Photo Story Friday: Pumpkins Pumpkins Pumpkins.

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

I haven't carved a pumpkin since I was a kid, before my nose was fully developed! Oh, Ok, I know lots of you like them, even like the smell and/or taste of them. I however, don't... nope not at all. The smell makes me gag and I can't stand the slimy guts, but this year we DID carve them. Usually we draw the faces on them but, Megan decide to have a carving party at her house. It wasn't a huge party, in fact, it was just family kickin' and carvin' it up! Clancy and Monica and the girls, Aaron and Me and the kids and Megan and Shawn and Shaylee were the only attendees, and I must admit, I did have fun. I really did, stinky pumpkin guts and all!
Megan set it all up in the kitchen so the kids could just make aevery kind of pumpkin of mess. Only most of the kids wouldn't dare stick their hands in the pumpkins. Javin pulled a couple of hands full of goo out, and then decided he didn't much like the feel of it. So all the grown ups had all the fun.
I tried to get a picture of each pumpkin with it maker. So here they are. Enjoy, we sure did! Please do bear with me I have a few pictures here!
The top picture is Grace with her pumpkin. The kids seemed to like the idea of drawing on the baby ones much better than digging in.
Javin was also very pleased with himself, and his "baby".
This is the Clank-i-nator and his awesome pumpkin, or is it?
Grace and Javin didn't mind the carving part, they gave that part the 'ol college or would that be the 'ol preschool try?
Here you see that Javin did give the gut removal a try. Yuck!
Shawn made the scariest of the bunch. I guess he had to cut away a bit more so the candle would shine through it better. But is was a pretty scary one, eh? Javin was pretty worried when we went over to Megan's house yesterday. He went over to the far side of the steps to get to the door.
Megan made an Igor pumpkin, it is easier to make out at night with only the candle light shining through.
Here is the GREAT pile of pumpkin guts! Six murdered pumpkins leave a lot of guts in their wake!
There was something in his teeth, and being a good maker, Aaron tried to get it out!
Monica was too busy giving Orissa loves and hugs to carve her pumpkin, so Clancy acted as her proxy and carved it for her!
Ok, so my pumpkin isn't the most creative, but hey, I did it. I played in the pumpkin guts and all.

Might as well, jump...Jump, go a head and Jump!

So Orissa has finally decided that the Jumperoo is a cool toy and now goes bananas when we put her in there! (Our first experiment with online video too.)


Orissa Jumping from Ryanne Leavitt on Vimeo.

Photo Story Friday: A Post About My Mum.

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

If I were a writer I would call my current problem writers block, but since I am a would be, wanna be writer I can only claim a huge brain fart...I have started to write a post oh, 6 times. They all end up being deleted and forgotten. The words I want to put here don't seem to want to find me, and are pretty good at avoiding my searching mind. I want to talk about my Mum and how much I admire her, faults and foibles and all. However every time I start this post…brain fart!
The idea is to finish this before the world ends, so maybe I will just write and maybe not aim for perfection and all that. My Mum, Myrna M. Booher Flynn, is the fourth of four children and the only girl. The daughter of a logger/railroad man and a nurse. Being the only girl, I am telling you, she got away with quite a bit and was a bit, ok a lot bit spoiled. She spent the first few years of her life having to share a room with her parents, in a house without indoor bathroom facilities...something I am sure we all take for granted.

When she was a young girl the older girls used to invite her over for sleep overs because they thought her brother Jim or was it Duane was super cute, and wanted to get closer to him through her. From Mum's stories and what I have heard, my Mum was a pretty popular girl. She ran with a pretty big crowd and always seemed to have a boyfriend. Of course they did some crazy and stupid things, but hey, isn't that what the teenage years are for? She always told me she wanted her daughters to be better than she was, and make better choices. She raised us with a different value set then her parents had. Again I go back to the spoiled aspect, you see my grandparents kind of let her get away with nearly everything. One of the things Mum used to say to me when I was a teenager was, "You know you can always come to us with any problem, it is better for you to tell us then us to find out another way." I admit, I wasn't the best teenager. No, I didn't party or smoke or do drugs, but I had, well let's just call it an attitude problem, until I was about 17 or so. One thing for sure, after my sister married and moved away, my Mum became one of my best friends, and I ended up forging a lasting relationship with her. I don't fear telling her my problems. Sometimes she isn't the most sympathetic person, you know when you are feeling sorry for your self, she doesn't want to listen and nod, she wants to fix what ever the problem is.
Ok, so once last year while my parents were visiting, I fell down the stairs. From the top all the way to the bottom. You see, I was carrying something large, and couldn't see the next step and slipped and went fumble bumbling down. As soon as I hit the last step Mum and Aaron were there to help. Aaron helped me to my feet and was checking to make sure nothing was broken, while Mum on the other hand, was giving out advice for not falling down the stairs again. "You should have let go of what you were carrying. I think you really should always hold onto the rail, that is why it's there", and "maybe you should wear shoes, so your feet don't slip in the stairs." My Mum is a fixer. Don't tell her something if you just want some one to hear your woes, cause she wants, and maybe needs to fix things.
I suppose it comes from raising eight children, and the last four mostly by herself while we were younger (my Da was a long haul truck driver for all of my early years and I am number six). I think to raise that many children you have to be a problem solver. I admire her devotion to her family. She was always willing to make sure we had what we needed before ever thinking of herself. Heck, now that all the kids are grown and gone she thinks of my Da's needs before her own.

