Slacker

I thought I had better get a post on here before Halloween arrives. Too many projects, too little time!
What is happening around here? Nothing much--just considering a move across the freakin' pond!
I am planning a ginormous yard sale. Do people have yard sales in the cold weather? Hmmm. Something to think about!
So, here are the latest pictures and happenings...

Last weekend we went for a little walk on the mountain to collect fall leaves. I whipped up a little adventure bag for Em and he was delighted, to say the least. I put a tape measure in it and he was running around measuring everything.

I am trying to introduce Augi to "hiking" very slowly. She is definitely my child. She complains the entire time--and we only walk around the parking lot. Then, afterwards, she tells me how much she loved going. Silly girl.

Em, on the other hand, is an outdoorsy kind of guy. He could stay out all day and night and never make a complaint.

We spotted a black panther. This little guy followed us around the entire time. He seemed to be quite enamoured with Nanny. The feelings were not mutual.

So, the next day we went to the zoo with our good friend Kris. She is going to be a grandma soon! She and Don will be the greatest grandparents ever. I have another Chris friend and when I talk about one of them, Augi says, "The one with kids, or the one with Don?" The kids loved showing off for her.

One of Augi's shots.

 This week was the open house at our local fire station. Our friend Chon invited us out. We would have felt more special if it weren't for the giant billboards inviting everyone else for a month before the event. Anyway, it was crowded. We did get to ride a fire truck, crawl under smoke and out a window, watch a helicopter take off, and watch a room burn to the ground. Em is still very concerned about the fire. He was saying "fire" tonight and looking very worried. This is the only picture we have from the event because we couldn't put the kids down to take any pics. Darn.

Today we made a Jack-o-Lantern. It was my first. I am quite proud of the creation. Augi was willing to dig right in, although she doesn't look so excited in this picture. Em was not interested. He said, "Ew. No." Em had an accident today. He tripped or fell down the back stairs--not sure which. He has a huge goose-egg on his forehead. Poor guy.

So, life goes on as usual around here. I start my new job with the district November 2. I am not ready to make the big announcement about England yet, but it is looking more and more likely every day. I got cold feet last week, but I am over that now. If Chris can do it, I most certainly can.

Shhhh...he's hunting wabbits!

Em is delighted by chasing the poor bunny.

Woo-hoo!

So, I received a request today to interview with the clinic in England. One step closer...OMG. Panic is setting in.

Goodbye September

I can't believe September is over. I know a lot of you hate September, but I like it. September is just a slow, easy month. Nothing to plan, nowhere to go. Last weekend I left my computer at work by accident. It was really wonderful to be without a computer for a couple of days. I discovered that my world won't collapse without my laptop. I have to admit, we have several other computers around the house, so I was able to use one when I needed it. But, it is always such a time sucker.
September gave us these ginormous sunflowers! Augi has been in MusikGarten since before she could walk. Em just started this semester. Miss Amy always gives the kids some sunflower seeds at the end of the year to plant over the summer. We haven't had much success the last few years, but this year we got some great flowers. We pulled the seeds out, but then I left them outside and they got all soggy in a rain storm. Oh well...it's all about the process, not the product--right?

We went to a local farmer's market and picked up some yummy corn on the cob.

I have been working on my crafty skills. I made these cute little dolls from clothes pins.

I am quite pleased with them! Augi and Em love them. Especially Emmett. It reminds me that children don't need flashing lights and noise to have fun. I have been clearing out as many of the electronic toys from our house as possible lately. My children are spoiled with toys. Thinking about moving to England has me wanting to down size my life--whether we go or not. Simplify is my new motto!

This is just a funny picture of Augi creating her own little warming tent with her poofy dress over the heater vent.

Okay. I am bugged. I just downloaded the latest version of Picasa. It won't freakin' save my rotated picture. I am too impatient to try to figure it out right now. I am including this anyway!

