Friday, October 31, 2008

Halloween 2008

Tony's costume this year was by far his scariest yet!!!

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He really freaked some people out tonight, and I am sure he was lovin' every minute of it!

IMG_1397 We had several people over tonight for Trick-or-Treating and the kids had a blast! Chris, Lori and their 2 kids came over as well as 3 of Zoe's friends and Mema stopped by to see the kids costumes as well...so we were BUSY around here for awhile. We all ate dinner then got our costumes on and hit the streets! Landon only ended up walking with us for about 4 streets then he went to help Tony and Chris scare the neighborhood kids. He just loved sitting there helping them and couldn't have cared less about the Trick-or-Treating! Oh well, whatever makes him happy! The rest of the kids kept going and got tons of candy! I'll be sending a lot of my kids' candy to work with Tony! I do it every year and he says its gone in minutes. Oh, and remember the Dunce Cap Landon had on earlier, well I guess Zoe decided she wanted to wear it for a little while too!

A few photos to share and I am going to go crash on the couch for a bit...I'm pooped out!

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Landon in costume as a Scary Spirit!

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Zoe in costume as a Gangsta. I wish she hadn't crossed her arms over her huge $ necklace! Oh well. Happy Halloween Everyone!

Halloween Parade

IMG_1377 Today was Landon's school parade. The kids weren't supposed to wear their masks, so his didn't get the full effect but he still got to walk around the track and see all of the other kids in their costumes. Tony took the day off so that he could go see Landon's parade and after that he and I went out to get the rest of the junk he needed to set up for tonight. IMG_1381The kids got out of school 2 hours early today since it also happens to be the end of their first marking period. Time sure does fly! Ever since we've all been home though, we've been working on setting up our yard.  Landon found this dunce cap from when Zoe was a nerd a few years back and he's been wearing it this afternoon. I think he looks so cute in it, and I think he's forgotten that he has it on! Zoe is upstairs (as I type) blow drying her hair. She is dressing up as a "gangsta" and for some reason that requires blown out, straight hair.

IMG_1360 Last night Tony finally carved his pumpkin. I don't know exactly what it is, but I think he said it was something from Lord of the Rings...but, I'm not sure.

 

Here are a few photos from our Halloween daytime set up, I hope to get some of the same shots while it's dark to compare!

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Button Tree's

IIMG_1354 got this idea from Ali Edwards' blog. She made these last year and I thought they looked simple enough and really cute, so I got out my buttons and pins and went to work! I didn't have nearly enough red/green/white buttons so I ended up buying some, but they sure are cute!

I have a couple other little Christmas projects that I want to try and I am finding that I really like Ali's style, so I am going to be (hopefully) lifting a few of her other ideas!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Carved

 IMG_1338 Tonight we found a little time to clean out and carve our pumpkins. Because the pumpkins are always so hard to cut, Landon and Zoe pounded golf tee's into their small pumpkins creating a pattern (sort of) and then cleaned them out afterwards. I don't remember where I saw that idea, but I thought it was great, and the kids both really enjoyed it. I drew my pumpkin's face real quick and cut it out, nothing too fancy, but Tony is deep in thought over his pumpkin so it is still sitting outside faceless. IMG_1351Landon is really getting excited about Friday! He is looking forward to wearing his costume to school for the Halloween parade and Trick-or-Treating that night. Zoe still hasn't really shown me what she's wearing, all I know is she and Theresa plan to look "gangsta". LOL, should be interesting! Whatever these kids do, I sure hope they are dressed warm. It has been really chilly here already, and walking around at night isn't any fun when you're freezing to death!

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Aut-yum Cookies

IMG_1304 Tonight Landon and I made cookies for dessert. I saw a recipe in the current Family Fun issue and I was just dying to try them because they looked so simple. The recipe uses pre-made pie crust, so cutting shapes with the cookie cutters is quick and painless and since we didn't have a fall leaf cutter we just used several different ones we had on hand. I must admit though, that while the cookies were fun to make, they weren't a big hit when it came to the taste. I think the problem was the pie crust taste...it was just too prominent. The chocolate and/or peanut butter chip fillings were good, but eating the outer dough wasn't so great. Landon and I had a good time making them though, so not all was lost!

