Fall pictures

Matthew is a farmer for Halloween, and if I find him a tool belt he might turn into a carpenter and carry around his tools, we'll see. Today was a very warm day, 73 and super windy. This evening we have flash flood warnings. So Matthew in his overalls and John Deere hat definitely reminds me of Uncle Dan (the family dairy farmer).

Playroom

Oops tripped

Can I have the camera? Please mom.

Wearing a hat for once!

Close up

Nut

Ben Stein's Last Column

For many years Ben Stein has written a biweekly column called 'Monday Night At Morton's.' (Morton's is a famous chain of Steakhouses known to be frequented by movie stars and famous people from around the globe..) Now, Ben is terminating the column to move on to other things in his life. Reading his final column is worth a few minutes of your time.

Ben Stein's Last Column...
============================================
How Can Someone Who Lives in Insane Luxury Be a Star in Today's World?

As I begin to write this, I 'slug' it, as we writers say, which means I put a heading on top of the document to identify it. This heading is 'eonlineFINAL,' and it gives me a shiver to write it. I have been doing this column for so long that I cannot even recall when I started. I loved writing this column so much for so long I came to believe it would never end..

It worked well for a long time, but gradually, my changing as a person and the world's change have overtaken it. On a small scale, Morton's, while better than ever, no longer attracts as many stars as it used to. It still brings in the rich people in droves and definitely some stars. I saw Samuel L. Jackson there a few days ago, and we had a nice visit, and right before that, I saw and had a splendid talk with Warren Beatty in an elevator, in which we agreed that Splendor in the Grass was a super movie. But Morton's is not the star galaxy it once was, though it probably will be again..

Beyond that, a bigger change has happened. I no longer think Hollywood stars are terribly important. They are uniformly pleasant, friendly people, and they treat me better than I deserve to be treated. But a man or woman who makes a huge wage for memorizing lines and reciting them in front of a camera is no longer my idea of a shining star we should all look up to.

How can a man or woman who makes an eight-figure wage and lives in insane luxury really be a star in today's world, if by a 'star' we mean someone bright and powerful and attractive as a role model? Real stars are not riding around in the backs of limousines or in Porsches or getting trained in yoga or Pilates and eating only raw fruit while they have Vietnamese girls do their nails.

They can be interesting, nice people, but they are not heroes to me any longer. A real star is the soldier of the 4th Infantry Division who poked his head into a hole on a farm near Tikrit , Iraq . He could have been met by a bomb or a hail of AK-47 bullets. Instead, he faced an abject Saddam Hussein and the gratitude of all of the decent people of the world..

A real star is the U.S. soldier who was sent to disarm a bomb next to a road north of Baghdad . He approached it, and the bomb went off and killed him.

A real star, the kind who haunts my memory night and day, is the U.S. soldier in Baghdad who saw a little girl playing with a piece of unexploded ordinance on a street near where he was guarding a station. He pushed her aside and threw himself on it just as it exploded.. He left a family desolate in California and a little girl alive in Baghdad

The stars who deserve media attention are not the ones who have lavish weddings on TV but the ones who patrol the streets of Mosul even after two of their buddies were murdered and their bodies battered and stripped for the sin of trying to protect Iraqis from terrorists.

We put couples with incomes of $100 million a year on the covers of our magazines. The noncoms and officers who barely scrape by on military pay but stand on guard in Afghanistan and Iraq and on ships and in submarines and near the Arctic Circle are anonymous as they live and die.

I am no longer comfortable being a part of the system that has such poor values, and I do not want to perpetuate those values by pretending that who is eating at Morton's is a big subject.

There are plenty of other stars in the American firmament...the policemen and women who go off on patrol in South Central and have no idea if they will return alive; the orderlies and paramedics who bring in people who have been in terrible accidents and prepare them for surgery; the teachers and nurses who throw their whole spirits into caring for autistic children; the kind men and women who work in hospices and in cancer wards.

Think of each and every fireman who was running up the stairs at the World Trade Center as the towers began to collapse. Now you have my idea of a real hero.

I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters. This is my highest and best use as a human. I can put it another way. Years ago, I realized I could never be as great an actor as Olivier or as good a comic as Steve Martin...or Martin Mull or Fred Willard--or as good an economist as Samuelson or Friedman or as good a writer as Fitzgerald. Or even remotely close to any of them.

But I could be a devoted father to my son, husband to my wife and, above all, a good son to the parents who had done so much for me. This came to be my main task in life. I did it moderately well with my son, pretty well with my wife and well indeed with my parents (with my sister's help). I cared for and paid attention to them in their declining years. I stayed with my father as he got sick, went into extremis and then into a coma and then entered immortality with my sister and me reading him the Psalms.

This was the only point at which my life touched the lives of the soldiers in Iraq or the firefighters in New York . I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters and that it is my duty, in return for the lavish life God has devolved upon me, to help others He has placed in my path. This is my highest and best use as a human.

Faith is not believing that God can. It is knowing that God will.

By Ben Stein

Handsome Boys

The two handsomest boys I have ever met. Daddy will be home soon relaxing with his boy.

My toofers!

Club

Matthew with a club, watch out!

Grandpa laudermilk

Matthew and his grandpa laudermilk.

Moo cows

Moo cow

Matthew visiting the moo cows.

Bathtime fun

I was racing his new matchbox car from Mema along the side of the tub
and he thought it was hilarious. Now he is tucked into bed with one of
his lions. I wonder if he will get attached like Kevin was to his 'Ra'.

