Busy Boys...

The blogging has been a little sparse lately due to the fact that we are very busy people! There's been a lot of working, a little playing and some prepping for an important meeting. Because of all that, there has not been a lot of laundering and cleaning at the old homestead. But today that all changed. I declared it "Clean the House Day". And thankfully, nobody complained!!

The boys got busy cleaning their room. Somehow while I was busy getting ready for my Stake Leadership Meeting yesterday, the boys mattresses found their way onto the floor. Their room was a wall-to-wall mattress, blanket, pillow and miscellaneous boy junk mess!! It is now cleaned and vacuumed and the beds are even made. They also decided to hang their marathon blankets on the wall. I am not a big fan of paraphernalia on the wall, but after running 26.2 miles, they earned the right. They love it!







Then they were sent outside to blow and rake the leaves. This is a serious chore in our yard. We have approximately one acre of grass and a lot of trees which drop a lot of leaves hence a lot of raking and blowing. But they were up to the challenge!!



There was also a little living room and bathroom cleaning going on and, of course, laundry - always and forever laundry...

And somewhere in between Salt Lake City, Utah and Somerset, New Jersey in care of the US Postal Service there is a "call". We are told to expect it on Friday or Saturday of next week....

Smile William...

William is a very smiley kid. You may not know that because every picture we have of him recently displays a very "non-smiley" face or not face at all. We have to use torture or bribery to get him to smile for a picture.

Here's a few attempts from today while we were eating brunch at the IHOP!

Number #1 - we got the menu...



Number #2 - almost got him...



Number #3 - we got him... (sort of)



I think I love this kid!!

Election Day 2009...

Dear Governor-Elect Christie:

Congratulations on your win! Now get to work and make things better for the citizens of New Jersey. Please do what your campaign promised to do or do even more.

Have a good day!!

The Glad Family

Congratulations to Mayor Mike too - Keep up the good work!!

Feeling Groovy...

After a day and a half in bed, several boxes of tissues, a lot of Tylenol and Sudafed, some really good "Naked" juice, a lot of prayers to get me through my big day at the New York City Marathon, and a really good night's sleep, I am feeling alive again. Not perfect, but alive and able to function a little.

And the best thing about the day...

My totally finished and bound "scrappy diamond" quilt came in the mail today!! I actually had to chase the mailman down the street to get it though.


Thanks Mom!!

The Halloween That Wasn't...

By the time Quintin got home from work on Friday, I was feeling really terrible. We were supposed to go to the annual Halloween party and chili cook-off at church, but there was no way I was getting out of my cozy bed. Quintin was still tired from running his marathon and he didn't feel like going out either. Thankfully, Jeff (Jacob's friend) was here and he and the kids went to the party together and left me and Quintin home alone!! Grace called from the party and asked to sleep over at Rachel's. I think she was expecting me to say no, because when I said yes, she was really excited and kept saying "really I can??".

Saturday I didn't get out of bed at all. I slept on and off and used a lot of tissues. Sometime around 3:00 pm I realized Grace wasn't home yet and so I had Quintin call Rachel's house to see if she was going to be adopted by them or if she was coming home. She decided to come home. When she arrived home sometime later, I told her to get her costume on and Daddy would take her trick-or-treating. She said she didn't really want to go, she had enough candy. And so we snuggled down further under the covers and watched Halloween movies on the Hallmark Channel.

So here's the recap -
We didn't make chili for the cook-off.
We didn't make "dinner in a pumpkin"
We didn't make any costumes at all.
We didn't go trick-or-treating.
We didn't even carve a pumpkin.
We didn't take one single picture.

We are so lame!!

Fonts for Friday...

I'm not feeling very well today. I hope that the flu is not trying to take over my life. I don't have time for that!! So while I'm not feeling well, I've been sitting in my bed playing around on the internet and I found almost the best thing ever.

yourfonts.com

And I made my very own font!! And it was super easy and only cost $9.95.

Here's what it looks like:



And now I am very happy (except that I still don't feel well!) so I think I will go to bed until I have to get out to go trick-or-treating tomorrow evening!!

The Glad's Take Over DC...

Warning: It's long...

As you are well aware, the Glad Family descended on our nation's capital to participate in the Marine Corps Marathon. What you might not have known is that we were met there by five more Glad's - Q's brothers, Eric and Neil, his sister, Margaret, our sister-in-law, Mary and the matriarch of the clan, Velma. We were quite a group!!

Thursday: We all worked and went to school, then we loaded up the van and were on the road by 3:30 pm. Our drive was uneventful, which is always a good thing. We arrived at our hotel right across from the Pentagon and tried to locate the rest of the family. They were eating dinner - so we got some of our own dinner and then piled into our hotel room for some jumping on the bed and wrestling time - that's what happens when brothers get together. We called it an early night and went to bed.

Friday: Our alarm went off super early so that all five of us could shower, eat and get ready for a day of sightseeing. Our first stop was the Washington Monument via the fabulous DC Metro. We enjoyed seeing the district from way high up and even got to see the President's helicopter land on the White House lawn. Next on the agenda was the Smithsonian Museum of American History. We saw the original "Star-Spangled Banner" and Julia Child's kitchen and a few other things, but then we were hungry so we found Ollie's Trolley (a DC landmark) for a little lunch. After filling up on hamburgers, fries and milkshakes, we walked to the National Portrait Gallery and spent a few hours looking at so many famous portraits we couldn't even take it all in. When we had our fill of art, we walked to the Convention Center to pick up all the bib's and race packets and shop at the Marathon Expo. We bought Q and Will their official race jackets and looked at all kinds of things to make you run faster and better. And then we were hungry again, so we found a restaurant in Chinatown and gorged ourselves on plate after plate of yummy Chinese food. A quick trip on the Metro took us back to our hotel for a much needed rest and a good night's sleep.