It was UEA break this weekend, so I had 4 days off. I scheduled way too much for my kids. We all had fun, though. On Thursday we did our errands, then we went to the zoo for a harvest festival. The place was packed. As we pulled in to the parking lot I tried to talk Augi into going somewhere else--the park, the aviary, Disneyland, etc. She was not interested. So, we literally parked 1 mile away from the zoo. When we got in there we realized that the activities were lame, so we bagged the harvest festival and just enjoyed the animals.

On Friday we went to the farm with Addie, Connie, Sully, and some other random kid they brought (can't remember his name). Emmett was in heaven here. He loves animals, tractors, dirt, and climbing.

It was his kind of place.

Sully is camera shy, and this is about the best I can ever get of him. Stinker.

Em was a maniac in the treehouse. He has no fear. He just climbed right to the top and looked out the window as he called, "Maaaaaa!"

Because my children weren't completely overstimulated, we decided to try out the

Enchanted Woods friday night.

It is a non-scary Halloween event for little kids. I let Augi pick a "date" and she invited Dayton. She asked me to call it an "outing" rather than a date. It was a lot of fun! The kids went through the museum as a group and listened to different characters from fairytales. At each area, they got a treat for their bag. They got musical instruments, candy, masks, pencils, and all kinds of fun things. Em had a 45 minute screaming tantrum at bedtime. I think he just needed to blow off steam after too much fun.

Augi and Dayton at the beginning of their "outing." Augi told me tonight that she doesn't want to talk too much about the date because then all the boys will want to go on dates with her.

To top off our fun weekend, we got to celebrate

Dayton's 5th birthday!

The little car is always a hit with my kids.

Yes sir, that is a bouncy house in the background.

Greatest party ever!!!!

So, Augi and I were lying in her bed tonight talking about our weekend. We reviewed all of the events of the last 4 days. Augi said, "I'm gonna do all those things with my kids."  That melts my heart. Some days, like today, I question my choice to work outside the home. I can't believe Augi is four years old. I hate to miss anything as she grows. I want to be the mom that takes her to school and picks her up every day. I want to take Em to music and not stress about working an extra hour to make up the time. I love these children and I hope they have a happy, memorable childhood. Despite my desire to stay with them, I have to remind myself that working really is a choice. If I want to stay home with them, I can. We would figure it out. (We might not be able to eat, but that's beside the point!) I love my work. I have found a wonderful caregiver for them when we can't be there. There are things my children benefit from with Sarah that they would never get from me. (Like homemade cookies!)

I just wish I could slow down the clock.

I want to hold all of these moments with my children in a little bottle so I can take them out whenever I want!

Ooops...

This is a post with no pics. Two oops incidents occured over the last two days that I would like to report on. First, I'll give the serious story. It's long.
Story #1:
I got a flu shot yesterday, then took the kids over to their pediatrician's office to get theirs.  We were greeted at the door by an unfamiliar medical person. I asked her if she was new, she explained that she is an "extern" getting her clinical hours with my pediatrician. Augi got the nasal spray. All was well with that. Em was supposed to get a shot. Because I work with children with Autism, I am concerned about mercury in vaccinations. Now, mercury was removed from most children's vaccines in 2001, but it is still in the flu shot. I asked the extern if the shot this year has mercury. She checked the box, and yup, it has Thimersol. I decided he needs to be vaccinated, so I told her to go ahead. She loaded up the syringe and came over to stick my baby boy. I was cringing as she walked near, I don't handle shots well. She stopped and said, "Oh, I need to get a band-aid." She set down the needle on her little work area and walked out of the room to find a bandaid. In walked a medical assistant who seemed to know what she was doing (still not our standard favorite nurses). I asked her about the Thimersol free vaccine that they had last year. She explained that they were out and would have more next week. I asked her if I could cancel the shot and come back in next week when they have the Thimersol free version. She said "Sure! In fact, I need to give a flu shot right now, so I will use this one that is already loaded." She picked it up and took a glance at the bottle it came from. Then, she said..."THIS ISN'T THE FLU SHOT. THIS IS THE MENINGOCOCCAL VACCINATION." That nit-wit extern almost stuck my baby boy with some other vaccine that is normally given to teens on their way to college. Freakin' idiot. So, we left without a shot of the wrong vaccine and without any added mercury. Oops.
Story #2
This one is funny. Yesterday was our little friend Annie's birthday. I used to work with her mom, she and Augi both go to the Baldwin home for wayward children, and they are in the same preschool class. Well, she didn't get a party this year because of timing and such. However, her mom brought a bunch of cupcakes for the preschool class to celebrate today. She handed the cupcakes to the teacher, let her know that yesterday was Annie's 5th birthday, and went on her way. Well, Annie was handed her birthday crown by the teacher and she promptly handed it off to Augi. Annie doesn't care about any stinkin' crown. So, another teacher was instructed to write the birthday girl's name on her crown. She came along, saw Augi with the crown, wrote "Happy Birthday Augi" on the crown and proceeded to lead the class in "Happy Birthday to Augi..." Then, at the end of class, they handed Augi a plate of extra cupcakes and told her to take them home. Okey-dokey. It all sounded good to her. So, poor sweet little Annie missed out on her birthday celebration--but Augi got a really cool crown and a plate of cupcakes. School is great!

