A Crescent???

How many four year olds use the word crescent and know what it means??

So we decided that today would be a great day to carve our pumpkin for Halloween. While I was elbow deep in pumpkin goo (Because you know Golden won't touch it) I asked Reese what our Jack-o-lantern should look like. She said, "Two triangles for eyes and a big circle nose." And then Golden asked her what kind of mouth it should have, Scary or silly or sad and Reese said, "No Daddy, Just Happy like this." And she smiled. Golden then said, "Well that is almost like a straight line," And Reese replied, "It should be a crescent but only this way." Drawing a smile on her mouth.

A crescent??? What are they teaching her at that school? What 4 year old uses the word crescent and knows what it is?? I almost fell on the floor. Needless to say our Jack-o-lantern has two triangle eyes, a big round nose and a crescent for a mouth.

Fall in New York

Ok so I finally remembered to bring my camera down stairs and download my pictures. I hope you are all jealous of what I have been experiencing the last few weeks. Just to let you know, the high today was 47 and it is supposed to get down into the low 30s tonight. Yes that means freezing. I think my brain doesn't understand this. In Texas it won't freeze until closer to Christmas. What is this? It is not even Halloween yet. I think I am in for it.

It is all his fault.

I think that I should have the cleanest floors in the country. I have 2 children who like to play with the vaccuum cleaners. ODD I know we can just blame Golden for this one.

More Pictures

Ryan pulled out a drawer at the hotel and climbed in. So long Pack-and-Play. He can just sleep in a drawer from now on.

Ryan is trying to drive a car. Uncle T will like this one. Reese on a motorcycle. Another one for Uncle T

Reese doing hair on a doll that she just made.

Watching the ice skaters in Rockefeller Plaza

Stinky Laundry

So I went to gather the laundry from Reese's room this morning and I thought to my self, "Why does this laundry smell so bad?" And then it happened. I found the stinky diaper that I lost the other day. It was in Reese's Laundry basket in her room. O.K. I know what you are thinking. How in the world do you loose a stinky diaper? Easy. Let me explain. I was in the middle of taking out the trash, getting Reese ready for school, trying to keep Ryan off the window sill and Changing stinky diapers all at the same time. I changed Ryans diaper and I guess I thought I threw it away and it went out in the trash but what I am guessing really happened was Ryan picked it up and thought it would be fun to carry it around the house like he does with any trash he can get his hands on. Some people have a problem with their kids throwing things away when they are not trash but not me. My kids have the opposite problem. They like to pull things out of the trash. I can't let the trash can get too full or Ryan will pull out what ever he can reach. The other day I found a banana peel and some old ads from the paper on the kitchen floor. But I severely Digress.

I had dumped all the laundry on the floor and started to sort it and I thought why is this laundry sooooo stinky. I know dirty laundry has a pungent aroma any way but it is usually not that bad from a 4 year old girl. Ryan probably walked down the hall and into Reese's room like he loves to do and dropped it on the floor. I am not sure if the culprit who thought the hamper was a trash can was 4 or 1 but I really don't think it matters. What matters now is that all of the poopie diapers are now in the correct receptacles.

Here are some pictures from our trip to NYC. At F.A.O. Schwartz

At Great Wolf Lodge in the Poconos

In TImes Square

What Happened?

So I typed the whole thing up and then the computer kept giving me an error when I went to attach the pictures. I promise that I will get them to you somehow. I will keep trying until it works.

Start Spreadin' the News

So Here are the real pictures from New York.
We went to a resort in the Pocono Mountains on Thursday night. They have an 80,000 square foot water park inside the hotel. It was a blast. Then Friday we swam and then drove on to the city.
We Stayed in Wayne, New Jersey and took a train over. Reese had fun. We went to ride the Ferris Wheel inside Toys R us. We went to m&m world where she picked out some pink and purple m&ms. All of this was in times square. Then we walked over to 5th Ave. and saw F.A.O. Schwartz and she got to dance on the big piano. Just like in the movie BIG. Then we had an ice cream sundae at the ice cream counter there and then we took a cab up 5th to the Build a bear store. She got to make her own doll. Its name is Custard. Don't ask me I have no clue. After we did all of that it was starting to get late so we took a subway back to the train station, took a train back to New Jersey and took our car back to the hotel. It was a really good weekend and every one had a great time. Enjoy the pix.

