Halloween Craziness

To say that today was busy would be an understatement. Sitting here, typing this entry, is literally the first time I've sat down all day. Oh my lawn! We started the morning, getting Madie and Noah ready for school, which meant showers, homework in their folders, costumes in their backpacks, and medicine administered (we're all sick with colds). Pete took them to school, because he was running a bit behind, so thank goodness for that. Once he took them, I got myself put together and Livie showered and ready to go, then we headed out the door. It is now like 8:30am. We ran to Walmart to get all the treats and prizes I was going to need for their school parties. I picked up a couple groceries and christmas presents as well. Then we headed to Farm and Fleet. Found another couple of Christmas presents, then went to the church. I had to make duplicate copies of our Halloween Bingo game, so both Noah's class and Madie's class could play. I also had to calligraphy a bapitismal certificate and head out to yet another store for a couple other things. Once that was all done, we headed back to our house. It is now noon. I made lunch and started packing the treat bags for school and getting the prize buckets ready. Nothing like waiting till the last minute, huh? ;-) Then at 1, we went to the school. I helped in Madie's class and Pete helped in Noah's. Livie stayed with me in Madie's room. I always thought that the older they got, that the quieter and less rowdy they became. I discovered today that I was wrong. Not just a little wrong....I'm talking REALLY wrong! haha Twenty-two 2nd graders, hopped up on sugar are FAR more loud and crazy that any group of kindergarteners could be. Wow! It was fun, but my head was pounding a bit when we left. But, leave we did and we went back to the house to unload all the stuff I had taken there in the first place. The house is a total disaster, but I'm too tired to clean it today. Noah was getting really irritable when we got home and after I went out for a quick trip to the grocery, I came home to find him asleep and not able to take his medicine. So, I tried waking him up. It was after 5 by now and trick-or-treating started at 6, so I was hoping he'd get up and have a bit of supper before he went. Well, that was a mistake, because he was BEYOND miserable when I finally got him around. He got himself so worked up that he ended up puking not once, but twice. Great. So, I had him lay down with Pete, while I took the girls out. I told him we'd share the candy with everyone. So, the girls and I went around the neighborhood. It's an absolutely GORGEOUS night. It's 63 and calm and seriously the nicest halloween night I can remember. Loved it! After about an hour, we headed back to the house to see if Noah was feeling better. He was and wanted to go to the last few houses with us. So, we got him dressed and all 5 of us headed out the door for another 30 min to finish up our trick-or-treating. We came home, checked out the candy, and now here I am posting. So, as you can see, I am so far beyond ready for bed at this point, it's crazy. But, I know myself. I know that even though I'm super, super tired, I'll get the kids in bed, snuggle up in my bed, and still stay up until 11 or so, because that's what I do. At least those 2 hours will be spend laying down and resting after this busy, crazy day. :-) Happy Halloween Everyone!!

Obama the......Cow?

A couple weeks ago I was driving through Marseilles and found that someone put a cow in their front yard and had spray-painted the word "Obama" on the side. "What in the world?" I said to myself as I drove by, turning my head to get a longer look. It had me baffled. Is it supposed to be ironic some how? Now, we do live in a town where the bars outnumber any other business in town, so it could be that two guys got a little too liquored up one night, found a cow that they had saved for a rainy day and decided to make some fun statement about their political views by painting the word "Obama" on the side. But, honestly, if they were that liquored up, they probably wouldn't have been able to find the cow, let alone write on it intelligibly. And, who just happens to have a giant pink cow laying around the house anyway? So, I wonder, what is this supposed to mean? Neither Pete or I can figure it out, so I decided today to take a picture and post it here to get your comments on it. With the election only a few days away, I thought it might be an appropriate time to ask - what does Barrack Obama have to do with a pink cow?!

