It's My Turn - FMBT

Hey Everyone,
I am very excited to be a guest host of FMBT today.  I look forward to meeting all of you. Click here or here to head on over the regular (or far from it) going ons of this family.
And please check out the real hostess!! 

It’s everyone’s favorite day of the week again, Tuesday..

So that means it’s time to link up & follow for

Follow Me Back Tuesday

Hosted By:

Survey Junkie, Little Yaya’s & Boobies,BabiesAndABlog

With Guest Hosts:

Nancy from Finding blessings in everyday life

&

Heather from Heather's View and the Shoe

How it Works

• Follow all 3 Hosts & Guest Host's - Spots 1-5 leave a comment w/ a link to your blog so we can follow you back ( only leave a comment that you follow if you actually follow )

• Snag our button & make a F.M.B.T. post.
• After you post use that link to add your blog to the hop along with your blog name

( NO BLOG HOPs & GIVEAWAYS PLEASE ) These entries will be deleted.

• Follow the blogs you like & Follow Back who follows you ( Remember to leave a comment so you can be followed back )
• And most importantly - Have Fun and Come back and see us every Tuesday !!

Link up every Tuesday at 12:00 am est

3 More Days

There are three days left of school.
Due to the budget cuts in Texas schools I was laid off of my summer job.
The Coach and I discussed it and decided it would be more profitable for me to just not work this summer.

For the first time in six years I am going to be a stay at home mom!  (For the summer.)

One of the great things about teaching is the multiple opportunities a year to make or revamp goals.   This is convenient because I have long given up on the goals I made for New Years.  Last year my summer goal was to visit new and different parks.  It was a pretty slacker goal, but we moved twice last summer and I worked summer school.

 (Sniff.  Look at Shaye Baby so little last summer.)

Here are some of my goals for the family this summer.

Better nutrition.  We have fallen into some bad habits here towards the end of the year like Pop Tarts and cokes.  I told the kids we would be sugar free this summer.  That is probably stretching things a bit, but we will try to reduce the junk.  (The older three claim they are going to live with their dad.  Ha!)

Exercise.  Because it is Africa hot here it is hard to get out and romp around during the day, but without multiple sports during the summer we should be able to return to Forced Family Fun in the evenings.

 Here is one of our past "fun" efforts!  Again The Coach would like to remind everyone his tumbler is full of Tom Collins. (Look at Tayte.  He was a BABY!)

 The Coach and I got bikes for Mother's Day, so we can cruise around the neighborhood in style.



Scheduling.  If I don't watch it the kids will be watching cartoons all day while I blog clean up the kitchen five times after each kid eats.  My plan is to go out while it is bearable and get the babies tired enough for a nap.  A rule I always stick to is that breakfast ends at 9:00  After that the kids have to wait until lunch to eat.  Tanner is usually the last one up and has to sprint to the kitchen like O.J. Simpson in an airline commercial to make the deadline.

Tan Man's cute self will be denied breakfast if he can't get downstairs after the kitchen has been cleaned.


Also important in the scheduling area is my workouts.  I will get to sleep late compared to the school year, but I still need to get up early to do the workouts before the oppressive heat sets in.  Plus a big goal is to get to yoga class a couple of times a week. 

Obviously I need to work on my yoga since this is the only pose I know!

And finally I need to take more pictures of this patriotic baby!!  All of them really.  I haven't been as good about it as I should be lately. Just one more thing they will need therapy for one day.

Got any goals or plans this summer?
Got any advice on keeping my sanity with five kids at home for the summer?

I Will Not Blog....

.....Before I Slog.

Through all of this crap on my desk.  There are three weeks left of school and I am falling apart.  I can barely see the kids over the piles of crud on my desk.
We have TAKS tested, EOC tested, AP tested. 
I have seriously been tested!
And finals are next!

I just wanted to publicly resolve not to blog before I collate and staple finals, find scantrons, sharpen pencils, and update my gradebook.

Except I had to tell you.

