This is Halloween!

Yay!!! I love Halloween. I loved working at the Haunt at Knott's because it was my second favorite holiday, next to Christmas, and just about everyone I know was coming to my Halloween party. :p

We had out Halloween Park day on Monday. I just now got to posting about it because I have been exhausted the past few nights. Seriously. We had a great time though. The boys had been planning their Civil War uniforms for a month and on Monday morning I finally found a jacket for Tom. Of course, it was 90 degrees outside, so they only wore the jackets and hats for about 10 minutes. Maybe it will be cooler tomorrow evening?

I made the coolest house to put in front of my chair and pass out treats from. It was cute and the best thing was it didn't cost me anything. I made it from stuff I already had. The boys costumes only cost about $10 for both, since we found almost all of it from our favorite thrift store. And some of the candy I had from Easter. I got these cool pre-filled eggs for the Easter party, but then we didn't get to go and they just sat there. I passed them out for Halloween. Anytime any of the kids asked what was up with the eggs, I just looked at them like they had lost their minds and said, "What? You don't know about Halloween Eggs? The Halloween Bat comes to YOUR house and hides them, doesn't he?" They already think I'm nuts. This just confirmed it for most of them.

Tomorrow is Halloween. Nikki is going to a party with her friends. Thanks to Anna rescueing me and taking her with her kids! The boys and I are going to carve pumpkins afternoon and put out our spooky decorations. We are going to get out and do the rounds early this year to see if we have better luck. And of course, I will be manning the front porch with the bucket-o-candy.

Julian Mining Company Tour

Wednesday was so fun! We went on a Gold Rush Tour at the Julian Mining Company. There is a couple just outside Julian, California that runs this operation. They were so nice. He said that he bought the property about four months ago to make it a living history thing for kids. They do a bunch of different tours. I organized the trip for homeschoolers and have been waiting patiently for two months to go!

They start off by telling the kids that they have come to help work their claim. He asks how they got to California and why. And prompts them to talk about all the ways people did come to California back then. They work the claim a bunch of different ways. The play games like in the Gold Rush days. The dip candles. They made apple cider. And they went on a hay ride while the guy told them a lot about the history of the area. The kids loved it and so did I. It was hot and windy but the area was so pretty and the kids were having so much fun.

After the tour, the boys and I went into Julian and had a late lunch. It was awesome. We got some candy on the way back to the truck and then headed home. It was a long day, but well worth the drive down. I hope we get the chance to do another tour there!

CHOC/Walk

Another great "Walk in the Park"! On Sunday we got up at the crack of dawn and walked, with our new friend Carissa and her daughters, to Disneyland and did the 5K CHOC/Walk again this year. It was good fun. Our "team" wasn't very big, but we enjoyed ourselves. Our friends and family donated to our team over the past two months. A huge THANK YOU to everyone who donated.

I really enjoy this event. Next year, I'm going to try to do a better job of leading my team and get more members. It is a very early AM event and a long walk, but it is so worth it. I love seeing all the teams and their signs and banners. So many people who have lost their children and so many that have had CHOC's help with their childs illness. It warms my heart. My boys don't like to get up early and they really hate to get up and go like we have to when we do this each year. And the park is not open, so there are no rides. Last year, we had passes so we could go in afterwards and go on some rides but this year we don't. I promised them a Lego set if they could get up and do the whole walk without a lot of complaining. They did above and beyond the call of duty this year. We walked from our house and back as well as the 5K, so that is a total of 5 miles! There was no crying or whining! Well, there was from ME!

And I'm going to work on getting more people to donate small amounts. I know it is hard to donate but this is a great cause and if I could get a dollar from everyone I know? Wow! It would be great.

So, here are the pictures! There aren't too many because my camera has had it and was causing me grief!

Oh, no! I'm IT!

Thanks to http://2toomanyhats.blogspot.com/ I've been tagged!

