaru Outback. And it was awesome. Three carseats fit in the back, no problem. It carried us to Utah and back 10 times in the course of five years. The cargo space was unparalleled, and, apart from the slightly ghetto driver’s side window, we never had a single problem with it. But it had a lot of miles on it and was beginning to show signs of its age.

Plus, the kids just kept getting bigger. And the car didn’t.

So, after squirreling away our pennies for three years (three very looooong years), doing lots of online research, and spending two days driving around to a variety of dealerships (from the slightly scary to the overly imposing), we are now the proud owners of a Toyota Sienna minivan! Yay us!



Our new ride.


The girls came along to help out. They were very discerning.

Test drive!


They approved of the bucket seats and “magic doors”, but were disappointed by the lack of drop-from-the-ceiling screen in the first car we test drove. And also the missing mirror from the driver’s side visor.


We did not buy this car.


But they liked the play area and free popcorn at one dealer and the free candy at another.

Vicki, who definitely has the most Ebert genes of any of our daughters, made a chart so she could keep track of the cars we looked at.

The second car we test drove (which did happen to have a drop-down screen – bonus!) ended up being “the one”. It had a few more miles than we were hoping for, but the price was good, and, most importantly, they made us an offer we couldn’t refuse for a trade-in on the Outback.

So we bid a fond farewell to the car we’ve occasionally referred to as “Kermit” (I’m pretty sure Uncle Scotty named it)


Goodbye, old friend.


and drove home in what has been dubbed “Kermit II”. I didn’t actually want another green car, but you take what you can get, and it’s already growing on me.

And we managed to strike gold and landed ourselves the luxury edition, which means leather seats (heated!) and an excellent surround sound system. It also means we get to enjoy my personal favorite part:

That's right.  Our new car has a VCR. Not a DVD player, but a VCR. How many other people do you know with a VCR in their car?

Just watch us swagger.

Random Thoughts Thursday

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The President passed within a half mile from my house yesterday and I missed it. I’m so bummed. A five-year-old friend called me last night to tell me that she’d seen his motorcade, which makes me even more bummed.

I still have two Halloween costumes to sew. I’m such a procrastinator. Now my house will suffer. At least I know Chris will pretend not to notice.

I get to help with picture day tomorrow. I’m hoping I can manage to get Ellie's pictures taken, too, so I don’t have to take her somewhere else. It's just easier that way.

Ooooh, maybe I’ll watch The Princess and the Frog with Ellie while I cut out fabric! I haven't seen the whole thing yet, and we really should return it to Netflix.

I want a new, bigger car and I want it now. Can’t I just snap my fingers and make it happen?

Mary Poppins would really come in handy around here.

Yesterday when I told my kids to turn off the TV and do their homework, no one complained. Should I be worried?

This post was written by Maggie, a counselor at the girls’ school. We love our school.

If you haven’t seen it yet (and you probably have; I’m a little slow), you should watch this. I do love the Old Spice guy, but I love Grover more.

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Random Thoughts Thursday

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Halloween is in two weeks?  What?!?  Oh, man, I have to get to work on costumes!  Next year they're all going as bedsheet ghosts, I swear.

It's so great to see the world coming together over happy news.  I'm so glad those miners got out okay!

There is not enough time in a day to do everything I'd like to.  There's barely enough time to do everything I need to.  Can we slow this ride down, please?

The other day I told Ellie I'm going to miss her when she goes to school next year.  She told me it would be okay because her stuffed animals would keep me company.

I now completely understand how people can spend three straight days watching TV shows on DVD.  Lost is sucking me in, and it's probably good for my sanity that I'm not allowed to watch it without Chris, or else I'd be up all night.

I would like to know, though, where they found bottle rockets.  Who brings those on a plane?  There was something else, too...a pickax?  Something like that.  We just keep telling ourselves: willful suspension of disbelief.

I came across a quote the other day that I really like: "Faith is much better than belief. Belief is when someone else does the thinking." -R. Buckminster Fuller

Who names their child Buckminster?  Even as a middle name?  It makes me think of Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate, which makes me think of Oliver Boliver Butt. Which reminds me that Dr. Suess was awesome.

Blogger's spellcheck is suggesting "bigamist" as an alternative spelling for "buckminster".  Heh.

I would like to know why Facebook thinks I would be interested in "Buddhist Second Life".  Sometimes their ads just confuse me.

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Weird at WinCo

I've been shopping at WinCo Foods for over five years now.  I know some people who don't like shopping there, but we're all about saving in this house, so that's where I go.

Granted, the clientele is, well, different from what you'd find at Safeway or Fred Meyer, but I don't mind too much.  It's never been that strange.

But yesterday was just weird.

When we were walking into the store, I noticed a lady with a bunch of what looked like bracelets inside of baggies walking around the parking lot.  Ellie wondered if she was going to a birthday party, because why else would you have so many bracelets?  But I forgot about her as soon as we got inside.

We did our shopping and left the store.  Just as I got the car unlocked, the bracelet lady approached me.  Apparently she made the bracelets herself and was selling them to support herself.  Okay, I thought, we like bracelets in our house.  They were nothing terribly fancy, but she was selling them for a dollar apiece, so I bought one for Ellie.  She thanked me and moved on to the next potential victim customer.