1. We will be celebrating Doodles one year birthday this week. Seriously.  Saige made up invitations and everything for the guinea pig!
2. I went to the bike shop to see about new bike fit/saddle because my butt is killing me.  The bike guy made some adjustments and then said, "You may want to consider a seat with a larger surface area."  Just what do you think he was trying to imply?
3. The Coach is out of the playoffs and his re-entry into civilian life has been less than smooth! 
4. Tayte actually kicked the ball at soccer on Saturday.
5. I took Tanner to the doctor to get a diagnosis for his motor skills problems. Tanner got embarassed when I described his messy eating and said, "Well unlike you I don't have to be reminded to put on pants!"  Lovely time explaining THAT to the doctor- I had been wearing a swimsuit in the car.  (Also for reasons I am not sure of Tanner insisted on being called "Jorge" the whole time we were there.)


Because it is seems to be getting close to rerun season on tv. I thought I would link back to some previous entertaining posts. (At least in my mind.)

Really this was all a plea for distraction.  Please don't make me grade all this stuff!!

Talk the Talk

Shaye Baby is 21 months old this month.  So far she can say a few words that I understand and a few words in what can only be French*.  I don't speak French so I have no idea what she is saying.

When Ty was a baby he started saying a handful of words at ten months.  He had to for self preservation.  I was 24 and most of my baby knowledge had been gained from books.  The books said to talk to the baby all the time describing everything thing you were doing.  Since I kept up a steady stream of conversation Ty had to learn to talk (and drive so he could go to the store and purchase some ear plugs.)

Tanner was fourteen months when he got tubes in his ears.  For a week after that he gasped in suprise when his toys made a noise and he started talking shortly thereafter.

I don't remember when exactly Saige started talking.  But I do remember it seemed like she started talking in complete sentences.  I don't remember her doing any baby talk.  One day at dinner she was telling my dad about a doll the boys had ripped the head off.  My dad asked her how it died.  In dramatic fashion she grabbed her neck and said, "Like this! AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" 

So with the first three I never worried about talking.

With the next two though I did which is strange because generally I worry LESS about these two realizing babies are durable!

Tayte was about 18 months when I mentioned to the doctor I didn't think his talking was up to par.  (Of course by that time I had quit reading any baby books and really couldn't tell you how many words he was supposed to be saying.) The doctor suggest I wait until his 24 month check up and see if he had progressed.  Finally he started saying words.  I am pretty sure his first word was, "water".  In fact it was the only word he said for about  a month.  If we were driving and saw a lake, pond, ditch, or puddle he would excitedly scream out, "WAAAATEEEER!" for the next four or five miles.  It was like riding around in a mini-van with Helen Keller.  Now he keeps up a steady stream of conversation from the time he jumps out of bed fully energized at 6:00 am until he crashes into bed at 8:00 pm.

I just started last weekend wondering about Shaye.  At 21 months it seems like she should be saying more than:

Mom

 Daddy

 ball

 Ty

 bad dog

 On the other hand she clearly understands everything I say.  I know because when I tell her to do something she laughs and does the exact opposite!

There are several things she uses the same words for and I decided based on her pronunciation of baby (bebe) she is French. (Thanks Joann for helping me come to this conslusion.)

*I also decided she was French based on her behavior. She has many stereotypical French characteristics.  She likes good food.  She is stylish.  She only wants to bathe twice a week and she is snotty to strangers.  (Oh I am just kidding.  I came across a website listing stereotypes of different countries.)

Have there been any areas of your kids' developement you have worried about unnecessarily?  Any strange first words?  Anyone have some French tapes I can borrow?

A Mid-Summer Day's Panic

When Saige was little she got frequent UTIs.  All of those infections culminated in several tests.  She had to have a sonogram and some other stuff and finally an x-ray type test to check the functions of her......insides?  ( I am incredibly medical aren't I?)

