A Leafy Story

Sammy was a bit pouty at first. But he's 2. What's new?

He was upset because Griffin got to use the rake first.
But then it was his turn...

and boy, did he have fun!

Then Daddy brought the dump trucks...

and filled them up with leaves!

The leaves were flying everywhere!

Sammy thought they were soft and comfy...

and they made a great hiding place!

Griffin liked to pick them up and throw them...

but Sammy just wanted to jump in and burrow down.

Griffin decided that sounded like fun!

Then, Daddy threw Griffin into the leaf pile!

He landed... thud!

Then it was Sammy's turn!

Plop! He landed on his tummy.

The End

Late Halloween

The house across the street. He loves Halloween! I wish I had a tripod, because without the flash, the picture always came out blurry if my hands shook even the tiniest bit.

Our jack-o-lantern this year. Yes, I traced around the boys' hands...


And then I cut out the hands, and placed those hand cut-outs and placed them on the stairs leading up to the house. I wish I would have had some pumpkin-scented tea lights to put in the jack-o-lantern. I only had lemon. At least it smelled clean!

My tired trick-or-treaters! Sammy (in case you can't tell or just aren't familiar with kid movies)
was Mr. Incredible (from The Incredibles), and Griffin was Buzz Lightyear (from Toy Story)

Do I Really Need to Say Anything?

Fall Porches

http://theinspiredroom.net/2008/10/19/front-porches-a-fall-drive-by/

Check out this link for some great pictures of porches decorated for fall! We haven't gotten our pumpkin yet; we'll pick it up next weekend. We're getting a free one from Hen House for being CSA members! Yippee!! I can't wait. This will be the first year the boys have decorated a pumpkin. We may carve it, or we may paint it, or a little of both... should be fun!

Slowing Down

I don't want to leave any faithful readers hanging, so I'll just say that I am taking a blogging break, and I will continue blogging in November. Life has been quite busy lately, and I need to not have the "Oh, I really should write a blog" feeling hanging over my head! When I do resume blogging, I may decide to only write a few things every month. I need to focus on my family right now!

Homeschooling (and reading about homeschooling, and thinking about homeschooling, and talking to other people about homeschooling) and discipline (mine and my children's) are taking a lot of my time these days, and caring for my house, husband, children, pets -- making sure they are all fed, clothed and getting their needs met -- it takes a lot out of a girl.

I will probably get on and post pictures infrequently, and maybe blurb about something here or there, but for the most part I will not be posting regularly.

Have a great week!

Take A Breather... If You Can

This beauty was my grandma's next door "neeeeeigh"-bor (now that was a bad joke) before she moved closer to us. I thought the picture was dreamy and relaxing, kind of like our weekend would be... if I could only breathe.

I think I may be getting asthma.

Ugh... I sure hope this is just allergies, but I may be going to visit the doctor on Monday. My throat feels like it is "swollen", for lack of a better word. It does not hurt at all, which is weird, it is just hard to swallow food, and I have had a few episodes when it was hard to breathe because it feels like my airway was being constricted. And I have a lot of phlegm.

And of course ALL of our Tylenol Allergy is expired.

You'd better believe that I'll be picking some more up tomorrow when I do my Walgreens shopping.

Oh, and Mike got the closet in the loft done, and I finally got the shelf liners tacked on today, so I have started loading it up with our "overstock" stuff. A whole new closet!! It's like a dream come true. Our bathroom is going to look a lot better, that's for sure.

I don't know what it is about fall, but for me it is even more motivating than spring as far as cleaning and decluttering. I start to feel claustrophobic with all of our "stuff" surrounding me all day long. Maybe it's because in the summer we're outside so much more, and then in the fall we can't go out as much and have to spend more time indoors, so I notice it more? I don't know.

Well, we have church tomorrow, so I'd better go throw in a load of laundry, because I'm out of nice slacks. I got myself a soft, comfy pair of brown sweatpants last week, and I can't wait to wear them! It's still too warm for me. I want to be cold!

Speaking of being cold, I got my holiday mini catalog from Stampin' Up! in the mail a few days ago. Ahhhhh... I love the Christmas stamp sets!! I think I may need a couple of them. Yes, of course, need. Because the six Christmas sets that I have aren't enough.
And all that talk about decluttering and getting rid of stuff? Yeah. That most emphatically does NOT apply to my stamps. I love them all. And I have a whole shelf in my stamp cabinet that is not being used. Yet.

