Scary Stories (even though Halloween is over)

For some reason I forgot I wanted to share my scary stories with ya'll during the Halloween season. I'm a week late, but who cares.

We first moved into this house five years ago, Nicholas was 3. They say that little ones can see ghosts and things like that, because they are more intuned to it, or some such thing. The former owner's names were Howard and Clara. Apparently Howard had another name too, but he went by Howard or Howie to his friends (from the stories that I heard). Howie passed away (not sure if it was in the house or not), and Clara decided that the house was too much for her to take care of and so she sold it to us.

At any rate, I was changing Nicholas on the floor one day shortly after we moved in. Nicholas was starting at the ceiling and suddenly said "Hi Howie", plain as day. He even waved. I had chills run down my spine.

A few days later, we started noticing that our tv (in our bedroom) would turn on or off by itself. No one would be in the room and it would be on. And if you turned it off, it would turn back on. Rich also started noticing a strange shadowy figure at night that would stand in front of our closet (like they were trying to decide what to wear). I never saw that, so I can't really comment on it. This went on for a few months. Then one night Rich got mad because the tv came on in the middle of the night and he said "Howie, this is my house now. You don't live here anymore, because you're dead."

We haven't noticed anything weird ever since. Freaky huh?

I Don't Think I Can Roll My Eyes That Far Back in My Head For This.....

This morning as I was taking Amanda to school (since she missed her darn bus), I heard this rumbling sound coming from the back of the van. I made Amanda get out and look to see if I ran over something. When she didn't see anything, we kept on going. Every time we went around a corner or stopped at a stop sign, I heard the noise again. We looked all over the van and didn't see anything that could possibly be making any noise. So I kept driving (probably not a really smart idea, if you really think about it, but I'm a girl and we don't really think about those things, right?).



Finally, a lightbulb went off over my head and I realized that the something must be coming from on top of the van (I have the luggage rack on top of my van). Amanda looked up there when I got to the school and low and behold - what did she find?



Of all things, there was a baseball bat up there. One of the boys must have put it up there. They do the darndest things, those boys!!!

On Saturday, Amanda and Anthony had a school related activity to go too and when I went to pick them up Amanda was talking in a whisper and complaining she was sick. Ok, then Sunday rolls around and we're getting ready for church and Amanda asks if she can stay home since she was sick. I said sure (I certainly don't want her spreading her sickie germs all over the church).



Later that night, what do think she asks me if she can do? Never gonna guess....Not in a million years, I'm sure....Did you guess yet?

She asked me if she could go out with her boyfriend, Tyler. I said "No, you were to sick to even go to church this morning, you are not going out tonight." Her reply..."I feel better now." Um, yeah....whatever.

I have a confession to make....

I'm afraid to do the laundry.....


Not because I look at it and think "how in the world am I ever gonna get caught up on all these clothes"

Not because the kids use a blanket one time and decide it's dirty, so they leave it at the bottom of the pile (there are 6 blankets that I could see and count, I'm sure there are more).

Not because I know I will run out of detergent really soon and have to make a trip to the store when I look like utter crap (not even a ball cap can hide the shabbles and taggles that other people call hair).

Not because I have to work this afternoon, and think to myself I'll never get all this done this morning so why bother even trying.

Not because our laundry room is downstairs and I hate having to run up and down the stairs with baskets of clothes.

Not because I hate putting laundry away.

But the REAL reason I hate doing the laundry right now (especially this time of year) is because there are SPIDERS down there. BIG, HUGE WOLF SPIDERS that like to HIDE IN THE DIRTY CLOTHES, because they are trying to get warm and clothes are nice and warm, even on a hard cement floor. I HATE having to reach my hands in there to pick up those clothes for fear a GREAT BIG SPIDER will JUMP out at me. And for all those who are thinking spiders can't jump - they do in this house. I swear they have little sensors in them too. Like with the one that was just sitting in the middle of the floor {{{waiting for my heart to start beating again, after it jumped out of my chest when I saw the spider}}} that when I went to step on it, started to jump around and crawl all over the place while I kept stomping around, having mini heart attacks while chasing it.

If I don't face my fear soon, I'll have to buy new underwear for everyone, since we're all running dangerously low :) So, now you know where to look, when I come up missing later LOL!

Trick or Treat

We went trick or treating around our neighborhood yesterday. It was raining earlier in the day, but it cleared up in time to go trick or treating. It was a bit chilly as well, but still nice enough to go out and hit the houses up for candy. Hope my neighbors don't mind having their pictures plastered on my blog LOL!















Who's house is that? Oh, that's right - It's our house!

Halloween Story Hour

Our library does a Story Hour for the little kids (they have two groups, one for toddlers and one for preschoolers). I signed Nathan up for it this year, just for something to do. He loves it!



They did their Halloween activities on Tuesday. First, they went to one of the local banks and decorated pumpkins....Nathan absolutely loved this (well, at first he was a little shy. He walked around to the back of the table and then everyone started to crowd around the table before I could get back there to help.





One of the ladies who works at the bank squeezed her way back there and ended up helping Nathan. I think he had a nice time working with her (and at least I got some good pictures out of it).







Posing with his little pumpkin - He did such a great job, didn't he?

The back of it

The front of it

And of course Horsey wanted to see the pumpkin too.


Then the bank wanted to take a group shot of all the kids with their pumpkins (Yeah, that didn't work out so well, as you might of guessed LOL). The bank kept their pumpkins to put them on display for the week. They will get them back on Tuesday.



After decorating the pumpkins, they went trick or treating at one of the local hair salons. Then, back to the library for treats and goodies.









Come on Momma, didn't you take enough pictures for the day?!



