First Snow

Yup, you read that right. Yesterday morning we had our first snow. The kids and I were terribly excited! I always love the newly coming seasons. If only winter didn't overstay it's welcome here... Well, football and cheer is over and we're settling in for a long winter's nap. I'm just as in the Christmas mood as I can get. I'm already deciding when would be just TOO early to put up the Christmas tree. I've ruled out October, but at this time anything in November is fair game. I need to get it up so I have somewhere to put all the gifts I've already bought!!
I also got to watch Cash for a couple hours while Katie went to the Dr and we had all kinds of fun. I SO enjoy having him, he reminds me SO MUCH of Liam when he was that age. My goodness they are two peas in a pod. He told me " I wide it I wide it...Yeehaw, yeehaw".

Dadgummit, he's a cutie!!

Sam was home sick again yesterday. I honestly don't think he was sick, I think he was over tired. He hardly slept at all Sunday night. We had a windstorm come through and he ended up on the couch. He said it was too loud. Anyway, he was much better today and spent the day yesterday working on stuff his teachers emailed to me. Have I mentioned that I love email!! I'm pretty sure it has lifted teacher/parent communication to a new level!! Poor Sam, he thought he'd have the day off. But NO!!

Liam and Maggie are doing well. They both aced their spelling tests Friday and Maggie had a sleepover with Darcie. She had loads of fun and did much better than I thought she would. I half expected to get a phone call at 11pm that she wanted to come home. She made it all night though!

The kids are all really looking forward to having Mom and James home this weekend and trick or treat at Uncle Bob's house Friday. I'll be sure to post pics.

Happy Halloween All!!!

Sam is wearing contacts!!

Well, our big news this week is that Sam is wearing contact lenses now!! He got them on Tuesday. We were at the eye dr. for almost 2 hours. He had a lot of trouble learning to get them in and out. Yesterday, after 15 minutes of poking himself in the eye and many tears, I was a bad mommy and took pity on him and I put them in for him. This morning was much harder...I told him I could NOT keep putting them in for him and if he wanted to wear them to school he HAD to get them in himself.

He managed to get them in in less than 15 minutes today!! YEAH! I know he doesn't look any different really, maybe just a little less squinting. But, hey, he can SEE! Which means in the end, he won and wore us down. It's only been 10 months since his last eye appt and new glasses. But, for months he's flatly refused to wear his glasses. At first, I fought him. I didn't have the heart to when he started middle school though. If they bothered him SO much that he'd rather be blind than wear them, then I guess he wins.

I'm also including a pic of Blake at his birthday party Saturday for all of you in NC. Love you all!!!

Off the Cuff...

Just feeling like a little stream of conciousness...how many of you remember what that means!?! Ha, I did learn something in high school! I've been watching my little voting poll and think it's FUNNY that with Obama kicking our poor republican butts in the polls on tv...McCain is winning here. I'm pretty sure that tells anyone who's reading this that I was raised in a republican family! I rebelled right up until Bill Clinton got caught with his pants down. Do all of you remember how EMBARASSING it was to be a democrat then? All of us who had boasted about what a great president he was, what a great job he was doing, blah, blah, blah, all went a little red in the face. I guess he just blew under the pressure (giggle). Anyway, that shut me up, but didn't change me over. I think the big change came when I got saved...my values changed so much so suddenly. I QUICKLY became a whole lot more CONSERVATIVE. Which is NOT to say I always agree with the republicans...I DON'T!!!! I'm still a tree hugger and anyone who poo-poo's global warning and the evironmental crisis our world is in is a complete moron to me. That being said on the whole I think Obama is a little scary! Truly, his heritage (NO, not the african american part - the Hawaiian birth certificate question) makes me pause a little bit. Not to mention that the last time we had a president this, dare I say CHARISMATIC, look what happened. And goodness, let's be honest, if the MAN actually turns out to be of muslim heritage the joke is on us! Isn't it? I personally will be voting for McCain. Not because I'm a republican. Not even because I like McCain. He's certainly not a bad guy, but he hasn't impressed me. But because I just have a real bad feeling about Obama. I'm not trying to sway anyone, I think everyone should go out and vote the way they think is best, but there's just something about "that one" that unsettles me. I believe he's going to win...and I believe when his true colors come through I will tell everyone I TOLD YOU SO!!!!!!! Roll your eyes and laugh if you want to, I know many have said this same thing and been told their losing it, but after seeing all the birth certificate questions...I have NOT ruled out that Barack Obama is the anti-christ, or at least AN anti-Christ! Go ahead...barrage me with arguments. I'll enjoy it!! Love you all!!!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!!

