I am Michelle D. Carter

It started earlier this summer. We were at our local festival. The boys had picked a little elephant ride. The climbed into their own elephant, Alex was behind Andy. Here comes a little girl who climbs in the elephant with Andy.

Pretty soon you could here Alex teasing and taunting Andy, “Andy’s got a girlfriend, Andy’s got a girlfriend.”

You could see Andy laughing but he never said anything back to Alex while the girl was next to him. The rest of the night they took turns telling each other that they had girlfriends.

This morning, while the bus was pulling up to whisk the kids off to school, the boys were fighting over who got a kiss from me first. Andy asked for his kiss first so, he got it first. Then a kiss for Alex.

I expected Alex to throw a fit. However, this was his response, “Andy got a kiss from a girl, Andy got a kiss from a girl.”

They giggled all the way to the bus. So ornery, yet so cute! Between the strap-on vagina and teasing, I can only imagine what is in store for me. It’s definitely going to be an interesting ride.

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.

The first one said, “Oh my, it’s getting late.”

The second one said, “There are witches in the air.”

The third one said, “But we don’t care.”

The forth one said, “I’m ready for some fun.”

The fifth one said, “Let’s run and run and run.”

O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-h went the wind and out went the light. And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

Tomorrow’s the big day! I love trick or treating, especially our neighborhood. Some houses give out full sized candy bars. Some houses have beverages for the adults – those are my favorite houses to go to.

This is my 100^th post. So I thought this was a good time to reflect back. Quite frankly, I don’t like some of my latest posts. I know not every post can be rock star material. However, I’m having more dweebie posts than good ones.

I’m struggling with what things I should write about. AND what would be appropriate to post for the world to see. I could have blogged about the day the boys got home from school and Alex decided to draw a vagina. I told him that was enough. However, he doesn’t listen. He drew a triangle with a line through it. I just shook my head. The next thing I know he has the paper vagina cut out and strapped on Andy. Is this appropriate for the world to see? Am I setting myself up to have my kids taken away from me?

Then there was the time that Andy and I answered the phone at the same time. He was very quiet. He was trying to repeat everything that I was saying. Pretty soon I hear, “Butt crack” screamed into the phone. Nice. What kind of kids am I raising?

Often I hear, “That’s boys for you.” Am I alone in this fight? Am I the only one struggling with trying to teach boys what is appropriate and failing miserably?

So, I will try to do better about blogging and hope I don’t cross the line.

Wa-hoo! I got a new cell phone yesterday.

In March, Tim’s company got him a Blackberry so I decided to switch to the same provider at that time. Within a couple months, I started to get an error message on the phone. I simply did a soft reset and it would work just fine.

After dealing with it for several months, I finally decided to call technical support and get the problem fixed. Come to find out, they have had so much trouble with my phone that they no longer carry it. I had the option of deleting everything out of the phone and installing a new operating system to see if that would fix it or they would send me a replacement. The first option seems to me like trying to put a band-aid on a severed artery so I chose the replacement phone.

It arrived yesterday morning. I quickly ripped it out of the box and plugged it in to charge. It is very similar to the phone I already had. That’s a good thing, I really like that phone.

Around 5:00, it still wasn’t charged. What the hell?! Then it hit me. That wasn’t the extra battery they sent. It was the battery. I had spent all day trying to charge a phone without a battery in it.

So, on that note, I’ll be resting the brain tomorrow. I think it needs a rest, don’t you?!!

I noticed Andy finally had his first loose tooth a couple of weeks ago. Alex had already lost two teeth. Just like Alex, I saw that Andy’s tooth was coming in behind his baby tooth.

I kept a watchful eye on it. Checking from time to time to see how loose it was getting. He’d let me wiggle it a little bit, but not too much. He’s witnessed my torturing of his brother.

On Saturday I noticed it was becoming pretty loose. I asked if I could try to pull it. He looked at me with his big blue eyes and said, “Will it hurt?”

“Yes, it will hurt some.”

He still let me have a tug. I gave it a good yank and could feel it coming out. Then the screaming started and I knew I had to stop. So close, yet so far.

“I’m bleeding!” he managed to yell through his tears.

I pulled him up on my lap and told him it would be OK. The bleeding stopped and he was all better. He then told me that in an hour I could pull on it again. A few hours later and he still wasn’t letting me near his mouth.

That evening, after my birthday dinner, Andy lay on the floor wiggling his tooth. He managed to get it to where it was just hanging by a thread.

We ran into our bathroom and showed him how it was about to come out. We told him we needed to pull it out so it didn’t fall out while he was sleeping. I sat him down. Tim started laughing. I turned around and Alyssa and Alex were covering their ears so Andy’s screams of pain wouldn’t deafen them.

One quick yank and it was out with very little drama. In fact, Andy said, “This is cool!” He lost his first tooth on my 40^th birthday. Sweet!!

Well it happened… I turned 40 on Saturday. It just doesn’t seem like I should be that old. 40 is NOT old! It’s funny that the older you get, your version of old seems to change.

The day began at 12:30 in the morning with Alex complaining that his tummy hurt. Tim tried to pass him off on me but I quickly responded with it’s my birthday, you take care of him. The two of them slept downstairs the rest of the night.

At 7:00, Tim and Alex come up to wake me up and Alex says, “Good morning birthday girl.” It was so sweet.

I had decided I wanted to go to Garozzo’s for dinner. It is a local Italian restaurant that is SO yummy! Garlic literally seeps out of your pores for days afterwards. The best part… you get your birthday dinner free.

After the boys’ soccer game we got cleaned and dressed up and headed to the restaurant. Andy opened the door to the van for me. Such a little gentleman! Then as we walked in the restaurant, Alex said to me, “You look beautiful.” Oh my gosh, that was so sweet! Where did you boys get such sweet manners and why in the hell don’t you use them more often?!!