So...let's see...seven random facts about me...
1. I was born a poor black child. No really, it's a quote from one of my favorite movies.
2. I love to fry corn tortillas put cheddar cheese on them and catsup and eat WAY too many of them with beer.
3. I LOVE watering the yard all alone in the morning or after dinner. It is just so peaceful and I meet some of my nicer neighbors.
4. I once ran topless by all the windows at the Spires on Ball and Euclid. It was a dare and I could not say no.
5. I was boy crazy from the age of 14 or so through my 20's. I would say I still am, but my husband fills my view. He is SO darn handsome!
6. Yes, I still sleep with my teddy bear (Edward Tiberius Bear) that I got from my Grandpa Roy when I was five.
7. I still dream about running spotlight on Fantasmic! "Ready Spots 1 and 4 in frame 2...Go." And the shackle drop! Yay!

And who shall I tag? I can see myself going around the circle...duck...duck...duck...goose!
http://kellyrosehirt.blogspot.com/
http://iamajacknut.blogspot.com/
http://edgeofinsanityryp.blogspot.com/
http://barefootinadventurers.blogspot.com/
http://www.rachelraves.blogspot.com/
http://maiasreality.blogspot.com/
http://kariessliceofheaven.blogspot.com/
I did it! Ok, finding people's blogs and copying and pasting about drove me into a panic. There has GOT to be a better way.

TGIF

I hate that restaurant! Love the food. Hate the service. I've been to three of them and they are all the same. No, I did not eat there today but it's Friday and every time I hear TGIF, I think about that restaurant.

Anyway, there is no real reason to TGIF at this house because there really is no difference between Friday and Saturday, or any other week day really. OH, except the days that Nikki is at school and we have to take her and pick her up. I'm sure there is a BIG TGIF from Nikki since she won't have school tomorrow, but she isn't at our house on Friday's usually. Dan will still get up at 4am and work on his computer. It may be "work" but he has the option of playing. I wish the boys would come take a picture of us when we get up. Both of us at each end of the couch with our laptops, coffee, and the news on. Thank God for that Tivo thing! We usually catch the last word of something and then have to rewind it so we know what happened.

We tie-dyed some shirts today. We are doing the CHOC/Walk at Disneyland on Sunday morning and we got shirts for it. They are white with Mickey balloons and the boys won't wear them, or at least they didn't wear last years. So this year, I bought camoflauge tie-dye and we went to town on those shirts. We made some extras and we'll see how they look tomorrow.

Tom and Jake watched Modern Marvels - Environmental Tech today. THAT was fascinating. It was all about how they are inventing ways to do old things more environmentally friendly. There were triangle frames office buildings, CO2 eating algea, and a new way to drill for oil. I was cleaning the bathroom when I came down stairs and found them watching it. I sat down for a second and was hooked. It was very interesting.

The Runescape thing has faded with Tom. I think he gets tired of looking at the screen. He asked to help him find something that didn't involve looking at things. Ok? We had a hard time with that one until he decided to play fetch with Whiskey for a little while. Then he read a book that we got from the library yesterday. Jake is still very much attached to the game. He now has Grandma Ann on the game and he runs back and forth from the front room to Grandma's livingroom telling her where he is and what he is going to do. She likes the game, too. Jake says I should get a player too, but I told him I barely have time to read my email and write my blog.

We had pizza for dinner tonight because Jake has been asking for two days for pizza. He said that he has "been craving pizza for an eternity". How can you resist? The boy has to have pizza! It's understandable. We watched that new show about the Iditarod dog sled race in Alaska that we recorded.

It's been a good day.

Thursday's

Thursday's are usually pretty slow around here...for the boys anyway. I always have a lot to do for some reason and now I can't even sit at my computer and play games on Facebook! Tom and Jake spent almost the entire day on Runescape with Cameron. They did break for an episode of Mythbusters (which was hilarious, the fainting goats and creamer cannon one).

I went to the library today and got some books for the boys. I like to find cool picture books. There are so many great ones. And Tom wanted more Magic Tree House. I got him a couple Time Warp Trio books too. They looked so cool that I read one myself! While I was there I saw something interesting. There was a couple Mom's there at the little tables with their sons. The one I want to tell you about was about 4 or 5, probably Kinder age. His Mom had his homework out on the table and was trying to convince him to do it. It was printing practice with the huge lines to write on. I can never figure out why they use those huge lines. I mean seriously! I could never write decent letters on that paper and I'm sure I couldn't now either! But she was so patient as he found other things to distract him. He was absolutely refusing to do any of it. I felt so bad for him. I'm sure he could find other things to do beside copy meaningless figures on a piece of paper. He probably can't even read so I'm sure he is bored senseless. I kept walking by with my HOMESCHOOL bag, looking for books, hoping she would see it and find a better way. I doubt it worked.

