Poonkin Carver

Last night was the night before Halloween so we had to carve our pumpkins! The kids love to choose the faces to carve. Nolan decided to have a scary face while Leslie wanted a Pookin Princess. She has difficulty saying pumpkin, so she says poonkin. It is funny to hear her. Les and Nolan worked and worked carving with a regular knife and finally got tired. Instead of waiting for the pumpkin carving knife that Leslie and I were using, he decided to go get his jigsaw. I guess that is what it is called. Les plugged it in and went to town. I thought, "only my husband would go get a power tool to carve a simply pumpkin!" I laughed and grabbed the camera. However it didn't take very long to carve the mouth and it made a really smooth cut! Hmmm, maybe I will try next year. The pumpkins looked great outside of our door and the kids loved them. After admiring the creations we cooked and dined on the seeds. Yummy. Nolan and Leslie even liked them! Have fun on Halloween and BE SAFE!

Happy Birthday Momma!

Well today is of course Halloween, but also my mom's birthday. Yep, she was born on Halloween and she loves telling the grandchildren that she is like a witch! My kids look at her funny, but then shrug it off THANKFULLY! Anyhoo, Momma I love you dearly and I hope you have a wonderful day today and I can't wait to see you. We will open your presents, have cake, go trick-or-treating, and then have dinner! I hope you are up for a BIG night!

Whew!

I sat on the couch totally exhausted last night when I finally got the kids and husband to bed. I started thinking, why in the world am I incredibly tired so early in the night. Therefore in my mind I started listing all that I had done. As I mentioned in the previous post I made shutters/window boards, fed Leslie lunch, cleaned the dishes, helped Nolan with his homework once I picked him up, made dinner, popped cookies in the oven, played on the scooters with the kids, carved pumpkins, baked the seeds, put the kids to bed, and finally made orange rice crispy treats for Nolan's class. Whew! I don't know about you all, but I find that to be a lot of stuff going on. However, I love it and would have done anything differently! I mean that is my job as a stay at home mom right? I cook, clean, care for the kids and fit all of the extra stuff in between. Wow. It really is a full time job once I STOP and think about it.

Tool Time with Mommy

Girl Power! Les went hunting all day, so Leslie and I thought we would put our minds and hands to work. I thought I blogged about this already, but apparently not. Les built the kids a playhouse a couple of months ago and really never finished it. Yes, I said two months ago! From a roadside view the house looked finished, but he never made shutters for the windows and so we could never put toys in it. You see, the dogs would jump through the windows and drag the toys all over the yard. Therefore the kids would go out to the playhouse and play for about five minutes before getting bored with it. It was a lot of work and money to have ONLY five minutes worth of play. So, a couple of weeks ago I moved Leslie's kitchen from her closet to the hallway in hopes Les would get tired of seeing it and finish the shutters. Well that plan bombed out and I was the one tripping over the darn thing everyday! So today was the day I, yes I, Me, a Girl, Mommy, was going to FINISH THE PLAYHOUSE myself! So Leslie and I tromped out to the tool shed and gathered our tools and wood. We took our measurements and figured out how to work the saw thing. I was so proud of myself. I really did not care at this point what the shutters looked like, just as long as we could stop the dogs from jumping in through the windows and we could put toys in the house. I did not care if it was one door or two. Plastic or wood. Screening or bars. I just wanted to be DONE! Once we cut the boards to size, we painted them white and waited for them to dry. While waiting Les came home and saw what we were up to. He did help me screw in the hinges, boy that takes a lot of thought! It was such an incredible feeling to know that I helped with the playhouse and now it is FINISHED! Well somewhat, we still have to get a wire jig to hold the shutters up, but at least we have SOMETHING! Leslie was so excited to move her kitchen, table and chairs out. All we have left is some hanging of shelves and pictures to make their house a home. Check it out!
The two white rectangles on each side of the door is what we built!



Looking through the door to the right.


Looking down inside the house to the right.

