Tut, Tut, it looks like rain

When you have a birthday umbrella, it is compulsory that you use it to go outside and get the mail during the very next rainstorm.

I don't see any puddles in this picture, but it sure makes me want to find one and splash in it!

A Pumpkin for Becca

We're not in a joy school group this year because Rebecca won't start kindergarten for 3 more years, but luckily a nice friend of ours invited us to go on their neighborhood preschool field trip.  It was lots of fun, especially since there was a group of around 20 little girls and boys from our area.  We got to do a hayride, pick a pumpkin, learn about the vegetables the farm grows, and play on their way cool slides made from stacked bales of hay.

Riding the Cow Train at the pumpkin patch.  Not too accurately named, because the majority of the cars on the Cow Train were pigs.

I was lucky she wanted a small pumpkin this year.  I don't think I could've helped her haul around a large one!

She looks like a new mom, staring in wonderment at a newborn baby.  At least I didn't waste the $4 I spent for her admission to the pumpkin patch!

The tractor driver stopped in the middle of the vegetable fields, went out and picked corn, carrots and onions, and brought them back for the kids to see.  It was really cute to see them get so excited about the straight-from-the-ground vegetables.  Rebecca knows that we can grow tomatoes and peppers and zucchini in our home garden, but sometimes I wonder if she thinks there's a produce factory for everything else in the back room of the grocery store.

Don't you love her stylin' Boys' Size 8 jacket?  We got to the pumpkin patch and it was much colder and windier than it had been at our house.  Luckily a nice friend of ours offered her son's extra jacket from the back of her car.

The End is Nigh

It won't be long before I'm in a room just like this one...

Doctor's appointment today.  For all the contractions I've been having this week (2 separate nights of 5-7 minutes apart for a few hours), I was going to be really disappointed if I hadn't made any progress...I'm still 70% effaced and -2 station, but, sigh of relief, I am now at a "good 2 cm."  I'd sure like to be more, but I'm cool with progress.

The doctor's office called to put me on the hospital's induction schedule today.  I'm still hoping -- but not planning, because you set yourself up for disappointment if you plan -- to go into spontaneous labor beforehand.  We shall see.  Nevertheless, one thing is sure.  Baby, baby, here you come!

Once and Future Four Eyes

This is Braden as a 2 year old, 'borrowing' my dad's glasses.  Maybe his subconscious somehow knew he was destined for a pair of his own one day.  

Braden in the car on the way home from picking up his glasses:  "I think there might be a few people at school who will make fun of my glasses."

Me:  "Will that bother you, or will you just tell them to leave you alone because they help you see better?"

Braden:  "Nah.  I'm old enough to just not worry about them.  I won't care."

Political Musings

If McCain wants to guarantee that we will not raise taxes, but we will be the peacekeepers and ethical interventionists worldwide and that he will buy up all the bad mortgages all at once, where is the money going to come from?  From not raising taxes?  Oh yeah - from eliminating earmarks.  Ha.

If Obama says that 'we went to the moon in 10 years without knowing how we would do it, and just by setting the goal we made it happen' and insists that the same thing is possible regarding energy independence...I think he trying to say, "If you Goal it, the technology will come."  Now, I'm all for goal setting, but ... How is it that he says things like that, but when asked how he would fix the woefully mismanaged entitlement programs of Medicare and Social Security, he claims it is a really tricky problem and he can't really set a time on how long it might take to fix.  It doesn't even take a scientific invention to fix those!!!!!

I don't like my choices.  Just as soon as one of the esteemed senators vocalizes a good idea, I am sure to completely disagree with the very next idea from his mouth.  Maybe I should pick the one who likes me best.  I mean, to John McCain, we're all "friends."  To Obama, we're just "folks."   Or pick the one who is coolest!  That's how people voted for the Student Council in school.  If Utah wasn't such a nothing electoral state maybe I could pick based on who handed out the best bribe-candy at the door on the way into the school-I-mean-polling-place.  If only campaign promises were worth more than a plugged nickel.  Why did I want to be a grownup in the first place?  Oh yeah, so I could make my own decisions.  Dang.

Braden Can See Better

Braden said I am not supposed to blog about this because, "It will make me feel jealous."

"You mean embarrassed?"

"Yeah, embarrassed.  You can put my picture on there, but don't say anything about it."

"OK."

This is me, not saying anything about Braden getting eyeglasses that he uses at school, around the house, and for reading.  I'm not going to mention that he doesn't have to wear them to play outside or play sports.  I'm also not saying anything about how cute he is.

Kids say the Darndest Things at Italian Restaurants

Why is it that the crowded lobby of a restaurant is the place that a 3 year old chooses to ask:

"Grandma, do you have a long bottom?"  I quickly clamp my hand over her mouth.

I whisper in her ear, "No." and remove my hand from her face.

Louder this time:  "Grandma, is your bottom like my bottom?"  

I reclamp her mouth, look up at my mom, who hadn't quite heard and is asking Becca to repeat the question.  I tell her, "Just say yes!"  Thankfully, Becca accepted her answer and there was no more talk of bottoms at the Olive Garden that night.