After we got home, I opened cards that all three kids had made for me. It was so sweet. I thanked them for the best birthday ever. I’m so proud of all my sweeties.

I ended the night snuggling with Alyssa. Apparently the stomach virus that plagued her Dad and brothers was now attacking her. Poor little thing couldn’t quit shaking. After she fell asleep I came back to my own bed. The next day she was fine. Thank goodness.

Thank you my sweet family!!

And thank you Pam, for the awards. I pass them on to Dorsey and Debbie.

Here it is… we were Super Mario Brothers for Halloween. Alex was Mario. Andy was Luigi. Tim was Wario. Alyssa and I were both Princess Peach. Our dresses are actually Sleeping Beauty dresses but they worked. I had my dress for quite some time. I purchased it from the Disney Store on sale for next to nothing. I knew some day I’d use it.

We transformed our Road Kill Café into a dungeon by stapling “stone” wall to it. Then printed out things you would see in the game and taped them to the wall. Tim also had Alyssa play some of the game and recorded the sounds. We had that playing in the background.

Andy wasn’t feeling well so Tim took him home for a little bit. That left me to hand out the candy while Alyssa and Alex went out on their own for candy. Andy and Tim returned with time to spare to fill Andy’s bag with candy.

It was fun to have all the kids come by and say Hi Princess Peach. I wondered how many people would know all our characters. There were a lot of kids that knew all of us. It was great! A good time was had by all.

I’m already planning next year’s costumes. I have three ideas so far. We’ll see which one we can pull off.

I had it all planned. I planned to blog about last year’s Trunk or Treat. However, there have been a couple events the last couple of days that I feel I must share.

Forgive me if I don’t know all the details. I’m sure I’m not the only one who catches part of the news due to kids running amuck.

There was an Amber alert issued yesterday for a 6 year old boy. I believe it happened in Vegas. Someone came in and tied up the Mom and her boyfriend and then took the boy. I pray that they find him safe and sound.

I debated whether to tell my kids about this. After all, it will never happen to us. Isn’t that what every one thinks? At what point do you tell them things and still try to protect their innocence? I decided to tell them and turn it into a learning experience. I told them what happened and told them that this is exactly why they don’t open the door to anyone they don’t know. I think they understood. They asked questions. They even told Dad about it.

In the wee (6-ish) hours this morning I woke to a helicopter flying around. 15 minutes later I’m still hearing it. I lay there thinking there must be one heck of an accident on the highway. We are about 5 miles from the highway.

Tim was already downstairs watching the local news. I join him and jokingly say, “So, are they searching for someone?”

Tim, “Yes.”

“Really?”

Tim, “Yes. Apparently there’s a suspicious vehicle parked in the parking lot of Longview Farm Elementary. The guy tried to break into a house then took off running. Grandview police got involved. He waved a gun at the police and they shot him. Had the kids been in school they probably would have had a “Code Red.” For those of you who don’t know, Code Red is the code given when there is someone in the school that shouldn’t be and could cause harm. This is a result of the Columbine School shooting.

“What?!!”

Tim had recorded the news that had the details and replayed it for me. Unbelievable!! That’s the school where my little babies go to school. How could this be? We live in a nice neighborhood. Things like that don’t happen to us. It’s always someone else.

I used to think people were funny about not sending their kids to school after something like this. But now I understand. While my kids did go to school this morning and they weren’t in any danger, I did think about keeping them home. Just to keep them safe. Just to hold them so nothing bad will ever happen to them. But, you just have to let them go and hope for the best.

So, give your kids an extra hug and kiss today. Be thankful they are safe and sound.

Trunk or Treat: Last year’s theme was Little Mermaid. Tim was King Triton. I was Ursula. Alyssa was Ariel. Alex was Sebastian. Andy was supposed to be Prince Eric. However, when it came time to put on costumes, everyone had these fancy costumes. Andy’s was basically pants and a shirt. He threw a fit. We had suspected this might be an issue. It was confirmed as he threw himself to the floor with tears streaming down his face.

Feeling like horrible parents, Tim took Andy to get a costume while the rest of us headed to the school. I told Tim, “Get something to do with water.”

I expected them to return with a shark or a fish. NO, we end up with a duck! OK, how does this fit into our theme?!!

Tim said, “We went three different places and this was all I could find. Plus, he is so excited. All the way up here he kept saying ‘Thanks Dad, this is the best costume ever.’”

OK, OK, he’s happy, that’s what is important. While each year we do a theme, it is important that the kids are happy with their costume. After all, it is supposed to be about them.

Don’t forget to come back Monday to see what our theme is this year.

Alyssa wanted to be a cat. The boys were dogs. I made their costumes. I’m not very good at sewing so this is the one and only time you will see costumes sewn by me. Tim and I wore jackets with Animal Control on the back.

Unfortunately, this is the only picture I have. Tim transformed our Road Kill Café into The Pound. The open area (drive thru window) was filled in with bars like a cage. The event started and we didn’t get the chance to take a picture. Tim told me he would put it back together at home so we could take pictures. It was Halloween 2006. I’m still waiting…

Halloween is a big deal to us. We enjoy decorating and dressing up. While frantically getting ready for this year’s Trunk or Treat, I thought I would reflect back and show you what we’ve done in years past.

We always do a theme. Our first year, we did the Road Kill Café. Tim was our chef. I was the waitress. The boys were our Road Kill crew. It was their job to scrape the animals off the road for us. Alyssa wanted to be a skeleton so she was our dead decaying animal on the road.

Tim took a day off work and built our Road Kill Café. It turned out great! It was a blast!!