Pumpkin Carving

I hope I haven't overwhelmed you with posts today. We've just done so many fun things these past 5 days (well, I wouldn't call the skunk problems FUN, but you know what I mean). Tonight we finally got around to carving our pumpkins. We got our pumpkins at the Pumpkin Patch back at the beginning of the month and when we went to retrieve our pumpkins from off our slab of a porch, we discovered that one of our pumpkins didn't make it. The whole bottom had rotted out. Pretty gross. In fact, when I showed the kids, Madie said, "Ugh. Don't show me that again or I'm going to totally puke!". haha That, of course, made me want to show her again, but I refrained. ;-) Anyway, our giant pumpkin was still in tact, so we went to work on it. Pete cut it open and had the kids help him gut it. I thought Livie might be grossed out, but she wasn't at all. She went right to town, pulling out anything she could. Noah was more interested in picking out all the seeds. And, Madie helped Livie take out the guts. She even got the ice cream scoop out to get it really clean. I sat and watched and took pictures until they were done, then it was my turn. I got to carve his face. Fun! The kids originally wanted 3 eyes. Noah really wanted it to be spooky, but they finally agreed to just stick to 2 eyes. They picked the triangle nose and then debated for quite a while on how many teeth it needed and in what places the teeth were supposed to go. After the decision was made and it was all carved out, they were happy with the results and we took it outside and put a candle inside to light it up. This is the first year I can remember when we've all been home together to carve. They have a halloween carving thing at their preschool where the dads take the kids and the moms stay home. So, the past 3 years, Pete has taken either Madie or Noah to the carving thing. Well, since neither one is in preschool this year, we all got to be together to carve the pumpkins.....er, I guess I should say pumpkin. We tried to carve the rotten one, but it just got gross. And, I didn't want to push the puking limits too far with the kids, since Madie already threatened upon first glance. Anyway, here is our finished product. Hopefully he'll make it until Fri night to scare all our trick-or-treaters. :-) Oh, and if your wondering why Madie and Noah are shirtless, it's because they didn't want "guts" on their clothes. Livie didn't seem to mind that. ;-)

Gymnastics Academy Halloween Party

Since Livie is now an "official" member of the IVGA (Illinois Valley Gymnastics Academy), the whole family was invited to go to their annual Halloween Costume Party. The kids were so excited! It was on Sat afternoon and they got all dressed up and we took them to the party. It was an open house kind of thing, so it was open from 2-5. We went as soon as they opened and it was already packed. When they first got there they got to pick bags in any color they wanted and they got to get a sticker sheet of their choosing to decorate their bag with. It was important to have the bag, because they had several games to play, where they could win prizes and candy. They had their big inflatable slide up and ready to go. Their trampolines were out and the balance beams and stuff were too. They even had set up an obstacle course, which Noah loved! They ran around and did pretty much everything they had there 100 different times. We were there for over an hour and they didn't want to leave. It was so much fun!!! Since Madie's costume is long, it was a little hard for her to manuever around the obstacle course, but she loved the trampoline so much. Her costume didn't hinder her there at all! And, they all enjoyed the slide and uneven bars. This was Madie's first visit. Noah had gone there before for a birthday party for his friend Matthew last spring, and (of course) Livie's there every week. But, it was a fun afternoon for all of us and the best thing.....they got lots of chocolate which they shared with mom!!!! :-)

