November so Far

November has been busy for us! Brad being gone on a work retreat for three days, tons of Primary stuff, Thanksgiving celebrations at Tyler's school, speaking in church, and meetings, meetings, and more meetings have seemed to take up a lot of time. We also had our home inspection and finished up everything for our 2nd adoption. We should be approved anytime, and online right after that. Sooo...if anyone knows any birth mothers considering adoption, send them our way, k?!

Thankfully, we were able to fit in some fun stuff:

This is where I crashed Spencer and Sara's date night and we enjoyed an EXCELLENT free Veteran's day concert put on by the San Antonio Symphony. These guys were dressed up like revolutionary soldiers and played the fife, bugle, and drum.

Costumes at 75% off are da Bomb.

Creative Daddy hooked up his projecter and laptop and we watched Kung-Fu Panda on the ceiling!

Questions For You

I've decided to start teaching piano lessons. It just makes sense. I play the piano. I love the piano. I have a degree in teaching. I want to stay at home. I want to make some extra money. I know lots of people that want to take piano, but don't know anyone who teaches it. Well, now they do.

I've been researching and preparing for a couple days, but I have some questions for you, my friends and blog friends who either play yourselves or have children who play.

1. What do you like about your/your child's teacher?

2. What do you think is a fair price for a lesson?

3. Do you have a favorite curriculum?

4. Do you have any advice?

More Potty Talk

Tyler has been day-time potty trained for several months now. But he was still wearing nightime diapers until last week. He would sometimes leak even with the diapers, so I thought he just wasn't ready. Several of my friends said that their sons just started having dry diapers in the morning, so that's how they knew they were ready to go diaperless at night. Well, I waited and waited for that to happen, but it never did. Every morning his diaper was full!

I was at the store last week, and as I put the $12 pack of 17 specialty nightime diapers in the cart, I realized I had had enough. The kid is four. He can be diaperless! So I put the diapers back on the shelf and went home to see how it would go over. We had one last diaper, so we told him this was his last one.

Brad was so great. He got our tarp all clean and put it underneath the sheet so we wouldn't have to keep changing the matress pad, too. The first night Ty was wet in the morning, but since then we've gone 5 nights accident free! I think our little guy just knew the diaper was there, so he used it.

Now if we could only master the whole wiping thing...

Travelocity Gnomes

Maybe we've been watching too much of The Amazing Race on TV. Their sponsor is Travelocity, and often the contestants have to find the Travelocity Gnome and bring it to the pit stop with them. Anyway, thought this would be a fun costume. (It also reminds me of my mission. People in Missouri have a strange affinity for gnomes as lawn ornaments! Can I get an amen?)

Here's our version

Here's Travelocity's version.

The Gnome men.

This was inbetween trick-or-treating and the trunk-or-treat. They were both hot. Note to self: Halloween in South Texas is a little bit warmer than Halloween in Northern Utah.

I actually did a bit of research on Gnome families. It turns out the female gnomes are quite homely and only wear grey or brown. So homely, if fact, that the females do not go out in public, only the males. And females start growing beards at around age 350. Hmmm...the guy's costumes were definitely cuter!

I accidentally got a big glob of hot glue on my hat, so I covered it with a picture of a toadstool that said Home Sweet Home. I crack myself up!

Signs

In the car, a day after reading about the Millenium:

Tyler: When is Jesus coming back?

Us: Nobody knows except Heavenly Father.

Tyler: Nobody knows?

Us: No, but we've been given signs to know that He's coming soon. We just need to make sure we're ready anytime.

Tyler: Well, we're ready right?

Us: Well, are we reading scriptures and saying prayers?

Tyler: Yes.

Us: Are we paying tithing? Are we obeying Heavenly Father?

Tyler: I am a very obedient boy.

Us: Yes you are. Obedience is important!

Tyler: Then I guess we're ready. We'll hold 'em up when Jesus comes, right?

Us: What?

Tyler: We'll hold em up.

Us: Hold what up?

Tyler: The signs!

Us: What signs?

Tyler: The signs when Jesus comes! We'll hold em up in our yard, right?

Us: (long pause) Oh, the signs! Well, we're given different kinds of signs to know that Jesus is coming, not actual signs that we hold up...

Who are you like?

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

You are thoughtful and care very deeply for your family. A loving home is of great
importance to you and you always try to make people feel welcome. Although you have a great capacity to love, you also have a great capacity to hurt, so at times you can be sensitive. You're firm when you need to be, but people trust your judgment and appreciate the kind way you always handle things.

I know, I didn't LOVE the Twilight series like everyone else. (I hate Bella and Edward's relationship. She should be with Jacob.) But my good friend TJ posted this and it picqued my curiosity to see who I'm most like. I'm glad it's Esme.

Who are you like?

Random

This pic was taken in Fort Worth at the Stockyards during a cattle drive. That blue car with the Go Cougs poster in the window is ours. We had NO IDEA when we parked there that cows with long, sharp horns would be traipsing by. There was a moment when I thought we might get horned!

I got gas for $2.22 today!! I'm sooooo happpppyyy!

I finally made up my mind and voted today (early voting--avoid the lines)! I love voting!

