Little Redneck!!

While we were at Cabela's Elijah decided to have a major blow-out! I had to take his shirt off, and I of course had forgot to pack an extra outfit, so he went hillbilly style! Actually we just kept his jacket on and you couldn't tell, but I thought he looked really cute in his overalls without a shirt!!

Cabela's!

We are excited that Brynna will be living closer to us now that she got the job working in Reno for Sky West! When she had to go to Reno for her interview, we decided to join her- no, not on the interview, but in Reno. Joe has been wanting to go to Cabela's for ages, but we are always driving through with no time to stop, so this was a good opportunity! We drove to Cabela's, wished Brynna good luck, and walked around Cabela's while she got the job!

Here we are outside the store

Now you can actually see us!

Here is Chloe making fish lips!

Elijah excited about the fish!

You can imagine how much fun this was for them since they beg to go look at the fish at Walmart whenever we are there!!

At the back of the store there is a
huge animal display.

It seems that every imaginable animal is here!

Once Brynna was done with her interview
she came back to Cabela's to see everything too!

Baking Cookies!

Ever since Special meetings I have been craving peanut butter cookies with the Hershey's kiss on top... Katie R. had made some for their lunch, and they were nice enough to share, but apparently I needed more!

So... I got a bag of Betty Crocker cookie mix and started mixing!

Chloe loves to help me bake... She helped peel
all the Hershey Kisses and only sampled a few
along the way!

Her favorite part was putting the kisses on top!

Here she is clapping for herself!
I told her that she was practically an expert and she went running into the laundry room saying she needed her apron!!

I guess that's what experts wear!

This little guy was begging for handouts the entire time... who can resist that?

A Festive Fall Chandelier!

Oh how I wish I had a chandelier... but alas I don't! Not even a little tiny one. Lucky for me my sister-in-law told me about something she had seen on Marthastewart.com.

I decided to give it a try and have been loving my little lights ever since!

If you have some of this you are good to go... If not, Jo-Ann's has some for really cheap right now... I got mine for $4.00 and that was a few weeks ago... In fact they are probably out of fall stuff and only have Christmas stuff-crazy stores!!

Then I got a box of these from Walmart for $5.00

and I had one of these lying around... I had actually just got it at a garage sale for 25 cents a few weeks earlier!

Hot glue it all together and ta-dah!! A festive fall chandelier!!

The only thing that was a minor pain was cutting the holes in the pumpkins so the tea light candles would fit inside... but even that wasn't very hard... I just traced around on the pumpkin and then using a sharp knife started cutting away at the foam pumpkins!!

By the way I use the battery powered tea lights! No fire hazards that way!
Oh yeah, and I hung it using some twine I had gotten at Target in the dollar bins... That stuff is so handy I'm planning on picking up a ton more the next time I see some!

I'm so in love with it, I'm planning on making a new one for Christmas and any other holiday I can figure out a way to make one... Hey-if I can't have a real chandelier at least I can keep making them!! :)

Cut to Shreds!

One fine day, as I was enjoying my quiet time in the afternoon perusing the many blogs I follow, my mischievous little three year old was in her room quietly cutting her sheets to shreds!!! Chloe always takes a little time going to sleep for her nap, so I don't worry when I hear little noises coming from her room... THIS time I should have worried!

It looks like she was planning her escape from
prison using a bed sheet rope or something...

Needless to say... This mommies quiet time was rudely interrupted!!!

The scissors that I had in her room (up on her dresser and far from her reach... I thought) have been confiscated!!! And in case you are wondering... she had pushed her little chair over to her dresser and climbed up on that to reach the scissors! Quite resourceful!

Plenty of Pomagranates!!

Joe's grandma gave him a pomegranate plant/bush/tree(what is it?) for his birthday two years ago, and this year we got quite a few pomegranates..

Here is a picture of one nice big pretty one!

Chloe liked playing with the seeds

They are such an interesting fruit...

Messy...

And beautiful...so brilliant...like rubies!!

If you come over to our house and we have salad... You can expect to have some pomegranate seeds in it!

Trick or Treating!

Now that November is almost over... I'm just getting Halloween taken care of! Oh well!!

Here is Elijah looking adorable as a lobster (or as Chloe called him Sebastien).

Trying to get the two of them to sit
down together for a picture before
heading out for candy was almost
impossible! This was as close as I got!

I thought the little lobster tail was cute!

Sebastien and Ariel

Me and the kids ready to go get some candy!!

Daddy and the kids!

Our Pumpkins- Nicole did the swirly design, Brynna did the spider for Chloe, I did the witch, and Joe did the smiley face!

Happy Halloween!!

