Black Friday

Joe and Barclay hit Walmart up at 5am. They scored what they wanted! Barclay got a 42" flat screen TV for $599 and Joe got Mason a new DVD player for $50. (When I woke up Joe had already given it to Mason!) The TV purchase for Barclay's house is very exciting although we are not quite ready to hang the TV up but we are getting close. Matt wired the wall for cable and the mantel area is being tiled by Adam this week:)

The big excitement was that it starting snowing today. When the boys woke up from their nap, I told them to look outside. Mason said yeah but Talan said no. He didn't like snow last year so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. Well, we managed to find some snow suits and snow boots and went outside to throw snowballs and sled around the cul-de-sac. Lots of fun! :)

Barclay and I went with our friend Lori to Big Lots where we utilized her husband's employee discount to rack up almost $170 in loot. :) That was pretty fun!

Now I am home playing with photographs with Misty on my lap. Everyone else is in bed. I am ready for bed too. :) In one of the photos you will see Talan is trying to catch snow flakes on his tongue. I didn't know that he even knew to do that. Also, he was very excited to be wearing Mason's snow boots and snow pants. The jacket was Mason Paul's old one so it is VERY special to us! :)

Sushi Day

We are being non-traditional eating tempura and sushi all day. It is hog heaven for us. The day started at 6:30am due to Mason waking up Talan. I was hoping to sleep in. Oh well. We have already done so much it is hard to believe it isn't even 2pm.

We caught the 1971 version of Willy Wonka which was a hoot. Mason is really into the Johnny Depp version. We have jumped on the trampoline, built elaborate marble runs as well as have Terran come and go for some playtime.

Here are some photos form earlier today. I also got Mason to sign his Turkey Dinner song despite the fact that he wouldn't do it over the phone this morning for Grandma. Here are the lyrics in case you can't understand him.

"Turkey dinner, turkey dinner

Gather around, gather around

who will get the drum stick, yummy yummy drumstick

All sit down, all sit down,

Corn bread muffins, chestnut stuffing, pumpkin pie

One foot high

We were all much thinner before we came to dinner

me oh my, me oh my"

Aunt B just arrived about an hour ago and we are already eating ice cream cones before our afternoon nap. :) A lazy glorious food indulgent day!

I just asked the boys what they were grateful for and Mason replied "bouncy balls" and Talan took a moment to respond and then said "Aunt B". Oh, how sweet. Barclay is grateful for starting to feel like she belongs here with the house, the job and Talan's gratitude. I am grateful for so many things. My family first of all. But really my whole life. I am really enjoying school. I am convinced that I am doing the right thing by applying to Nursing School. This is a huge comfort for me as I do tend to bounce around and change my mind frequently. Joe is grateful for "Briannalein". I laughed. Barclay thought that was a good answer. I think he has been listening to too much Dr. Laura. LOL Joe added that he is grateful for his "little Idaho family". I think we all agree that family is high up on the gratitude list. I am grateful Barclay moved up here, that the boys love her so and that Joe is such a great chef, organizer and partner. He always pushes me to be the most I can be which is a really great thing for me. :)

A little Reprieve

Well, today I took exam number 4 and got a 92%! Yeah. Then I went to lab to meet up with my lab partner Amber. I thought we were just going to take photos of our kitty but it ended up that we forgot to dissect some muscles in a few places so we were really pushing ourselves to get out by 2:30 which is the time I told Missy to pick me up from school. Missy had Talan for about an hour and then picked Mason up from school at 1pm and then they all went to McDonald's to play and eat nuggets while waiting to pick me up. I am currently uploading my dissection photos onto Kodak Gallery so that Amber can access them as she doesn't have a digital camera. I won't post the photos here as I think they are a bit much for the lay person to stomach. Imagine smelling the cat too. Yes, it is a bit much. So now I have a little freedom for a few days over the holiday and then it is back to the grind. I'll be out Dec 15th and that is not coming soon enough. I always burn out right before the semester is over.

