Preschool Party

Today was Brianna's Birthday party at A Child's Place. It was a big hit. She got to wear the Birthday Crown and everyone sang to her. All her teachers raved about what a sweet girl she is!

In the kitchen...

Brianna snatches up the camera and takes this self portrait while I'm on the phone. BTW that is cupcake batter on her nose!

Smiling Shawny

Certainly not the last mess she made! ;0)

I miss Party Nazi

Today we made Brianna's cupcakes for her Birthday party at school tomorrow. She picked out Funfetti with pink funfetti icing. Ick! What's wrong with chocolate??? She did pick out chocolate for her at home birthday though. We're all set- we've got the cupcakes made and in the cupcake holders, the capri suns are in the outside fridge, and the Tinkerbelle plates, napkins and Cheetos are in a bag. How exciting her first school party! It really made me think about how many hours I have spent making things for my kids parties. When Chris and Katherine were in Elementary school- I did every single party. It was me and a woman I nicknamed "Party Nazi" She had a son Chris's age and a daughter Katherine's age and every year they were in the same class. We had this unspoken competition about who could bring the coolest stuff to the parties, and go on the most field trips etc. We used to see who could get to the teacher first at Open House to sign up for Party Coordinator. I have spent countless hours making cupcakes that look like spiders, and rice krispie treats that look like pumpkins (orange with green stems of course- they took forever! I enlisted the help of my friend Brenda for that one), cookies that look like rudolph, and easter basket cupcakes with pipecleaner handles, green coconut for the grass, and jelly beans for the eggs. Every year I would pour over magazines and surf the net trying to come up with new and better ideas. I honestly thrived on the competition. Party Nazi finally gave up and resorted to buying her treats, and finally just to providing the plates, napkins, and cups. HA! Slacker! Although, I must admit there was this one time we went to the Pumpkin Farm and she brought hand sanitizer and I didn't. Janet was there, she said the look on my face was priceless. I have never left home without hand sanitizer since. That was probably 8 or 9 years ago! I don't have anyone to compete with anymore- the highschoolers don't do parties, and Katherine is homeschooled now. I don't really know any of the other Preschool moms- but when I do get to know them- they better look out- I have lots of experience! I think I spent the majority of my day in the kitchen today. B and I made 35 cupcakes, 2 birthday cakes. One for tomorrow night at Dad and Janet's- we're having her party early- they're leaving Friday to go to Dallas for 4 days. One for Friday night after Trick or Treating- we have to actually commemerate her actual birthday... Her big party is Saturday. I ordered that cake- Tinkerbelle and it is awesome! I know its kind of ridiculous to have 4 birthday parties when you're 4 years old, but we make a big deal out of birthdays and Christmas. Oh, I also made 2 pumpkin pies (Elton's request) he went to the store after work b/c we were out of bread. He can't just come home with one thing. Apparently he saw some recipe or picture of it at the store. I couldn't find it online. Basically it's pumpkin pie with pumpkin spice pudding on top and then a layer of Cool Whip. We'll see how it turns out.

Firestation Fieldtrip

Brianna’s Preschool went to the Fire Station today. Unfortunately parents and siblings were not allowed due to capacity constraints. Oh well- I’ve already been to the Fire Station twice with Brianna. In fact I’ve been their dozens of times! Birthday parties, school groups, IHOW. I remember the first time I went was with Chris’s Preschool class. All the little kids were scared when the fireman got all suited up- everyone except Chris- he went right up and shook his hand! My brave little boy. ;0) One of his favorite books was a book about firemen. He went through the station “Look mom- there’s a hook and ladder truck- there’s a pike pole.” Mom was visiting at that time and went with us- she still talks about it- he was so precious!

Date night.

Scrapbook Club was a big success. Everyone brings a snack and the girls scrapbook for a couple of hours. It's a lot of fun. We made popcorn- generally we would actually put forth some effort and actually make something, but it was short notice and there was no way I was going back to Wal-Mart! But we put in our Halloween bowl, pulled out the Halloween napkins and cups (I knew I'd use them someday!) Had I been on top of my game I would have gone into The Abyss (our attic) and found the Halloween punchbowl I bought several years ago and have NEVER used. It is AWESOME! There's a skelton head and the punch flows through the eye and nose holes! It gave me time to catch up with my friend Buffy (the other moms usually just drop their girls off- which is fine with me- the girls are all around Katherine's age and they all get along great. ) Brianna entertained herself by hanging out with the girls, eating 50 pounds of snacks (there were brownies, strawberry shortcake, peanuts, chips, and popcorn) playing with Jacob (Buffy's youngest, I can't believe he is almost 2! What a cutie!)

