Trick or Treat

We had a theme going on for Halloween this year. Bet you can't guess what it was.

Peyton refused to stand up for this picture. I guess it's because since he was the scarecrow he didn't have an endoskeleton.

Dylan was a good sport about wearing this. After the first two houses he was sweating like crazy.

Andi kept saying how beautiful she looked in this. I asked her to say the prayer for dinner and she asked "Is it because I'm beautiful?" Yep, and humble too. Sam made this with some help from Aubrey. Good job.

Howdy ho scarecrow.

I'll get you my pretty.

Pumpkins

We went to a Pumpkin Patch in Rockwall for Family Home Evening.

There were so many pumpkins to choose from.

Andi picked out this one.

They also had a hay bale maze there. Andi kept following around this boy in the convict outfit that had his head zipped up in his suit. We're hoping she doesn't make a habit of following such boys.

Here is the finished product. Dylan made a bat, Peyton made a face of some sort, and Andi made a cat. Those were the three patterns that came in the kit.

Knock on Wood.

This weekend has been pretty eventful. First, was the Joy School Halloween party on Friday afternoon. I forgot to take the camera or camcorder with me, so once I get copies from those who were more prepared, I will post them on here. Friday night, Cameron and I had tickets to "Time Out for Couples" which was being held in Plano. We were a tad late dropping our kids off at the Crookston's house, and we were worried we wouldn't get a good seat, so we hit the McDonald's drive through, and went on our way. That is, until we found a speed trap in Lavon county the hard way. You see, there's this stretch of road that is marked 55 until you come up around this little curve, and it immediately switches to 45. The speed limit stays at 45 for probably close to a mile, and then switches back to 55. We were clocked going 61 in a 45. The nice officer (who Cameron will "be bitter with until the day he dies") came to the window and asked for license and proof of insurance. While I dig around frantically in the glove box for the proof of insurance I knew wasn't there (we had just switched insurance companies in the last month or so, and had neglected to put the new card in the car.) I heard Cameron making conversation with the officer. Saying things like: "I guess we were a little excited to get away from the kids." The officer probably asked us 3 times where we were going in such a hurry. When the cop went back to his car with Cameron's license and expired proof of insurance, I joked with Cameron that he should have told him that I was in labor. We of course decided against it, because it would be dishonest, but it made for a funny joke between us. After receiving our 2 tickets, we were back on our way. Time out for Couples was really good, and I got to buy a pretty cool frame while we were there. We picked our kids up around 11, and went home.
The next morning was Super Saturday. Aubrey was in charge, and I was teaching the most popular class, so we went early to set up. Aubrey picked me up at 7:15, and we spent a good portion of the morning hauling things into the church from the van. By "things" I mean boxes of frames that probably weighed upwards of 60 pounds, and other odds and ends, the lightest of which was probably at least 20 pounds. Every time I would pick something up, Aubrey would look at me and say "I'm not so sure you should be lifting that." I just kept telling her that I was fine, and not to worry. After all, sure I'm 8 months pregnant, but that "delicate condition" thing only applies if it's your first baby...right? Super Saturday got underway, and was going quite well, until my back started to ache. I wasn't surprised, I mean, I had done quite a bit of bending and lifting, I would take some Tylenol when I got home. The weird thing about this backache though, was that it wasn't a constant ache. It would ache, go away for about 5 minutes, and then come back. I guess I started looking a little uncomfortable, because several of the women there kept asking if I was alright. I assured them I was fine, it was just a backache. After all, I was supposed to have 5 more weeks to prepare for Soni's arrival. By the time I realized the contractions weren't stopping with changes in position, Aubrey had switched into ultra organized mode, convincing me that I really needed to call Cameron, while she called Jared, and arranged for my kids to be taken care of. Also assuring that Noah and Andi wouldn't have to miss the birthday party they were supposed to go to later that day. Cameron dropped Dylan and Peyton off with Jared, and brought Noah and Andi to the church. From there, Cameron and I left the church and headed for Dallas. My doctor, of course, was out of town, so I got ahold of the on call doc, and she called the hospital ahead to warn them I would be coming. I was hooked up to a monitor, and sure enough, the contractions were coming every 7 minutes. I was tested for a bladder infection, and kidney stones, to rule out those as possible culprits for things being "stirred up". After 6 hours of monitoring, having contractions every 7-10 minutes, it was determined that I had just overdone it that day, and sent my uterus into an irritable state. I hadn't made any progress (dilation-wise), so the doctor gave me the choice to either go home, or to stay and be monitored throughout the night. I opted to go home. After lots of fluids and even more rest, the contractions finally stopped, and we are still anticipating Soni's arrival to be November 29th. But I have vowed never to joke about "being in labor" again. or at least, remember to knock on wood after I do.

