So Mom left on Saturday headed back to Oklahoma.  Saturday was a rainy day — perfect to match our mood. We did get the garage cleaned out and arranged so Bill can start working in there. Then Sunday came and we were fine.  Then during Relief Society my throat was feeling kind of sore.  Maybe I was conducting with too much gusto.  Monday, sore throat.  Tuesday, sore throat and now Bill is sick.  I mean sick, sick.  He is down for the count sick.  He says it’s my fault, but all I had was a sore throat that is now gone.  My major concern making sure that Halloween isn’t ruined.  I am really looking forward to taking the boys to our ward’s Halloween Trunk or Treat which this year will include dinner and games.  It reminds me of when I was little and our ward in California had a Halloween party complete with a spook alley, bobbing for apples and other fun games.  I remember the bishop dressed up as Raggedy Andy and his wife was Raggedy Ann.  Okay so I am off topic. Shouldn’t I be concerned that my husband will be okay.  I have told him so many times he needs to go to the doctor, but so far he hasn’t listened.  I even told him to go to the ER which I wouldn’t do unless it’s major say like a broken ankle.  I think he is doing a little bit better today. I hope so anyway.  But if you see me, Optimus Prime and a little bat tomorrow night, you’ll know where Bill is.

I debated and debated about to blog about moving to New Mexico.  It is after all not happening tomorrow and we will be around for  six months so I thought maybe I would just wait, but I didn’t.  So I posted last night that we were moving and we have already received a record for this blog, six comments.  We got to church and a lot of people that are not in the circle of blogging sisters that I know knew.  I was surprised.  News does travel fast.  Bill was asked to meet with the second counselor today before church so we knew he was probably being released.  He was and one of the reasons was the bishopric heard some news that we might not be in the area for too much longer. Does the bishopric read our blog???

Bill got home on Thursday and told me he had something important to tell me that would be life changing.  I couldn’t imagine what it could be.  I thought maybe it had to do something with his family since he had been in Utah for the past week.  I never would have guessed that he has received orders to go to Kirtland, AFB, New Mexico.  I have been wanting to go to New Mexico for a long time.  New Mexico is less than a day’s drive to Monticello, Utah and Altus, Oklahoma.  How awesome it will be to be able to hop in the car on a long weekend and go see our family.  We have never had that pleasure.  We got married and moved to New Jersey and then moved five years ago three hours south to Maryland.  We have always been on the east coast and I have been longing to be west of the Mississippi River.  Now it is happening and it doesn’t seem real.  We have so much to do and it’s the worst possible time to try to sell a house.  Bill’s report date as of right now is the end of April, but we are hoping they may allow us to extend out to June so that Billy can finish school.  Unfortunately, we have been procrastinators and are now going to be living out This Old House episodes every day.  I think painting may become a specialty of mine. 

*For those Jeopardy fans out there, O Fair, New Mexico is the state song of New Mexico.

Well Bebe left today.  For those of you who don’t know, Bebe is my mom. When Billy was two, he started calling her Bebe and it stuck.  Well she has been here for two months and today she left to go back to Oklahoma.  She has been a HUGE help.  I don’t know what I would have done without her.  She truly helped in everyway including allowing me to keep my foot up so that my ankle could heal properly.  I can now walk up the stairs, but I still go down on my bottom.  Just think how I would have managed with Baden and Billy when I went up and down the stairs on my rear and had to use crutches to get around.  She cooked, cleaned, changed diapers, did laundry, made Mickey Mouse pancakes, and gave hugs and kisses out generously.  She put up with a whining four year old who at times told her that he wasn’t going to be her grandma anymore ( I think we need to explain better how family relationships work), but she is a trooper and just smiled and kept on going.  It is strange not having her around and it will be for the next week, I am sure.  Billy cried which made me get teary-eyed, too.  He’s already told me today that he wants to get on an airplane to go see Bebe and Grandpa.  My mom deserves a break and I know one of the first things she will do is call the massage therapist for a massage ASAP then she will head to Happy Hour at Sonic for a Cherry Limeade.  She deserves it! Thank you, Bebe.  You’re wonderful.

Lately Billy has started watching Tom and Jerry on the Cartoon Network or Boomerang.  He thinks they are hiliarious.  Baden does, too. They both laugh and laugh.  Of course, some might think how horrible for children to be watching a cat and a mouse chase after each other and try to harm one another.  Then I look at some of the stuff that is on TV now and I know they will not be scarred because I let them watch Tom and Jerry. I watched Tom and Jerry and I am okay.  The only problem seems to be getting Billy to stop calling the cat, Jerry and the mouse, Tom.  When I explain it to him, he says no, no. The cat’s name is Jerry.  Then he laughs and laughs. Maybe he is just being silly.  He is four after all.

After dropping Bill off at the airport, we headed to the base to grab some dinner and watch Sesame Street Live presented by the USO.  It was a free show offered to military families.  It was a lot of fun.  Billy was hoping to see Big Bird, but he must have been asleep in his nest with Radar, his teddy bear.  He was a little  bit disappointed, but he really liked Cookie Monster singing, C is for Cookie, a Dunow favorite.  Baden’s eyes lit up when Elmo made his appearance. He started clapping and bouncing up and down.  He loves Elmo.  Grover, Zoe and Rosita were there, too.  They sang and danced and it was a lot of fun.  The show was about the separation anxiety that can happen when mommy or daddy has to go away because of their job.  All of the kids got a spinning light Elmo which is really cool.  It was a fun evening. 

Sunny day
Sweepin’ the clouds away                                           
On my way to where the air is sweet

Can you tell me how to get
How to get to Sesame Street…

On Saturday we went for a drive on Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park.  This is our favorite camping spot. We were there in June for a week.  This weekend the place was packed.  All of the camping sites were taken and all of the rooms at the lodges were full too.  We had a nice drive looking at the leaves and soaking in the beautiful colors of fall.  We had a picnic lunch at the Big Meadows picnic area and enjoyed the day. The boys loved running around and Billy got to climb a tree or two.