October 2008

Rhiannon went trick-or-treating with her best friend Savannah and Savannah's sister Baily. Rhiannon was, of course, a princess. One of the houses we visited went all out on the decorations. The picture doesn't do it justice.

New House

So I've been totally negligent of this blog, I know, but there has been so much going on. I suppose the biggest thing is the new house. I am posting the "before" pictures right now - the way the house looked before we moved in. It will be years before we get the house decorated the way that we like. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated - especially concerning the living room area. The space is very large - and long - and I don't know what color to paint it. Especially because the fireplace is currently painted the same color as the walls -cream - and I don't know if I need to paint the fireplace when I paint the walls. Interior design is not my strong suit, I suppose.










We will have our first house guests this week. My mom and dad - Geneva and Bill - are coming into town on Thursday and leaving, much too soon, on Sunday. Rhiannon is very excited about the visit. We are having Thanksgiving dinner a little early - on Friday - to celebrate their visit.


We have four of these beautiful shrubs in our backyard. They are called Angel Trumpets, or Brugmansia suaveolens. They are quite beautiful. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but the blooms are more than 6 inches long. They smell wonderful.

"I love Apricot" - Rhiannon's 5th birthday at Epcot.

The best part of Rhiannon's birthday was that she had no idea what was going to happen. For the last six months or so she had been telling everyone that they were going to be invited to her birthday party, so I had to break her heart by telling her that she wasn't actually going to have a party. I told her that mommy and daddy had a great surprise planned for her birthday, but that it wasn't a party so please stop inviting people. She was disappointed, but not too much because she still thought she was going to get a surprise party. Her birthday was on a school day and we let her believe that she was going to school like any other day.

When she woke up she found a giant treasure box on the kitchen table. She opened it to find her pretty, golden princess dress, gold shoes, her tiara, a princess necklace, a tinkerbell necklace, and various other items. Her eyes were huge when she say the dress and she fell in love with it immediately. She begged to wear it to school, so we told her that since it was her birthday it was okay. She got all dressed up and I fixed her tiara with some glitter hairspray and even let her wear some gold eyeshadow and sparkle lip gloss.

We told her that we had spent so much time getting her ready that she missed the bus, so we were going to drive her to school. She was disappointed because she loves riding the bus. It took her a while to notice that we weren't going the right way to get her to school and she said "Daddy, you missed your turn!" Joel said "Uh oh. Well, let's just see where this road goes." She didn't like that idea and the further we drove, the more upset she got.

Before she could cry - we weren't trying to make her miserable after all - we told her that since she missed breakfast, we thought we'd take her to have breakfast with the princesses at Disney World. Her mood turned around instantly. We had the best day. She was really treated like a princess by the cast members all day long. She got to meet all of the princesses except Cinderella and Moulan (and Alice, although she isn't really a princess). She was given a button proclaiming that it was her special day so all day long people passing us said "Happy Birthday Princess". She even got two tinkerbell pins from cast members working in the stores. She had an absolutely wonderful day - as did we - and I hope she always remembers this birthday.

First Day of Kindergarten for Rhiannon

Rhiannon started kindergarten on August 18. I don't know who was more nervous, me or her. Or Joel. He was pretty excited. We both walked her to the bus stop and Joel held her hand as she crossed the street and got on the bus. She getting to be, sniff sniff, such a big girl. Where did my cute little baby go?






Then, of course, she missed the second day because school was cancelled due to Tropical Storm Fay. It didn't even rain that day. We sat around watching movies - I kept expecting the weather to get bad so we never left to do anything, but it never did, then I felt guilty for sitting around watching movies all day.

Polk County elementary students have to wear uniforms. I'm glad, mainly because it makes getting her ready in the morning so much easier. I just bought her all scooters (and a couple of pair of pants) and shirts in the three colors she is allowed to wear and she gets herself ready every morning. This way she gets to "pick out" her own clothes. In case you are wondering, she can wear khaki/tan, navy, or denim bottoms (twill and corduroy are okay, I think) (must be plain, no adornments or embellishments of any kind) and white, navy, or red shirts (must have collar, no adornments or embellishments - small logos are okay). She can also wear a plain white or navy sweater over the shirts on chilly days, but it can't have a hood. It hasn't been so easy to find clothes. All of the uniforms sold at Target, Kohl's, Children's Place, etc., are exactly what she is allowed to wear - but Rhiannon is still basically in toddler sizes. She's tall enough to wear 5T, but so thin that 3T and 4T fit. All the uniforms start at a girls 4 or 4-6x, so all of her clothes dwarf her. Skirts intended for above the knee come to mid calf. But she still looks cute. I just wish I could sew. Of course, even if I could sew, I don't have a machine. Then again, if I could sew, I'd probably have a machine. Anyway, doesn't matter 'cause I can't sew.

Rhiannon's feelings on the subject:

I learned today about the Atlynpics (it's spelled like that because that's how she says it). I got to sing at school. And, I got to go do some art. And I got to dance around. Mrs. Smith is nice. I like the lunches. I love Grandma (I'm assuming all of them) and I can't wait to go to school next Monday.

Meisha "Moo Moo" - 1991 to 2008

Our kitty Meisha has had lung cancer for several months. A couple of weeks ago her medicine stopped making her feel better, and a couple of days ago she stopped eating. The vet found air under her skin today (which made the crackling sound we heard when we petted her), and probably meant her lungs were leaking. We did not want to wait until she was suffering every second, so we put her to sleep today. She has now gone to that great mole-hunting ground in the sky. We will miss her.