The weekend

Yesterday I was invited to join two of my favorite people on an adventure. They led me to their magical wonderland behind the tree line on our property. It was an exclusive invitation. Ty is quite the tour guide with very specific warnings and instructions. At one point he very enthusiastically informed me I was responsible for screaming when I step on a snake. No problem, I assured him. No problem.

They eagerly demonstrated the way they climb onto the "bunny home" and slide down. Kate is queen of the hill. She needs a place to be queen.

Greg and I took a walk each morning with Brutus. We thought it would be good to loosen the old boy up a bit. It appeared to help Brutus too. Smile.

I spent quite a bit of my weekend ripping apart and re-working a quilt I would have thrown away by now had I not promised it as a gift.

Lauren's coming to terms with her "hot ride" and Makenna has requested I take her to school in the new van because it is so cool. Makenna dear, it's just a mini van. Seriously, there is nothing cool about a mini van. She's excited about all the new buttons she can  push. She is also pretty pumped about the windows that go up without encouragement and a glove box that opens, also without encouragement. Yep, Lauren's got a hot ride alright.

And finally, the church asked me to write a short devotion for their sermon this weekend. If you care to read it, you can find it here. Someone took the liberty to add several commas and a second "n" to Baughman but otherwise, it was what I was able to create in a very short period of time. I was fairly rushed and distracted, to say the least but it was nice to be asked.

This and That

It was an emotional week with a lot of surprises I am still trying to process. By last night, I was feeling less than happy. Once I realized I had typed "ba-humbug" twice and used it in conversation three additional times, I decided I needed to do something to turn my bad attitude ship around. I cut circles out of scrapbook paper, clipped dead branches off the trees out back and cleaned out my serving utensil vase to create a gratitude tree. Just writing down all the many blessings in my life helped. That and the warm sunshine on my face today.

The high school sent a letter notifying me of upcoming registration events for Makenna. No way. That is my baby and I have seen what happens to kids who go to high school. They grow up, talk about moving out and getting a life that doesn't need me so I am not having it. I teared up and Greg laughed. Greg is counting down the years until we are officially in empty nest season. Let's just say we don't see eye to eye on this particular subject. Rather than debate sending my baby to high school with Greg, I called my sister who confirmed that I need to call that school and let them know they can't have her. It's good to have a sister in moments like this.

Makenna dressed for Halloween fun with friends last weekend.  Perhaps I can convince her to dress like this for high school and keep the male attention toned down a bit? 

In other news, my poor old mini van is tired. Very tired. She needs coaxed up hills and no longer has it in her to accelerate. Christmas traveling is around the corner and we knew we were going to have to rent a van to attend. Rather than risk it breaking down in winter weather on top of the rental fees, we bit a very expensive bullet today. Our new Kia Sedona will be arriving in a week or so. It's on a truck. They had to locate one without all the bells and whistles I do not want to pay for. In the mean time, I am driving a top of the line model. Car salesmen are tricky that way. I will get fairly comfortable with the moon roof and leather interior before Miss Plain Jane arrives. We decided to keep the old van because believe it or not, an eleven year old van with 198,000 miles on it isn't worth much in trade. But there's good news! Lauren gets her license in three weeks and will need something that will not fly on the interstate. It's a temporary ride for her to get to work and school but it's available until it finally dies. I prefer to not hand her the keys to the new one anyway. I've seen what teenagers do to new cars. Overall, we are experiencing some mixed emotions. Yeah! We can drive something we know will make it to our destination. Boo! We have to pay for that! I did not miss car payments. I haven't made one in over seven years.

Greg and I enjoyed a cheap date at McDonald's last night. He had coffee and I had tea while we waited on Lauren to get off work. We are looking forward to her driver's license; however, returning home to this scene was an excellent way to end a relaxed evening. Makenna is good. She had them in pajamas and watching a movie until they both fell asleep. Of course, Brutus wasn't supposed to be on the couch but I don't know why I bother saying that anymore. That dog is really good when the kids aren't around!

Brutus is aging rather quickly. He's limping and favoring one leg. Greg was on vacation this week and noted the dog appears far more pathetic when he has an audience though.

One Year.

Lauren and John Micheal had their first official date last night to celebrate their one year anniversary. They went out to dinner and then back to his house to watch a movie. Roses were waiting for her there. His mom chaperoned and thoroughly enjoyed the role. She interrupted the movie several times with aunts calling to congratulate them. I am shaking my head in disbelief. I asked Lauren if she enjoyed herself and if they ran out of things to talk about since Greg and I tend to talk about the kids when we get time alone. Lauren responded that it was fun but they were worried they weren't talking about the right things on their date. They questioned if there was an itinerary for things like this. Cute. Anyway, it appears she likes him and plans to keep him around awhile. He asked me to take photos of them for their eight month anniversary. I never posted them because I assumed he'd be long gone by now. Wishful thinking.

In other news, there was an incident involving poop. It was being scooped up in the neighbor's yard by two little boys with pails and thrown at big sisters. True story. My life is an adventure.

