Pumpkin Carving...

Here are our pumpkin carving pictures. The warm Portland weather has made them quite icky already. Luckily this year I took them out to the porch the same night we carved them. Jordan said he found a slug in his tonight. Eww!!
These pictures will remind us of great memories from this weekend.
Jordan carved his all by himself this year. He did talk Jarod into grabbing out his really gooey pumpkin guts. LOL
Meghan even gutted her pumpkin this year too. I enjoyed watching the kids work on their own creations. They have grown up so much this past year!
Jarod really enjoys the feeling of the guts. He talked and talked about how many seeds we had to roast. I always roast seeds. We spread them on a cookie sheet (or two) and sprinkle them with "Red Robin seasoning" and salt. They get a spray of cooking oil and head into the oven. Hours later, after the kids have stopped asking when they will be done... they exit the oven. YUM!!!
Good times! I tell ya! We ended up with a spider, a cat & pumpkin in a window, and hands creeping from below a RIP tombstone. Oh and the mini pumpkin is the one we grew in our garden this year. It was too cute not to become a jack-o-lantern. :) Happy Halloween to all!!

What a beautiful day today...

Our weather is giving us two wonderful sunny fall days. The kids and I went to the store today and bought pumpkins. We came home and carved them too. Of course, the seeds are roasting in the oven as I type.
Not sure what tomorrow will become. I could sleep in, but yet don't want to waste my day off either. We will take Jordan's signup paperwork in for basketball. A hassle that has been, but long story short... he will be on a team. That is all that matters. :)
Sean and I went to see Saw V this afternoon. It was good. Nothing to horrible, nothing to bad. It definitely is set up for Saw 6 to come to life. LOL
Can you believe that those movie makers have made yet ANOTHER "jason" movie. LOL My, oh my!! It doesn't come out until Feb. 13th, 2009. Bummer. That's a bit to wait. Hee-hee! There were quite a few new horror flicks coming soon. Yeah!!

Last night at Crop I did get 5 or 6 cards made. Nothing spectacular IMO. I had more fun chatting with Diane than stamping. Knock me in the head if I ever decide to NOT take my photos again. LOL

Hugs to all, thanks for stoppin' by.

I'm packed for Crop Night tomorrow night. I am a scrapbooker, and an occasional card maker. Tomorrow I have decided will be a card making crop. Oh my, the supplies I NEED. LOL
I have been looking into different techniques using "Gumsol" & colored pencils. I hope to share my good experience with you soon. :)

My BIL is HOME!!!!

(click on photo to enlarge and read poem)
Yep... Patrick landed home today. After his third tour in Iraq. He has been awarded the brownze star this time. I am not sure what for yet. It will be pinned on him soon. I know my MIL and "grandma" are flying to Germany in a few weeks. Hopefully in time to go to the pinning cermony. :)
He will be in Germany soon, to see his wife and kids. Oh, what a wonderful day!!!

As for me, I am battling my cold. I got a new box of meds. and slept completely through the night. In bed at 9:30 I think. LOL That is so NOT me. Felt good though. I woke with the kids and the dogs, etc. but slept off and on until about 11:30am. Hopefully that will give me enough energy to make it through the next few days of work. I have a crop night on Friday, that I really want to go to.

I think I am going to work on some cards, instead of scrapbooking though. I need to get pics printed and work on some more updated scrapbooking. But... I thought I would try out some watercoloring on cards for Christmas. Who knows... I will share pics when I get something done. LOL

Hugs to everyone, and hope all is well with you and yours... (Hey, Tell someone you LOVE them today) (Say it out loud, it feels so good!)

New Coffee creamer flavors are out!!!!

I went to buy coffee creamer. Oh Yeah! New flavors are out again! Woohoo. This time I choose "Chocolate Mint" and "Almond Toffee" YUM!!!
I am also sharing my favorite gift from my wedding showers. It is the "I hate to cook cookbook". Best most simple recipes ever. It has a really quick recipe for "maui" banana bread. The mom that I used to babysit for so much, as a teenager; thought this would be the perfect wedding gift for the young woman I was. :)

The Cold Bug flew here today :(

Oh my... I thought I had licked the onset of my seasonal cold. NOPE... I woke to its presence in full forth. I have a dry cough, runny nose, sneexing, the works. UGH! I am sitting here instead of getting off to work... trying to decide if I will take a cold pill and be drowzy all day, yet somewhat clear headed... or shall I see how it goes and regret that entirely. LOL

Hope you all are well. :)

It's Pumpkin time... foam pumpkins that is...

