Happy cross-quarter day!

Explanation: "Halloween's origin is ancient and astronomical. Since the fifth century BC, Halloween has been celebrated as a cross-quarter day, a day halfway between an equinox (equal day / equal night) and a solstice (minimum day / maximum night in the northern hemisphere). With our modern calendar, however, the real cross-quarter day will occur next week. Another cross-quarter day is Groundhog's Day."

I got that little bit of trivia from a site that gives a different astronomical picture and explanation every day (Astronomy Picture of the Day). It's awesome! You should really check it out. http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html I check it every day along with all the blogs. :)

Well, we have only had 1 trick-or-treater tonight and it was Cory Hailey and his step-daughter, Jadin. :) It was good to see them. I am disappointed though that the pumpkins didn't advertise sufficiently that we were open for trick-or-treating business! Oh well, next year we'll have to try decorating the other side of the house. Maybe that'll work.

I took some cute pictures of Cedric yesterday chasing Hemi. It was his after-dinner-right-before-bed hyperness. :) He was getting ready to take a shower with Daddy is why he's nakey.

We got Cedric his first pair of slippers the other day. Daddy picked out Spiderman. :) Here is Hemi and Cedric checking out his new look:

Today Cedric learned to say "horse". :) I've been letting him play with one of my old Bryer horses who's leg broke off. Here is a video of him saying "horse"; he was saying it all afternoon and pointing out my several other horse statues around the house. It really sounds more like "oot" but he definitely means "horse". :)

It's been so strange.... We have a music box that plays "King of the Road" and beginning yesterday it makes Cedric cry. I mean, like his heart is breaking, with big crocodile tears and everything. He's been asking us to play it, but it usually takes about 2 minutes before he'll break down crying, pointing at the music box. We have to go put it in the other room until it's done playing and then Cedric needs a few minutes of cuddling before he's okay to play again. And later in the day he might just ask us to play it again. Grammy was commenting that it must be the German blood in him because music has always really moved the men on the Hollenbeck side of the family, but I guess that's on the Likkel side as well. :) There is one song that has always made me cry and still can and it's "You Are My Sunshine". It's just so sad! I used to ask Mom to sing it to me even though it made me cry. Isn't music an amazing thing? Have you thought about the fact that music originated in heaven? It's one of those things that God has shared with us straight from heaven.

Pumpkins

It has been YEARS since I've spent any amount of time carving a pumpkin, so last night Tim, Cedric, and I sat down and carved 3 pumpkins. They turned out great! I'm used to doing the basic jack-o-lantern face that is all you can really do with a standard kitchen knife. Tim, though, had gotten a pumpkin carving set a couple years ago that we have never used which made it 100% easier!

That's my pumpkin! I'm going to roast the pumpkin seeds this year.

Cedric and remnants of peas from dinner and pumkin slime that kept

him occupied for a good portion of the carving.

The finished products:

By me.

Tim's first creation.

Tim's second creation, my favorite!

We had so much fun. We need to do more creative stuff like that together. Cedric was so impressed with them in the dark. :) We're going to set them out on Hallowean and open our gate in hopes of attracting some trick-or-treaters. We didn't have any last year, but we figure it was because our doors are hard to get to and we weren't decorated at all. We'll be more welcoming this year. :)

I see a generation....

This is beautiful. It brings tear to my eyes. Vanessa wrote it and posted it on her MySpace blog. I wanted to share it with you in case you didn't see it.

~Lindy


I see a generation.
Of young people
Passionate about the things of God
Rising boldly for their King
Standing on a foundation of love
The Spirit flowing in and through them daily, in each moment
Allowing the principles of God to come forth,
Pave the way in business, in culture, in media
A message of purity and righteousness comes from their lips
A fire burns within them to bubble up
To come forth
To stand.
Apathy is no longer constraining them
No longer does despair rule their hearts
No longer does selfish ambition point them toward costly goals of enterprise
Their hearts break for the lost ones
The curious ones
The only death they know is the one before a re-birth
In which they find themselves once again,
In the arms, in the heart, in the purpose of their God
Truth is their craving,
And the very Word of God their substance.
To Him alone they bow
They submit.
They devote.
They lead the way for those seemingly left behind,
Encouraging them to keep moving
Keep going.
Follow the light they see gleaming
It truly holds all the answers to every question
All the hope to every deferred dream
All the love to every love lost
They passionately point out the Savior
They prove devotion by staying true,
Regardless of trial, temptation or circumstance.
They are world changers
I see a generation.

Dentist visit

My dentist appointment went really well yesterday. It was initially just going to be a new patient exam and we would do the cleaning next week, but someone canceled so they were able to do my cleaning right after the new patient exam.

I had no cavities and everything else looked really good. Even after 4+ years since a professional cleaning, I had very little buildup. I thank God for good teeth and saliva genes. :)

As it stands now, I don't think I'll get my wisdom teeth removed. My two concerns about them was the possibility of them someday fusing with my jaw and being nearly impossible to remove if bad cavities develop and also if they would speed and increase the forward migration of my teeth that happens with age and thus making them very crooked. The dentist didn't think it necessary to have them removed since I don't have a cavity-prone mouth and said that it's very rare for teeth to fuse with your jaw even if I were to develop cavities. He also explained that the wisdom teeth really don't have anything to do with the forward migration of the teeth. So I think I'll keep them. I'm relieved. :)

Did you know that cavities can basically be contagious? The hygienist was telling a story about a couple who came in. The woman took really good care of her teeth but the guy had nasty teeth. The hygienist warned the gal that by kissing a mouth full of bad bacteria, it was spreading to her mouth and could make it easier for her to develop cavities and gum problems. 8-0 Nobody ever talks about that. Tim takes really good care of his teeth, but he didn't really when I first met him, which is why I found this interesting in the first place. I think that should be good motivation for all those reluctant brushers and their partners; it's not just gross, it's dangerous. :)

So glad we avoided the flu....

