What would you take????

Brian's parents were evacuated from their home this last week during the height of the fires. I have pondered over the last few days what I would have taken if I were in their position. They are coming to visit and help out around here while Brian has two trips to CA over the next two weeks, so I am anxious to find out what they did take. Dawn ( Brian's sister) and I were talking and commenting that mom's super packing skills ( she CAN put a square into a circle without batting an eyelash) were going to be put to the test as they packed the car.

In my moments of pondering this i realized that so many things are replaceable and really not that important. Sure they are nice to have, but if I did have to pack my car there isn't much I would take. A few books, pictures, and a few peices of jewelry that have been passed down and the computer. Now realistically speaking, with four kids and three car seats, how much room would we really have! :-)

New pictures

Mathew and Zachary- two weeks

Brian had taken Brandon to soccer practice and I was home with the other three watching the World Series.( Obviously, Andrew got a little bored by the Sox's romp of the Rockies) He fell asleep at 5:30! Yes, quite a shock. I always wonder whether to wake them or not when they fall asleep at this hour- for the record, I did let him sleep and he did sleep through the night. He loves to dress up in combinations of characters he has on here his Knights cape- Jedi robe- Padawan( something) and his yellow belt. The yellow belt is his signature piece. No outfit is complete without the yellow belt. I realized this picture would have been much more effective in color- so you could get the true feeling of the many layers of clothing.


We have to plant winter grass if we want a green lawn in the winter. The boys helped Brian spread the seeds, and then cover the grass with good hardy "organic" material. you may see the spider webs on the house- they looked very cool when first put up, but once we got a bit of wind they started sagging a bit.


Zachary- two weeks...


We love Andrew's infectious smile




Zachary- one week old.....

Zachary Wesley Teuscher

Zachary Wesley Teuscher

October 2, 2007 8:43am

8 lbs 4 oz.

With four days in the hospital we had some fun moments together....

How do you think?

The other night as we were putting the boys to bed they were all talking at once, trying to tell me what story they wanted, events of the day, typical 7pm chatter. I just couldn't keep it all straight and I finally told the boys to quiet down because I couldn't think straight.

Without missing a beat Matthew replies, " Mom, can you think wiggly??"

Thirty seconds later he follows that response with, " Can you think at all??"

At that point I honestly couldn't think at all, I was laughing to hard.

Star Wars meets the Knight

One of my "to do's" before having the baby was to get Halloween costumes decided upon and done. Andrew found his first, a Knight. He wore the costume every waking hour he was at home for the first week. When he went to sleep it had a special place on his bed for it to be. When he woke up, on went the costume... another moment to remember back when you were younger
and how exciting Halloween costumes were.









Brandon and Matthew chose Jango Fett and a Clone Trooper, respectively. Our Star Wars collection just keeps growing.

A few battles and skirmishes have ensued in the past few weeks. The Knight holds his own fairly strongly against the Clone and even Jango.

Signs of the Fall

1. It is a hot day when we hit 100 degrees

2. In most areas of the country the weather is perfect for swimming-- here it is just TOO COLD.

3. The thought actually crosses your mind in the morning to maybe open your windows.

4. It's soccer time!!!

Brandon and Matthew are both playing and Andrew wishes desperately that he was. Brian is coaching Brandon's team and finds it fun and challenging, and yes, he has even found a few ways to use Excel in planning and rotating the boys positions throughout the games. For those of you also living with husbands who have been born with the Excel gene- this comes as no suprise, that Excel really CAN be used for everything.

Brandon has become more agressive on the field this year. Defense is still his strength, but it has been fun to see him attack the ball, instead of waiting for the ball to come to him.

Matthew ( 7) scored the first goal of his life last week. The picture shows him kicking the ball- the ball is at the edge of the photo. I was so excited for him I forgot to take a picture of him celebrating!! At least he has some sense of decorum- a huge smile and a strong fist pump in the air( one of the other boys on the opposing team took his jersey off after scoring a goal))

You are living in 2007....

I had this forwarded to me today and admittedly started laughing

YOU ARE LIVING IN 2007 when...
1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.
2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.
3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.
4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.
5 Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses.
6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.
7. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen.
8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and Get it.
10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee.
11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )
12 You're reading this and nodding and laughing.
13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.
14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.
15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on this list AND NOW YOU ARE LAUGHING at yourself.

The best little present

We all know and love little packages... sometime the best presents are in the little boxes with beautiful ribbons. I received on Tuesday a beautiful new present.. this one however didn't come in a little box, this one was wrapped in a utilitarian plastic bottle with childproof screw top lid.

My RLS has gotten so bad I have been sleeping around three hours a night. It doesn't make for a good mix of moods in the morning- i would have to consientiously tell myself everymorning not to get upset at anyone becuase it was me that was the moody one-- not anyone else.

When I went in for my Dr. apt on tuesday I mentioned this situation to the Dr. She immidiately said she had had RLS with her last pregnancy and knew how tough sleep was to come by-- would I like a presciption for Ambien. There was no complaining from my side of the room.

That night I slept 9 hours- without moving. How many of you at 9mos could go nine hours without getting up???? I had to run to the bathroom when I did wake up-- but I have been a new person. At least the last few weeks will be doable. There is definite gratitude for little presents in little bottles from me!

Observations on life has changed in the last 6 years

I'm sure I'm not unique in remembering exactly what I was doing on 9/11... but each year I find it interesting to see how peoples attitudes on the events have changed in the ensuing years. At first no one talked about what happened, didn't tell their children the events-- just that it was a sad day. We have been fairly open with the kids on what happened.

This year at school the 2nd graders sang a song at their special assembly, so Andrew and I went down to watch Brandon. I was fairly suprised at how open the history teacher was in recounting some of the events of 9/11. He spoke to the kids about heroes and spent time talking about the fire fighters who were at ground zero as well as the passengers on Flight 93 ( and of course he mentioned Pat Tillman-- which is a whole other subject--- especially the coverage it gets here in Phoenix). So many other countries live with horrific tragedies on a daily basis- it is part of life for them. It is interesting to see how this event has become become "part of our lives"-- something that just happened and how open we have become on the events.

I started typing in the word homemade into my google toolbar to do a search on homemade granola ( Brandon has taken a great liking to granola and could eat it breakfast, lunch and dinner) I figured hey maybe I will take a stab and try making some of our own. So as I have typed in homemade then the following pop-up ( you knwo how google tries to guess what you are going to type) homemade bombs, homemade pipebombs, homemade explosives.... I was quite taken aback and groaned internally at how things have changed. Couldn't it be homemade bread, homemade jam... guess I just want to live in a bit more naive world.

Peace and Quiet

I was sitting upstairs the other day and I heard the most interesting sounds... I heard the movement of air from the ceiling fans, I could hear cars coming around the corner, I heard drips from the boys faucet that hadn't been shut off completely... I could hear myself think... I was alone. For the first time in eight years no one was home with me. Andrew has started preschool two days a week and the other two were at school. I honestly didn't know what to think. I do have to admit because I am used to some sort of noise- the stillness kindof threw me for a loop. I was shocked how much I was able to get done with no one around, or more directly stated not having to keep the eyes in the back of my open to what mishief or nonsense Andrew might be busily engaging himself in. The quiet is only shorlived of course--- only two weeks worth until life tips us again upside down.