Mowing Train

Last night, Mike mowed the yard. The boys first had to pick up all of the toys that were all over the yard from the day's playtimes, and then when Mike entered the backyard with the mower, the boys ran and grabbed their dump trucks and followed him around the whole yard. So fun!



Don't you just love the trail that runs around the yard? Courtesy of Gordon. Well, Gordon started it, but the boys happily play on it for a large portion of their outdoor playtime each day. They kick a ball up and down the slight incline on the trail, and shovel dirt from one place to another -- which involves filling up their dump trucks and then hauling the dirt to its new destination and then, of course, dumping it.


We walked to DQ after the boys were done mowing, and Mike and I were laughing most of the time we walked, watching Griffin hike up his shorts and hold them up in the back. Note to self: take the Levi's out of Griffin's wardrobe until next year.

Good Food and Good Times

My front door three days ago.

My front door today.

What I did with the "old" wreath. This garage sale cookie jar is coming in handy! There is a candle inside of it, and I'll be filling it with small pinecones and cinnamon sticks. The candle inside is called Cinnamon Bun, and it is YUMMY. I just love fall!



We had a lot of fun last night. We got to spend time with Adrienne and Nicolas at IHOP; Grandma G. and Suzy (Grandpa) stopped by for a while after a birthday dinner they went to with some long-time church friends; and Caleb came by for a few minutes to pick up their dogs, who spent the week with us. It was a fun evening!




We were handing out cherry pie left and right, because I made one yesterday and everyone knows I love to give people food. It's what I do! You can't come over to my house and walk away hungry. I haven't tasted the pie yet, so I hope it was guest-worthy.

I was going to make tuna casserole last night for dinner, but there was no way I was going to turn down IHOP with a good friend. Now I have chicken that needs to be used tonight, so I think I'm going to make shredded chicken, stuffing, roasted potatoes and gravy for dinner.

I stuck a package of frozen chicken thighs in the crock pot on High on Monday morning with some butter, sea salt and pepper, and by Monday night the house smelled SO good. I'll make the gravy with the drippings and "good bits" that I saved from the bottom of the crock pot.

Here is my tuna casserole recipe. It is easy and fairly quick to make. It's the recipe my mom made when we were kids, and I still love it! The boys (all three of them!) love it too. The leftovers are really good. You may want to use an extra can of cream of mushroom soup if you plan to reheat it more than once so that it stays creamy.

Tuna Casserole

1 bag large shell pasta

2 small or 1 large can tuna (or salmon)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cheddar cheese soup

1 can sliced mushrooms

1-2 cups shredded cheese

1. Cook the pasta.

2. Mix the tuna, mushrooms and two soups together in a baking dish.

3. Add the cooked pasta and stir together.

4. Cover with the shredded cheese.

5. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes or until cheese is all melted.

I see banana bread in my family's near future.

Sick Day and a Recipe

Not for me, but Mike is sick today. He came home sick from work around lunchtime with a head cold, and went straight to bed. He's been there ever since, and it's 11pm right now.

Griffin and I did our school shortly after breakfast today. That worked out really well. He had a full belly, he wasn't tired yet, and Sammy was content to play with Legos at our feet most of the time we were reading. It was a good homeschool day. :)

I spent most of the afternoon and evening making pumpkin muffins from scratch. Here is the recipe:

Pumpkin Muffins

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger or ground cloves

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

1/3 cup shortening

1 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350.

1. In a large mixing bowl combine all of the dry

ingredients except the last cup of flour.

2. Add the wet ingredients.

3. Beat with an electric mixer

on low speed til blended, and on high speed for 2 minutes.

4. Add the remaining flour and beat til blended.

5. Line muffin tin with paper baking cups.

6. Use an ice cream scoop to fill muffin cups 2/3 full.

7. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Grocery Gaming Again

So I went shopping at Walgreens on Sunday night, while Mike was putting the boys to bed. I think this may be my new favorite time to shop! Other than the fact that the store had already run out of several of the items I was planning to purchase, which were free after rebate.

