Halloween Fun

Tonight we attended a birthday party for a friend who was turning 50. For the big Five-Oh, they had a costume/Halloween themed party. Fun times!

The Prather Family (snap, snap!)
Princess, Pea, Astronaut, & Fireman
The Princess & the Pea
Fun with the smoke machine Birthday Boy Steve (aka--Herman Munster)
The Cake

Russell (Uncle Fester) & Debbie (Grandmama)

After the party, Will came in and got on the computer :) (Please ignore the mess!)

Little Trickster

My son is so smart. I try not to brag on him too much because I don't want to seem like an annoying mom who brags on her kids all the time...but...he really is.

I started giving him M&M's as an incentive to use the potty. He's been pretty interested, but I just wanted to jump start it a little more. Well, I told him he can have one M&M when he goes pee, and two when he does the other. After he goes, I let him pick what color he wants. Of course, he wants more immediately after he goes, but we remind him that he has to go pee in order to get another piece of candy. So, what does my son do? He has figured out that if he only goes pee a little bit and says he is done, he will get an M&M. Then, a few minutes later, he'll say he needs to go again and will pee a little more so he can get another candy. He thinks he's so tricky! But, I can't necessarily "make" him go all he needs to at one time. And, I did tell him he could have one M&M every time he goes pee in the potty. Funny.

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On a much more serious note...my dad, Tim, is having back surgery tomorrow morning. He has an extremely herniated/ruptured disc in his lower back. Please keep him and his surgeon and surgical team in your prayers. We are hoping this will relieve over two months of extreme pain! Thank you.

News and Such

Yea, the gas meter debacle is over! It only took a week for our neighbor to get his hot water back. It ended up being quite an ordeal with all the plumbing...I won't go into the details, but let me just say I am SOOO glad we have auto insurance.

Scott has been sick now for about a week. As long as he's taking Tylenol, he feels okay, but when he doesn't he's running about a 100 degree fever. We were suspicious of mono for a while, but he was tested on Friday and it came back negative. Hopefully he's just got an ultra-tough virus who will be moving on soon (hopefully not to me or my kids!).

In spite of sickness, we travelled to Lubbock on Friday night for a wedding in which Scott officiated. It was his first and he did great! The bride was in our youth group when we first moved to Big Spring for all of about four months (she was a senior that year), and the groom was a freshman at LCU when we were seniors. So, we actually knew some of the wedding party and guests as we went to school with them. We stayed with Scott's best friend, Jake, and his wife Cheri and two girls. I had not seen them in two years, though Scott had. It was fun catching up and seeing how their girls had grown. Unfortunately, because of the wedding schedule and children being children, we couldn't see any of our other Lubbock friends. But we thought of you and love you all!

Our kids are doing well...Will is just so cute. He says the most wonderful things like, "I love you so much, Mommy," and "I love Claire so much!" He also likes to ask us "How's it going?" He's at a fun age.

Claire is just growing and growing. She thinks she is so big and wants to sit up already. She tries, but she's just not quite capable yet! She also loves to smile and chatter and the other night, Daddy made her have her first belly laugh. It was great!

For those who have asked how to make your own playlist...just click on mine where it says "Create a playlist" and it should take you to that website (which is, I think, www.playlist.com?) and it will be pretty self-explanatory. When you're done making the list, it should give you an option to embed the html into your myspace, blog, etc. Copy the html and go to your layout page for blogger and choose where you want to embed the html. If you have any questions, you can always ask!

Happy fall...yea, a cold front is coming tomorrow and it's supposed to be in the 60's!!

106-200

Okay, I thought of a few more things I felt the need to share...

106. I am addicted to Bath & Body Works "flavors" (yes, that's really what they call them...remember, I used to work there!) :)
107. My current favorites are Coconut Lime Verbena (probably my all-time favorite), Black Raspberry Vanilla, and Wild Honeysuckle.
108. The first flavor I ever got was Flowering Herbs, which you can only get at certain times when they re-issue "classic" scents.
109. My new favorite perfume is Pure Turquoise by Ralph Lauren.
110. I always like buying things by Ralph Lauren because my name is on there somewhere.
111. Since I had Claire, I hardly wear perfume, though, because I don't want it to aggravate her senses.
112. I have always loved the name Claire, ever since I was in high school.
112b. Claire is also the name of one of my favorite book characters, but I didn't name my daughter after her.
113. Elise (Claire's middle name) has always been a favorite also. My mom told me once that she thought of using it as my own middle name.
114. William is a family name, mainly on Scott's side, but I also had a great-great grandfather with that name.
115. Will was born on his great-great grandfather's birthday (my grandma's dad).
116. Claire was almost born on 07-07-07, but missed it by 10 hours.
117. I am a major list-maker and love to cross things off the lists.
118. Sometimes I feel like I can't function or accomplish things if I do not have a list.
119. When I was little I would write stories all the time and wanted to grow up to be an author.
120. I also had a natural gift for artwork, but I feel that I have lost that ability over the years because I hardly ever practice that skill.
121. I still enjoy doing artwork, but feel I never have the time and space to be able to really do it.
122. I took private art lessons for a couple of years and really enjoyed it.
123. I took only one art class in high school and really liked it, too.
124. However, I couldn't do art every year in high school because of drill team (it counted as a fine art).
125. One of the best things about being in drill team was that I didn't have to take P.E. in high school; it counted as an "athletics" period.
126. My first concert (besides the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo concerts) was Reba McEntire.
127. I remember that she changed costumes 18 times.
128. My first CD was also by Reba.
129. My favorite Disney princess is Aurora/Brier Rose/Sleeping Beauty.
130. I know just about all the words to all the songs in The Little Mermaid.
131. One movie of Will's that I've seen about a hundred times and am still not tired of is The Incredibles.

