Trying to think of a blog post...

And not having any luck.

The only thing on my mind right now is the cars. Mine is on the fritz - it's not the battery- and Dane's has to get a new windshield, smog check and all of that. I've just kept forgetting, and forgetting about all of that stuff, and now it's all come together in one big rush.

I wish public transportation with three kids was easier.

This Last Weekend

Avast ye! One of the local library systems put on a pirate day on Saturday and we got to go. They told some pirate tales, had a "ship", or at least the back half of one, we sang some sea shanty's and of course had sword fights. It was really fun. I think the kids liked it.

The one interesting thing I was told (I won't call it a fact since I am not sure) but I was told that pirates did not actually wear eye patches to cover their eyes from scars, etc. Scars were considered to be like medals. The more scars you had paid tribute to your fighting skills. Anyway, we were told that they wore it over one eye while up on deck, and when they had to go below they would switch it to the other eye, so there was none of that awkward light to dark transition that temporarily blinds you. Interesting. Maybe one of these days I'll look it up to see if it's true.



Waiting to go in. Aren't they the cutest!!



A little boy offered to take a picture with Alanna. I didn't know this was what he had in mind.



The "ship"



I love this picture of Lydi - so cute!




The kids and their Daddy fighting. They loved this part.

Summer to Autumn

When I was a kid my favorite time of year was the summer. I mean come on, what's not to like? No school, warm weather which means shorts, t shirts, sandals, Popsicles, ice cream, sprinklers and pools. My birthday is in the summer, so is 4th of July and pioneer day, and there was usually some trip of some sort that we took somewhere. I loved it.

Now that I am older, I am switching to liking autumn (funny right?) Actually, I think this process happens to a lot of people. We like summer when we are kids, and then we like a different season better later. Of course, it helps to be back in a place that has a season like Autumn. In Utah you kind of go from hot to snow, and in Oregon it's beautiful, but it rains all autumn.

So why do I like Autumn? Well, the first reason is one I am new to: kids going back to school. I went shopping today with just two kids and the difference was amazing!! It's a little cooler, the trees change colors, I start thinking about treats made with pumpkin, and it means the holidays (which I like for different reasons now too) are right around the corner. Decorations!! Yes, I think I am turning into one of those people who like to do decorations around the house for the seasons.

Whew!

One of my goals for this year was to make sure I blog at least once a week. And for one second there I thought that I missed one! But I didn't.

So, I am reading Ivanhoe, another one of my goals for the year (read 5 classics this year). I really like it! It's in high style and sometimes it's a little difficult to follow all of the language, but it's based at the time of King Richard and this Ivanhoe guy is mixed in with Robin Hood and... Okay so it's a long story line, but I like it.

So far I have read The Princess of Mars, The Gods of Mars, Anna Karenina, and The Mysterious Affair at Styles. So Ivanhoe might be the last one... of course this depends on whether or not I count the two books by Edgar Rice Burroughs in a series. I still haven't decided if that counts or not, so we'll see how much time I have left at the end of the year to do another one.

The small happenings of last month

So what happened last month in the Laverty home?

1: Alanna started kindergarten. She loves it.

2: We sold our Oregon home. We are now completely mortgage free.

3: Dane finished his MBA program. His final grades were an A and a B plus.

4: Dane started teaching Seminary.

5: Lydia started feeding herself with a spoon. She refuses to let anyone feed her anymore. Makes for messy feeding times.

6: Asher has started to learn how to spell his name. He has a hard time with the s but usually gets the others.

7: I had an unfortunate bought of food poisoning. Not fun, but it's done now.