The last test she had to take was the summer she turned five.  I took my mom with us because I was over eight months pregnant and the test involved radiation.  I knew I would not be allowed to stay with Saige.  So my mom who is slightly handicapped, my pregnant self and my daughter and I trekked downtown in the 110 degree heat to Texas Children's Hospital.  The test was stressful for her and for me because I couldn't stay with her, but I could hear her from the hallway.

The next day it was still hot and I was still pregnant and I was out doing errands with the three kids I already had.    During the grocery store trip the kids decided we HAD to go to the library.  I agreed because it is quiet and air conditioned there it would be educational.

We ran in the house and put the groceries away and then piled back into the Womb on Wheels to head to the library which would be closing soon.

Once there we browsed for books.  Except for Tanner who isn't interested in books.  He lurked behind the computer users passing gas until he could get one to leave in disgust.  (I didn't teach him that.)  Saige and I had to use the little girls' room and while we were in there I noticed something wasn't right with Saige.  There was a mysterious stain on the leg of her underpants.  I cleaned her up and headed back to the library in a panic.  I told the kids to check out what they had immediately so we could leave.

In the parking lot I started asking Saige questions.
"Does your stomach hurt?"
"Does your back hurt?"
"How long has that underpants situation been going on?"
In my mind I was thinking something had gone wrong with the test.  Maybe her internal organs were pricked and now they were leaking???? She answered with her usual space cadet obliviousness.  Nothing hurt.  She had no fever.  She couldn't say when the problems began. 

I was headed home to call the pediatrician or the specialist we had met with.  I was debating on whether or not to drive straight to the ER.  As we were getting in the van I noticed the problem had worsened.  You have to understand the UTI episodes had been going on for over a year.  I was already worried something was horribly wrong.  I spent the day before in that children's hospital looking around at kids who were chronically and seriously ill.  I just couldn't imagine what it would be like to cope with that kind of illness in your own child.  Those parents were so strong. 
 Plus I was pregnant.  Hormones may have been a factor.

I started to clean her up.  I asked again if she was hurting.

Then I smelled.........................chocolate.

"Saige", I asked.  "Did you stick chocolate in your underpants?"

"Yup"  She replied.

It turns out she did not have a dangerous and deadly internal organ laceration during the test.  What had happened was........while I was quickly putting up groceries she was grabbing a little chocolate candy snack.  When I yelled for them to load back up without getting anything to eat my sweet daughter decided the best way to avoid having to share her purloined treat with her brothers was to stick it down her pants and save it for later
.
THEN she let me panic for ten minutes not mentioning it.

( I have since told her that chocolate must be eaten right away during a Texas summer.)

Can you imagine if I had taken her to the ER and they had had to diagnose her?

Out With the Old...............Sniff.

 As you may or may not remember (depending on whether or not you have more important information in your head like which toilet paper is on sale this week) my minivan flipped 100,000 miles around the time of this post.  At 111,000 miles it started smelling like starch and making this weird "thumping/jerking/burping" movement whenever the gears shifted.

We took it in and the mechanic declared the transmission unsound.  We asked him if we could still drive it and he said, "You can drive it.  It won't hurt it.  One day though it will stop and after that it ain't going ANYWHERE."  So we debated for three weeks over what to do. 

On one hand, I had to consider the fact that chances are if I break down during baseball season The Coach will not come get me.  He has proven this before when I ran out of gas.  Twice.  Saying something about not being able to leave thirty teenage boys alone with bats.  I dunno.

But then, it has been my dream to pay off a car and drive it a few more years with no car payment.  Plus I love that car.  We bought it used and it had bells and whistles we would never have been able to afford on a new car - like seat heaters for Pete's sake.  Do you have any idea how important that is in Houston!?

Ultimately we decided it was time to give up the Womb on Wheels.  This required car shopping which excites me as much as a root canal.

The Coach pre-warned (threatened) me not to answer the following questions:
How much do you want your payment to be?
What do you owe on your van?
How much do you want to spend?
How much are you willing to put down?
What was the name of your first boyfriend?  (Ok.  I made that one up.)

