Fun Family Time!

Happy Birthday Great-Grandpa Pratt! My Grandpa turned 82 last week. The kids were ready to celebrate! They talked about party hats on the whole drive there, wore them the whole time we were there, and talked about them all the way home. "It's not a party unless you have party hats!" According to Brayden, everyone take note, make sure you are wearing your party hat at the next shin dig!

Great-Grandpa, my kids and Auntie Sandy!

Uncle Pete, Ally, Ellie, Dani, Uncle Kelly and Great-Grandpa Petrousek.

After partying with Great G & G, Uncle Pete (who is in town from Florida) and the rest of the Phillips/Petrousek clan came to our house for dinner!

Kent and Ellie.

Ally



Owie, O's busting a move with his Mom!

Our Baby Bella

I finally took the plunge and did it.... I cut my little girl's hair! Ellie had pulled so much out, it was looking awful! She had bald patches all around and the right side of her head was looking VERY shabby. I am so cheap, I refused to pay for another haircut for her, especially since there wasn't a whole lot left. But looking at the pics. I did take off a lot of length......

She did a great job! She just sat in the chair in my bathroom and waited. I talked about it for so long, I think she was ready.

When I was all done she looked in the mirror and asked, "Am I go-geous (gorgeous) Mommy?" (Uncle Kelly always says how gorgeous his girls are).

How could she not be gorgeous? What a sweet girl, I love the new cut, I think it goes with her spunky personality, it's a cute little bob. A better after pic. will be posted soon.

*Bella is one of her many nicknames. Along with: Ellie Beth, Mackenzie, Ellie Mack, Princess Grumpy, Baby Bell, Betty-Sue-Who, Betty, Elle. Is anyone else worried about a multiple personality disorder?

New Moon Extravaganza!

Ok, before you pass judgment, I already know. I am a big dork! Some friends and I were a little pumped for the release of New Moon. I kind of cheated and went on Saturday night with Kent, and then again with the girls on Tuesday.

Kristin and my sis-in-law,Sarah,spent all day Monday making these shirts for us. Like I said, I cheated and went to the movie on Saturday, so I switched "teams" and became "Team Jacob," especially after he cut off his hair. Nice. Stephanie and I are the only "Team Jacob's with a side of Team Edward."

Thanks to Megs, I also made this werewolf kibble for everyone to enjoy at the movies. Thanks Megs, it was a huge hit! We had so much fun! Yes, I know, dorky!

Kent just kept saying, "I don't get it."

Seriously?? Not even an inch of space?

I am going to spare you any pictures that go with this story. You can thank me later. Yesterday I had to go back to see my endocrinologist about my diabetes. She wasn't thrilled with my blood sugars when she saw them last week. Apparently, the stress, the not taking care of my self and the pigging out isn't so good for diabetes. Who knew? SO, she told me, "Your blood sugars are crap." (Good thing we're BFF or I would have been offended). I had to go back yesterday so they could hook up a continuous glucose sensor to track my blood sugars and figure out EXACTLY what is going on. When I did this 5 years ago, before I got pregnant, it was a huge pain in the a**. I was thrilled when I saw the little device that they use now. It is less than 2 inches around. (I'm guesstimating, I really have no clue when it comes to measurements). But it's SMALL!

This is when it gets funny.......The dietitian asked me to lift my shirt so she can put the device in. She said, "We normally put it in tummies because it's most comfortable for people."
Me: "Great, that works for me, that's where my infusions go for my pump, no big deal."

I have to note here, that NO ONE EVER sees my tummy because it is not pretty. When my daughters see it, they point and say, "OWIES!" This is because I have so many stretch marks you can't even tell where one begins and where one ends, it is a continuous maze ALL over my tummy.

Back to the story.... I lift my shirt up and the dietitian (Christine is her name, so of course I liked her) just stares at my stomach and then just starts circling me. NOT kidding, she probably walked around me at least THREE times (maybe she thought it was going to get prettier) then said, "I am going to have our Minimed Rep. (diabetes pump person) come in and take a look, she is really good at inserting these."

I am thinking, great, let's invite the whole office in to see the freaks tummy! In all honesty they were very nice about it, but I was mortified.

So in walks this adorable size four lady, all trendy and put together and she says, "Ok honey, lets see what we have." I felt like I was a freak at the circus. She takes a look and says, "Oh, did you just have a baby?"

