RODERICK HALLOWEEN

Our girls did their partying this last weekend and I neglected to snap a few shots. I am still waiting on Kelsey and Shae to slip me their pics from the festivities in the Northwest.

I took matters into my own hands and made them pose for the dreaded jack-o-latern annual photo. Don't they look joyful? Daisy, too, cuz really she fits right in with the blonde Roderick trademark.

Roderick's . . . gotta love us.

THAT TREEHOUSE BUNCH

The last 2 weekends in the Treehouse the kids have been sharing with me what they were going to be for Halloween. This year's hot costumes for the K-1 scene were ninjas, any Star Wars character and Mario and Luigi for the boys. The girls were butterflies, princesses and cats.

I shared with the kids that I had the best costume ever. I really played it up and made them beg me to tell them. "I am going to be a mom who hands out trick or treats." Laughter erupted in the the house.

They get me. Boo!

BILLS

I am upstairs in the bedroom and I hear Scott's faint voice on the phone with his mom. He is setting up his dad and mom's bank account so that bills can be payed online by them as well as him. Believe me, I am not going down there until all is silent and I once again feel safe.

It is scary, which is appropriate since the holiday is tomorrow. BOO!

HALLOWEEN WEEKEND

The endless selection of costume needs and wants grow exponentially every year at the Roderick house. These girls jump from one costume idea to another faster than loose cricket in one of their bedrooms. Seriously.

The final, at least for last nights parties and activities, result was as follows:

Kelsey was a black raven (even though she no longer lives at home she still desires our opinion).

Addison was a gypsy with a very loud, jingly skirt (you could hear her coming up the driveway).

Shae was a shark attack victim (she is still sporting blood stained pale white legs).

Hope was a Tree (don't ask, I have no idea).

Tomorrow is "The" day and I don't even want to know what the four will be doing.

They are Roderick's and they will conquer Halloween. BOO!

GOTTA TELL YA

I love trying out new stuff on the kids in the Treehouse. Like this weekend, for instance, I had fun "changing it up a little".

The kids are all sitting on crates ready to begin and I explain to them that we're going to do an experiment today. "Instead of me telling you the story," and I say this with confident urgency, "you are going to tell me the story." I can only describe their faces as ones of confusion, horror, crooked grins and fingers up noses contemplating. The Treehouse has been silenced. "Go ahead," I say. Utterly silent. "Do you even know the story?" I ask this as if I can not beleive they don't know the story. After a moment, I entice a nod here and there and a sick smile from a kid in the back.

I follow this charade with four sheets of white paper that include hints as to what the story is about and they must complete these before we can continue our time together. Eventually, some kids did figure out which story they were going to hear but not one child could tell the story, which I had planned from the start. My control group for the great Treehouse experiment.

I have to say it worked out perfectly. A job well done in the Treehouse is a job well done for the Kingdom. I praise God that it worked because I did not have a back-up plan.

WOW!

I didn't realize how long it's been since I posted on the ole blog. Time has a way of sneaking right past me. And to be honest it has been crazy nuts around the Roderick abode.

Scott's dad is busy overcoming several serious health issues and we are along for the ride. Really. We drive down (Scott & I or more often than not just Scott) to Carlsbad for surgeries, post op, doctors appointments, etc. And as a bonus while we're there we just throw in and take his mom to her medical visits as well. Please tell me this too shall pass. Sometimes I feel like the filling inside of a Hostess Ding Dong. You know everyone needs you and you're in the middle. Our own kids and Scott's parents.

All you can say is "Wow". Now suck it up and be a Roderick.

DIANE SAWYER

Diane Sawyer has done an assignment about Native American children and the struggles they face growing up on a reservation. The 20/20 story was being advertised as Addison walked in and took a look at the TV screen.

"The Children of the Plains". Is that a story about the kids of people who died on 9/11?" Check the spelling honey, it's "plains" not "planes".

She's a Roderick. Gotta love her.

KNIT, KNIT, KNIT

It is the time of year when I just go crazy knitting. Every spare moment is spent with needles clicking, yarn unwinding and a dazzling piece of art developing. I love the smell of the wool as it rustles through my fingers. I love watching the pattern come alive. I love having our little dogs right there beside me guarding my every move.