I Know

I know, I know, I havn't written in a long time but my mom was here this past week so I wasn't just bored all the time. Thanks Mom!!! And I feel like I have officially become a ditz. Let me just give you a sample of what my morning looked like.

It started ourt that I woke up late. I heard Ryan in his bed just babbling away and I rolled over to look at the clock and it was already 20 minutes later than I wanted it to be. I quickly got up and got in the shower. I had to take Reese to school this morning so she could have a physical so she can keep going to school. When I got out of the shower both kids were running around screamming but no one had gotten dressed or eaten breakfast and we were supposed to be walking out the door in 20 minutes. O.K. no big deal, do-able but I still have to get dressed and dry my hair. Maybe not. I got myself dressed and ran my fingers through my hair and put it up in a clip. Then I ran into Reese's room and yelled at her to get dressed. After 3 different outfits and not liking some part of each one (or something being dirty) I yanked some jeans out of the drawer and threw them at her. PUT THEM ON NOW!!!

I grabbed a granola bar on the way out the door just to be on time to the school. (We were late by 5 min). When we got to the school we sat in the hallway for 45 min just to go in to see the doctor and Reese screamed so he couldn't look in her ears and he said that he wouldn't do it because she didn't want to. Great!! So we come home. Let me explain to you. You can have your own family doctor do a physical for $200 or you can have it done at the school for free. Free medical care? Need you even ask which one we did?

We got homa and Daddy got mad at Reese and told her that she had to let him look at her and so he convinced her the He would keep her safe and they went back to the school.

Success!!! She finally had a physical (of course she didn't open her mouth to let him make sure she had all the teeth she was supposed to have but everything else was fine) Oh, by the way, she has an ear infection in her right ear. Nice!!

Daddy and Reese get home in enough time to get ready for school and get on the bus. We went outside a few minutes early and the little boy at the bus stop was dressed all nice. "You look nice today Caleb," I said. "Well, you know, for pictures." WHAT? Today is school picture day? Oh no. Reese run back inside with me and lets comb your hair. I don't care what you are wearing because we don't have time to go through another 3 outfits just to end up with the one you already have on. Let me get your order form for pictures so that we will have some recollection of the year. Great. Shove it all in your back pack and run back outside to catch the bus. PHEW!!! Caught the bus on time.

Ryan do you want some lunch, By the way, Daddy, today is picture day. And he nonchallantly says, "Tomorrow is Wednesday the 17th."

Are you kidding me. I went through all that and picture day is tomorrow??? Oh well. at least everything is already done (We will be sure to pick out a cute outfit tonight and do her hair really cute tomorrow) Better to be a day early than 2 weeks late I guess.

Here are some of the pictures from our little vacation to New York. They are my favorites and by the way, Reese took these ones.

Cathedrals

This was forwarded to me by my mother in law and I love it.

I'm invisible..... It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?' Obviously not. No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this? Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Pick me up right around 5:30, please.' I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude---but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going .. she's going ... she's gone!
One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself as I looked down at my out-of-style dress; it was the only thing I could find that was clean. My unwashed hair was pulled up in a banana clip and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: 'To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'
In the days ahead I would read -- no, devour -- the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals -- we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.
A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tinybird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man , 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.' And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'
I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you,Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.' At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of myown self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree. When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand-bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'You're gonna love it there.' As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women. I have had the privelige of knowing 99% of all the women I'm sending this email to and shared the sentiment of "Your gonna love it there." or"I just love going to her home it is so filled with LOVE." "She makes everyone feel so at home." "Her door is always open and so is her ever loving heart and I'm one of the lucky ones who can call her my friend." I hope you all recognize youselves as builders of Great Catherdals!

When ever I have a hard day and think that all I do is unappreciated I just have to remember that God sees everything.