Sorry….this will be a short post.  Yes, we’re still alive.  :)  I promise I’ll try and get better about blogging!  I should be able to keep up with it better now that school is out.  I’ll update again soon (and when I have some more time! )

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Halloween pictures galore!!!!  Here’s a BUNCH of photos from Halloween night….  Be patient it may take a few seconds more than usual to load up properly.

Brad the Ninja & Halle the PURPLE princess (yes, the purple part was important…we went through 3 costumes before she chose one)…

Brad, Halle, Trey, and Ashlin(Korbyn was a wild man and wouldn’t stop running around the yard.  That white speck between Brad & Trey is him darting by in the background):

The Ninja Master Uji Bradumondo.  (Note:  He has been asking to be either a ninja or Power Ranger for a couple years now.  I always refused.  This year I decided to let him be whatever he wanted…apparently he wanted to be a ninja pretty badly!)  He was pretty adamant about being a normal ninja too.  We saw several costumes that had fake muscles in them and he informed us that they were fake and he did not want to be a ninja like that.  We were able to find a pretty cool ninja sword backpack though.  It has two swords and two psis and straps around his shoulders.  It got the Brad seal of approval!

Her Royal Highness Miss Purple…
I did her hair and makeup.  She just thought that was awesome!  She reminded me for days that not only would she get to wear her costume (which was put away until Halloween), but she would get to wear Mommy’s makeup!  Now, Halle’s eyes often look like they have eyeliner on, but they don’t.  They’re just naturally like that.  So today, they popped out big time!  I will say that she is going to have a heck of time ever wearing eyeliner though.  The perfect little almond shape of her eyes makes it super difficult to get it close to the centers!  She loved all the sparklies from the eye shadow too!

And this one cracks me up.  She went around with her “magic” wand saying “POOF!” to everyone and everything.  It was so hilarious!

And this you can only do in a small town.  Definitely a perk of living here is that we know the teachers well!  So well they insisted we come by to visit on Halloween!  Here’s Halle with her pre-K teacher:

And Brad and his second grade teacher, Mrs. Shaver.  (I’m telling you, I don’t think there is a better teacher on the planet that would be a better fit for him.  She’s great!)

And this is Halle’s absolute most favorite buddy in all of Monroe City….Mrs. Woodall.  (We know her from church and she’s a 3rd grade teacher at school.)  Halle has called her and left her cute messages on her machine, always runs up to her to give her big hugs, and likes to point out her house any time we drive by it.  They’re best buds!

So….that’s our first Halloween in MC!  We missed Mimi and Papa (Halloween is their favorite holiday of the year and we’ve always celebrated it at their house), but we did okay up here.  We love everyone and we’ll see you soon!

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Just a quick post to finally share the kiddos pictures with you. They got their school pictures back about a month ago and I was bad and haven’t shared them with anyone yet. Sorry about that! So here ya go….

Brad’s Fall 2nd Grade Photo:

And Halle’s very first “official” school photo for Pre-K:

In other news, I went on a field trip today. I must say thank you to the other 8th grade teachers that just informed me YESTERDAY that I was supposed to attend and supervise the students… I wrongly assumed that because this was a HISTORY field trip those teachers would be accompanying them. Apparently ALL 8th grade teachers were to go….oh well! We took the entire 8th grade to Palmyra, MO–a small town about 15 minutes from school. They’re having a Civil War reinactment this weekend and schools were invited to come today to get a tour/lessons of the civil war era. We were only there for about 2 1/2 hours and it really wasn’t that bad. For the most part the students were well behaved and the weather (although windy) cooperated nicely for an outdoor fieldtrip. So my first experience wasn’t so bad.

I’m glad it’s the weekend though. I feel like my week has gone on forever! I had to come down to St. Charles for a teacher workshop on Wednesday and we were doing something almost every other night this week. At least we don’t have any big plans this weekend. In fact, aside from a luncheon at church on Sunday, grading some papers, and finishing up an assignment for my grad class, I have NO real plans. Ahhhhhh….freedom!

Oh…one more thing….David had a job interview yesterday morning that went quite well. I believe that the company was quite impressed with him and I know that David would feel quite comfortable in that position. Keep him (and our family) in your prayers if you don’t mind. We really appreciate it!

Oh…I lied….one final thing. Just wanted to give my Daddy a shout out! He turned the big 5-0 (or 50 years young as he says) on the 17th and this is the first time I’ve blogged since then. Happy Birthday, Dad! I love you!

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We have been adopted! (Notice how I said that we have been adopted…..not that we have adopted.) Haha!

Anyway, meet Charlie Anderson!