132. My favorite movie of all time is the 1960's version of The Parent Trap with Haley Mills.

133. When I was younger, I wasn't ever allowed to wear shorts to church.

134. And I definitely wasn't allowed to watch an R-rated movie until I was seventeen.

135. My dad wouldn't let me play with Barbies until I was seven.

136. My first secular music cassette tape was Tiffany.

137. I thought Tiffany was cooler than Debbie Gibson.

138. I wore Electric Youth perfume in junior high.

139. My favorite singer for a long time was Mariah Carey.

140. When I was little, I was swimming in Lake Livingston with my mom and we were chased by a water moccasin. Somehow, she swam away from it fast enough and neither of us were bit.

141. I have worn glasses since I was seven years old (the second grade).

142. My second grade teacher was very mean and stopped letting me sit on the floor in the front of the classroom (my desk was in the back) so I could read what was on the overhead.

143. She scared me so much that I was afraid to ask her to go to the bathroom in the middle of a spelling test and peed my pants.

144. Thankfully it was at the end of the day, so not many people knew about it.

145. When I was in high school I got sent to the principal's office for violating the dress code--my tunic shirt wasn't long enough over my leggings.

146. I thought my mom was in school that day so I didn't call her to have her bring me other clothes and I had to spend the rest of the day in ISS.

147. She ended up being at home all day that day. I was pretty upset when I got home!

148. I was a student choreographer for the drill team training class my senior year.

149. I was also an attendance office aide during first period my senior year and I was was tardy almost every day. Ironic that I worked for the attendance office, yet, didn't get in trouble for being tardy. Hmm...

150. My first car was given to me by my mom's best friend. It was 10 years old when I got it and I had to learn how to drive a standard in order to drive it.

151. We sold the car shortly after we moved to Big Spring and I still see it driving around town sometimes. It was a good car.

152. I was so nervous the first time I drove that car to school by myself that I made my mom drive behind me the whole way.

153. I tried to teach a friend of mine how to drive a stick-shift and she ended up stepping on the gas instead of the break/clutch and ran through a chained off area of a parking lot and it broke my windshield.

154. I drove around with that broken windshield for about three years or so.

155. Scott and I have only bought one car in our married life; the rest were given to us.

156. I have never owned a brand new car and probably won't any time soon.

157. I currently would like to own a mini-van.

158. I both hate and love mini-vans.

159. My favorite one I've seen so far is the Toyota Sienna.

160. I'm currently waiting for someone to give us a mini-van (hint, hint).

161. The last movie I watched was One Night with the King.

162. Esther is one of my favorite Bible characters.

163. For a long time I wouldn't wear polo-shirts because my boss told me she thought they looked manly (she wasn't talking about me--just a blanket statement).

164. I enjoy wearing green because I think it brings out the green in my eyes.

165. I love jewelry, but I wear the same few pieces almost daily.

166. I have an iPod but I hardly ever use it.

167. People always ask me if I play the piano because I have long fingers, but I don't.

168. I took lessons for about a year and a half in junior high.

169. I wish I hadn't stopped.

170. I don't know how to play any instruments.

171. I can't stand to sleep with socks on my feet, much unlike my mother!

172. One of the sure-fire signs that indicate I am pregnant is nose-bleeds.

173. I never had a nose-bleed until after I was married.

174. I love to decorate for Christmas and often want to start around this time of year!

175. I have two full size Christmas trees; one for each of my living rooms.

176. When I was little, I would switch which end of the bed I put my head on so I could look down the hall and see the Christmas tree while I fell asleep.

177. I have thought about going back to school and getting my masters in Organizational Management through LCU.

178. I once had my belly button pierced.

179. I probably wouldn't do it, but if I was ever going to get another piercing I would get a tiny sparkly stud in my nose.