How do the primaries in your ward or stake excuse children? Do they wait for the parents to pick them up? Is there a big back up at the door? Is there a more efficient way to do this?

The Cake

It started around his second birthday. Ty was really into Elmo, and saw an Elmo cake at the store. Only I didn't want to pay 50,000 dollars for some cheap-o cake, so I decided to make one myself. He loved it! I enjoyed doing it. And so a tradition was born.

Birthday #3. Spiderman was all the rage. To this day he has never actually seen a spiderman cartoon or movie, but he loves him all the same. I was especially proud of this cake.

Birthday #4. Let's back up here a moment. Just a few weeks after his third birthday, he somehow decided that he wanted a Jesus cake for his fourth birthday. I thought that was cute, but didn't think too much about it, because I was sure he would change his mind before his birthday, which was almost a year away! Only he never changed his mind. All year he talked about his Jesus cake, and never wavered!

So here is where a mother gets confused. Is it disrespectful to put Him on a cake? How do you cut the cake? Who gets what part of His face? It doesn't seem right to just pick at the leftovers like our family tends to do (my sister-in-law calls this phenomenon the Domecake, because the cakes always end up as a circle as we pick at them one bite at a time). After worrying for awhile, I came to the conclusion that if my little boy looks to Jesus as his hero, then that's a great thing, and maybe He would be honored.

So...don't laugh, I did the best I could!






Ty loved it! I just hope that next year we're back to an earthly cake!

p.s. Please ignore the lame-o toothpicks that he's blowing out. I forgot the candles!

Interview with Ty

My friend Tonya interviewed her son and tagged anyone else to do the same. It was funny to hear what Ty had to say.

1. What is something that Mom always says to you? " Listen."

2. What makes Mom happy? "Me"

3. What makes Mom sad? "When I don't do the right things."

4. How does your Mom make you laugh? "By saying silly words."

5. What was you Mom like as a child? "Like me!"

6. How old is your Mom? "4."

7. How tall is your Mom? "The same as I was when I was Number Three."

8. What is her favorite thing to do with you? "Play Transformers!"

9. What does your Mom do when you're not around? "You just go somewhere."

10. If your Mom becomes famous what would it be for? "For everybody."

11. What is your Mom really good at? "At Transformers"

12. What is your Mom not very good at? "It's hard for you to play with Transformers."

13. What does your mom do for her job? "You be silly."

14. What is Mom's favorite food? "Daddy's Special Oatmeal"

15. What makes you proud of Mom? "When we get birthday cards and birthday presents."

16. If your Mom was a cartoon character who would she be? "I don't know."

17. What do you and your Mom do together? "Play with Transformers."

18. How are you and your Mom the same? "We both play."

19. How are you and your Mom different? "Cause we have different shirts on and different pants."

20. How do you know your Mom loves you? "Cause I love you."

Focusing on the Positive

OK. So our Dallas trip wasn't as joyful as we had hoped. So our mighty Cougars didn't even show up to play. So it was embarrassing to sit among the TCU fans (who really were very nice) trying to explain to them why we were ranked 8th in the country. So we're out of the running for a BCS bowl. So that's millions of dollars to the school that we won't get.

There were some positives:

Ty got to meet Cosmo face to face. We named our car after Cosmo, so this is a big deal for him.

Ty got to meet our other favorite Ty! He was so nice, even when we came back to get another picture since the first one on Brad's phone (we forgot our camera) didn't get saved. Here's our Ty saying how old he was when Ty Detmer asked him.

I'm just glad we got the pictures before TCU broke the longest winning streak in the nation. There weren't as many smiles after the game.

p.s. Isn't it so great that the last time the Cougars lost (16 games ago), we were there to see it in Tulsa? I'm thinking we're jinxed. Maybe the next time they come to our area of the country we should pass.

Spooky

This was our fun FHE project tonight. I found the idea online somewhere--I googled ModPodge projects, cause I was in the mood to decoupage. I love that word: decoupage.

Anyway, very simple to make, and tons of fun for a three (almost four!) year old.

I couldn't find the exact site where I got the idea, but there's pretty much the same thing on a site called Skip to My Lou.

Another tip: if you don't have the glassware lying around waiting to be decoupaged, go to a thrift store, they've got all sorts of funky shapes and sizes. I got mine for 49 cents each.

Fat Chance

Gas has finally fallen below $3/gallon, and we're back to where we were about a year ago!

Do you think the price of food and all the other things that went up due to "gas prices" will go back down, too?

And do you think that by Christmas, when we head to Oregon on United Airlines, they'll stop charging us $15 for the first checked bag, and $50 for the second?

I didn't think so either.

General Conference

What a great weekend this was, and not just because I got a break from Primary!

There were some excellent, poignant talks this conference weren't there? I loved several, but my favorite had to be Elder Holland. He is such a powerful speaker, and says things so succinctly. He spoke of angels, in both immortal and mortal form.

What a great thing to be reminded of, that angels are round about us. The Heavens do care about our journey here. I like to think of angels (perhaps including loved ones) ministering to us in our struggles, in our tough times, and in our everyday lives. I know there have been times in my life when I have definitely felt angels around me.

