Happy Halloween.

Did you know that you have six choices for president? Six candidates who made it on the ballot? I am proud to say that I only had to Wikipedia one of the presidential hopefuls, and only one got a smirk and a chuckle. One got an I like you but you're really running again sigh. (Another got an I don't care for your platform or your parrot skit, but you're really running again eyebrow raise. Sorry Nate.) So that either leaves us with two legitimate candidates, or a lot of research to do between now and next Tuesday.

One more week until history is made*. It will be age, race or gender that breaks new ground. And while what that will mean for us as a country may not be apparent for months, we only have but a few days until we find out who America has chosen! And then I for one, will be cheering the widespread removal of signs that litter our city streets and hateful, non-issue commercials that litter our airwaves...for another four years.



*Bob Barr probably does not break any new ground if elected. Unless, of course, previous presidents have not had a mustache. I will say however, that he made a fine choice in running mate Wayne Root, who is a professional sports handicapper and author of many books including "The Zen of Gambling" and "The Joy of Failure!: How to Turn Failure, Rejection, and Pain into Extraordinary Success". I suggest that he might want to dust off that last one...

Two.

It just wouldn't be two without a couple trips to timeout and a swat (not a celebratory one) on your big day. Two means being able to move large chairs around the house so you can reach and climb on whatever your little heart desires. Two means being able to tell on your sister in full sentances. Two means that, thanks to your friends and family, you finally have some boy toys and no longer have to watch Barbie and the Diamond Castle if you want to play with trains and cars instead (although you do sing that Connected song real good buddy). Two means you've only got a few more teeth left to come in and only a few more months left in diapers...except that you need them to keep your pants up. Two means that you can say repeated prayers but you can also throw in a "thank you for my Thomas train" at your own will.

We love you Miles and we're so glad that you are TWO!!

Note- More on the bday celebrations later...

Glittered Spiders

I've been dying for a reason to get some of Martha's glitter and she finally gave me one. Avery and I caught a few minutes of her show on Tuesday and decided that we would take on her Glittered Hurricanes project. Mostly we were enamored by the idea of transforming plastic spider rings into fabulous jewelery, but when Big M. (her prison nickname I'm sure) mentioned that her glitter line was 30% (until sat. 10/18) off we were loaded up and on our way to Michaels. We made the hurricanes (actually a round vase and a votive holder) and then glittered 100 spooky rings. Or should I say one of us glittered 100 spooky rings. A couple of us just enjoyed playing with the ultra-fine and now ubiquitous glitter itself. Boy are we sparkly.

Believe

Ben: Avery - would you please sit on my feet while I do sit-ups?

Avery: (starts to comply then changes mind) Dad, you can do it without me. I can do it, see. (displays ability)

Ben: Please Avery. I need your help.

Avery: Dad. (places her hand on his knee and looks him in the eye)
Dad, I want you to believe in your destiny. I want you to believe that you are strong enough. I want you to believe that you can do sit-ups without me sitting on your feet.

(Conversation over)

August/September Recap

This was shaping up to be a quarterly recap but I'm gonna squeeze in a dual month recap while I can still remember our goings on...


Ben - While the wife and kids are away, hubby will... go tanning? This really deserves a post all it's own but I have to do a little more investigative reporting on the subject. Those fresh tan lines appearing while nary a UV ray in the sky raised suspicion, among other evidence - at least he had the decency to tan so as to have tan lines. More on that later.

In other news, Ben has informed me that he will no longer be taking call at the hospital. This info is 50% 60% a relief and 40% a disappointment (it would be proportionately more of a relief if he had taken a lot of overnight call before but in Hawaii they had a good system to avoid it - a month of night float). I actually enjoyed the occasional evening alone and I think Ben actually got a better nights sleep at work. Now he will be subject to home call and the dreaded second pager - and nothing is hotter than a man with two pagers on his belt. I know I shouldn't be complaining because it makes him more available at home but it can also be quite disruptive. Now if they want to do something about those ultra-long work days, that's another story.

