Too Cool for Their Mom! Whatever!

Yesterday I went to Brooke and Chase's school for their Halloween parties. They had a costume parade first out front for parents. So, I watched as Chase's class came by. I waved and smiled and he waved and smiled back, "Hi Mommy!" Then, a few minutes later, Brooke's 4th grade class came by. I know she saw me but she turned her head away really quick and pretended I wasn't even there! What??? She has always been the kid that begs me to come to every field trip and practically jumps into my lap when I do show up. And, even Megan doens't mind her mom at her school (she's in 5th grade) so I have never experienced this kind of "too cool for my mom" attitude.

When the parade was over I took some treats to Chase's classroom then hurried to Brooke's. I got there before her class returned from the parade and decided I wouldn't go in because she was so embarrassed. So, I called her over by her door and said something like, "Do you not want me to come in?" She snatched the treats out of my hand, said, "NO!" and turned around and ran into her classroom!

So, in the car on the way home from school I told Brooke that I understand if she doesn't want me in her classroom but she does not have any reason to treat me with disrespect or be rude. (Here is the whole point of this long story....) To which Chase says, "Yeah Brooke! I was embarrassed that Mommy was at school too, but at least I talked nice to her!"

WHAT????

Ah, the sun!

I took these pictures the beginning of September. I keep looking at them and love them more every time I see them. The day I took them, I was driving home from dropping the kids off at school and had to pull over when I saw how these sunflowers were literally basking in the sun. I could just imagine tiny smurf-like voices sighing, "Aaaah! We love the sun!" Every one of them was pointing right into the sun leaning back to catch all of its rays. It makes me think of Laura Ingalls in the "Little House on the Prairie" opening credits when she is leaning back with her arms open, taking the sun and the beauty of the day in. The carefree life of a sunflower.

Birthday Girls!

Tuesday, we went out to dinner to celebrate Megan's and Beau's Mom's birthdays!

Happy 11th birthday Megan! Happy __rd birthday, Kathy! (I figure if I publicize my mother-in-law's age I may lose my status as her favorite daughter-in-law...so I won't.)

(Just to clarify...I am her only daughter-in-law.)

Thank goodness hunting season is OVER!

If you know me, you know how I feel about meat and blood and guts. Ew! So, I am very excited that hunting season is finally over. But, my kids had a blast and so did Beau. There is not much in life that they love more than hanging out with Daddy in the mountains looking for deer. Megan was the very brave one this year, staying in a tent for 5 days in the freezing cold. They did have a tent heater and insisted over and over that they were toasty warm the whole time. Not my idea of fun...but I love that they have such a great time with Beau.

OK We'll do a little Halloween Too

How great is a blog template without losing your sidebars??? Much easier to change your background with the seasons now, right? I think I am pretty much the last one to catch on to this, but if you haven't seen how to do this, go to http://www.thecutestblogontheblock.com/backgrounds.php?cat=39

and follow THEIR directions! Super easy!

I am Ready for Christmas

I figure if stores can start pushing their Christmas goods on us the first week of October, I can enjoy some Christmas tunes now too (and push them on you :). Besides, I am ready for Christmas...I think this is because of the craziness surrounding Christmas last year with the move and everything.

Tag: I'm A Cheater

Melanie tagged me. But, I am a cheater. I have a good reason for being a cheater, though...I have three tests to take today, a speech to write, 2 papers and 2 midterms to study for (and, yes, I will milk this excuse for as long as I can :). So I am cheating. None of these pictures were taken by me. I have not been any of these places or seen any of these things. But they all seemed refreshing and clean and nice and right now, in my oober crazy life, that is all I have motivation for (not my own messy closet or dish-filled sink).

1. (Not) my laundry room...but isn't this one cute?