Chris, Katherine, and Brianna spent the night at Dad and Janet's. I dropped them off after Chris finished with Algebra tutoring. Elton, Shawn and I went to Target and bought Brianna's B-day presents and a couple things for Christmas. He asked where I wanted to eat dinner, I said as long as I don't have to fix it or clean up after it- I don't care. So we went for Chinese which was SOOOO good. I haven't eaten there in months. The people who worked there were honestly creeping me out. Every single person who was employed there came up to the table and had to hold the baby. And they all asked "how old is he, how much does he weigh, does he sleep through the night, how many times does he get up, does he have any teeth?" It was exhausting- The food was delicious, but I really didn't get to eat b/c its hard to eat with people hovering over your table! I took Shawn out to the car to change his diaper and honestly caught myself looking around- I was waiting for him to be kidnapped! I did notice this about the Chinese people- not one of them asked what his name was (weird) They acted like it was freezing in the restaurant (it was actually kind of hot) they kept, pulling his pant legs down, adjusting his socks, pulling down his shirt sleeves. It was constant and really bizarre. Almost obsessive compulsive. They all wanted to feed him "you want chicken wing?" "you want pudding?" "you want dumpling?" They gave him his first fortune cookie it read: "No person is important enough to make you angry." I'll put it in his baby book. Mine said something like "swimming is easy- stay floating is hard" (their grammatical error NOT mine ;0) ) E's was "The man on top of the mountain did not fall there."

We got home about 8, put on Shawn's jammies and we played for a few minutes- wheels on the bus is still his #1 favorite. Elton was looking on eBay at Satellite stuff he is bound and determined that we'll have it at the cabin. Whatever...Shawn was asleep by 8:15 and I was asleep by 8:30- I still had my shoes on! Got up once at 2 to fix a bottle, He woke up again around 5- Elton was getting ready for work and the light from the dressing room was shining in his eyes. Back to sleep until 7:30!

My Early Christmas Present.

Elton had this made at Busch Gardens yesterday for me. It's going to look so cool at our cabin! Which, by the way we were able to stay in last weekend- It was wonderful- We love it!

Super busy weekend

Well these pictures uploaded in the reverse order than I intended them. We got to the campground about 7, I worked on the wallpaper in the back bedroom of the trailer until 11. Missed the dance. Saturday was crazy- the girls had activites all day- including Trick or Treating. Aryanna spent the night Sat. (Brianna's first sleepover) and then we all went to Busch Gardens Sunday. It was about 10:30 when we got home. We were exhausted. It was another busy day today, Katherine had Youthfit at the YMCA today, then we went to Target and Wal-mart. Honestly- what was I thinking??? I try to plan my outings when Bri is at Preschool, but the schools were out today and I had to go to the store. We were in Wal-Mart and S and B had definatly had enough shopping. Katherine had to go to the bathroom and Shawn was howling I was holding him, and just sitting around waiting for K (I couldn't go anywhere holding him and having 2 carts.) I wasn't paying too much attention to B. I heard something and turned around and there she was- she had grabbed one of the carts and was running down the aisle with it. I yelled at her to stop but of course she plowed into someone. Buffy called me today to ask if it would be alright to have Scrapbooking Club at our house tomorrow (I'd offered before since she lives so far out... I just didn't expect it on such short notice! UGH!) frantic cleaning up this evening- trying to catch up on laundry. This is turning into another busy week... I need a vacation.

Brianna and the Geese

I forgot to upload these...

Picnic in the park

Swinging Shawny

Such wonderful table manners! That's popcorn by the way...

Giddyup!

"I squasheded a bug with my shoe!" of course she had to look!

Woo-Hoo!

We decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go to the park after Breezy got out of Preschool. Katherine packed a picnic- peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and Capri Suns. The popcorn was supposed to be for the ducks and geese, but the girls had their fair share. Shawn LOVED the swing, and was so precious. Bri bribed the geese with popcorn and then chased them to the water- repeat. It was so cute.

