Halloween

Halloween was like a whirlwind. We had a party the Friday before. It seemed like I did zombie makeup 15 times. I'm not sure why. It's a pain. Then, Halloween came and went and now I'm left eating 27 pieces of candy every day. It's awesome.

Anyway, Aunt Pam sent us these super cute rice krispy treats for Halloween.  She always sends us something cute and yummy!  Thanks, Aunt Pam!

 

I watched some youtube videos on zombie make up. I had a dress rehearsal with Noah. Then, this was the night of our friends' party.   

 

I told them Zombies don't smile, which just made them smile more. 

 

Ok, now they look like zombies.  Or just teenagers. 

 

Here's Emily as a BTS member. It's this Korean pop band that she loves.  She's learning Korean and everything. She looks cute, even if it's a stretch for a costume.

 

David and I went as hippies.  Peace.  David in this wig was hysterical. He looked more like an Indian chief.  Next year, we are going as Indians.  Or Sunny and Cher and I'll wear the wig. 

 

Ben is so into Stephen King lately.  He was being an It Zombie. 

 

Me and Dakri at the party. She's a 50's lady. I borrowed her hippie costume. 

 

Noah and his future bride.  :) 

 

Then, this is Halloween night. We toned down the make up some. The gross thing is those wounds are made with Elmer's glue and toilet paper, so after a few hours, they just peal them off.  Which is so gross and totally awesome at the same time. 

 

Here was our Halloween stash!  Emily went off with some of her friends, so she wasn't home yet. We always just do a community pile of candy and everyone eats from it.  

We also carved a pumpkin. I'm glad the kids aren't too old for it. We only get one though anymore and they all contribute.

 

It was a great Halloween! 

First Job

We don't give our kids an allowance. We expect them to help out around the house. If I don't get paid to take out the trash, you damn well aren't going to get paid to do it.

My parents owned a Dunkin Donuts when I was 13, and I went to work every weekend with my Dad at 5:30 in the morning. It was brutal. But, I loved making money and didn't mind working. I liked being the first of my friends to buy a new music CD. I did some babysitting here and there too for my cheer coach or family friends.

But, Emily...well, she's not as motivated. You'd think money would be a good motivator, but seriously, my kids don't want anything. They have almost nothing on their Christmas list. Ben has zero items on his wish list. Noah has 1 thing that I got on ebay for $6. Emily has asked for some new wall stuff for her room since she is transitioning out of little girl owls and wants other stuff. Fine. We won't don't need lots of presents for Christmas, but what about wanting to make money? Emily really hasn't wanted to make money because she doesn't want for anything.

One of her friends babysits. But, that's not really Emily's bag. Then, we got a flyer on our door awhile back about pet sitting. I told her that would be perfect for her. She could walk and feed animals in our neighborhood. I told her we could make a webpage and advertise on the nextdoor website for our area. She seemed meh. I mentioned this to a friend. Then, last weekend, they were going to be gone all day in Phoenix and she asked if Emily would come walk her dogs. Sure! I thought this would be an awesome first experience.

So, David, Emily and I walked over on Saturday morning. Now, it would be a lot easier if Emily just rode her bike, but we wanted to go with her and we were walking Rocko anyway. So, we all went. We got Pearl and Hazel and went out walking.

 

It was just a 30 minute walk and we returned them home and got them settled.  Our friend had left Emily $10.  It was the first money she ever made. 

 

I told her that she should save half and spend half.  She could buy a Starbucks or something. She loves frappaccino's and I probably get her about 5 a year.  

So, did it motivate her to want to go into business?  Nope. She's still not motivated.  But, heck, I'm motivated! I'm thinking it's genius.  I can walk and feed dogs all day long. I should do it!  There's actually a new app called Wag!.  It's basically like Uber. You request someone to come walk your dog and they show up. You can see a map of where they walk and everything. It's pretty cool, but it's obviously going through a middle man that takes 40%, so they charge $20 just to show up and walk your dog for 30 minutes.  I'll charge $10!  But, I got a lot on my plate right now, so we'll see.

In the meantime, Emily is happy to sit around with Noah's feet hanging over her shoulders.  It looks pretty cool though.

 

Proud

I'm so behind on posts. I have 4 ready to write. I have the pictures there, so that's half the battle. We were done with the first quarter of school almost a month ago.  Yeah, I'm behind.  But their assemblies were two weeks ago, so I'm not that far behind.

Emily did great and got all A's and one B in Art.  Yes, art.  Emily is a great artist.  They got a new art teacher this year who thought all kids should know more than they've ever been taught.  So, at the midway point of the quarter, most kids were failing.  Emily went in every day at lunch to work and redo her projects and she managed to get a B.  I was ticked.  But, luckily because she got all A's in honors classes, she still had above a 4.0 and made Principal's List.  You go girl!  Needless to say, she is out of Art this quarter and is a teachers assistant. 

