you say "trash", I say "garbage"

Nicholas has been getting a little extra attention at school with speech classes. He struggles a bit with the “ch”, “sh”, and “j” as in Just sounds. Last night I was working on these sounds with him and doing some practice exercises with the “sh” sound. I would say a word and he would repeat it. If he didn’t say it correctly, I would say it again and continue this way until he made the correct sound. So we’re on the couch going back and forth…me: “trash”, him: “trash”, me: “trash”, him: “trash”…All the while Robin is on the floor making pairs of Potato Head concentration cards. Finally she looks up in the middle of this banter and with a wrinkled and yet assertive brow declares “garbage!” She’s so helpful.

We have successfully endured 2 Halloween events within the past week (downtown greenwood and YMCA, pictured below)…

After a few attempts to be brave and participate in the events (to no avail), Robin realized that to get any candy at the YMCA, you have to play the games. She stood in line for everyting...even the costume contest!A hayride (minus the hay) with Daddy...Nicholas had a blast with his buddy at the Y with his buddy Zack, radio-controled boat races!Trick-or-treating downtown. The children got to climb into all sorts of emergency vehicles. All in all, too many people and not a whole lot of fun for all involved.

We plan to go to yet another big gathering this evening. Seems we will depart from the traditional door-to-door activities as they children prefer to attend a local church’s festival. None-the-less, pumpkin carving was quite fun…

Robin doesn't remember carving pumpkins last year, so Nicholas was very excited to fill her in on all of the excitement!The best part is playing with all the ooey-gooey insides!Instead of carving faces or images into the pumpkin, the children have really neat little plastic nails they hammer into the pumpkin.

No word on jobs for Rob so we are in the middle of making some more pretty rash location decisions. Greenwood, Clemson, …or somewhere totally new for all of us! We have exactly 3 months left on our current lease in Gwood and need to make some kind of decision. Where oh where will we go next!

Here's Clemson's Bowman Field on Homecoming day with ESPN Gameday there. Can you tell where their booth was? (Notice the shadows, this was early in the day. ESPN Gameday was 10 am - noon and the game was 7 pm. I imagine this field was COVERED!)

happily bunked

Whew. It’s been far too long since I updated this site. Sorry to anyone who still checks in from time to time. Here’s the lowdown on developments and life in the Massey home.

Robin-isms
While at Momma El’s home in the country, I took the children for a walk with the dogs down the gravel road. The horses across from Mom’s house came to visit at the fence, hoping for some fresh grass hand-fed from Nicholas. Robin questioned:
“Mommy. Why does that horse have socks on”
[a black horse with white “socks” on it’ s back feet]

[a little history first] I have a brother who is 3 years older than me. We got along splendidly (right!). I am not quite sure of my age at the time of this particular event (but I would confidently guess that I was Robin’s current age). So, after an attempt to get my way in arguing with my brother, I figured the best thing to do was tell on him. So I did. With tears and confidence I exclaimed, “Mommy. Phil hit me back!”

[present day] In the car, Rob and I hear continued bickering and fussing in the back. Most dominant was Nicholas’ cry “Robin, leave me alone!” Finally, we intervene to have Robin so confidently explain how her bother was pestering her., “When I poke at him he messes with me!” Robin is so similar to Rob that we reach to find commonalities between mother and daughter. At this statement, Rob declares, “Maybe she IS your daughter after all.”

Happily Bunked
We visited Phil a few weeks ago. It’s always nice to see him. He gave us the hardware to bunk the children’s beds. After some elbow grease we overcame to wood. The children LOVE the new beds. Robin has her fort. Nicholas is on the top bunk with his fort. And they both sleep well through on the nicest furniture in the house!

A Family of Tigers
So. For those of you who do not know, Rob had an employment scare in the middle of September. A college grant was not continued and 4 people at Piedmont Tech would be losing their jobs. Although this was not the grant that Rob works for, he was the most recent hire and therefore would be sacrificed to place the other 4 people losing their jobs. Rob was give a termination date of October 31. This spawned a frenzied job search from jobs he’d like and a positive career move to anything brining in an income.

At the end of September he was notified that he would NOT lose his current job. The program appealed the grant request, the source reconsidered and they were ultimately granted the funding. Sine then, however, he has had positive contact from each of the search committees. Some to establish interviews, some to confirm that he was over qualified and insure he’d be interested in a lower status and less pay. Now that it is not a desperate decision, he has the freedom to be choosier.

All of this to say that he had a positive interview last week with Clemson’s Orientation office as the Assistant Director of Orientation. There are a couple of other jobs at Clemson that he will be just as interested in. Now it is a question of time. But I’ll try to remember to update you.

Expeditions on-line
January 2007 a new SC Public Television show will air, Expeditions with Patrick McMillan. This is a Clemson production and the first assignment of the Clemson University PSA CAFLS web team (my office). It has to be live (on-line) by October 16th …although it is designed and ready now. But, if you’re interested, check out Expeditions with Patrick McMillian.

Reading While I Drive
I'm still driving an hour and 20 minutes to and from work each day. Whew, good thing Wal-Mart gas is 3 cents cheaper if you use a Wal-Mart gift card! I frequently visit the library form new CD's. So I am listening to the DiVinci Code right now. I really like it. True, there are serious spiritual issues that conflict with scripture. But this is fiction full of fabulous mystery and drama. I am interested in watching the move as well. [has a little to do with the fact that I am a big Tom Hanks fan] The narrator is fantastic. I love the English mans character and hope he is just as funny in the movie as he is on the CDs. If you have a long drive scheduled, go to your local library and reserve this one!

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