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Saturday, October 25, 2008

Homecoming 2008

I just got home from dropping Zoe off for her first Homecoming dance. We went to pick up one of her friends so that they could "arrive" together. They both looked adorable, but unfortunately I couldn't get my camera to cooperate while we were at her friends house, so I'll have to post what I got here at home before I left. They didn't turn out that well because it was sorta dark for it, but you get the idea. She was just gorgeous!

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2 Sweet Treats

From 1999, Zoe was Raggedy Ann and her friend was a Princess...they sure were cute!

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Candy Wrapper Frankenstein

IMG_1285 I volunteered to help during the administration of the Flu Mist last week at Landon's school and when we were done the nurse had gifts for us. She wrapped a giant Hershey bar to look like a Frankenstein! I thought it was terribly cute and I thought it was so weird that she did that because I had thought of doing something like that for Landon's teacher this year! I hadn't thought of Frankenstein, but I've seen candy bars wrapped all kinds of ways and was hoping to get an idea to do this.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Pickin' Punkins

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Got Spirit?

IMG_1277 Zoe does! She even woke me up at 5:30 this morning so that I could spray her hair blue. It's hard to see in this picture but her hair was pretty blue when she left...and I even found some old ribbon for her hair that said "Go Team" on it! She was so excited about going to school this morning because she was going to be able to go to 2 pep rally's! She's never been to a pep rally before so she had no idea what one was, but she was excited all the same!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Birthday Boy Card

I'm not a big card maker, but I was looking through some of my Cricut cartridges and realized that the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge had a card template. My neighbors son is turning one this weekend so I made this little card for him.

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I decided to give the present's ribbon a few layers so that I could separate it slightly and make it "pop" off the card. This was a simple quick card, and the machine did most of the work! Thanks for stopping by!

Creepy

From Halloween 2006

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Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Wacky Wednesday

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This week is Spirit week for Zoe's school. As you can see, today was Wacky Wednesday! She's certainly got wacky down! Don't you love those toe socks and the bikini top? You can't really see that she has a face painting in the photo on the right, but for $.50 they were able to get a painting during lunch. I sure remember having spirit week while I was in high school, and I ALWAYS dressed up for it! Tomorrow is Disney day, too bad we don't have any princess costumes lying around!

Tonight was Landon's book fair. We found several books that we thought looked good, and we bought quite a bit this year. We are doing all that we can to keep Landon reading. After we paid for our books (and waited in a horribly long line) we went to the show they were having in the cafeteria. The kids loved it, but it was really pretty awful...I know it was for the kids, but really, it was torture!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Gallon Size Ghosts!

IMG_1246 I saw this project in last years October Family Fun issue and thought it would be a cute/quick project we could all do for Halloween. I've always liked to do these kinds of activities with the kids, but since they are getting older and are always so busy, we haven't really done anything in quite awhile. So I saved up 4 milk cartons and we sat down one night and drew up these silly looking cartons! Bet you can't figure out who drew who!!!

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             I found a box of blueberry muffin mix at the grocery store yesterday and just had to get it! It's the first time I've seen a box mix with read blueberries included! They were delicious! The kids even liked them, which always make me happy! 

Zoe had her final high school soccer game yesterday and her team won 8-0. It's really too bad that she didn't get to play the last couple games, but the good news is her ankle is looking much better! Her team is holding a soccer banquet in the beginning of December and she is looking forward to going to that. I guess track will be her next sport so that should be fun.

IMG_1253 Landon has been working on his reading skills and I am noticing that he is just getting better and better. I think part of it is because he is finding books that he is really interested in as well as becoming more confident that he can do it. He still wants to be a little lazy when it comes to sounding out new words, but with a little encouragement he even gets over that. He found a couple silly Halloween books at the store this weekend and he is nearly finished with both of them already!  I wanted to get a picture of him reading all by himself because I just can't get over how big my kids are getting already!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Zoe's new do?