Well, Tim and I both avoided the flu. *sigh of relief* Cedric is doing well too.

Not a whole lot has been going on here. Kind of boring actually. I have been listening to online audio books from our library. That's the only way I find I can actually read books. This way I can be playing with Cedric AND listening to a book at the same time. :) It's been great. I just finished one by Nicholas Sparks called "Dear John". It was good. I'd definitely recommend it.

So far we're not planning to do anything for Halloween this year. If we had a group of kids to go trick-or-treating with, we would probably go, but as it is, Cedric is too young to care whether we do it or not and walking around in the freezing cold isn't fun to do without a group of people.

Cloth diapering has been going well. I haven't started doing cloth at night yet. I may not ever. I was initially waiting until he got over his cold and was sleeping better at night. We'll see. When we go in public I've been using disposables still too. It's satisfying to me to be using cloth.

Exhausted on Monday

Goodness, it was another long night. Around midnight Cedric woke up obviously not feeling well. He was up off and on for a cumulative total of about 4 hours, often crying inconsolably. We thought perhaps it was his teeth because he has 4 coming in all at the same time or maybe he had a tummy ache because of how he was moving or maybe growing pains, but finally at around 5am he threw up everything in his stomach. He felt sooo much better! After we got him and I changed, he quickly fell asleep and slept contentedly until 8:30.

It was so nice to have Tim here for this episode of sickness. He helped so much, even getting in the bathtub with Cedric for a while. He was as big a support for me as he was a help with Cedric. :) Tim got up with Cedric this morning and let me sleep in. Cedric is doing great this morning, playing and dancing with Daddy. He is sleepy still but in much better spirits. I think he must have gotten this flu in church nursery yesterday.... that puts the incubation period for Tim and I sometime from now through the afternoon. 8-/ We'll see.

Tim and I are enjoy our comfy new mattress. It is longer than our old one too, so our toes aren't hanging over the edge so bad anymore.

I was going to work a 6-hour shift at Havillah Road today to brush up on various new things going on there, but that's been postponed until next Monday due to Cedric's flu. I think I might work several Mondays, in addition to the regular Saturdays, over this holiday season. They need the extra help and we could use the extra paycheck.

When Mom starts her new reduced-hours work schedule sometime this next month, she has agreed to come down 1 day a week to watch Cedric while I work on school. I am a ways behind still, and the 1-1/2 to 2 hour bits of time I get to work on it when Tim gets home from work is not enough. I should be able to catch up easily with an added 4 to 6 hour study time once a week.

I have a dentist appointment coming up this week. I hate to admit that it has been at least 3 years since I've been to the dentist. Luckily, none of my teeth are bothering me. And amazingly, I have all 4 wisdom teeth fully in with no pain. I think someday I would like to have them out anyway.... just so they don't end up making my teeth all crooked in the front, but that might have to wait for better dental insurance.

Cedric was fascinated by Mom's fake nails. I like how they look, if I had an extra $40 a month I would love to have my nails done all the time. :)

New mattress!

We have finally gotten a new mattress! We were given an ancient one when we got married and it has sufficed, but we have gotten mighty tired of the sagging middle and feeling various metal coils through an eggshell foam pad. :-/ Being pregnant on a bed like that was especially no fun.

Here is the old mattress now up at Mom's and Dad's. This picture really doesn't do the dilapidation justice.



And here is our new pillowtop mattress. :D



We are both really looking forward to going to bed tonight. :)

The fall colors are so beautiful around here. This is the view out our living room window.

Finally, another blog...

It has been so long since I've found time to blog. Mostly the cause has been this stubborn cold. Instead of blogging during Cedric's 1-hour nap, I find I must nap, too, or my already sketchy patience level becomes almost nonexistent. Tim and I have arranged for me to have an hour all to myself to do whatever I want with little to no interruptions on Thursday afternoons. So on this first afternoon, I have decided to finally blog again.

First off, I wanted to share a picture of our little Autumn elf, Cedric.





Here is Cedric and Daddy having some dangerous boy fun. Cedric seriously loves doing this.





Hemi and his boy having a blast in the front yard.





And I really love this one....



What a goof. :)

I so want to be over this cold! It has been nearly 2-1/2 weeks now. I really would like to be getting in better shape, but everything is on hold. I'm very frustrated.

I am going to be working at Havillah Road again this Saturday. So maybe you'll get another blog then. :)

I think the fever that started out Cedric's cold rewired his brain or something, because before his cold he was very afraid of the vacuum cleaner and needed to be held while I vacuumed. Now, however, he still needs to be held but only because I can't get any vacuuming done due to his trying to hug the silly machine! He seriously really likes the vacuum now! I have no idea how that happened. The fever is the only thing I can think of. :)

Garlic sounds really good right now. But Tim always can tell when I've even eaten only one clove earlier in the day and he doesn't really like the smell, so I choose to ration my garlic intake. Well, he'll be gone during the 2nd weekend of November with his youth group at a retreat at Warm Beach, so I'll get my chance enjoy some roasted garlic that first day or so he's gone. :)