Fall/Halloween Decorations

Brianna and Brandon with the scarecrows.

Brandon saying cheese and I think acting "spooky"

Brianna, not quite sure she wants to be up there by herself

Pic from evening w/ lights showing.

From ghostly skeletens, a witch that crashlanded in the yard, her black cat that jumped off before the crash, a spider and his cob web to friendly scarecrows and our harvest of 12 pumpkins....these indeed are what our Halloween is made of this year!

We had a great time decorating our front porch, a little bit inside, for the fall/Halloween this year. I'm not convinced I am done yet, but for now, I think it looks good. The little kids love it! The older kids want it a little less "gay" and a little more scary, but we will pass on the scary for a few more years. I did get my bale of straw this year, now hmmmm if I can only find some corn stocks around this Tricity area......my corn did not make it through the wind :(

Carissa and Toby

It occured to me while we were all hanging out tonight that although I have pictures of Toby, Toby and the little ones, and I think even Toby and Cody.....I don't think I have any of Carissa and Toby, after all he was her gift from her Grandma Donna....and how exactly does it work out that I don't have any pics of them together? So here we are...Carissa and her baby Toby. :)

Cody's New Bike

Cody gives Brandon a ride on his "cool" new bike.

Brianna's turn for a ride.

Ahhh, Cody's driving Carissa for a change, or wait is Brianna driving them both?

Brianna, Brandon, and Cody on their bikes.

Cody got a new bike tonight, he used his Birthday money to buy it. He thinks it is rather cool, which I must admit, it is. It's one of those that look like a dirt bike. Brandon thinks it is the GREATEST thing. Cody's intention is to not "trash" it and give it to Brandon when he's big enough....we'll see how that works out :) It is a very nice idea though. The kids road around the great room and kitchen and had some fun, now I don't know how many parents would let the kids ride their bikes in the house around the great room.....how about you? I couldn't resist though the little kids and big kids were actually have a good time "playing" together....now that makes a mother's heart SING ;-)

Candy Land

The older kids went on a run/drive to Walmart and the little ones were devistated!!! How dare they leave the house and not take the crying little kids with them, Brandon and Brianna will never understand how they can be so mean :)

I decided to attempt to side track them and break out the Candy Land board game. Last time I ATTEMPTED to play Candy Land with them it was, well not so successful, but what the heck....anything was better then the "heart broken" cries of sorrow.

Bill, Brandon, Brianna, and I actually finished a whole game of Candy Land and had a great time playing. Brianna got a little restless when we didn't let her move everyones "guy" but all in all I am highly impressed with how well they both understood and enjoyed the game.

O O.......I see a new "tradition/ritual" in the making :) Ahhhh, but what wonderful memories we will create. Some of my fondest memories include sitting around the game table with my family playing board games!!!!!

Moments to Cherish

No pictures to post but I just want to capture this memory to cherish for many, many years to come....

As I lay in bed last night, I had given the "good night kisses" and told each child of mine I loved them and I'd see them tomorrow. Brandon and Brianna have picked up a bad habit of sleeping on a full-size mattress on our bedroom floor.

Brandon's little voice says, "Mommy don't go to work tomorrow" to which I replied oh honey, I have to, you ask me every day not to go to work and every day I explain to you why I have to go to work....he asked "you need mooney?" Yes, I need to work to make money so you can have all the things you have and I can buy groceries to put food in your tummy...I have gotten away from explaining to him that I work so he can have his toys, because it doesn't matter to him what day it is, he would give his toys up for me to be home with him, so I went to groceries, thinking he would like to eat :) Well to my amazement, Brandon says in his own little way:
Mommy don't go to work, me buy groceries......but will you go with me to Yokes? I can't drive.....

I had to refrain from giggling and I told him yes honey, I'll go to Yokes with you, but you can't buy groceries and I have to go to work. He finally agreed that he needed "moore mooney" in order to buy the groceries, rolled over and whispered I love you one more time, and fell asleep.

Ahhh, my little Brandon Dean...he's such a funny little guy!

Fall Resolution - A new take :)

Brandon and Bri ~ right before bed.

Brandon Dean

Brandon's SCARY self portrait

This morning as the sun shined through the cracks of our blinds, it seemed too early and yet I was needing to get up for an early morning meeting, I fought off the Monday Morning BLAHs and decided enough is enough. I am tired of worrying and stressing over all the unimportant things that life deals us and not enjoying the precious moments we have with our loved ones. Sure I picked myself up and headed off to work, fighting the urge to give into Brandon's pleas for me to stay home with him today, but I'm looking at things in a new light, a different light, starting today.

I will do my duty at work, come home and treasure every precious moment I have with my family. I will turn off the radio in the car and explain to Brandon and Brianna why the foilage on the trees are changing colors. I will tell them it's the first day of fall, and patiently try to make out what they are saying about fall and then explain to them that fall is one of our four seasons, and when we get where we are going and they ask again, I will patiently explain again and hold on to every expression they make on their little faces as they turn and explain to their dad what fall is. I will come home and turn off the tv and just enjoy us being a family.