About Me.

4x4
So, Montse tagged me with this meme what seems like forever ago, but being the slacker that I am, I am just now getting around to it. I wonder if she must think I'm more interesting than I really am. I'm sure Cameron's would be much funnier, but here it goes...

Four jobs I've had:
Well, if you don't count the years as a teenager I spent babysitting, you could count these as "real jobs".
1. A receptionist at a Doctor's office. (I was terrible at it, but it was my first job.)
2. Nurse Assistant (I really only did this long enough to get certified, and then I graduated and went to college. But I'm counting it dangit, because with all the thankless things I had to do (can you say sponge bath?) I earned the title!)
3. Housekeeper at a motel. (did this the summer after Cameron and I were married. Not the most glamorous job, but it helped us earn some money before school started again. More importantly, it taught Cameron not to say things to me such as: "Would you just stop complaining?" and "It will be better tomorrow." Now he knows better.
4. Assembler at a factory that makes feeding tubes. (Did this until I went on "maternity leave" which is still going. Too bad the factory has since been outsourced to Mexico. I would really consider going back. Not really).

Four places I've lived:
1. Ashland, Ohio
2. Vernal, Utah
3. Rexburg, Idaho
4. Fallon, NV
There are so many more places, a few in Illinois, a few more in Idaho, not to mention where we live now, but I don't want to bore you...

Four movies I love:
1. Grease ( I used to watch it a lot when I was a kid. Probably a little too much)
2. Pillow Talk (my mom "introduced" me to Doris Day when I was a teenager, and I'm a huge fan now.)
3. I gotta agree with Montse about Pride and Prejudice. It's a classic.
4. Goonies (it's one that almost everyone can quote a line from, and makes me laugh no matter how many times I watch it.)

Four movies I'd like to see:
1. Hairspray
2. Casablanca (I've always wondered if I would like it since it's a "classic")
3. The newest Harry Potter movie (My family would probably be very disappointed to know I haven't seen it yet, and that I don't know the actual name of it. OOPS!)
4. Watching Grass Grow, Extended edition. (Just kidding, I couldn't think of a fourth.)

Four favorite foods:
This may be hard, since I just like food in general, but I'll give it a shot.:
1. Just about anything Chinese. (I really like rice) I especially like this "Sweet and Sour Meatball" recipe my family makes with wontons on the side...Mmmm starting to drool here.
2. Crazy Bread from Little Caesar's pizza. I could eat that every day!
3. Mozarella Sticks (At least recently. Soni really likes her fried cheese!)
4. Sloan Family Noodles (a main reason I look forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas every year. Especially since I've learned to make them myself!)

Four weird things about me:
1. When I was a kid, I could tie myself in a knot. No surprise that 3.5 kids later, I can't.
2. I love to do jigsaw puzzles. I used to do them with my dad all day, and into the wee hours of the morning, because we were so determined to finish.
3. I've always hated Peanut butter and Jelly Sandwiches.
4. I'm afraid of birds.

Four places I'd rather be:
1. Australia (I've always wanted to go)
2. In bed, asleep (I've reached that point where I'm always tired)
3. On any kind of vacation with Cameron, and without the kids. (Just to remember it started out with just us.)
4. At this point, in labor. I'm so tired of being pregnant.


Four People to Tag:

1. Aubrey
2. Shaela
3. Becky
4. Mandy

I'm sorry guys. Please still be my friends...

Pictures

When I was putting that sliding photo thing on the side of the blog, I noticed that we really haven't taken a lot of pictures of our kids lately. So, to rectify that, I took some pictures over the past couple of weeks. And now you get to look at them.

Hey, homey.

Peyton in his Halloween shirt that says "Will Scare For Food". It even glows in the dark.

Dylan's Halloween shirt says "Monster In Training".

You can probably read all of Andi's shirt. She likes it because it says the word "Princess" on it.

Our kids are cute. I'm not biased or anything.

We got Andi this shirt a few weeks ago. She likes it because it says the word "Princess" on it.

As an added bonus, it came with this cool nail.

Peyton was pretty tired after going to the doctor for a checkup today. I found him passed out on Sadie.

Ahhhh, furry warm pillow.

