Halloween Carnival

Last night was the kids' school carnival.  They were so excited.  Mom not so much.

They are crowded and hot.

But the kids had a great time!  Even Ciara was a good girl and stayed close to her Mommy.  Maybe it was the fact that there were monsters everywhere she looked, but I didn't have to go chase her once through out the night.

The school had several areas set up for the kids including scary stories, ghost walks, haunted aisles, tattooes, nail painting, prize wheels, fishing ponds, bean bag toss, bag decorating and pizza.

My only complaint.  The carnival stated at 4:00 and the pizza was out by 5:30.  I wasn't going to have my kids eat their pizza at 4:00.  They would be hungry by the time we left.  Next time, we go straight for the pizza.  I was pretty upset when I went to grab some dinner (that we had already paid for) and they were out.  It's pizza.  If people have paid for it already and you are running low, why not order more?  I understand there are budgets but it was already paid for. So I just don't get it.  I was a bit upset because I hadn't planned on anything else for dinner at home.  So it was the dollar menu at McDonalds for us!

Forgive the pictures, it is hard when they are constantly moving and I just have a little camera phone!

Our first snowfall

Oh the weather outside is frightful...but the kids are so delightful!

We went from Fall to Winter waaaaay to fast! Autumn is my favorite and it doesn't seem like we had much of it!

Yesterday when we woke up to snow, we realized the kids need new snow gear! Ciara was set, but Justin and Katelynn had both grown out of everything. So after school, we went to the store and got new coats, snow boots, hats, and gloves!

The moment we got home, they threw their stuff on to go test it all out! They had so much fun!

Here is our first snowman of the year. Justin named him Snowy. LOL

Love to all!

Great Time at NapNap's!

Saturday we had a great time at Jenn's! She put together a small little Halloween party for the kids similar to last year! What a fun time!




The kids dressed up and danced, played games, eat a BUNCH of candy and all sorts of goodies!

Justin is a Storm Trooper (although we are going to have to get another costume since his literally fell apart at the party.) Katie is Batgirl. And CiCi is Barbie as a Musketeer! I was able to talk her into a crown instead of the cowboy hat!

The kid's favorite games were "Boooooo am I?" which is just charades. And the Witch Hunt! Same as last year, a witch snuck into the house and stole the candy bags NapNap made for the kids and replaced them with clues! The kids than have to follow the clue to find their candy! Lots of fun!


Thanks for the wonderful day Jenn! We all had a great time!


Love ya!

Pompus!

Ciara is at the wonderful age of dress-up! She loves to dress up! And it's just wearing the dress. She wants to accessorize depending on what "character" she is pretending to be. For example, if she is watching Barbie and the Three Musketeers, she needs her pretty purple dress, a sword, and a cowboy hat!

The other day she was watching Rapunzel and was frantically searching for her pompus!

I had absolutely no idea what that was!

She ran to the junk drawer and was searching and searching. I couldn't understand her, so I pulled up a chair and let her look away.

When she couldn't find it she started to get very angry. So I did what I do best...guessed incorrectly.

"Do you want a necklace?"
"No! My pompus!"
"Princess?"
"Pompus!"
"Grandpa?"
"POMPUS!"

She then took off into her room to look under her bed and dresser. I called Shawn to see if he knew what she was talking about. He recalled her wanting something out of the junk drawer but couldn't remember what it was.

Just then, I turned to watch the movie as Rapunzel was beginning to paint and lightening struck! Paintbrush!

That was the magic word! Ciara was so excited that I finally figured it out! Immediately, I was able to go to the drawer and get her a paintbrush!

Something Stiring...in the mailbox?

This happened a couple of weeks ago but I still think it is funny.

The last thing I do at night is take out the garbage. Because I do not have a garbage disposal (some people are shocked by that fact, but it really doesn't bother me) I have to dump ALL of my wasted food in the garbage. For two reasons (1- the smell, 2- the dog) I do not like to leave ANYTHING in the garbage over night.

So it was dark when I was taking out the trash. I opened my screen door and my mailbox jumped. Yes. Jumped. For those that don't know my mail box is attached to my house right next to the front door and something was in it. Scared the poop out of me!

Instinctively, I shut the door to catch my breath and my nerves.

Katie was standing next to me and she got a bit concerned about my reaction. She did not see the mailbox so it seemed odd that I was scared for no reason.

I explained to her that there was something in the mailbox and I wanted her to stand back.

I opened the door again and again, the mailbox jumped! Yes. Definitely something in the mailbox. I was not going crazy. And it must be big. Not ordinary bug could move it like it did. Visions of bats and huge hairy spiders flashed before my eyes as I took a deep breath and slowly stuck my hand out to shut the lid of the box. No matter what it was, I was just going to trap it and let Shawn deal with it later!

Unfortunately, as I reached for the box, the creature shot out of it right towards me!

Katie and I scream as the winged beast flies into my house!

Quickly, I gained my composure as I realized it was just a bird.

How or why there was a bird in my mailbox, I don't know. But now I had one in my house.

Shiloh was going crazy and now all of the noise got the attention of Justin and Ciara who were playing in the backroom.

It took us a few minutes but we were able to get the bird out of the house safely to Shiloh and Ciara's dismay...CiCi was quite sad to see the bird go.

Catching Up

As you may have noticed, I haven't been online for awhile. All of my blogs and email are suffering! I apologize! I am so busy busy busy. I don't have a free moment to spare.

I am learning a new process at work and it is sucking me dry! But it is a good thing. The more I know the more valuable I am.

Speaking of work - quick note...I just won a very prestigious award! Only 2% of employee receive it yearly. This is my 3rd time winning it! I am very excited! It used to come with some monetary recognition and a fun weekend in Park City, but because of budget constraints that isn't going to happen this year! But the recognition alone is good enough for me! How can I complain?

Some other quick updates...

Kids are doing great! Katie is loving her piano lessons. We still haven't gotten Shawn's parents piano over to our house yet and we have no idea how much it is going to cost to repair some broken keys so in the meantime, we've gotten her a nice piano sized keyboard. She loves to practice and has taught herself a few simple songs. Including the Phantom's famous "Bommmm bom bom bom bom bommm" LOL

Justin is doing awesome in school! He has joined in a speech class to help him articulate some of her letter sounds. It's funny because Katie is actually jealous of this. LOL If she only knew.

Ciara is as two as ever! It amazes me how sweet her spirit can be one minute and suddenly turn demonic the next! She has definitely learned how to throw a tantrum and she has her Daddy wrapped around her little finger. I guess it comes with having all the alone time together in the mornings.

Shawn's doing good. He has been working hard in our gardens, pulling up our plants and getting ready for the winter. This time of year is always hard on him, but he seems to be doing pretty good.

We got a new back door put in! It's really nice! French doors with skylight windows on each side. There is some finishing work that needs to be done, but it is still beautiful and so so so much better than the sliding glass door we had.

Well, time's up. I hope to share some stories and pictures soon. I love you all! XXXOOO