moving in progress

Ethan and I decided that we didn't want to pay another month for the storage unit, so we cleared out the storage unit and are starting the moving in process. Here is our progress after one day. We are still staying with Mom for a couple more days until the hook up for the kitchen sink and we can get the plug for the stove switched. Then we will be in our own house.

The living room is coming along, the last thing to be done after the putting stuff away is putting in the black granite tiles for the fireplace.

Here is the masterbedroom.

Pardon the mess, but hey, we are moving. Here are the new cabinets that were installed over the weekend.


That bathroom, you can barely see the tile, but once everything is done, I will do a huge before and after once everything is done and put away.

Here is the dining room floor that was just finished yesterday. I love how it turned out.

Here is a better view of the kitchen.

Name that movie...

1. This is extremely important. Will you please tell Santa that instead of presents this year, I just want my family back. No toys, nothing but Peter, Kate, Buzz, Megan, Linnie and Jeff. And my aunt and my cousins. And if he has time, my Uncle Frank. Okay?

2. No, no. I mean "Jingle Bells". You know, deck them halls and all that stuff. No, no, no. You don't get it at all. I mean "Jingle Bells". You know, Santa Claus, and ho-ho-ho, and mistletoe... and presents for pretty girls...

3. We're kicking off our fun old fashion family Christmas by heading out into the country in the old front-wheel drive sleigh to embrace the frosty majesty of the winter landscape and select that most important of Christmas symbols.

4. Look, Daddy. Teacher says every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.

5. It's just like Santa's workshop! Except it smells like mushrooms... and everyone looks like they wanna hurt me..

.6. Football? Football? What's a football? With unconscious will my voice squeaked out 'football'.

7. It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes, or bags.

8. Happy birthday! Hey, I said my first words. But... But snowmen can't talk. Ha ha ha, come on now, what's the joke? Could I really be alive?

9. If I live to be 100, I'll never forget that big snow storm a couple of years ago. The weather closed in and, well you might not believe it, but the world almost missed Christmas. Oh, excuse me, call me Sam. What's the matter? Haven't you ever seen a talking snowman before?

10. Charlie, stay away from those things. They're reindeer, you don't know where they've been. They all look like they've got key lime disease.

11. It's Christmas Eve. It's-it's the one night of the year when we all act a little nicer, we-we-we smile a little easier, we-w-w-we-we-we cheer a little more. For a couple of hours out of the whole year we are the people that we always hoped we would be.

12. Faith is believing when common sense tells you not to. Don't you see? It's not just Kris that's on trial, it's everything he stands for. It's kindness and joy and love and all the other intangibles.







Answers:
1. Home Alone; 2. A Charlie Brown Christmas; 3. Christmas Vacation; 4. It's A Wonderful Life; 5. Elf; 6. A Christmas Story; 7. How the Grinch Stole Christmas; 8. Frosty the Snowman; 9. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer; 10. The Santa Clause; 11. Scrooged; 12. Miracle on 34th Street.

My new 1 year old!!!!!

I love you sweetie!

Paints

Here are some pictures to see what has been happening. After the disasterous first coat of "refresh" on the living room walls, we knew there needed to rethink the colors. We ended up changing the color for the kitchen and dining room into the living room and got a gallon of dover white and diluted the "refresh" color, and put it on three walls of the dining room and kitchen, the fourth wall will be a darker blue-green. This actually was a good thing in the end. We weren't originally going to be getting the counter top with the cabinets we are being given, but the owners decided to replace it anyways, therefore letting us have it. Its a Foresty green marble look. The original "plymouth green" that was going to cover the kitchen didn't match it at all.

Here is the first coat of plymouth green in the living room. We are also painting the trim white.

This is an inaccurate despiction of the brightness of the "refresh"that has since been painted over.

This is a little better. It really doesn't match the fireplace.

The flash didn't go off, but here is with the stairway in "plymouth green".