ME: "NO I HAD 15+ pounds of babies in me TWO and a HALF years ago!"

Cute lady: "Oh, wow, you look great." (Now they're lying to me). Low and behold she decides they need to put the sensor in my back (really my bum) where there isn't so much scar tissue. So now not only did they see my most embarrassing part of my body, now I have to take my pants off so they can put it in my bum. Seriously, if this isn't enough motivation to get my blood sugars straightened out, I don't know what is.

So if you see me walking around in the next few days, that bulge on my bum really isn't a growth, it's just a lovely sensor that is going to change my life.... right?
Tell me it's worth it....please?

Two, two year olds need a new home

Ok, so I have to admit, I am in a slump. I don't know if it's because of the cold weather, or that my kids are two and a half and five, or that I have a red shirt on today, who the hell knows, but it's not a good thing... that being said, I need to vent. Do not read on if you don't want to listen to some bitching and moaning, I don't blame you if you choose not to. I know I don't need to listen to anyone Else's problems, we all have them....

So I desperately tried to find a baby-sitter for my Dr. appt. this morning. No such luck, I did have a few friends that offered, but they have their own slew of kids to deal with, I didn't want to burden them. B had school, so I figured I could lock the girls up in their stroller and bribe them to no end. All went well, did I mention this was for my annual? Yeah, good times, even better with two chatty two year olds. Some excerpts from the exam room:

(Ellie)

"Mom, you get naked? Mom, you take your panties off? Mom, Dr. look at your bum? I see your bum mom. Mommy, you get owies? I am baby A, Dani baby b, like daddy. Uncle baby A like me." I told them we were going to see the Dr. that took care of them while they were in my tummy. (Kent was baby B and Kelly was baby A, they are very proud of this and can relate to it very well).

(Dani) Same as above, but a little bit louder.

"Mommy I see your bum!"

I have to say, all went well during the exam, it was just all the chitter-chatter beforehand that was so enjoyable, thankfully they were completely silent when my Dr. was there. Who knows what could have come out of their mouths. :)

I was very proud and relieved as I walked out of the office.

NOW it is nap time and I am at my whits end. I need a break and they won't stop screaming! I can't give up naps yet....can't they just rest quietly? Is that really too much to ask?

My Dr. told me everything gets better when your youngest turns four. ONE and a HALF more years!

Luckily Brayden is playing at a friend's house. He may not have fared too well today. Before he left for school he was in time-out TWICE. Does anyone else have a five year old with an ATTITUDE? He seems to know everything, (isn't this a little young) and has to argue with anything that I say.

Ahh, I feel a little bit better now that everything is out in the open.

I do love my children. :)

Trick-or-Treat....

All right, almost a week later.... here are the actual trick-or-treat pics. I feel like I had 20 posts of activities just leading up to the big night. Danielle, Brayden and Elizabeth. We were very lucky to have my college room mate, Bethany, and her new husband, George come visit us. They got here just in time for the festivities. Nothing like jumping into the action. They went to the church carnival with us. They were the perfect people to join us because they truly enjoy children (or at least did a good job of pretending to). They were very brave and accompanied all of us through every game and every room in the church.

Getting into the spirit before we left for the carnival. I think George was really disappointed he didn't have a costume, so he borrowed B's for a few minutes.

I know this pic. is blurry (thanks George), but it's the only one I have of B and me.

This was in one of many classrooms set up for the games. When I asked the kids later that night what there favorite costume was, they said, "The BIG, HUGE panda bear!" This guy was pretty funny lookin'.

George and Brayden fishing and Ellie patiently waiting.

Earning more candy after they counted ALL the dots on the dice.

Face painting! Notice my poor girl's hair. Ellie has gotten into the habit of twisting her hair until it is so tight and knotted, it falls out. She is seriously bald on the whole right side of her head. It looks ridiculous, but it's more sad than anything because she looks like a poor child who has gone through chemo. I can't figure out how to break her habit of playing with her hair. Any ideas?? Save the hair!

Brayden and Dani sitting so nicely waiting to get their faces stamped.

Hauling around the loot.