Here is a rundown of my shopping trip.

I spent $76.69.
My total before any coupons, discounts or gift cards was $169.10
I saved $92.41, which is %55. Hooray!

I had $48.60 in coupons, $22.92 in store sales (some advertised, some not) and a gift card worth $20.89 from July's rebates. I didn't shop there in August (I had a lot on my plate and didn't devote time to my Grocery Gaming for a month), but now I'm back!

First Week Down!

Our first week of homeschool is behind us. It went very well, and Griffin is excited about what he is learning. We tried to do schooltime during naptime, but that didn't work out too well, so we modified our plans a bit. Monday was Labor Day, and since Mike was off we didn't have school. Tuesday we did our school while Sammy was napping. Same thing on Wednesday. On Thursday, Griffin requested that he be allowed to nap with Sammy, as he was "really tired." And then Mike came home and saved me (if you recall, I wasn't having the BEST day on Thursday). He sent me "out" for an hour before he left to go play poker. *sigh* What a man.



Where was I?



Oh yes. So we didn't do school on Thursday. But on Friday, I realized that the Sonlight schedule actually has us scheduled to do very little actual schoolwork every Friday, and since I had been a day "behind" all week since I thought it was Monday on Tuesday, Tuesday on Wednesday, etc., etc., We did two days' worth of school on Friday, after naptime. I set Sammy up with "The Polar Express," (you know how they can watch the same movie over and over and over again without getting tired of it? This is that movie for my boys.) and Griffin and I got busy in the living room.



Most of schooltime is spent snuggled up on the couch reading, talking about what we read, and practicing the Bible verse for the week. Then we move to the dining room table for his activity book. He loves it! It is fun watching him try SO hard to stay in the lines when he colors. And tracing lines, and listening to rhythms I beat on the table, and circling the matching objects... it's good to be in preschool. Yes, yes, it is.

We did school today while Sammy napped. I think we'll aim for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to get our school work done. Then he'll at least have a nap every other day. And we can easily combine the week's work into 3 days. There is only about 20-30 minutes of "work" to do every day -- if you can actually call it that, it's more like "Mommy Reading Time."

We love school!

Bad Mood

Yeah... it's not happening here, that's for sure! I am in a HORRIBLE MOOD. Don't mess with me right now.

I know I should be in a better mood, but I think it really has to do with the fact that

1. the sun isn't shining,

2. my (normally adorable) two-year-old has been a whiny, demanding MESS all day long and keeps repeating himself over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over,

3. my wrist hurts for some unknown reason and I can hardly bend it,

4. my hair is flat today and would NOT do anything this morning,

5. my eyes have been bothering me and it is hard to wear eye makeup because I feel the need to itch them all the time (must be allergies),

6. my floor will not stay clean for more than 2 hours because of little boy crumbs, toys, blankets, shoes (mine and theirs), and the never-ending layer of dog hair -- and I just vacuumed it yesterday,

7. my dining room table and end tables and bookshelf and other surfaces are cluttered with books, and I should really get more bookshelves to hold them all,

8. I called my husband to ask him if I could have tonight off, and forgot that he is playing poker tonight since he didn't get to on Monday (his normal poker-playing night).

Anyway.

So I'm sitting here trying to think of the GOOD in all of these situations. Like....

1. It has been nice and cool and rainy for the last two days, and we have not needed to have the air conditioner on, and it is so much fun to snuggle up under a blanket with a warm drink (or drive around with a Spiced Pumpkin Latte with Bonnie! That was something fun I did today.)

2. I have two adorable boys who love me so much, and can't wait to spend every waking minute with me. They have both lived past infancy, and are healthy and happy (well, most of the time!). I am so grateful to have been blessed with them.

3. The miracles of modern medicine... AKA Tylenol, Aleve, heat rubs, lotions, ointments, and on and on...

4. I have a fun hair color. I love having red hair.

5. I don't have to use special cleaner to wash off my eye makeup at the end of the day.

6. My children have lots of fun with their toys, and it is so much fun for me to watch the new games they can come up with using their blankets and cars. We have a huge black dog who loves us so much he would sit on us all day long if he could. Sounds weird, but it's true.