We bought foam pumpkins from the craft store. We will still buy a real pumpkin right before Halloween. We will still get carving fun and it'll provide seeds for roasting too. But... foam pumpkins will now come out year after year, and be a memory of time spent just mom and kid. :)
Meghan made a Kitty kat out of her pumpkin. A design we found in a craft magazine at Michaels.
Jarod choose to make a vampire. Complete with dripping blood and fangs. :)

Injuries...

My kids are 2 for 3 this week. Knocking on WOOD!!! Jordan won't hurt himself. Jarod got stung by a bee. Meghan hurt her foot (still diagnosing). I am not one for going to the doctors. I just HATE the fees, just to walk out feeling like nothing was really done for them. :(
I am not against doctors, just not willing to give away what money we have. I also barely use medicine. I am not against it, just prefer my body to heal itself. I think my body was made to do things that are beyond my comprehension; beyond anyones comprehension. Why mess with that. LOL

Ok... that took a wierd twist.
Maybe some of my thoughts come from my income. We make too much for help of any kind. We have a house, two cars, a trailer, etc. We by no means, are missing out. BUT... my kids don't get school lunch because we can't afford it. We don't even qualify for reduced lunches. YET... illegal aliens get FREE lunches. No questions asked. We have medical and dental coverage, but can only afford to go to the minimal visits. Jordan is in braces however and that is only $2000 from our pocket. I am not complaining, it could be worse. But somedays worse feels like a better deal. Other days I am thankful for every last thing I have and will have.

Time to shower and run off to work. :)

What's for dinner?

Yep... I feel like blogging but have little to blog about. I had the day off from work. All I got done, was to take a shower and make dinner with Meghan. We peeled potatoes and made mashed potatoes. We sliced pork loin and stuffed them with cheese and ham slices. I baked those in the oven. YUM! Add in some corn and gravy... and we had dinner! :)
So what did you do? Any fall baking started yet? I hope to make some banana bread tonight. Hugs to all...

Text messaging...

We have entered the technological world of "Text messaging". Sean found out the his company gets him a 25% discount on our cel service. We used that discount to pay for text messaging services on all our phones. We also bought a new phone for the house (Jarod to use on occasion).
I love technology, but I am scared of the unlimited things that my kids can do with it also. I am really learning alot about the idea that "a parent raises a child as good as they can, and then must trust their child will make the right choices". How do we choose where we draw the line, between trusting and continuing to need to parent. Oh my!!

Jarod got stung by a bee tonight. Poor thing. His finger is a bit swollen, and a little sore a few hours later. I think he is going to make it, and atleast we now know two of our kids did not inherit my dad's bee allergies. :)

Ok... off to find new ringtones for my new phone. Oh yeah... did I forget to mention, that part of the perks at the cel store for $60. BUT they came with $100 in rebates!! woohoo! :)

Pics of the day...

A trip to the park, nail and makeup makeovers, crafts, games, holding hamsters and cats, and much much more... Fun times were had at Meghan's sleepover. I slept in this morning to make up for the uneasy sleep I had while the girls were all here. Meghan's favorite activities were going to the park for frisbee, and the crafts. Her least favorite was her feeling of upset when the girls made a mess of her room. She was so upset about the thought of how much time she spent in there, cleaning lately... and having to redo it. I told her I would help her, and she just needed to go enjoy her friends.
She enjoys "free choice" at school, but I think she is a controlling type person in her friendships and play. UGH! Maybe she gets that from me??? LOL
Anyhoo... here are some pics from the day. :)

Sleepover in progress... and...

Meghan's 8th birthday sleepover is nearly half over. The girls are setup on sleeping bags, in the living room. They have popcorn and drawing paper... and the new "Sleeping Beauty" dvd is just starting. If all goes well... I will loose atleast 2 girls to sleep in the next hour. :)
I have a TON of pics to share, but won't bore you with those tonight.

