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!

Funny Business

As I was lying in bed with Brayden tonight, he asked, "When are we going to see Keegan again?" (It has been four whole days since we've seen him). I told him probably not tomorrow because Auntie Sarah and Ally are sick.

Brayden: "Does that mean Keegan is in charge of Owen while Auntie is sick in bed with Ally?" (This is what happened at my house two weeks ago when Dani and I had the flu).

Me: "I don't know, probably." I could see the wheels turning in his head....

Brayden: "Uh-oh, Owen can get into some funny business and I don't think Keegan will be able to handle it." He then proceeded to tell me all the different scenarios that could happen and how Keegan could "handle it." I'm very lucky to have such a good boy, and an even better, big brother for my girls.

Parent's night out!

Wow! This was a parent's night out that was long overdue! Kent was very hesitant to join me, but I dragged him along. My friend, Melissa, and her husband, Todd celebrated their 10 year anniversary. For some crazy reason they wanted a bunch of us to celebrate with them. What better way than screaming into a microphone and making fools of ourselves? Thus, karaoke! I wasn't really sure what a great idea this was....but I was pleasantly surprised. The venue was one of the funniest things I've experienced in a long time, but I don't get out much. They rented a room at a place that solely does karaoke. It is a huge room with tables and chairs and equipment for the singing. We got to bring in our own food and drinks and have the run of the place. Really, these peeps must be making hand over fist just renting out this space for a few hours on the weekends! This is Melissa, getting the party started!

These are some of the husbands, indulging the girls.

These are the girls, Kristin, Melissa, Sarah, Amanda and Saundra. This took me back to my college days, they're singing (or attempting, j/k) "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." It was entertaining for sure. I was not feeling the vibe at this point, so I just sat back and enjoyed the show.

Amanda and Phillip serenading the happy couple.

This is Brian, who I coach soccer with, and who Kent happens to work with. We never knew he had so many hidden talents. :)
Todd and Melissa, the happy couple.

This is my HOT husband. I tried to get a pic. of him and his brother all night, but he kept blinking. This is Kent with his eyes open.

This is when it got interesting for us. I really wanted Kent to truly enjoy the karaoke experience, because he had never sung before..... he decided it would be a good idea if I sang Wild Thing. I said I would, if he would do it with me. By this point I had already BELTED out (I don't sing, I scream, even when I am completely sober) Baby Got Back, Shoop a Doop, ..... and some others. It started with Kent sitting on the couch reluctantly singing, while Sarah and I belted it out and danced.....

Soon enough Kent was on his feet bustin' a move. I think he was trying to sing over us, so we wouldn't damage anyone's hearing.

Like I said, not a lick of alcohol for me, but I am still doing this... Why is Kent staring at me like that?

Good times were had by all, at least we had fun! We were the first to leave (had to be home for our baby-sitter by 10:30, which was late for us), who knows what they said about us after we left! :)

Fall Happenin's

It has been an exhausting few weeks, but I am trying to get into the spirit of things and get over my grumpiness, trying REALLY hard. Last weekend I finally decided we could make our traditional Halloween sugar cookies. It was quite the process.... with three helpers you never know what you'll get. We used the same pumpkin cookie cutter and came out with at least 8 different shaped/sized pumpkins! Talent, I tell ya:

EVERYONE got to frost....

Brayden was very serious about his job and he was in charge of the sprinkles. I have to say he did a very good job compared to where we started a few years ago.... however, the girls are still in training.

I'm not really sure how many each child ate, between baking, frosting and sitting down to actually eat one, but no one threw up from too much sugar, so I consider that a success!

While I was at my outdoor soccer game on Sunday the boys built this impressive Geotrax track while the girls napped. When I came home I was so shocked, it was really quite cool!

I have to make it clear that Kent and B each have their own train. No sharing b/n the two. I had to capture this pic. of Kent. He sat on the couch (after all the work was done) and enjoyed his soda and controlled his remote control train around the track. Whenever he wanted to change it up he had Brayden push the switch on the track. I tell ya, the guy knows how to play! :)



Brayden's words:

This last week B has come up with some pretty funny thoughts. I need to write them down before they escape me. Grandma Phillips came over on Wed. night to help ease my craziness since Kent was out of town. I decided that we should get out of the house and have a Costco hot dog dinner and do some shopping. As we were loading into the ol' mini van, I said, "EEWW our van stinks, what is that smell?"

G-ma: "Yeah, it smells like dirty underwear."

Ellie: "My Daddy wears underwear, do you wear underwear?'

G-ma: "Why yes I do...."

Ellie: "No, YOU no wear underwear, Brayden wears underwear."

Me: I knew where she was going with this so I tried to prompt her, "What do girls wear?

Brayden: "BA-GINAS! (vaginas).

Sandy and I trying to stifle our giggles....Me: "I was thinking panties, but yes, girls have vaginas....

Brayden: "Boys have penises!"

I'm so glad we got that all cleared up.

Today I was folding clothes on my bed and I had the clock radio on.

Brayden: "Where's that music coming from?"

Me: "Dad's clock radio."

Bradyen: "Does Dad listen to that music to lull him to sleep?"

Seriously who says that?

" YAY for MOPS School!"

These are my big girls....I know all these pics. look the same, but I couldn't choose b/n them, so I posted almost all of them. Sorry.....this was yesterday before we went to MOPS. MOPS is a mom's group that I go to. We went last year and the girls have been asking all summer when we get to go back. They were more than thrilled when I told them it was time! They INSISTED on wearing their backpacks to MOPS school. Dani also INSISTED on wearing her "sassy shoes." IDK where she gets that, I am all about my comfy shoes.

This is both of them yelling, "YAY FOR MOPS SCHOOL!"

When all was said and done, they were a little cranky when I left them in their daycare room. The lady said they cried a little and were clingy. Hopefully next time it will be a little better. They seemed happy when I picked them up to go home though!