Happy Halloween!

Mikie (freaky faced skeleton)
Jack (clone trooper)

Molly (tinkerbell) on the run

I knew this one was freaky when I took it! HA Mike!

trick or treat

As is our Halloween tradition, we started at Granny and Grampa's and trick or treated there. Thanks Granny for feeding us too :) The boys and Erk headed to a few more houses than Molly, Granny and I, but we all met up. We then headed to Nanny and Papa's house to trick or treat and Mol stayed back to help Nanny pass out candy. We went further than we've ever gone at both locations, this year the boys were truly in their Halloween prime :)

my men :)
why so puzzled/unsure, boys?

So this morning after breakfast and showers it was time to get carvin'. I cut all the tops off and then let the kids rip. Which means they got like 85% off the gook out (except Mol who had a whoppin 5% out on her own) and I finished up. We had some cute patterns that came with the pumpkin cutter kit we picked up yesterday after school.

jack crackin' up at school yesterday :)

Cute patterns!
Miss Molly cleaning hers out-

Momma hard at work

Look! Our pumpkins have EYEBALLS this year! They came with the kit too.

School Parties

Here is Jack "bobbing for red apple balloons" at his Halloween party yesterday.

Check out those yummy snacks! That finger looking thing is string cheese - funny or what!?

One of the coolest things we've done @ school... this was our first year (because of the M/W/F schedule the boys have had the last few years) that we got to join the entire school on a parade thru town. People came outta shops and restaurants to watch the school parading by. We had a police escort in front and back and traffic was completely stopped. What a COOL dealio!

The back of the parade (where we pretty much were the whole time) - can you guess which of these kids is Mikie?

Snorage

Someone is snoring... but who??

Headed south on Main

I see I have 800 posts on this blog!? WOW! I'm wordy :)

Mol is currently jumpin on our bed and I gotta get in the shower. Lindsey is coming over for some help with her new business logo. It'll be fun to design!

Mornings like this one, my house feels so freakin small. Everyone traveling the same path to get everywhere and it's a lotta traffic. I think we need street lights. Maybe even just stop signs? At least 2 in the kitchen, one as you leave the bathroom and head onto Main Street...

Poor Gus

Today I am feeling like my battery was perhaps charged overnight. Not that we slept that well (Mikie was sleep walkin, Mol was crying and Jack came down to talk in the middle of the night)... but nonetheless :)

Mol is watching tv in here while I'm catching up on what's going on in the world. We are headed to our mom's group at church before long. We are gonna pick up Lindsey and Hunter on the way - she is down to one car today and since her hubby is taking the day off (due to weather) she's leaving him with the wheels. He's taking their dog, Gus to have him put down :( Very sad. They found out about 2 weeks ago that he has bone cancer. They wanted to see how he did with meds, but he's losin' all faculties. It's so hard. So after our mom's group, Lindsey, the kids and I will go find something to do to stay occupied for a while (to keep her mind off it).

Boy, it's windy today! I had a call from an old lady from church last night who is gonna be in nursery this morning with the kids. She was wondering if they closed school due to the "wind storm" if we would still have our group or not. Umm, we are past the days of the "dust bowl" lady! HA!

I suppose that's about all from me for now. I hope you have a good one - a little encouragement for today: "So don't worry, because I am with you. Don't be afraid, because I am your God. I will make you strong and will help you; I will support you with my right hand that saves you." Isaiah 41:10

Quiet Time for Mom

I am irritated. I am grumpy. I am trying hard to make this feeling disappear but it's there. My remarks to Mike and Molly today are seemingly nice enough on the outside but on the inside are VERY sarcastic. Hormones are my key player, mixed in with some questions being asked 47 times in a row,

"Mom wanna see this?"
"Mom, you wanna see this?"
"Mom, look at this!"
"Mom!"

and Mikie trying to make as many noises with his mouth as he can imagine. Either way, not a good combo for me today - it's just not working. Now that our errands are run, they are watching cartoons and I asked that Mommy can have some quiet time.

