Fright Night

I'm not much into Halloween.....I mean, it's a great night to get candy, but beyond that, not so much. I don't like the witches, ghouls and goblins. The 'Scream' masks and Leatherhead faces aren't my kind of thing. And spending a ton of money on four costumes plus accessories doesn't do anything for me, either.

As a result, we haven't trick-or-treated too many times in my 12 years of being a mom. This year, though, we decided to go for it and I actually got out of Party City with only $30 being spent. I found Julia a Hannah Montana wig, (it was actually a Barbie wig, but it passed for Hannah nicely....) and some face paint for the boys.

We targeted certain houses.....and the kids made out like bandits. One man, who's porch lights were on, told the kids he didn't do Halloween, but told them to 'hang on...' After a few seconds, he came back to the door with four $1 bills for the kids. It's amazing what a dollar and some candy can do to a kid's demeanor. All I heard all night was...."Mom, this was the best Halloween EVER!"

Kids are so easy to please.

(I pray no one thinks less of me because of the weird face paint on the boys.....Josh was into this zombie old man thing and Trey....well, I'm not sure what Trey was. Dan's picture wouldn't upload, but he wore a camouflage face)

Hannah Montana.....

Ok.....could she be any cuter???

We watch a lot of TV in our house. I like watching TV. My kids like watching TV. I grew in a TV-watching house. Sports, news, soaps, comedies, dramas. You name it.....we watch it. Well, except the History Channel, that is. That's for Joe. I've even been known to watch the Golf Channel.

Don't get me wrong.....we do not sit 24/7 in front of the TV, but FoxNews stays on my TV as long as I'm awake.....I'll watch Fox and Friends in the morning while I'm piddling around my bedroom getting ready for my day. I get my daily Hemmer fix at noon, then Jane Skinner and Shepard in the afternoon, all the while doing housework and helping kids with homework. I'll throw a load of laundry in, empty the dishwasher and clean the kitchen, then walk back here and check my email and the news headlines, then I'll go straighten up the living room and clean a bathroom or two, then walk back here and check the news again.

The kids like typical kid-shows, but a couple of months ago, I decided I was going to put a block on Cartoon Network. They were watching it too much to begin with, but what they were watching wasn't all the great anyway. So, I told them they could watch Disney Channel...maybe Nickelodeon, but that was it. The fallout was enough to make a grown man cry......."Disney Channel!!!! That's a dumb channel. There's nothing good to watch on Disney! That's for babies!!" I begged to differ and told them that's the way it was.

Before I knew it, 'Hannah Montana' and 'The Suite Life of Zack and Cody' were taking over my TiVo. They can't seem to get enough of either show. A couple of weeks ago, when Disney had a Hannah Montana Marathon, Trey TiVo'd 7 or 8 episodes.....and they watch them every day. Same episodes. Same jokes. Same giggles coming from my kids. And to top it all off.....last Saturday, as I was laying in bed trying to pretend morning hadn't arrived, all four kids were on my couch watching Hannah again.....and suddenly out of the mouth of my 11 year old comes...."Who thinks Hannah's hot?"

Oy!

And Christmas came early for my bunch.....for today in the mail, via Amazon.com, came the just-released DVD and CD by Hannah Montana. It's been played so much, I've almost got the lyrics down.

I'll say it again.....could Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana be any cuter?

He did it!!!!!

Our fall ball season is coming to a close. Joshua's team, the Braves, ended their season this evening. Daniel and Trey's final game is Saturday. The team Josh played against tonight is a team that many of Josh's friends are on and apparently Josh and Jake, one of the member of the opposing team, made a bet in class today. Jake would pay Josh $1 if Josh's team won. Josh, on the other hand, wouldn't have to pay Jake anything if his team won. I guess it goes to show you which of the two is more confident in his team.........

It was a fun night. I got to catch up with Tanya V. and Tom and see Stafford, Drew, Jake and Quinton play. The game consisted of sparkling pitching by both clubs as well as several spectacular defensive gems. And finally, after 9 games played this fall ball season, my third son.....my angel-boy Joshua got his first hit! Actually, he made contact both times up to bat, but his first AB resulted in a pop out to the shortstop. His second AB resulted in a single to left field. And this was no sissy single.....this ball was hit into the air.....landing in left field. It was awesome! Josh told me later he could hear me yelling over everyone else. Well duh! That's my boy!!!

What's even funnier is that his best friend Drew was playing first base when Josh got his hit. When Josh arrived at first, Drew looked at Josh and said...."Don't say it!" HA!

I love it! These boys will probably be friends forever....they are that close, so it's interesting to see the dynamics of them being on opposing teams. I'm sure tonight's game will be the topic of a lot of conversations in the classroom tomorrow. In the end, Josh's team won 4-2 and ended the season with a winning record. I think it was a great experience for Joshua.

On a more yucky note.....our dog, Bumper has gotten himself into something. And I don't know what that 'something' is. What I do know is that he was not around for awhile earlier today and tonight, while we were leaving for the ball game, he showed up on the front porch.....wet and smelling like something so disgusting, I can't even identify it. Kinda like a combination poop, puke, murk and just general nastiness. We do have some workmen on our property shoring up the earthen dam that is behind our house and they had to drain the lake in order to do the work, but Bump would have had to have gotten outside of his Invisible Fence line to get wet via the creek. Shooooo-weeeeee. Whatever it is....it's gonna get scrubbed off of him tomorrow.

I have to have Joshua to school tomorrow morning at 6:30 as his Gifted class is heading to Wahsega for an all-day field trip. (Who thought of that brilliant idea----6:30...good heavens!) I'm sure he is going to have a blast.

Humbled.......and thrilled

This has been quite a weekend already and it's not even over yet! It started last night with Joshua having a SuperWorkout in preparation for his Black Belt Testing, then continued with Daniel having his first Science Club meeting (thank you Allyson for playing taxi for me last night) and ending with a rehearsal to a wedding I was privileged to sing for.

This morning all three boys had baseball games and the wedding was this evening. And Julia....well she had to skip ballet last night as there was just no way to get her to her class. So, she got to tag along with me wherever I went and she was a trooper for it, too.

Singing is something I've been doing since I was a little girl and it's something I love to do. But I've never considered my singing as anything other than a personal worship service with my Lord. Just me.....and Him. So, when I'm asked to sing a solo in church or for a funeral or wedding, I'm always surprised. This time was no different. Two months ago, I was asked to sing for the wedding of the daughter of a lady in our choir. I know Glenda, but had never met her daughter Amanda and before Celebrate America....Amanda didn't know who I was and had never heard me sing. So, imagine my surprise at the message left on my voicemail!!!

I was humbled to sing tonight, but thrilled just the same. Was I nervous? Of course. I get crazy nervous when I sing, but that's OK. Because it's then that I know that I am not singing in my own power, but in the power of the Holy Spirit and tonight, I believe He was glorified. Amanda chose 'How Beautiful' to be sung after her father gave her away and 'Ancient Words' while they lit the Unity Candle. It was beautiful.

But the weekend is not yet done. Tomorrow evening my children's choir, the Young Musicians, will be singing one of the specials in the evening worship service. I am so excited to be able to lead such a spectacular group of kids in corporate worship. Directing 'my kids' has become something I look forward to more than anything else in ministry. I love it! Thank you, Lord for giving me such amazing opportunities to glorify You.