Nooooooo

Em has a new favorite word! He always says this long "nooooooooo" and he uses it frequently!

Zoo Date

Augi has been eager to have a play date with Libs for ages. My kids have withdrawals whenever we have a long weekend away from the Baldwins. I had Monday off and we headed to the zoo. It was great fun.

There is nothing cuter than a baby elephant. Baby Giraffes are awfully cute too!

I asked the kids to pretend to be animals. Em was looking a little like an escaped mental patient.

So Much to Talk About

It has been a while. A lot has happened, I will try to catch up here.
First of all...big news flash...AUGI started preschool today!

She picked out her outfit about a week ago. Unfortunately, her new shoes gave her a blister. But otherwise, school was great. I was able to stay in the class until 10:30. She was shy and nervous until Anne arrived, one of her BFFs. Oh, and the other news flash...working mom guilt has set in, and I am the Room Mother! Woo-hoo. Could they pick a worse candidate? Me, organizing the rest of the parent volunteers? Ug. I am setting up a blog for the class. I have great plans. However, I am a type 4, so we'll see if I ever get anything in motion.

On the way to school this morning, Augi asked me if there will be any children with autism in her class. She soaks in everything she hears! I have to be careful with her!
The Baldwins helped to teach us a little geocaching over the holiday weekend using my GPS. I need to work out some kinks, but I am excited about the prospects!

I discovered the wonders of television as a babysitter...Em really hasn't seen much t.v. I found a Barney dvd in our collection and popped it in while I made dinner the other night. Barney is a great sitter! Notice Augi's wings. She wore them for two days straight and insisted that she will wear them every day for the rest of her life.

Playing in the park.

OK. This picture had me in tears tonight. I am tired, therefore easily amused. Augi organized a Fancy-Nancy night out last friday. The kids brought their dolls. I'm not sure what is going on with Tanner's doll on the far right.

And here are the kids...fancy shmancy.

Just a funny shot of the kids having a sleepover in Em's room. Can you figure out where I sleep when we do this? Yep. Right in that little crevice between them.

Aaaa. I had my Ikea fix recently. I love how sophisticated Em looks here.

My baby boy. He has been very very sick since the weekend. He stayed home for the last two days fighting some horrible tummy bug.

He was looking better tonight, so I am hopeful he will be better tomorrow. He fell asleep at 530, and Augi was passed out by 7:15. Chris and I are horribly sleep deprived from waking up with Em all night for the last two nights. It is time for me to do the dishes and hit the sack...G'night. P.S. For those of you interested, no word on the England job yet. We occasionally talk about what we will do if I get the offer. I am about to get my dream job (minus a pay raise!) with the district. It is going to be hard to leave if I get the offer. Either way, the future looks bright for us.