Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family. I hope this holiday brings you joy and peace.

tragedy

I have been meaning to post for the last couple of weeks, but after yesterdays shootings at Newtown Ct everything I wanted to post seems not to matter. I just can not get this tragic event off of my mind. How can one even begin to wrap their mind around such a travesty? All I could think about during the night were the empty beds, the Christmas presents under the trees that would never be opened, the parents who would never get to hold their babies again, the siblings who would never see their brothers/ sisters again, the parents that waited and waited and waited yesterday at the fire station only to be told that there would be no reunion with their sweet children. How does someone go on functioning? How does the entire TOWN of people recover? These kids were just babies and the epitome of innocence. How does a 5 year old even have a clue what to do when they see a gunman shooting and killing their classmates? How do you EVER send your kid back to school? How do you take care of their psychological needs? How do you prevent suicides years from now due to this event? Their lives are changed FOREVER. Christmas will be ruined FOREVER for the people of this town.

People posted on facebook yesterday that this was an act of pure evil and I have to agree. However, was this 20 year old evil when he was born? Was he evil when HE was in kindergarten? I don't think so. What happened to this young man to cause him to commit such an act? I don't know. I have no answers. I feel strongly that there are some serious issues with people's moral compasses these days. I feel strongly that we need prayer back in school. Years ago the 10 commandments were posted on school walls. At least if kids weren't getting their souls nurtured by their parents ( by taking them to church or believing in SOME higher power) they could get some type of nourishment at school. If parents aren't going to teach their children right from wrong
and nourish their souls, then it should be done at school. Some people feel this is a gun control issue and I have to disagree. Evil is Evil is Evil. I am not a supporter of guns, but guns don't kill people- people kill people. If they want to kill then they will find a way- whether it be a homemade bomb, a knife, a box cutter, etc... Guns are not the problem- PEOPLE are the problem.

Another thing that has been on my mind is how does a mother NOT know or see ANY type of clue that your 20 year old son is capable of such an act? I am in no way  blaming the mother, but wouldn't it be obvious that your child is at least CAPABLE of  mass murder?

Today I am deeply saddened and pray for the people of  Newtown. May God wrap his arms around them and provide comfort.

Halloween 2012

Have I mentioned that October is my favorite month? Only in the last few posts? I have a secret though, as much as I LOVE October I am a little glad it is over. It was a crazy busy month and man did I need the weekend to recover. I am so looking forward to November being a low key month before the craziness goes into full force in December. :) My mom is coming next week and staying until Christmas. I am SO EXCITED! I have an awesome trip for us planned up North the week of Thanksgiving. Clinton is out of town so Mom, Aidan, and I have reservations at a seaside Bed and Breakfast in a sleepy little town. We have reservations for Thanksgiving dinner at an awesome restaurant.  A few days of nothing but down time. Ahhhh......

Halloween was awesome as usual. I dressed up at school as a kitty to match the lil munchkin I work with as her one on one assistant. Halloween night I was Princess Leia to match Aidans Darth Vader. Several of us met up at friends house. We did a potluck dinner, had some arts, crafts, and games for kiddos and then we all went trick or treating together. Our neighborhood is always a zoo on Halloween night and there is a lot of excitement. However, we had a good time with our friends.

This is what I left out for trick or treaters. There were 150 lollipops and about 75 glow in the dark bracelets. We came home to an empty pumpkin and a missing container. :( Did I mention our neighborhood is a zoo. We probably had about 300 trick or treaters. There was a haunted house a couple of houses down so it could have very well been more.

 For our potluck I brought bloody bandaids and pukin pumpkin guacamole.

 The bloody bandaids are graham crackers, icing, and strawberry jam. :)

 Getting ready to head out trick or treating.

 Princess Leia and Darth Vader.

 Doing some crafts before trick or treating.

 Our little group hat went trick or treating.

 The 2 darth vaders. This picture cracks me up. Diego is being all Rico Sauve while Aidan is just doing his "Aidan thing" and being goofy.

I had Aidans parent/teacher conference on Thursday. He is doing great with the exception of the area of attention and gross motor. No surprises there. I have pretty frequent contact with his teachers so most of the info I already new. He is really excelling at reading and math and really loves the life skills area. He is a great helper in the class and is very social. The teachers said that he is kind of the "class hero" and if anyone has any questions they say " go ask aidan". lol. The teachers said that he is "beyond his years" in many areas.  We mostly traded "funny things Aidan has done" stories. I am glad that he makes his teachers smile as much as he does me.

Halloween Eve

Well it is Halloween Eve and I need to catch up on some pictures. I went to the pumpkin patch with Aidans class. They were so cute! I believe that there were as many parents as kids there. One parent took a picture of the "parent paparazzi". All the moms and dads were taking pictures of the group photo. It was to cute.

on the hayride....

 thinking hard about which pumpkin to choose....

