Happy Halloween

Halloween waits for no one's recovery! We had a busy and happy Halloween, but I'm ready to crash and it's not even 9:00 yet. Guess the trick is on me!

I didn't feel much like dressing up this year, but I did wear some spooky jewelry.

The kindergarten classes at Wesley's school did a little Halloween parade today, so Grandma, Ryan and I went to watch.

Waiting for the parade to begin

We checked out some of Wesley's artwork in the hall. Check out what Wesley named his pumpkin.

We peeked into Wesley's class party long enough to see Scooby devour his snacks.

If you our family, you know that no Beggar's Night is complete without a spooky themed meal. The grown ups ate black bean burgers and mummy toes. The boys ate hot dog worms and jack-o-lantern burgers.

Wesley, Ryan, Sho and Kei were all very anxious to go trick-or-treating. I was afraid Ryan would protest about his costume, but he did a great job!

Wesley, my little actor, was not content to just say "trick or treat" though. He sang a trick or treat song at every house! I didn't catch him in the act on video, but here is a recap of each of the boys singing for their treats.

All and all, it was a great Halloween!

Future Careers

We've long joked that Wesley is going to be a preacher or a politician when he grows up because he talks so much. His love for animals could lead to an interesting career too - forget Jungle Jack Hanna! He could be Wild Wesley W.

Ryan doesn't talk too much about what he'd like to be when he grows up. However, tonight as we were watching "Tom and Jerry Blastoff to Mars" Ryan said, "I want to go to outer space."

"Well, maybe you can go outer space if you are an astronaut someday," I told him.

"I'm going to get bigger so I can be a masternaut!" he excitedly exclaimed.

Just don't expect big brother to follow in his footsteps. When I said that it takes a lot of work to become an astronaut, Wesley said, "Then count me out!"
 Slacker :-)

Makeup

The other night we bought a four pack of plain ol' chapstick so Wesley can always carry one. Whenever the seasons change his lips dry out so badly. He then chews on the dry skin, which causes them to bleed. Wesley is pretty proud that he has his own chapstick to carry. We also gave one to Ryan so we hopefully avoid fights.  Ryan loves his chapstick too, but he calls it makeup.

"Mom. I left my makeup in my coat."

"It's chapstick, Honey. And I'll get it for you."

"Thanks for my makeup, Mommy."

Wesley is pretty adamant that it isn't makeup, but as far as Ryan's concerned - bring on the face paint!

My Heroes

Hi everyone. Bet you thought you'd never hear from me again.  Well, I think I may be starting to turn a corner (knock on wood). My tongue no longer feels too big for my mouth and as long as I eat within an hour of taking my medicine, I'm doing okay with soft food. I'm still sleeping a lot, but I am starting to feel a bit human again.

I actually wanted to thank, brag on, give a shout out to my family. They have been even more amazing than usual while I've been recuperating. And that's really saying something.

Grandma and Grandpa P. : Thank you for keeping the boys overnight several times. For texting me every single day to see how I'm doing and if I need anything. Thank you for being willing to bring me anything I want or need. For feeding my hubby a real meal and making my kids smile while I'm recovering. I love you both so much!

Grandma and Grandpa H. : Thank you also for keeping the boys overnight several times. For getting up at the crack of dawn to get Wesley to school while I can't drive. For making me homemade applesauce. Thank you for checking on me every day and taking the boys to playdates while I can't. Thank you for picking up the pieces while my life is on hold for a little while longer. I love you both - tons!

My darling husband:  Thank you for being the kind and amazing man that you are. Thank you for getting up every four hours around the clock for the last week and a half to measure out and give me medicine. Thank you for making the phone calls I can't. For buying or making whatever happens to sound good to me at the moment. For sitting with me just in case I need anything. For packing the boys overnight bags, their lunches, and doing all the parenting while I get better. Thank you for making sure homework gets done, that the laundry gets done, that the dishes get done. Thank you for your unconditional love and support. And thank you for choosing me to spend your life with.

Recovery Update

Everyone warned me that the recovery from having my tonsils out would be rough. The doctor warned me. The nurse warned me. My director (who had his tonsils out earlier this year) warned me. And yet part of me didn't quite believe them. Oh, silly silly Heather.