Carving Pumpkins

We were late carving our pumpkins this year, but got the job done just before the trick or treaters started knocking!!

Chloe was not excited about sticking her hands into the insides of the yucky pumpkin and she thought it smelled funny too!

Auntie Brynna and Elijah having a moment together!

Elijah loved all the action down at his level!

We gave him a spoon to scoop out the insides which kept him busy for a long time!

Auntie Nicole helping out!

Carousel Ride!!

I forgot to post these pictures a while ago! We were at the mall and I took the kids on the carousel! They were so excited and thought it was a huge treat! Something to remember for bribing purposes!!! :)

The People and the Costumes!!!

Did I mention there were kids.... yep- LOTS of them!

I think I count 12 in Chloe's room... is that legal? :)

They all seemed to be having a great time together!

I thought this was a very appropriate toy for Mia to be playing in!

It's always fun to see what people dress up as!

A cute ninja once you get his mask off!

Same goes for the swamp monster!!

Ready for the beach!

A Sweet little parrot!

Ursula and a beautiful mermaid!

Wow! Pretty scary up close!

The Nana gypsy holding little Bam Bam!

Hope and Change!

Oops... I guess that's a Nope!

A friendly pirate!

A few more!

Jimi came before the party was over!

Wilma Flintstone and Maverick from Top Gun!

I thought Wilma deserved a close up- Love the hair!

A beautiful princess!

Ref, cowgirl, and pirate friends!

Awesome Geisha!

A cute ladybug!

A witch and her friend!

Cute black cat!

You're never too old to have fun!

Watching the festivities!

The mermaids!

A sombrero wearing Papa and Gypsy Nana!

Welder, Witch and a beautiful flower!

Could he be any cuter?

Adorable little Pebbles!

The Archies! Betty, Archie, Reggie, and Veronica!

Some of the guys!

Pirate Family and their parrot!

Thanks to Cari and Margaret for some of the photos!!

Also, I missed a few really great costumes- such as Dora and Diego with their baby Jaguar and super hero kids! Maybe someone else got a photo...? Somehow I also missed getting Joe as prince Eric... I think Eve has one so I'll have to get it soon! :)

The Halloween Party.... Finally!

Juan made this really disgusting yet delicious brain jello!

Brynna made this adorable M&M's covered pumpkin cake!

Everyone grubbing down!

Brynna and Nicole-I mean, Veronica and Betty

We were surprised when this stranger walked through the door!

Setting up for the Party/ Halloween Decor

I love Halloween and had fun setting up for the Halloween party we had at our house! These pictures are mostly for Mom, since I kept trying to describe what I had done- a picture is worth a thousand words, so this will cut down on the amount of words needed to try and explain it all to her! As I look at the pictures I can see that I sort of combined my fall decorations with Halloween, and I think next year I'm gonna try and keep them a little more separate! Halloween stuff first, then the fall decorations for Thanksgiving!

This is was in the entryway

Our front door

Setting up for the party is tricky with this little guy around!

Here's Brynna working on her Pumpkin cake!

The cobwebs on the back patio! We had orange lights too.

I used lots of candy corn this year! I can't even remember how many times I had to keep refilling this little arrangement...

The fireplace... Our house was overrun with crows! I loved them, so they were everywhere!

A close-up of my manzanita brush... I got rid of the leaves and spray painted it black for more of a Halloweeny (is that even a word?) effect!

Girls Night at Disney on Ice!!

Disney on Ice came our way again, so us girls took the little girls for a night of princess magic! I still get excited about going to things like this, but it's even more fun to experience it with my own little girl who loved every moment of the show!!!

Here she is dressed up and EXCITED for the show!

Chloe and Mia laughing in the back seat together!

Savannah, Nana, Scarlett, and Chloe!

Nana got all the girls these fun little light up twirly toys!

When I first told Chloe we were going to Disney on Ice she thought we were the ones that got to ice skate- I told her it would be better if we just watched them from our seats!

Such a lucky Mama- having fun with my girl!

Cousin Scarlett excited for the show to start!

Our favorite princess story- since that's what we were dressing up as for Halloween!

Chloe loved the little dwarfs!

Such a goofy girl!

Intermission! It's a long show-but she loved every minute of it!

Everyone's favorite- Tinkerbell!

I still get a kick out of how intently she claps after every performance!!

Cinderella was the longest story, but is also one of Chloe's favorites!

She loved the little mice!

Awww! Cinderella and Prince Charming!

The end of the Show! Mickey and Minnie Mouse telling everyone Good-bye!

October Cooking Club!