Today, I am going with Katie to Jeffersonville. As of 6:21am on Monday October 20th Jon and I have the "major" Christmas gifts bought and paid for. My plan today is to buy for nieces, Mom, Carolina, Kay, Anne and possibly teachers. I've started shopping for Christmas this early before, just never so aggressively. I have to say it's awesome. I don't think I've ever been quite so excited for Christmas quite this early in the year before. Jon and I talked about if for awhile last night and it's AMAZING how lighthearted we feel about it. I never realized until yesterday just how STRESSFUL giftgiving makes Christmas. I don't think it should be like that. It's such a paradox...I understand the desire to GIVE when we are celebrating the GREATEST Gift ever given. How it must grieve God to see us scurry about scared and nervous and stressed and in debt in a mockery of homage. On the other hand... minus the stress I'm having a marvelous gift giving experience this year. I think maybe this is how it should be. Maybe part of the problem is the need to impress with gifts rather than show love and appreciation. This year we will not IMPRESS you with our gifts, we will not spend more than we have, we will not LOSE OUR FOCUS ON THE ONE TRUE GIFT that we are celebrating!! We're going to get all this shopping done early (with every effort to choose gifts that will show you all that we love and appreciate you) then we will spend the month of December as a family growing in Christ and thankful for the Gift of salvation that we can mimic with our gifts but never duplicate!! May the Christmas Season officially begin...Happy shopping everyone!

Our Week

Happy Belated Birthday Blake!!

Hello all! Just thought I'd update you on our week.

Me - Not a whole lot going on. I officially began Christmas shopping yesterday. It really put me in the mood. On the one hand I HATE how "gimme" Christmas is, on the other I LOVE buying gifts for people. The first official gift of the 2008 Christmas season was for Sam this year. I'm not really sure when the crossover occurs, because let's be honest...kids don't get the whole "better to give than recieve" concept. At some point in your life it magically becomes true and the rush you get opening a gift no longer holds a candle to the rush you get buying something for someone that you know they will LOVE!! The good news is that this feeling really draws out the Christmas season, at least for me. As a child Christmas summed up in 10 minutes of ripping shredding madness and the let down was terrible. Now, I have months of glee. Jon and I have been trying the last few years to find ways to refocus the kids at Christmas and I think this year we'll try a little harder. I don't want to take any of their joy, I want to add to it. I believe that focusing a little more on the biggest gift of Christmas will do that! I shudder to think where our lives would be without Jesus!

Jon - My dutiful husband is a busy bee this morning. He has been really industrious while I'm loafing on the computer this morning. He's sealing our windows and cleaning ceiling fan blades. I should be ashamed and motivated...but I'm not :)! He has to do chains at Liam's game today and I'll be sure to post pics of him. The poor thing got assigned to what promises to be the COLDEST game of the season. It's only 43 degrees outside right now and it's a bit breezy too. He also dug through his drawers this morning and located his longjohns!

Sam - He's brought his F in math up to a D. No, Mom is still not satisfied and he is still grounded from his gaming systems. I really wish he'd fix this...what he doesn't realize is that I'm being tortured by his punishment too. He bugs and whines and drives me CRAZY!!

Liam - Oh yeah baby! Liam got another 100 on his spelling test yesterday. It's hard work but worth it when he calls me at work on Friday afternoon and tells me his grade! When I got home yesterday we took him to a birthday party. They had lots of fun and even set off fireworks! He really enjoyed it.

Maggie - She got a 100 on her spelling test too. Which was a little harder for her because she had a review test which has more words to remember. Last night she read me 4 books and was ready to continue, but I begged off. I asked her if we had to read all her school books at one time and she said "But mommy, our classroom goal is to be strong readers". I could only laugh. Trust me, she's already a strong reader.

Ok - I guess it's time to get ready to go now. We have Liam's game at noon (so he has to be there at 11:15), then Maggie's cheer game at 2pm. We'll be leaving her game a little early for Blake's 4th birthday party!

Happy 4th Birthday Blake!!!!!

Happy Anniversary Honey!!

