Talmage had a great week at school last week. By seven year old standards....it doesn't get much better than this.
He was chosen as the V.I.P. for his class. Being the V.I.P. for Mrs. Tidwell's class entails:
1. Pinning your lovely, royal blue, V.I.P. badge on every morning.
2. Being the first in line and leading your class out to recess, and into the cafeteria for lunch.
3. Creating a super cool, picture filled, poster of yourself to be displayed throughout the week in your classroom.
4. Inviting your parents (and brother and sister too) to come to school and eat hot lunch with you. Yum!
5. Getting to pick the next V.I.P. person for the next week.
As if being chosen to be your class V.I.P. weren't enough, he was also chosen by his principal to receive the "Star Student" recognition.
I packed up old Eric and Maidie and off we went Wednesday morning to see Talmage get his certificate and this blue.....cone......thingy. (A must-have for every child)
He was recognized for his great progress in reading. Nice work Sausage! 
Is There a Star Student in the House?
Trick-or-Treat
We had a great time trick-or-treating with all of the Riley cousin's this year! Talmage and Eric's candy bags were over-flowing. I was amazed as we went through their candy that neither boy had ANY smarties! How does that happen? As a kid I loathed getting smarties thrown in my pillowcase. Lucky kids, they will never know my pain!
I Love a Parade
Is there anything cuter than a parade of children in their Halloween costumes? This was Talmage's 2nd Halloween parade at Westland Elementary. Talmage was unable to wear his mask to school so I had to channel my inner make-up artist and create a zombie-ish face for him. We did this last year too, he loves it! He practiced getting in character before the parade. He would show me his best "dead person" face and ask if it looked real. I of course would shriek, "Ahhhh!!! Talmage!! Are you alright?!! (Talmage would break out of character at this and giggle) Whew Talmage, I thought you might really be dead!"
Talmage was lucky as Grandma Riley, Grandma Gucci and Granny Great were all able to come and watch him show off his best theatrics!
Eric was batman for his pre-school Halloween parade. He wanted to be a zombie, but I thought being batman would be somewhat tamer in a room full of 3 and 4 year olds. Luckily, he was a good sport for this, but he kept wanting to show me his "zombie" face for his pictures, not a batman super-hero face.
It's a Pearson Halloween
I married into a great family whose motto is, "anything worth doing is worth overdoing". This is a motto they live by, ask anyone who knows them! This year's Halloween party was no exception.
Pete and Shellie threw the party early this year as Tyler's sister, Melissa, and her family were here for the weekend from New York. Up went the graveyard on the front lawn, and up went "Mike" and "Harry" by the front door to greet and create mayhem for the children.
The kids have started to wear their costumes to the party so we can all see what the kids are going to be for Halloween. Talmage and Eric of course elect to be something gruesome, and well...not living...for their costumes. Talmage has never wanted to dress up as something cute like Thomas the Train or a Power Ranger. He always wants to be something that will make you shriek and run with fear. Likewise his little brother has followed this trend. This year Talmage is a Zombie, and Eric is a skeleton. 
I still have an influence as to what Maidie will be. She is Princess Leia this year. (No not the skanky Princess Leia that sits by Jabba the Hut, the nice...fully dressed Leia from the first Star Wars movie.) Thank you Katie for the "traveling Princess Leia" costume.
This year's party started out as usual with our dining on several different buffet items. Such as: "Zombie cellulite", (a very yummy artichoke dip...new to the buffet this year) "Ghoul Brains", (a chili and cream cheese dip) and drinking "Bat Urine" (an apple cider, sprite, and dry ice concoction). I never tire of the fun created by this dinner.
As the evening progressed we noticed our cute Maidie Ann was not feeling her best, (notice above picture) and we suspected that she had another ear infection. We decided that I would take one for the team, leave the party, and take her to urgent care. Thank heaven for doctors who work late! We were able to confirm it was an ear infection and start another round of antibiotics that night.
While Maidie and I were away the Pearson's partied on! The adults carved pumpkins for the pumpkin carving contest and the smaller folk created their own personalized cookies and place mats. 
Thanks Pete and Shellie for another great party! 
E is for Eric
I love a structured day. Life without some sort of schedule wreaks havoc in my world. When Talmage started 1st grade this year, and started bringing home "real" homework, we had to introduce homework time as part of our scheduled day. So, as soon as Talmage gets home from school, he and Eric enjoy a snack, and then we dive right in for our 15 minutes of homework. While Talmage does his assigned homework, Eric works on the classic preschool criteria of puzzles, tracing letters, and coloring.