All Camo'd Out!

Isn't he so handsome????

Look at that face!

In order to get this shot I had to precariously prop him up against a pecan tree- thank God it didn't result in a face plant into the dirt!

Cupcakes

By the way- those are black sprinkles NOT cavaties!

Last Thursday Micahlynn came and spent the night. The girls made Halloween cupcakes and we spent the evening decorating the house. We had it looking VERY cool and then Elton went behind us and took down the orange and purple lights around the door and the flashing green skeletons. He likes it scary- not cutesy! The girls and I have decided he's a first class party pooper. Chris (of course) agrees with Daddy, so he's scum in our book too! ;0) He forgot about the purple net lights on the Barberry bushes though- Haha!

Random Political Thoughts

The article below was written by syndicated columnist, Thomas Sowell, a black man. He wrote it in a humorous way this past week in a column titled 'Random Thoughts' and published it in newspapers nationally, so maybe you've already seen it. If not, be my guest: Senator John McCain could never convince me to vote for him. Only Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama can cause me to vote for McCain. After long and serious thought, I have decided to endorse Senator John McCain for President. I have always voted for the person and have not voted for anyone because some political party was telling me who I should vote for. We all know the choices by now and, that said, I do believe that the process of selecting a chief executive is deeply flawed. The words 'money' and' special interests' come to mind, among many others. Here's the way I see it: Barack Obama, you are a fine public speaker. You are also an extremely liberal Senator from the State of Illinois, which has a long and rich history of political corruption of the first magnitude. You are indeed a child of that system. You have finally insulted my intelligence far beyond my capacity to tolerate your insults. It has nothing at all to do with your skin color. As a matter of fact, it would be so COOL to finally have an African-American for President. What a great statement that would be to the entire world that we are indeed the greatest country on earth! But, unfortunately, General Colin Powell is not running, and YOU are NOT the man for this job ! Barack, baby, you want me to believe that you have never heard the sermons of your own pastor, the Right Reverend 'God Damn America' Jeremiah Wright. It is a matter of record that this has been your church for over 20 years. It is a matter of record that you were married there by this very pastor, and that your children were baptized there. The good Reverend saw fit to visit Khadafy in Libya with you and to give a lifetime achievement award to Louis Farrakhan, of all people. We have all now seen excerpts of his sermons all over the airwaves by now. And you have publicly stated that this man IS your 'spiritual mentor.' BUT, your pastor is NOT the reason I am NOT voting for you. His words were disturbing enough, but it is your own HUGE church congregation, seen jumping, hooting and howling to his words in the background that disturb me the most. And please don't tell me you attended church there and never once heard a 'discouraging word' in the 20 years you attended there. Don't tell me, that in addition to the good reverend, that you are now not having anything to do with all those other people seen hooting and howling out in the audience in the background of his fiery tirades. Even Oprah Winfrey got disgusted and walked out on your campaign. I am no Oprah fan, but still she did the right thing. Now you look me in the eye and ask me to believe that you never heard such language in all the years you attended there! This is like me telling you that I attended dozens of Klan rallies and never once heard the 'N' word.Yep. And Bill Clinton 'did not inhale'. Yes, Mr. Obama, we all have friends who have said stupid things that embarrassed us, but NOW you have asked me to believe something that is so incredibly stupid that you are telling me that I am just stupid enough to believe you. THAT is the main reason that I will never vote for you. I am deeply sorry, that in a country teeming with enormously talented African Americans who would make a good President, that the political system has chosen YOU. You are a pathetic and plastic excuse for an American, who will not even salute the Flag during the Pledge of Allegiance. God forbid you ever get near the Oval Office. Which leaves us with Senator John McCain. John, you are a flawed man. You are a bit old, a bit looney, and you have a notoriously bad temper. This perfectly qualifies you, in my humble opinion, to lead us for the next eight years. I WANT your trembling hand on the nuclear button. Think about it. We have Kim Jong IL, Chavez and Ahmadenijad all running around like lunatics, threatening America and threatening to plunge the world into nuclear Armageddon. We have Putin and the Chinese blustering and rattling their sabers at us. I want John McCain in the Oval Office and I want him to be really ticked off at all these other nut jobs around the planet. John, once you are elected, I want you to go into the Oval Office and throw one of your perfect FITS. Jump up and down and throw something through a plate glass window. Rip the drapes down and foam at the mouth a bit. And I want the whole thing on camera so that Ahmadinejad can see it. I want ALL of these 'world leaders' to lay awake at night and to break out in a cold sweat every time they think of messing with the United States of America . I want the nuclear button sitting right next to the alarm clock on your night stand. I want pictures of this to be sent to Iran, Russia, China, Venezuela, Cuba, Libya, Syria, Pakistan, and those other dopes in the sheets, the Saudis. On the domestic front, poor John did try and reach across the aisle to the opposition in a desperate effort to compromise and to get the Congress to do something. You may not agree with his efforts, but at least he TRIED. For all his efforts, all he got handed to him was his head in a basket. The liberals are ticked at him and the conservatives are ticked at him. Just my kinda guy. One heartbeat from the Oval Office. Finally. John McCain knows on a most personal level what it is to suffer horrible torture for years and to see others die, right in front of you, for their love of America. When you ask him about it, he will tell you that what he did was 'nothing special. ' Even more incredibly, he states that ANY American who truly loves his country would do exactly the same as he did in that situation. You and I will have a hard time believing that, but the real point is that John McCain believes that about the 'average American,' and that, dear friends and neighbors, is why I will cast my one poor ballot for on election day for John McCain -- warts and all.'

