November 6

We went to YSU today for our first college visit. All I can say is so many things have changed since I was in college and yet surprisingly so many things are the same.

Some of the things that are the same are the dorms. Dorms will always be small cramped little places that they shove too many kids who are then forced to share a community bathroom. One of the biggest differences I noticed was the smell...lol As soon as you stepped onto the floor you could tell if it was a girl floor or a guy floor. Blecht..guys just smell!

On the other hand, when I was in college the dorms were either for guys or for girls. There was one co-ed dorm but it was for upper class men and separated by two different wings. The dorms there were mostly co-ed by floor and they were allowed on each others floors at anytime.

We had restrictions on our visitors and they had to be out by a certain time...in other words we had a curfew. The rule now is that you can not have a visitor spend the night more than 3 nights in a row....Ummmm...Hello?!?! How about NO overnight guests? Guess I am asking too much for 2010.

And the dorms now have FREE laundry. Boy would my Mum have appreciated that. I remember coming home with baskets and baskets of dirty laundry. (btw - thanks Mum for doing all that laundry when I came home)

This school seems more dedicated to helping the students succeed as well. They have plenty of resources for all the students whatever their need may be. They are able to get tutoring with almost any class for free. Even if you just want to have someone look over your English paper before you submit it they will. And the prof's even encourage it.

We plan on going back for a better one on one visit soon. This was an Open House setting and the groups were pretty big so you couldn't ask a whole lot of questions or get the individual attention that we were looking for today.

Overall it seems like a very secure and welcoming campus. I actually can't wait to go back and see it again and then go to a few more schools before he makes his final decision.

Stacy

November 5

Better late than never. Here are some of my Halloween pics from this year.

This is my friend Kandy's son Logan. I had to share this picture cause to me he looks just like a little Eddie Munster.

This nutso kid is not mine. In fact I don't even know who he is but I had to take a picture of him to share. It was about 50* during trick or treat and he walked around like this the whole time. I'm not sure if I am appalled or entertained at his creativity.

This is my little munchkin Little S. He was so proud to be a 'fighter-fighter'. Our local VFD (volunteer fire department) was on almost every corner slowing down traffic and helping kids to cross. He walked by them so excited that he was 'one of them' that day.

This was our seniors at the Halloween football game. The whole band turned into Zombies for half-time and then they played Thriller as the seniors were featured by doing a Zombie dance. Teen is the third from the right in the ripped white shirt with the green underneath. And yes, that is Shrek standing there watching them.

These are my two 'zombies' Teen and Tween. They are so silly with their faces. They even had scar tattoo's all over themselves. Tween had a nice one right across his throat with blood dripping from it.

And this was a little something I picked up for them last night in the clearance Halloween candy aisle. There were 3 flavors: Snottermelon, Sour Green Boogy, and Lemon Loogy. The back says they were 'Picked Out Especially For You'. Sometimes having boys can be gross and fun at the same time.

Stacy

November 4

I just got back from the schools Financial Aid night for high school seniors preparing for college. I am a little bit overwhelmed by all there is to do. Saturday we are going to an open house at a nearby college.

I'm pretty sure that I can no longer pretend that Teen is not a senior.


Sadly we are starting to see less and less of him. He has a job, a driver's license and lots of activities to keep him busy.

It is hard to believe that pretty soon I will be missing this:

He makes me laugh and gives great hugs and still even sneaks in an 'I love you' every once in a while.

Last Friday was Senior Night at the football game. As we stood in line preparing to go out to the field I ask him if we could just step out of line and pretend that he wasn't a senior. He chose to move forward. I promised I wouldn't cry at the game that night and I didn't even though I was dying inside.

I sure hope that the next two aren't as hard to let go as this one is.

Stacy

November 3

Little S and Daddy were in charge of carving the pumpkins this year. I have been so busy and so sick that I just didn't have the time or energy to do it.

This one was carved by Daddy and it is a witch:

Daddy and Little S shared this one:

This on belongs to Little S alone:

Tonight the neighbors and Little S got together and voted on who had the best pumpkin. And guess who won?

This little pumpkin won the carving contest!!

Stacy

November 2

Our church recently got a new pastor. He is young and full of life and ideas. We went from almost never having anything at our church to it being used 3 and 4 times a week for different things. I am so glad we got such a young energetic pastor to keep up with us.

One of the ideas he brought to us for October was Treats at the Trunk Night. It's a fun safe way for the kids to collect candy and play some games without the worry of strangers and moving vehicles.

The youth and leaders organized a few games for the kids while the adults went back to their cars and 'decorated' their trunks.

They had silly games like Pumpkin Bowling

And Put the Pumpkin Together. They had some one cut a pumpkin in a few pieces and then left long toothpicks sitting there for the kids to put it back together.

Pumpkin Decorating - Lots of markers and glitter glue and stickers and such.

