Halloween Preparations

Yes, I know Halloween is several weeks away, but you have to understand just how much we enjoy this holiday. We have been impatiently waiting for the Spirit Halloween store to open and it finally did last week. It was a major family outing to check out the latest scary things. The kids were so excited! You'd think we were going to Sea World. We were excited to find out that another Halloween store opened also. More competition. Love it! Halloween Express was much larger and had better prices. I love a good deal. The kids will be out of school on the 29th for two weeks. We will begin setting up all our Halloween decorations that week. It will be nice to have the kids to help. I'm usually on my own putting everything up. Scott does help me put up our large spider web that stretches between our two trees.

The weather has been beautiful here lately. I actually had the windows open for two days straight without the air conditioning running. I wish the weather would stay this cool, but it already started warming up. Hurricane Ike didn't cause any damage here in Austin. They had predicted heavy rain, flooding but nothing. Many church members have been housing Houston and Galveston evacuees. Things are a mess over there.

Scott and Marcus are in the other room watching the UT game. Marcus is turning into quite the football fan, especially if it's UT playing. He says that's where he wants to go to school. We'll see. Marcus is now playing fantasy football with Scott and my family. He's having a lot of fun. I'm not into to all that stuff. My two sisters love playing it, so it's not just a guy thing. Just not my thing, I guess.

The kids are doing well in school. Marcus had quite an adjustment moving up to middle school. He's misses just having one teacher. He now has six to keep up with along with their assignments. He's doing pretty good keeping up. We just have to really stay on him to find out what project or test is due when. He also started up violin lessons again. His teacher was gone most of the summer. Marcus also wrote his first poem for a language arts assignment. It is really good and, of course, Scott is very excited that Marcus has a knack for writing poetry. Here it is:

I am an owl.
Swift, fearless
Wise, strong
I see my prey in the darkness.
I see its fear.
My wings are silent as the wind.
My screech makes animals run in fear.
It shows who is the hunter of the night.
Courage runs weak.
Fear is my friend.
I am fearless.
I am strong.
I am an owl.

Here is another one he did for a social studies assignment:

I am a Tsunami
Strong , Tough
Breathtaking, scary
My cousin is the earthquake.
Shifting plates make my waves.

When I touch shallow water I lose speed.
Which makes my waves taller.
And then I am able to cross land.
I sweep up sand, dirt, trees, people, anything in my reach.
I see buildings tremble beneath me.
They brake apart, glass explodes, steel bends, and I wash it all back.
I see people running with fear, with surprise, with shock.
But there is no escape.

It takes years to clean up the mess I make.
Beds, TVs, desks, chairs, computers, debris everywhere on the ground.
Fun for me but not for you.
People lose their homes, families, pets, jobs, cars, books, everything.
Some people starve, fight over food, get sick and die.
I grab gasoline, fertilizer, trash, chemicals and pollute oceans, rivers and lakes.

My voice is like a bomb.
It tells that I'm the king of destruction.
I am strong
I am tough
I am a Tsunami


Jared is doing well. His teacher wanted him tested to see if has any learning disabilities that need to be addressed other then speech delay. We have the ARD this Wednesday to find out the results. Scott and I are very cautious about these tests and what their recommendations will be. We know Jared struggles but we feel it's because of his speech delay. He has always struggled because of it, but works so hard. His former speech therapist always was amazed at how fast he progressed and caught on. He has to work a lot harder to catch up with the other kids.

Ceci is doing great and is becoming quite the reader. She has always been such a bookworm like myself. When I wasn't reading to her, she was making up stories from the pictures. I am always tripping over her books in her room. I guess I need to get her a bookcase. They cover her bed and floor. She can't live without them. Her favorite book to have read to her is fairy tales. I have a good one with great illustrations by Brothers Grimm. They are little more graphic than the Disney versions, but I grew up with the original fairy tales. If you have ever read the Brothers Grimm versions you know what I'm talking about.

Scott is busy with school and finishing up his grant. He hopes to be done with it by the end of October. He still has several more podcasts and webpages to complete. He is also applying for another grant which is much larger in scale. He wants to create online training modules for distance learning teachers and teachers of hybrid courses (a course that is taught half in the classroom and the other half online). Hope that make sense.