Quite frankly, this stinks. I'm not sure the pain has really gotten any better and the worst (when the scabs come off) is yet to come. I have magic mouthwash that numbs my mouth pretty well but the only pain medicine is a narcotic so I'm trying to space it out so I have some left for the tough days ahead. I am allowed to talk but don't want to. My tongue feels too big for my mouth and I sleep at least half of the day every day.

Duane has been amazing through it all. He gladly gets me whatever I think I can handle eating. He gets up at all hours of the day and night to make sure I'm taking my medicine. He gets me whatever book I'm ready for next because I'm reading like a fiend. AND he takes care of the kids (although grandparents have been a Godsend)

So I guess things are progressing alright. Part of me feels like my mouth will never be normal again, but I know this will pass eventually. At least I hope it will.

Blogging Break

This is just to let you all know that the blog will probably  be pretty quiet for the next week or two. I am having my tonsils removed this morning and I'm not sure I'll be up for blogging for a while. Don't worry though, I'll be back before too long!

All Hallows Eve

Last night Duane and I took the boys to All Hallows Eve at the Ohio Historical Center. It is one of my favorite events, but I haven't been in years and years and years. We had such a nice family evening. No real schedule, nothing to do but hang out together. It was perfect.

We started the evening on the playground by the old schoolhouse.

From there we headed around to all the buildings. We stopped by the town hall where they were doing some folk dances. Wesley did his own kind of dance and clapped along to the music. Ryan thought it was too loud.

We popped into the general store and got some cookies to eat. The boys chose chocolate, but Duane and I had maple and had to go back for seconds because they were so good! I wonder if someone there would give me the recipe?

Our next stop was the hotel where they had a museum of oddities set up. It was hilarious! Filled with things like a broken mirror with a sign that said it belonged to Snow White's wicked stepmother. There was a plate of salt with a sign that said it was Lot's wife.  An old button up shoe was the Old Lady Who Lived in a Shoe's first apartment. Funny stuff! While we were waiting in line, I asked Wesley what he thought a museum of oddities was. "Well, it's a museum of course! Filled with oddities - whatever those are."

Also in the hotel was an exotic dancer. No! Not THAT kind of exotic dancer! We were pretending to be in the 1800s for the night! She was kind of a belly dancer and danced with swords and had really long golden fingertips that she put on. Ryan was absolutely entranced. He couldn't take his eyes off her. When we finally left, Ryan looked at me and said, "She was magic!"

Ryan under the dancer's spell.

Our next big stop in the village was mask making next to the farmhouse. I was really surprised that both boys wanted to make masks, but they did a really nice job.

Right next to the mask making they had a game for the kids. They would hide a small pumpkin in a big pile of hay and the kids would dive in on the count on three. Whoever found the pumpkin got a piece of candy. That was a VERY popular games with Wesley and Ryan. I think they played three times.

We wandered around a bit more checking out this and that.

Playing tug-of-war. Wesley LOVED this!

Time for a hot chocolate break - or a lukewarm chocolate break since Wesley and Ryan won't drink it if it's very hot.

Wesley and Ryan also enjoyed stopping by the cemetery and helping out the grave digger.

The highlight of the night is the retelling of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, complete with a real Headless Horseman. Ryan fell asleep on Duane and missed the whole thing, but Wesley loved it. He listened intently to the storyteller and watched wide eyed as the Headless Horseman rode over the bridge. Afterwards he told the storyteller, "That was the best story I've ever heard!"  Of course, in Wesley's mind, the Headless Horseman was actually Katrina VonTassel. But who's to say it wasn't?

Wesley is planning on talking about All Hallows Eve during share time tomorrow. I'm so glad he loved it as much as his mommy did.

Close Enough?

Ryan is hitting his stride in the terrible threes. You haven't heard of the terrible threes? Well, they are like the terrible twos, but much worse.

Our latest battle with Ryan is about using manners - specifically, saying "please" and "thank you." He has gotten very demanding with us (and his grandparents) lately and prefers to try to order us around instead of using his manners.

Last night we were in the car when he demanded my iPhone.

Ryan: "Mom, I want your phone!"

Mom: "That's nice."

Ryan: "I want it."

Mom: "I understand."

Ryan: "Give it to me."

Mom: "Ryan, are you being nice to Mommy?"

Ryan: "Yes?"

Mom: "Are you asking with manners?"

