Pumpkin fun

There are so many things I could say about tonight's family project, but I think I will let the pictures do most of the talking for me.....

So, as you can see, Will loved helping daddy carve a pumpkin! Yeah, we carved pumpkins a couple weeks ago because the girls and I were all excited and couldn't wait. Well, those pumpkins are looking really sad and wilted so we got a couple new ones at Hy-vee (slim pickin' there) and carved them up when we got home.

I am really excited about throwing a party tomorrow for the kids. I hope they have fun- the weather sounds like it's going to cooperate and everything. YEAH!

Another weekend blown away

Literally- BLOWN, yesterday was so windy we had white caps in our toilets. Sanford Women's was having a fall family festival yesterday. It was supposed to be at McHardy park in Brandon. Thankfully they moved it indoors to Brandon Lutheran church. There weren't a lot of people there, I think most of them looked at the trees blowing over and never even thought to check to see if it had been moved.

We spent Friday and Saturday at the Expo for Her at the convention center. For being 2 days of standing in one spot, it could have been worse. It was steadily busy, so that is always a big help. Hopefully Scott will get a few calls this week for some sessions.

I don't think we have anything going on tonight. Tomorrow night Haley has a music concert at school. Wednesday night Hannah will be gone for Order of St George- I think Haley and I will start cleaning out the garage. Thursday night is Hannah's conferences and major garage cleaning. Friday night is Halloween and the party. Gonna be another busy week. Scott is leaving us for the weekend to go to a photography convention, so it will be a long weekend for me too.

Anyone want to go to work for me today? I feel like I need a couple days at home to get caught up on some stuff........No takers? Fine, I better go get ready then.

Thank goodness it's raining!

The only reason I say that I am glad it is raining is cuz I am not ready for snow. There is snow falling not too far from here. We have gotten 2 inches of rain in the last 2 days and it is still coming down. That would have been like 2 feet of snow! YUCK!

I spent yesterday at home with Haley and Will. Haley didn't feel good when she got up and by 6:00 she was throwing up. I sent her to bed and she slept until a little after 10. Once she got up, she was fine. It was nice spending a few hours alone with Will. We read, did some puzzles, worked on writing W, cleaned his toybox and played tickle monster. I don't get to spend a lot of one on one time with him. He really is a funny little boy. He reminds me so much of Haley at that age. Super independent, but if he wants help with something he wants it now! Hannah has always been a lot more easy going. I wouldn't want them to all be the same, how unexciting that woud be!

I went to the dentist yesterday and I was sure I had at least 3 cavities. My mouth has been so sore lateley. Turns out no cavities, no cracked teeth, just receding gums exposing nerves. When the dentist sprayed cold air on a couple of spots, my butt came off the chair. "I think we found the sensitive spot" Well, DUH! He told me to change to sensitive toothpaste and gave me a rx for some flouride treatments that I need to do everyday. If that doesn't help, I may end up with a root canal somewhere down the line. Oh joy!

I suppose I should go take a shower and get ready for work. Tomorrow I have the day off to help Scott at the Expo for Her. Hopefully we will get some more portrait sittings out of the 2 days of sitting in one spot! Since it was my idea for him to have a booth there, I feel like I should be there the whole time so he can leave if he wants to......hopefully it's not as boring as a bridal show.

Ok- seriously- gotta go get in the shower!

The end of a fun busy weekend

Usually our weekends are really busy with work related stuff. This weekend was maybe more busy than most, but it was with fun-related stuff. Saturday morning I went shopping with my mom and finally found a new comforter for our bed. We also went shoe shopping and hit a couple of stores in the mall. Hannah had her last soccer game of the season Saturday afternoon. Haley had a lego league meeting from 4-6. While Haley was at her meeting Colleen and I took Hannah and Will shopping for Halloween decorations and other party stuff. We got some really cool stuff, just need to find some lights or something yet. We picked up Haley and went out for supper. Pretty busy Saturday for not having a wedding!

Yesterday we went to Omaha to take pictures. Long trip for pics, but it was nice. We met up with a photographer that Scott knows there and wandered around the Old Market and an abandoned train depot. We took the kids to the "big slides" for a little bit and then hit Applebees before heading back home. Oh- I almost forgot- I got to have Schlotzsky's for lunch too!

All in all, we weren't home much this weekend, but we did get some family time in. Michael even took some family pics and some of just Scott and I. Hopefully he got some good stuff. I would love to have some new stuff for my office.

I haven't had time to figure out how busy we are this week. I don't think we have anything going on tonight, but past that I have no idea!

Better go get ready for a super fun Monday! (maybe if I tell myself it will be super fun, that will help?)

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

I am quite excited about the fact that it is Friday. We don't have a wedding this weekend, I am going out for supper with some friends tonight, and we are actually planning a family outing on Sunday! WOO HOO!

Last night the kids and I worked on pumpkins. Will and I painted and the girls carved. I don't have a lot to talk about this morning, but I wanted to post some pics of the pumpkins in progress. We didn't take any of the completed pumpkins- it was getting kind of late by the time they were done.

Chef Haley

Ok so she's not into fine cuisine or anything, but Haley is learning how to cook. She asked me to start teaching her how to make a few things. So far her "specialty" is french toast. I have been having her help me with supper at night just so she can learn a little bit about cooking. Now, I know, I am not the world's greatest cook, but my family seems to be getting along just fine. I won't be the one to teach her the fine art of cooking, but I can certainly give her the basics. Besides, I can't see Haley wanting to learn how to make new and creative dishes!