Tae Kwon Do Testing

I know you are probably tired of the tae kwon do videos but it's very much a part of our lives so expect to see footage often. This latest batch is from two weeks ago. I am very slow with the postings. Sorry. Relief Society and the kids keep me pretty busy. Anyway, Ceci had to attempt to break three boards for her Dan Bo Nim testing. A very big deal. She will join the boys and myself as dan bo nims. Her testing will now only be every quarter. She's pretty excited about her new belt and title. Scott tested for his brown belt and had to attempt to break two boards using the high and low spin kick. He almost broke a black belt's fingers in the process.

Marcus' Scout campout

Here are a couple of photos of Marcus with his hiking backpack. His eleven-year-old scout troop decided to have a camput this weekend. It was kind of last minute, so I was scrambling to get everything ready for him. The big thing to get was the hiking backpack. He didn't have one and I must say those suckers are expensive. I had no idea until I started looking. It took a while to find one that would fit him because he is so small. It's a good pack and will grow with him. He was so excited about the campout and leaving Friday. All was going well until we got a phone call at 11:30 p.m. saying that they were bringing him home because he was sick. He had a bad headache and was throwing up. Poor guy. I think he got overheated. It's still real hot here in Texas so it didn't surprise me. He gets real sick in the heat like I do. He was pretty upset about missing all the fun. Maybe next time.

Jared's Baptism

We had Jared's baptism today. It was just him, so we got to plan everything. Ceci gave the prayer and Marcus gave the talk about baptism. Ceci held up a picture during the talk. I played a music number on the flute. Scott also spoke and Jared actually listened which is rare for him. He was so cute and serious during the confirmation. He looked so small surrounded by all those men. It's at times like these that I wish we had family close. It was a wonderful and special day.

Scarborough Renaissance Faire '08

The love to fight with their swords!

This is a doll that I bought there. I have bought one from this artist before. She makes beautiful dolls.

Sir William in action!

Jousting Time!

The Turtle Race Begins!

Get me out of here!

It's the parade!

It's the turtle races!!!

Captain Turtle!

Sir William with the kids. He is there every year with the jousting. He's great with the kids. He always takes time after the jousts to meet with them and take pictures.


Ceci decided to be a fairy this year instead of a princess, but like me became too hot in her dress and decided to change into something more comfortable.


The boys enjoyed taking part in a street sword fight. I think they enjoyed it a little too much. The man fought was jabbed a little too much by the kids.

Ah, Dead Bob. He is quite crude, but only around the adults. The kids love him for some reason. His shows are hilarious, but like I said, a bit raunchy. Luckily, the kids don't have a clue what he's talking about.


We made our annual trip to the Renaissance Faire. It was tons of fun as usual, but hot. After only about an hour, I changed out of my dress into shorts. I could never survive back then wearing those silly dresses. I was going nuts. The kids really liked the turtle race and street sword fight. It was really crowded this year. Lines to the food and bathrooms were ridiculous. This is usually the smaller Ren Faire of the two we frequent. Not this year. It's getting more popular. We couldn't even find a seat for the jousting which was disappointing. The jousting group hired at this faire is much better than the other one. Oh, well. We still had fun despite the heat and crowds.

Happy Birthday, Jared

Jared is eight. I can't believe how time flies. Instead of a party with friends, he wanted to go to this place that has laser tag and tons of others games. It's in this huge indoor complex. We couldn't afford to have a party with friends and go to this place, so he had to make a choice. He decided to ditch his friends:) Marcus, Scott and he will go next week to celebrate. I have some pictures of his cake that Scott made. Jared really liked the Speed Racer movie, so Scott made him the car that's in the movie. I thought it turned out pretty good. He liked all his presents and had a good time.

The Great Toadini Escapes

Sorry, it has been so long since our last post. I am trying to play catch-up now. About two weeks ago, Toadini escaped once again, but this time we couldn't find him. We left him out some water, but no luck. He's not coming back. We can't figure out how he escaped. Oh, well anyone that tries that hard to be free deserves his freedom. God speed, Toadini. You will be missed.