Spider Hotel Vacancies

Do spiders move into other webs that are left vacant? While sitting here trying to decide what to title this post, I noticed a couple of webs in the corner of the room. With the weather getting cold and all, I am thinking I should destroy the vacant spider hotel rooms before some other spider decides he or she is moving in for the winter. Neil vacuumed up two small spiders and webs from our bedroom a short while ago. The first year we lived in our current house, I don't recall getting a lot of bugs of any sort in the house. Granted, that was a long time ago and I can't remember what happened an hour ago, but still. So, we realized that the previous homeowner had lots of chemicals for destroying bugs in the shed. We haven't sprayed the perimeter of the house, but I know the previous guy did and I am thinking it's a good idea. I think I thought that before, but really never put that thought into an action plan. Maybe it's time. I finally killed the friendly kitchen spider. He was out of his neighborhood. He was living in the cactus in the kitchen window and he wasn't bothering me there. The other day, I found him on the wall near the microwave and light switch. That was his last day on earth. I just can't have spiders roaming the walls where they don't need to be. The kitchen spider was white and fairly good sized. His web on the cactus made a good trap for fruit flies one day. I hope we don't have another fruit fly problem because now I am without kitchen spider. Darn him. Why did he leave his "hood"?

Anyway . . .

So, after a little bit of a rocky start to school, Gunnar is doing better. His reading teacher complimented him yesterday for focusing and working hard. We've always known he is plenty intelligent enough, it's just an issue of motivation, focus and attitude with him. I think he got a good report last week from his homeroom teacher too. So, it's progress. Contacts are still going well. It's been one month today and he still is willing to put them in. Contact solution, the right one, makes a big difference. I bought the wrong one and that was not a good week! We have new solution and he's a whole new kid, well, ok . . . he's still the same, but doesn't stinging eyeballs.

Speaking of eyeballs, mine have been watering all day today and it's really driving me CRAZY. So much watering that the corners of my eyes are starting to feel raw due to all the wiping of water from the corner of my eye. And they are now puffy and tired and . . . ugh.

Fischer has been kind of gunk-y, cough-y, snot-y lately too. You can kind of tell he doesn't feel the greatest, he cries about almost anything. Hope he gets over that soon. He's usually a happy boy.

Well, folks, my watering, stinging, tired eyes can't hack it anymore. Hasta luego, amigos.

Joker Hat

Dear Aunt Cathy,
Although I run the risk of bringing tears to the eyes of the few readers of this blog, I just wanted to write to say that I am thinking of you. I just had nothing better to do than to look through the boys' scrapbooks. When I am bored and don't feel like cleaning, I sit and look at the pictures. The last picture we have of you is from Paden's baby blessing day on Easter Sunday 2005. What I journal for that page was how lucky we are to have such a large family that gathers together for special events. Paden was especially lucky to have you there, as you passed on only one month later.

At the boys' elementary school, they only attend Monday through Thursday. Unless there is a holiday Monday, then they go on Friday - which is Freaky Friday. They always do something special for Freaky Friday. The first Freaky Friday this year was the week of Labor Day. It was crazy hat day. Paden wore a fleece, colorful joker hat made by you. It was his choice; he's a pretty funny kid. I said that it would make you smile for him to wear it. He said, "I thought Aunt Cathy died." I said that you were watching him from Heaven and were definitely laughing with him and his crazy hat. Yeah, I forgot to take pictures, so I guess the only ones who got to see were me and you. ;-)

I know you can see your family from above, but they really are doing well. Milo still smiles a lot and laughs that bellowing belly laugh that we love. The girls are getting so grown up. Hank in college??!! Wow. The older boys are on their own and seem to be enjoying themselves. It's amazing to see everyone grow up and become independent. I know they learned so many great qualities from you.

You probably already know this too, but Neil has perfected the "dead sister BBQ sauce" (sorry to anyone who might not like that name). The recipe that you had for your ribs is the best BBQ sauce we've ever had. Neil makes a mean brisket and sauce. So, we get to think of you every so often when we make it. Some people really look at Neil funny when he tells them about the sauce and we usually have to reassure folks that you would be/are laughing at the name - that your sense of humor is good!

The last couple of Relief Society lessons have been interesting, maybe that's sparked my thoughts lately. Last week was about life after death and today was about the gathering of the House of Israel, then we sang the song "Til We Meet". I am so thankful for knowledge of life after death and for eternal families. That doesn't mean that we all don't get a little emotional sometimes because we miss seeing you here on earth. Like today . . .

Well, I have to get up early for a bake sale at work - oops forgot to make the rice krispie treats. Hmmm . . . luckily I bought 20 dozen cookies and two cakes from the prison bakery!

We love you Cathy and will always keep you in our hearts . . . until we meet again . . .

Catch Up

I somewhat feel like it's about time for one of those "catch up" blog posts, but it seems as though I have blogged more than I thought I had, even though it's not very much!

So, what is it that we have been doing?? Well, after we spent the day in Portland for Gunnar's birthday, Grandma with the puppies came to visit overnight. We had a good time hanging out with Grandma for a little while. She bought Gunnar a remote control boat which he totally loved driving around and around in the pool. Then the next Saturday, we had a Livingston family party at the Moses Lake Aquatic Center - pictures on Shutterfly.