The granite counter tops came in today at Barclay's house and they look sweet! I really like them. Very satisfying that the kitchen is almost finished. The guys will do the flooring tomorrow and Adam is coming on Wednesday to tile the fireplace. Lots of great forward progress. Exciting for everyone. We are planning to go out for dinner for Thanksgiving as no one wants to cook. We are thinking Chinese but maybe Japanese. Very non-traditional.

Mason had his Grandparent's day Thanksgiving luncheon at school today. We borrowed Teacher Tammy's dad as he was gracious enough to be available last year. I will try to video tape the song that Mason sang with his class. I missed it all but he did sing it for Barclay and Joe and me. Very cute. He so loves to be on stage. :)

Here are some photos of us goofing around the house. Talan was infatuated with Joe's socks one day so that is what you are seeing here.

The boys have been a bit trying lately. They can get along really well but they can also antagonize each other to no end. It is exhausting to be around it. Someone is in tears every 15 minutes. Talan is no innocent bystander either. He is definitely a terrible two now. Joe and I had a date night the other night, compliments of a sleep over at Aunt B's and the first thing we talked about was our collective exasperation with the boys. Don't get me wrong, there are enough cute sweet moments to keep us going but we are just in a rather difficult development stage right now and hopefully it will pass soon. We went shopping at Kohl's and TJ Max on our "date". It was so fun to shop for ourselves. Then we went to dinner at Chili's which no longer has our favorite items on the menu which was a bit disappointing. We were home by 10:15 and then we watched two episodes of Property Ladder which is very entertaining. It was so nice to sleep in! We woke up after 8am which was an absolute delight. Misty was in shock as she was free to roam around for a good 14 hours without little boys chasing her.

Misty is still jaundiced and not eating well but she is alive and her doctor says she is not in pain. I have fluctuated between getting ready to put her to sleep and wanting more time with her. Right now I am just wanting more time with her. She is very snuggly and wants to be on me whenever the boys are asleep or gone. I am just really enjoying her right now and I am emotionally not ready to have her be gone. If she died in her sleep that would be ideal because then the decision would be made for me.

Last night I went to a nursing school orientation meeting, the purpose of which was to explain the application process and to tell us the reality of how intense the nursing program is going to be. Basically 8 units will absorb 40 to 60 hours a week of our time. Depending on which hospital we are sent to for our clinical rotations (St. Luke's is in Spokane) that adds extra time. I filled out the point sheet she handed out this morning and found that I have 53 points right now (assuming a B in my A&P class which I actually have an A in currently). There are 10 points possible to earn on the TEAS test which I will have to take in January and then an undetermined amount of points to be earned on an Interview which will occur in March. Acceptance is based on points and last year the cut off was 54 points. So, I think I am doing fine. They are also talking about starting some students in August 2009 and some in January 2010. I'd be happy starting later as then Talan would be 4 years old and I'd feel less guilty. :)

The other news is that Barclay found a job! She loves it. It pays great and is one exit down the freeway in CDA. She has her own office and she is doing one-on-one therapy. She is still involved with her other job and is also doing a third job which is being a first responder to Child Protection Services during after hours. We are thrilled that she is so happy and it was worth the wait.

The progress of the remodel of Barclay's house has been significant. The cabinets are up, the walls textured and painted, the island built and oven and microwave as well as the gas range are installed. The granite counter tops arrive on Monday. The mantel is up and all the old rock removed. The fireplace wall is now sheet rocked. Above the fireplace is wired for a flat screen TV. The floors will go in next. We are all pleased with the progress. Hopefully the forward momentum doesn't stop during Joe's absence.

Joe is getting ready to leave for CA for a grueling 23 days of catering for Melons. He caters almost every year at this time but it will be hard having him away so long. I pray he is home by Dec 24th. I have decide to stay put this holiday season. I bounced around a lot of ideas and ultimately decided to keep it simple. I get out of school on the 15th. Mason has his Christmas Pageant at school on the 16th and we will all enjoy some down time to enjoy some local activities.

