Happy Halloween!!

Tonight was the first time in the 4 years that we have lived in our house that we have actually gone trick-or-treating in our own neighborhood. For the past 24 years I have always wandered through my mother's neighborhood in search of fun-sized sugary goodness, but since she moved 300 miles away this past June, we walked the streets of our neighborhood instead. And I was pleasantly surprised! In a neighborhood filled with uppity capitalist Republican "go start your own business and buy your own candy, you lazy 5 year old" people, my kids actually made out like bandits. Don't get me wrong, most of my neighbors are trick-or-treat Scrooges. But for those who actually don't mind the parade of costume clad juveniles lurking from cul-de-sac to cul-de-sac, it was awesome. Some houses handed out full sized candy bars, one had a setup of sodas to go with the candy! This house also had a cooler labeled "treats for grown ups" that I could only assume was full of beer. But hey, to each his own. See, some people are thinking "beer? At trick-or-treat? Do you live in a trailer park?" While others realize how much beer costs, and know that this is not the case if people in my neighborhood are just handing it out. Some would call them good Samaritans, they're just doing their part to help people take the edge off dealing with all of the sugared up tiny humans. The best house was actually showing a movie on the side of the house, and handing out candy, hot chocolate, cider (both hot and cold), chips, and hot dogs. They even threw in a million dollars... well, in play money, but still.

Aaron loved his first trick-or-treat experience, even though it was a short one. He's got the worst head cold right now, so I let him hit the 3 lit up houses on our block, and sent him back home with Tony. The older 3 kids and I went the rest of the way around the neighborhood, while the teenagers stayed home and passed out candy (trying to avoid waking up to a house covered in toilet paper tomorrow).

Costumes this year were a breeze. The boys begged me for costumes that they saw at WalMart. And I was all, "wait... these are like $7!" So, no argument from Mom. Aaron was a pumpkin, because for some reason in my family, the baby is always a pumpkin for the first trick-or-treat. It's not intentional, it just sort of always works out that way. Andie was a little more complicated. I was full on expecting to have some sort of preteen battle with her over some costume that was just to oversexed, but "everyone else is wearing it." But she came to me and wanted to be a zombie. Hmmm... I had to swish that one around a bit, because I wasn't sure if it was going to be sweet or bitter. On one hand, she would be full clothed. One the other hand, she didn't want to be something pretty... and well, have you seen my daughter? She's beautiful. I caved, because I know that I'm on the precipice of her teenage years, and I've got to start choosing my battles. So I watched a couple of tutorials, got some fake blood and liquid latex and was able to pull this off....

Yes, I know. I rock. You may applaud :)

Did I Just Talk Myself Out of This? Or Into it?

I swear I spent a solid hour talking to Aaron's developmental aide about having another baby. I talked myself in circles about the pros and cons about having a baby right now, and I've got to say, I'm a lot more confused about it than I was yesterday. This is a decision that I thought was already made, but I had gone back and forth in my head about it for a long time. I know that we are going to have another baby, that part is non-negotiable, but the when and how of it are always changing it seems. Sometimes I feel like I'm being selfish. I think it's a genuine emotion, selfishness. I wonder if I am doing more harm than good by having a baby now. But then again, am I going to isolate both Aaron and a new baby if we wait much longer? I don't know. Maybe I should run down a list of pros and cons and decide the next set of steps from there. After all, I have until February at the earliest until a decision has to be made.

You know? Maybe that's the problem. Maybe I just have too much idle time to sit and think of all of the doomsday scenarios. It would be like me to sit and draw out every single possible negative outcome imaginable and not acknowledge the possibility that everything may very well turn out just fine.

Full Weekend!

This weekend went by in a flash. Tony was on vacation this past week, so clearly that went by in a blink! Seems like every time I finally get to spend time with him, it just goes by too quickly. I miss him.