Breakfast

Matthew had already eaten but decided to climb in my chair so he could

play with the leftovers. Notice his mouth while he is doing this. What
a nut.

Family Weekend

This weekend has been fun, we had visits from Chris and Nikki from Texas, Mary and Emily from NY, and Bill from Eastern-ish TN. So the whole family was in town. I keep trying to take pictures but my camera is not working very well. Everything keeps coming out grainy or blurry. But I'm sure they have lots of pictures so I'll have to steal some.

Boots and Hats

Boots boots and more boots. He loves wearing boots!

Which one is a better look for Matthew? Backwards or Forwards?

Beanbag chair

Whoever said beanbag chairs were not cool anymore? Matthew sure
doesn't think that!

Vacuum

How does this thing work?

Lounging

Dinner

Matthew loves my fake-chicken Parmesan.

Playroom

Playroom and playroom floor. Should I go big and buy another? Or leave
it as is hmmmm. Check back for our Toy storage container thing.

Tucker

A minute before this he was climbing on Tucker. Now he is just
watching his video. What a nut. Kevin calls it the "Tucker jungle
gym". I'm glad all of our animals love Matthew so much.

Mel

Play Date - Oct 10

Matthew had a play date with Cody today. Angie brought Cody and Madison over and they played before dinner. We went for a wagon ride, and the boys learned how to push each other on the caterpillar truck. I think they are learning how to play together. It is always interesting watching anyone this age play but especially interesting watching both of them play. Most of the time it is what my mom calls "parallel" playing. Each of them plays with a certain toy or toys next to each other but they don't actually play back and forth. I can't wait for Kevin to be here so he can play with Matthew. Then I can watch my husband and our son play together like two 1 year olds would play together. That is why I married him though, a big kid at heart.

After the playdate Lisa came over and we ate dinner and attempted to watch a movie. Duplicity wasn't the best movie to watch though. It is one that requires really paying attention and between the kids and our conversing, I think we missed most of the movie. Ohh well its just a movie. The floor is finally done in the new playroom. YEAH! Now I want to find some sort of storage system for Matthew's toys. Something where his wooden cars go in this bin, his legos in that one and so on. I'm hoping Lisa can go shopping with us tomorrow so I can have a second opinion. I'm not a super organizer but I think it would be good for Matthew as well as me to start. Tomorrow hopefully I can get the room looking like a real playroom and not spend too much money doing so.

Have I mentioned I am being overrun by an army of tiny ants? It is annoying and I can't seem to get the upper hand. Ever since we got back here from NY the house has been infested. I thought about a week ago I had them beat but now it is twice as bad. They called in reinforcements I guess. Gross. I was told to treat the outside of the house with outdoor ant killer and we did that last week. Hopefully this week will conclude their stay at Hotel Laudermilk.

Silly kids

Matthew and madi playing.

Trampoline fakeout

I think Matthew was faking out Cody. He kept pretending to get off so
he could be the only one jumping haha! What a nut!

Trampoline

Gym

Swinging and smiling

Hero Dog Tries to Help Mortally Wounded Dog - Chile

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofpYRITtLSg&feature=youtube_gdata

Sent from my iPhone

Thursday

The Frg meeting last night went ok. Mostly a waste of time but a couple good pieces of info were brought to my attention. I'm so glad Lisa was able to bus Matthew and I to the meeting. Matthew did well with the daycare yeah! Next time maybe an earlier meeting...we are nearing the end of this military life anyhow. And I'm starting to get a little sad over that. I think it is more that I am used to one way of life and change is exciting but also scary.

Here are some newer things with Matthew...
He meows, moo's and woofs.
Holding strong at 4 teeth.
Running not just walking.
No favorite toy by far but enjoys his yellow tonka lots.
Eats his bubbles from his bubble baths.
Loves the graduates fruit leather type snacks - new favorite and easy mac is his favorite meal.
Loves stearing wheels and rides on the lawn tractor.
Adores animals dogs, cats and birds and starting to want to visit the neighbors cows.
Favorite thing to do right now is ride down hill in his wagon.

I finally bought rope for his swing hopefully tomorrow we will put that up. Check back for pics!

Is this how you ride a vacuum?

Silly nose scruncher

Wagon

Puddle

He is learning how much more fun it is to stomp this way he makes
bigger splashes.

Wheelie?

Playing with his caterpillar truck.

Thursday

The Frg meeting last night went ok. Mostly a waste of time but a couple good pieces of info were brought to my attention. I'm so glad Lisa was able to bus Matthew and I to the meeting. Matthew did well with the daycare yeah! Next time maybe an earlier meeting...we are nearing the end of this military life anyhow. And I'm starting to get a little sad over that. I think it is more that I am used to one way of life and change is exciting but also scary.

Here are some newer things with Matthew...
He meows, moo's and woofs.
Holding strong at 4 teeth.
Running not just walking.
No favorite toy by far but enjoys his yellow tonka lots.
Eats his bubbles from his bubble baths.
Loves the graduates fruit leather type snacks - new favorite and easy mac is his favorite meal.
Loves stearing wheels and rides on the lawn tractor.
Adores animals dogs, cats and birds and starting to want to visit the neighbors cows.
Favorite thing to do right now is ride down hill in his wagon.

I finally bought rope for his swing hopefully tomorrow we will put that up. Check back for pics!

Vroom vroom

Steering wheels are a favorite.

Jail time.