Around Our House

Last Monday, October 20th, my sister, Tammy, passed away.  She was 45.  She battled drug addiction her entire life and her body just quit.  I want to write a well thought out post about my sister, but I just can't yet.  It's been a rough 11 days.

So, onto other news around our house because the world keeps on turning despite my sorrow.

First, the kids got their report cards.  Emily got Prinicpal's List, all A's.

Ben got Honor Roll.  He missed Principal's List with only one B+ in expresses complete thoughts.  Funny, because I would think that would be an area Ben would get an A+ at, but I'd give Ben an A+ in everything.

They don't do assembly's for the kids until they reach third grade, so this was Ben's first.  He was super excited to get a ribbon.

And.....Ben lost ANOTHER tooth.  He lost six I think in about 6 months.  This one was almost tragic.  Ben had a pair of nunchucks in his mouth and Noah pulled them.  The tooth, which was already loose, came out and Ben couldn't find it.  It was lost in the sofa somewhere.  He was all worried the tooth fairy wouldn't come if we couldn't find the tooth.  I moved cushions very slowly and there it was, under a seat cushion.  Thank goodness it didn't fall any farther or we never would have found it.



He looks like a Jack O Lantern.



We carved our pumpkins last night.  My kids like doing this, but aren't super into it, so I bought two pumpkins.  One to carve, and one to keep out as decoration through Thanksgiving.  But, Emily had to have her own when she saw this owl template we had.  So, we carved them both.  The kids helped.



They helped for about two minutes.  Then, they went to watch Charlie Brown's Halloween and it was up to David and I.


Ben and Noah agreed on eyes, nose and mouth.  Noah is learning shapes, so he said he wanted the rhombus nose.  Impressive.


And here's Emily's owl.



Noah's classroom had a pumpkin party today before school.  Since David almost always drops them off for school, he got to go.  I was glad since I'm in the classroom often, and it's nice for him to go and get to be with Noah.



They were pumpkin parents for a day and had to take care of their pumpkins.


Tonight is Halloween, and the kids are super excited to dress up.  Ben is being Harry Potter.  Noah is a ninja turtle, same as last year.  And Emily is a gymnast.  I did not spend a penny on Halloween costumes this year.  I love that.

We are also having a fun night with our friends.  A chili and mummy dog party before.  Then, trick or treating.  Then, smores and a bonfire in the culd de sac after.  FUN!

Our Weekend

We had a nice weekend.  My Dad and Suzy came up and they took us out to eat for my birthday.  Noah looks done with dinner in this photo.

We went to church and in the kids program, they were talking about some of the amazing stories in the bible.  Ben was so intrigued in David and Goliath and Nebuchadnezzar (thank you Google) that he came home and wanted to make a lego Jesus.  Bens left eye is swollen.  Not sure what was wrong with it, but it's better today.

We usually have bacon every Sunday when we make waffles.  But on Saturday, Ben asked for bacon.  I told him we'll make it on Sunday.  To which he replied, "come on Mom, I won 52 packs!"  How could I turn him down?

 I found this picture on my camera from my birthday.  That was my yummy cheesecake David made me.  We halved the recipe and it looked more like a tart, but it tasted delicious!

We also went out to take our family photos with our friends.  Oh, this is always such a crazy time.  It's chaos and kids being crazy.  But, it certainly is pretty, and I'm always grateful that we took the time to take the pictures.

Great Day

My birthday on Saturday was such a great day.  We don't veer off our normal path too often, so a fun day in Phoenix was awesome.

We headed to my BFF's Mom's house to visit with Baby Keegan.  He belongs to Pam's sister, Katie.  This kid is just adorable.  Ben was freakin' out a little holding him.



Noah LOVES him.  After we left, he kept saying I like Keegan's little feet.  I like Keegan's little hands.  Keegan's little ears are soooo cute.  It's sweet seeing Noah being so sweet.


And Emily will have a babysitting business before too long.  She is so good with him.

Oh, I love this squeeshy kid.  David said he looks like the Gerber baby, and he does!

Me and my BFF, Pam.

Then, we took the kids to my Moms since she was watching them while we went to dinner and the hockey game.  There are some stray cats that live in and around her backyard.  My Mom feeds them.  This was a little kitty that my Mom named Pretty Pretty.  I think Noah played with those cats for hours.

We got to visit with my Aunt Bille and her boys Mike and Rory for a bit.  They were in town visiting and it's been ages since I've seen them.  It was a nice visit.

Then, we went to dinner and the hockey game.  Our seats were awesome!  It was such a good game.  We won in overtime!

Then, we got the kids and drove back up to Prescott.  We were home by 11:00.  It was a wonderful day!

I had seen on the news that Phoenix is getting fogged due to the mosquitos.  They are doing like 100 neighborhoods.  Each time, it's about a mile that they do.  Well, Saturday night, they were doing an area 1/2 mile from my Mom's house which was probably a good thing because this is what Noah's legs looked like the next morning.  He probably had 50-75 mosquito bites.

Ben had maybe 10.  Emily none, but she was wearing pants.  Ben wasn't outside much.  They really liked Noah!  He's better already though.

Noah's First Book

It's tradition when the kids bring home their first book from Kindergarten that I get them reading their first book on video. Noah brought his home today.


You can see Ben's first book here.

You can see Emily's first book here.

When I watch Ben and Emily's video, it makes me want to cry. They were so tiny. Especially Emily with her pig tails. Now, she's big and load and will barely let me brush her hair.

41

I turn 41 tomorrow.  Holy crap, how did that happen?  I swear I was just 11, like yesterday.

We don't usually plan a lot for my birthday or David's birthday.  We just want to hang out with our kids and maybe have one of our favorite meals and cake.  That's what we planned to do with my birthday on Saturday.

But, we won that bacon contest a month ago, and part of the win was a free pair of Coyotes tickets.  They are the hockey team in Phoenix.  We finally got our package on Wednesday and the tickets are for Saturday, my birthday.  Gee, talk about short notice.  We weren't sure if we'd go or what we'd do with the kids, but I knew my husband would never pass up center ice 15th row seats to a hockey game.  They are $125 tickets.  Each!  And even though a hockey game is not my most favorite thing in the world, spending time with my husband is.  And dinner and a hockey game alone with my husband on my birthday is a great way to spend the evening.

We are heading down early to visit my best friend Pam for a bit.  Then, my Mom offered to watch the kiddos while we went out.  So, we'll drop them off at her house and then head out for our night of fun.  

That meant that David had to make my cheesecake last night, so we can have an early piece today since we'll be gone almost the entire day on my birthday.  Here is the during.  Noah had to help of course.  

Homemade cheesecake is always my favorite!

Robots

Today, I woke up and the recycle bin was overflowing.  I made a mental note to take it out after I did some work, cleaned the kitchen, started laundry, fed the kids and the dog and got myself a cup of coffee.  But, then my kids got creative and took one of my chores off my to do list.  They made robots at the museum we went to over the summer, and they wanted to do that again.  So, they gathered whatever they could find out of the recycle bin. I plugged in the hot glue gun and they were off.

Noah's kept having technical difficulties and limbs were coming off, but I'm impressed he did it all on his own.

Now, I wonder what art they can make out of my disaster that I call my bathroom.

Mickey Mouse

Ben wanted Mickey Mouse ears for his trinket from Disneyland.  The second we got home, he went straight to his dress up bin and created this creation. He even cut out a round nose and buttons from construction paper and taped them on. He's a creative genius.