Mixed up day

Whatever happened to Halloween? When I was a kid it was so much fun to dress up in a costume that you made and wear it to school. We would have a parade around the school. I can remember lining up on the playground after we had paraded around. It usually was cold, since it was New Jersey. The only costume I can remember being was a witch. I know, you should dress up on Halloween, not be your true self... The costume was black with sparkly red trim. I am sure my mother made it for me or borrowed it and someone else's mom made it. I can also remember being a gypsy once and then in 10Th grade we were invited to a Halloween party and we went and rented costumes. I was the Hamburgler. I don't know what possessed me to pick something that lame.

I really had a lot of fun that 10th grade year. We were back in New Jersey after spending the 7 years before that in Illinois. I really enjoy all of the history that is in that part of central New Jersey. We lived close to Washington's Crossing. It might actually be in Pennsylvania, but as the name implies, it is a town built on the spot that Washington crossed the Delaware. There is also a fabulous town called Cranbury. It is warm and inviting. Of course I have to mention Princeton, since that is basically where we lived. My friends and I would take the "Dinky" into downtown Princeton. It was a little spur line off of the commuter railroad. It went into Princeton and back out again from Princeton Junction.

I have digressed. I wanted to talk about Halloween. We don't get a normal Halloween anymore. The kids can't even wear their costumes to school on Halloween anymore. Since it is spirit week we have had Hat day (Monday) Pajama day (Tuesday) and today was mis-match day. We prefer Crazy Hair day, which they have quit doing, so we just take mis-match day and wear crazy hair. So hear is Molly. She did her hair with NO Help. Ella had some help.

Fang you very much

Yesterday afternoon M looked like this: Because a very clever dentist, Dr. L, pulled these:
out of here! If I had warned you then you might not have looked! We had orthodontist appts on Monday and he was worried that those fang teeth were in the way of her adult teeth that were trying to come in. He said pull now and maybe no braces later. Sounds like a win win situation. M said that it didn't hurt a bit. We were in and out in about 20 minutes. It was kind of dissapointing, I didn't have time to read all of the Woman's Day magazine that I was perusing. If only she had pitched a fit and not been a good patient. I might have gotten to the Newsweek, also!!

Book Character Day

Our kids elementary school always celebrates Book Character Day on the Friday before Halloween. They have to have their book with them and be able to tell the judges about the book. Molly decided to be Little Witch last year. We had everything ready and then she came down with strep throat. Ella did too. Ella was going to be Dorothy last year and was going to bring her Maltese, Marshmallow to play the part of Toto. So last year both girls missed Book Character Day. Coincidentally, last year I told PTO that I would be in charge of the program. I organized judges, prizes and emceed an assembly for 700 students plus parents. I read our favorite picture book to the crowd and then announced all the winners (4 per grade) I had them on stage with me and had each of them tell why they picked their book. All this and my girls were at home with Adrian.

This year I didn't even go to the parties in their classrooms since I had a still pretty sick Harrison at home. He was released from the hospital the day before. Here is a very sweet Little Witch. For those of you not familiar with this series, Little Witch is always trying to be a "good" witch and do witchy things and obey her mother. The problem is that she isn't a good witch, she is a good little girl. She forgets to be messy and cleans her room. She forgets to stay out late and forgets to use bad manners, always saying please and thank you. We really enjoy these books.

Ella decided to be the Giving Tree. She had some real limbs from our tree out front. As you can see, the leaves are still nice and green. Her book was at school, so when we got there I looked in it and put a heart on her face with the initials M.E.+T. in it, like the boy carves in the tree. The girls looked great and had a great time. It is hard to believe that next year will be Ella's last year and then I will only have one little Book Character Day/Trick or Treater. Oh how time flies...

International Man of Mystery?

This is a picture of my dad. A lot of people have asked me what he does for a living. My SIL, Jennifer, usually tells people that he is an "International Man Of Mystery." Good job, if you can get it!

We used to have a neighbor in the "old neighborhood" (that is how you describe where you used to live if you used to live in New Jersey) that was sure that Dad was a CIA agent because he used to go to China for a month at a time, twice a year. And he started doing this basically on the next plane out after Nixon came back from China. For those of you too young to remember (myself included) NOBODY went to China back in the 70's. Nobody but my dad. He had a vision of cheaply made garments on all the racks at your local Wal-Mart. Thanks, Dad! Okay, not at Wal-Mart, at Sears. Remember those Toughskins jeans you wore as a kid? I had some amazing made in China knick-knacks as a kid. Stuff that other kids didn't have. It was really cool. Back in those days a trip to China was really exotic. He used to bring a lot of his own food. Stuff like hot chocolate and instant soup. He liked China so much that in 1987 he moved us all to Hong Kong. But that is a story for another post.

My dad is not an international man of mystery and he is not a CIA agent (at least I don't think so!). He is an Executive Director with Li and Fung. I know, that doesn't really tell you what he does. That is what these articles are for, they kind of give you a glimpse.