Saturday:

The boys decided to stay in and rest up for the big day. The girls decided to visit the Holocaust Museum. We spent hours there looking at pictures and reading stories. A definite must-see on any trip to DC. We then found a place to eat and were about to go to the Air and Space Museum but a heavy rain storm stopped our progress and we decided to go back to the hotel instead. But before that we stopped for a hot chocolate at Starbucks and a shopping trip to buy dry clothes for Grandma. By the time we got home, the boys had ordered pizza for dinner, and were ready to call it a night, but the girls decided to go to the mall for soup and sandwiches. We made sure we were ready for the next day and went to bed early.

Sunday:

The big day!! It was a beautiful day - perfect weather for a marathon! Will, Q, Eric, Neil, Ali and Dave ran and ran and ran while the rest of us walked and walked and stood and waited and walked some more and waited some more, hoping to catch a glimpse of our runners. It was thrilling every time we saw them. Ali finished first with a time of 4:45, Will finished next at 4:51, Eric was third at 4:55, Quintin came in next at 5:21, Neil was fifth at 5:29 and Dave finished up the pack at 5:52. We were so proud of all our runners. It was a little questionable if a few of them would even be able to run, but they all finished and beat the bridge. And then the rest of the day we just hung out and rested. The boys wore their medals with pride all day. I think Quintin might never take his off.

Monday:

Grandma, Grace and I did a little shopping while the rest of the gang went to visit the Memorials on the Mall. And then we all packed up, hugged and kissed and headed home.

And now Quintin can cross that one of his list. He did it!! I think he even wants to do it again...

And some favorite photos from our weekend:

Stay Tuned...

We're in DC for the marathon weekend and have very limited internet access. Please stay tuned for all the gory details...

Happy "Heart Attack" Anniversary Day...

One year ago today I was awakened very early by my spouse who claimed that he wasn't feeling well - and then a few hours later, we discovered that he wasn't feeling well because he'd had a heart attack and blood wasn't getting to very important parts of him that needed blood.

And then he had a stent put in his blocked artery.

And then he stayed in the CICU for a week.

And then he stayed home with me for 6 weeks.

And then we bought him a "pill box" because he takes a lot of medicine.

And then he went back to work and back to life and everything seemed just fine.

Except for that in January, it happened again!!

And then he had another stent put in another blocked artery.

And then he stayed home with me for only 1 week this time.

And then he went back to work and all was well.

And then he decided that he wanted to run the marathon that he didn't get to run last year.

And then he started training and running and training and running and running every day and a lot on Saturdays.

And we missed him.

But it's good for his heart.

And the marathon is this weekend.

And we're really excited to have it done - except a little worried too.

And then life will go on and all is well...

The Case of the Disappearing Milk...

photo from fotosearch.com

Back in the good ol' days a gallon of milk would last 4 or 5 days at our house, but recently a weird phenomena has been occurring -- the milk has been disappearing at a faster than normal rate. I find myself telling Quintin to bring home milk every other day. We are constantly running out of milk. And that is a tragedy when it's ten o'clock at night and all you want after a long, hard day is a bowl of Count Chocula with icy cold milk.

What is causing this rapid disappearance??

Could we blame it on "global warming" - thus the need to cool ourselves with more milk?

Could it be the bad economy - which we need to stimulate by buying more milk?

or maybe it's the fact that we have 3 growing (or almost grown) children who like to drink a lot of milk?? and eat a lot of cereal...

You make the call.

I Might Re-Think My Position...

Following are snippets of conversations I have had with my children and others over the past few days that are making me re-think my position on home-schooling:

Grace (referring to school): Please don't make me go to that horrible place! (maybe she was tired and just didn't want to get out of bed, but maybe it really is horrible??)

Jacob (referring to high school): It's way worse there than most adults know. If kids want drugs they will get them.

Dean of Students at FHS: Mrs. Glad, there's been an incident and we need you to come pick up William (he was suspended for leaving his brain at home, because, obviously, he wasn't using it that day)

I fear for the future... (except I'm not sure I'm willing to give up my "home-alone" time just yet!)

It's That Time of the Year Again...

Yesterday I finally had Jacob take the air-conditioning unit out of the window. Today I took the space heaters out of the closet. We have traded our t-shirts for sweatshirts and our cotton socks for wool ones. Fall has definitely descended on the Northeast. The trees are changing color and the weather is turning brisk. Today was raining, windy and darn cold. The kind of day that makes you want to crawl into bed and snuggle. Soon, very soon, I will be switching the light-weight down blanket on the bed for my nice, heavy down comforter, affectionately known as my "cooshie", and soon, very soon, I will be asking Quintin to turn on the heat.

Because he always does what I ask him to do... and because I think it's going to snow tomorrow...

Hugs and Kisses...

My job is trying to kill me! (just thought you should know...)

But this picture makes me happy. I wish I could have a "Cooper Hug and Kiss".

I Hope They Call Me On A Mission...

Soon, Jacob, very soon...

The physical is complete...
The dental exam is done...
The various other forms are filled out...
The photo has been uploaded...
"Submit" has been clicked...



Interviews to follow, then it's off to Salt Lake with all the information and then we wait for a big envelope to come in the mail...