In life it is all too easy to get wrapped up in the little idiocracys of every day stresses. Money, Work, Kids misbehaving, Teenagers pushing every guideline there is. At the end of the day, what good does it do to stress and ruin and/or not enjoy the precious moments of our lives?

Today is the first day of fall, and although I have never heard of it before, I am making a "Fall Resolution" to change the way I stress over the little things. I am going to live every moment for the moment and enjoy my family to the max. I thank God for all of our blessings and the 4 beautiful, healthy, funny angels he has blessed us with, and I am going to enjoy them without the stress and worry from this day forward. I love my family and I am going to tell each and every one of them it every single day!

Today was the most wonderful stress-free day of my life, and I enjoyed every second I had with the kids. The pics posted have absolutely nothing to do with my Fall Resolution, except they are funny little windows into the little ones...the older ones were being teenagers, Carissa hidden in her room reading, and Cody hidden in his room on the phone with as he would say "his hippie he is in love with" ~ that would be Ms. Jewel.....but that's okay, cause that's who they are and as I wonder off to sleep tonight I will find peace in knowing I enjoyed the moments I had with them today and did not let "stress" overcome and ruin those all to few precious moments.

Harvesting our Pumpkins.

We decided with the recent weather change that today was as good as any to harvest our pumpkins. The leaves have started to die back and deteriorate and I didn't want mold or mildew effecting the pumpkins. We ended up with 12 good size pumpkins, we won't carve them just yet, but they are on the front porch for the little ones to enjoy. Brandon is understanding harvest and Halloween for the first real time this year. He starts preschool the 9th of October, and I am sure they will be doing projects for Halloween to further his understanding of the fun holiday. We have been doing a lot of projects around here lately too, between the "home-made" Halloween costumes, baking Halloween themed gluten-free cupcakes, to making our home-made candy corn hair clips for Brianna....I am really enjoying the little ones being old enough to enjoy doing little projects and crafts. As always when fall is in the air, I do get a little saddened that I can't stay home with them full-time, but I do treasure every moment I get to spend with them! The older ones are not into any of the projects, but hey Bill is starting to take an interest! :) Just look at him harvesting the pumpkins :) AND we got fall bulbs planted today too!!!!

Our evening walks....

I decided we would take a walk to the neighborhood park in an effort to let the kids burn off some of their endless energy. They love the slides and love taking the walk to the park, discovering new things, and learning to look both ways and then again before crossing the street. It has now become a ritual, after I get home from work, I cook dinner, and then they get their shoes on and we go for our walk...sometimes we make it to the park, and other times we get so caught up in things like the harvest moon last Wednesday that we don't quite make it to the park....it is a nice way to step away from the chaos and take a few minutes to just enjoy the little ones.

My Weekend Project ~ Halloween Costumes for the little ones.

I have been thinking about what to do for Halloween this year for the little ones. I wanted to make them a costume, instead of buying them, well because it's something I enjoy doing and want to do for them. Anyone who knows me know I have a desire to do things that "match" and/or are "themes". I drive my whole family bonkers sometimes with my "need" to have everything "go together." As you can see I decided to do Mickey and Minnie Mouse. On Halloween I plan to paint their noses black and give them whiskers....the idea to do a head piece that actually looked more like Mickey and Minnie Mouse did run through my mind a few times, however the little kids are having a hard enough time leaving the home made head band of ears on....so I am opting to leave the costumes, just as you see them and paint their little noses black with some whiskers. They do both have tails...so that is a plus. Anyway I wanted to share what I think is a successful "themed" Halloween, now if I can just get Sis and Cody to let me make them Daisy and Donald Duck costumes :)

Toby

Carissa got a Cheweenie for her 16th Birthday present from her Grandma Donna....his name is Toby and he is soooo cute! He is only 6 weeks old, but he eats really well and even whines at the door to go out to go potty. I was more than a little hesitant to get another animal after our worse than bad luck with animals since our move out here, between big hawks carrying cats away and Cyote's it's a little scary to get attached to and risk having another animal taken away....but we are giving it one more try and oh my goodness is Toby worth it. I usually am not a huge fan of 1) dogs, 2) short haired dogs, but Toby has stolen my heart....we all really like him!!!!

Brianna and the front fence flower bed.

Brianna wanted her picture taken in front of all the pretty flowers in the flower bed infront of the fence.....the sunshine was too bright, but nonetheless I think I got some precious pics that show her personality.... :)

Cosmos Anyone????

No, not the drink, noooo not the magazine.....I planted 2 cosmo plants very late in the season....after we got back from our 4th of July trip to the beach, and they have since seeded and died back quite a bit, I had bunches and bunches of green, non-flowering plant looking things growing and thought I would let them grow and just see what would come of them, well I thought they looked like cosmo's, but nah, I didn't plant any. While Gram was visiting I asked her what she thought, she too thought the green looked like cosmo's but we decided they were just "green" perennials from the seed mix I planted and they were pretty, but would not bloom....welllll I noticed a single bud on one of the huge 2 1/2 feet tall bushes....I showed Gram and she said yeah, maybe they will bloom, well a week after she has gone back to PA and does not get to enjoy the beauty with us - just look what the cosmos have decided to do.....how I do HOPE and PRAY they come back next year!!!! I absolutely love them!