David was outside in the backyard one day and this little cat came to visit. He was rubbing at David’s feet, trying to get his attention. At the time, Halle was inside crying about something…until she saw the cat. It was like an instant change of face. We told Brad (who has been asking for a cat for a year) and he came running out of his room to see him. He went outside to play with the cat for a while….which turned into almost two hours! When he came back inside, he begged and pleaded with us to keep him. We had to explain that since we are at Grandma’s house, we can’t have any animals inside. We did tell him that he can play with him as much as he wants outside though. And he does…daily. We even bought little cat treats and food for him. He comes around every single day and is pretty attached to the family. He’s still a little guy….not quite a little kitten anymore, but still a youngin. He still has baby teeth. Oh….and Brad had named him within about 5 minutes of playing with him the first time. His name? Charlie Anderson. Odd name for a cat you say? Why yes it is..haha! However, one of the books they read in 2nd grade is called Charlie Anderson. And it’s all about a cat named…..you guessed it, Charlie Anderson! (See here.) Needless to say, it has stuck and we now play with Charlie daily.

Here’s some more pictures for you. He really is a gorgeous cat! His eyes are kind of orangish like him (and orange cats are my favorite!) and he has a big bushy tail. It kind of reminds me of a raccoon tail! The photos of Brad and Charlie are from the very first time that Brad met him. They’re pretty tight!

Ok. That’s all for today. I was pretty busy over the last month so I didn’t blog much, but I promise I will try to be more timely from now on!

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Yes, there was a circus in Monroe this weekend.  And yes, we went.  Halle got her ticket at school on Tuesday and asked 10 times a day every day until it was time to actually leave.  Needless to say, we couldn’t let her down. 

Funny story about the circus though.  On Saturday morning, we were leaving the house to go to a picnic (more on that later).  From the back of the van, I overhear the kids talking about going to the circus.  My dad would be so proud of them.
     Brad:  “I can’t believe there’s a circus here tonight.”
     Halle:  “Yeah, in MONROE CITY!!!!”
    {Insert loads of laughter here from me and David.}

 Anyway, the circus was a one-day only kind of thing, and boy they really know how to draw you in.  They send home free entrance tickets with the kids at school.  So all kids get in free basically.  And then of course the parents have to pay like $12 a ticket to get in.  And then there’s the cost if your kids want to ride the ponies, camels, or elephant.  (Yes, I said elephant.  They did in fact have elephant rides.)  And more $$ if you want a photo of your child on said ride.  We did pretty good though.  Aside from our adult ticket fees, we only bought one cotton candy ($3), one small bag of peanuts ($1 for like 8 peanuts), one can of soda ($2), one balloon on a stick ($1), and one pony ride for Halle ($4).  So basically for $35 we had a fun filled night.  The kids really enjoyed it.  They had some cute acts.  The first one that came out was a lady and about 5 or 6 dogs.  They all took their turns jumping through hoops, playing leapfrog, riding on a pony, etc.  Halle was laughing hysterically.  Almost all other memorable acts were of children.  In fact, almost all the acts either included children (we’re talking a max age here of maybe 12) or were solely kids.  The circus clown was a kid too!  Apparently child labor laws don’t apply to the circus crew….who knew.  And then those same kids would change clothes and be selling the junk toys at the “souvenir” stand or taking your money for the animal rides.  It was pretty amusing actually.  Their final act was the elephant.  Of course 3 kids were riding on him, being held in his mouth, doing hand stands on his back, etc.  Well the first time he went up high on his hind legs, he apparently had the urge to pee.  I’m telling you, an elephant’s bladder must hold like 40 gallons.  It just gushed and gushed.  Brad was highly amused….he couldn’t stop laughing.  What is it with boys and bodily functions?!?!  And then later, of course he had to go #2 as well.  Again…roars of laughter from the crowd and Brad.  During intermission, Halle rode a pony.  She loved it!  I was kind of skeptical at first because she has a tendency to want to do things but then gets too scared to actually go through with it.  But that was what she picked out to do and she did great!  Maybe we’ll have a little equestrian on our hands….

Ok…onto the picnic.  The baptist church in town had a family fun picnic on Saturday afternoon (the circus was later that night) and the whole community was invited.  The had games for the kids with little candy and prizes for getting the ball in the bucket or choosing the right duck.  There were also two bouncy houses, face painting, a marshmellow spitting contest (Brad spit his 74 inches!!), clowns making balloon figures, food, and live entertainment.  Both of the kids choose one thing to have painted on their cheek (though Brad later met back up with us with another image on his other cheek, forehead, and right forearm….so much for the meaning of ONE….haha) and played all the little games.  Halle won a cupcake in the cupcake walk and got a heart shaped balloon from a clown.  She really wanted to jump in the bouncy houses, but she would get too scared with so many kids in them.  She was, however, very interested in the hot dogs they were giving away.  I believe she ate two.  Haha!

