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.