Here is the diluted "refresh" and I am very pleased with the results. You can also see the new window to the right.

Once the paint is all dry in here, up go the cabinets and the floor will be put in. We are getting there!!!!!!!!!1

Christmas letter

Dear Friends and Family, This is my unofficial Christmas letter. I am actually going to start off with Dec. 23th last year, which was the day that was our beloved little boy was born. His name is Mark Andrew Fike, 7lb 140z, and 20.5 inches long. Everything went well, and we were able to come home on Christmas Day. I was told by many, that there was no greater Christmas gift, and whereas I agree with them, it really didn't feel like Christmas that day. We have been tremendously blessed with an easy child. He will be 1 year old on Tuesday, and the time has just been flying. His current working achievement is mastering walking. He does very well as long as there is a goal in mind and he doesn't notice that he is standing. Once he notices, he remembers that crawling get him there faster. He loves bananas, grapes, and whatever someone else around him is eating. We discovered that he is allergic to peanuts and is lactose-intolerant, but he has a viviacious appetite. Ethan switched jobs in March, going from constructions to being an internet technician for Armstrong Cable. We have been grateful for the change and the consistancy of hours. His current shift is Mon.-Fri. 4pm to midnight. He loves it. I did quit my job at Thrifty before Mark was born, but kept my job at our local movie theater. It gives me the break I need during the week, plus it means free entertainment for the family. Ethan and I were able to take my brother Alan, and his sister Alycia to Cedar Point in July, allowing a small vacation. Family was nice enough to babysit Mark for us. As for the big project of the year, on Oct. 27th, we became the proud new owners of 301 Geibel road. That's right, we bought a house. Three bedrooms, one bath, plenty of room to add another, just under an acre of land. It is definitely a fixer-upper, and for anyone reading the family blog, http://wiseone411.blogspot.com/, you can see what we are currently working on. We have been staying with my mom, while fixing up the house to make it livable. A big thank you goes out to her and to his family for all the help they have given us. I want to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for all! Love, Ethan, Margaret, and Mark

House update

We have gotten the cabinets and I am very pleased with the results. We started painting, I like the result in the kitchen, the living room on the other had.......... Definitely need a new color. It is really bright and looks like a piece of polished turquouis. It was supposed to be a light, subdued sky blue with a little green in it. Not the case. Doesn't match the fireplace, all in all, just looks bad. The tiling in the bathroom has turned out well, and I am sure when it is all finished it will look amazing! All the rooms are primed, most of the ceilings are already finished with all the paint they will need. Just need to finish painting, get the cabinets in and we should be set for business. Crossing fingers here. P.S. I just looked over at Mark, he was sitting by the christmas tree, butt naked. The diaper was just sitting there next to him, and he giggled when he made eye contact with me. Lovable little boy.

MMOOOOO!!!!!!!!

We went over to Marme's house (Fike's) to see if we could find something this morning. When we arrived, we could see that the cow had somehow gotten out of the pasture. There wasn't anyone else there, so Ethan said he would get him back in. Lets just say, hearing him say " Here cow, cow, cow, come on boy, and MOOOOOOOOOO" absolutely hysterical. The cow did make its way back in.

Dog inherits $12 million, turns world’s richest

He's rich and he is Trouble. We're talking about a Maltese terrier in New York, who has become the richest dog on earth.Trouble (that’s really his name) has inherited 12 million dollars from his owner Leona Helmsley, who died earlier this year. In her will, Helmsley also says Trouble must be buried in the family mausoleum with a view on New York skyline, when he dies. Helmsley, a billionaire New York City hotel operator, had a reputation for keeping her purse strings tight and was even convicted in 1989 for tax evasion. There's been no comment on the will so far from her four grandchildren, who between them received only 10 million dollars.
The dog will be cared for by Helmsley's brother Alvin Rosenthal, who was left $10 million.Two grandchildren, David and Walter Panzirer, will be left $5 million each, as long as they make at least one visit a year to the grave of their father, Helmsley's son, Jay Panzirer."I have not made any provisions for my grandson, Craig Panzirer, or my granddaughter, Meegan Panzirer, for reasons known to them," she wrote.

