The Scampering Horse

Last week we had a trunk or treat at my church.  Everyone dressed up in costumes and we ate chili dogs and salad.  There was a fun carnival, and face painting, and friends.  My family dressed up as characters from Peter Pan.  My baby was Peter. My two year old was the most lovely Tink ever to walk the cultural hall floors. My five year old was the politically incorrect Indian girl, Tiger Lily.  My six year old was Wendy Darling, and she kept forgetting who she was in her blue dress and curly pony tail. Ian was Captain Hook, or at least some sort of pirate.  I was an anorexic Smee. (My costume didn't get as much attention as the other ones, so...no stuffed belly). It made all my family themed costume dreams come true. Overall, I had a great time with friends.  My girls loved filling their bags with candy.    But, something bad happened at the party.  I was in line getting my chili dog, holding my baby in one arm, carrying a paper plate with my other hand, and helping my two bigg

Ian is taking a CPA exam right now.  It is the one he took a few months ago and missed passing by one dinky little point. I thought I would, in honor of this occasion, share a few fun facts I've learned about CPA exams. There are four exams.  FAR, BCS, AUD, and something else.  The AUD stands for auditing.  I don't know what the other letters stand for.  He passed audit.  Today he is taking one of the other ones. Once you pass the first exam, the time starts ticking.  One year to pass all the exams.  People have exams they have passed expire all the time because they don't pass them all in the allotted time. I sure hope that doesn't happen. Each exam costs about 200 dollars to take. There are four of them. It is likely that an individual will need to take one or more exams multiple times. One must score a 75 or higher to pass.  The 75 is somewhat arbitrary based the curve of the people who take an exam in your window and such and such. The Ian preferred Becker

I have a bad case of the crankies.  I thought it would get better, but its been going on three weeks now. Cranky. It means that I get impatient. Impatience leads me to raise my voice, and become blamish. It is not a pretty sight. Especially if I am looking at you with my blamey eyes. Sorry.  If that happens, sorry. The day goes like this. I wake up. Earlier than I would have liked. After a night tending my baby who has become insistent on nursing frequently, and he has a cough, so I am trying to keep him hydrated, so I don't sleep well. Then I have to wake up. To kids. They instantly need stuff. Diapers changed. Then, two of the kids need their hair done, their cereal poured into dishes, and their lunches packed.  They also need reminded to get ready. Keep moving. Keep getting ready until you are ready.  It is a challenging concept for young sweet minds. Then, Ian leaves for work, and I am in babyland. Babyland is great for me for a few hours.  We eat breakfast, start

Dear Balloon Fiesta, I love you. And I hate you. Mostly, I love you. Watching hundreds of hot air balloons floating into the sky is magical. Really. It thrills my to my core.  I think of all the people who learned how to pilot the balloons, so many dreams fulfilled. And the coordination to get them all up in the sky of Albuquerque at the same time, and it sings to my heart. So, I came to see you Fiesta.  Up close and personal. Thursday morning. I was there before the sun came up with my four children, so we could watch the glowing dawn.  Like giant mushrooms or jellyfish glowing against the horizon. You didn't glow. The wind? I came, and brought my children. Four of them. Every single child I own. I woke them from their beds and layered on two pairs of pants, gloves on each of their hands, and took them on a bus to you. In the dark. On a bus. Without bathrooms. The ride was long. Especially since I seemed to have the bus driver set on taking the route assigned and

I've had a bunch of friends take their kids to California lately.  Lego land, Disney Land, Harry Potter Land. The beach land.  You know, awesome vacation stuff. I am a little jealous. Ok. I am totally jealous. I want to be you. But, I am me.  Me right now means we took our four kids to Farmington, NM.  Ian works long days, travels a lot, and can't take vacation 9 months out of the year.  So, we get our vacations in when and where we can. Last week it was an overnighter to Farmington, since Ian had to go there for work for a couple of days. Rental car...oh, yeah. The night before we left, my kindergartner prayed. "We are grateful we can go to Washington, or Farmington, or wherever and go swimming." Oh you sweet, sweet girl. Many of you may not know much about Farmington.  Let me tell you what I know. Don't get excited, you aren't going to learn much. Farmington: it is about a 3 hour drive from where I live.  It is bigger than the town I grew up in.  When