Thursday, October 30, 2008

Impromptu Halloween Party!

What started out as a way to not have to go trick or treating all evening tomorrow night, has now turned into a Halloween party! Earlier this week I was thinking of having one or two families come over to celebrate Halloween with us. We got so much candy at the trunk or treat and I really didn't want to have hoards of candy in the house next week (one week of kids begging for candy all day long is enough!). I wanted to limit the time we spent trick or treating, but needed to have something fun to do besides collect as much candy as humanly possible.

Well, my plan to have a couple of families over has somehow gone awry. Although I am the reason my plans were changed, somehow it happened without my conscious awareness. Now, however there are about 6 or 7 families coming which doesn't constitute just a couple of friends anymore and feels much more like a party.

Everytime I throw any kind of party, I am always anxious that I am leaving someone out, or that someone is going to feel bad that they didn't get an invite. I am an includer and definitely not into leaving people out so, this is a last minute invitation to anyone that might feel like they would enjoy coming. It is going to be rather informal, just food and games (no decorations, no thrills, bells, or whistles), but I think it is going to be fun.

If you would like to come bring your favorite party games, pajamas for your kids (kids will be having their own pajama party while watching movies and probably eating way too much candy), and enough pizza to feed your family (or if anyone wants to bring tortilla chips and cheese to go with the chili I am making, please call me). We are going to start around 7-7:30pm, which is kind of late for dinner, but I think gives enough time to go trick or treating for a little while with your children. We are going to have three tables of games going (if anyone shows up :), so hopefully there will be something for everyone. Hope to see you tomorrow and Happy Halloween!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Where did October go?

Our Crazy Busy Month
Has anyone else felt like October has been extremely busy? I haven't even looked at a blog for almost the whole month. I have taken tons of cute pictures and have thought of lots of good ideas for great posts, but have had no extra time. No time like to present to catch up.



Babysitting Alison
This month started off difficult financially. A drop in the economy always hits businesses like ours especially hard. We felt the economic drop and we felt like maybe we needed to look for some extra work, maybe a part-time job, etc. The day I started my search, I read an email about a lady in our ward looking for childcare for her daughter. I called her and she had just gotten a job the day before and was telling her mom right before I called that all she needed now was someone to watch Alison. The next day was her first day in training and I now watch a beautiful baby girl approx. 40 hours per week. She is 19 months old, has a great disposition, and she fits right in, but lets face it, having another child around is more work. It has been nice to have the extra money though.



Jay's 5th Birthday Party!
Jay turned 5 on October 13th. We had about 15 kids come to his first birthday party with friends. He got so many cool presents and I think everyone had fun. Of course, it had to rain, so instead of having everyone make a train car and go outside to blow whistles and pretend to be a train, we had a train and 12 blowing whistles inside the house. It was a little chaotic, but definitely memorable.



Pictures from the Pumpkin Patch!

It has been one party after another this month. On the 18th, we went to the pumpkin patch to get pumpkins for a pumpkin carving party that night. It is a tradition to take pictures at the farm, and here are some of the cutest ones.


Pumpkin Carving!


Doug's 29th Birthday!

Wow, look at all those candles! Doug said he was having a little bit of a hard time turning 29. Unfortunately for him, I have zero sympathy since I turned 29 how long ago? He has been asking me to make Mexican tamales for months now, so for his birthday, I finally broke down and spent hours in the kitchen figuring out how to make them. They weren't that bad after I found out how to do it. I might even do it again sometime.


Wizard of Oz Costumes
When I was a little girl, my family dressed up as the Wizard of Oz. It is probably one of my favorite Halloween pictures. I got to be Dorothy, my brother was the Tin Man, my sister was the wicked witch, my mom was the Scarecrow, and my dad the Cowardly Lion. I had a lot of fun duplicating that memory in my own family and we actually got a good picture. We had our ward's Trunk or Treat the night of Doug's birthday, but he was a good sport about it. We celebrated his birthday Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, because of it.


Pulling Up and Growing Up!

Another note worthy happening in our family is how much our little baby is growing up. He started pulling himself up on everything this month. He is getting so huge! I think the 3rd child must grow up about twice as fast as the first two. He is already almost 8 months old. What happened to my baby?

Saturday, October 4, 2008

My First Tag!

3 Names You Go By:
Phame, Mommy, Mom
(However, that is not all I have been nicknamed :)
3 Restaurants That I Love:
The Outback
Baja Fresh
This amazing restaurant that gives you humougous portions that I can't think of right now. Help me out Celeste!
3 Trips To Plan on this Year!
Trip, What's a trip! They must be those things that everyone else goes on while I stay home to be with the tourists that come here!
3 Things You Want Badly!
To be debt-free!
A good economy
To detest sweets- it would be a lot easier to lose weight if I didn't like them!
3 People Who Will Do This!
The three people I tag!!!!!!!!!!!!
3 Pets I Have/Had
My dad ran over my favorite dog Dusty on my 9th birthday. Ever since then I have not been a pet person, I think it traumatized me! I have never liked animals since, which is probably a good thing because we had a new dog every year or two from the time I was old enough to remember. Each one came to some kind of tragic end, but because I never got attached it didn't hurt that much. I have been having this funny feeling lately that we need a dog though - weird!
3 Things You Did Yesterday!
Watched Alison while her mom went to work.
Took 4 kids to the Dr. office - what was I thinking?
Went to Applebee's with friends (that was fun guys, we should do it again).
3 Things You Ate Today!
Let me preface this by saying, we went to a birthday party with delicious Mexican food, then to a wedding reception. Thank goodness we don't have those kinds of days everyday!
Yummy Grilled Beef that was marinated deliciously
Icing off a cupcake - I didn't care about the cupcake, I just wanted the frosting (do I wonder why Jay has a sweet tooth, oh no I do not).
3 Frozen Creme Puffs - you know those kinds that you get at Costco
Not a good day to discuss what you ate!
3 Things You Plan on Doing Tomorrow!
Watch General Conference - I better go to bed or I am going to sleep through it!
Go to Kay's Farm - part of a preschool activity!
Plan Preschool - it's my turn to teach next week.
3 Favorite Holidays
New Year's Eve
Birthdays - especially my kids!
Halloween
3 Favorite Drinks
Water, Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice, Vanilla Soy Milk
I am trying to fake myself out and pretend that I don't like Diet Coke!
Now I tag...Christy, Tiffani, and Sierra

Friday, October 3, 2008

Jay is Conducting his Birthday!

And when I say conducting, I mean it! He is almost 5 now and has finally decided that he has an opinion for everything about his birthday! We decided on the theme together, he really wanted Spiderman (yuck), so we compromised with a train theme. We have been talking about party plans for weeks, but in the last few days he has decided that he really wants to have an all boy party, NO GIRLS (he says it very adamently)! I am still trying to talk him out of it, but the invites need to go out soon. So, if your daughter is Jay's friend, don't be sad if she doesn't get an invite. It's only because I now have a stubborn 5 year old on my hands who thinks I am trying to ruin his birthday by inviting girls (isn't that a little early to be happening?).

By the way, does anyone own a conductor's hat? I wanted to order some on-line, but I waited too long and they won't arrive until either the day of or the day after the party. I don't want to take that chance. I only need one!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Coincidences are God's Way of Remaining Annoymous!

Margo Lemme was walking in the blueberry patch earlier this week and found a set of keys. I soon had keys delivered to my house. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!