We are definitely going to take the cruise to the "North Pole" and this year when Santa reads our names off the list of good boys and girls hopefully we will hear it unlike last year when Mason fell down the flight of stairs from the upper deck just as Santa arrived so we missed the whole thing due to lots of tears and drama around his boo-boos.

Two Milestones for Talan

I haven't written in awhile as I have been pretty busy. I worked at the polls on the 4th which was an interesting experience. I was pleasantly surprised by the diversity of people who came in, especially the number of new voters (18 year olds). After 14 hours, and having had no access to any news (no news allowed in the poll site as to not pressure any one voting), I jumped in the car and turned on the radio to learn Obama was winning by a landslide. I felt frustrated that I just worked 14 hours and our 625 votes hadn't even gone over to get counted to learn the election was essentially over. Not that I am not ecstatic Obama won, it just seemed wrong somehow. And, no, I haven't received my paycheck for working at the polls yet. Good old government bureaucracy.

Guess who hit a major milestone last week? Talan, climbed out of his crib on the early morning of the 4th (bad timing for me as I had to get up very early to work the polls so I was desperate for some good sleep). Joe had left the side of the crib down and that is the only way Talan can get out. What is funny is that Mason is totally encouraging Talan to get out. I took some photos the morning of the 5th (Mason totally gets that it is a big deal that Talan got out the night before) because I was in hysterics. Mason had brought in the ottoman and a kitchen chair into Talan's room to help him escape (the crib side was up high). The other milestone Talan hit was over the weekend. We went to McDonald's and Talan was finally able to make his way up the big climbing structure! He was so proud of himself. The only thing was he was too scared to use the slide to get down so he had to go back down the stairs. He did this multiple times and Mason was so excited for his baby brother. It was quite sweet.

School is very busy and challenging. I just had a brain dissection and corresponding eval as well as a lecture exam last week. That kept me locked in my room trying to study every possible free minute. I got a 4 out of 5 on my brain eval and a 90 on my exam. I have A's in both classes still which is remarkable but this is the time of the semester that I start to really burn out. Hopefully I can rally! :)

Today I went to the courthouse to file 5 liens against different property owners who have not paid their HOA dues. It was quite the learning process but by 1:20pm I was done and just barely picked up Mason from school on time. I did stop by Sandy's store Shabby to Chic (under the pretense that I would fill out my lien forms there) and visited with her and Millie, a seven week old kitten who I adored and loved while I was there. I think I will bring the boys to visit tomorrow. They will LOVE her.

Halloween

The boys both dressed up as Batman. Aunt B joined us for a trip around our neighborhood which was a bit of a dud but Mason was ready to come home and check out his loot. They asked before they "dumped out" onto the sofa. Joe ate candy with them. It took a long while to rally Mason to get excited about heading over to Real Life Ministries for a Harvest Festival. Amazingly, we found Missy, Sean and Mason Paul as soon as we walked in. Unfortunately, they were ready to leave since they had already been there an hour. Well, the boys would have none of that so the Ayers were forced to stay another half hour while the Masons jumped in the bouncy castle. Talan had B and I stand in a long line for a different jumpy castle only to refuse to go in once we made it to the front! A bit maddening but very typically Talan. The costumes that we saw were so cute and adorable. I wish I had remembered my camera. The Ayers left and we tried to play a game but the boys were just too overwhelmed by the noise and crowd. We left after only earning one piece of candy each.

We decided to hit up Papa Murphy's pizza as we were starved. Joe had the oven on for us so that we could stick the pizza in the oven ASAP. We ate pizza and candy until bedtime! :) I appreciate Barclay being with us as it would have been a bore without her. Every year Joe hides from the trick-or-treaters. It is not his scene at all. Needless to say I have tons of Play-Dough left over as that is what I was going to hand out to the trick-or-treaters but I only was home for two groups of kids.

Mason asked me today what holiday was next. I told him Thanksgiving. He asked me if I was sure it wasn't Christmas! Yes, I am sure. But I can see how it isn't as exciting for a little boy as Christmas. The boys both continue to cut out toys out of the newspaper to send to Santa as their wish list items. It is cute but messy.