My question, is WHY?

Monthly survey

JANUARY

1 Who kissed you on new years? Ethan!

2 Did you have a New Year's Resolution this year? To make sure I keep up with my scripture reading.

3 Does it snow where you live? Yes, and its very annoying.

4 Do you like hot chocolate? Raspberry and French vanilla are my favorites.

5 Have you ever been to Times Square to watch the ball drop? Nope. TV is just fine for me, I don't have to stand out in the cold.

FEBRUARY

1 Who was your Valentine? Ethan!

2 When you were little did you buy Valentine's for the whole class? Yep.

3 Do you care if the groundhog sees its shadow or not? The sooner spring comes the better, but I don't usually listen.

4 What did you receive for Valentine's Day? Roses, candy, and movies. I also bought myself the second and third book of Twilight.

5 What did you give for Valentine's Day? I honestly don't remember.

MARCH

1 Are you irish? No

2 Do you like corned beef and cabbage? Cabbage is evil.

3 What did you do for St Patrick's Day? I think I wore a green shirt.

APRIL

1 Showers? When I was younger, Alan and I would go walking through as many puddles as we could the first shower that was bareable to be barefoot.

2 Did you play an April fool's joke on anyone this year? No

3 Do you get tons of candy for Easter? Ethan gave me some.

4 Do you celebrate 4/20? No

5 Do you love the month of April? It means spring is here so yes!

MAY

1 What is your favorite flower? Lillies during the summer, Roses in the winter.

2 Finish the phrase "April showers…" bring May flowers.

3 Do you celebrate May 16th: National Piercing Day? I didn't even know that there was one.

4 Is May anything special to you? I love last spring and Early fall. Plus it means the annual trip to Moraine with everyone. And now, Mother's day.

JUNE

1 What year did/will you graduate from high school? 2004

2 Did you do anything fun during this Month? Just enjoy the sunshine!

3 Have a favorite baseball team? I hate baseball, it bores me to no end.

JULY

1 What did you do on the 4th of July? We went and saw fireworks, and did a cook out.

2 Did you go to the fireworks? yes

3 Did you blast the A/C all day? Probably.

AUGUST

1 Did you do anything special at the end of your summer? Just spend time out side

2 What was your favorite summer memory of '08? Going to Cedar Point with Alan, Alycia, and Ethan.

3 Did you have a sunburn? Yes, I never manage to avoid it.

4 Did you go to the pool a lot? I am hoping to go more often.

SEPTEMBER

1 Are you attending college/school? Not now.

2 Do you like fall better than summer?Early fall, yes, late fall, no.

3 What happened this month? We found our house.

OCTOBER

1 What were you for halloween? I wore a Japanese Kimono

2 What is your favorite candy? Dove's Dark Chocolate.

3 What was your favorite thing about this month? Dressing up Mark.

NOVEMBER

1 Whose house do you go to for Thanksgiving? Both families. Dinner at in-laws and dessert at mine.

2. What are you thankful for? My family, our home, and the blessings we have received.

3 Do you love stuffing? Depends on who makes it.

4 Anything special in this month? My birthday.

DECEMBER

1 Do you celebrate Christmas? Fav. Holiday.

2 Have you ever been kissed under the mistletoe? No, that needs to change.

3 Get anything special last year? I got to go home from the hospital with Mark.

4 What do you want this year? To be moved in.

5 What do you love most about December? The atmosphere, and joy it brings.

Christmas Tag

Christmas Tag
1. Egg nog or Hot Chocolate? Never been fond of Egg Nog

2. Do you wrap presents or bag them? I always get so set on wrapping all of them, then slowly get dismayed at the pile of unwrapped vs. the wrapped ones.

3. Colored Lights or White? Colors!!

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Nope.