Kids in China

Sometimes I will say stuff to the kids that is really stupid and made up. Like the other night, the kids were saying something about the bad guy being up on the roof and he was going to come down and hurt them. I told them "There's no bad guy on the roof, the bad guy lives in Canada." One time I mentioned something about my boss, and Dylan asked me if he was mad and was going to spank me. I sarcastically said yes. Somehow the sarcasm was lost on the kids, so now they'll periodically ask me if I got a spanking at work.

I think I got that from my Grandpa Luthi. I remember one time as a kid I saw some skunks walking around in his field. I went in the house to tell everybody what I had seen. Grandpa told me to go grab them by the tail, because then they can't spray you. Being the smart kid that I was, I went outside to try to find the skunks. My mom came outside and told me that it really wasn't a good idea.

Anyway, today we were sitting on the couch just talking about whatever. Somehow we got on the subject of how there are a lot of people that we don't know. Andi said "We don't know the kids in China." True statement. Then she said "Kids in China don't have green plates. They only have white plates. Poor kids in China."

After she said that, I remembered one evening at dinner time trying to stop the fighting over who got the green plate and who got the less cool white plate. I probably gave the white plate to Andi, and to console her I probably said something along the lines of "Well, at least you can get the green plate sometimes. Ya know, you're lucky, because kids in China don't have green plates at all. They only have white plates. And they have to eat their food with two little sticks."

I'm surprised she even remembered that, because I sure didn't. I really need to watch what I say around the kids.

Baby On the Way

So, Sam had a doctor appointment yesterday to make sure everything was going fine with the baby and everything. They did another ultrasound, and everything is looking fine. She's still a girl (yeah), and the extra fluid that was in her kidney at the last ultrasound was not there any more. They estimated that she weighs 4 1/2 lbs now. Everything is looking fine so far.

We were able to set the induction date. If you're wonder why we get to set induction dates, it's because Sam's heart is super messed up, and it's probably best if I don't have to deliver the baby at home or on the interstate. Anyway, Soni's birthday will be November 29th, unless she decides to come sooner. If I'm doing my math right, that is six weeks from now. Holy crap.

Some uninteresting facts about her birth:
She'll be our third child born on a Thursday (Peyton was the only one not).
She's breaking the having a kid every 20 months pattern by two days.
She'll be our only kid not born in an even year.
Come tax time, she'll be another deduction. Woo hoo!
She will share a birthday with Don Cheadle and Howie Mandel, and lots of other people.

Come Back Jerry

Happy 45th birthday to my favorite wide receiver, Jerry Rice.

Now that the pleasantries are over, time for the real reason of this post. Jerry, get your butt back on the football field. I'm serious man. You're only 45. And I'm guessing that you don't smoke weed or go boozing every night like all the guys currently in the NFL, so you're really only like 32. Come on man, at 32 you were still the best receiver in the league.

It's not like you've been doing a lot since you retired. Just this:


And this:


A whole generation of kids are growing up knowing you as the bald guy who lost on Dancing With the Stars. Don't let that be your legacy.

Have you seen the bums who are out there playing receiver for the 49ers now? Those guys couldn't catch a ball if it was covered in duct tape and tossed to them from three feet away.

Come one, Steve's going to need somebody to throw the ball to. (I learned from "Everybody Loves Raymond" that you're not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition, but I don't care.)

Come on, come back and this guy can do your highlight reels. It would be cool.

Boom goes the dynamite.

Hey, don't make me beg. I love you man. You can join me and Steve in our apartment in San Francisco. Ummm, hold on. Scratch that idea. Bad idea. BAD IDEA.

McDonald's Monoploy

If any of you are playing that McDonald's Monopoly thing, I will trade you four Oriental Avenues for a Pennsylvania Avenue or a Boardwalk.

"We all live in a yellow house"

Recently at our house the kids have discovered a new passion. Cameron started it by playing CDs that had not been played for some time. He must have started doing it on Saturday mornings while I'm sleeping, because one day while Cameron was at work, Andi kept telling me she wanted to listen to the "We all live in a yellow house" song. I kept thinking it was something from Joy School, so I looked through those discs, and got nothin'. She got really irritated with me when I told her that I had no idea what she was talking about. Probably a week later, she told me she wanted to listen to the "Booties". Again, I had no idea what she was talking about. Finally I woke up one Saturday early enough to learn what she was talking about. There were Cameron and the kids in the living room dancing around to "We all live in a yellow submarine" by the Beatles. Suddenly everything made sense. It has since been claimed as a favorite song by Andi, and she and Dylan agree (which doesn't happen very often) that they love the "Booties". Hey, a classic is a classic, even amongst preschoolers!

