lots of treats only one trick

not bad for one night of work. we started out not so good. payton hated his costume and wanted out of it before he even got into it. after lots of tears and yelling chewie(payton), boba fett(tayte), commander cody(baylee) and two parents finally hit the road and after grandma janie's where he got lots of candy payton decided this was not such a bad idea. we hit our other usual spots and got lots of candy. we don't have to hit many houses because we go to family and friends and they feel the need to make sure they are the one responsible for filling the kids' bags up. after going to our regulars we came home. we always go to the scary house. there is a guy who sits as still as possible. baylee walked past him looking at he stuffed guy holding a chain saw. baylee was sure this was the real guy and didn't pay any attention to the other guy. after baylee passed him, he turned his head. i called for baylee and he turned around. 'what? what?' you could hear the fear in his voice. baylee turned and was about to run when the guy stood up and baylee calmed down. so there was no major scare. the other two boys wanted nothing to do with this house period. but after the candy payton decided it wasn't so bad. what a kid will do for candy.

scary house.

baylee was persistant about passing out candy. so the boys and mattie sat outside waiting for trick or treaters. we ended up having quite a few. we even emptied one big bag. i know that some of that was due to the people in charge of passing out the candy. we took a break for pizza and then made our last stop. bruce and carolyn's house is always last because they have treats for daddy. so we stay there for a while and catch up with them. this year sara was in town so it made it extra special.

bruce and carolyn's house is always an adventure. tayte made a new friend in bruce and would not quit jumping in his lap-bruce will probably feel it in the morning. carolyn always good things to eat and funny stories to tell. you never leave your drink unattended or cody will get it. baylee learned a valuable lesson this time. cody loves glasses. baylee was walking past him and cody grabbed and ran. baylee stood there shocked. you always have to watch cody when you have glasses because he is quick.

we have four boys(ethan is spending the night) that have all had way too much candy and will probably never go to sleep tonight. but they had a blast and really that is what halloween is about. kids pretending to be someone they are not and getting candy. a totally commercialized holiday. and halloween would not be halloween without star wars costumes.

tara

happy halloween

i don't know what it was about this morning. no one wanted to get up and going, except payton who doesn't have to be anywhere until 10. there was lots of pushing, a little yelling, to get out the door. we managed to get to school before the tardy bell rang. i am not a morning person and i don't like anything about starting a new day. once i get going things are better and by the evening i am in full swing of the day. however, the world does not agree with that. so for me i want to stay up past midnight, but have to get the boys to school by 8. not a good combination. i am very lucky that lee takes the boys to school most days. today he is meeting a guy in panhandle so wanted to sleep in. therefore i had to take the boys to school.

baylee woke up singing 'it's halloween, it's halloween.'

tayte and i had to race to get ready so he would get a move on. he is too much like his momma sometimes.

i forgot money for milk and had to leave again and apparently that freaked payton out.

hopefully the day starts getting better now.

hope everyone has a save and happy halloween. we will go trick or treating later and the boys are super excited. baylee is still pushing for someone to stay at home to pass out candy. right now i am voting for me.

tara

no i do not need bloggers anonymous

just a quick note. i had a blog mishap and wanted to record all the posts that i have made in the last couple of days since i started. so no i did not post all of these in one day originally i started october 29th (yesterday to be exact). and i am sure the new-ness will wear off and i won't post so many in one day.

tara

payton with attitude

from this photo you can just feel the attitude this little boy gives. the look in his eyes. the scowl on his face. he is stubborn and determined to have things his way. that is fine, just not when you are two. constantly he is telling someone no. no i don't want to go to bed. which every night is a fight. there are several nights that the process goes on for hours. or there are other nights that you find him asleep with one of his brothers ( i am sure he climbs into bed after they have gone to sleep). no, mine. no kisses. no no no no.... he can be one of the sweetest boys if he has the mind to do it. because what he is thinking is what he is going to do.

no matter what.