One long day of running errands....trick or treating....story reading....candy eating....pumpkin decorating fun, really wears little ones out, doesn't it?

What a girl's gotta do

Sarah made the Academic League team...Very proud of her. The Academic League is like Jeopardy for kids. They test the kids on their knowledge and ability to quickly answer the question correctly and those that make the team, then travel to the local college and compete with other school districts. The high school team has actually been on a local television show called Hometown High Q. Amanda and Anthony have been doing this for years now, they love it.

Amanda and Anthony have meets every other Thursday and I thought Sarah's was every other Tuesday. I remembered it was Tuesday, because I remember her mentioning it. I did not realize that it was every Tuesday. And she never actually told me when the meets were. They are held during school hours and they travel with their teams on a school bus. The only drawback to this is, they have to either take their own lunch or buy a lunch from the college, which is a flat rate of $7.

For some reason, Sarah has been telling me that I need to take her to school on those days, because her bus doesn't get there on time. Now, having taken her to school on those days, I have seen her bus dropping off the kids at the same time, she wanted me to drop her off. I've watched her brothers walk into the school while Sarah walked down the sidewalk. So, I don't quite see the logic in this ordeal.

I will also throw out there that I have been working a lot of Monday evenings. Therefore I'm not home in order for her to tell me that she has a meet the next day. She never mentions it to her dad either. Leaving me running around in circles half asleep (I get home from work by 10:30 at night and I'm usually so wide awake that I can't fall asleep before 2, sometimes 3 a.m. on those nights), trying to figure out whether she has time to pack a lunch, or give her money and making sure that I hurridly dress myself and Nathan in order to get Sarah to school on time, before the team bus leaves.

So, this morning at 8:15, she wakes me up to take her to school. By the time I focus on getting me and Nathan ready it's now 8:25....and low and behold, Sarah - who knew exactly what the day was, who knew exactly what time she had to be there, who knew exactly what she needed to do in order to get there on time, asks me what she's going to do about lunch. I said "What do you mean what are you going to do, didn't you pack a lunch?" No, she whines. "why not?" Because I didn't know what to do...."what do you mean you didn't know what to do, what are the rules when you need money for something like this?" We need to tell you in advance so you can go to the bank for money.

Uh, yeah...and your dad just went to the store last night while I was working and bought groceries, what do you think the chances are of him having any money left?" None - good guess! So now, she's scrambling around the kitchen throwing stuff in a bag while I'm zipping up Nathan's coat and walking him out to the car. As we pull up to the school, Sarah notices that the bus isn't there....they left without her, as we are now late (because of the lunch ordeal). She starts crying and screaming that she's not going to school now, because she missed her bus. Well, what the heck am I supposed to do about that?! I told her that she was going to school and she was going to get out of the van and she was going to have to remember that she needs to tell her dad in advance (since I'm working) that she has Academic League and she needs lunch money.

Hey, I have enough stuff of my own to remember doing....plus, 5 other kids that I have to do things for, I can not remember every little thing! She signed up for it....she joined the team...and now I think she needs to be responsible for the things she needs on those days. I felt bad to some degree, but I didn't feel guilty like I normally would. I can understand this and see this from her point of view, however I can not do every thing. Sometimes, kids need to remember and do things for themselves and in my opinion at her age, she is responsible enough to remember an activity that she wanted to do - especially since it's her only activity this year. I'm not riding the guilt train today.......I'm not, I tell you (with heavy heart and misty eyes).

Birthday Fun Times Two!!

Happy Birthday to my twinnie poohs.....Sarah and Zachary!!!! They are now 12 years old! Sarah pointed out a fun fact about today. 12 + 12 = 24 (their age times two equals their birthdate).

Making decisions times two is hard, but they managed to come up with what they wanted. They chose cheeseburgers and french fries as their birthday dinner. And Gold and Orange are their favorite colors at the moment. They got new bikes as their presents, which they have been wanting since, well......for-ev-er. All in all I think they were quite happy with their special day.

One hard job down....

Well, we got all of the border down in the older boys room. I did over half of it and then decided to start working on another room. Anthony got mad at me when I told him he could finish it. In my defense, they really didn't have that much left to do (and the other room was floor to ceiling wallpaper) and he hadn't helped do any of it, he basically just sat there watching me do it. Hey, it's your room buddy, I'm thinking it won't kill you to scrub some wallpaper border off the wall.




Now it just needs to be painted and maybe have the carpet replaced at some point.

Here is the other room so far....three of the walls just had one layer of wallpaper and it came off rather easily.

Then I got to the fourth wall which had another layer under it, which has been a pain in my side getting off. Luckily the girls are eager to get into their new room so they have been helping out by stripping the paper, scrubbing down the walls and painting the trim. It's coming along, just need to move a little faster.



I feel relieved to some degree that things are finally coming together in this house. It's been 5 years since we've moved here and the kids have been beating this poor house to death. But it's starting to shape up again and that makes me feel better.

My Sweet Boy

On the way home from Story Hour at the library this morning, Nathan asked "Do you think I'm a good boy mommy?" Yes, I do. "Do you think the trees are pretty?" Yes, I do. "Do you remember the way home mom, cause if you don't, I do." Yes, I do. "Mom, do you like to buy me treats when I'm a good boy?" Yes, I do. "I like you mommy." I like you too buddy.

I absolutely love these little conversations with him (actually with all my children). They are little, but oh so precious bits of memories that I don't ever want to forget. It makes me want to freeze time or bottle those moments and place them on a shelf to get dusty and dirty so that when I'm old and gray I can open them and release the magic that they hold. I wish all of life's little moments could be this simple and good.

Added some pics to my photography blog

Just sayin' ;)