Friday, October 31, 2008

Halloween Fun

On Halloween we had our friends Nanci, Shane, Heather and their kids over for a Halloween dinner. After we all scarfed down some grub, it was off to trick-or-treat. We hit a couple of good neighborhoods and had a great time. The kids definitely got loaded up on candy! In one neighborhood someone set up a mini haunted house. Julia and Karli ran off from everyone else and headed toward the house. A few minutes later I hear Julia crying really hard and thought for sure she had biffed it. It was one of those cries that something is really wrong. Turns out she was just scared by the "dead people" at the haunted house. She frantically looked around and said "where's Karli?!?" I said "maybe they got her!" to which Julia responded "OH NO!" followed by more tears. I am such a mean mom, but I got a good chuckle out of the incident because I don't know how many times I told Julia that night to stay with the group and not take off on her own. Needless to say she stuck pretty close to us the rest of the night. :) After trick-or-treating we drove out to Otis Orchards, where Heather grew up. There is a family out there that carves a TON of pumpkins every year. It was AMAZING! The detail of these pumpkins were incredible! They had everything from religious carvings, to dragons, to celebrities, to cartoons. It was awesome. I wish I would have taken my camera out there! We all had a great night and we're so lucky to have such great friends to spend time with!

Setting up for our dinner....silly me, I didn't take any pics with people sitting at the table! Good grief.


Here are some pictures I took up at Kiddie Kandids. We took Matt's pictures first...he wanted to get out of there and go cruise the mall. LOL! Gotta love those teenagers!

All the kiddos...


Our favorite jailbird...


Our little witch...


Our little giraffe...


Olivia would not cooperate for a picture in her costume...she was the cutest ladybug ever! This picture turned out pretty cute....our little "treat". :)


And finally, some pictures of the 3 youngest kids in their halloween shirts...


Thursday, October 30, 2008

Only at Walmart...

I know that this post may come across as fiction, especially to those who know me, but please be assured I am not bored enough to come up with a story like this.

Yesterday afternoon I got a call from Nanci asking me to print off a school paper for her son and take it down to her parent's house where her son was staying (Nanci is out of town for a couple of days). I had not showered, or even changed my clothes from what I slept in (sad I know). The night before had been a little difficult and I cried more than a few tears...I just needed a good cry I guess. Sadly for me, when I cry my face is horrific. My skin gets all blotchy and my eyes get all red and puffy...it's really quite disgusting. Although it was almost 24 hours later, my face was still red and gross. I figured I was just dropping off a paper, so I made no efforts to improve my appearance. Once I was out of the house with no kids in tow, I thought maybe I would run to Walmart to pick up a few items for our Halloween dinner. I literally went back and forth on whether or not to go because I looked so disgusting. I finally convinced myself to go...it was 8:30 at night, surely I wouldn't see anyone I know and I would just be in and out...real quick.

When I am slobbed out I make it a point not to make eye contact with people in the store. I guess it's just a quirk I have, but when I'm looking so disgusting I don't have the confidence to be myself. So I'm minding my own business, getting the things I needed. I'm walking up and aisle and I see a tall man walking towards me. He obviously saw me look at him then right back down at my shopping list. I didn't want to be rude so as I got a few feet from him I looked up, smiled and looked right back down again. He stopped and said "what's up baby girl?" What? Did that really just happen? I manage to get a quick "hi" out and continue walking. At this point I feel a little sick to my stomach...like I had done something wrong. I know that's silly, but he totally took me off guard! So I blow it off and continue getting my items. I see him occasionally up and down the aisles and am trying to avoid him at all costs. I end up turning the corner off an aisle and turned right back around because he was standing right there. I played it off like I had forgotton something in that aisle and ended up buying a box of crackers I did not need. One of the last items I needed to get was minced onion. I don't buy spices on a regular basis, so I'm pretty handicapped in that aisle. It took me a few minutes to scan over the hundreds of spice jars to find the one I needed. It took a few minutes too long because it gave time for my Walmart friend to sneak up behind me. I'm standing there scanning the shelves when he comes right up behind me, puts his hand on my tush and leans in real close. He asks "hey girl, what are you doing after you're done shopping?" I am frozen. I don't know what to say or how to react. I pulled it together, turned around and said "going home to my family." I backed away from him as he said "girl, don't play me like that, you aint wearing no ring." At this point I'm pretty amused. This guy must be blind or VERY lonely to be hitting on me! I chuckled and said "listen, I'm flattered but I really am happily married." It was then that he backed off and I'm assuming moved on to his next victim.

