Fires, Hospitals and Halloween

Well, California was charred extra crispy. My sister, Jen, and her family evacuated but they and their house are safe. After a week in exile in Anaheim, they were able to return home and start cleaning.
William had pneunomia and pulled thru by staying at home. Jimmy ended up in the hospital for two nights. Not much fun, but the little man cub is doing better. We did much better than Jori who ended up with four our of five children hospitalized from September thru October.
Halloween is here just as Jimmy comes home. Jimmy is staying behind, but scored some good candy and toys at the pediatric ward. I will be taking William, fireman, Caitlyn, witch and Conner, Dalmation out for the seasonal beg for sugar.
I am adding a picture of Conner in costume, a monster of a cake that I made, and one very clever boy from school. If you can't guess what he is dressed as...think chick magnet!

Witchy-Poo!!!

Caitlyn had a wondeful time getting ready for a Halloween Party! She went to her friend, Claire's house. It was very spooky and well decorated! Caitlyn had decided to be a witchy, "but not a green faced, ugly witch". So I bought a fun hat and made her costume. FYI, the sheer fabrics are a real pain and I never want to work with them AGAIN! She is growing so fast it makes my heart ache. This was my darling seven pound baby girl. This was my petite toddler who learned to walk in our church in Ramona. This was my girl, who when I showed her the costume and asked her if she liked it repliesd "Mama, I love all your work."
Okay, off to cry.

Miss Tonya

Miss Tonya, our baby sitter for ages, had us take some pictures for her graduation from ENMU. We took pictures, some fabulous ones, and then brought in the kids! This is one of the best pictures. Could my kids cooperate? Never! Congrats! Okay, blogger isn't doing pics right now! So TBA!

Soccer Saturday

I haven't updated because William was sick. Sick meaning run the nebulizer every four hours. He missed two whole soccer practices and that left him grumpy. But we decided that we would give him game time this Saturday. They did well. Jimmy goofed off on the stands, Conner snuggled with Oh-My, Caitlyn played in some trees and William had to sit out the third quarter because of his asthma. He wasn't happy, but if he had to sit out part of the game, it would be with Pop-Pop. All said and done they had a great time, but William was ready for some down time.

Nobody wore it???

Went to Lubbock today! That is always fun. I LOVE TEXAS!! There really is something about it! And the Mall!! Anyway, I had some Gymbucks to spend, and anyone who has used Gymbucks knows how fun those are. They are dollars off of purchases at Gymboree. And I have a new love of Gymboree. Okay, I will say it: Yes, Jennifer, you were right. If you hit the discounts and save your Gymbucks, you can afford Gymboree.
So I bought some clothes, mostly for Caitlyn since the boys are loving hand-me-downs from cousin Joey. But this morning while getting ready for school, we were getting jackets on. A new one for Conner, a favorite for Jimmy, but what about me? Asks William. Well, I had an older one that William will only wear because Joey used to. Conner's new one...Jimmy has a truely great Air Force jacket from Joey and poor William. He has a nice Carhart from Jori's son, Zavy, but never, ever anything new.
So at Gymboree Oh-My (my mom) spots a nice heavy jacket with a hood on the SALE rack. SCORE!! I bring it home and William is so excited. He kept asking me, "Nobody wore it?" The concept is very strange for the hand-me-down kid. I am happy I got it. One sale jacket for a boy who has never had a new jacket!! Not that I am down playing the importance of hand-me-downs (Yes, Jennifer, boxes from you are like Christmas!!), but the amazement on his face...to be the first one to wear a jacket...Wow. This is one of those wonderful moments of parenthood. I was privledged to be a witness and participant in his awe and joy. A simple clearance jacket...a heart full of happiness. Makes me want to overlook the fact that they took apart their picnic table!

Moe Carrots Please

Let it be known: Ponies are not just for little girls! OR even big girls. Caitlyn went riding, which means I went walking. Conner, stubborn child that he is, followed us all around, dragging his helmet. Finally he got a turn and rode too. It was then decided that twenty minutes of walking is entirely too difficult a work out for a fat pony. He was ushered into the lush grass of the backyard.
And it was there that I discovered the mystery of the missing carrots. First Jimmy comes out with a bag. Like any boy, he gives one to the pony, and then himself. Then the ME TOO kid comes out and repeats the process. I am currently out of carrots.
Jimmy, in a rare show of ranch-ish behavior, asked to ride while Moe grazed. I think the pony has the right idea.....

And on the boy front, Steve had to have a talk with Conner about putting rocks in the van's gas tank. Go figure.

I AM THE MIGHTY HUNTER!!

Early this morning, Steve left for work and as per my instructions, swung around the barn area. His headlights revealed that my trap had caught something. Following protocol, he awoke me and told me the news....
"Hey, Hunny, you caught a SKUNK!" Wow. I was trying for coyote. But a skunk is still a bad varmit. I decided to wait until daylight before dispatching the skunk, because let's face it, just how close do you want to be to a really really angry skunk?
Less than an hour later, even half an acre away and upstaris, it became evident just how angry this skunk was. So I threw on a sweatshirt, loaded my .22 and went out.

SKUNK-A-LACIOUS. He reeked. I dispatched him and left him to smell out a bit before I remove him from the trap. But between this and the bull snake that our neighbor killed, it might explain the egg production drop off we had!

This post is memory of William's rooster.."Big Bad Bill" whom is MIA and presumed dead at the hands of the evil coyote empire.

Soccer Practice

Soccer was great!! We finally found a sport that William loves and does well at. For any who may remember, Basketball was a disaster. William had sensory overload in the crowded gym and was overwhelmed by the physical contact of the game.

With soccer, it is outside and no one ever really "has" the ball. He loves it. I might even add that he could be considered the star player. In his first game he had about eight goals. Most of which was for his team. He is a bit like Forrest Gump, all of us stand and shout "William, this way!"

Jimmy is also doing really well. when he not charming team moms, he is a rather good player. At the last two games William assisted and Jimmy scored the goal. And for some reason and one game they had goalies. Jimmy made five terrific saves before getting stuck in the net.

First Ever Blog

Okay, bear with me. This is my first blog and it will come with gross mispellings, grammer errors and rampant typos. I will be lucky to get time to update it. But so many have asked that I start......

I have named the blog after my three sons. All three can share any of those titles at any given time. Today I had a dose of Mayhem and Trouble.

I didn't get pictures, sorry, I was too busy trying to make sure they wouldn't kill themselves. I heard way too much laughter upstairs. So using the secret Mama-ninja methods, I was able to quickly climb the stairs without them hearing me. This was so that I could find out exactly what sin they were committing.

They were jumping from the top bunk of Conner's bunk bed (they meet at right angles) to the bottom bunk...something they have done before, except this time they were using the blind cords to Tarzan down. I was furious. They thought it was funny and I wrecked a great time.

I will add more as I figure this system out. And I will add pictures. Now, to completely tire the gruesom twosome out in soccer practice!!