Finally I asked, "Should I just not talk at all?"
He answered in the affirmative and I agreed as long as I would be fed lunch. It turns out it was the easiest deal to finalize all day.

The salesman at the first dealership approached asked, "What are you in the market for today?"  I wasn't sure if I was allowed to answer this or if he should be made to figure it out on his own.   I stood there quietly and obediently.  (I like lunch.)

The Coach quickly stepped in, pointed to me and replied, "I don't know.  Talk to the boss."
Hello?  He had just delivered a thirty minute diatribe on how I wasn't to utter a word!!
At that point I should have just pointed to the nearest car and said, "I want that one." and been done with it.

Instead we did the "haggling".
I really don't understand car buying at all.
We recently bought a  new house which is much bigger than a car.  We went to the sales office, they told us a price.  We bought the house.
I don't get the subterfuge.  We aren't supposed to say how much we want to spend.  They won't say how much we will actually be paying for the car.  It is enough to drive a person nuts.

We did finally get a 2005 Nissan Armada.  It is huge.  I should lose five pounds in the next month just from parking in the back of parking lots.  The kids are thankful for the leg room.  I am thankful I can drive to my mom's without picturing us stranded on the road next to a cow on the way home.

It doesn't have a new name, but I will take suggestions.
Also, can you explain the car buying process to me?  

(Please do not feel the need to pick a name that stresses we bought a foreign car and are depleting the ozone all in one fell swoop.  I feel bad enough already.)

Here is my bike which I don't think is foreign and definitely doesn't adversely affect the ozone.  It just looked lonely hanging there and I miss riding while running so dang much.

Ice Bath

I hate, hate, hate the cold.  Any cold.  I couldn't say exactly why I took an ice bath.   I honestly couldn't even say why I even signed up for a half marathon in January.  It seemed like a good idea back in July.  I usually defend my running by saying, "It is part of the triathlon, if I don't do it I will never finish."  Now I am doing JUST running.  Who would have thought?

Also unbelievable I sat in a tub full of cold water on Sunday and let The Coach pour in three bags of ice.  He did this out of the kindness of his heart he claims.  In no way was any part of this a sadistic desire on his part to see me uncomfortable freezing my butt off.  (Or to see my "headlights" smaller than they have been since I was 19.)  (Sorry I should have given the TMI alert.)

The day after my long run lately has been filled with whining and an inability to get up and down the stairs.  I asked The Coach for advice.  He said the football players take ice baths after pounding each other for two hours to constrict muscles and stop the production of lactic acid.  He said I had pounded my knees and hips for 90 minutes so, I should try it. He sounded incredibly scientific. I bought it. 

Shaye Baby was nice enough to keep me company while this torture ensued.  She rolled up balls of toilet paper and threw them in the tub.  I was too frozen to move to get her to quit so every few minutes I just muttered, "Bad Baby."  It didn't slow her down. From time to time she would stick her little hand in the water and say, "Ooooohhhhh."

I will say this.  It was uncomfortable.   It might have been better if Shaye had left and I could maybe distract myself with a good book or something.  I was cold for the next two hours.  On the flip side I didn't have rubber legs for the rest of the day yesterday and I was able to get up the stairs at work this morning.  My legs don't hurt at all.  Maybe I will even be able to do a weight workout this evening.  Who knows?

How about you? What is the craziest thing you have done for your sport or hobby?

 Please let me know if you are visiting from the hops so I can stop by and drop you a line.

A Few Of My Favorite Things

"When the dog bites.............."
I have that song stuck in my head.
Do you know I have never seen the end of The Sound of Music?  I would start watching it when I was growing up and then my dad would come and say, "What is this?"  Then he would change the channel.  He hates musicals.  What happens? Do they all move to the U.S. and try out for American Idol?