Lacy started a cooking club, so now once a month a group of us girls bring something we've cooked and our recipe to share and exchange with the rest of the group! It's such a fun way to get some girl time in, and it's always nice to get new recipes!

This month we met at Maria's

Thanks to Amanda for taking the picture!

Our Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

October is never complete without a trip to the Pumpkin Patch!

Going on the hay ride!

They didn't want to sit in the hay- silly kids!

Climbing on it was really fun, though!

Elijah and Daddy

She had just thrown a bunch of hay up in the air!

I love that Elijah is walking in his daddy's shadow!

Both of the kids LOVED the goats!

Saying hi!

This goat knew the sound of the food bin being opened!

Elijah didn't know quite what to think!

Checking out the rest of the farm animals!

Eli absolutely loved the rabbits! He was squealing here!

Halloween Party Next Door!

A few weeks before Halloween we got to go to a Halloween party at our neighbor's house! The kids always have so much fun going over there, and love playing with Andrew and Rachael.

The kids making little Halloween finger puppets!

A fun spooky egg hunt!

Elijah loved riding around on this bike!

The Lobster and the Ladybug hanging out together

His costume didn't last very long! Elijah loves to swing!!

Special Meeting

I'm amazed that Special Meeting has come and gone already! We heard so many helpful things!

I thought the kids were so cute in their coordinating outfits!

Chloe trying to put her arm around Elijah, but he wasn't having it!

I forgot to mention-Not a good idea to show up 5 minutes before meeting starts! The only place with enough chairs for us to sit together was right up front behind the brother workers... Not exactly the best place for our little family to sit! Actually it wasn't all that bad, but Joe ended up going out with Elijah for quite a bit of meeting.

Bend: Part II...

Here are a few more pictures from our time in Bend!

Because of the Swine Flu everyone had to wear a mask when you went into Dad's room!

Elijah outside hangin' with Auntie Brynna!

He was having a lot of fun!

He looks like such a big boy here!

Big Smiles!

Auntie Brynna shows us how it's done!

Such a cutie!

I had to try it out...

Having fun with my boy!

Airplane!!

Grammy and Chloe walking down to the mailbox together!

Running just as fast as she can!

Ahh, to run just because it's fun!!

Chloe deciding to pose for a picture!

Dad out on the deck enjoying the beautiful fall weather!!

Making popcorn!

Going out back into B.L.M.

So Sweet!

Taking the kids for a spin!

They loved riding on the 4-wheeler!

It was so fun to spend an evening at Callie's new place!

A quick trip to the pumpkin patch!

Good thing there's two aunties! :)

Having fun in the hay!

A beautiful place for a pumpkin patch! Right down by Smith Rock!

Sean, Kyra and Lincoln had been there for a little while, so Debbie waited with Westley in the Suburban since it was pretty cold out there!!

Picking out their pumpkins!

Having so much fun!

Wow, look at this one!

Cute family picture minus the newest member!

I think he is just adorable!

Another weenie roast! This was so sweet- Chloe was just chatting away with her Daddy here!

Auntie joins the fun!

Family Picture!

Our Days in Bend...

Here is another picture of sweet little Westley!

And of course, his big brother!!

My aunt Susie was nice enough to drive over with my Grandparents and was such a help and fun too! Chloe loved helping Auntie Susie make cookies! Chloe dumped some extra cinnamon into the cookies, but luckily they were still delicious!

One of the days we met my Mom at a Chinese restaurant for lunch so Chloe had to try out the chop sticks!!

Her method of stabbing the food worked pretty well, although it wasn't the most elegant!

She thought they were really fun to use!

Back at Mom and Dad's we were enjoying the beautiful fall weather!

I'm not sure what she thought was sooo funny!

Exploring the yard!

It was nice to spend time together since we hadn't really planned on it!

He was having so much fun!

So was Sage! I don't think his feet are touching the ground here!

These three had fun whenever they were together!

One of the nights we decided to have a weenie roast for dinner with Sean, Kyra and the kids!

It was pretty cold out, so sitting by the fire was the best place to be!

The kids chowing down!

Lincoln was wondering where Eli's table manners were, I'm sure!

Cheeeeese!

Lest you worry... This little sweetie was cozy and sleeping in the house!

Snug in his jammies!

Rurr, Rurrr goes the tractor, or at least that's what Eli says!

Combing Great Grandma's Hair

Because of Dad's accident my grandparents came to Bend for a few days too, which was nice for us since we got to spend a little time with them when we ordinarily wouldn't have! Chloe had a lot of fun combing Grandma's hair at night before she went to bed! It was really cute-she would comb it and try to put pins and curlers in it too!

Trying to get that curler in!