7. I have a husband who works hard all day long so that we can afford to buy books to feed my reading addiction. Well, his paychecks are useful for other things, too...like food...

8. I can order delivery for dinner tonight, and watch "Annie" with the boys (haven't seen that movie since I was a kid), and read to my heart's content after they go to sleep.

First Day of Homeschool

Our first day of homeschool was SO MUCH FUN!!! It went so much better than I expected it to. Sammy went down for his nap around 2pm, and he went right to sleep. Normally he will stay awake and talk and fidget and roll around in bed. Maybe this has been the solution all along! I didn't realize that having Griffin in the room with him was keeping him from sleeping.

We'll see if the "going right to sleep" thing lasts once he realizes how much fun we're having while he sleeps. I'm praying it continues!

Griffin and I sat down and got right to work. He wouldn't let me do anything else.

First, I introduced the Bible verse for the week. He will be learning Proverbs 4:20 -- "Pay attention, my child, to what I say. Listen carefully."

Then we read:
"Old Mother Goose," from A Treasury of Mother Goose Rhymes,
"Mouse and the Lion" from The Lion Storyteller Bedtime Book,
"The Poky Little Puppy" from Family Treasury of Little Golden Books,
a poem by Carl Sandburg from Eric Carle's Animals Animals,
we learned about winter from The Berenstain Bears' Big Book of Science and Nature (Almanac)
we learned about the Island of Banilla (not a real island), its inhabitants, its government structure, and all of the people who make the island of Banilla work in Things People Do

The last things we did were two worksheets from Developing the Early Learner 1. The first worksheet was "Draw a line from the bunny to the carrot without touching any of the other lines with your pencil," and the second was "Color the two identical pictures." Griffin loved both of those (he's a very hands-on guy), and worked on them for a long time. He takes his time coloring now, and wants to make sure that the colors he uses are true-to-life. No more purple trees or green elephants. He checks with me, and if I don't know what color something should be, we look it up online so that he can be accurate.

Can you say "perfectionist"?

He must get it from his father.

It was a good first day of school! And yes, I know, it is only preschool. But he will be learning how to read this year, and learning how to follow written instructions, sit still and listen.

It's going to be a good year!

Sammy-isms

This is a conversation I had with Sammy this morning. I was in my bedroom getting dressed with the door locked. Mike was laying in bed, but he was awake, luckily, because he got to overhear this little conversation.

Griffin and Sammy were in the toy room playing with trains. Or at least they were, until...

S: (quivering voice through the door) Mooommmyyyy???

M: Yes, Sammy?

S: (still quivering, but quite a bit louder) MoooOOOMMMYYYYY?????

M: Yes, Sammy?

S: Griffin LAIIIID on meeee.

M: He did what?!?

S: He LAIIIIIIIID OOONNN MEEEEE!!!!!

M: Oh... really? Um...... did he fall asleep?

S: (with absolute certainty) Yes!

M: He did? (by this time Mike and I are both chuckling)

S: YES. And I DON'T LIKE NAPS.

The end.

Name Change

Hi, my name is... guess what? Take a guess. Any guess will do. But you probably won't guess THIS name!!

Er... huh? What? How did you get THAT from Carody???

Apparently this is what they heard when I went through the drive-through at Starbucks and they asked me for my name. Which has never happened before. Not the going through the drive-through part, obviously (I could happily live in the Starbucks drive-through... yes, Bonnie, I went there today, after we just went there yesterday... it's been a happy weekend!), but the asking for my name part. I thought they only did that when you went inside.

So I didn't spell out my name for him, because I wanted to just see what he came up with. Well, I didn't even notice the name on my cup until we were halfway through the card class I went to this morning with my friend Jaymee. We went to Roni's house (Roni is an awesome Stampin' Up! demonstrator who has a make-10-different-cards-for-12-dollars class at her house once a month) to make our ten cards, and I was so excited about the class (and a bit confused because I hadn't turned on the right street to get to her house, so we had to backtrack just a bit) that I forgot to check out my cup after we left Starbucks.

Then during the class, Jaymee asked me what my cup said. And we all had quite the laugh.

I'm still giggling, actually. Who in their right minds would name their child Tyranny?