Wow!! I have been married NINE years today!!! Isn't it funny how the older you get the more 9 years becomes a drop in the bucket? It has EASILY been the fastest 9 years of my life. Doesn't hurt, I suppose, that we've been pre-occupied... ...with each other. SIKE! LOL. We've got a passel of badly behaved kids. They would pre-occupy anyone!! In all fairness please allow me to get sappy for just one minute. I promise this won't take long and I won't gross you out like this again for at least a year...
Jon, I LOVE you more today than I EVER have before. I love you more everyday. When I married you for better or worse I was SCARED! Mostly of statistics...our marriage being your second marriage really hurt our chances of survival from everything I'd heard. I'm not fooling anyone by trying to act like our life is peaches and cream. We've had a LOT of "for worse" haven't we hon? I cannot think of any person on earth I'd rather go through our life with than you! I am so thankful that 1) God put you in my life and I recognized your value and 2) God infused our marriage with new life and a stronger foundation when I got saved. I will never know where our marriage would have ended up if it weren't for Jesus...I would not want to know. But with Him, our marriage grows STRONGER everyday and even when you get on my last nerve, even when you tick me off totally I promise that I will always love you!! In sickness (me) and health (you), for richer (when) and poorer(us now) til death do us part...I will put up with you, grouchiness and all.
SO, Here's to us....
I'm climbing on for another 50 years of the WILD RIDE!!!

Carving Pumpkins

Well, we had a nice long weekend. Liam's team lost their game Saturday night but he had fun so who cares, right? Maggie cheered for 3 consecutive games so she was exhausted when we got home! They both did great. Sunday we were lazy almost all day! We went to church and attended a carry-in afterwards. Then...NOTHING!!
But, on Monday we had to go to Ontario for a couple things so on the way home we swung by Apple Hill Orchard and let the kids get pumpkins. They were all able to pick one out and we spent less than $10...I highly recommend going there. They have an awesome thing going on , great atmosphere and great prices. Then we came home and got to work. I cleaned them all out...Maggie would not touch the guts and the boys tried and gave up. Then Maggie ordered me through her pumpkin. "Triangle eyes...a triangle nose and a toothy grin. NO Mommy it was supposed to have 3 teeth, not 2!!!"

Liam did his himself, which caused some problems later. Let me tell you, he will NOT be a surgeon!! That boy does not know when to quit cutting. He just kept on going until we could hardly get the top to sit where it's supposed to. I told him that his end product resembled a jack-o-lantern puppy complete with cut out ears, but nonetheless when he stood back and looked at his he know that too much of a good thing is a bad one :)!

Sam's pumpkin turned out really cool. With no stencil at all, he free handed bats and the moon on the front of his. I was quite impressed. It looks spooky lit! He had to concentrate pretty hard to get it right though as you can see!

It was lots of fun, after all this is the stuff I HOPE their childhood memories will be made of!

Lazy October Saturday Morning

Just allow me to say...I LOVE Ohio in October. I will try to remember this fact in March, because I hate Ohio in March. Yes, in March Ohio really stinks. But, October is Ohio in all it's glory. We are not having the most colorful autumn we've ever seen, but we are at peak and it's impressive all the same. The weather this week has been unbelievably gorgeous. Upper 70's during the day...around 50 at night. Not a cloud in the sky. I'm telling you I love it when God just shows off!! The beauty of sugar maples changing with a clear blue sky backdrop is unparalleled. So, while perpetual beauty unfolds outside the Garretts are enjoying a lazy October Saturday morning. After the last few months we can appreciate the fact that we have nothing to do this morning better than we ever have! Liam and Maggie have football and cheer late this afternoon...but we'll worry about that when we get to it!

For all who have been praying with us for Liam, GOOD NEWS!!! The new study method seems to be working very well. He has gotten a 100 on his spelling test 2 weeks in a row!!!!! Interims came out last week and all told he is doing better than I feared. He's not doing great but he's really not doing that badly either. Mostly B's and C's with a D in reading (which is why he's in Title 1 reading group so that's being addressed). Definitely not grades that reflect a need to be held back I don't think. SO, we'll just keep plugging away and hope it all clicks for him soon. In the meantime I'm really proud of him because he is trying. He's arguing less about homework and is being more cooperative all the way around. I guess fear of losing sports is a big motivator for Liam. I think pride is helping now too, he's so pleased with himself about his spelling tests!