C'mon quietness...

Worm Huggers

Just wanted to let you know I am raising "worm huggers" :) Mikie was just picking up worms in the driveway and moving them to the dirt in the side yard so they will survive.

Relaxin Chillin Yellin

i have no idea why this pic is turned sideways! but this was an attempted Christmas card pic, I thought about using it cause it captures them in true form :) I did get a good one though, they may not be thrilled with all of the pix it took, but I am!

Hola!

It's Sunday afternoon and we are all relaxin. The kids just came in from outside (it's raining), but earlier were playing a computer game in the other room, Mol was making a bed for her babies in our closet, Erk is doing bi-weekly bills and I'm playing around with some photos on my laptop.

I'm not necessarily crabby today, ornery maybe is underlying for me though so I'm just chillin. I attempted some more Christmas card photos earlier and lost my patience. When I started yellin? Mikie looked shocked. I couldn't control it, it was there, ya know? So I took some time to do dishes and realized as much as I've talked to the kids about their reactions to things (which have been way over exaggerated lately) my reaction wasn't the right one either! A good opportunity to talk about the topic ;)

I hope you are havin a good one!

Dock Day!

today the dock had to come out... so did the boat (but we weren't there for that part) and who better to help Papa and UB but Jack and Mike. They were pleased as punch and have actually been talking about this for about 2 weeks. Mol even had a job, the bolt collector in the little blue bucket :)

gearin up

( Kate and Mol, remind you of anything!??! :)

Attempted Christmas Pix

We worked hard this afternoon to get a good Christmas card picture. Jack wasn't too thrilled that I wanted to start "trying to take one" in October. But I like to have 'em done ahead of time, ya know? After we tried a few different venues, they all ended up with this wreath :) HA! We'll see if what I took today is usable or we need to try again soon!

BIG

the other day in Jack's class - the big birthday card the kids all signed and presented their teacher with :)

the fashionista at her prime :)

Hey there - how we doin'? Two bees have met their end in the past 3 minutes here. The first one Mike noticed which was flying across the room like a B-52 bomber. He flew too and fro, scaring the crap out of us by his size alone. I grabbed Mike's shoe and waited for him to land. Mike on the other hand, ran into the kitchen and to the mudroom where he closed the door. A simple lift of the blinds and bam, that big sucker was dead.

So here I sat, carrying on with checking emails and such and I hear a faint buzz sound. Could it be? Nahh. Back to work I go.

"Buzz..." again.

That time Molly heard it. I turn to look, there he is. On the top blind lickin' his chops. Mike takes off and I hear the mudroom door squeak and slam. Here I am left with a smart bee (he knew just where to go so I couldn't get a good shot) and Mike's shoe. Molly sat on the bed and just watched. Top rung of the blind? Was it worth paying for a new blind cause I'd wreck it with my aggressive approach? Nahh. So I twisted the blinds closed. He didn't budge. So I pulled the blind up. He moved to the window where I couldn't get 'em. I waited and watched. Decided to lower the blinds to make him think I gave up. He bought it. So I quickly pulled the blind back up and he flew right at my face. I screamed. I screamed again as I smacked that sucker 43 times to make sure he was dead. Mudroom door squeaks back open and Mike came to see the end result.

Hello

Hello! Here I am. I'm at Starbucks actually, just wrapping things up. Shawna and I met here this afternoon around 1p to digital scrapbook. Good times...

I'm about to head to Chili's to pick up take-out for Erk and I. The kiddos are at Nanny and Papa's for supper, so we'll enjoy a nice (hopefully still warm by the time I get it home) meal.

I hope you've had a good day?