The Conclusion of Hole Fest '08

Well, as I said in the post below, we finally came to the finale of our week-long hunt for our sneaky little critter. He kept outsmarting us at every turn. But, after a couple days of no hole digging and what looked to be no activity, Pete decided to cover up the holes and just move the trap to the side of the house, instead of right by the hole and wouldn't ya know it but the night he did that we caught it! I woke up yesterday morning to Madie and Noah running into my room at 6:30am saying, "We caught a skunk! We caught a skunk!". Not QUITE the way I had hoped to wake up that day. It was like 2005 all over again! But, yes, we caught a big, fat skunk. Much bigger than the one we caught last time. We had a little mommy last time, but this one was a big daddy that was ready for winter. He was puffy and chubby and ready to go. That's where my admiration of him ends though. I actually felt a bit sorry for catching him in the beginning., knowing that he was going to die sometime that day. He was so cute and when we went outside to look at him, he just gave us this sad look of defeat. But, when Pete and I spent 12 hours on the phone with people trying to find someone, anyone!, that would come out and get rid of him, my pity was gone - replaced by frustration. Animal Control was a bit more helpful than last time. Instead of telling US to shoot it, they offered to come out and shoot it for us. Of course, we'd be left to dispose of whatever was left of him, but that wasn't their problem. Since, we didn't really want to see skunk guts blown all over the side of the house, we took a pass on that offer. We called the Conservation Office and they wouldn't do it. We called local people that we heard about, none of them returned our calls. I called Critter Control, who had come out before, but apparently in the 3 years since our last skunk episode, their prices tripled and they would charge us $300 to come out. I think that was mostly because of drive time. No one from CC was closer than 2 hours from us. Then I called a couple people in the Chicago area. Their prices were $315. This was the offer I received at 6pm, after calling all day. I wasn't thrilled. Pete was at the point where he was going to suit up in his chemical suit, take a blanket, throw it over the cage and then try and release it again, hoping to avoid a rabies-induced attack from the hungry, angry skunk that was stuck in the cage all day. Nevermind the fact that it could spray him out of pure bitterness. Then, I prayed. Don't ask me why I didn't pray before this, but I guess annoyance will cause you to forget those things. ;-) So, I prayed and decided to look one more time online with Pete's laptop from work and found a guy named Art who does this and it even listed our county as a place he serves! I called him, sounding fairly desperate at this point. It was 8pm and we didn't want another day to pass with this skunk in our yard. He was kind enough to offer to drive out (an hour from his place) at that exact moment to take care of the skunk. He said it would cost $175, but considering our other offers, this was a bargain!!!! So, he came out and got to our house about 9:30 last night, gently placed a blanket over the cage, carried him to the front of the house and loaded him in the back of his truck. He realized when he got here he had forgotten his needles. You see, all skunks have to be euthenized (I know I spelled that wrong), because so many of them carry rabies. So, we thanked him, paid him, and wished him well as he drove the hour back to his home with a LIVE skunk in his truck. I just hope he didn't hit any bumps or anything. Eeek! So, our ordeal is over. Pete has sworn to never, ever again trap anything living in our yard. He will let it live there and go on its merry way. To say he wasn't happy spending $200 on a stupid skunk would be an understatement. Pete actually said that he may try and get a trapping license. He figures with absolutely NO competition around he, he'd make a fortune! ;-) haha So, to Aunt Judi who guessed it right from the beginning, I have no skunk to send you as the door prize. So, I will just offer you the joy of knowing you were right. :-) Good job!!!!

OH - and have I mentioned that when talking to my sister about how to get rid of the thing, she offered so many useful ideas - and I use the term "useful" quite generously. She said to get poison and throw it at him. Yeah, because I have so many types of poison lying around - arsenic, cynide, etc.... I think she even mentioned Drano. If I were Jeff, I'd be scared. She seems a little too eager to try her hand at these things. ;-)

I'm Back! .... sort of

We got our computer back today! Hooray!! And, it didn't take quite as long as I had thought. I guess Pete told him how much I missed having a computer to blog on and to email my friends on, so he ordered the part we needed asap and got it installed last night. Bless his sweet heart. The reason I say "I'm back....sort of" is because with a new hard drive, the computer is basically blank. I am able to go check out my favorite sites, but the email isn't up and running yet. I can't upload pictures to the blog yet or anything like that. And, I have no idea what the website addys are for my favorite blogging sites. Thankfully Pete saved all the addresses I need both for email and for blogs and such, so he's going to get it all loaded tonight for me and hopefully restore the ability to post pictures. Once he does all that, I'll be back and able to post about the past few days. I will say that we lived through the finale of Hole Fest '08 just last night. It's definitely a blog unto itself. But, I will give you a hint about what we caught. Let me just say that Pete and my Aunt Judi were right on the money!