Ben got all A's. Here he is at his assembly.

 

And sweet Noah....this is the first year of getting letter grades. Before it was an O for outstanding, etc.  And he got all A's and one B in math. We are super proud of him.  He got honor roll. 

 

To celebrate, we went to Red Robin!  The kids love their milkshakes and fries.

We are super proud of all our kids.  Sure we have battles over homework sometimes and Emily is cramming for tests on occasion, but for the most part, school comes easy for these kids.  I know they try their best at school, and I stay on top of them. They read. They do their assignments. There is no slacking in this house.  So, I'll take a little credit, but really, they are awesome kiddos.

Where Did My Baby Go?

So, this happened last week. Emily got a phone. We held out for as long as possible, but it was just starting to be such a hassle.  Between after school stuff, youth group at church, etc, I kept saying, "have your friend text me when you're ready". Emily was the last of all her friends to get a phone. My final draw was when I had to call the school and ask them to deliver a message to my daughter about when I'd pick her up after school.

We got her an iphone 6 for $200 and we went to a prepay account, so my cell phone bill only went up by $10 to add a second line. She was thrilled, but ugh, I hate cell phones.  She's not obsessed with it yet, so that's good.  I told her, "The mother giveth data and the mother can taketh away".  I hope it never comes to that.

 

Then, she went to her first school dance on Friday. Her friend, Ava, came over and the got ready. Emily needed help with eyeliner. 

 

They dressed as BTS, which is a Korean pop group they love. They speak in Korean, obviously, and these girls have been learning Korean.  I liked New Kids on the Block, she likes K-pop.  Fine by me. At least it isn't some rapper with pants on the ground. 

 

Here she is with her friends all dressed up...

Here they are after the dance. They went to the high school football game after.Yes, there is a boy in the picture, but he's not into girls.  The best guy friend to have is a gay one!  :) He actually lives across the street from us.  He's a nice kid.

And her and I were a one/two team making frappuccino's yesterday at church.  So, it was like working with my daughter.  I started the frappe (put in coffee/milk/syrups, etc) and she finishes (puts in ice, powder and blends and pours). We sometimes have 10 frappes waiting to be made at any given time, so we have to hustle.  I think we made about 50 yesterday and the majority are made in a 30 minute window right before church starts. It's chaos, but fun.  

Phones, dances, work...where did my baby go?

Our Last Beach Day

Dak took this picture last night, but I just got it this morning. So, I'm posting it now because I love it.

And Ryan took this picture yesterday, but I love it also.  

Oh, and I don't know why it won't allow comments anymore on my blog. I didn't change anything and I checked all the settings and everything looks normal.  My Mom was having problems earlier in the week, but she figured it out.  So, I have no clue what to do.

Ok, now to today...

This was the lovely sunrise from our balcony this morning.

And this was the gorgeous sunset.

Now to fill in the gaps...

We all knew it was our last day, so we immediately got to having fun. Noah is having a blast on the boogie board and copying his Dad with the peace signs.

Emily and David in the water and Alanah in the back.

We saved our leftover chips crumbs and bought a cheap loaf of bread, so we could feed the birds.  Wouldn't you know it, the one legged pigeon came to see us for the third day in a row.  Noah was making sure he was eating and Ben was keeping the bully seagulls at bay. 

Then, the invasion was too much. So, Noah just fed them all. 

He's so cute. We all got so tan on this trip.  

There's Ben playing in the water solo.

Then, Noah and I built a mermaid.  

Noah made her boobs. Isn't she pretty?  He named her Julie and we built her close to the water, so the sea would take her out.  Then, rumor has it, she becomes a real mermaid.  So, we made Juli.  Then, Julia. Then, Juliet.  The sea is full of new mermaids tonight.

There's the whole crew playing in the water.

My sweet boys.

I told Ben not to puff out his stomach, so they both did this.

They're sweet.

There's Ben running around in his natural habitat.

My sweet hubby.

And more dolphins.  We saw so many dolphins today.

Then, we walked to the pier for some shaved ice.

And on the way back, we noticed this homeless man sitting in the sand. So, we gave him $5.  Then, we got back to our stuff and I had the boys bring him some snacks and a water.

It was such a fun day. Dakri and I stayed out there for as long as our bodies could take it.  Those waves were beating us up.  Then, we came in and had yummy dinner.

We had some leftovers and when we looked out over our balcony. The homeless man was still there.  So, we had the kids bring him some ribs, salad, chocolate cake, rolls and a Coke.  His name is Don.

Ryan's brother Aaron came to visit tonight. He lives about an hour away and we went for a walk on the beach.  We got a few last pictures.

Here's the whole tribe.  

Vacation 2017 is over.  Another great trip in the books.  This was honestly one of our best trips yet. We got an upgraded house with a killer view.  The weather was nearly perfect. We are grateful for all of these blessings and know that we are so lucky to be able to make such great memories every year.