I'm still at the library and I walk by the parenting books and see flyers, so I look at them and then I think, I should ask to put California Homeschool Networks flyers there. And I did! Are you proud of me? The woman at the Children's Library desk said she didn't know if they would let me since it was city property and they might not like it. Huh? Now, mind you, I've put things up before and I thought that was odd. I told her that and I was really nice to her, don't worry. She said she would ask and give me a call, so I gave her my card. We'll see. I'm going to go back and pick up the other flyers and see if they are "city" related, because I don't think they are.

So now I'm off to turn in our donation money for the CHOC/Walk on Sunday and pick up our TShirts. The boys did not come with me because there was very important business to do on Runescape. Then I got gas for the truck, stopped at Micheal's for tie-dye stuff, went to Target for bubble bath (and found none, how can that be?), deposited my check, and then went to Henry's for some potatoes to have with our steaks. They had pumpkins on sale 2for$5. I got six! Yay! The boys were thrilled with the pile of pumpkins when I got home. So guess how long this took me? Over 3 hours!! Yikes! Traffic and stop-lights. This place is so crowded, you really can't drive more than 35 MPH on average. It drives me crazy. But I did get to listen to a lot of talk radio and that makes me happy.

I'm making dinner and my Mom calls and tells me that she can't find Grandpa and everyone is out looking for him. Oh man! He was supposed to meet her at the hospital hours ago and he never showed up. Turns out his car broke down and he didn't have his cell phone with him. I'm sure he isn't a happy camper. Poor Poppy!

My Mom is doing well at the hospital, by the way. I told her that tomorrow she will be better. The poor Mom. She is hurting and lonely. I told her I would visit, but she won't have it. Maybe I will harass her tomorrow anyway and bring her some chocolate!

Ok, Tom's out of the tub so I better run. It's Jake's turn to get ready for bed. This system is working out great!

Making this my official blog.

Ok, ok! I need a change anyway. So this is my official blog from now on.

Today was a good day. Chores done, dinner prepared, kids up, we went to a new park day. I have read about this Dragon Tree park day in Long Beach for years. For some reason I was convinced it was too far away to make it our regular thing. But I found today that it is just as far to our Monday park day. This park day is mostly unschooling families. And there are several veterans there. Today Pam Sorooshian was talking and explaining some things about unschooling and about how she did things with her kids when they were little. It was a huge help to hear about other people feeling the same way about children as I do and hearing how they got through things and what could have been better. I was very happy. I told Dan all about it and said it sounded like unschooling church. :) And it is. Once a week we get together, someone preaches, questions are asked and answered, and there is support and fellowship. It is nice. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to stop going to my Monday park day. I have really made friends there and so have the boys. We can't stop going there! But now I have another day as well. It is another group of people to hang out with, get ideas from, and make new friends.
What else happened today? Not much. Tom and Jake are completely consumed by this new Runescape thing online. They spent most of yesterday playing it and it was the first thing they started doing today. I took Nikki to school this morning and when I got back they were both playing it already. Grandma likes it because they don't fight over the tv or Wii while I am out taking Nikki to school.
I'm on my 23rd day of working out on Wii Fit. Don't laugh! I really like this thing. I've worked up to 45 minutes each day. And many of the exercises I could barely do when I started have begun to get easier. I haven't lost much weight, but that is because I have a hard time turning down good food! And I've been building muscle so it is heavier, right? Anyway, I feel good and that is all that matters.
I'm praying for my Mom tonight because she is in the hospital. No big deal and I won't go into details, but she had some surgery done and I hate it when any of my family is in the hospital. It scares me. I'm sure she will be fine though.
Well, goodnight. I'm off to play on Facebook for awhile and then Dad is going to read to the boys. I'm going to lay on the floor and just go to sleep instead of reading until they fall asleep. I've just been so tired lately. And tomorrow I get to sleep in since Nikki is at her Mom's house. AND Dan has figured out why the puppy sits at the top of the stairs and cries for me at 5am even when he is up. So I'm off the hook! Yay!