Ohh, and I got to help in Jack's 1st grade classroom today. What a blast. So fun! Each of the 21 kids got to read to me in the hallway. Besides the occasional distraction of kids walking by, it was a riot having that one on one attention/time with these 6 & 7 year olds. Most of the kids are at the same level, 1, 2, 3, 4... But there are 2 kids in Jack's class that are crazy readers. One boy was at level 10. I thought HOLY COW! Until the second to last boy was at a level 20! He read to me about space and the planets and told me all sorts of stories about the moon. The kid was a better reader than I AM! It was crazy! Then the last boy plopped in that mini sized chair next to me and was a level 1 reader. Ahh, back to 1st grade. Amazing how different kids can be!

me and Shawna

I really like this picture of Shawna and I... at the Lake in August. Full on campin mode... good times :)

Hole-in-the-Wall

Hi! Erk and I are back from our weekend away - it was nice to have a change in scenery, although speaking of which, the fall colors just weren't really poppin!? What's up with that? We did a lot of shopping at the outlet mall, meant to hit the big Christmas shoppe (but it was closed when we went by) and relaxed in our hotel room. We ate an overpriced meal of fried chicken with lots of fixins, had pizza from a hole-in-the-wall tavern twice (best pizza I tell ya) and met some old ladies on a church retreat at our hotel. A nice, memorable weekend :) The kids had fun at Nanny and Papas and Granny and Grampa's houses. Thank you to both! They got to be a part of Grampa's surprise on Saturday night :)

And now? I'm gonna check email and finish unpacking everything from everyone and bed isn't too far off. The bed we had at our hotel was crappy. One of those that seemed fine at first until you wake up the first morning. Then dread the second night...

33 Miners in Chili Video

Hey everybody! I'm testing this out to see if my video uploaded??

School . TV . Giving Birth

How the beak did it get to be Thursday already? Wow, I blinked and this week was gone...

Mol and I are headed to hang with Lindsey and Hunter for a bit this morning at their house. We didn't make it to our ladies group at church this week so this'll give us a good chance to catch up :) I had a meeting with fellow moms from Mike's class at a coffee shop Tuesday morning to discuss the upcoming Halloween party. School is truly in full swing! Nice to meet some other moms, even though I'm so bad with names, I don't remember their names and I'll refer to them as "Morgan's mom" and "Ty's mom" :) That's who we become when our kids go to school! I'm not Erin anymore!

Yesterday Mike and Mousie went to Nanny and Papa's for the day. I came home after I dropped 'em off and started watching tv. I got sucked into my new favorite show, Detroit 1-8-7. We DVR it. So there I sat knowing I was gonna be late to meet Shawna to scrapbook but I was completely hooked! It's a good show... I finally made it to meet up with Shawna and we enjoyed some time scrapbooking at Starbucks. Then I had the pleasure of meeting up with Michele for dinner. She has 5 weeks to go and then she'll be a momma! They aren't sure what they are having, what a fun surprise! We got laughing last night at my birthing stories... well mostly Molly's cause hers was the "real deal" for me. The boys were a walk in the park. It's called "being induced." I strongly suggested that option! HA!

I suppose that's about all for now. Bean chewed up an empty paper towel roll and left it all over the family room and Mol is up in her room looking for a pair of socks which means emptying all of her drawers. Speaking of socks, my feet are frickin' freezing! Better pull out Erk's wool ones. Sorry Erk, I'll warsh 'em in time for hunting again :)

Umm, Mikie, I think that's a little small
Yesterday we went to the apple orchard with Lindsey and Hunter. Soon after, Mol peed her pants. Her pants, socks, and shoes were soaked. So we headed to the truck and some lady starts scolding me, telling me to move my truck cause the township won't allow me to be parked there, yadda yadda. I notice these signs were placed next to Lindsey and my truck AFTER the fact. How was I supposed to know!? Hunter, Mol and Mikie checking out the goats

King of the mountain (or hay mound)
Hi Mike

Mol coming down the slide

Here comes Mikie

you say donut, I say apple (Mol and Hunter)

baby kitties, little goats, small pumpkin patch, we likey. so less commercial than others in the area! if only they'd let Phyllis do a barn quilt :) hehehe

Finally some Pix

Mol likes that one!
Precious lil lady trying on flower girl dresses Thursday night

Hi Em! Hi Nanny!

So cute