Taking a Little Break

Our computer has crashed two times this week and by the grace of God and Pete's computer savvy, we've got it up and running again. Last night it crashed again and it took Pete all night to get it started, so once he did he downloaded all our important stuff (financial records, pictures, church stuff, etc...) into his laptop and he's taking the computer to his friend's house to try and fix it. SOOO, that means I'll be without computer access for who knows how long. :-( I'm already beginning to suffer withdrawl symptoms - the shakes, pacing, excessive chocolate consumption, etc... Don't know how I'll make it! Anyway, wanted to let you know that I won't have any new blog entries for a while. But, when we get it back, I'm sure I'll have lots to post about. Maybe by then we'll finally come to the conclusion of the Hole Chronicles. Today we're going to a costume party for the kids, so I'll have that to post about and, depending on how long we'll be without a computer, I may have Halloween and Halloween school parties to blog about as well. So, enjoy your week and I'll be back with you hopefully sooner than later. :-)

Short Update on the Hole

We are on day 6 of Hole Watch '08 and still nothing new to report. Pete moved the traps, trying to see if the animal would come out or to see if it decided to move on to greener pastures. Another hole was attempted, but apparentely it decided to fore-go that one, because it was only dug part way. We looked out 2 nights ago and found a rabbit near the hole/trap area, but it ran away when we turned the light one, so I don't know if he was just going after the apples we had in the trap or if he was our culprit all along. So, there's nothing that has changed since our last update. Our patio area is a dug out nightmare, but we still haven't caught anything or seen anything new for a couple nights.

Hole Update #2 - Hole Watch '08 Continues....

The mysterious animal is up two points to nothing. Pete moved the trap to the other hole and wouldn't you know it, but it dug its way out the other side again! So, to keep score, we put the trap by the original hole and it dug its way out the other side of the patio. So, then Pete moved the cage to the other hole that it dug and just now we look out and its dug its way out of the original hole again! Pete is ready to sit outside all night and, I quote, "blast the thing!". It's all out war on this sneaky little guy. I told Pete since it outsmarted us once again, that it deserved another night of freedom. Tomorrow, he can rig it all up again and see if we can catch him then. But, now after 3 days of bypassing our traps, I'm beginning to wonder if this is really just some ordinary forest animal. Maybe it's some ghostly, mythological creature, never before seen by the human eye. MAYBE, it's some new species that happened upon Marseilles, IL and then happened to find a really prime piece of dirt by our house and decided to burrow under our patio. I mean a skunk made a pretty nice home in there at one time. Maybe it's already stocked up with food and beer or something - imagining, of course, that this new species likes beer and would want a supply of it readily available. Maybe it's more of a wine officianato......? Anyway, I digress. I was thinking, "What can we call this new, unknown creature". I want our name memorilized somehow, so maybe the trollbit? The trollhog? The trollpher? groundinger? Any suggestions anyone? If we ever do catch this phantom under our patio, I'm sure that the discovery will make news nationwide. It's not every day that a new beer-loving, patio-digging, alien-like mammal is found. At least not in our small town.

**By the way, I tried to take a picture, but I didn't want to go outside with the crazy two-headed alien creature out on the loose, so I tried taking one from inside, but it just kept taking pictures of the screen. Sorry. But, honestly, the hole is basically the same as the picture of the hole I took before. So, if you're needing proof or questioning what the hole looks like, just look at my previous posts. It's not changed all that much.

Hole Update #1

Well, it is Day Two of Hole Watch '08. Nothing was caught in the trap last night. But, we discovered why. That sneaky little whatever-it-is dug ANOTHER hole on the opposite side of the patio. Hmmmm..... Looks like we have a clever animal under there. Either that or he's recruited friends and they're creating a new world order of forest animals. Maybe two of every kind like on Noah's Ark? Let's just hope not! I love animals, just not rabid, wild, I'll-bite-your-arm-off kinds. So, tonight, Pete's going to switch the trap to the other side and see what we come up with. This one looks like a smartie though, so it may take a bit of time to catch him. Keep the votes coming. Maybe we'll raffle off the animal as a prize to whoever guesses correctly. Wouldn't it be fun to receive a gopher in the mail?

What's in the Hole?

