Happy Halloween!!

Just a few words and lots of pictures.  First, Lauren at her preschool Halloween parade, the rest are from Halloween night (right before we left to go trick-or-treating) - good times!!  Ryan was a barbarian, Lauren was Spiderella, and Ellie was a dalmatian.

A "Trav-less" weekend

The kids and I were on our own this weekend while Trav was visiting friends in TN - no dad, what were we supposed to do?  Well, here's what we did . . . had movie night, rake and mowed the yard (only about 1/3 of it, but still, it was really hard), made monkey bread, made "mummy dogs", had a bonfire (which I made on my own - more on that later), had friends over, installed a new wireless keypad for the garage door, cleaned out the entire laundry room/office area, took too many items to the hazardous waste drop off site, the list goes on and on.  Apparently I(we) like to get down to business when Trav isn't around!

I'm going to back up to Friday . . . Trav left really early on Friday morning, so early in fact that the kids didn't even know he was gone until Ryan asked if Dad was taking him to the bus stop - um no, Dad is almost to TN already.  Anyway, with Trav off and Ryan at school, I packed up the rest of the kiddies and we headed out to the annual Halloween dance party in town.  Lauren wore her "Spiderella" costume while Ellie and Colt opted to go with a simpler look, Halloween shirts.  The kids all had a blast!  By the end of the dance party, I had three very tired kids - a sure sign that the party was a success.  Their was lots of booty shaking and creepy crawling - how could it not be fun!  Friday wrapped with nice warm baths followed by a Halloween movie before it was time for bed.

Lauren dancing away with Scooby Doo (aka some random boy she met)

Colt is definitely a Loken - look at those swivel hips!

Saturday.  Saturday started out nice and late - no one was up before 8:00am!  When everyone finally did roll out of bed, we were all in for a treat . . . monkey bread!  With the assistance of my little helpers, we wiped up a batch in less than 20 minutes and feasted on almost the entire pan (this was "Mom's fun weekend" so I let them go crazy).  After breakfast, we headed over to drop off some stuff at the hazardous waste site and got back home just in time to make some delicious "mummy dogs" (hot dogs wrapped with crescent rolls to look like a mummy - a very fun and easy meal to make).  With our spooky meal done, Ellie went down for her nap and the big kids, dog, and myself headed outside to do some work.  We managed to rake and mow a good portion of the yard before we finally decided to call it quits and save the rest for Trav (he needs something to do when he gets home).  With work behind us, Ryan had a great idea . . . why not have some popcorn and cocoas while sitting by a bonfire.  I liked the popcorn and cocoas part, but bonfires and I don't mix so I wasn't sure about that.  After a little encouragement from the kids, I decided to give it a try (Ryan assured me that when I couldn't start the fire on my own, he would go ask the neighbor for help - clearly he didn't believe in me).  But, much to my surprise (and Ryan's), I was able to get a fire started and most importantly, I didn't even use gas or lighter fluid to do it (maybe I was a boy scout in a past life)!  So there we were, three kids, one dog, and a happy mom sipping a beer by the bonfire she just made - life couldn't be better.  Or could it?  We decided it could so we called up some friends and invited some neighbors over and wouldn't you know it, life did get better!  The kids were able to run around and play with each other while the adults snuck in some real conversation.  When it was all said and done, we had been outside by the bonfire from about 3:30-9:30pm (we did go inside to eat pizza for a while). So needless to say, when it was all over, we were all pretty tuckered out.  It was a great way to spend a beautiful fall day though, and I hope to have another chance to try out my fire making skills someday soon so Trav can sit and be amazed at all the new things I learn when he is away.

Look at that fire . . small, but beautiful (and it did get much bigger)!

We even invited "dog friends" to come and play at our house.

With Saturday in the books, we awoke to kind of a dreary Sunday.  The kids were slow to get out of bed, and before we knew it, it was almost 10:00am.  By then, I figured it was time to get out of the house and finish a few last projects before Trav would be home.  First up, a trip to Kohls to use my free $10 and 15% coupon to buy Trav some new boxers - a somewhat boring task if I went on my own, but because the kids all came with, they made it fun by picking out different patterns for the boxers (Lauren wanted a pair with dogs on them, Ryan wanted a pair that were green and red plaid - I'm sure Trav would have loved either).  In the end, we picked out some pretty plain Jockey boxers based on the fact that the guy on the front of the package looked, "nice" as Lauren put it.  Clearly the best way to make decision when buying underwear.  After Kohls we headed out to the Y for some fun for the kids and exercise for me.  With all of our errands complete for the day, we spent the rest of the day bumming around the house - a nice way to wrap up a fun-filled weekend!