We painted butterflies which will dry over night and become a game in the morning, for play while I make breakfast. We went to the park and I spun they silly on the tire swing. We went to a 2nd park and played frisbee after hitting the swings. We played a coin toss game, with sand buckets... which they LOVED. Oh yeah, as we were leaving the park; I had the kids grab leaves to remember their trip to the park. We came back to the house and put the leaves inbetween two plastic sticky sheets; tying a ribbon into a corner. They can take home their memories. It was SO CUTE that they all decided they wanted to take these to school to share with their teacher. Most of them decided she would enjoy them. :)
We did the usual nails, makeup, and hairdos.
Now it's movie time. In the morning, I will rise early to make waffles or pancakes. AND COFFEE for myself!!

Anyhoo... Other than the boys being in our hair, until just recently when DH took them to a movie... the night is going great! I even have internet time. LOL

Dating...

Oh my! So my 13 year old son has entered the dating world. He didn't tell me YET. He told my husband, as he was getting ready for bed tonight. Sean and the boys are going to the movies tomorrow night, while Meghan and I host her birthday sleepover. I can't decide if I am going to burst into tears, because my baby is growing up yet another milestone in life... OR... should I just smile with joy for him and try not to worry about the day they break it off. Oh the thoughts and worries in my head. I am SO excited for him, but I don't want to talk to him about it; not until he tells me. Oh, I hope that will be soon. LOL

Busy times still... my weekly update.

Today was my day off! I woke up, took the kids to school, and made my coffee. :)
I played some online games at Pogo.com (ask me about a free trial). I then went to Michaels to get supplies for crafts at Meghan's slumber party on Friday. I got unfinished coat rack hooks with butterfly shapes and glow bracelets. The hooks will be painted and go on the floor to do a ring toss game. The glow bracelets will become the rings. I spent the afternoon at the grocery store ($126 for two weeks of food!)and then came home. As I came into the my front yard from the car, I reached down to pull a weed. Just that action was enough to get me started. My front yard is now 99% weeded and I have put grass seed on the dirt. WOOHOO! Cross your fingers that I will not have MUD in my house anymore. LOL
The kids were really huge helpers and got the food from the car and put it all away. I love days when the kids are helpful!

Here is Jordan running in his meet last week. He ran a 19 minute 3000K that day. He then learned that he could run with his I-pod in his ear, and also took to heart the lecture about refusing to walk and just slow his run if needed. He shaved 3 minutes from his time on Saturday and runs again in about a half hour.

This is Jordan's metal shop project. It's a birdhouse! I paid $3 extra so he could make one to bring home. He agreed to make me one. :)
Now they are moving back to his favorite... Wood.

Miss Meghan turned 8, on the 5th. My Mil, Fil, Sil, etc. brought over a cake and a present for her. We gave her a new baby doll. It's does a ton of cool talking and motions. She has a few friends coming over on Friday for a sleepover. Then Saturday evening is a birthday event for her and my two sisters, at my parents. Birthday season is in full-gear around our family.

Hit N Run...

So I am driving down the street tonight. It's raining. It hasn't rained in a good while and the streets are filled with accidents today. I am driving, Sean is in the passenger seat. The truck beside us nearly hits the car into front of him. I am not normally a cautious driver, but feel the need to reduce my speed and let things take a slower pace.
Just two blocks later... the two lanes of traffic come to a fast slow-down. Oh no!! In slow-motion... Sean and I witness the truck SLAM into the car in-front of it. That car had already gone slightly out of his lane, because of the slowing cars the slowed SO quickly.

THEN... I realize that the truck is again speeding up. Wait... oh I think he is pulling out of the middle of the road. NO WAIT... he is speeding up and taking off. SO... my foot hits my gas pedal and I get his license plate. "That JERK".

I end of pulling over quickly and putting on my flashers. I RUN to check on the two in the car that was rear-ended. The passenger ended up in an ambulance with a neck collar on. :(
The cops were great... there in 30 seconds... sadly having just been up the road at another wreck. The license plate came back to a Truck, but not the one we saw. Hopefully that driver will get karma in his rear-view mirror. :(
Atleast these poor people that were hit, have witnesses and info to go on. I HATE that so many people see things happen and don't take the time to help a fellow human. Then for someone to cause harm and just take off. Jeez! :(

Anyhoo... back to my party planning. Meghan is going to have a birthday party / slumber party next weekend. :)

coffee mate has new flavors again... YUMMY!!!

I have cut out most of my soda pop intake and started drinking more water too. However my coffee creamer addicition is a hard one to break. Oh well... I love the feeling in my clothes right now... a little less here and there. I will enjoy it while it is gone. LOL
(Oh and yes, I have tried the low-fat creamer... YUCKY!)