HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

Today is my mom's birthday.  Actually, it's tomorrow for you guys, but it's today for me.  November 7th.  I'm not going to tell you how old she is, because well, I don't want her to disown me!

Anyway, let me tell you about my mom.  For those of you that know her, this will come as no surprise.  For those of you that don't, you don't know what you're missing.  My mom has ALWAYS been there for me.  She's always let me know that she will love me no matter what I do.  And while I was a pretty good kid, I was a REALLY annoying toddler!  She could tell you stories for hours about the things that I did back then.  Of course, my boys *love* hearing those stories!  There was the time I climbed out of bed and climbed in bed with Scott with a gallon of chocolate ice cream, which was in turn smeared on the walls the next morning.  Then there was the time I climbed up on top of the roof.  That's right, I said the ROOF.  We used to have these black wrought iron posts on our front porch, and I climbed up them to get on the roof.  And then there was the time I woke up in the middle of the night and went down to the end of the driveway to meet the bus that wasn't actually due for another 2 or 3 hours.  And of course, there was the time I drove the car down the driveway and into the neighbors yard.  Mind you, all of these incidents happened before the age of about 4.  Do you wonder how I made it to adulthood?!

Of course, because of this lovely background, whenever I call my mom to tell her about the crazy things my kids have done, all I hear is, "Yeah, I had one just like that!"  Thanks for the sympathy Mom!!!  You could at least *pretend* to sympathize!  ;-)

Anyway, back to her.  She has always been there for me.  And she's always made me feel like I was a wonderful person.  She never made me feel like she ever questioned how she got stuck with me for a daughter.  Now mind you, there were times when I was a teenager, when I'm sure she wanted to sell me to the lowest bidder, but somehow, she managed to bury those thoughts deep in her sub conscience!

I remember planning my wedding.  We had so much fun picking things out and doing things together.  I'd always ask for her opinion, and she'd always tell me it was MY wedding and that I should do what *I* wanted, without wondering what anyone else thought about it.  And when I got pregnant with Jason, I don't think anyone was more excited than her.  Except for Ryan and I, of course!  And she LOVES her grandchildren.  Her eyes light up whenever she sees them.  She thinks about them and talks about them all of the time.  They are SO lucky to have her.  There are times when she'll call me and ask if Ryan and I want to go out.  Mind you, she's concerned about us spending time together, but it's also because she wants to see her grand kids!

And I've never met anyone with more Faith than my mom.  She has a very strong Faith in God, but she also has a lot of Faith in people.  She always tries to see the best in people and give them the benefit of the doubt.  She *really* cares about how people are doing and what their needs are.  She's very compassionate.

I have the best mom in the world.  If my kids grow up and feel half of what I feel for my mom, then I will know that I have done my job as a parent.

I love you Mom.  Thank you for showing me how to be a great mom.  I hope you have a really great birthday.  I'm sorry I can't be there to share it with you.

You're loving daughter. 

Me

ANDREW'S FIELD TRIP . . .

Andrew had a field trip a couple of weeks ago and I went with his class.  They went to Papa John's.  That's right, I said Papa John's.  We walked to Papa John's.  Then they got to make their own pizzas.  They toured the kitchen and saw where the pizzas are made, how high the oven is set, and how long it takes to cook the pizzas.  By the way, it takes 6 minutes, in case you were wondering. 

He had a good time.  And of course, I took a few pictures!

 

Andrew and his friends.

     I hope he has the right answer!

 

Andrew and his specially made pizza.

Gotta love the pizza mustache!

HALLOWEEN . . .

Believe it or not, we did find a place to take the kids trick or treating this year.  Of course, it wasn't the same.  If we'd been at home we would have taken the kids around the neighborhood, and then had chili and snacks with our wonderful family and friends.  Of course, that didn't happen.  But that's okay, next year will be even more fun!

Anyway, we took them to a neighborhood very close to school.  They went through a Haunted Garage, and then we took them trick or treating through the neighborhood.  They had a really good time.  They didn't get the same kind of candy that they would have gotten at home, there were a couple of Snickers here and there, but mostly it was Hi Chews and suckers.  But it's better than nothing.

Andrew was a Ben 10 character named Swamp Fire.  We didn't get Jason's costume until that morning, because he couldn't decide what he wanted to be.  He finally decided on a pirate, and then he wore it all night.  He even slept in it!  I guess he was happy with his choice.

Swamp Fire

The Pirate

The Beautiful Butterfly

Swamp Fire and Butterfly

The Pirate and The Butterfly.  Sounds like the name of a romance novel!

She wouldn't exactly pose, so we had to catch her whenever we could.  Since she was with us most of the night and not going door to door very often, there's many more pictures of her.  I was lucky to get the ones of the boys that I did.  They just wanted to go!

Here you can see her wings. 

And here

 

THIS is what she looked like in less than hour!

She's working hard on that piece of candy!

Not sure what she's laughing at, but she's obviously having a good time!

This is Ryan's favorite day of the year, because well, it's the one day he can go out without people asking him why he's wearing a costume!

Sarah and Daddy

MORE PICTURES . . .

Another picture of the wall.

I can't explain it, but I just LOVE this picture.

I'm really not sure who he's posing for!!

I love this picture of Sarah and her Daddy!

This was taken from the ski lift.

Aren't they handsome?!

He's getting so big!

Nanny's Sunshine!

One of the many buildings.  They were actually used as lookouts when the wall was originally built.

My motley crew!

Another family shot.  We didn't have to pay for this one!

 Another part of the wall.  The view was absolutely amazing from up there.

 Now if only we could get everyone to look at the camera at the same time!

 We're getting closer.

 Guess this is the best we're going to get!

THE GREAT WALL . . .

We got up early on Saturday to take a trip to The Great Wall.  The view was breathtaking.  We got all of the kids a t-shirt that said I Climbed The Great Wall.  We had a tour guide for part of the trip.  We took a ski left up to the top.  From there, we got out and walk.  The worst part of the trip?  We lost Sarah's blankie somewhere up there.  I was really worried about how she would handle it, but she seems to be doing okay.  Every once in awhile she asks for it, but for the most part, she's okay with her Dora blankie.

Anyway, we went up the mountain, and then we walked the Great Wall.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous.  A little bit of history: 
The Great Wall of China is known as one of the Greatest Wonders of the World.  It stretches approximately 5500 miles from east to west China.  It was originally built for protection and actually consists of many different parts built during different time periods.  Some parts of it are over 2000 years old and some sections are in ruins or have disappeared.  The main part of The Great Wall that still exists now was built during the Ming Dynasty.  At it's highest point it is almost 1000 meters above sea level.

Here is a picture of the Wall.

Ryan and Jason on the ski lift on the way up the mountain.

Another picture.

This is the ride that Jason, Andrew and Ryan came down the mountain on.

Jason standing on part of the wall.

 

I usually try to be the one TAKING the picture.  Not sure how I didn't get away with it this time!

We found someone that offered to take a picture of all of us.  Of course then we had to buy some water from them!  But that's okay.  We needed it.