Halloween

We had a fabulous Halloween again this year!

For the first time Matthew and I carved pumpkins. (To be clear... first time for Matthew and I together... I have carved pumpkins before. Once upon a time, many many moons ago, etc...) My dad had grown several in one of his gardens this year. While I was off in Dearborn the week before socializing with friends and networking for a job, Matthew and Dad were in the garden picking those pumpkins. Matthew got to pick out one to take home. I took the liberty of absconding with a pumpkin as well.

We looked and looked at different patterns to carve into our pumpkins. While I am really handy with a knife, I'm not exactly a free-hand artist. Matthew wanted something that was scary, spooky. He finally settled on a pattern that said Boo! with angry eyebrows on the face. And he helped me to pick out mine as well... Yeah, mama, that's a spooky scary face, use that one on your pumpkin. (Nodding his head seriously the whole time...) And for those of you out there asking the question... NO!!! He was NOT talking about the look on my own face! ;-)

We got our pumpkins all cleaned up and I started cutting out the tops. Matthew's was first, and once I got the top off, I helped him roll up his sleeves so he could "dig in" and clean out the pumpkin. His impressions about the inside of a pumpkin were hilarious. It's stinky mama. I only want to get out the seeds, mama. It's slippery and stringy, mama. But eventually, he got the job done. He determined where to start the carving on the pumpkin, and helped hold the pattern pieces in place while I put in the first marks to guide the actual carving a bit later. Once we were all done carving out both pumpkins, he gathered up candles and the candle lighter so we could see how they looked. His comment was they looked great. It was the baby pumpkin being hugged by the mama pumpkin. I just love his views of the world. :-)

The tradition of trick-or-treating with my "chosen sister" continued. We packed up and went to her house on the Friday so we could spend the whole weekend with them. So as it turns out, four adults and six kids took to the streets of a small German-Catholic town in mid-Michigan for what ended up being a great haul on Saturday night!! :-)

I have to admit that I love going out trick-or-treating in this particular town. It is small enough that you know the people in every house, and you know the people you pass on the sidewalks as you move around the neighborhoods. Depending on our location situation, we should be able to get one more year of trick-or-treating in with them. After next year Halloween moves back into the school week, and the distances between our homes means too much travel for a school night.

And the funny bit for the night?? Cows and a Yak(!!) in the village limits of the town we were visiting. I have been through this neighborhood for five years now, and never seen these animals before. I took this picture while standing at the edge of a cul-de-sac. There is only a short span of yard and a small ditch between where I'm standing and the happy little bovines. Of course, it could have something to do with the fact that DST didn't end until Sunday morning... we did the majority of our trick-or-treating by daylight this year. That was a new experience as well.

All about Matthew

I figure my child deserves a post that focuses on him. Can you believe he is going to be 7 years old in 3 short months? I can't!!

He made it through Kindergarten with flying colors. There were no real fights about needing to go to school every day. And he usually came home with a smile on his face. (Or so I've been told - I wasn't there to see it - work and all.) His imagination is still just as vivid as ever... here he is with one of the creations he has made for me.

Our summer was a great one. He went on vacation with Grandpa and Grandma to the UP and got to fish. From a boat. Out on the water!!! They stayed at a cabin on a lake, taking time to enjoy the quieter way of life that you find in the UP. He took bike rides with me either running or walking behind him. He played T-ball for the first (and only) time. His batting skills and throwing skills are pretty good, even if I do say so myself. And of course... He grew. Boy did he grow! He is now somewhere between 2/3 and 3/4 my height. Before I know it my "little boy" is going to be taller than me!

In July we took a road trip to the Wisconsin Dells. We camped for a couple of nights, and spent a day at one of the water parks found there. He got to help set up the tents (we went with a friend who grew up near there), meet new people, swim in a pool, and go down water slides over and over and over and over and over.... You get the idea. Our trip started with a ferry ride across Lake Michigan. It was a chilly day, and really windy out on the top of the ferry, but it was still fun. Dolt that I am, I didn't get any pictures of us ON the ferry. And the ferry ride was nice, because it broke up our trip and gave us some time out of the car. We also broke up our road trip with a stop at my friend's parent's house - and Matthew fell in love with their dogs. Every once in a while he still brings up the trip, especially the part about playing with the dogs.

We also went to our first air show this summer. The Thunder Over Michigan Show at Willow Run was quite a treat. We had my parents, one of my brothers, my grandpa, Matthew and me all there. The picture of Matthew above was taken at the show. He is standing in front of the Blue Angels!!! Grandpa and Grandma bought him a model of one of the planes for him to remember the day by. (Spoiled kid, I know.)

Later in the month we took a trip to Michigan Adventure with my friend and her family (extended family - there must have been 20 of us there if not more). He got to play at the water park there, but also went on rides. He drove me around in a 50's car, rode on Zach's Zoomer, and just had a blast on the motorcycles, cars, and boats. He still talks about the time we spent there, and already has plans for us to go back again next year.

August was a month where Matthew got to spend a lot of quality time with me, and I mean A LOT!! Amazingly enough, we survived the month together. Some might even say that he thrived. I give a lot of credit to stay-at-home Moms. (Or household engineers, as I prefer to call them.) Anyone who can be home with a child, or more impressive: multiple children, day in and day out deserves a medal, a parade, maid service, etc, etc, etc...