I was thinking about this in the middle of the night.  Here are some of my favorite things.
*Looking at the kids while they are asleep.  Shaye still sleeps all curled up like a baby loaf.  The rest of them look like they passed out in mid spaz with their arms stretched out above their heads and their legs draped all over the bed.
*Waking up and realizing it's only 1 am and there are still four more hours of quiet night.  Does anyone else do this?  I usually act like it is a big bonus and then get so excited I can't go back to sleep.
*A hot hot hot bath. For me there is just no point in taking a bath unless I am going to almost turn into Heather soup.
*Cereal.  I pretty much think I could live on cereal.  Frosted Mini Wheats especially.
*A blank notebook.  I have loved a new blank notebook since I was a little girl. Just the thought of filling up all those pages with writing was mezmerizing.
*Currently one of my favorite things is hearing Tayte say, "I am going to be Woody for Christmas!"  He seems to be having some holiday confusion.
*The sound of quiet in my classroom while the students are failing taking their final exams.
*The exact colors of my kids'eyes.  (4 blue, 1 green................Go Green!)
*A fire in the fire place.  (Yes we do have to turn on the AC before we can do the fire.)
*Long socks worn under boots!



I linked up with a hop and cannot get the picture to run.  (Did I tell you my school computer crashed and I lost seven years of lesson plans.  Not one of my favorite things!) I gave up and here is just a link.

HOPS!

A Dash of Dash

On Thanksgiving the kids and I participated in the YMCA Turkey Dash.  Remember I vowed to kick my oldest's booty in the race?  I guess I did because he was a DNS.  He woke up claiming stomach problems, blah, blah, blah.  He made a quick recovery about the time the sweet potatoes were ready
.
I broke my own rule of not wearing the race shirt until the race is finished.  Also I am instituting a new rule: No pictures prior to 7 am.

Shaye Baby and Tayte enjoyed some dress up too.

My older brother came to run and my younger brother came to drink cheer us on.

My older brother was less than impressed with his get up.

The Coach doesn't seem to be a fan of the headdresses either. Hmph.  (Is he checking out the "talent" here?  Certainly not.  But if he is I'll forgive.  He does hang out at a lot of races for me.)

Tanner : 9:10

Saigie: 11:07

Here are Tanner and Saige finishing up their races.  (Saige is the one in the cool Christmas socks.)  I thought they both did very well and they seemed to have a good time.  Yay for them!

                                                                Guns: 26:17 

My brother, Guns,  hasn't run in a race since high school - which by the way was a long long time ago.   He was teasing at the start that he should be further to the front with the fast people.  A young guy in front of him told him he needed go further back. 

As I was getting to the turn the same guy ran up to me and said, "Hey is that guy you are running with back there?"  I told him my brother had already made the turn and was way ahead of us.  He poured on the speed trying to catch up to him.  I finally took pity on the kid and said, "He's in the army, you know."  At that point the guy gave up.  It's tough to get beat by an old guy huh?

I should note here, my brother didn't pack heat for the race.  I am shocked this didn't cause him to run lopsided, or throw off his balance in any way.

Guns was nice enough to loop back around and finish with me.  For some reason though he felt I should top my lackluster race off with a full out sprint.  At that point Tanner decided to join in by jumping out in front of me while I was going full speed.  I thought I was going to wreck at full speed.  But with agility and grace I managed to narrowly avoid that.
So I finished with a very disappointing 31:14, proving that one can only consume so much queso and beer before it begins to affect quickness - both physical and mental. (I was hoping to run it in less than 29:00.  Oh well...there is always next year.)

Shaye may run next year too.  She seemed ready!

Overall I had a great time with The Coach, the kids, my brothers and my dad.  After the race we headed over to my mom's where my sister in law made a Norweigian concoction that is both a drink and a snack.  My mom made all of the yummiest Thanksgiving dishes.  She also carried on her strange tradition of using her label maker to label all the desserts.  (Thanks for making it easy to find the Rice Krispy Treats, Mom!)

I was truly grateful for the relaxation and the time we spent with family.

(I am sorry this post was about as long as the race.)

What are your favorite Thanksgiving traditions??