I have grown up knowing that is it good to speak my mind, to never be afraid to stand up for what I believe. I credit both of my parents for this quality, but a good portion of it goes to my Mum. I can't remember a time when she let any one walk over her. She is small of stature...5'2" but not small of character! When my brother Clancy was playing on the River Dogs baseball team, one of the coaches attacked Clancy and put him in a head lock. He was a big man, but that didn't stop my Mum from getting right up in his face and letting him know who the real boss was. He came close to hitting her, and all she said was, "Go ahead and do it, then I will own your car dealership and everything else you have. She is a bit on the fearless side when it comes to defending her children.
My Mum is also a bit on the silly side. I suppose she has a right, having a bunch of kids can do that to a person. She has vowed to never grow up, and for the most part she is keeping her word. Now that she is "a little gray haired old lady" she thinks she can get away with anything, 'cause "people will say, it's Ok, she's just a crazy old lady!" When we went on a vacation with my parents, what nearly 7 years ago she put that one to the test. We were in the Spokane International Airport, when she spotted this giant of a man wearing a Montana State Bobcats sweatshirt. Well, having lived in Missoula for years, we were naturally University of Montana Griz fans. There we were in the airport filled with travelers going here and there, and my Mum starts chanting, "Poor Bobcats, poor Bobcats." She did it over and over until the Goliath (I mean this guy was huge, he might have been the football team, for MSU) in front of us turned around with malice in his eyes. As soon as he saw that it was in fact, the little old lady saying it, he shrugged his shoulders and went about his business. Da, Aaron, and I were trying to melt into the floor from embarrassment, but she just giggled and went about life like that was a normal happening. I guess she proved that sometimes people do let the "little old ladies" get away with stuff.
All in all my Mum is a pretty cool cat...of course I might just think that because I am quite a bit like her! Sure she has her issues, and sometimes drives us a little crazy...but hey, that could be pay back...but she is my Mum and I love her dearly. She maybe be often misunderstood, but her actions always come form the heart. I am who I am because of her and my Da.

(wordful wednesday)Oh, I Thought It Was A Respite!

Have you ever had one of those days when one, if not all, of your monkeys push every button you have and then go back and push them again and again? If not, I hope you never do, but if your answer is a resounding yes, then you can commiserate with me.

My day started out pretty much the routine way. Javin woke up a bit before me and headed back to his room to play. I ran and started a shower, hoping to make it through the entire thing with out a toddler insisting that he too needed to take a shooor (shower). I nearly made it too. I was just turning off the water when I heard him come barging in and demanding to take a shooor. Well, I figured that he really could use one. That all went well. I was thinking life was pretty good this morning. After that I headed to the living room to get Orissa changed, medicated, and fed. That too went with out any major hitches.

Now I know you're thinking, well that day sounds pretty good and even calm, and it was, but then all hades broke loose. Megan came over with Shaylee Bugs. Javin was so excited to have his cousin over to play. They headed up the stairs to play with all the fun toys. Moments later we hear a thump bump, bang boom crash. At the thump bump we both ran to the bottom of the staircase only to see a toy box being thrown down with toys raining down behind it, and the two monkeys standing at the top giggling and arming themselves for the next barrage.

I calmly headed up the shrapnel riddled stairway to stop them from letting the next volley loose (you can ask Megan, I really was calm). I nicely told Javin that we don't throw the toys down the stairs, and if he did it any more he was in trouble. Wouldn't you know it, two minutes after I was settled back on the couch, those distinctive crashing noises came again. This time I ran up the stairs and told him he was going to have to take a nap if he did it again. He said he wouldn't do it again. (I know, I trusted a 2 and a half year old, what was I thinking?) After that talking to, he and the Bugs started to follow me down. I thought for sure we had seen the end of flying toys. I was kind of right, but only kind of. A couple of minutes after that we hear thump bump, crunch scream cry crash, and made it to the bottom of the stairs in time to see Shaylee hit the floor. Megan scooped up the Bugs and checked for any real damage, and I headed half way up to give Javin a a real talking to.