When we got back on Sunday night, Pete happened to look out back. Not sure why, but when he did he found something had dug a hole under our patio. Now, to give you a little back history on why this is important, in 2005 we had something dig under our patio in the spring, exactly in the same place as this hole. We thought, "Oh, maybe it's a rabbit" and just kept covering the hole back up with dirt. After 3-4 days of the animal digging the hole back up, we decided to borrow a live-trap and see what we caught. I woke up at 6am on Pete's birthday (April 27th) and discovered we had indeed caught something. We had caught A SKUNK! I went and woke him up and said, "Happy Birthday! You caught a skunk!". He was soooo not thrilled. Well, I told him not to worry, I would call animal control and get it taken care of while he was at work. I was babysitting back then - a little 2 yr old named Gracie. When she arrived and Madie and Noah woke up, I showed them the skunk through the window. They thought it was so exciting. :-). The cage was right up against the house on the patio, so they got a clear view of him. Well, later in the morning, I called animal control and told them about the skunk we had caught and they told me that because we caught it in our OWN trap, they couldn't do anything about it. I'm like, "So, what am I supposed to do?". This was their reply..... "Shoot it.". That's it. Like it was just a fact of life. I told them I have 2 2yr olds and a 4 yr old and I'm supposed to find a gun and shoot this thing in my backyard?!!!! I was so mad!! They were absolutely no help at all. So, thanks to my best friend Michelle, I was able to call a Critter Control place that came out and would put him to sleep (not the animal control guy..the skunk). Pete decided to lasso the cage and pull it farther into the yard, so the guy could get to it easier. I didn't want him to do it, but we know how men listen sometimes. ;-) Anyway, he left the rope on and though I called all my neighbors and told them to keep away from our yard, apparently the rope was too much for our 6 yr old neighbor to resist and I look outside and find him and his cousin pulling the rope and the cage through our yard. I opened the patio door to yell at them and immediantely smell that the skunk has sprayed everywhere! Nice. So, I am NOT having a good day! Eventually the Critter Control guy comes and I pay him $100 to kill this skunk, who has already sprayed and made the whole house stink, and we cover up the hole and pretend the whole thing never happened. SOOOOO, the reason for this story is to tell you how THRILLED we were when we discovered this new hole. It's like it's happening all over again. We are pretty convinced it's another skunk, but it's like waiting for a prize. So, I thought I'd post about it and take a poll. See what you all think we have hiding under our patio. Last time it was a skunk who had recently given birth to baby skunks. Maybe this time it's a rabid badger or a pregnant groundhog. Guess we'll find out soon enough. Hopefully this time I'll get someone from the conservation department to lend a hand and keep any and all "ropes" away from my curious neighbors. Oh, and I took a close-up picture of the footprints it left behind. Maybe that's a clue....

Family

One of the best parts of the wedding for me was seeing people I haven't seen in a long time. I said in "The Wedding Day" post that we got to see Dudley and Beverly from Royal Center and that was a real treat! Of course, we got to see people from dad's church and from the First Baptist Church as well, which was great! But, I think the best part was seeing some of our family. My dad's sis Judi and my uncle Alan (her husband) came up, along with their daughter Becky and her husband and kids, and their son Phil and his two oldest. I saw them a bit off and on throughout that day, but they came to church on Sunday and we all hung out afterwards and went out to lunch. I didn't think of taking my camera then, which was stupid, because then I could've gotten more pictures, but I forgot. So, I didn't get any pics of my Aunt and Uncle. But, getting together as Old Country was so reminiscent of our big get-togethers in Runnemede where my grandparents lived or our thanksgivings together. They didn't happen all that often, but when they did, it was always fun! We're a big, italian family. So, it's loud and busy and funny. Judi and Alan had to leave after we ate, but Phil, Becky and their families came back to the house for a few hours. The kids all played together and had a ball. Dan (Becky's oldest) played Wii a lot, while Madie, Olivia, and the girls - Rose, Grace, and Annie - all played dress-up. David, Noah, and Micah's boys all played together as well. It was a really fun afternoon of catching up and talking. We're all hoping we can do it again soon. Our visits with any of our family members are so far and few between, because we're spread out all over the place. Thank goodness for this blog and for Facebook where we're able to connect through that. Anyway, here are a couple pictures from that afternoon. Oh, and of course, dad passed out baseball cards and beanies to all the kids. ;-) What would a visit to "Uncle Mark" be like without that?!