Until next time Trav ventures away for the weekend . . .

An ode to Mom

Here is a little tribute to my mom . . . she maybe didn't learn from the best, but she is the best.  Thanks for everything you do!

Everything Mom

How did you find the energy, Mom
To do all the things you did,
To be teacher, nurse and counselor
To me, when I was a kid.

How did you do it all, Mom,
Be a chauffeur, cook and friend,
Yet find time to be a playmate,
I just can’t comprehend.

I see now it was love, Mom
That made you come whenever I'd call,
Your inexhaustible love, Mom
And I thank you for it all.

Joanna Fuchs

Mr. and Mrs. Quast

There is a new Mr. and Mrs. Quast in town . . . Troy and Nicole finally got hitched!  Their wedding along with Colton's first birthday, made for a very busy, and a very fun weekend!

Let's start from the beginning . . . on Friday night, Trav, myself, and the two older kids attended the rehearsal dinner while Ellie had her first sleepover at Colton's house (we were trying to "help" Aaron and Ann get used to having more than one baby at a time).  The rehearsal and the dinner were great, but by the end of the night, the kids were more than ready for bed.  So the kids and I headed home while Trav spent the night with Troy on his last official night of "freedom."  Saturday morning brought more hustle and bustle.  We went out to pick up Ellie from her sleepover and by all accounts, it was a success (those two babies coming in a few months should be a piece of cake now that Aaron and Ann have had some practice  - Ellie says, "your welcome").  After getting Ellie, everyone got dressed and we headed out to the Y for a little "pre-wedding workout."  By the time we got home, it was after 10:00 am and since Trav said he would, "be home early," I was getting a little concerned when he was nowhere to be found.  When he did finally roll in (a little after 11:00am - apparently his definition of early and mine are about 3 hours apart), I was able to leave the house and get all of my errands done.  By 1:00pm, I had finished up everything I had to do so I headed home and arrived just in time to see Travis getting ready to leave (there was a little issue with something being left in the van that was needed for the wedding so he had to leave early to get it to Nicole).  With Trav leaving a couple of hours earlier than planned, I was now left alone to get all three kids and myself showered and ready to go in roughly two and a half hours - sounds like a blast!  I did mange to get it done, but it wasn't pretty and considering the fact that I had to wake both girls from naps to get things done on time, the rest of the day was looking like it had a 50/50 chance of 1)being great, or 2)going downhill quickly (waking our girls from naps is a huge "no-no" in this house unless you want to see their "ugly" side) depending on how they did.  When it was all said and done, the wedding was great, the dance was a blast, and the kids were super!  They danced, played, and by 9:00pm were ready to go back home and sleep (thanks again Grandma and Grandpa Loken for picking them up and spending the night and for all of the other little things you did, ie: laundry, organizing, and cleaning - we appreciate all of it).  It was the last wedding for both of our families, all the aunts and uncles are now officially "off the market."  Congrats Troy and Nicole, or should I say Aunt Mecole (Lauren has called her this since the day she met her so even though she can say Nicole, it will always be Mecole in her world) and thanks for a great weekend!

Now onto part 2 of the weekend . . . Mr. Colton's birthday.  It's hard to believe that the little "Screamer" (his unofficial nickname at our house) is 1 already!  It's even more hard to believe that this will be his only birthday ever as an only child (hope he REALLY enjoyed it!).  Getting back to the party . . . when we got home on Sunday, we basically got in the house, said hello to the kids, and got ready to go again.  The party started at 11:30am so we had to hurry to make sure we got there before the food was served (this, along with the constant eating at the wedding was why I had to get in that "pre-wedding" workout).  As luck would have it, the food was being brought out just as we arrived so after stuffing our faces again, we finally got down to business . . . watching Colt dig into his cake.  He started out a little shy, but once he got into it, he really got into it!  There was frosting and cake everywhere so I guess that means he did his job!  After the food, cake, and presents, it was time to call it a day for us so we went back home to let Ellie nap while Trav, myself, Ryan, and Lauren all carved pumpkins (this was seriously the never-ending weekend!).

With everything officially done for the weekend, we finally put all the kids to bed and now here I sit typing away about all the fun we had.  It was great to have so much to do, but I also won't be disappointed when next weekend rolls around and all I have scheduled is absolutely nothing!

Congrats again to Troy and Nicole (and EJ too) and Happy Birthday to Colton!  We love all of yous (a reference to "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" in case yous was wondering - thank god the season just wrapped I was getting stupider from watching it).