I hadn't even finished saying goodbye to the bracelet lady when I felt a tap on my shoulder.  I turned and found myself face-to-face with an older gentleman pushing a walker.  He grunted a little (kind of like the no-face spirit in the movie Spirited Away - if you haven't seen it, you should) and held out a small green card.  On it was printed: "I am DEAF.  I am selling these cards with the DEAF ALPHABET to raise money.  THANK YOU."  On the back was a very small image of the manual alphabet.

I asked him (hoping he could lip-read) how much, and he held up first one, then two, then three, then four fingers, followed by a shrug.  I assume he meant dollars.

I have no problem paying a dollar for a hand-made bracelet, but it seems like a bit much to pay for a business card-sized piece of paper with an extremely hard-to-read "deaf alphabet", especially when I, and all three of my children, for that matter, already know it.  So I took matters into my own hands (ha!) and finger-spelled, "I'm sorry, but I don't think I can today."  Sadly, I'm not 100% sure he even understood what I was saying.

Now, I truly am all for supporting those in need, and if I hadn't already given the bracelet lady a dollar, there's a good chance I might have gone ahead and paid for the little card, but really?  What are the odds of being hit up twice in and afternoon?  Or even in a day?  Let alone in the space of two minutes, without even moving my feet?

WinCo (or at least its parking lot) is now officially a weird place for me.

After I got in the car, Ellie said I should have shown him that I know the signs for "more", "grumpy", and "silly".

Random Thoughts Thursday

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Until today, I didn’t know doctor’s offices would schedule appointments a year in advance, but apparently they do.  And I have no idea how I'll remember it.  But Vicki's cast is off, hooray!

My cousins, the ones who adopted a baby boy last year right around Christmas, have just adopted another baby boy! Their story is pretty amazing. Happy tears.  Lots and lots of happy tears.  You can read all about it here. Congratulations to Zack, Carrie, Caleb, and little Noah!

I think “Happy a Nice Day” is going to be my new catchphrase. It has a nice ring to it.

Last night we had dinner at The Original Taco House and, by doing so, helped our school raise money for technology. How cool is that?

It is entirely possible that I recycled a Netflix movie yesterday. I'm thinking this isn't a good thing.

Yesterday my baby turned 5.  One month from today, my oldest child will be 10.  Wow.

I have an almost-finished Belle costume lurking in my kitchen, but I’m hiding from it because I messed up on the gathers for the skirt and I have to tear it all out and redo that part. But I also have laundry that needs folding and bathrooms that need cleaning, and I feel guilty working on a Halloween costume instead. And there are two more costumes to finish when I’m done with that one. Ugh.

Aaaaaand…if I’m going to accomplish all I’d like to today, this round of Random Thoughts is officially over.

Thanks for playing :)

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Baby No More

My baby is five years old today.

It's surprising how hard a time I've been having with this fact.  She's been talking about her birthday for ages.  She has greeted me every morning for the past week with a countdown of how many more days to go (Monday it was one day and two nights, yesterday was no days and one night.)  I've been totally fine with the idea, even excited about it.  But for some reason all I wanted to do this morning was cry.

My baby is five years old today.

Five years ago today, this is how she looked:


Oct. 6, 2005 - Chubby McChubs


It's scary how fast they grow.



1 year old, rockin' the fountain hair



Age 2.  Potty training 101: Potty chair...not a hat.



3-year-old cutie pie.

4 years old.



Oct. 6, 2010 - 5 years old.


You've come a long way, baby.

I'll miss the preschool years, but she's turning into such a fun kid.  I'm glad we get to hang out for one more year before she starts kindergarten, even if she's chomping at the bit.  She did give me permission to still call her my baby, but only when no one else is around.  Because, apparently, it would be embarrassing if I did.

So Happy Birthday to Miss Ellie Magoo, my no-longer-a-baby, fun and feisty and full of life big girl!

Imitation

Vicki is turning 10 in just over a month.

The drama is beginning.

The two of us have very similar personalities (although she’s stubborn and I’m not. I’m NOT!) and we tend to clash very easily. I’ve been working hard on finding the best way to communicate with her when she’s upset, but Wednesday evening was not a good one for our relationship. Not good at all. It culminated with her screaming that no one loved her, least of all me. And she clearly wasn’t feeling too kindly towards me herself.

She apologized, but seeing as how she was going to be grounded when she got home from school on Thursday, a grudge was certainly being held.

She and some of her sister Girl Scouts are helping the school counselor make a movie to instruct good behavior in the lunchroom. They were scheduled to begin filming on Thursday. They’re not going all out in the costume department, but they all wanted to wear fun glasses (they’re supposed to be reporters). There was some miscommunication about who was providing the glasses, so Thursday morning I told Vicki I’d go to the dollar store and see what I could find and bring them to her when I dropped off “the machine” (which turned out totally awesome, by the way.)

I picked up four pairs – in case any of the other girls needed some – of cheap reading glasses and popped the lenses out (my skillz at this date back to pre-marriage days when my cousins and I wore Buddy Holly glasses, wigs, and housekeeping uniforms to the bowling alley, but that’s a post for another day.) The glasses were all pretty much alike in design, with gorgeous rhinestone jewels all around the frames, but there were four different colors to choose from: blue, pink, brown tortoiseshell, and black.

I let Vicki have first pick and was sure she’d go with the blue ones. But she surprised me by choosing black.

When I asked her why, she said, “Because they’re like yours.”

Oh.

My motivation to maintain a good relationship through her tween and teen years instantly doubled and redoubled.

Man, I love that kid.

Matchy glasses.  Awesome.