5. When do you decorate? As soon as my husband will let me.

6. Favorite holiday dish? I love scrambled eggs with ham Christmas morning.

7. When & how did you learn about Santa? I really don't remember, I know I was kind of young, I remember knowing the truth by 7 years old.

8. How do you decorate your tree? As much as possible! Many lights, any ornaments I can find. I have done the uniform look and I like the chaos look better.

9. Snow...love it or dread it? My theory on snow is it should be a white christmas, and white all that following week, the whole Christmas vacation. After that, it needs to go back up to 70.

10. Can you ice skate? I don't know, I have never gone.

11. Do you remember your favorite gift? Ethan gave me a .22 rifle for our first Christmas.

12. What is the most important part of the holidays? The celebration of Christ birth, and all that it symbolizes. Then family and friends.

13. Favorite holiday dessert? Cookies!

14. Favorite memory? One year we had someone do a 12 days of Christmas to us, that was awesome.

15. Do you have a special ornament? Not really.

16. What do you do on Christmas Eve? We head to Grandma and Grandpa Fikes

17. If you could have anything for Christmas this year what would it be? For us to be moved into our own house.

18. What do you do for neighbors and friends for Christmas? Make cookies!

More house updates

The drywalling has been commenced! Having the drywall up is giving me a much better idea of what the room will look like with a white ceiling. The room looks a thousand times better not having the gray/blue/purply color that was on there. Any suggestions on colors for the dining room/kitchen would be appreciated. Final decision will be made once we see the cabinets.

Ethan and I got word that someone from the neighboring ward was remodeling and wanted to get rid of their old cabinets. We will be getting them sometime hopefully in the next week. In a fit of joy, we tore out the old, really pathetic cabinets. I mean they were bad. I could only open one of the drawer, the other one was permanently jammed. I have absolutely no idea what the new ones will look like, but they have to be better than what was there.

We put five can lights in the kitchen. Three above where the island will be, one above the stove, and one above the sink.

Because of the hole in the wall the tearing out of the chimney, my closet is being put in! Here is the view from the master bedroom.

And now the view from the nursery.

Here is the progress for the laundry room. The giant hole in the wall is where my magic cabinet is going. Read older post to find out about the magic cabinet.

View from the bathroom. Someone, a couple of weeks ago, accidently broke our toilet, so we still don't have a functioning one. But we did pick up a new one today. Oh well, it will have to wait until the tile is put in anyways.

The bathroom.

The kitchen before the cabinets were torn out.

The drywall really brightens up the room.

I have a ceiling!

Check out the older post to see the dramatic difference.

We have chosen some paint colors for some of the rooms. If you go to the sherman williams website they have this awesome setup to see what paint colors will look like and such.

This is going to be the theme for Mark's room, with an Electric green for the paint color.

For the master bedroom we are going to for a dynamic blue, basically a very bright, medium blue. It will look great with the quilt my sister made for our bed that is blue and orange.

The Living room is going to be Aquarium, a blueish-green, it will contrast wonderfully with our black couches and the fireplace.

Ethan is shooting for a Festival green for the dining room, I am not sure if I really want that bright of a green in there, it is seriously like a green crayola crayon.

We went to Lowe's and found a great deal on a laminate floor for the dining room, 30 yr warrenty and is a good color for $1.18 a square foot. It is almost a blonde wood color but slightly darker.

A couple of before and afters

Here are a couple of before and afters to show what is being done with the house. The after pictures may actually look worse, but its still a work in progress.

Dining Room before.

We have torn out the ceiling, the carpet and the wall between the dining room and kitchen.

After.

Before.

This room is going to be the nursery, we have since torn out the base board heating system and the chimney.

After.

Because of this hole in the wall, I am getting a closet. There isn't a closet in the master bedroom.

Kitchen before.

We have torn out the wall, and the ceiling.

After.

By the way we do have the drawers and door for the cupboard. We are going to put in an island in later.