As you can see in this picture of Grandma and the boys, we have a red-ish, orange-ish looking wall in the background. I did paint our entry way, maybe I mentioned that before. I got on a little kick during the summer that we were going to get the painting done in our house. Well, I got a start on it. We still need to get a frame made for a picture (all the Georgia boots lined up) we had made about 2 feet long by 10.5 inches tall in sepia to put on the wall. It's going to look good. Then I am going to buy a couple of tin/metal signs, rustic looking, to put in the entry way too. I picked out paint for the dining room, but the curtains I bought might have to make me change the wall color a little. Anyhoo . . .

Then, Gunnar went to stay with Grandma with the puppies for a few days (which I don't seem to have any pictures of, hint, mom). While he was gone, Neil took Paden over/down to Union where there was an attempt at a Livingston Family Reunion. I had meetings in Tri-cities, so I couldn't go. Gunnar was gone and Neil didn't want to take Fischer overnight with just him and Paden. So, just papa and Paden went down. Paden has wanted to go fishing and keep a fish to eat for a long time. They loaded up their fishing poles and headed out to Catherine Creek. Paden caught these two little trout and brought them home. We fried them up with some butter, flour, salt and pepper. Paden thought they were really good, but a little hard to eat. But, he ate them.

Not too long after that, school was about to start. Yippee!! Routine!! It seemed so exciting. Now, it's hard. But, it's a little better routine than the lolly-gag summer the boys had.

The first day of school, Paden was sporting some camouflage pants, Cars t-shirt and a Hawaiian shirt - all of which were fabulous finds at Goodwill. It was a hot day, but for some reason school meant summer was over like the flip of a switch. The next day he realized that it was still hot out and it's ok to wear shorts to school. Gunnar has gotten really finicky about clothes lately and won't wear anything but athletic shorts, even though during the summer he wore other shorts. I also bought some at Goodwill before school started and specifically asked him if he liked them, to which he replied in the affirmative. But, no - not enough to wear to school I found out on the first day of school. Hmph.

Along with school came soccer. Both boys are playing soccer this year. Paden is really enjoying it much more than he did the first year he played. He plays goalie for one quarter usually and he loves it. He lays down while the ball is on the other end of the field and when it gets to mid field, he pops up and dances around ready for the ball. There might be a little too much dancing around, he does let some balls get by him. But, he is having fun, he's playing aggressively and so, it's all good.

Gunnar is playing soccer too. I am the coach. I know nothing about soccer and Gunnar doesn't listen to me really well sometimes, so that is your indication of how well that works out. We don't have enough people who will volunteer their time, so sometimes suckers like me get stuck doing stuff like coaching 8 & 9 year old boys soccer. So, it's been interesting. I do have an assistant, but he's the head coach of another team. So far, it's fine, just a little more challenging that maybe expected. I did pick up another assistant a few days ago thanks to a boy's mother. I hope that works well.

Fischer insists on coming to every practice and game and usually wears his soccer cleats - which were Paden's from his first year of soccer. The shoes are too big for Fischer by a little bit, but he doesn't trip over them or anything, so they aren't that much too big. He's two. Paden was kind of a small kid at 4, I guess. I found out today that Paden is the youngest kid on his team, but you couldn't really tell.

Open House at the school was interesting and good. Paden has Mrs. Files, which is who Gunnar had for both of his second grade years. Her class is a first/second grade split this year, like it was last year. So, Paden is in with half first graders and half second graders, but has recess with the big kids. We like her, she did well with Gunnar and we are happy she's got Paden. What a difference those two are though. Paden's only issue is that he tries to read too fast and puts his own words in the book. So, that's what we have to work on him. He's in the highest first grade reading group reading up to third grade level - as far as what he tests as at school. The other day he was looking for Harry Potter to start reading . . .

Gunnar is in third grade and has the teacher that we had hoped for, although we didn't really know any of the third grade teachers. His teacher said that he doesn't have any behavioral problems with Gunnar in school. Gunnar just doesn't get his work done. He stalls and just doesn't focus, therefore he doesn't have any completed work. So, we'll be staying on top of that one. I am glad to hear he's got no behavioral issues, he did have a run-in with the PE teacher the first week and his reading teacher the third week. Gunnar served some extra chore time for those, hopefully he'll be better. He did one thing that was awesome though - he didn't make excuses for his behavior. He started to, then stopped himself and just admitted he was screwing around and that he would work harder. So, it's a start. :) He is doing well with wearing contacts - which reminds me I keep forgetting to go pick up the rest of his year-supply. We got him the 30-day throw away ones. They said those are better for kids since they often get dirty and it's better to have fresh ones every month. So far, so good. He's had a few small issues of frustration getting one in here and there, but overall it's fine. He doesn't notice them and doesn't realize he's wearing them. He know the alternative is back to his glasses, so he seems to be motivated to make the contacts work for him.

We decided to replace the kitchen cabinets with the old doors from my sister-in-law's kitchen remodel. They are all cut and hopefully will get sanded this week. I have paint to paint the bases - need to test a spot, maybe tomorrow, to see if I am going to like it. We also should be able to secure the extra back-splash tiles from my sister-in-law which shall look quite nice in our kitchen as well. :-)

So, I suppose that about catches us up to today when I snapped a photo of Paden playing Monopoly Jr by himself. I was supposed to be playing with him, but he was just playing my guy for me. Funny kid.