 Ms. Annabelle Leigh all decked out for Halloween

 A miners hat that Uncle David sent Aidan. He decided to take that and the train made from WV coal that he got last summer on our trip to WV for share day.

 oops. Out of order pic. another one of the pumpkin patch

 Tonight we carved our pumpkin.

 Cleaning out the "guts"

I am so excited for tomorrow. I am dressing up as a kitty for school to match the student I work with one on one. We are then going to a friends house for a party and then going trick or treating with all of our friends. I will be going as Princess Leia to match Aidan and his Darth Vader costume. Pictures to come....

Brick or Treat

Shew! What a busy weekend! I am tired just thinking about it. We started our weekend on Friday making Halloween cupcakes and having an early dinner at Chili's. Saturday morning I took Aidan for a haircut. We went to our usual place but man did she do a butcher job on his hair! Even Clinton noticed what a bad job she did on it. His bangs were so bad that I had to fix them before church this morning. Scissors and myself are a bad mix people. A.BAD. mix. but I just couldn't take the unevenness a second longer. We went for doughnuts after his hair appointment ( he is always such a good boy!) and I did a little grocery shopping. We then came home and I did a little house cleaning and laundry before Clinto got home from the gym.. We then put Aidan in his Halloween costume, loaded up the car, and headed to Legoland for Brick or Treat. Legoland is all decked out for Halloween. They have special shows and trick or treating trails around the park. There were costume contests and special characters out and about. It was a special time and I'm so happy we got to go this year. :) We got home late last night with a worn out little boy ( and a pretty tired mom and dad).

This morning we went to church, Christmas Play practice ( tis the season fa la la la la), and then Aidan and I met some friends at a pumpkin patch. They had some fun rides there, bounce castles, slides, and a petting zoo. It was really hot today so we only stayed about an hour and a half. 

When we got home we found that Clinton had put out our new Halloween decorations (a 6 foot tall pumpkin and ghost!) and he had a surprise for Aidan. He made a treasure hunt for him. He had to follow clues around the house. He was so excited! His treasure was a bunch of candy. They then had daddy/ son movie time and I finished laundry and did the ironing

It was a busy and awesome weekend!

Aidan decided to be Darth Vader this year.

 riding the Beetle Bounce with dad. I actually got Aidan on a roller coaster today also! He hasn't wanted to ride one since he rode a really big one when he was 3 and it scared him to death.

 I love his little hands in this picture.

 Darth Vader in the stockade.

 At the Pumpkin station at Del Mar with his buddy Conner.

 The clue we found on the door!

 running around looking for the clues.

 After 12 clues he finally found the loot!

 happy boy!

 Hot, sweaty, tired boy at the pumpkin patch.

 our new halloween decorations.

Pumpkin Patch visit #1

I say this every year but October is absolutely my favorite month! I love everything about it- the cooler weather ( well not necessarily here in so cal), the fall decorations, pumpkin patches, Halloween decorations, all the activities going on at the amusement parks around here, pumpkin spice lattes, and trick or treating. I even love all the fall colors- orange, brown, red, etc... I especially love ( and miss) the leaves changing colors in West Virginia and Marshall football. I  wish I could go back to West Virginia every year and stay the entire month of October. There is something about the crispness in the air and the beauty of the leaves that is both invigorating and rejuvenating. It is my happy place. Even though I am unable to get back to West Virginia until next month I still love the things we have around here.

Last October was pretty lame because I was sick for most of the month, so I am making sure we make up for it this year. Even though I am working and Aidan is in school I have lots of fun things planned this month. This past weekend we made our annual trip to Bates Nut Farm. It is a farm near San Diego that is basically in the middle of nowhere. They have pumpkins for as far as the eye can see, hay rides, a corn maze, petting zoo, jumpy slides, food, and art vendors. It is always a fun family event. This year Clinton was unable to go because he was working in Los Angeles but we went with a couple of other mama friends and had a great time!

Speaking of  lame- Clinton and I were talking last night. I was talking about something being L- A- M- E and spelled out the word. Aidan chimes in and said "lame?" smart boy.

Since I am working I decided to bite the bullet and buy myself a good camera. I really love taking pictures and I am tired of the fuzzy and blurry ones I get a lot of the times. I got to play with it for the first time this weekend. I only know the basics so I am really excited to take some classes. I have no idea how to edit so I am looking forward to learning this too. I wish I would have bought it when Aidan was a baby. I think I have gone through 3 or 4 cameras since he was born and could have bought a good one with the money I have spent. Here are some of the pics I took this weekend.