2. (Not) my main bathroom...
3. This actually does look just ike my fridge...but, again, it is not really mine.
4. (Not) my favorite shoes, but maybe someday they will be...
5. A place I'd like to visit...this is actually the most real of all of the pictures. It is one of Aviano, Italy, where our good friends, the Giffords moved from Arkansas. It would be fabulous to escape there and visit!

6. Definitely NOT my closet.
7. Favorite Room (not) in my house. This is actually a picture of the kitchen in a model home from a builder we are thinking about using though...I really do love this kitchen:
8. Self-portrait (not) of me (actually of an artist named Eisuke Sato)...but this is about how I feel at the moment.
9. Beautiful clean kitchen sink, again, not mine, but doesn't it look refreshing?

I did these out of order, mostly because I still have not found a good way of predicting which order Blogger will put my pictures. (Does anyone know how to do that well?)

Oh My!

(No. That is not me in the picture. Quit your snickering.)

So, I am buried in my schoolwork again. In my Nevada Law for School Teachers textbook, there is the following list of "Rules for Teachers" from 1872. Lets all be thankful we weren't school teachers then.

1. Teachers each day will fill lamps, clean chimneys.

2. Each teacher will bring a bucket of water and scuttle (?) of coal for the day's session.

3. Make your pens carefully. You may whittle nibs to the individual taste of the pupils.

(Here's where it gets good.)

4. Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they go to church regularly.

5. After ten hours in school, the teachers may spend the remaining time reading the bible or other good books.

6. Women teachers who MARRY or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed.

7. Every teacher should lay aside from each pay a goodly sum of his earnings for his benefit during his declining years so that he will not become a burden on society.

8. Any teacher who smokes, uses liquor in any form, frequents pool or public halls or gets shaved in a barber shop (HUH?) will have good reason to suspect his worth, intention, integrity and honesty.

9. The teacher who performs his labor faithfully and without fault for five years will be given an increase of twenty-five cents per week in his pay, providing the board of education approves.

OK, Maybe this is Beau's first love...

Chase

A cool tree Beau found on their mountain adventures. I love trees!

Brookelynn and Pilot

A while ago I said softball was Beau's first love...but I think I missed the boat on that one. Hunting definitely takes the cake as his absolute favorite thing. He takes the kids out one at a time. Monday, he and Brookelynn took Beau's sister and brother-in-law's bird dog, Pilot and shot some blue grouse. It is all completely disgusting to me. I rarely eat any meat at all, as most of you know...and certainly not little forest creatures killed by my family, but my kids love it. The bird Brooke is holding is actually the one she shot. Ew!

Chase and Beau went up a different mountain on Saturday to look for deer. Beau is revving up for deer season that starts in a few weeks. He is like a kid that can't wait for Christmas. I really don't get it. But he and the kids love it all. Megan gets to go next deer hunting.

This is how RUMORS start...

Here are a few pictures of Obama here in Elko. I love that secret service guy in the last one.

Anyway, this is a very small town, so, like the airport furniture story below, any tidbit if interesting information spreads quickly. My speech professor told us a story about the last time Obama was here in Elko. (Yes, he's been here 3 times, can you believe it?) Apparently, he and his staff had arranged to have lunch catered by a cute little restaurant here called The Flying Fish. They serve sushi and other shi-shi fare. Anyway, the story I heard was that at the last minute, employees of the restaurant were racing around town trying to find square plates to serve Obama his sushi on (we only have about 3 stores that would carry such items AND they are all within about a 2 mile radius...so raced around town should be thought of in that limited context). The funniest part to me was that they finally found the plates at the dollar store! What a riot! Anyway, I think what was being implied by the person telling the story is that Obama or a member of his staff had requested the square plates, sending the restaurant in a frantic tizzy. This is why I named this post the way I did. I hope that it was just a last minute fabulous idea that the employees had at the Flying Fish..."wouldn't it be nice to serve the man that could be the next president of the United States, his sushi on square plates (from the dollar store)" and not that the "rockstar" demanded square plates (from the dollar store). However it came down, I love that story.