Fireplace and Living room before.

Again the carpet, the ceiling have been taken out. We have new really pretty black granite tile for in front of the fire place. We are using propane heater for our heat source so we got the fake logs to go right into it. We had to tear out the inner bricks to make room for them.

The fake logs.

After.

The tile isn't clean with all the dust all around, but you get the basic idea of what it is going to look like.

In the talk, Our Immediate Responsibility (October 25, 1966), Ezra Taft Benson spoke of our responsibilities as Latter-day Saints, as Priesthood Holders, as Christians, as Americans...

The following is the portion played on the Glenn Beck program:

I have talked face to face with the godless communist leaders. It may surprise you to learn that I was host to Mr. Kruschev for a half day when he visited the United States, not that I’m proud of it. I opposed his coming then, and I still feel it was a mistake to welcome this atheistic murderer as a state visitor.

But, according to President Eisenhower, Kruschev had expressed a desire to learn something of American Agriculture — and after seeing Russian agriculture I can understand why.

As we talked face to face, he indicated that my grandchildren would live under communism. After assuring him that I expected to do all in my power to assure that his and all other grandchildren will live under freedom he arrogantly declared in substance:

You Americans are so gullible. No, you won’t accept communism outright, but we’ll keep feeding you small doses of socialism until you’ll finally wake up and find you already have communism. We won’t have to fight you. We’ll so weaken your economy until you’ll fall like overripe fruit into our hands!

While that is a powerful excerpt, the entire talk is full of powerful and valuable information, guidance and wisdom. I will quote some more excerpts below, I hope you will take the time to listen to or read the entire talk.

"The communist threat from without may be serious, but it is the enemy within, warns President McKay, that is most menacing."

“Next to being one in worshiping God,” says President McKay, “there is nothing in this world upon which this church should be more united than in upholding and defending the Constitution of the United States!.”

"We cannot compromise good and evil in an attempt to have peace and unity in the Church, any more than the Lord could have compromised with Satan in order to avoid the War in Heaven."

"Let me quote a few excerpts from that inspired statement and ye who have been misled into believing that you can somehow righteously avoid standing up for freedom – heed his counsel: “In order that there may be no misunderstanding by bishops, stake presidents, and others regarding members of the Church participating in nonchurch meetings to study and become informed on the Constitution of the United States, Communism, etc...Church members are at perfect liberty to act according to their own conscience in matters of safeguarding our way of life. They are, of course, encouraged to honor the highest standards of the gospel and to work to preserve their own freedoms...The position of this church on the subject of Communism has never changed. We consider it the greatest satanical threat to peace, prosperity, and the spread of God’s work among men that exists on the face of the earth."

"According to Norman Vincent Peal, “Their was a time when the American people roared like lions for liberty; now they bleat like sheep for security.” “But,” some say, “Shouldn’t we have confidence in our government officials – don’t we owe them allegiance?” To which we respond in the words of President Clark, “God provided that in this land of liberty, our political allegiance shall run not to individuals, that is, to government officials… the only allegiant we owe as citizens or denizens of the United States, runs to our inspired Constitution which God Himself set up.”

"Now Satan is anxious to neutralize the inspired counsel of the Prophet...he will argue, “There is no need to get involved in the fight for freedom – all you need to do is live the gospel.” Of course this is a contradiction, because we cannot fully live the gospel and not be involved in the fight for freedom."

"There has been no more fight in us than there is in a bunch of sheep, and we have been much like sheep. Freedom was never brought to a people on a silver platter, nor maintained with whisk brooms and lavender sprays."

"We have been warned again and again and again. The Lords spokesman has consistently raised his voice of warning about the loss of our freedom. Now he that has ears, let him hear, and ye who praise the Lord, learn to also follow His spokesman. ...as for me and my house, we will strive to walk with the Prophet. And the Prophet has said that: “No greater immediate responsibility rests upon the members of the church, upon all citizens of this republic and of neighboring republics than to protect the freedom vouchsafe by the Constitution of the United States.”"

