Happy Halloween!

I would definitely say I have a love/hate relationship with Halloween.  First and foremost, I hate the candy!  Well, ok, so I love the chocolate candy bars.  What I hate is that my kids have unlimited access to pounds of candy for weeks on end.  I've tried the rationing approach.  All that means is they have candy everyday until Easter.  Now I let them have at it for about a week and then discreetly toss whatever is left.  What I love about Halloween are the adorable little kid costumes.  

In case you're wondering, that's four full size suckers.  My kids have many talents, one of which is efficient candy consumption.  And she's a bunny minus the bunny ears.  Apparently they felt weird on her head.

Ever try to get four little kids to hold still for oh...three seconds?  Impossible.  So this is the best group picture I could get.

Abbey the good witch.

And I thought this was just cute.  He was so good about keeping his trunk on!  Happy halloween everyone!

A house of manners

I just looked over at my son. He's laughing and, well...chortling for lack of a better word. Adorable, except for the goldfish cracker sticking out of each nostril.  And it all comes rushing back!  This weekend.  My in-laws (with lovely manners I might add).  They were here for oh, ten minutes, when Sarah proceeded to show them her newly acquired skill.  Armpit farting.  Please excuse the uncouth term, but I don't know what else to call it.  And I might add, this was also the first time I'd seen her attempt it.  Then, an hour or so later during dinner, Tyler showed Gramma the nostril trick again. Only this time with a sizable piece of chicken nugget.  I couldn't help it!  I laughed my head off.  It's the first time I'd seem him do it, and well...it was really funny! Ok, my bad.  I shouldn't have laughed.  Now he's doing it all the time.  Moving on.  A few minutes later, Abbey packs her cheeks with mashed potatoes and then of course, gags, and sprays them all over the place.  I didn't laugh.  I just thought,  "Where did I go wrong?!!"  I can honestly say manners are important to me.  We try to encourage by word and example that good manners have value.  So my question is, how the heck do you teach them?  Please, please, say it gets easier as they get older.  And I mean older as in twelve, not twenty five.  I suppose if I fail entirely, I can always send them to my in-laws.  

Did it matter?

Yesterday Brent and I chose to participate in a grass roots protest against the California Teacher's Association.  They donated 1.25 million dollars of California teacher's dues (and ultimately my tax dollars) to support the defeat of proposition 8.  We are in support of proposition 8 and therefore kept our kids home from school in an effort to make our voices heard.  The hope was that if enough parents participated, the financial impact this caused the schools would somehow pinch the CTA and show them our disapproval.  Honestly, I have no idea if it worked.  I second guessed myself all day.  The CTA is an enormous organization and the money I cost my school will probably just mean we get one less hole punch next year.  It's hard to know just how to make a difference and at times my efforts seem futile at best.  I felt this way all day.  Until we tucked the kids into bed last night.  I have tried to talk to them about prop 8 and gay marriage several times and I'm never quite sure the  message I mean to send is getting across.  Am I saying too much to them?  Not enough?  Do they understand that we support a righteous cause but also respect and treat kindly those who disagree?  Even though many of those people openly hate and despise us for our beliefs? (Sorry, another post for another day.  In case your wondering, it's getting pretty rough here in So. Cal.) But keeping them home from school affected their world to a degree that I know they finally got it.  So did my efforts yesterday matter?  Probably not to the CTA.  But it did matter to my children.  They saw their parents stand for something.  And by allowing them the choice to stay home or not, they felt like they were standing for something too.

It'll have to do!

The girls have been asking for a pet, well.....since they started talking really.  Their pet of choice changes regularly, but for the last year or so it's been a chihuahua.  Here's how I look at it: family of six + 1200 square foot apartment with a no pet policy = no chihuahua.  Pretty straight forward.  Last Christmas we broke down and purchased a guinea pig.  Long story.  She's a good pet as far as pigs go.  We bought her a leash the other day because the girls wanted to take her on a walk.  Ever seen a guinea pig on a leash before?  Me either.  All in good fun. 

A weekend away

Brent's firm had their annual retreat this weekend and thanks to some totally awesome in laws, we got to go all by ourselves!!  The kids had some quality Gramma and Papa time, and Brent and I had some much needed alone time.  We haven't had a "weekend away", well...ever. We slept in, sailed in a Saturday regatta, and spent the weekend eating really good food that I neither prepared or cleaned up.  It was lovely and I want to go back!!