Bobbing for Sicknesses

We were invited to an annual Halloween party at our neighbor's house last night and so we dressed up the kiddos in their costumes to go. Those pictures will be posted on Friday, so stay tuned. It was really cool seeing all of the kids get out of their cars with all kinds of costumes on. I was also looking back at two years ago when we attended for the first time we did not know anyone. Last night when we went, I knew everyone there and fit right in. That feels good when you actually fit in and you are not a new kid on the block anymore. Anyway, the good ol' game of bobbing for apples came out and the kids had a fit to play while the parents had a fit NOT to play. They did have fun but they all put their wide open mouths in the same water and into the same apples. Of course they got to keep the one they caught, but still! I do admit, it was a blast to watch and witness. Leslie saw all of the fun and wanted to join in. So she got her turn, but the water was so cold, she bobbed her face in a couple of times and then just picked up the apple. You will see her doing this on the blurry picture. Oh, you ask about Nolan? Well, he stood by watching and told me he was thinking how all of his friends were going to get sick. He had not part of that action. We left the party smiling and laughing because we had such a great time, but wondering if Leslie will be getting sick. This morning when she awoke and got ready for school, I heard sniffles. Yep, as of two minutes ago she is sneezing, coughing and sniffing! Yikes. She caught an apple and a head cold!

I am a Copy Cat!

I was reading Cheri's blog about her pumpkin patch pictures with a professional and I admit it, I was jealous. First of all there are no pumpkin patches remotely around here and I also do not know of any professional photographer that would drive miles away to one. So I took matters into my own hands and spotted a cute pumpkin display at the entrance of our town to take my own professional pics with my new camera. I had pretty good luck with the kids' cooperation, but I chose the wrong time of the day. The colors are bleached out from the sun and the kids squinted in almost every picture. Overall though, I guess they are okay. Oh, I forgot to mention the biggest plus of hiring a pro, the pictures themselves! I had so much trouble printing these I just wanted to scream! My good photo printer is out of ink b/c I can't afford the ink and I keep forgetting to buy the ink. So I had to use Les' and it is not as good. So in a nut shell if you have access to a professional as Cheri did, THEN USE THEM!

I Love My New Camera!

While in Austin this past weekend I had to trade my broken camera in for a new one and I upgraded to a Nikon D60 Digital SLR. Of course I had to put some money in for the trade, but boy IT WAS WORTH IT! I Love Love Love my new camera! Cheri has one just like it and I fell in love with it over the weekend, and now that I have one of my own I have gotten to know all it really can do! I played with it this afternoon and I can't wait to print them out and layer my walls with these shots. Who needs a professional anymore, I have got it all. I am telling you this camera is super d duper fast and crystal clear. Check out a few of my favorites. Seriously, I had taken over 178 pictures in about 15 minutes. WowZa!

Fall Fun Weekend with Friends

On Saturday morning the family and I loaded the car and headed to Hutto to see Cheri's new home. The trip did not seem that long to Les and me because we were able to take a new toll road in the outskirts of Georgetown that took us straight to her house. However, the kids continued to say, "Are we there yet, are we there yet?!" Ugrh. We waited way to long to visit the Thompson family...so long the kids forgot what it felt like to be in the car for two hours! Anyhoo, we landed in Hutto in no time and drove into the golf course community. Immediately we were so happy for Cheri and her family to be in that neighborhood. Her house has so much appeal and not a "cookie cutter" style. She opened the door when we arrived and I immediately smelled her signature smell of vanilla bean and brown sugar mix. I always have to eat when I visit her! The house was decked out in fall foliage and candles. Seriously, it looked like a model home and you can definitely tell she sold Southern Living at Home. Anyone would buy that stuff after seeing her home! The kids immediately made their selves at home and played hard until we left on Sunday. After lunch, we decided to visit a Pumpkin Festival in Elgin. The kids got to do a hay ride, stuff a scarecrow, pet animals and run through a hay maze. It was a lot of fun, but I think I also realized that I am officially a country girl when the smell of horse poo does not bother me and the kids really do not get excited to see rabbits, goats, and chickens. We see that on a daily basis here! But let me tell ya, those city folks sure eat it up! Afterwards we stopped at one of the famous BBQ joints there in Elgin and Ken bought some sausage to cook at home while we watched the Longhorn BEAT Missouri! That was a blast as well! Finally after dinner we decided to carve our pumpkins. Cheri is so good to have everything you will ever need for projects. She had a carving set ready with plastic on the tables and then glow sticks to stick in the pumpkins once they were done! The kids loved helping make the faces and digging the goo out of the pumpkins. Then Cheri made her famous pumpkin seeds that you just can't stop eating! By this time is was time for bed and the kids and mommies conked out! On Sunday we played at the neighborhood park and went to eat at a Mexican restaurant. Yummy. I seriously overate! We had such a wonderful weekend and miss the Thompsons so much. We will go back real soon!