Elder Holland told us to take heart, be filled with faith, and remember our covenants. As we do this, Heavenly Father has promised that He will fight our battles for us. Who else better?

What did you like about Conference?

Q Tips

I know we're not supposed to stick anything smaller than our elbow in our ear, but come on! Is my eardrum really gonna rupture? Is earwax really going to be smashed in there so much that I go deaf? I'm gonna need concrete evidence before I stop one of my favorite daily activities!

Heaven Help Us

Is anyone else worried about the economy these days? As I watch our 401k getting smaller and smaller, even though we're adding more and more money into it, I get worried.

I admit, I don't really understand whether that whole 700 Billion Dollar bailout would have worked, but I worry that nobody's doing anything; that congress is stuck in their political circus, not actually getting anything done.

And I wonder what's the answer? Is there an answer? Everything is so complicated and intertwined, is there really a solution?

And can John McCain or Barack Obama really do anything about it all?

What's your take?

A New Generation

I only knew a handful of you during one of my favorite life moments: Playing Maria in Kennedy Middle School's production of The Sound of Music. But my love for anything related to Julie Andrews, nuns, and puppets started long before the age of 13.

I have loved the movie ever since I can remember. Every Easter it would come on TV and I would watch the whole thing, dancing around like Gretl in the Gazebo, and swirling on my own living room hill, singing "The Hills are Alive..." (Thanks, Mom, for letting me stay up past my bedtime to watch it!)

It is one of the only movies that I know pretty much all the lines. So when it came on TV a few weeks ago, I couldn't pass it up. Brad, Ty and I watched and watched, and I was amazed that Ty fell in love with it, too! His favorite is the "Flibbertigibbet song," but he was entranced for the whole thing. When I cried at the end when they climb to their freedom, he was very curious. I told him it was just a happy cry. Now when he's crying for real, he says it's just a happy cry, in between sobs!

Since I had the CD in my collection but had never played it for Ty, he quickly played it over and over at bedtime. Soon, he knew all the words, too! When I saw the movie for two bucks at the thrift store, I couldn't resist!

And that is how our home--and some very public places--have been filled with the magic of the Sound of Music once more! We find ourselves singing those songs all over town, in our head, anywhere!

All is Calm

Updated 72-hour kit: check

Flashlights and batteries: check

More water than we would ever need: check

Non-perishable food: check

Outside items stored in garage: check

Ty's school cancelled: check

Brad's appointments cancelled: check

Storm:..........? Storm:................? Storm:.......................?

200 miles to the east.

San Antonio is such a weather vacuum!!! We got nothing!!! We never get anything!! Just sunshine and a 95 degree day ahead of us. Nothing!!

(I'm sure our Houston friends who are without power would trade with me in a heartbeat, so I'm trying not to be too disappointed that we got left out.)

Preparations

See that projected path? The center of it is Corpus Christi, where Brad had appointments scheduled for tomorrow. Thankfully, Corpus is in full Evacuation-mode, so we do not have to go down there!

But do you see that first red hurricane symbol after it hits land? That is over San Antonio, where we live! We're not supposed to get hurricanes here, we're 140 miles inland! But it's a possibility. Also very possible, and some even say likely, are tornados. And power failure. And flooding.

So, today, instead of traveling to Corpus, we are taking out our dusty 72 hour kit to do a few updates. Ty is no longer a size 3-6months. We live in Texas now, not Utah, so we probably don't need the heavy warm clothes we had in there before.

We're filling up our gas tanks. We're getting some cash in low denominations. We're storing our BBQ and patio furniture. Copying all our important documents. Gathering our flashlights and batteries. Getting lots of water.

I was at the church last night, and the Ward and Stake are preparing, as well. It's comforting to know we have a church family.

Anything I'm forgetting?

*Update: As of Thursday morning, the storm seems to be inching further east, so hopefully we won't be in the direct path anymore.

Budding Photographer

What to do when, because of last minute scheduling conflicts, you end up bringing your 3 year old to a weeknight meeting with a Bishopbric member?

Well, after a measely pen/paper combo doesn’t excite, give the boy your camera and pray he doesn’t break it!

The result: Life through the lens of a 3 year old:

Bye Bye Beijing

I loved the Olympics like I've always loved the Olympics, but this year was extra fun: it was Tyler's first Summer Games and he watched a lot of it right along with us.

One extra cool byproduct of logging all those hours cheering on Team USA is our own Family Olympics.

For example:

• At dinner time, Tyler usually doesn't eat very much, and sometimes gags just looking at our food. The last couple of weeks, however, he's eaten all of his food so he can get a "Gold Medal" in eating!
• It's often difficult to get him to kneel down and stay quiet during family prayer. Not anymore, now that he can get a "Gold Medal!"
• Same with getting dressed.
• Same with picking up toys.

IT'S THE BEST THING IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD, I tell ya! And I'm a little sad because I know this fascination with Gold Medals is not going to last forever. But hey, if buying that box of Michael Phelps Corn Flakes will keep Little Man eating well and doing chores without a fight, I just might stock up!