School conference time

WARNING!!!  This post contains lots of talk about how wonderful my smart, kind, generous (you get, I'm going to do a great deal of "bragging" and will sound like every other mother who thinks her kids are, "the best") kids are - read at your own risk!

I've had three school conferences in the past week - two for Lauren and one for Ryan.  I'll start with Lauren because her conferences were first.  First up, speech school with Ms. Beth.  Having never met Ms. Beth before and not thinking so highly of Lauren's previous teacher, I wasn't sure what to expect, but 5 minutes into the conference, I could tell this Ms. Beth lady was nothing like the previous teacher.  Ms. Beth was young and excited to teach.  She had all sorts of positive things to say about Lauren . . . how she was helpful, liked to participate in class, and was always ready to answer questions.  But the best news of all . . . Lauren has now tested at 50% (vs the 5% she was at last year) on her intelligible sounds (this is fancy way of saying that she is now producing 50% of her sounds correct - not bad!).  She is still behind compared to the average child her age, but is making great progress.  Once she tests at or above 75%, she is no longer eligible for speech (I know this sounds bad to say, but I hope she stays below that threshold for one more year because I am finally starting to see significant progress and think one more year focused just on speech would be good for her - we'll see what happens).  Two days after her speech school conference, I had her preschool conference, and let's just say some of the things I heard were quite surprising (and not in a bad way thankfully).  Her teacher (Teacher Michelle) knew Lauren from back in the day when we would drop Ryan off for preschool, and because of this, she knew what Lauren could be like . . . feisty, loud, just to name a few.  Well, it turns out Lauren is none of those things in class.  In fact, she is almost the complete opposite.  Teacher Michelle used words such as, "leader", "outgoing", "very social", "smart", and "helpful" to describe Lauren.  Um, excuse me?  My main concern with Lauren going into school was that she was going to be that shy little girl who stayed to herself and didn't know how to make friends (this was based on the fact that when we went places, she always seemed to be the more reserved one, always looking to Ryan to lead the way) - clearly that is not the case.  In fact, Teacher Michelle went on to say that a typical start to the day would go something like this . . . Lauren walks in and her buddy Myles smiles because Lauren is finally at school.  The two of them chat (they are apparently best buds), then Lauren decides what she wants to do.  Once Lauren chooses what area she is going to play in, the rest of the class casually makes their way in her direction - she is apparently the "Queen Bee" (Teacher Michelle's words, not mine).  She plays with everyone, knows the names of everyone in her class (apparently kids don't usually master this until December sometime), participates in all activities, and helps the teachers manipulate other kids into doing the "right things."  Example:  when the classroom is messy, the teachers will put all in the kids on the circle rug and say, "Gosh, the room is messy, is there anyone who could help clean it up?"  And then, just like they knew she would, Lauren raises her hand to volunteer.  Once her hand goes up, Myles is next, and before you know it, all the hands are in the air eagerly wanting to help.  Who knew she was capable of such mind manipulation!  Anyway, I have to admit I was one proud mama when I walked out of her classroom.  To hear such wonderful things being said about our little "troublemaker" is such an eye opening experience.  Maybe it's time we started cutting the kid some slack.  After all, we can't expect perfection all the time - clearly she uses the "good stuff" at school and keeps the "other stuff" for us at home!

And now onto Ryan . . . just as I was with Lauren, I was also surprised by Ryan's conference, and not in a good way.  Just kidding!  Ryan's was pretty much what I expected.  He follows directions, does well in his subjects, and overall seems to enjoy school.  There was one sheet his teacher showed me where the kids had to give themselves a "rating" based on how they think they do with different things, ie: self-control, listening to teacher, uses time wisely, etc.  And Ryan being the kid he is, was more than fair, and maybe even a little hard on himself according to the teacher.  He gave himself "good" or "always" marks in all areas but three.  In two of the areas; "works well with groups" and "completes assignments without having to be reminded", he gave himself an "ok." The teacher didn't agree, and couldn't think of a time that she ever saw any issues in either of the areas, but because the kids graded themselves, Ryan was "tough" on himself.  And then, he got real "tough" on himself.  The one other area where he didn't give himself a "good" rating was, "I am able to admit to things I do and say." Which, as the teacher pointed out, was kind of ironic because but giving himself a rating of "working on it", he was admitting to the fact that he isn't able to admit to things he says when in fact he was - typical Ryan.  The kid is harder on himself than anyone else ever could be.  This works good for now because he always wants to complete things "the right way", but I hope at some point he cuts himself some lack and relaxes a bit (the last sentence is maybe something I could learn from as well).  Overall, it was another good conference season and assuming everything goes as planned, I won't have another one-on-one meeting with teachers until next year!