I voted today!

This afternoon Elton and I went to the Board of Elections and voted. It only took about 30 minutes- the lines are projected to be horrendous on election day. Well we've done our part. We have the McCain sign in the front yard, and I'm so proud of my friend Tracy who registered to vote! I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

Playtime with Daddy

Shawn loves it when Daddy "gets his bacon" he laughs hysterically and grabs onto his ears, hair, or cheeks, and pulls him back down to his tummy when he comes up for air! It's the cutest thing I've ever seen. I'm amazed at how much he's changed in the past couple of months. He's gone from a skinny little black haired infant, to a roly poly rough and tumble blonde. He is really starting to look like Elton- I hope he's inherited his laid back personality. I've already got 2 high strung, wide open kids- I don't know if I can handle another!

Pumpkin Decorating

Pumpkin Patch/ Hayride

Getting ready for the Pumpkin Patch- looking so cute in their Halloween outfits! Look at that big boy!
Pretty Pumpkin Picker!
On the Hayride... Look at those big blue eyes!
Having too much fun!

Pictures

My sweet boys!


My awesome Dad and precious girls at the Campground.

Isn't this the coolest mushroom??? Dr. Basinger eat your heart out!

Lantana- playing with the macro feature on my camera- one day I'm actually going to learn how to use it! ;0)

Our new Cabin!

Kitchen View- Linoleum is messed up (saved $300 for that- can you say hardwood floors??? :0) Elton agreed for the living room, dining room, and hallway- he wants to keep carpet in the bedroom. That's up for debate- he thought the carpet was blue. Honey, I was right and you were wrong AGAIN! :o) Living Room- Yes, its ugly- but its temporary... I'm thinking- sectional sleeper sofa, curtains are down the day we close, and I'm definatly doing something about the tacky sconces. BTW- this is NOT our actual cabin- although it looks exactly the same except for the front door. This is the one we looked at a couple of weeks ago... So excited that we have so much more storage than our trailer- we never even showered in there- it was my "storage building" vaccum cleaner, baby stuff etc... I took my Linda Spivey shower curtain out of the trailer

This is the front (obviously!) We are planning on replacing the front door- I've got my eye on one at Lowes that has the built in blinds- too cool! The light fixture also has got to go- already picked out a "wall lantern"! I've already told Elton that we need to get a pattern and make some Adirondack chairs- the raggedy old picnic table is history. Got to figure out some exterior lighting- I think it will be pretty dark back there.
Back View- no changes planned...
Our cabin is on the left, Dad and Janet's is on the right. I'm very geeked up about having the big shared yard. It will be great with a screened in room, the tent will fit if we need it, and it will work for additional parking. Check out the handsome man on my front porch! ;0)

Such a horrible mother.

This is a picture of Brianna when I tried to give her celery with her lunch on Wednesday. As you can tell she wasn't digging it! I "de-stringed" it and put peanut butter on it- what more could you want???