sunday at church he did just what he wanted to do. it started fine. i had high hopes that he would actually do it. but it ended in disaster or at least ultimate humiliation for me. we were sitting in the middle of the pew. i told the boys to put their money in the basket as it comes by, but payton didn't hear and he grabbed his dollar and took off. so he went alone. he go their fine. he turned to come back. then he saw his opportunity. he walked back to the first pew, saw me in the middle, then he ran back to the front. father john had left to get the gifts so he was in front of the alter. payton ran to the back of the alter and around and around. luckily melissa, who was singing decided to grab him. i took him from her and returned to our seat. absolutely embarrased. you know it is bad when people after church tell you he is not the first and won't be the last. well it was the first for me and hopefully the last. the other comments made were 'i don't know how you do it.' sometimes i don't know either.

i am glad i love this kid or otherwise we might have to trade him in on a version with less attitude.

tara

carving of the pumpkins

as long as i have known lee he has been a huge halloween fan. he used to decorate his entire apartment with cobwebs, spiders, scary masks and the like. he apparently has passed that tradition on to baylee. baylee was persistant about decorating for the holiday. he had paper ghosts taped all over the house. they were very cute. each one had a name badge with his or her name on it. they are everywhere. anyway, last night we had the great carving of the pumkins. this was the first year we painted pumpkins and all the boys loved it. payton had paint all over, he even managed to get it on his back by himself. plus you can't carve pumpkins without the tools and apparently you can't paint without the tools either. baylee and tayte took their cutting jobs seriously. they even cleaned the pumpkins or most of them anyway. daddy took over while they painted their little pumpkin.

then it was back to cutting the pumpkins. this year lee and baylee designed their own and both turned out pretty darn good. tayte and payton retired to the couch to watch tv after painting that was enough (they haven't caught the bug yet). we have a pumpkin with the panther paw and a ghost (just like the little ones all over the house) and darth vader, because it just wouldn't be halloween at the ogletree house without a few star wars images (check back after we gotrick or treating to see the other images). the boys had fun and lee got his carving fix for the year. he still has one pumpkin left. he says he may do it tonight- we'll see. i got to do my job and take the pictures so i was here there is not evidence of it though.

tara

tayte

there will be lots of stories of the three boys, but right now tayte is the man.

yesterday we got a letter from the school. two to be exact-one for baylee and one for tayte. they were from the speech teacher at their school. baylee passed. tayte did not. it was really hard for us as parents to hear. lee took it harder "we are failing him." tayte has always been different. harder. he has always been quiet. the loner child. not that he is the scary loner kid, he just doesn't like to be around people. it was to the point where i was questioning his doctor about slight autism. pre-k has been so good for him. he has really come out of his shell. he actually asks for kids to come play. yeah.

so the letter was not a surprise to me, but it still doesn't make it any easier. you always second guess your parenting, especially when things like the letter are brought to your attention. i wish he could have had more time around kids before he was tested. but on the flip side it is better to intervene early. however, the material the speech teacher sent home specifically said a two year old. i have a two year old and tayte is not on the same level as him. so that info was not helpful maybe even a slap in the face. i don't want him to be the "weird" kid. i want him to be himself, maybe with a little more guidance from his parents.

tara

the first family story

yesterday we were at the store. here is the conversation tayte and i had.

me: clean up your room so you can go home with daddy.
tayte: it is not my
room, see there (points to sign) it says PLAYROOM (sign actually says gone
shopping). that means it is the playroom.

tayte really doesn't have a lot to say, but when he does it says a lot.

tara

starting is always the hardest part

ok. i don't know if it is my trying to be cool in this technological age or what. i have been toying with this idea for a while and finally took the time to start a blog. i think my real reason is that i am so busy that this is the way for me to preserve my family's life memories. that way when i do find the time to scrapbook i have the story recorded. big hopes that this will work out.

i don't know the "rules" of blogging and i don't know if anyone will ever read my blog, but i am really doing this as a journal of sorts. so if someone happens on this blog let me know with a comment. it may initially scare the crap out of me but it would be cool. here is to learning as i go.

tara