And on a completely different note, I had to write about what Lauren did today after lunch.  I was in the back changing Ellie's poopy diaper and when I went out into the kitchen, I thought I heard the dishwasher running (which was odd because I didn't start it).  And sure enough, when I took a look at it, it was in deed running.  Not having an explanation for it, I looked curiously at Lauren and asked if she started it - her answer, "yes."  Not really believing her, I opened the dishwasher, looked inside the closed "soap area", and saw that not only did she start the dishwasher, but she also put one gel packet in the right area and closed the lid before she started it.  After shutting the door, I saw that she had set it to "light wash" versus "normal wash", but other than that, the kid had it all right!  When I asked why she started it, she said, "it's full and I want to help you Mom" - what a sweetheart!

Alumni weekend!!

This weekend was a "blast from the past" for me . . . I spent a few days back in Brookings, SD with some old friends/teammates to attend the basketball alumni gathering - yay for that!!  And just like old times, the fun never seemed to end!  The good times started when Gwen, Jen, and Sarah all met at my house to carpool for the long drive out into the endless fields on our way back to Jackrabbit country.  We had lots of laughs and lots of catching up to do so the 4 hour drive wasn't terrible (although it did seem like it took forever - our pit stop at a bar in Springfield might have had something to do with that though).  When we did finally arrive, we were welcomed by a few other former teammates/friends at the hotel.  We then proceeded to spend the next 4 hours chatting away until we couldn't stay awake any longer (by then it was 2am and in "mom world" that is way late) so we finally called it a night and went to sleep.  Amazingly, the next morning we were all up and at 'em by 8:30am (either we were super excited about the fun to come, or we're just so used to getting up early that we just couldn't sleep in).  By 10:00am, we were back on campus to meet up with our old coach and have a "behind the scenes" look at Frost Arena.  The tour was great.  We were able to see everything from our old locker room (we all stood by our old lockers and took pictures), to the new training area, the coaches offices, and even the old men's locker room (a place that AJ apparently thought many of us had visited before because he kept saying stuff that started with, "you remember . . ." - no, we don't remember because to my knowledge, none of us ever set foot in the men's locker room).  After the "guided" tour wrapped, AJ left and we continued on our our to check out the rest of campus.  Let's just say the place is amazing!  To see all the things that have changed, or been built in the last ten years is crazy.  It certainly isn't the old campus I remember, it is the souped up, swanky version for sure!  After all that walking and talking, we headed back to the hotel to kick back and relax for a while before the official reason for our visit, the alumni gathering, began.  But because we couldn't rest for that long, we headed out early, drove past all of our old college houses, then went to campus to get a head start on the fun.  The alumni gathering was held in the tailgating area.  And lucky for us, Kris (former teammate) and her husband Scott, have a tailgating spot of their own right next to the women's basketball team's spot so that is where we started.  Shortly thereafter, coaches started showing up, then some alumni, and more alumni, and before we knew it, the place was packed - there were even a few alums from the men's team as well!  It was an absolute blast to be able to walk around and see so many familiar faces and basically pick up right where we left things however many years ago.  After the long day, we headed downtown to relive some of our crazy nights from college and we found the perfect place to do it . . . The Latern (one of our favorite bars back in the day).  Only this time, we loved The Latern not because it was crazy and full of people, just the opposite, there was no one there!  Literally, it was us and the staff - talk about perfect!  The DJ played music that only old people like ourselves would like (I requested that he only play music from 2000-2001 and he did), and once we had the right music, we owned the dance floor (although technically no one else was there though so it really wasn't too hard to "own" it).  And although we are 10 years older and have popped out kids left and right over the past decade, our moves were still sweet!  By the end of our night (which was around 11:15pm - yes, we were tired by then), we had given the 10-15 people that made their way into the bar a good laugh or two (imagine six women in their thirties dancing, no wait, HARDCORE dancing on a stage and you'll laugh too).  After that, Sunday morning came too soon, and when it did, it was time to get on the road back to reality.  It was a super trip, a chance to remember how things used to be, and catch up with old friend - good times for sure!  Until next year . . .

So much talking!