An Invitation

I want to invite you to browse the website today. I encourage you to read every article and every quote on the website, as daunting a task as that might seem. Now and again I re-read many of the articles and quotes I have put up on the website. It's inspiring to me to read the words of the prophets and other leaders and their stand for freedom. If you don't read everything, I would at least recommend the quotes by the prophets along with article by W. Cleon Skousen and Ezra Taft Benson. As I have read and studied these things from an LDS perspective I find myself coming to the same conclusions and learning many of the same things as those who study non-lds philosophers such as Adam Smith, Frederick Bastiat, Ludwig Von Mises, Ayn Rand, and others.

Communism Today

Communism was the big enemy to freedom in the time of Ezra Taft Benson and David O. McKay, both who were vocal in opposing it. President Benson often mentioned that socialism is the twin to communism, that there is not much difference between the two.

Many believe the communists were "defeated". Today, rather than openly trying to get Americans to accept communism they now have craftily and slowly duped many into accepting socialism.

What is Left? What is Right?

Within both major parties there are many politicians and government officials that have also supported and voted for socialism. As much as some want to believe the republicans are the good guys and the democrats as the bad - that is not the reality. I invite you to read W. Cleon Skousen's article titled: What is Left? What is Right? - http://www.latterdayconservative.com/w.-cleon-skousen/what-is-left-what-is-right.html - If you read and understand this you will also understand my way of thinking regarding political paradigms. I do not see it as left vs right, republican vs democrat or liberal vs. conservative... my paradigm is different... I see Freedom being in the balance. On one side of the spectrum there is 100% anarchy, on the other is 100% tyranny, the Constitution provides the proper balance between the two, of having just enough laws to keep us free. Unfortunately today we are far from the balance provided by the Constitution and have been creeping slowly towards socialism and tyranny.

Quoting from W. Cleon Skousen's What is Left? What is Right?:

"The U.S. Constitution, therefore, was designed to establish the American eagle right in the center of the political spectrum. With cautious precision, the founding fathers hammered out the framework of the Constitution during the sultry summer months of 1787. It was to be a government of the people with enough power to preserve order and security, but not enough central authority to abuse the people."

"The American Eagle developed into a two-winged creature...Recent American history will demonstrate that Wing #1 tends to solve its problems by rushing to the left, trying to seize control of the people, and then using legislative authority to force them to "do what is good for them." On the other hand, Wing #2 tends to become indifferent to changing times and the need for adjustment and therefore runs the risk of degenerating toward the right and losing the confidence of the people because of the chaos created by unsolved problems."

"It often comes as a great shock to some people to hear that the Nazi-Fascist dictatorships are Marxist movements and occupy a position on the political spectrum right next to International Communism."

The house is coming along

For the last couple of weeks we have been working on getting the house livable. Its still going to take a while longer. But we have managed to get a lot accomplished. One of the first things to be done was getting heat and tearing out the rest of the living room ceiling.

The living room ceiling was only partly there to begin with due to the tub that the previous owners had installed and I am guessing they just didn't get to finish, or didn't care. It wasn't a neat hole or something that could have easily have been patched, so out it went. There was a ton of wood and plaster all over the place and all the dust! The dust is absolutely horrible, you breath it in no matter what you. I tried wearing the dust mask, bandana, my shirt, nothing was working. We also tore out the ugly, faded, used to be a blue-green carpet that now is a bland gray, in both the living room and dining room.

Someone had mentioned about maybe tearing out the wall between the dining room and kitchen, to open the place up, and I got to thinking about it and suggested it to Ethan. His only concern was whether or not the wall was a weightbearing wall. I had to go to work on that particular Sat. and came home to it already mostly devoured. Alan informed me that the wall had been attacking him, therefore he felt the need to give it a Karate kick to teach it a lesson. As you can tell the wall was not a weight bearing wall. Once it was removed, the place looks a thousand times better and has a lot more natural light.

