Candy!!!!!!!!!

Our church had a Halloween Alternative for the kids this year.  They played different games and were given 'money' to buy candy and toys.  They had a blast and came home with a bunch of candy!  Callie talked ALL day long about getting a pair of fairy wings.  Miss Angie had told her about them on Wednesday night, and Callie did NOT FORGET!!!  She was VERY happy to buy them!!!  Mommy has plans to make her a fancy fairy skirt to go with her wings for a Christmas gift. :)

Samuel

Simon

Seth had to sort all his candy.

All 4 kids and their stash!

This is what I did on Thursday morning, instead of cleaning, cooking, laundry, etc....  I made myself a shirt and skirt to wear.  The picture is compliments of my 11 year old! :)

Samuel's new bed.  We finally found exactly the kind of bed we wanted for Samuel on Craig's List.  Went to look at it on Monday.  Tuesday morning, I drove the van 45 minutes away to pick it up.  It was a tight squeeze, but we managed to pack it in.  The older boys helped me unload it and set it up before daddy got home.  Samuel just LOVES his new bed!!!!  I'm happy because of the wonderful deal we got on a solid oak loft bed!!!  It also forced the boys & I to re-organize their room.  We took 2 loads to the Salvation Army. 1 load to a used kids store and got $65!!  Several trips to the trash can filled it up with broken toys, papers, etc.....  It's AMAZING the amount of stuff one kind find in 3 boys' room when moving around furniture! 

Memorization

Today, Seth & Simon had a mini-competition at their school. Simon recited a poem by memory. Seth recited a short story. They both did great and mommy was proud of both of them. Simon won 1st. place for 3rd. grade and Seth won 2nd. place for 5th. grade. Simon will go on to compete against other area 3rd. graders.

Gotta love church directory family pictures!!!!!!

The title says it all......

Back about a month ago or so, we were obligated to once again sign up for an updated church directory picture!  We signed up for 6:30.  We arrived 15 minutes early.  They had told us to arrive early.  Imagine my shock in finding that 3 other families still had not had their pictures taken ahead of us!!!!!!!!!  Imagine trying to keep 4 children from running helter skelter and tearing apart their clothes while waiting until after 7:30 to sit down for our photo session.  They were tired.  They were cranky.  One had been sick ALL week long with a mysterious illness and was week.  They were hungry.  (we were going to eat after our super-quick photo session--BAD IDEA)  Mommy & Daddy were tired, hungry and I don't know about Daddy, but I was one cranky Mommy!!!!  The guy calls us back and then proceeded to put us in the most uncomfortable, unnatural poses I have ever experiences (unless I can count childbirth & pilates!lol).  When I walked out, my body was screaming in pain!!!  My head was one way, shoulders another, back twisted, legs turned this way & I was suppose to get close & personal with Duane(or so the photographer said) all the while smiling like I was gloriously happy!  Oh, did I mention that the photographer had positioned the ear pieces of my glasses up into my hair instead of over my ears where they are supposed to be!!!! grrrr......If you look closely, I'm sure you can see the true pain reflected in my eyes!  What did we gain from this experience.  A free 8 by 10.  At some point we'll get a copy of the new church directory where everyone will see our picture perfect family pose! lol  Oh....I guess a good night's sleep was had by all.  It plumb wore us out!  I think we'll definitely have someone else take another photo of us this year......Any volunteers????? 

Ya see.....I look like a giant marshmallow all puffed up and striped.  Not to mention the STRANGE shadows on all of our hair!  You'd think the whole family was going gray by this photo!  Also the picture isn't even centered!!!

After I cropped it & changed the color....a little better, but still.....(shudder)...to think THIS was the very BEST one they took out of over a 12 shots they kept, not to mention all the ones they deleted!!!!!

Alright, enough of my complaining.  Back to my lunch.  A bowl of vanilla ice cream, smothered in dark chocolate & melted peanut butter.  Yeah....you read right.  I'm living life on the edge today! :)

My little drama queen.

Been busy sewing some new things for Callie for this winter. She loves to go outside for a photo shoot with each new garment completed. Here are a
few pics from this week.
Look mommy, a squirrel!

