Happy Halloween

This is Ben's favorite holiday. He enjoys dressing up more so than candy. We kicked it off with some pumpkin carving last night. I just got one pumpkin and we it was a group effort.


Noah was afraid to get his hands dirty. So, he used a spoon.

And got out one pumpkin seed. Thanks for the help Noah!


I asked the kids what kind of face we should draw. Circle or triangle eyes? Teeth or no teeth? Noah said, let's draw a little dot right here (pointing below his mouth) and we can make a Granny Pumpkin! That's for you Mom! HA! This was our finished masterpiece.


The kids were so excited when they got home from school. It was torture to wait 2 hours to dress up. Emily was Pocahontas or Sacagawea or a pretty squaw. She doesn't care what she is, so I picked up a 90% off clearance costume last year. She looked so pretty.


Here she is posing how Indians pose. Or not...


The boys wanted to be ninja turtles. I ordered the costumes from amazon and hid them until last night. I knew they wouldn't be able to stay out of them. The LOVED them!




The shells on the back are pretty cool.


Here's my 3 kiddos.


We met up with a smaller group of our friends for trick or treating.


We brought the stroller for one last hoorah. It came in handy just to store candy, water and gloves. This was what we came out with after an hour. Not too shabby.



Rocko wanted something with peanut butter. He didn't get anything though.


Ben would've been happy to fall asleep right there on all that candy.


Mom, I saved you all the Almond Joys.

Dad, Ben's favorite is DOTS, so you'll have to fight him for those. I put aside a few Baby Ruths for you though.

We all ate too much candy and are in sufficient sugar comas. It's just wrong that the kids have to go to school tomorrow!

Around Our House

It's been a week since my last post, and I'm expecting a phone call from my Dad to wonder what I've been up too. He does that if too much time goes by. So, this is for you Daddy.

My best friend Pam came up this weekend for a visit. We went to lunch and had conversation without being interrupted 100 times. We sat outside and enjoyed the perfect weather and fall leaves.

There was a man sitting next to us holding his giant pet rabbit. It was weird.

Pam brings the kids gifts when it's holiday appropriate. They got all sorts of candy and new books and activity books. We have almost 20 Halloween books, and all of them are from Aunt Pam.


We bought 40 pounds of chicken last week. We buy this great organic meat that is all grass fed and free range and words like that. It sounds really good, and it's not more expensive than the stores. We shared 40 pounds of beef with our friends last month. Last week, we got 40 pounds of chicken, each. I had to separate it all out. It's 25 dinners, so that's good. Tomorrow, we are getting bacon and sausage. My freezers are overflowing.



The first quarter of school ended. Emily got all A's and B's on her report card. She also got perfect attendance and Cool Coyote for improving her reading. Ben got all O's and I think 1 S in something unimportant. We went to Red Robin to celebrate for dinner. The kids really just want milkshakes. Maybe next time we should just go for shakes as they seem to like that more than the meals. I found this picture on my instagram feed later and realized Emily posts things on my behalf all the time. I'm cool with that.


The kids all caught a cold about 10 days ago. Emily was over it quick. Ben never got it. Noah was over it in 4 days. David and I are still trying to kick it after a week. We are up coughing half the night.

The kids are super excited for Halloween. It's supposed to be freezing her that night. Literally. Should be fun!

David and I decided to go to Vegas for our 10th anniversary in a few weeks. My Dad and Suzy will watch our monsters. I've spent too much time trying to find the best deals. It is what it is. We are going on a weekend and we aren't staying at a Holiday Inn. Suck it up. We weren't going to spend the money, but David said we should do something more special than dinner and a movie on our 10 year. He's right. He's never been to Vegas and I have never been to the Strip as an adult, so this should be fun. We are seeing the Beatles Love Cirque de Soleil show! Super excited.

And that's what's been going on around our house....

Aint Nobody Got Time For That

Have you seen this video? It stars Sweet Brown. A spunky lady who gave a report about an apartment fire. Somebody turned it into a fun little music mix and it went viral. David and I were cooking dinner the other night when David said something about "aint nobody got time for that". It found the video on youtube and showed it to the kids. They watched it several times dancing around the living room.


Their biggest question was "What's a cold pop"?

Yesterday, Ben and Emily were playing for hours. Emily made this video of Ben.

David and I were dying laughing. He's a riot.