Today was no different as they took up their respected positions on the living room lounge chair with me. They both lay so close to me that sometimes Diesel's fur gets tangled in the yarn and he becomes part of a stitch. It was peaceful, quiet and relaxed.

Then I heard it. The rumble that comes with a SoCal earthquake. But it happened to quick, not an earthquake. I realized that one of my pooches had just broke wind. No, that wasn't it. Wait. What?

Dakota was snoring like a sailor too long at sea. This 17 pound mutt sounded like an 18 wheeler crashing through the house. This tiny little female hound was making a sound that rattled the windows.

So much for quiet at the Roderick's.

NEW CLASS

Addison comes home from school today and I greet her with a smile and a question. "How was your first class of the new term?" She muttered something about a brain formation class and I thought that odd. She is in a fashion design school and brain just didn't ring true to my way of thinking. I continued with "a brain class . . . really." To which she replied "No Mom . . . a brand formation class. You know brand names."

My bad. I'm Roderick.

CRAZY WEEK

It has been a crazy week at the Roderick's. Fall seems to bring all the "busy" with it. Time changes at church, staff changes as well, kids back to school, holiday plans in the making and knitting, lots of knitting.

This fall has brought new challenges. Scott's dad is seriously ill and his mom has health challenges of her own. Scott tries to get down to Carlsbad as much as he can but his work right now is in a crush mode with many new issues rising to the surface. We are determined to weather the storm.

Addison is looking at some dental surgery on Wednesday. She's got all kinds of teeth stuff going on from implants to orthodonture to wisdom teeth. It all falls right in the middle of her 2nd term of school and she is a wee bit stressed about it all. I can't blame her.

So needless to say the blog has suffered a bit. But we're Roderick's. We will muddle through.

HOPE COOKED

Hope cooked dinner last night and it was so awesome. I can not tell you how excited I was that she had taken on some responsibility in the kitchen. She's always been the one who didn't want to do anything near a stove or an oven. She made a fabulous grilled chicken ceasar salad from start to finish including the grocery shopping for the ingredients.

And she helped me cut out felt pieces for a project we are doing in the Treehouse. We sat there and cut and laughed most of the afternoon. Scott watched soccer, Addison was hanging out and Hope and I were armed with scissors. We didn't have a pattern, we just freestyled. It was a very cozy Sunday afternoon at the Roderick's.

We were shy two girls but we're Roderick's. We will find a way to survive.

VET DAY

Today was appointment day at the Vet. D&D had shots, check-ups, weigh-ins and meds. They were itching all weekend and I decided enough of that so we combined routine/regular visit. We returned $600.00 lighter with healthy dogs, allergy pills and flea eradication product (all prescription of course). Next year we add dental care at their annual visit.

Whew! We love our dogs a lot.

THOSE DOGS

Diesel loves to watch me in the kitchen. He sits on the couch and peeks over the top for a view of every angle and my every move. So when Scott came home it was only a matter of time before he decided to test Diesel. Dakota is too short to see over the couch or she would have met the same fate.

Scott and I were by the sink and slowly and stealthly squat to the floor and tap lightly on the dog dishes. Yep. The tinkle of dog tags meets our ears and two little mutts come running in to see what's up in the kitchen.

Hmm. Did I feed those guys today?

TANK

Our friends, the Hurdles, have a lab named Tank who is not the smartest dog in the litter. He's the one they watch attack the sprinklers for hours on end. Of course, Don and Cherylynn watch him perform this task, so I don't know what that says about them. I am not here to debate about the "smartness" in the family. I want to share a story about Tank.

Cherylynn noticed that Tank had been feeling poorly. You know, just not behaving like Tank normally does. A few days pass and suddenly Tank perks up and has regained his usual curious demeanor. The Hurdles are once again happy.

As they clean up dog poop in the back yard, those of us with dogs know how much fun that is, Cherylynn finds an unusual pile of Tank vomit. That's right vomit. Dog people know the difference between poop and vomit. This was vomit. Not only was it vomit, it was an unusual amount of vomit and strangely familiar.

Seems our friend Tank had got into Nathan's closet and gobbled up a whole bag of Easter grass. This is very harmful to dogs. In fact, if not caught in time can cause death. Tank took the high road and avoided a very expensive visit to the vet.

Tank should be a Roderick.