My very brilliant child lost his Einstein status two days later as I was walking down the hallway in our house. I happened to come across Eric's new skill with penmanship on the wall. What do you do when your child takes a marker and cleverly display's his talent for all to see in your home? You very sternly tell him (in your best super nanny voice) that this is "unacceptable behavior" and he'll need to have a time out.......just as soon as you have finished taking several "I'm in trouble" pictures next to his art work. The time out was soon forgotten after a hilarious photo session, a very heart felt, "I'm sorry mommy", and help from Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser. 
Last Friday, I was continuing down the road to domestic excellence by attempting to make strawberry freezer jam. I was just starting to bring the pectin to boiling when I realized the house was eerily quiet and I hadn't seen Eric in awhile.
I quickly ran out front and asked him what he was doing. His reply, "Mom, I can't find my batman suit!" My reply, "Well buddy, I'm pretty sure it's not out here."Eric, just remember that I will always be watching you!!
Talmage and His Wonder Tooth
I like teeth. I like people's smiles. That's why I went into dentistry when I was deciding what I wanted to do with my life. I became a dental assistant and enrolled in school to start on my way to become a dental hygienist. Like so many others who want to become part of the dental heirarchy, I got married, put my school on hold, and promised myself that some day I'd go back and get my degree. 13 years later I still think that maybe one day I'll go back to school and fulfill my dream of probing and cleaning teeth, but for now I remain on the bottom of the dentistry totem pole.
Imagine my excitement when my eldest son had his first loose tooth last year. I KNEW that all my training would some day come in handy, (especially since Tyler can't even be in the same room as a loose tooth without cringing) and my moment had arrived. My patient, Talmage, was not the willing participant that I had hoped he'd be. After mild coaxing he let me pull his tooth.....this scarred him for life.
The little pain associated with the removal of a tooth has left Talmage afraid to lose more teeth. The past few months Talmage's two front teeth have decided that they want to meet their maker, or go to that "happy place" the Tooth Fairy takes them when they decide to make their voyage. With that said, we could not look, talk about, or joke about the loss of Talmage's two front teeth without a complete come-apart.
As his teeth became more "wiggly", one of them even started to descend about 4 mm from where it used to be. I could not imagine what was possibly still holding this tooth in his mouth, or how he did not accidentally sneeze the little bugger out. It was like a bad movie when you watch someone be mutilated, maimed by an animal, or blown up, and they still don't die. This tooth would not fall out, and it literally could have fallen right out.
One night as I was "checking" the brushing job Talmage had done on his teeth, I noticed that as I brushed this one particular tooth it actually turned sideways. That was the final straw! I was done milking this tooth along. It needed to come out, and it was coming out NOW!
I told Tyler to come upstairs and hold Talmage while I removed this eyesore from his mouth. (Props go out to Tyler for not passing out!) Before Talmage even had a chance to object, I stood victorious, with tooth in hand.
After it was over he stated that he "didn't even feel it!" It might be that he felt nothing because the tooth was hanging on by the smallest tissue possible, I like to believe he felt nothing because I am just that good at what I do!
And what about the wonder tooth's next door neighbor?.....
Tyler took care of that one with an errant bounce pass that connected flush with Talmage's face playing basketball! (And Tyler says he can't take out loose teeth.....I give him 10 points for creativity!)
My Boys, the Scholars
Oh, the joys of my small children going back to school!Talmage started the 1st grade on August 26th at Westland Elementary. His teacher's name is Mrs. Tidwell. He has really been enjoying school this year, especially recess and the occasional hot lunch. He'll come home and tell me that he's had the "best meal of my whole life". How can I compete with the Jordan School District's lunch menu? I'm not even going to try.
Eric started his first year of school at Jacque's preschool. He was really excited to go and couldn't wait for me to leave. His favorite parts of school are the snacks (my favorite part of the day as well) and his blue scissors. I hope Mrs. Jacque quickly realizes that everything Eric holds in his hands becomes a weapon of mass destruction. On Tuesday they are having a "Teddy Bear picnic" and he can't wait to take Mr. Bear.
It's fun to watch my kids grow and I'm amazed at all they are able to accomplish at their young ages. I will miss our afternoons of play-dough and Mr. Tiki Head, but I won't miss the all-out-knock-down-brawls of young brothers who spend a little too much time together!
And now I have a little more time to make Joyce's home made rolls.....
Grandma Riley's Traveling Wig
My mom wanted to create a fun memory for her grandkids when they came to her house. She went to the dollar store, (and other various places) and put together a box of eclectic toys that they can choose from and take home every time they go to grandma's house. A winner of a toy was discovered when she placed this bandana "wig thing" in the box and one of Holly's kids picked it as their prize! After laughing at this wig, and trying it on various people, we put it on Maidie and snapped a picture.
This last weekend we went to St. George to visit and stay with the Gunnell clan. While on one of our excursions we had to stop at the local K-Mart. Tyler ran in to purchase a swim suit, while the rest of us waited in our cars. As me and my possee were hanging out in my car, up pulls Brian next to me....with the wig on. We had another good laugh, and took another picture.