Because the wall had come out, Ethan and Dad said to pull out the ceiling in both D.R. and Kitchen. Reason being that it was a plaster ceiling and it was just going to keep falling down in temperature changes as it had already been doing. So out went those ceilings. Ethan and Jody have been busy setting up the propane tanks for our heating system and getting the water lines in. A lot of the plumbing lines had burst two year before because the place hadn't been winterized in time.

We are anxiously waiting to get the electric turned on so we can start staying later, but since the place has been vacant for more than a year, the electric company requires an inspection. We are still waiting to the gentleman to come out and do it. Once that takes place, the water will be on again. That means so many different things for me. Number one, a functioning toilet. The Eberle's live very close to us and have been generously offering the use of their bathroom for us.

We bought a used stove to replace the dilapatated oven that currently sit there, and will be getting a new fridge. Ethan and I have been working on a new design for the Kitchen and I am sooo excited. We do have pictures, but I can't post right now. We are making progress!

It was decided that the laundry room would be best upstairs in the small room next to the bathroom. I came up with this brilliant idea for linen closet. Ethan is going to install a dual sided opening cabinets in the wall between both rooms. I can fold towels and stuff and just put them in the cupboard above the washing machine and dryer, and they can just pull them out in the bathroom. We are also going to have a shelf made just for the dirty clothes to be put in, and I can open the cabinet on my side and just pull it all out to do laundry. I mention this to my Mother-in-law and she loved the idea.

As for the next messy job, the old chimney is being torn out. There are three chimneys on the house. One for the fire place, one for the old oil heater system which had some leaks in it and caused some water damage, and the third one for over the leaking one. The Damaged one is coming out to let us have some more room in the kitchen.

I know there is a lot of work, but I can't wait to see it done. It is all mine to play with.

Everything I remember about this morning

I found a journal questions list and figure that it will help me get better at journal writing.

This morning I woke up before 8:30 , Mark and Ethan weren't awake yet, so I thought I would take advantage and take a hot bath by myself. Mark joins me for most of them. When I got out, Ethan was still out of it and I walked into Mark's room and he was in his " I am trying to figure out if I want to be awake or need more sleep" crawl across his crib. He heard me walk in and promptly sat up. I took him up and fed him his breakfast. While he was eating his banana, I got on the computer, checked email, blog, facebook, and read my favorite comics (FBorFW, Baby Blues, Zits, and Questionable Content). Alan needed waking up now as well as Ethan. We were all going to Ness's to watch her kids before I had to go to work. Ethan and I were giving Alan a ride and not to waste gas, we stayed with there and helped. Caleb and Mark were both being cranky-pants and in need of naps. Mark will not, under any circumstances fall asleep in my arms. I have him trained to fall asleep in his crib without needing to be cuddled with me. That plan has kind of backfired against me. Now at church, unless someone else is holding him, he won't nap. Anyways, after those two finally went to sleep, we had some pizza and then went to work. That was my morning.

The best book I ever read. . .

This is my absolute favorite book. Its is not a common one, and was give to my family by a family member.

Sixteen-year-old Kevin (Muskrat) Winslow spends a summer as a farm hand on the McIntyre properties in Southern Alberta after smashing up his dad’s car. Reluctant to settle into the job, he expresses his feelings of exile in letters and light-hearted newspapers to his friend Mitch in Calgary. Slowly, the eccentric farm hands and characters from this rural community grow on him. When his satirical caricatures and hyperbolic expressions of humourous daily events leak out to the McIntyre’s employees, "The McIntyre Liar’s" expanded readership encourages him publish more issues.

I can't find a copy of this, if someone knows where I can get one, let me know. I have checked Amazon a couple of times for it, but they never seem to have it when I look.

Halloween Squid

I got to be a Squid for Halloween. I went with Alan and my cousin trick or treating. It wasn't as much fun as I had hoped.