We took a trip to the local county fair with my dad and had a great time. Matthew got on all the kiddie rides, and a few of the adult ones as all. I'm slowly working him up to grab the adventurous spirit with both hands. There was only one ride we went on where it was bad... poor guy was huddled into my side crying the whole time to make it stop. He survived, however, and decided that while he didn't like that

ride, there were still others there that he would try. That's my boy!!

September brought us to first grade. He was very excited to see one of his favorite friends from kindergarden in his first grade classroom during move-in night. It has been an experience for him getting up at o-dark-thirty to get ready for school. But he enjoys the bus rides, and he is doing well in his class. He is really starting to read on his own now... and gets frustrated with me when I tell him to try sounding something out rather than me just telling him the word. But... the kid can read!!! Math is the next big concept we will be tackling. Can't wait!

He is going to be a panda bear for Halloween this year. Kung Fu Panda at school, and a regular old panda (under the care of a vet) on Halloween night. I will try to get a recap of our weekend, and pictures of him, up shortly after we flip into November.

I'm back... and ready to roll

Well, once again it has been months since I last posted. I'm horrible, HORRIBLE, I tell you. Although, Matthew has not yet graduated from High School, so I blow raspberries at my friend Karin. ;-)

Have you even bothered to come back and check this page? Have I left you blowing in the breeze not getting updates on Matthew or what I have been up to? (Because, admittedly, Matthew is much more interesting than I, so if you have been checking, it must have been to read about him!)

I used to post a couple of times a month, and send out an email to a list of family and friends to say the update was there for viewing pleasure. What happened?? I am still trying to figure it out. I feel this slight urge to blame facebook... I spend a lot of my online time there. Reading those one or two line status updates from friends that live near and far from me - and feeling connected. But that would not be fair. What has been going on in my life that I couldn't take the time to post here, and keep my few (and once faithful) readers up to date?

And the answer is.... NOTHING. I am lazy. I took the easy way out - figuring I talked with people that wanted to know about Matthew, and had facebook to keep anyone in touch with what they wanted to know about me. Heck, for the past almost 10 weeks, I haven't even been employed!! That is 10 weeks where I could have taken time to post something here... and not a peep out of me.

This morning was not a good one for me. I was hit with the proverbial straw which breaks the camels back. And it was such a stupid little straw. Once I managed to get through this morning, I decided it was time to come back. So here I am, ready to roll, and hoping to find a couple of faithful readers once again.

I'm stepping up to the next level of technology!

I've decided that I might blog more if I have the option to capture things when they happen... So I am going mobile!

Updates

So here are a few things that have been going on since the last time I really posted. (Uhm... Yeah, that would be back in July.)

Matthew is in kindergarten this year. He is in the afternoon class - which works well for me. Apparently AM classes start at 7:45. Are you kidding me??? I had a hard time when school started at 8:20am, and now they have kids starting 35 minutes earlier. Next year is going to be a rude awakening to our normally scheduled lives.

He has learned quite a lot at school, apparently. I don't really know. He never tells me. When I ask how school was he says, okay. When I ask what he did he says, I don't remember. So, if you happen to see my child - ask him about school. Then fill me in with whatever he tells you. I have been told stories by friends about Matthew and how much he enjoys school and what he is doing. I guess he really is learning something while there. Every once in a while I will hear him singing a song when he is playing. I'll ask him what he is singing... Oh, a song my teacher taught me. (?!?!?!?! - I thought you couldn't remember what you did at school! - Okay, to be fair, I don't actually say that to him... it would just be too mean. And, I have decided to believe I'm not mean; enough people have told me enough times that I am not, so it must be true. I can't say thoughts like the one above... I can THINK them, but can't say them. I wouldn't want to disrupt this particular perception that folks seem to have about me.)

In December, my little boy turned 6 years old. Which means he isn't my "little" boy anymore. Yet I still get cuddles and lovin' from him. For which I am grateful. As the months and years continue to tick by I continue to dread the day when Matthew will be too old or too cool or too whatever to want love from his mama. As it stands now, even if I am dropping him off at school he still wants a kiss and hug goodby from me - no matter who is standing around to witness it.

We have moved. Into my grandparents house. We moved just before Thanksgiving, and are working on getting settled in. I think anything that has not been unpacked into its new home after 15 months will be thrown away. If I haven't had reason to find it, pull it out, whatever, in that amount of time - then we obviously DO NOT need it in our home!

I will have to see what pictures I can find, and put some new ones up. The little guy is getting bigger all the time! Oh yeah... almost forgot... he lost his first tooth almost two weeks ago. And now you can see his first "big" tooth getting ready to come in. I'm waiting for a top one or two to fall out so he talks with a lisp. I want to hear him sing the "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" song. That would really crack me up!

The problem with horoscopes...

Today's horoscope per my Yahoo home page: Get to the bottom of today's weird mood crisis -- you aren't entirely sure why you feel the way you do. Once you settle down and think things through, though, you ought to be able to make progress.

Okay people... I know exactly why I am in a weird mood crisis. I know that it is going to take time to get through it. There is nothing that can be done to hurry up or slow down the process... that is what moods/feelings are all about!!!

So I am making progress by posting my rant about horoscopes out here. You would think that by now I would have learned to stop looking at the things. They are never right and completely general. In my life, wisdom apparently does not come with age.