Happy Halloween

(Rowan was really excited about this hat- before I decided to take a picture of it.)


Yesterday on the way home from school the boys and I were having a discussion of Halloween creatures and other scary stuff. Something one of them said reminded me of this cute little song that Fuller liked when he was little. One of our CLOSE relatives used to sing this song to him:

"We are marching up to the gallows, step, by step, we now approach our doom...
Soon we'll be lying cold and bloody, cold, and bloody , and dead...EEEeeeeee!"

Man he LOVED that song!

I'm so mean

As punishment for throwing away my tupper-ware I made my kids eat hot lunch today. I also forced them to wear their sweatshirts. Go ahead- report me to the authorities.

The carving of the pumpkins

We lucked out again this year and planned our pumpkin carving for a nice warm afternoon, which meant we got to keep all of the mess outside. We were also lucky because Uncle Jim and Aunt Enid decided to come and carve them with us.


This year the boys really wanted to do it ALL by themselves. I hardly cleaned out any goop, and didn't get to draw any faces on pumpkins. They also did almost all of their own carving.Fuller went for a scary look.

Jim could probably do this for a living- I love how his turned out.

Rowan went a little avant-guard with his design. He definitely had his own artistic vision, and we let him go for it. He carved shapes out of that pumpkin to his hearts content.

Grayson worked on his pumpkin the longest. He really took his time and drew pictures of shapes he wanted, and then carefully cut them all out. In the end he was quite pleased with his creation.

We completed our afternoon with apple slices and caramel dip, and a little Dance, Dance Revolution. Good Times!

Fall Perfection

He's a lean, mean, goal scoring machine

It finally happened, THEY WON!!!! Fuller's team won 2-0 today. Excitement is too small a word to describe how they felt. Fuller is even happier because he scored his team's first goal of the game. He was yelling and jumping around like crazy, and so were we! It was a pretty rough game, Fuller got elbowed and pushed around a lot. The ref didn't call many of the offenses until one kid did a flying elbow slam into Fuller. OUCH!

I'm not sure what was going on at this stage in the game, but I think Fuller was reminding his team to "Live long and prosper."


Fuller's team has started doing this running with your arms out airplane move when they score- what silly boys!

As happy as I felt for our team, I did feel a little bad for the other team, apparently they haven't won any games this season either. I felt their pain, in their sad slumped shoulders. Hopefully their day will come too.

A little bit of Christmas cuteness

The laundry's piling up and the house is a mess, but I don't care! I've caught the Christmas craft bug. Yes, I know it's not even Halloween yet. While perusing some crafty blogs I found this cute idea for making reindeer gift card holders.

They're so quick and easy, I made four in one evening.

Now I just have to buy some gift cards to put in them.

Fun, in the face of denial

No amount of begging, whining, crying, emotional breakdowns, or self induced pity parties could keep it from happening. You can't stop time. "It's only a number". Today I hit the "BIG 4-0", yup, I'm forty. GULP. Having pity for Paul would be very appropriate at this point. I haven't been too excited about this date. He valiantly forged ahead with secret birthday plans, and threw me a fabulous surprise party Saturday night. The best party I've ever had actually, complete with surprise out of state guests, nearest and dearest friends and family members, and way too many presents. Our evening started out with dinner for two, yummy sushi and shrimp tempura at Hama Sushi. (Oh how I miss the restaurants in the big city!) Then back to my parents house for the big surprise. I was so touched and so completely spoiled by all of the love and generous gifts. What wonderful people I'm blessed to know!

My super awesome sister in law Enid made all of these decorations with pictures and birthday wishes from fabulous women over 40.

I love these people!

My sister and niece made the trip down from the Seattle area, it was so great to have them here! This is the great family that I was born into:


Have I mentioned lately how much I love this guy? He planned an absolutely perfect evening. He even had them write "Happy 39th Birthday" on my cake, with a frosted winking eye. I think he knew I just really didn't want to see a 40. He also did a wonderful job secretly contacting friends and relatives, and buying gifts. I now own the complete Molly Ringwald trifecta of movies. Anyone in the mood for an 80's night?


The cake was so delicious! Rowan insisted on this huge piece of cake, which was way more than he could handle, but he gave it a good try.


Thanks so much everyone for such a wonderful birthday!

Nothing makes me happier.....

...than seeing one of my kids reading- because they WANT to!