Come Back Steve

Happy 46th Birthday to my favorite quarterback, Steve Young.
Now that the pleasantries are over, time for the real reason of this post. Steve, get your butt back on the football field. I'm serious man. You're only 46. Vinnie Testaverde is going to start a game Sunday for the Panthers. That dude's like 63 years old, and he'll have to be pushed around in a wheel chair for the second half of the game, but he's still doing it.

Come on man, your old team needs you. They're last in the NFL in yardage and points scored. They're 2-3 and they've only won two because those games were against the Arizona Retirement Community Cardinals and St Louis Hip Replacement Center Rams. Don't make your fans sit through more losses dude, it makes me feel dead inside.

Joe Montana won four Superbowls. You only won one. Do you want to live in the shadows of Joe Montana for the rest of your life?

You may say that you had to leave because you had multiple concussions. Pansy. My grandfather was trampled by a herd of cattle once. He had three broken ribs, a compound fracture of his tibia, a blown MCL and ACL, a broken wrist, and lost vision in one eye. Did he quit? No! Why? Because he had a job to do. Get your lazy butt out on the field on do you job, ya bum!

Do you know who the quarterback of your team is? Alex Smith! The kids has thrown like 300 interceptions in four games this season. He's ruining the legacy of all great 49ers quarterbacks. If you're not coming back at least teach him how to throw a football. Please.

I miss you Steve. I miss your laugh. I miss your musk. When this all gets sorted out, I think you and me should get an apartment together.

(That last part was from "Anchorman", if you were wondering.)

Going "Camping"

We bought a play tent for the kids the other weekend. They finally cleaned up their rooms, so they were able to set it up on Saturday. They really like it, and Andi and Dylan "slept" in it Saturday night. Sunday they tipped it over and said it was a rocket ship. I actually took some pictures, so I thought I'd put them up here.

I Get Confused

I'm not the most observant man in the world. One example of that is if two people have a similar characteristic, I get them confused or think that they are the same person. Some famous people I swear are just one person going by different names. Here's a few example of people that look the same to me.

Skeet Ulrich and Johnny Depp

Meryl Streep and Glenn Close

On a side note, both of those names sound like they could be a guy

James Caviezel and John Stockton

On another side not, James Caviezel was in an episode of "The Wonder Years" and he played the star on the basketball team. He looked like John Stockton so much I wondered why Karl Malone wasn't on the court too.

Ok, one more example of people that look the same to me....






Har har har.

I do have a point to all of this. Today one of the analysts in my group at work asked me to go talk with one of the users to get some information. Well it turns out that the guy I was going to talk to looks slightly similar to another guy who has an office two doors down from him. (When I say they look similar, it means they're both white dudes over 40.)

I was going to talk to Bruce who "looks like" Jerry. I wasn't sure where Bruce's office was, so I went walking in the general direction. I passed Jerry's office, and nobody was in there. I found Bruce's office and went in.

Ok, the guy behind the desk was either Bruce or Jerry. The wall outside of the office has a nameplate that says "Bruce ...", the desk has a nameplate on it that says "Bruce ...", the guy was sitting behind the desk, and he was doing some work on the computer. Anyone with half a brain would have thought, "Ok, this is Bruce." Apparently I don't have half a brain. I was so sure that this guy was Jerry, without even taking into account the obvious signs that this was Bruce.

Idiot!

I take two steps into the room and say "Hey, is Bruce here?"

Idiot!

He kind of looked at me and probably thought "Nope, I traded offices with him and liked his nameplate so much I thought I'd keep it. Here's your sign". He said "I'm Bruce." I should have known.

If Jerry was a chick, there would be a 75% chance that I would have figured that one out before I opened my mouth.

Idiot!

Going phishing

I've heard on the news about people getting emails from what looks to be their bank telling them that they need to sign onto a certain website to verify their account information. (I believe the term for that kind of thing is phishing.) I hadn't seen one of those before last week.

Last week we got an email from "Bank of America" telling us that there had been fraudulent activity on our account, and that we needed to log onto http://59.27.203.5/boa/online

/online_secure/index.php within 48 hours or they would disable our account. (The link no longer works.) There are a few things wrong with that. I assume that Bank of America would have you log onto bankofamerica.com instead of an IP Address. The return address is bankofamerica@yahoo.com That and, ummm, we don't have a Bank of America account. Way to know your intended target, Mr. Scam Artist.

The website looked pretty close to what Bank of America's site actually looks like, so I could see how some would be tricked into that. It was mildly exciting because this is the second scam email I've ever gotten. The first one I got was about helping Meka Bakasu Te Pemako, a Nigerian Prince, receive his inheritance. I'm still waiting on my cut of his $12.5 million.