Rock-n-Roll Cousin

Here's a video of my cousin Angela rockin' at the "White House" while she was visiting us for Thanksgiving weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving

This is a picture of our fireplace. I thought it looked very "fall-ish."

This year I'm thankful for a wonderful family, a house, church and friends I love and I'm thankful that we still live in Ohio and not Reno! I'm also thankful for missionaries like our friends Drs. Tom and Karen Asher who are leaving this week to serve for three years in Sierra Leone, Africa. Thank you God for people like them who have a heart for Africa and are willing to follow your great commission.

For what are you thankful this year?

Announcing an Addition to the White House

Yes, it's true, we have a new addition to the White House -- "Cheesy" is Evan's new hamster. Isn't he cute?! Evan has been begging for a mouse or a gerbil, but I hate tails; since hamsters have no tails, Evan and I compromised and he got Cheesy for his 5th birthday. I was very reluctant to get another pet -- we already have our geriatric goldfish, Dorothy and our cat, Millie -- a card-carrying member of AARP (or is it AARC?) and quite honestly, I have absolutely NO "need to be needed" and didn't really need another creature looking to me for care. But, I finally gave in to a hamster when Ben agreed to clean the cage (he promises to clean it once a week).

Now here's the secret -- I'm the one who has bonded with this rodent; I now officially love him. Evan wants Cheesy in his room at night, but after Evan is asleep, I go and get the little thing out of it's cage and hold and play with him. He's SOOOO cute! Shhh! Don't tell Ben I love the hamster, he might make ME clean the cage. mwahaha (evil laughing)

Leaf Pick-Up or Mess-Up?

I spent my morning raking to the curb what little leaves we have so that the leaves could be picked up by the city trucks. About two hours later the pile of leaves was discovered by Evan and Drew who thought the leaves were raked just for them! Evan was so incredibly thrilled to find leaves to jump in that I didn't have the heart to tell him "no." So my work was "un-done" but it was well worth it when I saw how much fun the boys had.

This is Evan trying to put the leaves back on the tree (?!).

She's NOT Dead

This is Dorothy. She's NOT dead. So if you come to my house and see her floating on her back on top of the water, please don't be alarmed; this is just how she relaxes at the end of a long day ('cause we all know fish have rough lives).

Dorothy is the goldfish that Ben and I have had for...well..we really don't know how long we've had her, but we do know she's been with us for at least 14 years. Yeah, I know, you don't believe me, and I can't be positive, but we do know she's very, very old. She used to be bright orange and now she is white.

The story is that I bought two goldfish when I was in college. When one would die (as goldfish do quite easily) I would replace it with another one because I heard goldfish are "social" creatures and that they prefer a "roommate." At one point I ended up with one fish and every time I put in a new roommate, the new fish would die. One even committed suicide by jumping out of the bowl. I finally determined that this fish wanted to be alone so I let her(?).

I really don't know when I got this fish, but it was sometime between college and when we moved to Kansas City because I distinctly remember taking this fish with us to Kansas City and that was in 1994! It wasn't until we had our first child that she(?) finally got a name; Joel watched Sesame Street so we named her "Dorothy" just like Elmo's fish.

Dorothy has a "gimpy" fin and spends most of the day on her back at the top of the fish bowl, but every single morning when I come into the kitchen, she goes crazy and swims fast and furious slapping the water waiting to be fed.

My sister Mindy thinks Dorothy is suffering and my sister-in-law, Robbon, says I need to "find someone who will lovingly take Dorothy to the 'other side,' " but I think Dorothy is fine -- afterall, she recognizes me in the morning and is excited to see me! (Not many people want to see me in the morning!)

Why is the Sky Blue?

If you ask my dad what time it is, he tells you how the clock is made. Recently, after Joel spent some time with my dad, he and I had the following conversation:

Joel: "I think I'm the only kid who knows why the sky is blue."

Me: "Why is the sky blue?"

Joel: "All colors are bent but blue is bent more so your eyes see blue first." (Not an exact quote, but close.)

Me: “Did Grandpa tell you that?”

Joel: “Yes, but I made it shorter.”

Crocodile Diorama

Joel had to make a diorama (a.k.a. shoe box habitat) for a 2nd grade school project. His was on a crocodile. Isn't it cute?

The picture below is what he drew on the outside of the box -- it's a bird with a sad face because "it's going to get eaten by the crocodile."

Not to be outdone, Evan created his diorama with Joel's leftover pieces.

Hand-Me-Down Trick-or-Treat

My three trick-or-treaters:

Buzz Lightyear, a gladiator and a Power Ranger.

And next year, Buzz will be "retired" after three boys have worn it, but the other costumes will appear again (just on a different child).

I have to try to find the "good" in having three boys, and one thing that's great is that I don't have to spend a lot on costumes -- I just buy one costume every year (lucky Joel, he gets to pick whatever he wants) and then it gets passed down through all three boys.

This year however, Evan got lucky and borrowed the Power Ranger costume from a friend and we let the friend use one of our old costumes. But next year, unless Evan finds a friend to borrow from, he will be the pirate that Joel was last year.

FYI: It's mid-November and we still have candy all over the house! Ugh!

First Lost Tooth

It happened -- Evan lost his first tooth today. He came up to me yesterday and said, "I don't know how to say this....(pause)...my tooth is loose." Having a loose tooth shocked him so much that he was at a loss for words (that's another first for Evan who always has something to say -- hmm, I guess he's like his father in that way. Yeah, right).

Crazy as I may be, I got all teary-eyed when he showed me the tooth because I realized he's getting so big. He's only four, but he turns five at the end of the month. sob, sob, sob

Here he is showing off his tooth. Oh so proud.

Here is the special tooth super-hero I have been saving for this very day.