Inevitable

I look forward to Fall. I love fall--the crisp mornings but still warm days. It's perfect weather to be outside. Yet my love for fall is bittersweet. As much as I enjoy it, I live through fall with dread. It doesn't last long enough and winter is lurking. Winter! Ugh. I am not a winter person. I don't like to be cold. My hair doesn't like to be wet. I don't like all the slipping.
Lately, I have been hearing things, disturbing things: talk of berries still on trees, el nino, a long winter. Old wives tales, or so I thought. Yesterday, September 29, it snowed. My kids were ecstatic. I wish I could hibernate.



Yes, Noah has made the first snowball of the year. Great. Just great.

Note the accumulation along the house.

Double Three- that's me

I married a really cute guy. That isn't news, I know, but my birthday reminded me. Birthday's aren't really a big deal for me, but Matt likes to celebrate. I usually wake up to my house decorated with pink streamers and balloons. He even makes me a birthday sign. I was a little out of it this time so I didn't take pictures, but I did dig the sign out of the garbage. Here's what was left of it: (he cut up the best part to make Noah a duct tape wallet--I think he might be craftier than me) Impressive, huh.

He usually makes me a cake too. He didn't have time, so I let Zack make the choices in the cake aisle and we decorated cupcakes. It was extra nice because my mom was here.

San Francisco

I haven't been on a vacation in a really long time. We've been on a few trips, but I haven't been on a full blown vacation from everything in I can't even tell you how long. Here are some pictures from San Francisco. No kids, no schedules, no worries. Well, maybe a few bus & trolley worries and a few weird guy worries. I had a great time, and a HUGE thanks to Mike and Dianne for making this all possible.

On the corner of Haight/Ashbury, just before I got my tattoo & bong.


Dianne at the Aquarium at the Bay. This was really cool, except that the octopus died earlier this week. What are the odds? Must have known we were coming.

Our cruise ship that took us under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz--which means Pelican in Spanish. Just trying to educate.

Almost under the bridge. It was so cold & windy until we turned around then it was nice.


Why are we so happy? We've turned around and the wind is gone & the sun is warm. But the hair damage has been done. Oh and that's the bridge in the background.

That is Alcatraz behind my big head. I hate this picture, but in the interest of showing everything I am putting it in. Be kind.
Can you see Dianne? This is right after our encounter with the "bushman." Somehow we thought he would actually be hiding in the bushes, not hiding behind a branch. Oh well, it got the heart pumping.

Dianne is enjoying a dragon parade in China Town. We were there for the Autumn Moon festival. It celebrates something. I am sure it is something worth celebrating, I just don't know what. China Town is where I purchased the Pokemon cards that have made me a hero. Isn't that a weird souvenir request?

Coit tower. We walked long and hard to get to this place. I am going to write a strongly worded letter to the city of San Francisco about their mass transit system. No buses going up? Really, work with us here. (Note, I am sure the bus 39 must go up because that is what we took to get down, but it never passed us going up and we weren't walking that fast). At least there was an elevator almost to the top of the tower. Dianne didn't appreciate the operator's humor that the elevator only went up one floor. I was afraid I might have to pack her up on my back. But we only had a few stairs to climb. The view of the city was pretty amazing, even on a rainy day.


Curse you, San Francisco Trolley system! In an attempt to lessen our walking, we tried to take the trolley. We were passed by 6 full trolleys in our uphill walking adventure to Lombard Street. Note the tree lined street at the top of the picture. That is the other side of Lombard that we walked in order to get to Coit Tower. It is much steeper in real life. Believe me! Bus 39, where were you?? Yes, this was all in one day.
At the bottom of Lombard Street. It was nice to walk down something for a change.



This photo is for Zack's enjoyment. He is ready to pack his bags and head for this flower wonderland. At the Flower Conservatory we saw the deadly flowers like the Venus Fly Trap. I thought it was cool. Zack didn't like the "mean flower" pictures so they are not included.

The Japanese Gardens. I don't really have much to say. They were pretty. I just felt like they should be included.

You can't go to San Francisco and not get a picture of a trolley. Sadly, this is the best one. The trolley went right past our hotel making it easy to get anywhere. Except of course when we needed to go uphill. (I've got to believe that all the walking toned things up. )

Lost

I have lost it. Lost my pride; lost my will to fight. It's gone.