365 Days

Over the weekend I had an accomplishment that got me very excited.
Then I turned philosophical.  That hardly ever happens.
Not to take anything away from accomplishment, but it shouldn't be a surprise I improved at something I practiced at a few times a week for a year.

A whole year can make a big difference.

I started making a mental list of all the other activities I have ever tried and then been cruddy at.  It is a long list.  And for the most part that is fine with me.  It doesn't bother me I was never a good hunter.  I can live with the fact that making my mom's goulash edible seems to be an elusive skill for me.  I now realize though that if I practiced ANY of the things on the list 3-5 days a week for 20-90 minutes I would be good at them. Or at least suck at less. Duh.  (That is how I struggled my way up to running as far as I can now.) I am now wondering why it took me till I was nearly forty to learn this.

Here are some things I have always longed to be capable of.  I have a smidgen of a background in these areas.  I wouldn't just be starting from scratch.  I would be starting from suck.  See I am 1/10 of the way there.

*Speak a foreign language.
If I practice Spanish for a year I think I could almost butcher the language in a conversational way.  I have always been envious of my students who speak multiple languages.

*Crochet.
If I were to crochet three to five times a week I could probably actually make something other than a triangular pot holder that was really supposed to be square.  Maybe I could make a scarf or a blanket...a small blanket.

*Play the piano, or the violin.
I love the violin and I did briefly take lessons as an adult.  Raising two rambunctious preschoolers at that time did make it difficult to find time to practice. Surely though I could find twenty minutes a day now (that I have FIVE kids.)

*Read the Bible the whole way through.
Every year I set out to do this and although I do get a little further each year I have not yet been successful.  I am sure if I read twenty minutes a day I could accomplish this.

*Write better.  I love to write and really give it a real attempt yet .  The whole point of this blog was to actually write for an audience, not to just publish pictures of my kid eating dog food. Maybe my writing would improve if  I really tried to actually write in a sophisticated manner....like in the third person even. 

It is not realistic to think I am accomplish ALL this stuff in a year so I guess I am going to have to prioritize and pick one to focus one, maybe two depending on what I choose. 

How about you? Do you have a goal?  Or better yet have you already accomplished a goal?  How did you manage to accomplish it?

Boobies, Babies and a Blog

My Mad Mind

New Goggles, or Feline Revenge

Thank you very much Grizelda.

 This is a Grizelda.  She is a calico cat The Coach brought me when we were dating and I killed the kids' rabbit.  I didn't intend to kill the rabbit and I wasn't particularly broke up about it, but I was crying because I had a rough week and The Coach misinterpreted that as intense sadness about the lost of a pet with absolutely no personality and brought me this cat.

She is kind of like "stoner" cat.  She is very laid back and puts up with more than any cat could be expected to endure. The kids have used her as pillow and and as villains in their imaginary scenarios.  The most famous villain she has played has been Darth Vader, but she has also been a robber, and one time a Democrat.  KIDDING!

My favorite thing about this cat though was that she acted like a dog.  We trained her to meow at the front door when she needed to do her business and we would let her out then when she meowed again we would let her back in.  No litter box.  Heaven.

Since we moved into the new house though she has been very reluctant to go outside.  We had to break down and get a litter box.  Unfortunately we have to leave the laundry room door closed because if we don't Shaye Baby will play with poo.

This morning I went to get my ipod out of my gym bag and thank goodness it wasn't in there.  I noticed the bag was wet which was weird because I haven't used it lately.  Then I noticed that my goggles were filled with liquid.  Stinky yellowish liquid.  Ewwwww.

 Maybe this is one of the reasons the cat finally decided to get revenge.

I have to go now and buy new goggles.

 Babies, Boobies, and a Blog

I Won't Play Putt Putt. You Can't Make Me.

Here is why.

(In all honestly, I don't think my older brother was really that excited.  I was.  I had a totally cool swimsuit that year.)  (Tayte absconded with my yellow marker which is why my brother and I have orange hair.)