In other news (or could it be related?) I found a FUN website just for redheads (I hear we can be a bit tyrannical), at www.realmofredheads.com. It is too fun, and I ordered a couple of shirts from there. I'll show them to you when they arrive.

I went to Mardel -- my new favorite place -- on Thursday night (Mike gave me the night off! Yay!!) and bought two huge maps, one USA and one world map, for the wall of our school room. Griffin is always really interested in where places are, and where we are going, and I thought it would be fun to get him started with geography early. I loved geography, and {shameless bragging about to happen, brace yourself} my junior college World Geography professor wrote a letter to a well-known university and recommended me for a geography scholarship, all without my knowledge. I got a letter from the university praising me for my accomplishment in the area of geography, which came as a huge surprise to me, because I thought my geography professor didn't like any of us.

Anyway, I am preparing for our homeschool year to officially start on Tuesday. It won't be anything earth-shattering, but we will be trying out a new schedule, which we'll need to adjust often, I'm sure. I'd like for Griffin to stop taking naps, and for us have school time during Sammy's nap. We'll see if that happens or not. Griffin sleeps really well at naptime, so his little energetic body might need the rest that a nap provides, even if he is 4 years old.

I have been studying all of the different methods of homeschooling, so that I can tailor the boys' education to their learning styles. There are so many choices!

*Classical

*Principle Approach

*Traditional Textbook

*Charlotte Mason

*Unit Study

*Special Needs

*Carschooling

*Eclectic

*Unschooling/Delight Directed

*Whole-Heart Learning

Just to name a few!

The choices are many, and it will be nice to be able to have the flexibility to teach the boys in the way that they can learn best. I think that right now, our best bets are going to be reading, educational games, and learning by experiencing. I'm also going to use Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Engelmann, Haddox and Bruner. It is supposed to take about 20 minutes a day, and if we do it every weekday we'll be done with the program in 20 weeks. I have the full curriculum from Sonlight for Pre-K, too, so we have a lot ot look forward to this year!

Well, I think I'll go watch a movie with Mike before bed. He was off of work on Friday, and will be off again on Monday, so this has been a nice break!

A Different Kind of Before and After

Before

After

You can barely see it, but it's there... and it didn't go away for about 24 hours after he ripped all of those little stickers off of his poor sensitive belly. Poor guy inherited his Mommy's skin!

Dog Pillow

We got Gordon a new big, soft, plushy, multi-layered dog pillow, made by Cesar something-or-other, the "Dog Whisperer"... and as you can plainly see, the dog just LOVES his new pillow.

Yeah. Whatever. He sleeps on it sometimes (when we tell him to). Only once or twice have I found him there of his own accord. In fact, I have to take a picture of this, be right back...

We even put his "blankie" on it, and he still hasn't quite warmed up to it yet.

Sheesh.

This is what happens when the boys are quiet and sleeping. I revert to my dog-picture-taking days. I have so many pictures of animals from before we had kids. Now the animals are SO neglected.

Not really.

Here is a picture I took of Cleo last week. I actually took about 20 pictures of her, because she was doing all sorts of poses for me. We had quite the photo shoot. Isn't she cute? And she doesn't really "meow"... she squeaks. And she makes REALLY funny noises when she watches the birds out the front window.

I'm off to a kids' clothing blowout/sale/clearance event. Yay!!

Occupation: Housewife

This was in Great Grandma's trunk. It is typewritten on an old yellowed piece of paper.

Occupation: Housewife

What am I doing with my life?
Well --- I am only a housewife.
I'm homework-helper, expert on spelling,
The keeper of secrets without telling,
A band-aider, a hurt-feelings mender,
A peanut butter and jelly vendor,
I'm a bed-maker, laundry supervisor,
Child disciplinarian, a chastiser,
A baseball catcher, a Girl Scout leader,
A hamster breeder, an animal feeder.
I'm a rummage-saler, P.T.A. doer,
Children's piano-practicing pursuer,
A thermometer-reader, cookie baker,
A spring planter-weeder, a fall leaf-raker.
I am a table-duster, vacuummer-mopper,
Little League rooter, argument stopper,
A gourmet chef, hamburger fryer,
Food-purchasing agent, clothing buyer.
I'm a romantic lover, chatty talker,
A midnight to 2 a.m. baby-walker.
A business listener, a sock-sewer,
A concert, a big game, recital-goer.
I'm a dog-minder, lost items finder,
Everyone's daily agenda reminder,
A nose-wiper, an aching-neck rubber,
Itching-back scratcher, dirty-head scrubber.
That's what I'm doing with my life:
I'm only a housewife.