Guess How Much Candy - Jars with different types of candy to guess (Little S actually guessed the exact amount on one of these jars)

And then after cider and donuts, the kids went trunk to trunk and collected their goodies. This is my trunk. It looked much scarier in the dark with just the flashlights shining up through the webbing.

The kids had a great time and we can't wait to see what else is in store for the future. Thanks Pastor Jeff!

Stacy

November 1

I think some of this month is going to be about memories and traditions.

What made me think of this was a simple birthday card I came across last night. It was a simple birthday card, nothing grand or extravagant. It was in a simple blank envelope not addressed to anyone. And when I pulled it out of the envelope it hadn't been signed by anyone either. But I knew exactly who the card was from.

I know without a doubt that my Mummum gave me that card for my birthday.

My Mummum came through the depression and then was a single parent raising her daughter alone as my grandfather died young. So she believes in saving and reusing everything that she can. So in an effort to save money and be able to use a card again, she doesn't sign them. She just inserts the card in the envelope and hands it to the recipient. That way the receiver can then use the card again in the future.

There was a time when she would save wrapping paper as well. Let me tell you it was pure torture on a small child who wrapped a present for her. While we would all rip through our gifts, Mummum would open hers very slowly take great care to not tear the paper. She would then fold it up very neatly and set it aside to be put away and used again in the future.

Sometimes we would even use extra tape in an effort to make her rip the paper...lol

I can think of many more Mummum stories to tell, so I will save those for another day.

-S.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!

I have been really sick for the last week and have probably slept more in the last week than I have in the previous month. Perhaps that is the reason I got so sick this time and every one else in the house that got it was only sick for a day or two.

Tomorrow begins NaBloPoMo! Posting every day for a month. I guess I have had a long enough break and should get back to it.

There isn't a theme this year so lets see what the month brings.

-S.

Pink Out

We had a 'Pink Out' Friday night at the home football game in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Watching the band walk into the stadium brought tears to my eyes and I struggled not to cry in a stadium full of people.

Not only was every band member, dancer, cheerleader, and flag line member in pink, if you look real close in the background you will notice that the football players wore pink tape on their shoes and pink wrist bands. And the flag line had their old white flags dyed pink for the night.

The athletic director had all of the yard line numbers redone in pink as well as the end zone stripes.
Even God participated in the event by lining the clouds in pink.

All of this was set up by the 'Students For Charity' group at the high school. They even had a stand with all kinds of 'pink' stuff and all of the proceeds went to Breast Cancer Research and Treatment Charities.

I am so proud of our school and the students for picking this cause and for all of those who willingly participated.

Stacy

Pumpkin Farm

Tonight our Jr Youth classes took 19 kids between 3 and 13 to the local pumpkin farm. We had such a nice evening for it. The weather was perfect, not too warm and not too cold.


We started out letting the kids climb the hay bales that were stacked 6 high and running through the hay maze.
Then we went for a hayride. This is Little S and I traveling back to pick our pumpkins.

And here is Little S in the middle of the pumpkin field. This was a great year for pumpkins. There were so many and they were all big and in good shape. Several years we have gone down and they have been little or rotten. We really picked some nice ones out.

After we all got our pumpkins we went back and let them climb on the hay again and took a group picture on the stacked hay.

Then we headed over to McD's for dinner and home.

This weekend we are taking the senior youth (6th grade - college) to the Corn Maze. This is always an adventure. We split up into teams and see who can come out first. I hope to have some more pics of that this weekend.

Stacy

Time Flies

Boy I can't believe it has been so long since I put something on here. Fall schedules around here are crazy to say the least. Don't worry though November is coming up and I'll be doing a post every day for the month as I have the last few years.

All broken bones are now healed!!! And we hope that we don't have any more in the future. We are still working on getting the full range of motion back in the elbow, but we are pretty close.

Football season is in full swing and Homecoming is done and over with. Next up is Senior Night. I am going to cry myself through that night. This having a senior in high school is not fun at all. There is so much to do and get done and go to and PAY for.

Last week was the college fair and Teen finally has some motivation. He got some good information and we are going to schedule a few visits soon.

Not sure how all of this college visit stuff is going to work out since I am still a temp at a job. But then again I guess it is a good thing being a temp as I can just tell them my schedule.

If the hire me on I will have to be a little more strict with the schedule. This is also a good test to see if this is some place I want to work at. I have always said that my kids are my priority and there will be several times this year that I will not be able to work because of Senior obligations and such. They have been really good so far with all of the appointments with Little S and his broken bones. Time will tell I guess.

I am off to do a little more running but I will leave you with this pic of Tween from Spirit Week 2 weeks ago. Let me just say, he will do most anything for a laugh :)

This pic was from Team-Spirit day:

And this pic is from Rock-Star day:What a kid. You would never know by this pic that the only music he listens to is Christian Rock, Country and Sirius Disney.

Have a great day!
Stacy