Zack has a thing for wearing blankets around the house like dresses (or skirts, depending on his mood). A couple of times he wanted to wear them to the store, but I was able to convince him that he could wear them in the car only. That was a mistake. One day he decided that it wasn't enough to wear his blue star blanket skirt in the car. He must show of his fancy skirt to all at Target. And I lost it. Not my temper, my pride and my will to fight. I needed to get in and out of there fast. So off I went traipsing all over the store with my happy little skirt boy.

(Sorry this isn't the same blanket as described. He also likes this sheer little number. I try to limit the number of pictures I take of him this way.)

This Saturday we went to Kohl's. My kids love the nylon socks they have to use to try on shoes. The older boys like to flip them like rubber bands or wear them for necklaces, don't ask me how. Zack likes to wear them with his flip flops. Guess what. I let him. Once again in Target. Like I said, I've lost it.

Busted

I have a reading disorder. It is really hard for me to stop reading a good book when I start. It's even hard for me to put down a not so great book once I start. This spring I had a major episode. I started a fairly long series and couldn't stop. I kept up appearances, but secretly I was just going through my daily tasks so I could get back to reading my books. After all the time I spent reading (and practically having the books memorized from reading them so much) I decided that I needed to work on my problem. I quit reading. Last week I had a relapse.

I started a book last Sunday night and finished it early Monday morning. I started the second book of the series Monday afternoon and finished it early Tuesday morning. The third book was finished by Wednesday morning. See a pattern? These were borrowed books, but I really liked them. So on Wednesday I bought the 3rd book and on Friday I bought the other two. I have read them all again (well, I skipped the parts that annoyed me in the 2nd book, so it doesn't fully count).

How does a mom of 3 boys manage to find time for all this reading? Neglect. Yes, I neglected my kids. Well, not totally. I was in the room or at least in the house while they were here. I did get their meals and forced myself to do laundry and clean up my house. I made sure they showered, brushed their teeth and even read to them before bed. I just sort of gave in to other things that I wouldn't normally do. Want to play Nintendo for hours? Fine. Want to eat nothing but treats and snacks? Enjoy. Want to watch that Drake and Josh marathon? Perfect, just let me read.

With Matt things were a little trickier. He probably wondered why I was so willing to let him play his guitar for so long and so loud. I was reading. We both got what we wanted. I was careful to read somewhere that there is a pillow nearby so I can hide the book. But yesterday I got busted. He found out that I bought the books I had already read. Now he knows that I've read them all again (mostly). Should I feel guilty? For some reason I don't. But I am going to stop reading again--for awhile anyway.

Today is Ben's Birthday shout HOORAY!

Ben's much anticipated 6th birthday was today. I swear it was like Christmas morning, Noah was waking everyone up at 6:00 so that Ben could open his presents. I guess I should appreciate his enthusiasm. There was plenty more enthusiasm during the present opening. Ben was very nice to little Zacky who was having a hard time not getting any presents. ("But why?") Ben chose to have a Pokemon birthday. I swear I can't seem to get away from Pokemon. We (yes Matt helped, he did the piping) made him a Pokemon stadium cake.

Treasure

Noah found a treasure. He didn't go searching, so I guess maybe it found him. He was looking for his soccer shorts and pulled the drawer too far out, trapping his hand underneath. While he was waiting for his slow mom to rescue him, he noticed something under one of the boards along the bottom of the dresser. Once he was free he pulled out a large silver coin.

It resembled some of the European coins we have floating around so I didn't think too much of it. Until I noticed that it was an American silver dollar and had the date 1889 on it. Our Google search: 1889 silver dollar resulted in information about the "Morgan Silver Dollar" (named for the designer of the coin). So we have ourselves a little treasure. It's not the rarest year, or the most valuable but it's a pretty fun collector's item.

But I am intrigued about how it got into the dresser. This dresser is part of a set we got from Mike and Dianne. I think it originally belonged to Grandma Shirley. We painted it and have moved it 3 times and have never found the dollar. I guess it was just Noah's lucky day.
PS: Finders Keepers.

The faux-hawk

I sent Noah and Matt off early to go get Noah's soccer pictures taken. When they returned I discovered that Noah was sporting a faux-hawk. Nice. My complaints were answered by the reasoning that both David Beckham and Andrei Kirelinko have had the same hairstyle so why not Noah. Which pretty much sums up why my kids will always like their dad better: Mom would never let him leave the house (let alone get pictures taken) with hair like that.