I hurried and got the heck out of the store. When I got home I told Ron about what happened and I'm not quite sure that he believes me. Like I said, I have better things to do then sit here and make up a story like this. It happened. I don't ever want it to happen again. *shudder*

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Phantom of the Opera

On October 23rd Ron and I went out on a date, which was LONG overdue. I had wanted to see Phantom of the Opera soooooo bad but assumed Ron would not be interested, so I didn't mention anything to him about it. He called me from work earlier that week and asked if I would want to go. What?!? Are you serious?!? I was soooo excited. I arranged for my mom to watch the kids and he went and got the tickets. We were so excited when Thursday night came and we headed downtown. We first had dinner at the Sawtooth Grill and then walked a few blocks to the opera house.

We took our seats and got ready for the show. Of course I would forget my glasses on such an exciting night, so I spent a lot of time squinting to see better. Turns out I didn't need to squint that much, I could have sat with my eyes closed and just taken in the music. It was incredible!! Ron and I both had an amazing experience and were captivated during the entire show. It was so wonderful! (Given the chance, there may be a possibility of leaving Ron for the Phantom...LOL!)

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Carvin' it up!

It's that time of year for the pumpkins to come out. We didn't have much planned this week so we decided to take a couple of nights and carve pumpkins. The kids were so excited until we started gutting the pumpkins. They were so grossed out by the slime and "spider web strings". It was a lot of fun. Ron and I stuck to the patterns while Matt decided to freehand his because "using the pattern is cheating". Ha ha. It cracked us up. Of course we let him do what he wanted, but in the end we were reassured that we made the right decision in using the patterns. Ha ha ha.

Ron and Tanner gutting the pumpkin...


Step away from the carving doo-hickey...I repeat, step away from the carving doo-hickey!


Ewwwwww....pumpkin guts!


Tanner and Mom with their finished product...


Matt with his partially finished product and Ron with his finished product...

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Fall Orchestra Concert

Last night Ron and I had the pleasure of going to Matt's Fall Orchestra Concert at the high school. Tanner being the momma's boy that he is tagged along with us while Juju and Olivia stayed with my mom. Ron and I weren't sure what to expect, but were completely surprised at how good the students played! It was so awesome to see Matt dressed up in his tuxedo...he looked so handsome! Matt plays the viola and did a great job! We could definitely tell he was concentrating hard on his music and playing well. Of course it just wouldn't be complete without some candid pictures!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Mowing the lawn...

Recently Matt has been especially difficult to wake up in the morning. Ron has been getting pretty frustrated and has forgotten how much he once loved his sleep as a teenager. But as a sleep deprived parent, I understand why Ron is frustrated. When Matt got home from school and finished his homework I talked with him about the morning routine and said it would be really nice if he did something for his Dad to show that he's making an effort to do better. So Matt and I came to the agreement that he would mow the lawn. I'm so proud of him for being willing to help around the house. Ron was thrilled when he got home from work and saw the fresh cut grass. When he walked in the door he looked at Matt and said "whoa, I think someone came by and stole our grass!" Then gave Matt a big hug and thanked him for mowing the lawn. Here are some pictures of Matt's hard work...

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Friends, Frosting & Fun...

Tonight Ron was going on a "man-date" with our friends Shane and Scott. They were taking their sons to a Spokane Chiefs hockey game. Nanci's son Kyran went also. Since the guys were going to be away for awhile, the ladies decided to get together and let the kids have some fun. Nanci and Heather came over for a night of cookie decorating and chaos! We had a great time and the kids especially loved making their own cookies. Sweet Jaynee was a cooking decorating fool!! She whooped all of us!! It was a lot of fun.

The girls....getting their decorating on!


Tanner...bless his heart, he was the only boy in the house...


Working hard on those cookies!


Just a few of the "masterpieces".



And of course a game of Hi-Ho Cherry-O!



Thanks for a great night girls! It was a lot of fun and a nice break from the men!! :)

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Carver Farms

Today Nanci and I took our kids out to Carver Farms in Newman Lake. Ron and Matt wanted to stay home. I guess they were afraid that a little bit of rain might make them melt. :) Ron actually volunteered to stay home with Olivia since it was pretty cold and rainy. We had a great time, rain and all. The kids picked out some pumpkins and ran through a pretty pathetic corn maze. It was basically just rows of corn. LOL! It was a blast and we're glad Nanci and her kids were there too!!

The whole gang...


They didn't have hayrides today due to the rain, but we gave the kids their own hayride in "big blue"!


All the little rugrats...


Julia...


Tanner...


Me and the kids...


Juju & Karli...this pic is SO ADORABLE of them!!

Friday, October 3, 2008

Business in the front....Party in the back

MUL-LET: (mŭl'ĭt)
A hairstyle that is formed by cutting the hair short on the the top and sides and allowing it to grow longer in back.


Bless her heart...my baby girl has a mullet. Here she is watching her favorite cartoon Wow Wow Wubbzy. I don't have the heart to give her a haircut yet, so here's to hoping that the front catches up with the back....soon. :)