All in all, we had a pretty good weekend.  The weather was nice, there were fun activities to do, and the kids were pretty well behaved.  Well, well behaved considering all the changes that they’ve had to deal with as well.

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Yes, I have an enemy.  So does the rest of my family–though I think I may be this enemy’s biggest target.  It doesn’t seem to matter where I am….at home, at work, in my car, in my classroom, even in my bed asleep!  I MUST watch my back at all times.

Who is this awful enemy, you ask?  BUGS!  :shudder

I absolutely hate bugs.  The animals themselves don’t really bother me…though they are a bit annoying flying around intruding in my personal space.  No, what really gets me is when they feel the need to bite me!  I mean really…what did I ever do to them?  I must mention that I am pretty allergic to bug bites.  Thankfully I’m not allergic to bees, but if I get a mosquito bite, I alsmost instantly swell up and have a whelt the size of a nickel at minimum.  If I happen to scratch them?  Forget it….I’m going to look like I have elephantitis.

When I was living in St. Louis, I had encounters with the little devils, sure.  When I was younger my parents played softball several nights a week and mosquitos seem to swarm at those ball field lights.  Calamine lotion was our friend.  And we often smelled of Off.  As I got older, I became more of an inside person and tried to wear bug spray if I knew I’d be somewhere that I could become Mr. Mosquito’s supper.  It seemed to work fairly well, less those few that got me here and there.

Fast forward to the new Country-Fried way of life.  Bugs are out to get me, I’m telling you.  Not just mosquitos either!  In the three weeks I’ve been here, I’ve been bitten my ants, mosquitos, spiders, funky flying things that are nameless to me, and other miscellaneous things that would look better on the bottom of my shoe.  I’ve had immediate whelts the size of a quarter.  One got bigger and redder everyday and freaked David out so much that he drew a line around it’s perimeter to make sure it didn’t continue to grow.  Thankfully, it started going away.  Though I do have several bites that have been there for over 2 weeks now.  What’s with that?

And yes, when I said I had to be cautious when I was in bed, I was serious.  I’ve woken up with bites down the backside of my arm before.  Very strange indeed!

I guess maybe because there’s more undeveloped land up here that there is free for them to breed in, they’re more prevalent up here.  Not sure.  I do know that they drive me insane though.  I’m sure at some point we’ll come to a co-existence that works, but for now, they’re still on my black list.  Haha!

Anyone have any ideas on what to do to get rid of them all?  Or at least have them not bother us?  (I know….it’s like asking for the moon, but hey!  A girl’s gotta try…)

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Hopefully today will be the first day of many more posts to come. Just as a little background, I have lived in a big metropolis (St. Louis) for my entire life, less a few semesters away at college. My husband and I have lived there since we married in 1999 and it is the only place our kids have ever called home. Nearly a month ago (in Aug 2007), we moved to a little bitty small town in Northeast Missouri. It’s where my husband grew up and his family still lives. We decided that we wanted to give our kids the opportunity to romp in the country and live in a more relaxed atmosphere. It wasn’t an easy decision by any means and it was incredibly hard to leave my mom especially. Actually, it still is. I’m the oldest and the only girl and we have a pretty great relationship. But we had this opportunity for our little family and didn’t want to pass it by. If for some reason it doesn’t work out the way we’d hoped, we can always return to St. Louis I suppose….though we’re hoping that isn’t the case. And in the mean time, we’re only about an hour and 40 minutes away.

I’m sure (and so is my hubby) that there will be some interesting adjustments for me to make to country life. We shall see. I’m sure when things calm down a bit more and we get settled those will start rearing their heads. (Well, one already has, but I’ll save that for tomorrow…) For now, we’re living with his grandma. Our house in St. Louis is due to close at the end of the month and then we plan on either buying or building up here.

I am also in my first year of teaching. And just in case your first year isn’t overwhelming enough, I’m teaching 8th grade! What an interesting age! I also teach one class each day at the high school…so I get to travel back and forth each day. Nothing like jumping in head first, eh? I’m sure that I’ll have some funny stories to share about my classes too. Heck, we’ve only been in school for 3 weeks and I already have some stunners! HaHa…

I really wanted to have a little spot on the web for two purposes. First, I wanted a place to document our transition and story so that I could remember all of the details later. Second, I wanted an easily accessible spot for all of my family to be able to “catch-up” to what’s going on in our lives since we’re no longer a mile apart. I forsee this serving both.

Well….I believe that will be all for tonight. I’ll be back tomorrow….

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