On the bright side, we had a pretty awesome weekend to lead him back into the work week. Saturday was the homecoming dance and my Janie-Pie's high school. I spent the day dolling her up, and helping Michael learn the basics "Formal Dance 101." Read as: how to tie a necktie, and iron your pants. You'd figure he'd know all of this by 19, but he doesn't. The good news is, he'll be fine by the time he hits 20. They looked adorable together, even though Tony teased Michael mercilessly about trading in his long luxurious (allbeit girly) locks for the Justin Beiber. I didn't think he looked like music's boy (?) wonder... but to each his own. But there was no question about my oldest girly girl, she looked gorgeous. I really wish I could take some credit for that. Well, I sort of can since I did her hair and makeup, but the rest of it is all her.

Today was phenomenal though. It was the start to the cheer season! That's right, we've declared open season on convention centers around the country. Short skirts and waaaaay too much spirit are on the way to your town, so be prepared. Andie's squad did amazing though. They stuck their routine, and pulled off a win!! Yep, FIRST PLACE! That's a great start to the new season. I'm so proud of her. She's come so far, and she loves this sport so much. She's such an athlete, and she's got so much heart. I love that about her. I'm so lucky that she's mine. Sometimes I look at her gorgeous little face and think "there's no way she's really mine." And then she says "Mom, you're in my way, move," and all doubt is removed.

.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year....

It's that time again! Time for glitter, time for sponge rollers, time to spend what's left of our life savings on our nine-year-old daughter. It's cheer season! If you or someone you love has ever been sucked into the world of competitive cheerleading, then you know the hard work that goes into it from all parties involved. The athlete puts in hours upon hours in the gym, the mom spends hours learning and perfecting makeup and hair-styles, and the dad... well the dad spends countless hours at work trying to come up with the hundreds of dollars to pay for uniforms, competition fees, hotel fees (traveling team), makeup, curlers, warm ups, food, and things you can't imagine. All Star cheerleading is a super demanding sport, but we're a cheer family, and we love it. We will continue to love it, right up until the money runs out!

Last season; doing makeup.

The finished product.

Our first competition is this weekend. Everyone is super excited! The team has been doing a great job perfecting their routine, the girls are so ready to get that adrenaline rush that takes hold when they step out on the spring floor. Being a travel team, we're accustomed to 2 day competitions, and stuffy hotel rooms, but this season is keeping us a little closer to home. Most of our competitions are one day, and within 150 miles! Awesome! I think that we only have 2 that are out of state. Trust me, that's a good thing, considering last season had us living out of a hotel room every other weekend. I swear I saw Indianapolis more times last season than I saw my hometown! But for all of my traveling woes, I will say one thing, it's really a treat for my kids to get to see all of these great places. Last season took us to Chi-town. Since our children were home schooled at the time, we took an extended weekend and hung around for a mini-vacation. It was a real blessing. We plan on doing the same this season with another out of state competition.

Jamfest Chicago February 2010

All in all, cheer season is my favorite time of the year because it makes us all cheerleaders. We spend an abundance of time together as a family, we get to cheer for our daughter, and at the end of the day we all feel like we won.

Big bear hug from Dad after winning!

Like a Lawn Chair....

I folded. For the past 7 years that I have been reproducing boys, Tony has been begging me, time after time to name our son... wait for it.... not yet.... almost going to tell you.... Ashley. [grunt] I'm sorry, but in my humble opinion, Ashley is a girl's name. When we found out Anthony was a boy, he said "you know the perfect name for a boy? Ashley!" I think the way I screwed up my face in distaste when he said that answered his question. Then we found out that Aidan was going to be a boy. "What should we name him?" I wondered aloud. Only to hear Tony's voice across the room answering, "you know, I think Ashley is a good choice." I just shook my head. No way was I naming my son Ashley. Can you imagine the ridicule? Even the nickname "Ash" wouldn't save him. Then I got pregnant with yet another boy. I threw every remaining boy name out on that table for our third son. Save for one. The omitted name did not go unnoticed. When I said "Adam? Aaron? Archer? August? What do you think?" He simply looked at me smugly and said "you know what I think." ARGH!