Yellow pumpkins?

Well, the kids and I finally got around to making the sugar cookies tonight. I went to make the frosting and found out we didn't have any red food coloring left. Kind of hard to make orange without red. When Haley saw the yellow frosting she said "Since when is yellow a Halloween color?" My smart butt comment was "since mommy doesn't feel like making a trip to the store just for food coloring". So we have yellow pumpkins, yellow cats and yellow ghosts. What the heck, they will all taste the same anyway and I wasn't planning to enter them in any contest so who cares? The girls handed out invites to the Halloween party today so I guess I can't back out now. Hopefully not all the kids they invited can come, I think between the two of them they invited over 30 kids. That would be a little more than I am prepared for. I don't think it will be an issue though. Having the party on Halloween night will probably keep a few of them from coming. That and a few of the kids are of religions that don't celebrate Halloween.

I suppose I should get some work done. The laundry room is calling my name........wait maybe that's the bills on the counter......or maybe the dishes in the sink........or .....nope, I know it is the couch and blanket calling for me to snuggle and watch House. Yup, that's got to be it!

Hannah the mechanic?

After 2 years of desperately needing new tires and brakes on his truck, Scott finally decided to take care of it. We got tires a couple of weeks ago and that made the brake issue even more pressing. This week Scott decided to fix the brakes himself. This week he also decided to paint the garage floor again. So- we have a nice clean shiny garage floor that we can't drive on for a week. Not the best timing to have to fix a vehicle, but that's the way life goes most times. For some reason, Hannah decided she wanted to help daddy fix the brakes. I guess Scott even had her using the impact wrench and taking off nuts. She is the girlier of the two girls so I think it's kind of strange that she is the one out helping, but whatever. I think Scott probably taught her the usage of some 4 letter words- he was having a tough time getting the rotors off. As long as she doesn't use the experience for show and tell at school it shouldn't be a problem!

Well, today is Saturday. Hannah has a soccer game at 9. We have a wedding in Luverne from 12-4. Tomorrow we have a bridal show all day. One of those weekends where no matter how fast I move, I will not get anything accomplished. I cleaned the house last night. This morning I mixed up some sugar cookie dough. The girls really want to make Halloween cut outs. I figured they could make cookies with grandma today. If grandma doesn't want to make them, we can do it this evening instead. I think pumpkin carving and painting will have to wait until next week, but that's ok.

I suppose I'd better get everybody ready for the game. At least it's not raining!

Too busy or uneventful life?

It's been awhile since I posted. I'm not sure if it's because I have just been really busy or if it's because we haven't really had a lot of excitement. I haven't been taking any pictures lately so that's part of it. I really want to take more pictures of everyday life, cuz the kids are growing up so fast. Colleen told me about a place that will print out your blog- pictures and all- and make a book out of it. I need to look into that. Sounds like a wonderful thing to have for the future.

We are busy trying to plan a Halloween party. I am going to let both girls invite some friends for games and trick or treating. I don't know how many kids will come since we are doing it on Halloween, but I figured I should take advantage of the years that the girls will let me help plan a party for their friends. Haley is getting dangerously close to being "too old" to let mom help. I am not looking forward to that, but she is so much like me that I know it is inevitable.

Ok s0 how perceptive are you? For the detail oriented, you will notice that it is 5:30 in the morning and I am blogging. Why is that strange? I should be out running. Coulda, shoulda, didn't. The alarm went off this morning, I got dressed to go running, I came downstairs and decided to go on the elliptical instead of freezing my butt off outside. I was on the elliptical for about 10 minutes and I couldn't take the clunking noise anymore- it needs a new bearing or something. So here I am - burning calories by typing. I think I am going to have to start doing my dvds in the morning. It is getting awful cold out overnight. I am definitely not a die hard runner. No winter running for me!

A quick request from those of you who read this. Please pray for my uncle Marv DeRuyter. He had surgery yesterday to remove a large mass from his thyroid. He has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. His surgery was pretty extensive and now they are waiting on some path reports. I am sure his family would appreciate a few extra prayers lifted up for them.

Well, I'd better at least do a few crunches this morning before I hit the showers. I'll see what I can do about blogging a little more often- I'll even try to get some more pics on here!

Proud of my girls.....

Today was the last day of the Sioux Falls running club race for the kids. The girls did awesome. We had set goals for the girls so they could earn supper out and ice cream. Hannah's goal was to run her 1/2 mile in less than 4:30. Last week she ran it in 4:58. Today she ran it in 4:26. Haley's goal was to run her mile in less than 9 minutes. Last week she ran it in 9:29. Today she ran it in 9:09. Sooooo close to making it by her goal. Since both girls tried so hard and improved so much from the first race, I took them out for supper- McDonalds and then to Cold Stone for ice cream. Eventhough Haley didn't technically make her goal I was so proud of both of them for trying hard and not stopping to walk at all. The three of us had been going out at night and running a mile together to practice. I hope I can convince them to still go running with me eventhough the races are done. I think it is a good habit for them to get some activity every day. They spend so much time inside playing or reading and soon it will be too cold to go outside very much.

Ok- enough mommy gushing. I need to go tuck in all of my angels. Have a nice night!