I Googled him tonight to find some articles that talk about him and his job. I found some interesting things. I will just post the links, not the whole articles. This first one made me laugh. It talks about him speaking at a conference and they say that the conference-goers were "taken aback" at his presence. Who says that? It makes sense when they explain it in the article, he isn't creepy or anything! :-) http://www.catalogsuccess.com/story/story.bsp?sid=37807&var=story

This next one has a PowerPoint in it that I guess my dad created for his speech at this conference. I learned a lot, just scroll down and click next to his name in the box. It says Tom_Haugen_ PP Presentation http://www.fias.net/ifcext/fias.nsf/Content/FIAS_Conference_Logistics_Trade_Competitiveness

Here are a couple more. One is from the Li and Fung website. It has another cute pic of him!

http://www.asria.org/events/singapore/july04/Speakers/Tom_Haugen

http://www.lifung.com/eng/people/management.php

Stomach Virus?

I know, I fell off the face of the Earth this week...

Last Sunday Harrison woke up with a stomach virus. HAHAHAHA!! A stomach virus would have been so nice. He didn't seem to get better all day. I figured that when we got home from church he would be moving around and feeling better. Nope. So that night I figured he would feel better. Nope. Huh, tough stomach virus. I start using A LOT of Clorox wipes, I don't want anyone else to be this sick, he was miserable. So then Monday morning rolls around and he is CRAZY... UNHAPPY...feeling like he is going to DIE!! Okay, what kind of stomach virus is this? I put him in the car and call the doctor on the way. I figured if they couldn't see him I would take him to the ER. The doctor is in with us all of about 15 seconds and she says.. I think we have an appendix here!! Hey, aren't you supposed to run a fever or have pain just on one side with an appendicitis? Nope... That afternoon the surgeon removed an abscessed, busted open appendix out of Harrison. He was very clever and did it through 3 little holes in his tummy, one of which was in his belly button. Yeah, it is totally disgusting to think that the kid had his insides sucked out through his bellybutton, but at least he isn't going to die now!

So... that is what Harrison and I did for the end of fall break. We spent Monday through Thursday at the hospital. He is SORE and Tired, but smiling, but not smiling too much, it hurts to smile too much. I am sore and tired, too. I will be glad to sleep in my own bed tonight. And here is some fun trivia for you. Did you know that pediatric patients can't have their IV just drip, drip, drip into their arms until the bag is empty and then the nurse comes and changes it? Oh no, they have to set it for one stinking hour. Every hour it goes of BEEP ... BEEP.. BEEP ... BEEP... You get the picture, all day, all night. And of course, it goes without saying that 4 am is the PERFECT time to check your weight, temp, blood pressure, etc! AAARRRGGGHHHH

Tonight I will sleep happily and silently. And when I get up I will put Ella's costume together for Book Character Day tomorrow. Yes, I made it home just in time to not miss Book Character Day. I am not sure yet if that is a good thing...

Beehive Party

Since Lucy and Rachel are not old enough for Youth Conference this year they decided to take advantage of the fact that William was gone and have some friends over. They invited an out of town friend since her family would be coming here to drop off older siblings. Meet Lindsay. We call her Bob. And one friend from in town. Meet Alyson. She is actually our Beehive in training.

Bob and Lucy being themselves


I asked: why do you have a picture of your legs? Teenage girl response...Mom, do you see how cute our pajamas are? Oh, yeah, fabulous!

Getting ready for bed apparently requires make-up and curled hair, applied by some beauty consultants. Okay, Alyson looks really funny in this picture, I love it.
But make-up must be removed before actually going to sleep, and beauty masks are a must. They don't want to lose that glow of youth that the um...youth have...
And finally, watching A Walk to Remember. Alyson actually had a sleep over Thursday night also( we are on fall break.) She only saw about 10 minutes of the movie before she was snoozing. She then favored us with some comedy. She talked in her sleep to her brother and sister and walked in her sleep, yelling at a few people. Very entertaining!!!

Bradley and Mitchell

Bradley and Mitchell came over and watched Vegitales in Lucy's room Isn't he cute...

Looks like a Caten, doesn't he? Here they are doing a little dancing to the Vegitales theme song. Lucy's camera doesn't have sound, so you will just have to sing it to yourself.

Happy Birthday, Sir

We wanted to give Grandpa something for his birthday that he couldn't get for himself. Talent like this cannot be bought at the store. Be impressed...be very impressed!! We are excited to come and see you at Christmas! Happy Birthday.

Ella Cooks

Ella cooked us a fabulous dinner in Tuesday. This was really helpful to me since I had to run kids around Tuesday afternoon and evening. She made Sante Fe Soup. It was yummy, but spicy!!

Sante Fe Soup

2 -4 cups shredded chicken

1 medium onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced (or)1 TBS of minced garlic from a jar

2 packages taco seasoning

1 package Lipton Ranch Dressing mix

1 can black beans, undrained

1 can kidney beans, undrained

1 can pinto beans, undrained

2 cans white or yellow corn, undrained

1 can petite diced tomatoes

1 small can Rotel

Saute' your onions and garlic in either a little butter until onions are translucent. Add chicken to pan for about 5 minutes to absorb some flavor. Add taco seasonings and ranch mix to chicken mixture. 1-2 cups H2O will be needed to dissolve all the powders and make the yummy stuff. Next, dump all canned indredients into crock pot. Add in your chicken mixture. Cover and cook on high for 2-3 hours, and then simmer for additional hour. Serve in bowl with toppings of Tostidos, sour cream, cheese, and chives (if desired).

I think I will just add one pack of taco seasonong next time.