I asked him what happened. Javin said, "Shaylee bonk, she bonk!" I said he knew that she bonked but explained that I needed to know how she bonked. He then pointed at his feet and said, "Shaylee bonk my shoe." I told him it wasn't nice to push her, that she is so much smaller and just learned to come down the stairs, and that he really needed to be gentle. I then informed Javin that he needed to say he was sorry and give the Bugs a hug. He flat refused. I then told him if he was going to be a meany bo beany that he was going to have to take a nap. He said, "NO!" I said, "Yes, I think you need a time out, until you can be nice and say sorry!" "NO, Ommy, NO." As you can well guess I wasn't very happy with that monkey. I scooped him up and carried him down to the bottom of the stairs, on the last one I stepped down, and instantly yelled out, "I told you not to throw your toys down here and now my foot hurts. OUCH! That's it you are going down for a time out, forget getting out until you are sorry." I hopped the rest of the way to my room to put him on the bed. You see, one of the many many toys he had throw down was a lego and it had jumped up and bit my foot, or rather my foot has a lego radar and loves to hurt and so I yelled and I rarely yell.

A minute later I decided it was probably a bad place to put him 'cause that was where I had put the Miss Oriss down for her nap. By the time that thought made it through my brain to my feet, he had already awakened her and was trying to pick her up. With the mood his actions had put me in I ran in and grabbed her up and demanded that he lay down. He cried a bit, calling my name, trying hard to work on the Mommy sympathy button. OK, I admit it after a few minutes I gave in and talked to him about how he was being. He said "Sorry Ommy, I sorry." I then asked him if he would be nice to Shaylee and give her a hug. "Es Ommy I sorry." Well, he was so cute there sitting on the edge of the bed, I gave in and believed him.

Javin slid off the bed, ran to the living room, gave hugs and then they headed back up the stairs to his room to play. And play they did. They giggled and played and had fun. After ten or fifteen minutes the Bugs came down and Javin continued to play. Oh joy, all was calm, everyone was happy, YAY!

Megan and I settled into a movie, The Mysterious Mr. Moto, and all was right with the world. Nearly half way through the movie I thought Javin was crying. We paused and listened and decided, no, he was just playing. Then the movie ended and Megan said, "Is he crying? I think he is crying this time." I agreed that this time he was crying and headed up to see where he had gotten stuck. Nearing the top of the staircase I saw what I thought to be the problem, the guest room door was closed, and it has a doorknob safety lock on the inside. He must have closed the door and now wanted out. I could hear his sad little cry, "Ommy, Ommy...." I opened the door, expecting him to run out and all would be well. It was not to be. The first thing I noticed was that something was blocking the door, I looked to see if he was sitting in front of the door, and saw a diaper there. I looked up and across the room to see Javin standing half naked on the coffee table in a puddle with tears streaming down his face. I immediately starting trying to calm him down, and my eyes continued to scan the room. A couple of feet in front of the table, I saw what could have been, but sadly wasn't, chocolate smeared on the carpet. My well trained Mommy eyes recognized the mess for what it was on the spot. I also surmised what had happened. I ran to him, deftly avoiding the brown goo and held him in my arms, again avoiding the brown mess that was all over him, and told him it was all right, and that I loved him. His eyes were brimming with tears as I carried him to the door. I quickly maneuvered him out of the room and some how kept the Bugs at bay as I closed the door, and dare I say, skillfully carried his poop covered body down to the shower.

Now the real fun began. I pulled out one of the many wipe containers and started to wipe him down so he was clean enough to take a shower. I washed him up, and left him to play in the water as I headed up with rag and soap and wipes and garbage bag to attack the 2nd half of the mess. Oh, it was so terribly gross. I tell you, my gag reflex is in working order! After a good 15 minutes of intense scrubbing I came down, with a bag full of yuck, and headed to the trash can. Then I got Javin out of the tub and diapered him and sent him on his way. Ok, let him go as he ran giggling a way from his clothes.
Later he ended up running through the house in a white "cape", and we dubbed him Diaper Boy! His friend Andrew came by and he got to say hi and happy day to him, yes still in nothing but his super hero get up.

Now, you might be thinking, that is a lot for one day, and I whole heartedly agree, but this was not all. After his short visit with Andrew (and Mommy getting to visit with her friends Dori and Jeremiah) he and the Bugs were on the move again. Then we heard the tell tale sign of kids getting into trouble...very loud giggling coming from upstairs. I turned to Megan and said, "Oh no, they are laughing, nothing good comes from that kind of laughing." I headed, once again, up the LONG flight of stairs. I had only to go a few steps up to realized we were in for more fun, I heard splash, giggle, giggle, splash splash! "OH, not the toilet, Megan the toilet, water mess stop that you monkeys. Bring a garbage bag!"