A cute close-up of Callie.

My polka-dot princess playing hide-n-go-seek with the camera!

Mad at mommy...I took her photo prop away. A princess figurine...that she threw...on the driveway!

Happy again....she's the jumping princess!

Lacking Motivation

Definition of lacking:
to be deficient in or entirely without

to fall short
Definition of motivation:
an incentive; move to action; impel

I definitely need someone to light a fire under me this week.  I have completely lacked motivation to accomplish anything!!!!!  This is not me.  I blame it on the weather.  The rain.  The cold.  The lack of sunshine.  Pass me some Vitamin D please!  I need my motivation back, FAST!

Happy 9th. Birthday, Simon!!

Simon's 9th. birthday was on Sunday, October 4th!  Here he is in his birthday outfit.  He picked out a red sweater vest from Kohl's and begged me to buy it for him....sooo..since it was 40% off, plus I had an extra 30% coupon (compliments of a SIL in TN), I bought it for him.  He was so excited to wear it to church on his birthday!

Opening up his cards and gifts!  From us he got a length of brown fabric.  The entire month of September he would root through the clearance fabric at JoAnn's and bring me this pitiful piece of brown knit, begging me to buy it for him.  (he wanted a brown cape)  I bought it for him and now he gets to use my sewing machine to make himself a cape.  (that was another request----he wanted his own sewing machine)  He's very excited about that.  Also, some socks (his most favorite present), bakugan carrying case, & book were his other gifts from us.  He got some money in his cards from other friends, relatives.  It's already burning a hole in his pocket and he can't wait to buy something with it!!! :)

Simon with the cake that he requested.  He wanted a cake that looked like an envelope that had squiggly lines of chocolate on the sides!  I love easy birthday cake requests!!

Simon wanted the entire piece of cake that had his name on it.  He ate the entire piece, plus ice cream!!

A side-view just to give you more of an idea how BIG this piece of cake was!!!!!!

On Saturday, the day in between both boys birthdays, I gave them a combined gift--a box of popcorn, special popcorn container to put it in and a Last Chance Detectives DVD.  Didn't take the time to wrap it.  The Dollar Tree bag was fine with them!!!!!!lol

What is this bug!!! Please Help!!!!!!!!!!!

Can anyone identify this bug for me?  My father-in-law helped Simon catch bugs for his bug collection project--due tomorrow--and now they can remember what bug this was that they caught!!!!!!!!!!  HELP!!!!!!!!  I VERY thankful that Grandpa helped with the bug collection this year.  Last year, Mommy helped with the bug collection and ended up in the emergency room til 3:00 in the morning with half a straight pin buried in her finger!  They had to cut it out and stitch me back up!  I HATE BUG COLLECTIONS!!!!

Simon's Bug Collection all completed except for the one unidentified bug that I'm hoping you can identify!

Simon pokes a straight pin through a bug with grandpa's help.  I was shuddering at the crunching sounds the pins through the bugs made!  :( 

Happy 11th. Birthday, Seth!

Eleven years ago today, I gave birth to my firstborn son, Seth!  I am amazed at how fast he is growing up.  He is a wonderful son, and a great BIG help to his mommy.  I don't tell him often enough how much I appreciate him.  Life wouldn't be the same without him in our family.  We had a small family only party for him.  It was just us 6 and his grandpa.  We had homemade pizza, cake & ice cream.  He received lots of cards from friends & relatives in the mail.  We gave him a game (one of my favorites as a child--Rummikub), some new clothes, (all of the sudden he has big interest in new clothes), a new book & some socks (boring---but needed)!!  He can't wait to go shopping with the money he got in some of his cards!  I think he had a great birthday this year!  Simon can't wait until his---2 days from now!!!  Sooooo....tomorrow....another cake to bake.....more presents to bag......another birthday meal to plan.......

I fogot to buy candles for Seth's cake.  We had 2 sooooo....that's what he got on his cake this year!  It sorta looks like an 11! :)

This card was made my Simon.

Callie wanted her picture taken...I told her to sit by Seth....she got her picture taken!