I've Been Tagged!

I was tagged today by my friend Kelly. See her blog "Our Family Ramblings." So, the subject of my post today is...

"15 Things that I am Not Afraid to Admit"

1. I am not a morning person! I am forced to be because I have to get my kids off to school. I love to stay up late, not get up early!
   
2. I order Hot Chocolate at Starbucks. I just cannot seem to develop a taste for coffee. I just don't get the attraction.
   
3. I would love to have another baby. I don't think it will happen, 3 kids are plenty, but I still think about it! ;-)
   
4. I wish I could move back to Minnesota. I miss it all the time. Even the winters.
   
5. Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the fall colors, Halloween and Thanksgiving. They are my favorite holidays!
   
6. "John & Kate Plus Eight" and "Little People Big World" are two of my favorite TV shows. I just love watching the things that go on in their lives.
   
7. I listen to Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh on the radio. I have been a big fan of both of them for a long time.
   
8. I played the flute and piano through high school.
   
9. I have a BA in Art, I wish I was using it more. I need more art in my life.
   
10. I love to scrapbook. Again, I need more art in my life.
    
11. I am getting ready to go back to work as a Substitute Teacher. It scares me a little. I am not sure if I will like it or not.
    
12. I like being a Stay-at-Home-Mom. I wish I could find a way to make money from home.
13. My dream vacation is an Alaskan cruise.
    
14. I would like to visit France, regardless of what people say about the French. I am still intrigued by all of the art, the history, and just the city of Paris.
    
15. I met my husband working at Disney, and we never had a "real" first date."

Well, that's it, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Hope some of it was interesting to someone! ;-)

Tag! You are it Melody. See "Melody's Harmony."

Yankees 8, Pirates 7

Well, I am a little bit late getting this one posted, but it was just that kind of week. CJ's Little League team pulled out another win last Thursday night. It was a great game. All of the boys played really well, on both teams. They are showing signs of improvement in all areas. The practices seem to be paying off.

Although is was a tough back and forth battle, the Yankees came through in the end and beat the Pirates 8 to 7 (Oopse, sorry to our friends from PA) ;-)

CJ was happy because he got a walk in his second at bat. He is feeling a little uneasy about standing in the batter's box these days. He got hit in the knee at last week's practice. It left a nice BIG bruise on the inside of his leg. It is going to take some time for him to gain a little confidence about batting again, I think!

But, nothing cures an ache like Ice Cream, so after this weeks game we went to Twistee Treat with cousin Devan, Aunt Sarah & Uncle Jay who were visiting from MN. Grandma and Grandpa came with us too.

Another Lost Tooth

We had another visit from the Tooth Fairy this week.

Last Sunday, Caley said "good-bye'" to her infamous "ugly" tooth.

She originally loosened the tooth by hitting it on our ceramic tile, kitchen floor.

She was playing "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," with her brother. They were sliding across the tile floor on pillows, pretending to be the kids in the movie floating across the chocolate river!

So, last Sunday, dad decided it was time for that tooth to go. It had gotten pretty ugly, and we were worried that maybe her gums were getting infected.

After quite a bit of drama, Caley finally held still long enough for Chris to pluck the tooth out.

Thank goodness, it was fine, no infection, and very little blood.

Caley sulked for most of the rest of the day.

It was hard to say "good-bye" to an old friend I guess.

She was all better the next morning, when she found the doll that the Tooth Fairy had left for her!

Stay tuned, we have many more loose teeth!

Scouting for Food

Today was day one of our annual "Scouting for Food," food drive. Scouting for food is the nation's largest single day food drive. This year is the 20th anniversary of this event.

Every November, thousands of Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and adult volunteers spend a few hours of their time, on two separate Saturday mornings, to go out and accomplish this task. On the first Saturday, the Scouts hang specially marked bags on thousands of front doors. On the following Saturday, they return to the same neighborhoods to collect the filled bags. Our Pack hung 1.500 bags today. Throughout Central Florida, the scouts in this area distributed over 700, 000 bags today!