Later that day Holly and I came up with this idea to have everyone in the family take a picture with "the wig" on. Holly is next sending it on to the Chicago Crowther's who we hope will keep the flame alive and snap their family in Grandma Riley's traveling wig.
Deck Evolution
The story of how we got into our house is rather interesting. A few years ago we were in our first tiny starter home in West Valley City. We had been there less than two years when I decided to act on a whim and see how much we could sell the house for, prompted by articles I'd been reading about the housing boom and the seller's market. A close friend of mine that happened to be a real estate agent said he could easily sell the house for $____ which blew my mind right out of its skull since it was over $50k more than we'd bought it for 18 months prior. Sherri and I talked about it and decided we would test the water. We listed it on a Friday night. The third person that walked through the door on Saturday made a full price offer and wanted us out within 3 weeks.
Wow, this home selling stuff is easy! Naturally we'd be able to find a house just as easily to BUY right? Wrong. Very wrong. We rode with our agents to several houses and were getting more and more discouraged. We considered building in North Salt Lake right next to the toxic waste facility and legacy highway for crying out loud. I mean, we were actually entertaining the risk of having our future children born with three eyes, or no hair, or flippers for hands. I was in the process of building my screen door business and did not have the time to dedicate to looking for homes. I was working from sun up to sun down. It was a stressful time and the first real strain we'd seen on our marriage.
Sherri called me one day while I was working in 110 degree heat in my shop and said "I found a house I think I could be happy in." "Offer." "Well I want you to see it." "I don't want to see it, I don't need to see it, call Derrick and get an offer in immediately." So that evening we submitted our offer. The home had gone on sale that morning at 9 a.m. and by 5 p.m. they had 3 full price offers. They never even put a sign in the front yard. We were told that we had until the following day at 5:00 p.m. to submit our final and best offer. Time to get strategic. Time to pull the heart strings.
Sherri got us all dolled up and took us over to the house the following morning to see the house. I was instantly in love with it. It was all brick and built in the mid 70s. Inside it had one wood wall, one brick wall, and one lava rock wall. Totally retro. The yard was brilliant. But what sealed the deal was the large covered deck out the back. I knew I had to have this house. We lingered there intentionally long after we'd seen the house so we could chat up the owner, Kris, that had left for her morning walk when we got there. She was somewhat surprised to see us still there when she got back but she launched into a conversation with us anyhow. As it turns out, she lived just down the street from Sherri many years ago and Michelle used to babysit their kids. We were a lock. The house was ours.
I learned very quickly that older homes require special love. For instance, I managed to flood the basement twice in three days in our first month in the home with the manual sprinkling system. And the gorgeous lovely deck needed some love. It turned out to be the project from hell.
There are three ways of doing things: 1) Half-azzed. This is where you know you are being lazy, cutting corners, cheaping out on materials, etc. 2) Over the top obsessed perfectionist. This is where you spend 5 days to do 2 days of work, spending a small fortune on materials. 3) Inbetween the first two. Appropriate attention to detail, hard work, common sense on materials. I tend to lean toward #1. Sherri leans toward #2. When it came to refinishing the deck we went with #2, therefore it became Sherri's project. Her animal.
We started by power-washing the deck. In this first series of photos you see what the deck looked like after it was power washed. 
Some of the stain came up in certain places on certain boards, but for the most part it simply removed all the dirt. Our goal was to match the existing stain as closely as possible. 
We first tried to simply stain over what was there, but we found that the stain just puddled...never drying and leaving a gooey mess. So we had to power wash it again and this time we would sand it down.
Now my vision of sanding a deck was to go over it lightly, applying just enough pressure to rough it up and prepare it to absorb the new stain. 
Sherri's idea was to remove every fleck of old stain to get the wood to its natural color. We went through the gauntlet with renting a variety of power sanders and spending a fortune on sand paper and pads, but Mark at Home Depot didn't charge us a dime due to a faulty unit.
I'd like to take this opportunity to recommend the Home Depot on 90th and Redwood. I have never ever ever been shown the level of customer service and personal attention than I did from Mark in tool rental. That place has won a customer for life. We paid nothing for what would have easily been $350.00 in rentals and materials. Top drawer.
Once the deck was adequately sanded down we started applying stains. The first one Sherri bought was a "semi-transparent" reddish brown color called california rustic, which turned out to be an almost opaque paint. 
So she re-sanded what she did and started over with a toner in the same shade. We were looking for something that added color yet allowed you to still see the texture and grain in the wood. This series of pictures shows the end result. We are both thrilled with the outcome and are once again enjoying our lovely deck. And the piles of laundry and dishes are finally being attended to now that the deck project is done!
