The costumes...

Yesterday was our really big Halloween day. Both of the boys had their class parties (craziness since I am doing room mom stuff in both classes again this year), Ava had a party at her pre-school last night and the ward party was last night. For the school parties, Andrew wore a costume with a mask and Zach had no make-up, but for the parties at night...we went all the way!

Andrew really wanted to be something a little more monsterish this year...he is phasing out of wanting to be a cowboy, astronaut, policeman etc. But, they don't want the kids to wear masks at the church Halloween party, so we had to come up with something monsterish with no mask. After quite a bit of discussion, Andrew was settled on being a werewolf and we watched a long series on youtube about make-up and clothes.

I think it turned out great - and he was super happy (so that's what really matters)! I do think that with the soccer ball in the above picture, he looks a little like Teen Wolf!

Here is a closer picture. Andrew and I worked on the gloves together too. It was especially fun because at the church party, Andrew wasn't recognized by anyone. I must have had 10 people (who know us very well) come up and say they didn't know it was him...he was totally in Halloween heaven!!

Here's our little army guy. He was so cute getting ready and pretending to be on a military mission...

At the church party I offered Andrew $5 if he would go up to the bishop and pretend to bite his arm. He said, "no" right away - even when I uped it to $10...is he my child?? Anyway, Zach was there and said that he would pretend to shoot him for $5. I laughed, but told him it wasn't quite the same. Later we were walking out of the gym and he pretended to shoot another guy in the ward and I told him not to do that and he looked at me and said, "but I did it for the money". It was so funny. He's mine for sure!

Alright, no shocker here...a princess! Ava has been chomping at the bit to dress up in this outfit. Every time someone asks her what she is going to be for Halloween she says in a super happy way, "A black princess" and then I say, "A princess with a black dress"...classic. Anyway, here is our little princess...

We did the hair rollers and everything and she was very happy and thanked me for giving her princess hair too.

Here is our little combo in the back yard...

Oh man, they are cute!

I dressed up for the kid's class parties - it's fun to be there in costume too. I was a witch with some good bling...not really that far of a stretch...but still a costume none the less!! I had black nails and a "diamond" ring that is literally the size of an antique glass doorknob (thanks to my friend Kim) that flashes blue if you turn it...those are the most rare diamonds of all! We had a lot of fun at the parties and I am happy to only have the actual Halloween night left...whew...who knew Halloween could be so busy??

Ready for Halloween!

We finally carved our pumpkins tonight and are ready for the trick-or-treaters tomorrow night! We put up this web and spider a few weeks ago, but now that there are some great jack-o-lanterns...we're really ready!

This is Greg's pumpkin - with a little help from Ava...

This is Ava's pumpkin. She drew the face first and then she and Greg carved it out...

Now here is where things get pretty impressive. I bought a little book and carving kit from Michael's for a few dollars and brought it home to give the boys some ideas. Zach picked this one and I layed it out for him (there is a tool that makes little dots in the pumpkin to show you where to carve). After I did the marking, Zach cut this out!!! I only helped a tiny bit - in the mouth/eye area so that it wouldn't break the pumpkin while being carved and I helped get the pieces out. I am so amazed that Zach could do this! He is getting so big!!

Here is Andrew's pumpkin. The only - only thing that was done for him was that Greg layed the pattern out. It is a little hard to tell, but there is a main skull face and then two smaller ones - one to the bottom left and one to the bottom right. Seriously, it is awesome.

I decided to do a Martha pumpkin this year. I saw this on her Halloween special. I thought this little owl was so cute. You can't tell in this picture, but there are lights in the eyes so that they glow through the cut out centers of the gourds. I think it turned out really cute! - thanks Martha. Let the trick-or-treaters come!

The million dollar dog

I do love this little Duchess...and it's a good thing because she has been very expensive this past 6 weeks or so.

She got sick when we kenneled her over Labor Day. She does fine on the medicine, but once she goes off, we are back to square one. Poor little pup (and poor us)!

We are now on week 7 of medicine and have been to about that many vet visits (including 3 emergency) - yikes! We are really hoping this round will finally be what she needs. Luckily, she has been feeling fine and acting normal, but I think we'll all be a little happier when the medicine and vet visits are over! Oh, we do love our Duchess!!

Hair-dos from Holly

A few weeks ago Holly sent me a link to a blog with this hair-do. I love how it turned out...it's a keeper!

Just a little side view...

Here's the back...

And a top view...we were headed to a wedding and so it was a perfect time to get to do something fun and a little special. Thanks Holly!

46 caramel apples on the wall, 46 caramel apples...

Well, it's apple season and so around here that means it's caramel apple season! I have been making these apples for quite a few years and they always seem to hit the spot. Last year I brought apples into Exodus for everyone and I decided to do it again this year. It's quite a bit of work, but everyone really enjoys them and it's fun to bring something in. This year an employee's wife organized a party where the kids are going to reverse trick-or-treat. They are going to go office to office and bring treats. It's a nice way for the kids to get to see their parents at work and do something fun for them. My kids will be bringing the apples!

These are dipped in caramel, then chocolate and then rolled in chopped Heath bar...

