You Know You're Old When....

....Your kids watch The Beverly Hillbillies (1993), see Dolly Parton, and get excited because they recognize her.

"She's from Hannah Montana!", they say. "She's Hannah's Aunt."

Yea, that's what I was gonna say.

Our Thanksgiving Vacation

Well, my mom was so kind to blog our Thanksgiving vacation for us. For now, just check out her blog to see all of the fun and exciting things that we did the week they were here. Jimmy learned to say Ma-In real fast. He knew where the money was coming from, eh? Silly boy.

Mom's Blog

My Lovely Singing Angels

Just think, they asked my family to sing in church for Christmas. That's right, my family....for Christmas. Nice, eh?

Happy Birthday Aunt Sue

Missed TV

So here's your post, Mom. We missed good TV the week that she came to visit, on account of my not having cable. But, here's how I plan to catch up on all that missed TV.

Survivor China - Thursdays - CBS

Journeyman - Mondays - NBC

Life - Wednesdays - NBC

Bionic Woman - Wednesdays - NBC

Chuck - Mondays - NBC

Heroes - Mondays - NBC

Also, if anyone can send me a link of where to watch ER, I'd greatly appreciate it. It's called "Skye's the Limit". Happy TV-ing!

Joe's New Game

Papa Steve

Well, Joe sure found a new favorite person. Every time Papa left his sight, Joe wanted to know where he went. Then he'd call him, in a normal voice, over and over again. Papa. Papa. Where are you? Papa.... So funny. Thanks so much for coming to visit!

Ma-in

For those of you who don't speak "Jim", that's Grandma Lyn. Boy did that little boy like his Grandma. So cute. The kids had a lot of fun when Grandma and Grandpa came to visit this week. We went on lots of trips, visited lots of stores, and ate lots of junk food. What could be better!

10 Highlights from our Brief Visit to Joliet

Not in any particular order:

1.

Joe pooped out his battery in Crackle Barrel. I guess it takes 8 days to pass a button battery. Who knew.

2.

The upstairs window blew out of our house in Joliet. Literally. The top of the window. Just fell out, and shattered on the porch roof. Must have been pretty recent, because there were only leaves in the upstairs, but no other damage. So, we (meaning Brent) got out on the porch roof, recovered the window, and brought it inside. We (meaning Brent) picked out all the glass, and took it to Lowes. We (meaning Brent) bought the supplies to repair the window, and we (meaning Brent) put the window back in. Good thing we found that! Imagine the mess it would have made after a few weeks.

3.

I had a meltdown in Walmart. OK, so maybe I'm about ready to "start". That could have something to do with it. Anyway, I realized about 1 1/2 hours into our trip that I had left my purse at home. That meant I couldn't go into Walmart alone and buy lunch. Brent came with me. I was upset because my camera was in my purse, and now I couldn't take pictures. We got the sandwiches, and some crackers, and I decided that I wanted chips.

No, says Brent. Those aren't very good for us. Lets get something else.

Just give me the chips, I say.

OK, how about we buy these single serving chips, and then we can each have a little bit.

I just about start to cry. Fine, lets not get chips, and just go. I start to walk away, almost in tears.

OK, we'll buy the chips, he says. Don't cry.

As we head for the front of the store, I do my best to regain my composure. Sometimes, you just gotta have chips, am I wrong?

4.

Visiting with Sister Simco. I do so enjoy her. She came over on Friday night after her work party, and saw us all. Then, she picked us up on Saturday morning and we went to her house. The kids think of her as an additional Grandma. They love their Sister Simco. She even watched the kids while Brent and I packed up the rest of our mess from the house. Thanks so much Joy. We miss you lots.

5.

A lesson on Metallica. OK, so it was a highlight for Jacob, not necessarily me. Brent showed Jacob his favorite Metallica songs, and explained why he liked them. Boys and their music :)

6.

Visiting with the Polyaks. It's always good to see old friends. The kids really enjoyed playing with Talya and her toys. The kids and Mirko played Legos while Tracy and I chatted. I haven't had a lot of girl chat since I moved to Ohio. I do miss that.

7.

Car food. Yes, car food is good at first, but then, not so much. Too much of a good thing is just too much. We had pretzels, Trails End Popcorn (cub scout), crackers, cheese ball, chips, sandwich, cookies. Lots and lots of food. I'm stuffed, and don't need to eat again until my parents come to visit, I think!

8.

Other peoples' cell phone conversations. I listened to Brent talk to Joe from Chicago and to his Dad. For hours. It's ok for a little while, be after a while, it gets a little old. Granted, on the way home, I was having a bad day, was tired, and my eyes hurt. So maybe not being able to talk was a good thing for me. Who knows what would come out of my mouth. You know the old adage. If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.

9.

Rest stop hand dryers. I'm telling ya, these were the most powerful dryers I've ever seen. They were so strong, they moved the skin on my hands. And super loud. I know I'd have hearing loss if I worked there. Insane! But the kids liked them. They were putting their face under it and squealing with delight!