Anyway, Noah has been playing soccer since he was four and has now played on six or seven teams. He absolutely loves it and is actually pretty good. He had a good game today & scored two goals. After the first goal he gave credit to the faux-hawk. After the second goal the whole team gave credit to the faux-hawk. A little later, as the opposing goalie was kicking the ball, one of his teammates said, "Don't kick it to the faux-hawk." To which Noah responded, "Hey, you can't deny the faux-hawk." Sorry, that's an awful lot of hair talk. But I found it pretty amusing. (I go to a lot of soccer games, I will take any side entertainment I can get.) I will now indulge myself by including the video from both goals.

Today was a day of dreams come true....

Imagine you are Matt going to your first day on the new job and you see co-workers playing their guitars while they are working, other people are listening to music or surfing the internet and everyone is in jeans. You would say, "sweet cheatin'!"

I am really excited for Matt's new job and so far so good. It's really laid back and he finally gets to do something that he loves. (Not that he didn't love asking people to pay their debts, who doesn't love that?) No one deserves it more and I am really proud of him for sticking w/ a job that he hated. I don't know if I would have lasted that long. What a great guy!

I was going to get up early and take a first day of the new job picture of Matt but he had to leave at 7:00 and, unlike Emily, I just don't get up that early. So here is a picture from while he was working at Advanta.


PS Ok, so I am going for some kind of blogging record. I am a little out of control.

Ben's dream (my nightmare)

Papa and Nana are here and so Ben got to have pre-birthday present opening. I have to credit Mike and Dianne for picking the perfect present. He loves it, and Noah's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw it but, drums? Really?? Not only is it a drum, it's a snare drum that is portable. I will be able to enjoy his musical talents all over the house. Now I know what I want for my birthday: ear plugs.

Another one bites the dust

Today was Zack's first day of preschool. He was excited to get his backpack all packed up and thought he would need to bring a little bit of everything. So once we got the backpack all emptied out he was ready to go. He had a great time "coloring, and playing outside and playing inside and coloring and sitting on a mat and coloring." I have to admit that as nice as it was to be childless at Costco, I really missed my little buddy. It will be great to have 2 hours/twice a week to myself but I think that's all I need for now.

Idaho Invasion

We had 2 toddlers, 2 preschoolers, 3 grade schoolers & 2 teenagers not to mention 7 adults (after Saturday we had 8 adults counting Brandon) crammed in our house. What a great weekend! It was a little, well a lot, crazy but so much fun to have nearly the whole McGarry family get together. I love having family come to visit.

I have been stressing about this baby shower for months. I am so glad that it is over and also glad that it went well. Good luck Kelli. You have a few precious weeks of sanity left. And then it begins.....




Brandon Turns 18!!



Ok, it's no secret that I love Guitar Hero and it's a good thing we don't own it or my house would look like this all the time. But I have to say that this game ROCKS (form rock signal with your hand now). I would also like to add that although I am not well practiced at this game I did beat Logan twice on that Incubus song and I killed Matt on the Stone Temple Pilots song. And Noah, I totally out rocked you on Iron Man even though you were playing on easy and I was playing medium. Lacey, I will play you any day of the week and it's not because I can usually beat you. (There is no need to mention my other performances as there was always some type of technical or child problem to limit my abilities.) As great as I am though--and I am pretty impressive--I have to give the prize to Brigham who is the true Guitar Hero. He doesn't even need music to get down.



There were 11 attempts to get a good picture of all the kids at the playground. 11 attempts and no amount of whistling, funny voices, crazy faces or dancing around could get these kids to all look and smile. It was just for a second. Why do I even try?



So the very impressive thing about this pose is that shortly after this picture was taken Logan managed to catch a frisbee that hovered and then flew perfectly into his right hand. And he didn't fall off. (Did I mention I beat him in Guitar Hero?)



This is the only way you can trust Zack and Haylee when they are alone together.



But they are cute together and managed to stay out of any major trouble this time.



(I don't know who that random kid is sleeping behind them)



These kids have been around Grandpa too much.


Dad found his true calling: a fry cook. He can fry any form of potato, be it tot, crinkle or thin sliced to perfection.



This is Brigham training for Ninja Warrior. I think we all need to start training so that we can prepare to fly to Japan and show that Makota Nagano and thing about ninjas.



I had a blast this weekend. Thanks for all the good times!