The Clutters

Okay Mandy, message taken. It's just to me, nothing exciting happens, so it's hard to find things to say.

But.......after reading the Hillyard Herald I have to set a few things straight. I am NOT a mean boss. I do let Lissy have time off. As a matter of fact I MADE her take time off to go on Dora's field trip. Okay, it's not like it hurt me. Either she would have been at work helping me, or on the field trip helping me. I mean it's all about me, right? Wait, I was trying to make a point. The point is that I am a nice boss and Lissy will agree with me (or she'll be fired!).

Anyway, so it's been a nice couple of weeks for us, Dora especially. Her dad has been in Arizona for 2 weeks, so she didn't have to go over there at all. It's been very nice, but went by too fast. He came back today, so Monday it will be business as usual. Although it's been since May that she's spent the night, so it will just be after school twice a week.

Dora was student of the week last week. It was a nice treat, kind of like being VIP. She got to lead the class in line whenever they went to PE or something. She also got to do a lot of other cool things. It also meant it was her week to do an oral presentation of a science experiment. I was proud of her. She had already done the research and found her project before I even got home and found out she had a project. She made a "homemade" lava lamp. It was pretty cool and everyone liked it. I bet she did great on her presentation too. She is still loving her drama class. They play fun games using their imagination and acting skills. She has her friends playing some of these games at recess now. Friday she went to Lutherhaven with Lissy on a field trip. Lutherhaven is an outdoor ropes place. They usually do a lot of "team" type activities dealing with trust and confidence. This is part of the yearly "care day" they do. It's a lovey dovey day where they get to know each other and learn about being a team, while also feeling special as an individual. The parents have to write care letters letting their child know how special they are. Dora had a good time and liked having Lissy along. Her favorite part was the car ride to CDA with Lissy and 2 of her friends.

Ella is the same handful as always. Like Dad said in the Hillyard Herald, we thought she was getting sick on Tuesday. She woke up sounding yucky and she said she didn't feel good. She was a little clingy too. She woke up normal on Wednesday and has been fine all week, so that's good. Her new thing is the WSU hoodie Jason bought her at Wal-Mart a couple of weeks ago. She absolutely loves this thing. She wears it all the time and looks really cute in it. The first week was pretty warm, still in the 80's-90's and she would still wear it all day when it was hot! Luckily this week was much cooler (50's-60's). I have to wash it almost every night because she wears it all day, every day! She's also impressing Aunt Lissy with her vocabulary, using words like strictly and especially correctly in sentences.

We've been working on getting the yard ready for hibernation. Jason got the yard all mowed for the last time and I got the rose bushes trimmed way down. Jason has been cleaning the garage to take down the air conditioners. It's also been nice with all the rain we've had not to worry about Dora's ceiling leaking. Thanks Mandy and Meric!!

Jason's also been cleaning the garage so he can get the stereo ready to play it's "spooky" music and he's making room for the fog machines to do their thing. Yep, we're getting ready for our 3rd annual Halloween party. He also bought new skeletons to decorate the yard. We were slowly cleaning it up last year and the old ones got buried under 6 feet of snow!! It was interesting to find hands and feet a little at a time as the snow melted! Ella is really excited for Halloween. She's going to be a unicorn, thanks to Mom finding Dora's old costume at their house. Dora's going to be a dementor, from Harry Potter. Basically she'll wear a black shroud and conceal herself under it. Should be fun!!

Today we took the girls and Grandma Shirley to Green Bluff. Ella loves apple cider. It was really cold and rainy today, so we didn't pick apples like we usually do. We went to Hidden Acres for apricot jam, an apple crumb pie, and two mini pumpkins for the girls. Then we went to Harvest House for their famous pumpkin donuts (thanks for getting me hooked Devin!). We also got some already picked golden delicious apples and some d'anjou pears, with of course some apple cider. It was fun, even though it was cold.

Okay, and sorry to end thing on a sad note, but I learned some sad news yesterday. When Jessica had come to Devin and Kristy's reception we talked about her sister Dee (many of you have met her a few times). Dee had a lump in her breast and was to under go surgery at the end of September. I didn't think much of it, no one did, because Jessica has also had several similar lumps under her arms. It's part of their screwed up bodies due to all the prednizone (spelling?) they've been on all their life. It's just something they have removed and then go on. Anyway, they did the surgery only to find out that the lump was definitely cancerous. So now their looking at the options. At the moment it's a year of chemo and maybe have a shot, or a year left to live. So anyway, it makes me sad for both of them. So if you all could include both Jess and Dee in your prayers, I would appreciate it. Thanks!