So here we are, trying for our fifth child, and if our track record gives us any indication of what the gender of this baby is going to be, then we are looking at boy number four. So, again we are trying to figure out what we will call our bouncing bundle of baby boy (should the Y chromosome decide to show its onery face again). If you haven't noticed, we give all of our children an "A" name... so that narrows the field considerably. I was throwing around names yesterday, and made a decision. A middle name decision. The baby's middle name will be Ronan. A little old, a little European, a little stolen from Stargate Atlantis (but my goodness is Jason Momoa dripping with hottness?!) But there it was. My choice, independent from my husband. I picked that name, and now we had to pick a first name to go with it. Archer. Right there, the perfect name, right?

Tony: "Archer? Archer Ronan? Double R? It sounds like one long name, Archeronan."

Me: "Crap. It kind of does."

Tony: "That means that Asher would sound the same way."

Me : inaudible grumbling

Tony: "You know what name would go great with Ronan, right?"

Me: "Shut up!"

But you know, he's actually right. Ashley goes very well with Ronan. I'm sort of okay with that. Now, I just have to figure out how to let all of his future teachers know that he will be going by "Ronan" before the treacherous first day of school. The last thing any boy wants to do is raise his hand during the first roll call when the teacher calls out the name Ashley. Or worse, go and sit in the desk bearing the "Ashely" name tag that the teacher has taken the liberty of scrolling hearts and butterflies on.

You know what would solve this problem? Having a girl.

Missing the Window....

It seems like all of the people I know who are expecting are having girls. So, am I missing the pink window? It's no secret that after 3 boys, Tony and I would love to be able to bring a little more pink into the house (not that we wouldn't be just as happy...and well practiced... with another boy, but change is nice). I wonder if maybe I'm missing my imaginary window that will enable me to have a girl? Silly right? Yeah, I know. But I have gotten pregnant in the same season with all three of my boys (all pregnancies started in winter, ended in fall). Whereas, I got pregnant in the fall with Andie, and had her in the spring. Hmmm... maybe there's something to all of this? Maybe not. I'm probably just trying to think of anything to influence the odds in favor of a little pink. I miss frilly pantyhose, and flowers, ribbons, and bows.

Don't get me wrong, I would be blessed either way (some women who voice a desire of one gender over another get berated about it) and would be just as ecstatic to have more blue. I mean, where boys are concerned, I'm a bit of a pro. AND, I have all kinds of boy clothes, toys, etc. As a matter of fact, we've already narrowed down our boy's name! So, in reality a boy would be preferable... but, we would really like to add one more girl to the brood before we stop reproducing.

Our Yearly Recommitment...

Every year Tony and I take the kids to the Ohio Renaissance Festival. It is by far one of the most fun things we do as a family, and in our opinion it never gets played out. We genuinely love it. Each year since we got married, we have gotten a festival mug as our little tradition. This year, we decided to start a new one. This year, we decided to renew our wedding vows. We got a little certificate to prove it! It was a really awesome experience. I thought that it was going to be something small, and casual. No big deal. But it was more than that. It was significant. It really felt like we were redevoting our lives to one another in a very real way. And like a big baby, I cried. From now on, during our yearly trip to the Renfest, we will do this again and again. It will be our yearly recommitment to each other, and our family.

We really went against the grain this year. Usually, we follow the same routine of shows, games, shops. This time, we saw shows we hadn't seen before, and walked into shops that we'd passed over in the past. We even bought the horribly overpriced and terribly cliche turkey leg (which I suspect may actually be ham). All in all, it was a fantastic day. So with a hearty HUZZAH! And a wish of a gentle evening. I bid thee farewell. (I know, I'm a nerd).