Ryan: "Almost!"

I Can't Juggle

http://www.exnerassociates.com/juggling.htm

Yesterday turned out to be an extremely grumpy, high stress day for me. With my surgery coming up, I've been trying to cram many things into my schedule and I think it all hit me at once. I told my dad and stepmom that I felt like all the balls I had been juggling came crashing down. My stepmom told me that it probably means I have too many balls going at once. Smart woman.

So I cried for the entire drive home. I cried when I got home. And then Duane encouraged me to let the "to do" list go for the evening and just relax. He made me a special dessert. He did the dishes. I went and got my hair trimmed and I watched trashy tv. By the time I went to bed, I felt much better. 

There are still a whole lot of balls that I'll be juggling for a few more days. I'm hoping I can keep them in the air - or at least only let one fall at a time.

Not a Cat

Many of you know that Wesley is obsessed with animals and frequently pretends to be a cat. I think he got his human/cat wires crossed a bit this morning though. 

Wesley came out of the bathroom and started to get dressed when he called out, "Mom! I need you to sharpen my claws!"

What?  I went into his room and he repeated, "I need you to sharpen my claws."

Dumbfounded, I asked, "What do you mean you need me to sharpen your claws?"

Wesley heaved a huge sigh such as only a child can do when they feel their parents are being particularly dense. "I have a big itch on my leg and I can't scratch it hard enough so I need you to sharpen my claws so I can scratch it harder."

Silly me.  But I decided not to break out the nail file and send Wesley to school with pointy fingernail claws - especially not on picture day. I used my own, slightly sharper claws to scratch his leg for him.

Think he'll ever accept that he is not a cat?

You Drew a What?

On Sunday Wesley came out of Sunday school and handed me his papers from the morning. One was a Bible craft page and the other was a picture he had colored. I looked at his artwork and for the life of me, I could not make out what it was. To me it looked like a crocodile wearing a dress, sitting in a chair and holding a green box.

I decided it was time to put my years of experience as a daycare teacher, children's librarian, babysitter and mom to work and I asked the carefully worded, "Wesley, can you tell me about your picture?"

"Sure!" Wesley said. "That's a picture of a widow."

I wasn't sure I heard him right.  "A widow?" I asked again.

"Yeah. A widow," he answered. "See, there's her money," he continued while pointing to the drawing.

For a moment I drew a complete blank. The crocodile was a widow? The green box was money? Why was he drawing a widow with money? Then it hit me. While we were listening to a message about extravagant generosity in worship, Wesley's Sunday school class had been listening to the story of the widow's gift from the book of Mark!

I have to admit, I was glad to have that cleared up!

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to http://www.mycharmingkids.net/ to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I was not mildly annoyed to see an article about 35 people under 35 to watch just because I haven't been that age for several years now.

I was not so excited about my friend coming to visit that I was running around like a kid on Christmas Eve.

I certainly didn't feel guilty about sending my kid to school in pajamas even though it was Pajama Day. I mean, there's no way it just felt "wrong" to me.  How silly would that have been?

I did not go out and play pool only to jump up and down and squeal like a little girl whenever a ball went in the pocket.

I do not think it's kind of funny that Wesley lost his voice over the weekend from talking so much. And I certainly don't feel a little bad that Cheryl was on the receiving end of all that talking!

Weekend Review Part 3 - Sunday

So today was my last day with Cheryl on this visit. She doesn't leave until tomorrow night, but is spending some of her time here with her dad and half siblings. We had a very low key last morning together - church and a bit of an early lunch. 

On the way to church Cheryl and I were teasing Wesley about all his girlfriends and asking if he had any girlfriends at church. When he didn't answer I said, "Oh I see, pleading the fifth, huh?" A couple of minutes later we asked Ryan a question and he said, "No! I say the five!"  Okay.....the sad part is, we knew exactly what he meant!

Another cute Ryan-ism from today was when Wesley noticed something while we were in the car and I responded by saying "Good eye, Tuck!" which is from the show Wonder Pets. Ryan got very indignant and said, "He's not Tuck! He's my brother!"  Wesley couldn't resist jumping in then, "Yeah," he said pointing to Ryan. "And he's my nutjob!"