Forty-one

In honor of Paul's forty first birthday, here are 41 things that I love about him:
(in no particular order)
1. He's a great Dad!
2. He's a sweet husband.
3. He cooks the most amazing Indian food.
4. He's a hard worker.
5. He gets a kick out of watching our kids play soccer.
6. He doesn't complain if dinner doesn't get cooked and the house is a mess.
7. He always has to go look when I tell him the kids have fallen asleep in cute or interesting positions.
8. He loves and cares about his parents.
9. And my parents.
10. He encourages me to take time for myself.
11. He laughs at my jokes.
12. He loves to read and exposes me to books and ideas I wouldn't otherwise encounter.
13. He has great taste in music (minus one or two things)
14. He "gets" our boys, and helps me get them too.
15. He loves his garden.
16. He call me twice a day from work just to say "hi"- (and has since Fuller was a baby and I was going stir crazy at home)
17. He lets me have the remote.
18. He always compliments me about things I've made.
19. He'd rather spend time with the kids than watch sports.
20. He lets the dog snuggle him, even though he'd rather not, because he knows how much Buster loves him.
21. He thinks I'm pretty.
22. He forgives people quickly
23. He can easily see the humor in most situations
24. He is generous.
25. He likes to dance with the kids- and has some smooth moves to teach them.
26. He knows how to have fun and act like a kid, especially when he's with his brother.
27. He's quick to see the good in people.
28. He likes going to the kids' school conferences and hearing about how they are doing.
29. He reminds me to "lighten up and enjoy the ride".
30. He lets me have the more comfortable air mattress when we go camping.
31. He can get along with pretty much anyone.
32. He likes spending time with nieces and nephews.
33. He's handsome!
34. He always really tries hard to get me the perfect gift.
35. He's handy around the house.
36. He thinks our kids are cute when their grumpy, and likes to mess with them.
37. He always sings the song "sisters" from the movie White Christmas when I'm on the phone with my sister
38. He wants us all to just be happy and healthy
39. He always shares his morning smoothie with Grayson (if he's up)
40. He remembers to take pictures of me.
41. We always know how much he loves and cares about us!

Happy Birthday Paul! I love you!

Only 73 days until Christmas!

Every year I have these great plans for projects that I want to do for Christmas. In my head I plan out how I'll work on them all Summer and then when Fall hits I'll have a great stash of goodies all ready for Christmas. Well, it's only the middle of October, but I already know I'm not going to complete half of the things I intended to do. And of course I keep starting new projects that weren't even on the list. But sometimes that's a good thing. I recently found a blog of a very crafty lady in Australia, who gave me some great inspiration. This last week I made two of her art notebooks, which I'll be giving some of my younger nephews this year.
This is what they look like on the outside. One is pirate themed, and the other has bugs and frogs.


When you open them up they have a large pocket on one side with room for a drawing pad and coloring book, and the other side has individual pockets that you could put markers or colored pencils in.


Grayson and Rowan are a bit envious of the pirate one, so I guess I'll be making a couple more of those.

This was a quick and easy little project, and now I must get back to my list. Time's a wastin"!

***UPDATE*** The tutorial for this can be found at oneredrobin.com

October Sky

Yesterday afternoon a beautiful fall day and a long forgotten Christmas gift combined for an afternoon of fun and excitement. I had gotten Paul a rocket kit last Christmas, thinking it would be great fun for he and the boys. Then it sat on a shelf. After awhile I got tired of looking at it so I moved it to a more out of the way shelf, and then eventually out into the garage. Luckily Fuller remembered it existed and asked Paul about it. Friday afternoon the boys took it out for a go. They got one lift off in and were chomping at the bit to do it again. So Saturday Paul went and bought more engines, and they invited me to come watch. Oddly enough they never asked if I wanted to fire it off. We headed out to a nearby field and the boys (all 4 of them) indulged themselves in their favorite new hobby.


Sometimes it was hard to wait while Paul reloaded the parachute, and put a new engine in. It was especially hard when the Mom decided it was a good time to take lots of pictures.


Grayson liked to hunker down in the tall grass and act like an army guy, looking for enemy aircraft.


Paul brought enough engines so that the boys all got to have a turn firing it off.


Rowan was super excited when it was his turn.


LIFT OFF!


We spotted it! The box said the rocket could get up to 600 feet, but Paul thinks with the wind it may have been closer to 400 feet.


Looking for where it's going to land.


Then it's everyone out across the field to catch it when it lands.


Then we start the process all over again.
On one flight the wind carried the rocket a little too far, and it went over a fence. Good thing we had Grayson along, he likes to climb fences and isn't afraid to trespass. I think model rockets will be a recurrent activity for this family!

YEAH!!!

Fuller's team tied 3 to 3 today! It may not be a win, but after being killed, 0-9 last week we are celebrating!

Field Trip

Today was Rowan's field trip to the pumpkin patch. He was very excited and a little nervous. He has never ridden on a school bus, so I think he was worrying about that. I was just thankful that we had a beautiful sunny day, After the weather we've had lately I was sure we'd end up cold and wet.


The kids had a great time talking to the farmer, learning about corn and pumpkins, jumping on hay bales, and picking out their pumpkins. I had a group of three rowdy boys, but I'm used to that sort of thing.

All in all it was a successful trip, except for Rowan continually asking where the elephant ears are. I guess I know what he's liked about past trips to the pumpkin patch!

Productivity

Ever since Rowan started kindergarten I find that people often ask me what I'm doing with "all my free time". Those 2 and 1/2 hours of quiet are wonderful, but hardly time to do anything exciting. My boring answer would usually be grocery shop ALONE, or even more pathetically, fold laundry and watch "Law and Order" reruns. Occasionally however I branch out and actually do something more fun. Here are some of the fruits of my labors:
A newly red front door


Some new throw pillows for the living room


Two knit baby blankets


One pink apron for a bridal shower gift


And this weekend in a moment of weather induced madness I attempted to make some felt Christmas ornaments.

Still not sure if I like them or not.