The first thing Kent made them do when we got home was dump all of their candy into the bowl. He sorted out everything, and we handed out all the "icky" candy to the trick-or-treaters, (along with a few good pieces). It was great to get rid of so much! The kids had a blast
passing out candy and checking out all of the cool costumes. They got pretty brave by the end of the night and could even look at people who had masks on!

Party Hardy!

All right, let me start out by saying, Fall is my favorite time of the year! I love the colors, I love the weather, not too hot, not too cold (typically). I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE anything that tastes like pumpkin: pie, bread, lattes, donuts... However, I do NOT love carving pumpkins. I never have liked it. Even as a kid, I would just get ticked because mine NEVER turned out how I wanted it to. I always had a vision in my head, and it just didn't happen. Mine was always the one that was falling apart, or was half way finished because I got too frustrated. So.... last year Kent carved a pumpkin with Brayden, this year he was out of town and not too willing to jump into it when he got home. I decided we would have a PAINTING party! This way no disappointments (mostly by me), no gunk, no slimy, slippery seeds, no KNIVES! I thought it would be perfect! Once again, not so much. I made a special trip to the store to buy crayola paint (it doesn't stain), and come to find out two hours after arriving at home, the paint was already missing. (B found it two days ago in a "safe" spot in his room). Anyway..... we did have some crusty paints left over from last year that were nearly frozen from being in our garage. But we made it work! Ellie contemplating if this was really going to happen.

Dani diving right into her masterpiece.

Brayden and Ellie working together. About halfway through this project, Kent rolled in from work. At this stage, 10 minutes into the project, I decided I desperately needed a caffeine fix, and decided to grab a mocha from my favorite coffee stand. I left Kent with the camera and halfway painted pumpkins and jetted off for 10 minutes, tops!

I returned to find this:

If you can't tell, the pumpkins are pretty much paint less! Kent was working at his tool bench and Brayden had decided to wipe ALL the paint off of the pumpkins with the towel in the garage. I don't even remember why, it may have been because smoke was coming out of my ears and I couldn't hear him.....if you can see, MOST of the paint is all over their clothes. After all this time and effort, the pumpkins were back to mostly the original condition. I stripped their clothes off, threw them in the wash and told everyone to get inside.... I needed to sit down with my fix and get some happy juice flowing through me before I could look at them again. :)

One project down, and a Halloween party coming up.....

Our neighbors, and Brayden's best friend from school, hosted a Halloween party for about six families on our street. It was amazing, they went to so much work and the kids had tons of fun (so did we). Jackie had five or six games, punch, pizza and lots of treats!

Kent and I were the only ones who were not dressed up. I felt pretty lame, I just convinced everyone that I was dressed as a HAPPY mom, with my smile pasted on my face. :)

Julie, the pregnant nun.





Jackie had the funniest/grossest costume I've ever seen. She actually had a button she could push, and diarrhea came out of her bum. I think we all threw up in our mouths more than once that night.

Pin the nose on the pumpkin.

I was quite proud of Ellie, she participated in just about everything!

Brayden bobbing for apples.










Dani and Ellie busting a move!

Finding gummy worms in the whip cream.

B's beautifully frosted cookie.

This is Chris, our host. Halloween is his favorite holiday, and they go all out! He actually was kind enough to take off his costume while the girls were there because it FREAKED them out! After they went home to bed, he put it back on. It was great!

Almost everyone all dressed up!

Fall Fun with Friends!

We were so lucky last week to have some fun visitors! My friend, Tami, from high school, came to Spokane with her two kids. It was so great to see her, in high school we played softball together and shared quite a few classes, but I don't think we've talked since the day we graduated (except when I ran into her in Pullman when we weren't completely sober). It was so fun to catch up and hear what she has been doing for the past 13 years! Wow, it doesn't seem possible, it was like no time had passed, except our live are totally different and we had to catch up in between playing/listening/disciplining our kids! I was lucky enough to hang out with Tami a few different times throughout the week!
Tucker loving the BIG wheel!

Cute little Addie running and running!

As a side note: I got this AMAZING cocoa from Costco and I love it! It has actual peppermint chunks in it and it is so rich and delicious! It is a lovely treat on a cold night! I highly recommend it, Tami agreed that I definitely needed to blog about it. :)

Unfortunately, I didn't get a pic. of Tami or me. I should have had Tucker snap a few, he's quite the photographer!