I don't know who was the most sad to drop Cheryl off today. Me, or the boys.  I felt a little ache in my heart as soon as I got back in the car to leave. It just felt so right to have my BFF in town and hanging around again. Although it's been so very long, in some ways it was like she never even left. We still just click. I guess that's part of what being (practically) life long friends means. 

The boys were absolutely broken hearted when we pulled out of the drive though. "Will we ever see her again!?" they cried. And they asked over and over and over and over. Duane finally had to distract them.  "Of course you'll see her again!" he told them. "I wonder what color her hair will be then?"
That got the boys going! They spent the rest of the ride discussing the possible color combinations for Aunt Cheryl. I'm pretty sure they landed on aqua and green. Just a little FYI Aunt Cheryl!

And a little aside from me to Cheryl: It was wonderful to see you. You are amazing and it makes me happy just to know you are around. I love you!

Weekend Review Pt 2 - Saturday

Friday felt like a busy whirlwind, but Saturday was even more busy!

Saturday morning was Wesley's share day at his theatre class, so Duane, Ryan, Susan and Cheryl and I all headed out to watch. We passed a little time before share time by shooting a few quick pictures of all of us. Aren't they cute!? Although please note that several were shot with an iPhone.

Wesley's share time was cute, but he was a little distracted by Ryan for part of it and spoke really quietly for part of it. Of course that was the only time all weekend that he spoke quietly!!

After class we went to the North Market. Wesley and Ryan were completely infatuated with a performer there. In fact, Ryan ran over and attached himself to her leg at one point and Wesley spent a lot of time dancing to her music. Good thing she liked kids!

The rest of the afternoon was spent on a shopping spree, and early dinner and then we went out with some people from high school.

What do moms do a night out? We show off pictures of our kids on our phones!

And what did we find when we got home just after midnight?  Two little boys who were trying to wait up for Mommy, Daddy and Aunt Cheryl!

Weekend Review Pt. 1 - Friday

This weekend has been so busy, that I'm going to break the posts down into pieces.  Cheryl's plane got in late Thursday night, so we didn't spend too much time talking or catching up until Friday. What to know what kind of amazing friend Cheryl is? Her plane came in after 11:00. We went to bed around midnight and even though she was still mostly on California time, she got up around 7:00 on Friday to take Wesley to school and Ryan to his tumbling class with me.

She had little visitor before she got up though. Around 6:45 Wesley came into my bedroom and asked, "Is Aunt Cheryl still here?" I told him that she was and that she was asleep in his Scooby-Doo bed (he bunked down with Ryan for the weekend) "I'm going to peek in at her," he said excitedly.  "Okay, but I have to tell you something - she has pink and purple hair."  Wesley's jaw dropped, but I've never seen a child tiptoe as quickly as he did to check out "Aunt Cheryl."

After spying on Ryan during his tumbling class, we headed out to Easton for a little shopping and lunch.

Ryan loved the Lego store. He picked out some Halloween legos to take home.

Cheryl gave Ryan a little lift

Lunch at Northstar Cafe. Cheryl's brother helped design it and since it's one of my favorite places to eat, I couldn't wait to introduce her to it!

After shopping, we headed to pick Wesley up for the day. He wanted to take Aunt Cheryl to his favorite frozen yogurt place, so we had a creamy after school snack.

Friday evening's big event was the WHS homecoming parade.  Uncle Kirk, Cheryl and I all graduated from WHS and Wesley's school was asked to march in the parade. So 45 minutes before the parade stepped off, we had to be in the parking lot of the school to line up. Well, they called it lining up, but really, it was kids running wild.

L. (Wesley's school girlfriend), Wesley and his best buddy J.

A., J. and Wesley

The kids walked along and had a little dance to do to a song, but Wesley kind of freaked out during the parade. Even though it was a short walk and he saw where I was standing and waved, he got a little scared. OK, maybe more than a little. He ended up finishing the parade riding in the front of the pick up truck his principal was driving! Ryan didn't mind not marching since the high schoolers threw out TONS of candy and beads. Cheryl and I even taught Ryan the proper way to sing the beginning of the fight song, with a loud "BOOM! CRASH!"

After the parade, we hung around for part of the game. It felt so strange to be back, but it was a lot of fun too!

We had originally thought we'd go out after the game, but it's been almost 20 years since we were in high school and we were tired! Cake and jammies at home won out! But what a great first day of the visit!