Great Pumpkin

My kids love all the Charlie Brown movies. I surprised them tonight with these great stuffed toys of 5 members of the Peanuts gang. They are acting out the whole movie. They're awesome. 

Calgon Moment

We eat dinner every night as a family. The TV is off and it's just us. We have some great conversations at the table.

Tonight, David asked everyone what their favorite part of the day is.

Ben's first response was lunch. Then, he said his favorite time of the day is lovin'.

Lovin' is our nightly ritual. We all get ready for bed and get our teeth brushed. Then, we spent 15-30 minutes lovin' on each other. Which is usually all of us piled in our bed watching some TV. Noah is on David's right side. Then, Emily is on his left in the middle of the bed. Then, Ben. Then, me on the other end. It's always the same order. Sometimes, we sit on the sofa together and read books. We don't do it every night, but maybe 6 out of 7. It's Ben's highlight of the day.

Emily said her favorite part of the day is definitely not the morning. She likes nighttime. Which includes everything from eating dinner to having ice cream for dessert to doing lovin'.

David said his favorite time is our dinners together because we really get to talk to each other.

Noah said his favorite time is the Elmo ride from Sea World. Then, he said his favorite time is when he comes in our room almost every night. I believe he likes that he can come climb up in our bed and snuggle. Then, he said his favorite time is lovin'.

My turn. I said my favorite time of the day is when we tuck the kids in bed, and David and I lay in our cozy bed and get to watch some TV for an hour. No kids. Nobody asking me for anything. It's my Calgon moment. The kids were offended that they weren't part of my favorite time of day. So, I back peddled a little. I told them it's because they are snug in their beds with a full belly and a happy heart. I can relax knowing that they are safe and I can do nothing for an hour.

So, that's our favorite time on the day. What's yours?

Carlsbad, Day 7

Today was our last day of vacation. It also happened to be my 40th birthday. I woke up to find signs and balloons around the house. My kids and David made me great cards. Dak got me a really great everything bag. David made us waffles for breakfast. Then, we headed to the beach. It was a little cooler today, but it was still nice.


Emily worked on her handstands.


The boys played laser tag.


We thought we saw sea lions.

Then, I got home and zoomed it in and realized it was only buoys or something. I took 10 pictures of buoys.

David played airplane with the kids.



Noah is the bird whisperer.



The girls sunbathed.

And used boogie boards for foot stools.


Ryan made a sand castle.


Noah made me a "birthday cake".


Then, we came home and got ready. We went to Mexican for dinner. Yum!


They sang me happy birthday and at the part with the Dear they said Ponchita. We had to google it to see what it means. We came up with old lady or person with a big belly. I hope it has some other translation. Gwynne, can you ask Enrique?

Then, Dakri and Ryan took all the kids home and David and I got to walk the mile home on the beach. Alone.


Dak made me a cake earlier and the kids helped decorate it.


I wished for more great vacations.


It was a great last day of vacation and a great 40th birthday. Tomorrow morning, we pack up and head back home. I'm looking forward to my bed.

Carlsbad, Day 6

Today we went to the San Diego Safari Park. We all had a great time. Right when we walked in this baby armadillo was running around. So cute. She was a fast little bugger.


We took the tram ride around the zoo and saw this cute baby nursing.


I love this park for the natural look of all the habitats. It looks like they are roaming in Africa.


A baby rhino.


A big rhino.


A bunch of rhinos.


Emily and some rhinos.


The elephants.


Going batty.



The kids loved the petting zoo.


Noah brushed about every goat there is.


My girl looks cute in her glasses.

Emily really liked this goat.


Ben LOVED this zebra. It was a talking interactive zebra and he could see us on a web cam. Ben thought it was the greatest thing ever. This was Robert the Zebra giving us a kiss goodbye.


This was a baby gorilla. So stinking cute.


He doesn't look happy.


Eating some grass.


The other day, Emily fell walking to the beach and scraped her left knee. Today, she fell at the zoo and scraped her right leg. She keeps going off the path and then falls because it's sandy or dirty and the traction isn't good. She bummed a ride in Noah's stroller.


We made the kids pose on the giant rhino on the way out.



We had a fun day. Then, we went and got blizzards and banana splits at Dairy Queen! We are relaxing tonight at home. Grilling some chicken for dinner and going in the hot tub.

Tomorrow is our last day. It's also my 40th birthday. We are spending at the beach and going out for dinner. Fun!