There is no author's name recorded, so I don't know who wrote it. It's a fairly accurate description of what I do all day, though! With a few exceptions, of course. I mean, you DO have to have a girl to do Girl Scouts, right?

I love my job! :)

Letters to Great Grandma

I spent this past weekend at my Grandma's house helping her clean her garage before her big move happens in a week and a half. Christy went too, and although she couldn't lift anything too heavy because of her pregnant state (it's a BOY!!!), she had more energy than I would have thought for someone who is 5 months pregnant. We also loaded up some heavy flowerpots and a birdbath that would have cost a lot to move when you are paying by the pound. and dropped them off at my aunt and uncle's house, close to where Grandma will be moving.

While we were working in the garage at Grandma's, we had the privilege of sorting through an old trunk that belonged to my Great-Grandma Hobbs. In it were pictures of families I am related to but will never get the opportunity to meet in this lifetime, and some pictures of family members I know well, most of them taken when they were children and young adults.

It was fun to see Grandma, Mom, Aunt Susan and Uncle Marty as babies, young people, teens, and young adults. Since I didn't get to know them until they were all adults, it is hard to imagine them being so young, so seeing those pictures was priceless! Grandma will keep most of them, obviously, but I got to bring a few home with me.

Also in the trunk were letters and cards from Great Grandma's grandchildren and great-grandchildren (yes, some from me). Most were thank you cards from birthdays and Christmas. Here is just a sample of the progression of my writing skillz.

I was 6 when I wrote this beauty:

Dear Grandma
we went tothe
fire Department
today.
ihave a loose tooth.
i am having a Birtday
Pretty Soon.

Love
Carody
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Also from when I was 6:

Dear Grandma
Thank (backwards "k") youfor the
gloves and the
BarBie yougave me
and the nigtgown
i Love you.

Love
Carody
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was so much more eloquent when I was 7 years old. Here is a sample:

Dear Grandma Hobbs.
I realy likedthe
letter you gaveme.
did you know that
my tooth came out?

I like you a
hole bunch !

LoveCarody
---------------------------------------
And this is from when I was 8 yrs. old:

Dear Grandma Hobbs,
Thank you for
the $5 bill and thank
youfor the card.
It was very
nice of you.

Love
Caro
dy
-----------------------------------------
And then I turned 9 and became VERY grown up. I wrote in my best cursive, and all of the letters slanted to the right at the perfect angle.

Dear Grandma Hobbs,
Thank you for the money. I
liked it very much. (read: I spent it the day after I got it in the mail.) I had a
wonderful birthday. I hope I
will see you sometime.








Love,
Carody
------------------------------------------------
Then I reverted back to straight up-and-down printing for my Christmas thank-you letter.

Dear Grandma Hobbs,

Thank you for the pajamas, they fit
really well. And I've used the soaps alot.
I hope you had a nice Christmas.
Happy New Year!

Love
Carody (this had a heart around it)
--------------------------------------------------
Then I turned 10, and my Grandma complimented me on my cursive, and I swore I would never write in anything but cursive ever again.

Dear Grandma,
I love you. I had a wonderful birthday.
Thank you for the $5.00. I am having
fun at school. I hope I can see you soon.


Love,
Carody
-------------------------------------
The summer when I was 10, we (Christy and I) stayed for a week at Great Grandma's house in a teeny tiny town. She had barns, an outhouse, a garden, a forbidden well, and lots of little places in her yard where my sister and I could hide out and play those rhythmic hand-slapping rhyming games. We also took a lot of walks on the old train tracks that went through the town. This is what I wrote after that experience. Also in cursive, on pink Hello Kitty paper.

Dear Grandma,
Thank you for let-
ting us stay at
your house. We
has lots of fun.
Eating ice cream
and smushing
it was fun.
I had fun
when we went
to the stores too.
Thank you for
buying clothes
for us. We liked
them.

