A Whole Month Has Gone By!?!

Crazy October. My favorite month and now its almost over! Blast! Anyway, the beginning of the month was taken over by Ana's school's PTA Reflections Program, which I was in charge of for the third year! And last year, I might add. Its an arts competition and has visual arts, photography, sculpture, literature, and film/video categories. It went well and we had almost 200 entries again this year, even though national theme was so weird. It was "WoW!" Yah... so we had entries all over the place... like "Wow! My mom is riding a dolphin." and "Wow! I created skeletons." Hmmm. Anyway, it was a great year because Ana finally won a first place ribbon! Hooray for her. Photography. She also won second place in visual arts. Above is her photo entitled "Wow! I Have Lots of Bones".

The second weekend of October, we had a huge garage sale at my mom's house because she's moved to Wickenburg, Arizona! I know, she's crazy... but awesome! Fun garage sale, but it was so freeeeezing. Ana was in dream world. Her favorite thing in the whole world is to sell stuff. She and Jonah made cookies to sell, and she also sold off a lot of her toys. She probably made $40. She'd have a "sale" every weekend if she could. We had people at the garage sale from 7 am to 1 pm, and we still hauled off a whole truck load to the DI. Craziness.

Jonah's parents came down the first week of October to watch Saren's kids while she and Jared left the country, and then they left the following Saturday for a cruise in Mexico and took Jonah with them! He had a great time with all of his brothers and parents on a Western Carribean cruise. His parents speak on the cruises, so its like a work/play deal. Jonah especially loved diving at Grand Cayman and seeing the ruins at Chichen Itza (I'm so jealous of that part...). We REALLY missed him while he was gone, so we tried to distract ourselves with all sorts of frivolity. Here's Cam at the FAO Schwartz store in Las Vegas after we dropped Jonah and his parents off at the airport. Cam and I went on a mommy date, and he felt bad that Ana didn't get to see this giant unicorn. Thumbs up!

My mom took us to her friend's house so Ana could ride the pony. She was beside herself with happiness. The nice owner just saddled the horse and let Ana ride her for a couple of hours. All those horse lessons paid off, as she finally showed that pony who's boss (sort of...I think she just finally wore him out). I was actually hoping Ana would realize that ponies aren't that great, but this pony was so sweet that she has even more resolve to get a pony of her own someday. Too bad I can't get that Gone With the Wind scene out of my head (if you've seen it, you know what I mean). After her time with the pony, she gave Elsie a little ride, and I can already tell that she will NOT be horse crazy like Ana. Of the 12 photos I took, these are the only two where Elsie is smiling.


I had Cam's best friend Heath with us for a day, and Cam was in heaven. He'd rather live with Heath than with me.
Oh, I also bought a 1980s motorcycle helmet at the DI whiel Jonah was gone, and Cam wore it for two days straight. I finally hid it from him. He loves helmets.

The kids had a few days off of school while Jonah was gone, so I used my coupon for two free nights' stay at a Mesquite "resort". It was a pretty nasty hotel room, but the kids LOVED it. They especially loved having a TV (cartoons all day long? no way?!?!) and beds to jump on. The weather was a little cold to spend too much time at the pool, but we made up for that with having pizza for dinner one night and hamburgers the next. Ha ha ha mwah ha ha, we did all the things Jonah despises... hotel rooms, junk food, mindless tv watching and blobbing. Actually, after a day, the kids said, "we don't want to watch any more TV... can we go outside?" I guess Jonah really does know what's best for us...

Bed jumping galore.

We went bowling one night and luckily I barely won.

After Mesquite, I took my dad up on the invitation for a show and birthday dinner and we drove down to Las Vegas. He showed the kids a great time in the heavy equipment at one of his jobs, took us to a crazy playground, and let the kids play with his pirate legos. Best of all, eh took me to Cirque du Soleil's Beatles LOVE. Out-of-this-world incredible! Wow. Thanks again dad. What a great b-day present. We also went to this mad-as-delicious restaurant in Caesar's for the tastiest tuna and pumpkin soup I have ever had...oh, and a goat-cheese tomale. All my favorites...sushi, pumpki-soup, and tomale. Tasty forever.

Ana and her birth city in the background.


We got back on Saturday, October 18th. Went to church (without Jonah...and I play the organ... I braced myself for craziness, but the kids acctually did okay by themselves down in the congregation. Eventually, they were all adopted by other families), then a birthdya dinner at my mom's house, and then Jonah called me. He was on his way to North Carolina from Florida to buy a sweet Mercedes Station Wagon. He wanted me to meet him halfway across the country. So... I quickly found friends to watch my kids, helped my mom pack up and move Monday morning, and then drove to Vegas and left my driver's license in the car! Ooops. BARELY made it on the full flight to Arkansas. Took Elsie with me. Jonah picked us up in Little Rock.

Jonah found us a hotel in Little Rock, because hte next morning was my birthday. Can you believe it? I turned 29 again!!!! Its a miracle.
After some good sleeping in, we got on the road. I actually love road trips. Especially through places I had never been before, and espeically with only ONE of the kids. We saw some gorgeous forsets in Arkansas, and even some fall colors. We've been potty training Elsie, so here's a typical stop on the trip.
Jonah made is a great birthday, surprising me all day with treasures he had found at the now-nearly-defunkt Unclaimed Baggage Store in Alabama 9see last year's October blog). We had a great time driving through Arkanasas, Oklahoma, the Texas panhandle, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. It really wassn't that long of a drive (well, not for me, since I missed half of it). I really suggest the I-40. Great road.

We slept one night west of Amarillo in a Best Western parking lot (we were in a station wagon, so we had plenty of room), and our last night in a Walmart parking lot in Page, Arizona (so we got to enjoy a sunrise over Lake Powell). We tried to make it to Buckskin Gulch for a hike, but ran out of time, so we took a dusty walk on a deserted road. And once again, here's Elsie doing her thing.

We came home to VERY happy children who got to spend a few days with only friends and no parents. Thanks a million to Mary (mom of Cam's other best friend Kellin... Mary's my best girl friend from High School), Mary Lynn (mom of Megan, Ana's neighborhood friend), Saren (Jonah's sister), Heath's family, and the Cobines. What a fun week for everyone.

So now, back to the daily running around and feeling like we're getting nothing done. Trying so hard to get this house rented or sold so we can leave the country for a year (no, not because Obama's going to take it...) or do something crazy. Might as well go crazy when the economy's this bad.

Oh, and Guitar Hero Aerosmith edition tournament at my house, thanks to my final birthday present. From myself.

Happy Halloween!