Goodbye October

Last night's sugar coma ushered in the conclusion of fall color today. High winds, rain and severe weather threats abusing the warm tone landscape. I cannot begin to express how sad this makes me. God has once again provided intense beauty for those who take the time to notice. However, I am not going to lie, finding beauty in nature during the upcoming months is not something I easily do. I am going to work on recognizing it in the brown and gray that tends to overcome me each winter.

I rushed Kate through schoolwork today so we could escape for a final leaf run with the camera before it's all blown away. Even in the rain, the golden tones were stunning. Ty and Brycen napped in car seats while Kate joined me in gushing over God's color show. Sister appreciates simple gifts.

Trick or Treat

Lady Bug Girl from the adorable book series. She's pretty cute. 

It was a beautiful night to walk the neighborhood begging for treats. They filled their buckets and had a great time. 

Mario was Batman until the last minute. Thank you Aunt Theresa for enough hand me downs to allow multiple costume changes. It was a fun day of dress up and no one knew who would be Trick or Treating tonight. 

Knitting lesson

This week

There were sleep overs

Devyn tired of waiting on naptime, crawled up onto the glider and promptly fell asleep. She's a cutie. 

Makenna was hit with a minor stomach bug in the middle of the night last weekend and Erin stumbled down the stairs to use the restroom. She was overheard complaining, "only in my house would there be a line for the bathroom at two o'clock in the morning!" True story.

Erin took Kate and Ty out for a big sis date for Mexican food but later complained they ordered chicken nuggets. Who orders chicken nuggets in a Mexican restaurant? They had a great time but at the end of their outing, Ty made this face asking, " Erin, is this creepy? Am I creeping you out? I'm really creepy".

I made this little pumpkin out of a book in a desperate attempt to avoid cleaning my house today. It is oh so cute, but I eventually had to clean anyway.

Ty had his flashlight out to investigate the inner workings of the garbage disposal one morning this week. 

Much to Greg's dismay, the kids are digging holes in the ground in front of his target. They also planted a tree there today! He's less than thrilled. They seem to have forgotten the purpose of the target.

Most construction workers wear pajamas and snow coats in October, right? It was way too cold this week. I have objected. It's made no difference. So tonight we braved the elements, sort of......

Kate Date

Kate and I participated in a local painting class together today after church.

We enjoyed the experience; however, I am not going to lie, I know why these events typically include wine. I reached the half way point of our two hour class and thought, "well, at least we had fun" because it was not looking promising. Even Kate kept saying, "I think the teacher has better brushes than us". We blamed the brushes. Yes we did.

We did have a great time and the end result appeared as though we had a clue. I think I will take another class someday.

I don't drink wine but may need to reconsider if I don't have my eight year old along to blame for the final product. Or I could always mention the brushes again......

Tough

When the going gets tough, the tough brews a cup of tea and sits down with a magazine.

Makenna and I had planned to experiment with her camera for my birthday two weeks ago. However, I am far more comfortable behind the lens and wear a haggard, non-photogenic look most often. Yoga pants don't exactly represent the way I want to be remembered even though they make up my mom uniform more days than not. Friday I decided to invest a few minutes in myself and wore real clothing. Makenna noticed and offered to take my picture. I told her she could only capture this specific moment because I didn't want to get up. She laughed and suggested I never look this relaxed so it would be an odd snapshot. It was unusual but I briefly appeared this settled on Friday and would appreciate more similar opportunities. Someday I may tolerate a real photo session.

It was a tough week around here. Erin walked out on her new job at Amazon. She had not yet followed up with CPS but returned to the comfort of Subway. Her choices created some stress in our home. I had four extra kiddos most of this rainy week and whereas they were well behaved and as sweet as usual, they added a lot of energy and volume. On top of that, my son has become a tiny terrorist of sorts loudly demanding his way at every turn. A few extra teens were here to witness said behavior the other evening and took it upon themselves to recommend spanking as a form of discipline. At that moment, the tough took a solitary walk to contain the steam that was building behind her ears. I am a direct person and struggle to find polite ways to tell someone they are being rude when they sit at my dinner table and tell me how I should be parenting my children. I know what kind of week my son had. I was there for every moment he was unsettled by the energy level. I was there when he was injured. I was there when those same teens promised a baseball game and didn't follow through. I was present when plans were changed and promises were broken. He is four. He needs compassion and words to express how he's feeling. He needs attention that isn't divided a dozen other ways. After my walk, rather than tell the teens how their choices aided in Ty's melt down, I shut myself in his room with toys and let him lead the way in imaginative play.

Even though this wasn't a particularly great week for Ty, he did have some redeeming moments. Last night, we were waiting on Erin in the mall. We'd thrown every penny I had into the fountain and ran out of entertainment that wasn't going to include him swimming in said fountain so we went looking for his sister. We found her checking out in a store. Ty was flopping and dancing all over the place to the point I finally recommended he go to the bathroom. The hurt expression that crossed his face in that instant was priceless as he exclaimed, "But Mom! These are my best dance moves!"

Yesterday he fell off the bed and was crying pretty hard. Once he calmed down, I asked him how he fell and he declared he was standing on a ball on the bed! "Buddy! I have repeatedly told you not to do that or you could get hurt!"

"But Mom, I do it lots of times and only got hurt once."  This will not be our only shiner and I may need character witnesses when CPS is called to investigate.