180. However, I think my nose is big enough not to draw any more attention to it than it already attracts!

181. One of my very favorite songs is Smooth by Rob Thomas and Santana and I don't have it on my playlist.

182. I also don't know all of the words to it.

183. Another one of my favorite songs is Counting Blue Cars by Dishwalla and I don't even know what it's about.

184. I am really bad at math and one of the ways I got to know Scott and get him to fall in love with me (wink, wink!) was getting help from him for college algebra.

185. I always said one of the requirements for the man I married would be that he would have to be good at math so he could help our kids with their homework.

186. I gave birth to both my kids "naturally."

187. I had epidurals with both also.

188. I gave birth to both kids in the same hospital room and had the same doctor deliver them.

189. I nursed Will until he was one year old.

190. This morning I hit our neighbor's gas meter with my car.

191. I could hear the gas hissing out and smell it immediately.

192. I got Claire out of the car and ran into the house while calling Scott on the cell phone.

193. The fire department came and shut the gas off. Nothing blew up.

194. We had not met our neighbors until today (they moved in at the same time Claire was born)...what a great way to meet them.

195. I broke the gas line that goes to their house, so now they have no hot water.

196. The reason I hit the meter is that my car was not parked in its normal spot and I didn't even know the meter was there.

197. I was already late to work and it made me an hour later.

198. I wore a top to work today that is really supposed to be a pajama top.

199. I don't think it looks like a pajama top.

200. It is almost impossible for me to go to bed before midnight!!

Daddy's Little Pumpkin & Mummy's Little Boy

The kids together (this is the best one we got...Will was not in a cooperative mood!)
The kids with Nana


Our Little Pumpkin


Mummy's Boy

Chorus Reunion

We had such a great time this past weekend at the LCU chorus reunion. Friday night was a little nutty because we had our kids with us, but it was still good. Scott and I had to tag-team parent during the dinner, so I missed some speeches and he missed some presentations. Oh well. My mom arrived during the first rehersal session to take the kids and after we got them squared away, things went much more smoothly! Thanks, Mom, for taking care of our kiddos!

We enjoyed getting to see lots of old friends and singing with a choir again. Dr. Hinds directed us in six pieces, Dr. Camp directed two, Eddie Cox (Brother Cox's son) directed two, and Dr. Rogers directed one. So, we sang a lot of music! I think we did pretty well for only rehearsing a total of six hours. We recorded a CD on Saturday afternoon and then held a performance on Sunday morning after worship. I was bad, as always, and didn't think about taking pictures until it was pretty much too late. Here are a couple that we did get:

Mom took this one of the whole chorus

Me, Jen, April, and Marla after the performance on Sunday morning

Home to Harmony

No, I'm not going "home" to Harmony's house, I'm talking about a fantastic book! Home to Harmony was on a booklist for Scott's Introduction to Christian Ministry grad class at ACU and he read it and gave it to me to read. It is a fiction book written by a Quaker minister about a Quaker minister and his "flock." The author, Philip Gulley, is very funny and tells great little stories about the town, Harmony, and it's quirky inhabitants. If you've had experience with ministry of any kind, it's even more funny and poignant. Just thought I'd share!

As this was the first book in a series, I took Will to the library with me on Tuesday to get the next couple of books. It was the first time I'd taken him to the library, so we picked him a few books, too. When I went up to the check-out counter to borrow the books, the librarian scanned my library card and asked to see my ID. It seems I hadn't been to the library since 2005. Wow! I knew it had been a while, but two years!? Of course, I have read plenty of books in the past two years, but I guess they were all either borrowed from friends or bought. Well, I've been twice in the past three days, so maybe I'll make up for it soon :)

In other news, we are headed up to Lubbock tomorrow for the LCU Friends and Family, or Family and Founders (or whatever they're calling it) weekend. We're planning on doing the chorus reunion thing, so hopefully that will be fun! My mom is flying in to Lubbock tomorrow night and will be with us for the weekend to help us out with the kids. Then she'll come home with us and stay until Tuesday. In preparation for her taking care of Claire, we have been feeding Claire from a bottle once a day this week. Or I should say Scott has been feeding her. On Monday night she screamed at him for 10 minutes before she would finally eat. He almost gave up, but he persisted! Tuesday night she took it with no fuss. Last night, she did fuss a bit, but it was a different type of bottle, so that may have been the problem. Hopefully, she will eat well for my mom this weekend!

We are very much looking forward to seeing a lot of friends this weekend...if you're going to be in Lubbock, we hope to see you there!

For Tracey and Shannon

Claire in the dress that Tracey got her.

Claire in the Minnie Mouse outfit that Shannon got her.

Monkey Bathroom & Shower Boy