The collected food will be immediately sorted, boxed, and donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank. Last year the Central Florida Council, Boy Scouts of America collected 500,000 pounds of food, in one day!

Why do we do it? In Scouting we teach the boys to do "a good turn daily," "to help other people," and to give back to their community. Scouting for Food is just one example of how our boys accomplish these VERY important scouting principles.

Halloween Fun!

Halloween is a day that my kids wait for all year. They start talking about what costume they want to wear, months and months before it gets here. I have to admit, it is partially my doing. I don't like the long hot summers that we have in Florida, so my way of passing the time is to count down to Halloween. I have learned that usually by this time of the year, we get some long-awaited for, cool days and nights.

This year our Halloween traditions started on Thursday night. We got all of the pumpkin carving stuff out and set out to carve our pumpkins. CJ's pumpkin ended up being the "traditional" pumpkin face. Caley picked a "Minnie Mouse" design out of a pumpkin carving kit. Caitlyn choose a "Mickey Mouse" face out of the same kit. I decided to use this cool little tool that was in the kit, and put "Mickey Mouse" cut-outs all over my pumpkin.

Everyone had a fun and messy time with the pumpkins.

Friday afternoon, after school, the kids came home and got right to work putting on their costumes. This year Caley dressed up as "Sharpay" from High School Musical. Caitlyn dressed up as "Jasmine" from Aladdin, and CJ ended up in a "Jack Sparrow" costume. He was originally going to be "Capt. Rex" from Star Wars-the Clone Wars. When he went to put his costume on, he was not comfortable in it. Luckily for both of us, his costume from last year still fit. He did not get to wear it last year, because he was sick on Halloween!

After everyone was all decked out, Grandma and Grandpa came over. We all piled in their van and headed to Downtown Disney. They do a very nice Halloween celebration there. They have "Trick-or-Treating" at about 15 different shops and locations around the Marketplace. They also have a DJ, Jugglers, Magicians, a Storyteller, a place to get pictures taken, and "Mickey" Halloween decorations. It is really fun, and has been a tradition of ours for the last 3 years! Even Grandpa got into the Halloween spirit this year! We got lots of laughs out of his crazy costume! ;-)

And by the end of the night, everyone wanted to try on Grandpa's costume. We had a good ole time drinking hot chocolate and passing that crazy nose and mustache around! It was a good night! WE CAN'T WAIT UNTIL NEXT YEAR!!!

One of Our Favorite Days!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

This is a day that my kids wait for all year.

They start talking about who or what they will dress up as in April, or sometimes the day after Halloween.

We are finally here, and we can't wait to dress up tonight and go have some fun!

Tomorrow I will show you who my little "ghouls" decided to be this year.

Have a Happy and Safe Halloween!!!

Citizenship

Earlier this fall, our Webelos Den was working on completing their Citizen Activity Badge. It is one of the requirements that they need to complete in order to earn their Webelos Badge, and evetually the Arrow of Light.

Considering the times that we are living in, and the very spirited Presidential Election that we are in the middle of, it seemed like a great time to be learning about citizenship and what it means to be a good citizen. I have been thinking about this a lot lately, and have wanted to share this for a long time. With the election only 5 days away, now seems like a great time!Here are the examples of the rights and duties of a good citizen of the United States of America that we taught to our scouts. How many of us know, follow and live these basic principles?

Rights

• Worship where you like
• Say what you think (freedom of speech)
• Join with other people at "peaceful" meetings (the right to assemble)
• Own property and choose where to live
• Go to a good school
• Vote
• Have a trial by jury
• Keep people from searching your home-unless they have a warrant.

Duties

• Obey the laws
• Respect the rights and property of others
• Help the police
• Keep informed on what is going on around you
• Help change things that are not good
• Vote
• Pay Taxes
• Serve on a jury when asked to do so