Some House pics

Today was an interesting day. Happy Birthday to Joseph and Renae, by the way.

Russell has outgrown his church shoes. They have been difficult to get on his feet and he complained that they hurt the last few weeks. I intended to get him some new ones last week, but forgot to do it. So, I set out this morning determined to get him some new shoes for church. We decided that we'd also get him a Halloween costume while we were out. We headed off to Target. Well, they only had one style of shoe that would work and Russell said they hurt his feet. So, we got his costume and some other stuff. He picked a Spider Man costume. He's never seen any Spider Man shows or read any related books, but he likes Spider Man. He even chose this over Buzz Lightyear, Woody, The Incredible Hulk (which he seriously considered), AND Thomas the Tank Engine. I thought for sure he'd want Thomas, but he wanted Spider Man. It's one of those ones with the padding to make fake muscles. Despite not finding the shoes we wanted, we managed to spend a full two hours at Target. Russell was looking at everything and having a great time.

Well, we headed over to WalMart next. I had great hopes that they would have some good shoes for him. I have gotten some there before. They had two styles of dress shoes. Russell said they hurt his feet. So, off we went to another store.

Part of the problem we have with getting shoes for Russell, particularly dress shoes--they tend to run narrow, is that he has very wide feet. We reach the point of not being able to get his feet into them before they are too short. This makes sizing a little difficult. Well, I went over to Kohl's. I lucked out. They had about 4 or 5 styles of dress shoes. Not a fabulous selection, but better than I'd seen. And they carried them in wide sizes. And the shoes are not lassoed together, so Russell could actually walk in them when he was trying them on. At first he said they hurt his feet, but I suspected at this point that he was just saying that because he was having fun trying on shoes. I had him run up and down the aisle a few times to try them out and he thought that was great and then said his feet felt fine. I lucked out because they were having a semi-annual shoe sale, too. Then I wandered around the store for a bit just to look around since it's been about 5 years since I've been in a Kohl's. I found this really awesome collage picture frame that is just perfect for the wall by my front door. All the frames were half price so it was only $20. I couldn't resist.

Well, by the time we got home from Kohl's, it was time to go get Ruby. Russell wanted to show Ruby his costume, so he insisted on changing into it to pick her up. I figured there was no harm in it and you can get away with running errands dressed as Spider Man when you are three. When you get into your 30's it's a little problematic. So he wore his costume and loved it. As we were walking past the play ground, some of the older kids were out there doing PE and they were yelling, "Spider Man! Spider Man!" as we walked by. Russell loved it. I asked him if he thought Ruby would think he was Spider Man. He said, "No. She will think I'm Russell in a Spider Man costume." He took his mask off and thought he had ripped it because there were holes in it. He was just too cute for words. I explained that the holes were for his eyes and nose so that he could see and breathe. He thought that was a good idea. He just came in from playing outside, so I snapped a picture of him in his costume to include. Those are blue rain boots he's wearing with it.



I finally finished the project of re-carpeting my front porch. The carpet was totally worn out and had worn through to the wood on the bottom two steps. I did it on Friday and Saturday. I did the steps Friday and then did the porch itself on Saturday. Ruby managed to draw on the carpet with a red sharpie even before I finished laying it. Argh! Oh, well. I'll have to get creative in what goes on that spot. So, now that the porch is done, I put up a couple of fall decorations and took a picture. And, when I was uploading those pictures from the camera, I noticed that Ruby has taken some pictures of her room, so I'll go ahead and include those.

The Front Porch

Just for Fun

Ruby's Room--Bear in mind that Ruby took these pictures.


Russell likes to hang out in there, too.

Jackpot!

Okay, maybe I didn't really hit the jackpot, but it sure felt like it today.

Today was the day I was supposed to help in Russell's preschool class. Part of the requirements of the program are that I help in the class twice a month. Well, due to sicknesses and stuff, there were only 3 kids today. So, they said I didn't have to stay. I asked Russell if he wanted me to stay or leave and he said, "You leave!" That's the answer I was expecting. Jackpot!

I now had a couple of hours without kids and I thought, "What should I do now?" And I thought of Charles and how nice it would be to go out to lunch without the kids. So I called him up and he was able to do that, so we went to Chili's for lunch. I had their yummy Quesadilla Explosion salad, which I only managed to eat half of, and we split a dessert. It was so nice!

After I dropped him off back at work, I still had some time before I had to pick up Russell. So I decided to hit the mall and get some new walking/running shoes. The ones I bought last fall were in pretty sad shape and I learned last year that I really need to have good shoes with good support for all the walking I do. I drove to Oakridge Mall, which is the one nearest our house and has an Earning for Learning program that supports Ruby's school, not really knowing where the Footlocker would be or even if they had one there. I just looked for a parking area convenient to a mall entrance. By the time I got there I had to go to the bathroom, too. I walked in the entrance to the mall and there was a bathroom right there. Jackpot! Then I walked in toward the stores and I was right next to a Footlocker. Jackpot! I went in, but they only had a small selection of women's shoes. I talked to the sales guy and he said, "Have you tried Lady Footlocker?" No, where is it? It was about four doors down. Jackpot! I walked in and was helped immediately. They had exactly what I needed for a reasonable price. I bought my shoes and some cross trainer insoles and wore my new shoes out of the store. They are very comfy by the way. Jackpot! I went back to the car and got to Russell's preschool right on time.

