Up, Up, and Away!

Thursday of this week, my family gathered to hold a memorial service for my Great-Aunt Nancy. After the service, we gathered at my grandmother's church for a lunch since we had family in from several states.

After lunch, the Heathens started to get a little antsy so I decided to leave instead of staying to visit longer. My Uncle Russ walked us out to the van since he wanted to take a picture of the Heathens.

You'd think that no one has ever seen my Heathens all in white shirts and wearing ties before! :)

He let them pose themselves for the photograph and here's what he got:

Only my Heathens. :) Love them!

"Spit" Takes

On Veterans' Day, the Heathens wanted to go to the Dollar Tree near the zoo. They LOVE this store. They always manage to find some sort of junk that they are unable to live without. The true treat for them is being told they may pick one item. They will look for more than an hour to make their selections.

Heathen #1 chose some sort of plastic goo that you put on a straw and blow bubbles with. Heathen #2 chose a magic trick kit. And Heathen #3 chose a toy camera that squirts water.

As we were walking back to the car with their new-found treasures, Heathen #3 kept dragging further and further behind as we were crossing the parking lot. I kept slowing down and calling for him to hurry up. I knew he was taking the camera out of the package. But I didn't discover what he was attempting to do until he caught up to us.

Due to the lack of running water available in the parking lot at the shopping center, he was attempting to fill the camera with SPIT so that he could squirt people with his camera. SPIT.

Torn between stopping him and letting him go, I opted to let him to continue to spit into the little camera. He continued to spit into the thing the entire way home from the store, but he was quiet and content and didn't fight with either of his two brothers.

Upon returning home, he burst into tears because he hadn't been able to get enough spit into the camera to make it squirt when you took a picture. I took it from him, rinsed it with hot water, filled it up and the kitchen sink, and sent him off to play!

The Ringmaster

Every year, Heathen #3's preschool makes costumes for the children. And the children get to help with the whole process. The first year, his group was all pumpkins and the were really cute. Last year, his group was all ladybugs and they were adorable. But this year, they really out did themselves - they were an entire circus!!!

With nothing much more than paint, paper bags, and newspapers, the children (with the teachers' help) made themselves into a circus. Heathen #3 got to be the ringmaster and announce them. "Ladies and gentlemen! The parade is about to start!" He did a great job! They also had tight rope walkers, lion tamer, lions, clowns, and band members. They were fantastic!

In addition to this parade, I was able to watch 3 other parades and attend Heathen #2's school party. This is one of my favorite days of the school year. Heathen #1 even wore his costume to school. I love it!

Halloween Parade 2009

The Asst. Zookeeper and I took the Heathens to the annual Halloween Parade this evening. I don't remember how many years this has been happening - I think the radio said 42 or 62. We've made it every year since Heathen #1 was big enough to put in the stroller!!! We go regardless of the weather and we always have a good time. This year, the Heathens came home with quite a load of candy!

Definitely Heathens!

I have always LOVED face paint. I remember getting my face painted in high school when out with friends, or at Busch Gardens when we didn't have any of the Heathens with us. I don't know why I love it so much, but I do.

This also means that when I see the table with the little pots of paint sitting on it, that I will ALWAYS take the Heathens over. And they have learned to love it as much as I do.

In September, the elementary school had a fitness fair on a Saturday. The Heathens and I went while the Asst. Zookeeper was at work. They had a face painting table, staffed by professionals. It was $5 per Heathen since it was a fundraiser, but it was SO worth it!!! If I'd had another $5, I would have gotten my face painted too!

Recent Zoo Happenings

We've had a bunch of small events happening here at the zoo recently. Unfortunately, one of those events was me getting sick. So I'm a little behind on my entries and picture postings. This should get me caught up!

About 10 days ago, I put Heathen #3 in the shower. My job is to regulate the water temperature and then pull up the button that makes the shower start. My mission accomplished, I left him to his "washing" and headed downstairs to fold a load of laundry. About two minutes into the folding, I discovered a nude, soaking wet Heathen standing in the living room. A spider had joined him for his shower and he didn't want it there. Figuring that it was a small spider, I offered to squish it for him (I love being the hero!). When we got back up to the bathroom, it wasn't a little spider!

About the same time as the "Spider Scare," I finally broke down and went to the Humane Society. We had lost Fuzznutz a few weeks ago, and it looks like one of our other cats, Rosie, wasn't coming home. She knew even as a little kitten that she was not meant to be an indoor cat and would spend hours attempting to escape the house every day. Usually she comes back in for the winter, but this year, we haven't seen her.

I'd done so well avoiding the Humane Society because I knew I would come home with another critter. And I did. Nina joined our family about a week ago and has been a great addition! She is so little - only about 10 ounces - that she makes Tiger and Anya look like cows!

In the grandest traditions of our zoo, my relatively cheap critter has already cost us over $100 because she came home with an upper respiratory infection that has required major antibiotics and two overnight stays at the vet. But she's REALLY sweet!

This past weekend, we took the Heathens to Chuck E. Cheese's as a treat. While the boys had a good time, the Asst. Zookeeper spent the first twenty minutes waiting for a specific ride to open up. And as soon as it did, he grabbed his little cup of tokens and ran to it!

On Sunday, we took the Heathens to pick pumpkins. As always, we got them at the pumpkin patch run by the Westmont Presbyterian Church. This is where our Heathens attend Youth Club after school on Wednesdays. The church does it as a fundraiser for their youth. And the Heathens picked the largest pumpkins they could!

About an hour after I took these pumpkin photos, Heathen #1 came down with swine flu. He went from the pumpkin patch to his bed. He pretty much slept through the first part of the week. Yesterday evening was the first time since Sunday that he wasn't running a fever.

I thought we had done pretty well in keeping the other Heathens away from him (we had confined Heathen #1 to his bedroom). But yesterday afternoon, Heathen #3 spiked a fever and turned his own flu test positive as well. Poor Heathen was so tired, he didn't even make it to the doctor's office awake. Bet you can't tell what season it is from the photo. :)

And last night was the October pack meeting for cub scouts. I went as Smurfette and my friend Bethany came as a dutch maid. We have a great time together! I'm NOT looking forward to when she and her husband move out of the area in another year. Love ya Bethany!

Don't Hate The Teacher

Had a late night phone call with one of the Heathen's teachers. Apparently, he wrote, "I hate Ms. (blank) on his test today because he was mad at her. I understand not being happy when you discovered it while grading the test.

I even understand calling us at home at 9:00 at night to tell us of the event.

What I don't understand is feeling the need to take the "issue" (as it was referred to) to the principal in the morning. Are you kidding me?

No, I do NOT approve of what my child wrote. No, I do NOT approve of how disrespectful it was. No, I will NOT be letting it go unpunished here at home. And no, it will NOT be happening again, trust me.

But is it seriously an issue to take to the principal? Maybe I handled too much stuff in my own classroom. I would have DIED before taking that to my principal. Don't all children hate their teachers at one point or another? I know I did. I even remember scrawling it across my notes in high school.

Can't wait for the phone to ring tomorrow! Woo hoo!