And then we put the kiddy jail fence around the stairway and life finally stared to settle down. Shawn was a life saver, as when he got off work, he kindly agreed to tend the monkey zoo while Megan and I headed out to dinner kid free, for our sanity's' sake. We came home to find Aaron and Shawn peacefully watching TV with three sleeping and very adorable children, for by then they had transformed back to their former state. Peace had finally hit the Leavitt home. All is well.

Photo Tag: The 6th of the 6th

I have never been tagged before. My sister CArrie did the tagging, and this is kind of fun. I went to my iphoto and found the sixth event and opened the sixth picture! This is Grace, Monica and Clancy, at the hotel where my parents used to manage. We all used to go and stay there. On the account that we got our room comped! As you can see it as taken a while ago, on November 23, 2005 to be precise. That sweet little baby is now 3 years old!
I guess my job now is to tag 5 people so here goes. I tag you Megan, and Elizabeth, and Jaina and Chelsea and David McMahon. I think it will be fun so join in and play!

I'm Better!

I am feeling a bit better today, not so much in the slump I was in before! I guess I was pretty grumpy lately and I just had to vent. I know it will all be fine in the end.
I was hoping to be all witty every time I decide to make a post, but as I have now realized, if it isn't coming naturally, then it sounds all forced and stupid. So from now on out you get witty only when witty comes to call.
The Phantom of the Opera is coming to town next week, and man do I wish we could go. The last time we saw it, we were clear up in the nose bleed section, and could hardly see a thing. Aaron promised (now this was 9 years ago) that the next time it was in town we would go and get the best seats in the house and really make an occasion of it. You know, get fancied up, go to the best restaurant in town, and then hit the show. Well, here we are 9 years later and I am sad to say we aren't going to be able to do any such time. The timing is just NOT ideal for such an extravagant night on the town. I suppose I can wait another 9 years! It's not like the music costumes, and script are changing anytime soon. We will get to hear all about it from Aaron's family. I think most of them are coming to town to watch it. I do hope they all have a lovely time. I think maybe Aaron and I will go on a bit cheaper date that night! Maybe a trip to Manito Park or some other lovely park in town. It is nearly the end of park weather so I guess we will have to enjoy the few days we have left.
P.S. this was taken at Finch Arboretum.

Who's in a Slump? Oh, Yeah..... Me!

I think that, Ok i know that I have been in a bit of a slump. Everything that I start sounds stupid, poorly written, or just plain whiny. Sure things are a bit stretched right now, but I see that it's becoming more so with lots of people. Of course, mine isn't due to the economic down turn, mine is because of both adoption lawyer fees for both adoptions coming due at the same time. So, as you can see, I really shouldn't complain at all. I have my wonderful family, and that is worth all the financial hardships we might encounter in this life.
I mean, look at these miracles! THey truly gifts from a loving God.


I am in no way complaining about having the family that I have always wanted, I guess I am grumpy because the lawyer on Javin's case billed at irregular intervals, even though the contract we signed stated that when the monies we paid into the retainer were used up we would be billed. You see, that was to keep the current dues at a minimal and easy to attain. We went SEVERAL months without receiving a bill. In my non legal mind, I thought that meant that we had yet to accrue any additional fees. I wasn't until we finalized Javin's adoption that we got a bill in the mail and boy was it a doozy! At the same time we were in the process of squaring away the details for Orissa's adoption with two lawyers. As one might be able to imagine those fees added up, well twice as fast! In one weeks time we ended up being billed over $15,000 in itemized lawyer debt. I nearly fell over dead. Then, after thinking that those had to be the end of the nightmarish dues, more bill came in. I was nearly ready to yank out all of my hair.
We are by no means poor. We can pay our bills, buy food and gas and all of that, but we had yet to be able to save much. So, I wasn't sure where we could come up with this much moo-la all at one time. Again, I take you to the contracts we signed with the lawyers. We agreed to pay the amounts due when they came due. I didn't want to get my self into more trouble by not holding to the promise I made, even if the lawyer office hadn't. So we bucked up, and put it on the DREADED credit card. Yeah, we now have enough to buy the car I wanted charged to a credit card. Now that is a scary thing. But I suppose you do what you have to do to stay afloat.
I love my children and wouldn't trade them for the world, I just wish (most...or at least my) insurance covered adoptions just like they cover births in the hospital. [smile, wink, sigh!]