It seems in the past month or so that Lauren (yes, I said Lauren, not Ryan) NEVER stops talking!  I guess we should be happy about this considering just last year, she would barely speak because no one could understand her - my how things have changed!  The talking isn't actually the problem, it is when (which is always), she decides to talk, that is.  If anyone within ear shot of her is speaking, she speaks.  And she'll talk about anything . . . food, other kids, the weather - anything to be heard.  Trav and I have actually started to tell her that she can't talk for certain periods of time.  Example . . . we are all sitting at the table eating when Ryan starts to share a story about school.  The minute noise comes out of his mouth, Lauren will interrupt and say, "I have a funny joke" or, "1 and 2 makes 3" - like I said, she'll talk about anything.  The other night I even went as far as setting the timer on the microwave for five minutes.  I told her she couldn't speak another word until the timer went off (seems simple enough).  But because Lauren clearly isn't capable of not speaking, she sat there and raised her hand five hundred times and had to . . . go to the bathroom to toot (the "no tooting at the table" rule was great initially, but now the kids just seem to use it as an excuse to dink around during mealtime), get a napkin, ask for more milk- anything to eat up her five minutes, clearly my plan did not work.  Aside from the mealtime madness, Lauren's other perfect opportunity to never stop talking usually occurs in the van.  The minute I strap everyone in and close the doors, her mouth starts going.  I've learned to sort of "zone her out", but Trav, not so much.  Any constant talking for more than five minutes just drives him crazy so the "no talking" rule usually goes into effect when Daddy is in the van.  Whether or not it works . . . let's just say the percentages aren't great.

The one upside to all of her chatting . . . she has been saying some pretty funny stuff lately.  My favorite is, "Mom, we is besties" (meaning the two of us are the best of friends - this could or could not be true depending on the day).  "I is so stinkin' coot (her version of cute), or "you is so stinkin' coot."  The other day when Colton was obviously working on a poo, she takes one look at his bright red face and says to me, "Mom, Colt is taking a big . . . (long pause while she searches for the right word) dump" (another word she might have picked up from Mom or Dad - oops).  The other day we were outside enjoying the gorgeous day and she says, "Mom, this is amazin'" (any word ending in "g" - she usually just leaves it off) when referring to the weather.  And because she still has trouble saying her words that contain the letter "r", I usually try to make she say a bunch (partly because she needs to work on it, and partly because I love how she says it) of them.  She always asks where Trav is during the day, and I always tell her he is working.  So the rest of the day she'll say, ""Dad is at wayk" - she drops the r and strecthes the word out.  Or just because I wanted to see if she could pull off being a "Jersey girl", I had her say, "I am from Jersey."  Her version came out . . . "I is fom Jezzy" which means she just might be able to be from Jersey after all!

Oh, and one last thing about our precious little girl.  Today while waiting for her bus, she got a little excited and ran into the street when the bus pulled up.  When the bus driver opened the door, she told Lauren that she had to wait in the driveway until the bus was stopped and the doors were opened to make sure she didn't get hit.  Lauren's response . . . she started to cry and told the bus driver, "you is not my friend!"  After hearing this, the bus driver said sorry, and then went on to tell Lauren that she just wanted her to be safe and that is why she had to follow the rules.  Lauren came back with, "You didn't hit me, I is the boss."  Hearing all of this and knowing things were going nowhere fast, I stepped onto the bus (usually parents don't get on at all, the driver handles everything) and talked to Lauren.  By now she was in full "meltdown" mode so I either had to put an end to things, or take her off the bus.  Having gone through all my tricks and not having the outcome I was looking for, I had to dig deep to find something that would make everything okay.  And guess what the something was . . . the dog.  I picked up Scrappy and made him wave at Lauren and the other kids on the bus, and just like that, things were good (guess that means the dog just earned himself another 6 months with us!).  After that little fiasco, I wasn't so sure how speech school would go so I stayed close to the phone just in case Lauren's teacher needed to get a hold of me.  And wouldn't know it, at 10:02am (class is over at 10:00), the phone rang.  It was Ms.Beth and she just wanted to touch base with me regarding Lauren's day.  Turns out Lauren started crying again on the bus so when she arrived at school, things weren't going so good.  Ms. Beth had to convince her to get off the bus, and once she did, Lauren said she'd go to school one more day, but that it would be her last (seriously?).  So Ms. Beth got her into class and just like other days, she had a blast.  But then it was time to get back on the bus and head home - bring on the tears!  I guess as they were getting their backpacks on, Lauren again told Ms. Beth that today was her last day (through tears of course).  Ms. Beth, being the smart lady she is, told Lauren that if she never came back, she wouldn't get to finish her giraffe project they had just started.  This was enough to make Lauren reconsider, and she agreed to come back one more day, but then never again.  So there you have it, Lauren is (after she finishes her project on Thursday of course) going to be an official "speech school" dropout!