10.

Northern Indiana gas prices. Gas here in Waverly is $3.19 ($3.06 in Chillicothe). When we got to Northern Indiana, it was $2.81. Can't beat that. Especially when your tank holds 34 gallons. About a hundred dollars to fill up. Nice, eh?

Walnut Street Park

Check out this awesome park that's only minutes walking distance from our house. The kids had a blast this past Friday when we went to play there! It was sweet!

New School

Well, we did it. We decided to homeschool the kids. I always wished that I was the kind of mom that could do homeschool, but didn't think that I could come up with all the lesson plans and such, and buying text books was expensive.

Well, Ohio has a great program called the Ohio Virtual Academy. It's a public school, but you do it from home. They send each student a computer, monitor, printer, and accessories. You get text books, supplies, manipulative's, and so much more.

When we moved from Boy Scout camp, we took the kids out of school, and are now just waiting for our supplies to arrive. The kids were officially accepted into the Virtual Academy yesterday, and the lady I talked to today said that typically it's 7 working days to get your supplies. Sweet. We have a nice little classroom area set up, and are all ready to begin.

I'll let you all know how it goes :)

More Dancin'

OK Mom, Here Ya Go!

So here's our house. It's on a relatively quiet block, and isn't too bad. Thanks to Sister McMann who let us rent for cheap. Otherwise, we'd still be at the Scout cabin. And that was tiny. Sorry the last 2 pics are a bit blurry. They were taken from inside the truck. Brent drove up a bit, and leaned out the window for you to get a good shot. Thats the first one. Thanks Sweetie!

Disco Mom and Dad

The Harty Can Can

He Ate WHAT?

So in the midst of moving stuff today, Joe comes up to me and tells me that he swallowed a little metal thing. Great, I thought. Oh well. It will pass. I thought that it was a small ring from a key chain. Not ideal, but not too bad.

We had lunch, and he again starts talking about what he swallowed. He showed me what it was. The button battery, like in a pen light. Nice. So I look online, and it tells me that if your kids swallows a battery, take them to the ER. Nice. Click here for a link on what to do if your kid swallows a button battery (or if you do :)

So, Brent and the 4 other kids head off for the park, and Joe and I head for the ER. Luckily there is one in our little town. It's only about 2 minutes away (closer than Wal-Mart, Mom). We get there, and get signed in, and they call us back.

The Dr. comes in, and says that swallowing a coin isn't too bad, because it will come out no problem. But batteries are tricky. First he wants to do an x-ray to be sure that he did in fact swallow the battery. The Dr. goes out, and comes back in a few minutes. He said that he looked it up, and that as long as the battery passes in 48 hours, it's ok to have in your system. He was afraid that he was going to have to pump Joe's tummy or something. So that major crisis was evaded.

So we take him to the x-ray room to see if he did eat the battery. He did. The x-ray showed that he had the button battery in his stomach. This was good news, the Dr. told us. The battery was not stuck in his throat or passages. It made it to the stomach.

So now, we just wait for it to "pass". The Dr. ordered lots of greasy food, like Taco Bell or McDonalds or Pizza. Dr's orders! We are supposed to come back in tomorrow and have another x-ray to see if it's moving on, or if it's passed. Plus, we're on poop monitor to find the button battery. Any takers on that hunt?

After we left the ER, we went to McDonalds for dinner. Greasy double cheeseburger with fries. Yummy! Then we headed on over to the park to play. What a day!

Move #14 in 11 years

How much stuff can you fit in one trailer?

Halloween Kids

Here's pics of my other Halloween kids. Jacob is a Jedi. He got in trouble at school the other day, and part of his punishment was that he couldn't root for the dark side. So, he had to be a Jedi instead of Darth Maul. I know, life it rough.

Eme is a fairy princess. She's been this for the last 3 years, I think. OH well, it's an easy costume. A nice sunday dress with fake wings. Nice.

Joe is the yellow knight. This is year #2. Again, repeats are nice if you're on a budget. Isn't he cute!

Franken-Jim

Tom's Halloween Costume

When asked who Tom was for Halloween, he responded in the following way:

Person: So, who are you supposed to be?

Tom: The Doctor.

Person: Doctor who?

Tom: Just the Doctor.

Check out my new Hat!

Vroom! Vroom! Speed, I am Speed. Float like a Cadillac, sting like a Beamer. Yes, I watch way too much Lightning McQueen (CARS), but it's Jim's favorite!

Joe's Fall Party at Preschool

Check out these cute pics of Joe at his "fall" party at school. OK, so why not Halloween? I understand liberal Oregon banning Halloween from school, but rural Ohio? I went to the DMV on Halloween, and all the employees were in costumes. Heck, Cobra Commander waited on me. Anyway.....

Joe's preschool class had a fall party, and a pinata and lots of tasty treats. I had fun taking pics of Joe, and Jim had fun playing in the preschool classroom. Anyway, here he is, in all of his glory!