Love,
Carody
-------------------
Then I turned 11. I was very hung up on being proper in my letter-writing, but I didn't put a lot of thought into what I wrote. Here goes! Yes, still in cursive. I even underlined it all.

Carody _____
my address
the rest of my address
April 14 1991

Dear Grandma,
Thank you for the
$5.00. I had a great
birthday. I hope I
can see you soon!
Sorry it's late!

Love,
Carody ____ _____
----------------------------------
After my 11-year-old Christmas. My handwriting looks constipated, but it is still in cursive. I also printed this "card" (piece of paper folded into fourths) from our Atari. I was SO mature.

Dear Grandma Hobbs,
Thank you for the
picture book and the
pajamas. I've worn
the pajamas almost
every night. The
picture book is neat.
I had a great Christmas.

Love,
Carody
---------------------------
When I turned 12, apparently I decided I had had enough of the cursive for a while. My printing was sloppy and pointed in all different directions.

Dear Grandma Hobbs,
(I do remember that when I wrote this letter, I was very annoyed because I ran out of ink after writing "Dear Grandma Hobbs," and had to change pens, and the pen I switched to had a different shade of blue ink than the first line of my letter. Ugh. A pen-lover's nightmare.)

Thankyousoverymuch for the
pajamas & the cross-stitching set.
They are wonderful! The pajamas
fit perfectly. I'm sure I'll start
on the cross-stitching set soon.
Have a very Merry Christmas &
a Happy New Year! I am
having a great school year, &
I hope it continues that
way. I love you very much!

Love,
Carody _____
(sometimes I signed my last name, sometimes I didn't)
--------------------------------------------------------
When I was 13, I enjoyed using "big" words, like "appreciate," and "sometime" (is that a word? I think not). Still writing in print, but very, very neat print.

Dear Great-Grandma Hobbs,

Thank you for the card and the $5.00. I really
appreciate them. I hope you are feeling well.
Maybe we'll get to see you sometime soon.
I had a wonderful birthday!

Love,
Carody
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For some reason, there aren't any letters from when I was 14. Maybe I was rebelling? Poor Great Grandma! But look at this one from when I was 15. I wrote for me and for Wesley, who was 6.

Dear Grandma Hobbs,

This is from Carody and Wesley. We
hope you have a wonderful Labor Day.
We hope we can see you soon. We also
hope (we were very hopeful) you can use this bookmark. It
is a little early, but Wesley couldn't
wait. He says this is enough writing.
He drew a picture for you.

There was a picture of an apple that I drew, and then a very elaborate picture of what I can only assume is Great Grandma. He drew her with big curly hair, a big smile, and some more hair on the side of her face (huh?). The only reason I know this is because I carefully labeled everything. I remember that Wesley was very precise in his drawings, and always wanted everyone to know exactly what everything was in his pictures. He always drew people with their "arms and hands stuck together" and with their "legs and feet stuck together." I wonder what the psychological assessment of his pictures would determine about his personality.
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When I was 16, I wrote this letter with a green marker on construction paper. Must have been Wesley's idea! I had gone back to my wonderful cursive handwriting, with just the slightest bit of tilt to the right.

Thank you for letting us join
you for lunch and supper. We
really enjoyed it. "Thank you
for the book," says Wesley. I
say thank you for the note
pad. I can really use it
Hope we can see you again
soon. We love you!
Love,
Carody & Wesley
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Thank you for joining me on this trip down memory lane!

Powder Puff

Need I say more? But, yet again, I will.

I swept three times over the course of the day it happened (sweep, wait for it to settle, sweep, wait for it to settle, sweep) and now you'd never know the floor sported a layer of baby powder. And the carpet. And the furniture. And the upstairs. All. Of. It.

But I'm maintaining my sense of humor, because you just have to laugh, right? And put them in time out until they are 5.

I put him (yes, it was Sammy) in time out for the entire time it took me to clean up the mess. Which was basically all morning. Three hours, I think? He was begging for a spanking about half way through my cleaning, and when I was done, I went to the couch to tell him he could get down and this is what I saw.

He was all tuckered out from working so hard! I mean, it must have taken him a long time to cover so much ground (pun intended). He started very early, because it was that way when I woke up at 7am.

*sigh*

No more sleeping in for Mommy!