 My mother was afraid I had lost an eye.  We got in the car to head to the nearest ER.  In a move exhibiting quick reflexes I have not seen from my mom before or since she shut the visor before I could see the damage in the mirror.

 They also CUT OFF my super cool swimsuit.  Hello?

I also said many other funny things.  I kept called calling the male doctor "ma'am" and I said he was there to take my "whiskey".  Apparently I am quite humorous when knocked nearly unconscious.

I am lucky the plastic surgeon was good and I still have most of that eyebrow.  I am also lucky the bad perm eventually grew out.  (Hey.  It was the 80's)

I can't feel about an inch of my forehead over the scar and that side of my head is still numbish. 

I cringe at the thought of ever playing miniature golf with my own children.  Who really thought that was a good idea anyway?  Who said, "Let's put these hyper children in close proximity to each other and then give them long hard weapons made of metal?" 

There is my story. 

Let me know if you got a chuckle and I may start doing this regularly. (All the stores don't have to center around injuries.)

(Saigie really enjoyed watching me color.)

Boobies, Babies, and a Blog

Once Upon a Miracle

Halloween Spider Story

This picture has nothing to do with this post, but isn't it cute?

Shaye Puppy.

The kids are starting to talk about Halloween Costumes again. It reminded me of this story.

Last year Saige was thumbing through one of Gramma's magazines when she came across an ad featuring a magician. She then HAD to be a magician for Halloween. The ad was for feminine products but I figured, "Whatev."

My mom whipped her up this adorable costume.

She loved it!
She was just so excited for Halloween to get here.

Finally it was the big day. She was going for a hay ride with some friends while The Coach and I got everything situated. We were going to meet up with her and her group of friends. But first I had to get the babies dressed and The Coach had to place his beers in the stroller.

(He doesn't drink much, but he looks forward to his Halloween drink and stroll!)

We caught up with Saige as she was leaving some one's house. She came up to me and said shyly that kids were telling her there was a spider on her. She was embarrassed and didn't know what they were talking about so to get them to hush she told them it was part of her costume.

I started looking at her to see if I saw a little spider.

Now let me first tell you. I am scared of spiders. When I was growing up I would make my brother come kill them for me. (KILL THEM...not wash them down the drain so they can sneak up on me while I am showering.) I try to downplay the fear because otherwise the boys will take every opportunity to bring spiders to me. I know this. I have brothers.

So I looked on her hat and lapels and I saw the spider. A HUGE SPIDER! It was eating a Snickers it had stolen from some other kid. It was one of those hairy ones that you see on Animal Planet devouring a gazelle or something.

It was on her shoulder and it took up her whole shoulder. I wish I had the wherewith all to photograph it, but I was busy trying not to have a heart attack.





(I may not be able to sleep tonight just looking on Google for a picture.)

This monster was on my girl!

I immediately turned her head away from it and held it there. I was afraid that it would either bite her on the face, or she would see it and freak out and run into the street and get hit by a car.
I knew The Coach would be no help as he is more scared of spiders than I am.
In a panic as I was holding her head I pleaded with one of the dads standing next to us. I was tyring to use a calm voice for Saigie's sake.

"Please get that off of her. Please get it off. Get it off of her. Please help."

The man was confused and started to remove Saigie's hat.

"NO." I said. "THAT!"

The man let out a half scream of his own and used his ball cap to scoop it off and throw it in the street where it took three other grown men to disarm it and stomp it to death.

The Coach saw the commotion from the street and asked me what that was all about. I told him. He said, "I am glad I didn't see it."  He also didn't sleep that night.

I have NEVER seen such a huge spider just out and about. I assume it came from the hay in the hay ride.
Saigie was a trooper went on with her trick or treating.


Tayte is not excited about this picture as he is digging for a lollipop.

What are your Halloween adventures?



I can't get my buttons to work today, but I am linking up at True Story Tuesday, 
Boobies, Babies and a Blog
Twee Poppets
Chubby Cheeks Thinks