My Hero

Anton hasn't had a haircut in a long time. His hair is probably longer than it has been since before he joined the military. And since it is so long, he has taken to combing it to the side like so:

I don't like it when he combs it like this. I think he looks like a goody two shoes. But not only that, I also think he looks like Sylar from Heroes (which I realize is the exact opposite of a goody two shoes).

Do you see the resemblance? It's unnerving to look over and think you have a psychopathic serial killer living in the same house as you. And in case you can't see the resemblance, I helped him out with a little Photoshop.

He even has a sinister look in his eyes in this one. So if I abruptly stop posting some day, you may want to call my house and ask for Sylar.

They're Addictive

What is it about Marshmallow Mateys that can have you eating bowl after bowl after bowl without feeling a bit of guilt? Good stuff.

It begins.

Well, we sent off for our passports yesterday.

They are expensive little buggers. Anton and I both needed to renew ours and the kids needed new ones. This will be my third passport in life.

I've been debating on whether to start a new blog dedicated to all the planning and goings on with this trip or just keep it all here. What do you think? Would you read me in two places, or is that too much to ask? :) I think I would put a lot more detail on a new blog for those who may be interested in the process, but I would leave the details off here. Then again, I may not have time for a new blog. Who knows!

Would you?

So I think we've almost decided that we're going to go to Thailand and live for a year. Anton will get a job teaching and I'll keep up my scoping. But since deciding this, I've been getting flack from people about how stupid I am to take my kids overseas. So what do you guys think? Would you live overseas in a foreign country where none of you speak the language and it's a bit dirty and crowded and traffic and driving is a nightmare (which I wouldn't drive)? I know some of you have lived abroad with the military, but we won't have that support group behind us. Although, there is an English speaking LDS ward in Bangkok, so we will have them. I guess I want reassurance that I'm not going to win the worst mom of the year award by doing this. Either that or you guys will all tell me I'm nuts and we'll change our plans.

Needing Suggestions

So from the rumors running around it sounds like Anton's job may not start for over a year. That's a long time to be living jobless in my parents' basement. So I'm looking to you all to help us. What would you do if you had a year and you were completely unattached to jobs, homes, etc.? It can't be something expensive, like traveling the world, because we are jobless. But it could involve traveling if we were being compensated, liked teaching English abroad. It could involve school, since we both get military education benefits. We've looked at teaching English, which we're not really qualified for, but would love to do it if we could. We looked at sending Anton back to school to get his BA, but we're not residents of Utah so the tuition is more than the G.I. Bill will cover. So does anyone have any suggestions? Something less than a year and not expensive. Help me internet friends; you're my only hope!

Updates per people's comments:

We would only want to go to school if it furthered our careers in some way. We don't want to use up our military benefits just to get a job for less than a year. All Utah state sponsored schools are out, too expensive. BYU has already rejected Anton in the past, so no go there.

I do already have a job. I am still scoping part time. So I don't need a job, unless of course it was handed to me on a platter as something I would love to do that would make me more money than scoping, but that's not going to happen.

Also, we kind of want to do something meaningful, as in service or volunteering or something like that, but we would want a sense of adventure in whatever it is and the kids would have to be able to do it too. I realize this is asking for things that probably don't exist, but there it is.

Halloween Happenings

We had a fun Halloween. This was the first year both kids really understood what was going on which made things more enjoyable.

We started out the festivities the night before by carving pumpkins.

Neither of the kids were too sure about sticking their hands in the pumpkin goop, but they warmed up to it.

Both kids picked what they wanted on their pumpkins and mom and dad helped them cut it out.

Ella's was a self portrait. She was vary particular about how everything looked.

After hers was done, Ella moved on to help Daddy with his and Alex's. I love the look of concentration with the tongue hanging out.

Next year we might just stick with 2 pumpkins until the kids can carve their own.

And since my pumpkin looks better in the light, it gets a picture all its own.

I wanted a witch hat to put on it, but didn't feel like hunting one down.

And in all their lit up glory:

Alex's is the monster and Anton's the peeping Tom, which I thought was completely appropriate per his known habits (fourth picture down).

On Halloween itself we had mummy dogs for dinner:

Ella dressed up as Annie wearing a dress my mom made me when I was her age, and Alex dressed up as a knight.

Their favorite part was grandpa setting up the Great Pumpkin.

He makes a new face for it every year, and it glows in the dark.

At the end of the night he lets the grandkids climb inside of it and make pumpkin shadows. Such fun!

But before all that, we got the pumpkins set up:

Ella was acting really lethargic all night long. It's no surprise she woke up this morning with a barking cough and talking like a frog. This is what she looked like all night:

Poor thing. She wanted so badly to hand out candy and go trick-or-treating with her cousins, I just couldn't send her to bed.

The kids had fun trick-or-treating, even though we didn't go to many houses since it was too cold for the parents outside.

And that's about it. Fun times.