Miles - Besides giving us a warm-up to the terrible-twos, which for M. means saying all day and all night I hungry followed by go mommy go (who does he think I am - Diego?)and then refusing every morsel that is offered to him, actually he will say yes he wants a pb&j or whatever else and then once it's made he will refuse it. That's going to get old very quickly. He is learning how to string words together in sentences, especially if it to argue with his sister but he is following a more verb-subject-object or object-subject-verb sequence which makes him sound like he is a little Chinese boy learning English as a second language.

In more exciting escapades Miles has his first girlfriend (in WA at least). I always thought he would go for older women like his dad but apparently the youth of one pretty little lady has caught his eye. And perhaps her forwardness. If you have a few seconds (24 to be exact) you can check out our little man in "action" HERE. As Ben says, he's not allowed to sleep in our bed anymore.

Avery - She started AWANA cubbies again this month. She has also enjoyed getting started on a fall/winter wardrobe with a jacket and some new boots "like aunt Brittany's", which makes her feel very sassy. They are Ugg-like boots. Don't tell her they are knock-offs. She wears them well. And it's a good thing because her flip-flop days are quickly coming to an end.

Me - Besides our fun visit to California and the wedding in St. Louis I have just been trying to move our house building forward. Some days show promise of progress, others just promise delay. We wanted an education and we're getting one.

Perhaps the highlight of my month, however, was discovering the gym on base. I say "discovering" but really I have been led by fabulous friends who know the ropes and are willing to share (like Sarah for instance who clued me in the whole bus to the airport thing, among other tips). So to add yet another reason why I love being in the military (the only downside I think are those polyester pants) - there is a gym on base with free child care. Not only free but they have ample, trained staff who play with the kids, do artwork and they even change diapers! The only drawback is that they have a cap on how many kids can come in at a time so potentially you might have to wait till a spot opens up. But I go at off-peak times so I haven't had a problem yet. The classes they offer are good too and they play P90X and kettleball training videos in other areas of the gym which I am a big fan of. See ya later *unnamed gym* with your expensive childcare and caregivers who couldn't care less.

Remembering.

I couldn't decide what to title this post, my first inclination was "sad today" but although that describes the emotion it misses the point completely.

You won't find an obituary anywhere because he thought they were ridiculous, but you will find him in one of our national cemeteries because he served our country - over and over again. He flew in three major wars and countless other missions where I can only imagine how steady and decisive he was as a pilot. As a granddaughter, I remember the man who drove a semi and would park his truck across from our house on Wilson street and we thought it was pretty neat to look inside. That's when I learned that truckers actually had beds in their trucks. I can only imagine that he imagined he was still at the controls of a bomber when he was piloting a big rig down the freeways and highways. A very tall man with cool jumpsuits and even cooler cars. I remember that he drove a Porsche. I'm pretty sure it was green. I'm pretty sure he had had others like it. He could read your aura, but he probably wouldn't tell you about if he had. I can only imagine what mine might have looked like to him. At one time a stockbroker by trade, and always one to watch the markets closely I know that by the time I have gotten up and around to checking tickers he had been watching them for hours. He and Avery had their money game. I can only imagine what went on with all those coins in that egg-carton - perhaps she will let me in on the secret someday. Miles loved his plane. A model similar to the ones he flew that flies above his computer. I can only imagine what stories he would have shared with our little guy when he got old enough to listen. What he was old enough for however, was sharing his love of ice cream and Little Debbies.

I've only known him for a little over 30 years and can only imagine how much I missed the other five plus decades. I know what questions I'm going to ask him when I see him again though. Did you really see a UFO while flying for the Air Force and were you sworn to secrecy by the government? And what's the secret for your grilled flank steak and for growing tomatoes?

Stock-broker, truck driver, Lieutenant-Colonel, Chargers-fan, grandfather, great-grandfather, etc. Always the pilot and never the navigator.

We will miss you Big Al and we will always remember.

....