Sam's interim was disappointing...he has an F in math. Really frustrating for me in many ways. He's missed 2 days already for illness and 1 for the wedding, and his F is a direct result of papers he missed on those days. He has not turned them in yet. Typical lack of initiative from my eldest son. His math teacher added a note that said "Sam has the potential to be a great math student, needs to decide that he wants to be." I have known this to be true for years! I despair that he will ever decide to be!! He also has a D in Science...therefore he is grounded from all game systems until he has at least an 85 in both Math and Science. I'm trying not to be a harda*@ about it, but his two worst grades are in his two stongest subjects and that is just ridiculous. He's got 2 A's a B and a C otherwise. He managed to get the whole range of grades in there :(!

So, on this lazy October Saturday morning he is watching tv...

Normally, as I'm sure you all know, he would be in his bedroom playing something on the Wii.

Maggie has been running around all morning making various messes, and practicing her cheers for this evening. She has gotten all 100's on her spelling tests so far this year and is VERY proud of herself. She is continually disgruntled with me the last 2 weeks because I keep making such a fuss over Liam's 100's. She gets really indignant every time I mention it and says "What about MY 100's!?" She is kicking behind in the 1st grade. Meeting all expectations and exceeding a few as well. She is going to be my reader. I've really got to get her to a place where she enjoys reading in her head...to herself. If it were up to her we would do nothing but listen to her read all evening every evening!

Jon and Marley enjoying our lazy October Saturday morning...watching This Old House and the Buckeye Bios on NBC-4. We're kind of irritated that no matter what time Ohio State plays this year, Liam plays at the same time! The one time all year Liam's team plays at 4pm, OSU starts at 3:30pm...figures. We're going to miss another one. We'll be with them in spirit...

Oh well, I'm going to sign off for now, because even on a lazy Saturday...THE LAUNDRY MUST BE DONE!!!!! I hope you all enjoy your weekend. May your Saturday's be lazy and the political ads be few! Love to you all!

The Kiddo's All Spiffied Up

Well, the wedding has now come and gone. The kids did very well and looked fabulous and I am glad it's over. North Carolina is a LONG way to go for 2 days. The trip was awful, both on the way down and on the way back. The kids were really antsy and just harrassed each other endlessly. Unfortunate because it would have been a BEAUTIFUL trip otherwise. Ohio's fall is rather colorless this year...I blame the August with no rain. Virginia and West Virginia have no lack of color and I was in awe of the perfection of God's creation!

When we got to Mom's house the kids tried on their clothes and we established that they were going to look GORGEOUS. The dress rehearsal was Friday evening. We missed homecoming at home, which kind of bummed us out. Highland won and I hear the fireworks were great.

Saturday, after Mom treated Maggie, Carolina and I to pedicures and manicures (thank you Mom), we had to get to the church early for pictures. I was a bit worried about being there so long with the kids but they both did a wonderful job of behaving. It probably helped that while we were getting our nails done James treated Jon and the boys to Chuck E Cheese, which burnt some off of Liam (thank you James). Maggie relished hanging out with Cyndal and her bridesmaids and Liam was so stinking nervous I thought he'd puke!! It kept him relatively sedate. They both did a fabulous job in the wedding.

The ceremony was very nice. It was definitely the most Christ centered wedding I've ever attended and I found it refreshing. I pray that Will and Cyndal have a long happy life together.

Here's Sam goofing around at the reception. He decided he'd look nice in Maggie's hairpiece. The food was awesome...Carolina Bar-B-Q. Sam and I both ate shredded pork until we felt sick. We were also able to watch the Ohio State game until we left. We took off from the reception a little earlier than most so Jon and I could pack and prepare to come home Sunday. It was an enjoyable mini-vacation. The only downfall was that we didn't have time to see Dad. I did talk to him for awhile Saturday night though. And let's not forget to mention that ...

Ohio State beat Wisconsin!!!

When we got home from the reception Mom and James' neighbor had hung a Wisconsin flag over there Ohio State one. Disturbing...I got that taken care of pronto. It was funny, but I'm SO superstitious about OSU games. It can't be good luck to have a Wisconsin flag up, so I had to take it down before Mom and James even got to see it.

A big thanks goes out to the LaFever's for keeping Marley, the peeing wonder, for us. I'm sorry she was bad. Katie said she kept peeing in her kennel. She's always miserable when Sam is away.

Well, it was fun and I'm glad it's over...back to normal. I have lots of laundry to do today and have to work tomorrow. I love you all!!!!!!

Congrats to Steve and Carolina

Congratulations Steve and Carolina...my baby brother finally got engaged to Carolina! We love you both!!!!!!