Don't you just love it when things work out perfectly like that?

Photo Highlights of the last six months or so

This was one of those days when the kids were playing a little too well. I went to investigate and Ruby was hiding under my bed. When I convinced her to get out, this is what she looked like. She said, "I'm a cat!" All I could do was bust out laughing.


And again, a couple days later....



This picture is classic Russell. All smiles and covered in his latest snack. He didn't get so tall by skipping meals.

Ready for Rain!

Russell, after sampling the chocolate fondue fountain at a friend's wedding reception.


Ruby and her Uncle Jacob after her kindergarten play last spring.
And with some of her classmates after the play...
The kids decorating an Easter house from Granny Spud
Ruby got a citizenship award at school last spring
Ruby and...Ruby. Ruby's class made cutouts of themselves for the school open house in May. Ruby is saying, "I liked when we made lemonade. I liked when we went to see Beauty and the Beast." I loved this cutout because it looked so much like Ruby.

Russell poses with his sister

At a field trip to Pizza My Heart. Russell got to tag along. All the kids got to make their own pizzas. It was an awesome field trip. And it didn't cost a dime!

Russell snuggles in his sister's blanket

Ruby took a picture of herself.

Ruby and I with Mrs. Viau on the last day of school.

Ruby and Mrs. Viau. We miss her!

Ruby pushes Russell on the swing at the park behind the library.

This year instead of having a traditional party, Ruby chose to have the family go to Chuck E. Cheese for her birthday. Here she is blowing out her candle. Russell wanted that cake so badly. My dad hid it and told Russell that he ate it all and Russell just about punched him.

Just before swim lessons

After the last day of swim lessons. We passed this park every day on the way to swim lessons. The kids really wanted to go there. I told Russell that we could go there on the last day if he did his lessons without crying. And he did! If only I had figured this out the first week instead of half way through the second one.

Charles, Ruby and Russell at our timeshare in Vegas.
This tub was one of the children's favorite features.

Back to School

Okay, okay. I know school started a few weeks ago. But Back to School Night is tomorrow, so I'm not too late.

We've been adjusting to life at a new school. We transferred from a school that had a lot of really involved parents to one where they are desperate to get people to help. I guess my experience at Trace will be put to good use. I've already agreed to be the escrip coordinator for the school. Mainly because I know stuff about escrip. It's terribly underutilized at the moment. We're going to try to get people to sign up for it tomorrow at BTSN. I also volunteered for the School Site Council. They need two parents for it. There are three of us on the ballot. And I'm going to be helping out in Ruby's class for an hour every week while Russell is at preschool. And I'll be helping in Russell's preschool class twice a month. I have a feeling I'm going to be busy this year, especially since I'm now the secretary for our ward Relief Society, too. It's good, though. I definitely won't be bored.

Ruby had the stomach flu last week. Now it's Russell's turn. Cross your fingers that Charles and I don't get it.

Ruby's school sent home a fundraising packet today. Some of the stuff in it is pretty nice. One thing that I like is the option to purchase online and have things shipped directly to you. This was an option last year, too, and worked out very nicely. It lets relatives who don't live nearby participate in the fundraiser. One thing that I also thought was cool is that you can order stuff from them all year and still have the school get the credit. It's just that purchases only count for prizes for the kids during the fundraiser period. If any of you are interested in getting something for this and I didn't send you an email about it, drop me a line and I'll get you the link.

I replaced the flooring in our bathroom last week. It looks really nice. Of course now the baseboards look terrible next to it. Hopefully a nice coat of paint will take care of that. I used an awesome product called Allure. It's made by Trafficmaster. It's resilient vinyl flooring. It comes in planks with sticky edges that overlap on each other and it's waterproof. It's really awesome stuff and was very easy to lay. I did our dining room and the masterbathroom by myself. Charles did help me lift the toilet back into place when I was done in the bathroom, but that was about all the help I had. I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. The floor totally looks like wood. I was a little concerned about how it would wear, especially with dining chairs scooting across it. At our last two apartments, the dining chairs made grooves in the linoleum. But this stuff actually feels like wood underneath us. The chairs slide smoothly and ther are no worries. I'm thrilled with it and heartily recommend it. We opted for the wood look, but they also have ones that look like stone tiles.

Before:After:

I made freezer jam this weekend. I was making strawberry jam and then I had enough strawberries left for about half a batch and I had some blueberries that needed to be used, so I pureed them and between the two kinds of berries had enough for another batch. The mixed berry stuff actually turned out better than the plain strawberry in my opinion. I love freezer jam. It is soooo yummy. It's easy, fast, and tastes like fresh fruit. I made a yellow cake yesterday and I spooned some of the jam over the top of it when I ate it. Ooooooh, man! It was delicious!

I just found my camera and my USB cable at the same time and discovered that I had about 6 months worth of pictures on my camera! Perhaps I'll post some.