The Personal Shower

Now, I am going to try and give you an idea of what went on at the personal shower, while still being discreet. No, there were no strippers, unless you include Micah who when asked to bring over the girls' dresses decided to dress up in shorts and a trenchcoat and PRETEND he was the stripper. Once he saw that there were about 30 women there though, he decided against putting on a show. ;-) Not to mention the fact that it was a party for his SISTER!!! haha We sent him home with a souvenir though, which was a glow-in-the-dark straw made to look like a certain part of a man's body. I'll let your mind decide what "part" that was. ;-) I can only imagine what went through mom, dad, and Pete's minds when he came home with THAT in his hand. ;-) Anyway, Em's friend Jenny, who was one of the bridesmaids, was the one who planned the party. She's known for gifting her friends with some interesting things. I laughed and laughed as she opened her presents. Some were really nice nightgowns and those types of things. But, a few other things were thrown in as well. I won't go into detail, but there was some mac and cheese with noodle shapes that were NOT made for children. No Spongebob Squarepants in that box! A few educational products and things of that nature as well. She knew to expect a lot of that, so she didn't get too embarrassed. We all just sat around and laughed and had a good time. My dear, sweet sis-in-law had never been to a personal shower before and though she was warned ahead of time, I think her face was red most of the time. It was too cute! Oh, and I forgot to mention that they made Em wear a sash that said "Miss Virginity" and wear a crown that was covered in um, well...... it was covered. I'll just say that. ;-) So, here are a few pictures from that evening.

The Day Before....Rehearsal

Friday started off as fairly busy. I had a lot of errands to run that morning. We had spent the night at the Trolingers. Sue had altered my dress for me, so I needed to pick that up first of all. I don't know if you all know this, but I am a bit on the "short" side, I should say, so she took a few inches off my dress and it looked perfect! I was so happy! Thanks Sue! Anyway, I did my errands and we headed up to Goshen around lunchtime. On my way up, I got a phone call from my best friend Michelle to tell me she had had her little boy! I was so excited! What a weekend! First I find out my best friend in the world has given birth after all these long months of waiting and I was on my way up to celebrate my sister's wedding. So fun! Congrats to Michelle and Ricardo on the birth of baby Alexander. :-)

So, as soon as we got to Goshen, I headed out to the reception hall to decorate with Em and Cara. Stopping at mom and dad's house only long enough to pick them up and hug my nephews. :-) We were there for a while doing that. It looked so nice, but we decided it was missing some finishing touches, so Cara and I decided we would go to the store later that evening and pick up the things we needed to make it look complete. When we got back, it was about time for the rehearsal. The rehearsal was a bit crazy. The kids had basically an empty church to run in and run they did! They were goofy and silly and while we were up at the front practicing with John (the pastor), I could see Olivia running down the aisles and at one point I saw her climb over a pew and fall on the other side of it. Then all I saw was her head peeking out over the top to make sure Pete wasn't on his way to catch her. I was cracking up the whole time. They were so ornery!! Of course, in all that orneriness I started getting panicky, wondering how they would do the actual day of the wedding, but all went well. Guess they had to get out all their energy during the practice, so they would behave themselves during the ceremony. ;-) We went downstairs to the fellowship hall afterwards and had a wonderful dinner. Jeff's mom had a friend cater to us that night. It was so delicious and nice not to have to load up the kids and drive some where. When they got restless, Pete and Micah were able to take them back to the house, while we stayed and finished up. Cara and I ran out to the store to get those last minute things, then headed over to Em's personal shower. Her personal shower deserves a blog entry of it's own. Suffice to say, it was freakin' hilarious. The funniest personal shower I've ever been to!! We got home from that about 9-10pm and worked on more wedding stuff until about 2am. It was a very busy day, but again, so fun. It was fun hanging out with Em and Cara and seeing Micah and the boys again. Noah was in heaven playing with my nephews. They wrestled and played outside. They ate sand and ran around the house. He loved every minute of it! It's so funny. We see them once a year if we're lucky, but it's like we just immediantely feel at home with each other and the kids play like they've been best friends all their lives. They just love each other and it's so great for us as parents to see that. It was a great start to our weekend together.