These pics are from Cheri's camera. To see more great ones, visit her blog. Thanks Cheri.

The kids loved playing in the hay!

Kensley playing in the hay

We stuffed our very own lady scare crow

The kids in the maze

WE call these two Yin and Yang, opposite sex, but on the same wave length!

Les did not think there was enough hay for them to be landing in, so he caught them.

The jack o lanterns outside the Thompson house. Scary!

Welcome to Club Leslie Lu!

As guests entered our much decorated house I sprinkled each one of their heads with glitter fairy dust and said, "Welcome to Club Leslie Lu!" Most of them looked like I was a bit crazy in the head, and really I guess I was! You see, Leslie was invited to her friend's Madison's party last March to Club Libby Lu in Dallas. Leslie had so much fun and so did I! I actually blogged about it, so if you want to refresh you memory go back and read about it. Anyhoo, this place, Libby Lu is a girl's paradise for a makeover party. Well, since we could not make a trip to Dallas, we brought Club Libby Lu to us, hence Club Leslie Lu. So, as the guests arrived I had them put stickers on picture frames that I would later put a picture of them in once they were made over. As they finished their frames they got to choose which station they would like to visit first. We had two nail stations where they got to choose which colors and stickers for their nails....oh and more glitter too! Then there was a hair station where the friends got their hair brushed and chose which color of headband wig they would like. Finally there was a make-up station where they got blush, more glitter, eye gloss and lip gloss. They all had a blast! All of the while teeny bopper music like High School Musical played in the background. I would like to take the opportunity to thank my mom because she really "brought" the party. She and my dad brought THREE vanities and stools for the stations as well as little dishes for the make up and polishes. She made the Leslie Lu sign you see in one of the pictures and brought hair salon posters. The sign looks exactly like the Libby Lu emblem. She really out did herself this time and I greatly appreciate it. Seriously, my mom should be a professional party planner. Cheri was even reminiscing the parties my mom threw for me as a kid and she always wanted have an experience like that. You are awesome Momma, thank you! Overall we had a really good turn out with the number of friends that attended. Cheri and her family came all the way from Austin while we had a bunch of friends Leslie has made here in Clifton. After we visited all of the stations we had cake! Oooooooh, the cake............. Les went at noon to pick up the Hello Kitty cake I had ordered on Thursday at our local grocery store. When he looked at it, the cake was cracked ALL over! He had the baker fix it and stated how his wife will still not be happy. Well, once he got home, I was NOT happy! The cake cost $30 and looked like it was a year old! So Les called the manager and explained what happened and he had another cake made. Whew! That was scary business. Leslie never knew and loved every inch of her cake and party. My only problem now is looking back and thinking HOW FAST THE ENTIRE DAY WENT! I wanted to savor everything and I didn't. That is the MAJOR drawback of having parties at your own home. I was worried about everybody and everything else but who the day was all about. Oh well, I guess that is what pictures are for, huh.