These are my personal favorite - caramel, white chocolate and then rolled in a brown sugar and cinnamon mixture. Yum!

And these are caramel, chocolate and then chopped Recees peanut butter cups...a nice second choice for me! Ahhhh, apple season!

36 Years Old!!

I turned 36 on Sunday and had a nice, relaxing day with my family. We had Stake Conference and then I had a Youth Conference Committee meeting (the first for next year's conference) and afterwards I came home and relaxed!

Marisa and her kids came over and we had some yummy food and an awesome cake from Cold Stone - how can you go wrong with Cold Stone??

36 doesn't really hold much punch to it...nothing earth shattering happening because you are 36, so it was the perfect birthday to just relax and enjoy!

What a difference some fabric can make!

We got our dining room furniture a little over 10 years ago and I still love it...unfortunately, we also got cream fabric for the chairs. I actually have been really happy with it...up until about a year ago. In this house, we use our formal dining room all the time and the kids have really taken a toll on cream!

I've tried spot cleaning the chairs, but honestly they are looking pretty darn bad. I didn't really notice just how bad they were until I took them out of the dining room (where the table shadows weren't helping mask the stains) and put them in the living room for a baby shower...yikes!!!

So this is the new fabric! The darker orange is the color of the walls in the dining room and the green is actually the color of the carpet and the 2 other pieces of furniture. The scrolls even match the iron scrolls in the room...it's like it was made for us!

I'm really happy with how they turned out (we finished the last one this morning) and the chairs look like new. It's amazing what a difference some fabric can make!

One more time...for both of these projects!

I made a little improvement on this project (thanks to a suggestion from Melissa) and now the numbers are changeable . I thought that I might want to sell these at a boutique here in town (or at a craft fair), but after making this one I realized that I don't have any desire to make 20 more of these!

So I have this one ready to gift! And I don't think there are many more of these on the horizon...but, never say never!

And remember how I said this head band is a labor of love?? Well, our neighbor (who is 10) came over the other day and saw Ava's head band and was very interested in the fact that I had made it myself. I am easily flattered and so I asked her what her favorite color was and she quickly replied "purple". So...

The purple version! I do love these...and obviously with me, flattery will get you everywhere.

Off to the mazes!

We took the kids to a corn maze on Saturday and had a great time. They also had this small hay maze for the really little kids. My kids decided that it was the perfect opportunity to do some blind mazes!

I don't think Ava really got what they were doing, but the boys went through the maze forwards and backwards (a couple of times) with their eyes closed. We were actually pretty entertained by it too.

While in the big maze we had Zach pretned to eat this corn - my poor kids - they just look at us like we're crazy and then pose as they're told...

Here are the little ones...enjoying everything fall (perfect weather, corn mazes, blind games and doughnuts)!

He really wanted to catch that ball...

Greg and Andrew were playing football in the yard on Monday night and Andrew decided to dive for a pass that was a little out of reach...well, he sure did dive! Unfortunately, he also broke his left, index finger on the ball! Because the break starts at his main knuckle and goes vertically up his finger (and it is just slightly into the growth plate) they decided to cast his whole hand/wrist/arm up to his forearm. Who knew??

Here's my little signing of the cast!

And here he is! He is living Greg and my childhood dream of having a cast...did everyone want to have a cast?

Luckily it doesn't look like they'll keep this cast on for too long and luckily he isn't in any pain. It'll get evaluated in another week and then they may decide to splint it. We'll see! For now he's just enjoying the hype of the cast - and still playing football both at recess and in the back yard!

Cutest purse ever!

My girlfriend, Michael, knit and felted this purse for me. I had seen it before and fell in love with it and when I was talking to Michael about it she said if I got her the yarn, she would knit it for me. Hello?? What a great, friend favor!!

The other day I sewed a liner (complete with cell phone and gum pockets) and hand stitched it into the purse so that it won't stretch...

Then I made this awesome felt flower. There are so many great flowers to make and I think this one is well worth the time. I put a pin on the back so that I can take it off and put it on my coat, hat, sweater, you name it!

Here is the link to the page with a whole bunch of great flower tutorials...http://www.dana-made-it.com/2010/09/fabric-flower-tutorial-roundup.html Trust me there are some great tutorials here!

And here is the finished bag...I really do love it! What a great fall treat!

Okay, so this may officially make me a crazy mom...

In the "stage mom" kind of crazy...

I got an email from the GAP (just like everyone else who has ever ordered something from them) saying that they are looking for the new GAP kids. Sometimes I think about entering something like that, but always figure that there are so many applicants that you could never win (which is probably true)...but, this time I thought I'd do it anyway.

I know, I know - I probably have better chances of catching a shark at Chester Creek, but hey, what if Ava won a $1000 gift certificate?? You never know??

So, these are the pictures that I entered - you could enter 5 - so at least my craziness stopped at 2! If you are so inclined, you can go to www.gapcastingcall.com and vote for her pictures. She is applicant number 135126 and 135946 in the baby girl's section. You can just go to the gallery and find her there too. You only have to enter your email address - it's easy! So, there you go...I've officially gone off the deep end...pretty soon I'll have her in a pageant and be getting her plastic surgery to make her taller...it's a slippery slope...