Zoe's Crazy Hair!!! This weekend seemed to go by quickly, again. I know that it is still early Sunday, but I know it will be over before I'm ready. Yesterday Landon had a soccer game at 11:30, then Zoe's game was at 2:30. Even though Zoe didn't play she went to support the team and they ended up winning! After Zoe's game we headed over to Mema's for dinner and then Tony and I went out to buy Kiersten's birthday present. We ended up getting her all kinds of snack food like chips and candies and we even filled up a small bag full of Halloween candy. Tony and I think she'll like that kind of stuff...we have no idea what she and her roommates are eating, so we thought she could share her junk food! The photo is just Zoe being crazy...she went to pull her shirt over her head and this is what happened! LOL!

After running around last night I came home and finished 2 pages; same themes, totally different pages! The pictures of Zoe are from 1997 and the ones of Landon are from 2003! They were so cute!

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This morning after we finally got out of bed I took Zoe shopping for her Homecoming dress. Shopping with Zoe is one of the least fun things I can think of to do, but I knew it was something that we had to do today since the dance is next Saturday. We headed over to Kohl's and they had some great dresses and she finally did like one after a few tantrums. We were able to find some really cute jewelry to go with the dress but none of the shoes they had worked, so we will have to go look for shoes somewhere else. I am really not looking forward to it though.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Pretty in Pink

After helping at Landon's school this morning, I went to Toys R' Us, and officially bought the kids' first Christmas gift. But, because Zoe reads this every once in awhile, I can't write what it is! I am just happy to have officially begun the madness. I also stopped at JoAnne's while I was out, so that I could get this wall art for Landon's room. IMG_1219I thought it was pretty neat looking and with my 40% off coupon, it wasn't a bad price. I was really happy with how easy it was to put up although, I do wish I had put it just a touch lower. I may move it down just a bit if I get brave...or I just might leave it. When I got home I was happy to see that my new phone had arrived! I can't believe how long I lived without a cell phone! I didn't realize how often I used it until I didn't have one anymore! IMG_1222 I really like the color of this new one too! I liked my red one, but I am always happy to get something new and pink! ;) Even the design on the back is cute! IMG_1224 Landon has been so worried about me not having a phone, so this should make him feel better. I think he is getting over the whole thing with our car getting broken into, but I am sure he won't forget about it any time soon!

Last night I finished this layout. IMG_1213 It is pretty unusual (I think) but I am really trying to get through some old supplies I've had forever. The stamp at the top isn't old, but it is just sooo cute and I have been wanting to use it somewhere, somehow and I finally just went for it! You can't tell here, but the frog/jack-o-lantern on the bottom as well as the stamped birds and M&M letters have all been stickled. It looks pretty good in real life!

Monday, October 13, 2008

Our Little Pumpkin

Way back in 1996! On both of these pages I used an OLD Creative Memories die cut kit. I've had the kit about as long as I've been scrapping! The kit helped me put together 2 quick and simple pages! She didn't like touching the insides of the pumpkins, but using a spoon worked out ok! Wasn't she such a cute Baby Bop? I sure do think so!

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Sunday, October 12, 2008

Aldo's

I finally got my window fixed on my truck yesterday. The tech came to our house and replaced it which was nice. I missed Landon's soccer game waiting on the tech, but I heard that Landon played goalie and did an excellent job!IMG_0293 Once everyone got home, I had to take some ribs I bought the day before back to Costco's because when we opened the package there was this foul odor coming from them. They were so gross smelling! I wasn't very happy that I had to make another trip to Costco's and then when I got there they didn't have any ribs that didn't have a next day sell by date. I didn't want to take any chances that they too would be bad.

My kids spent the night with my mother in law last night, and they wanted to go over early to play, so they left our house around 1:00 or so. Tony and I didn't know what to do with ourselves! We ended up going to the mall to see about getting me a new cell phone, but because we didn't have insurance on our phones, I will have to pay full price. I am going to call their customer service to see if they can do something for me. After the mall, we went to downtown Ellicott City. I haven't been down there is so many years, and it is such a nice antique/specialty shopping area. We spent an hour or so there and then headed home to get ready to go out to dinner.

Because Tony and I didn't really get to do much for our birthday's this year, Tony made reservations at Aldo's in Baltimore's Little Italy. We went last night and it was a really nice restaurant with great food and great service. When we first go there it wasn't too busy, but by the time we left (2 hours later) it was packed! Our dinners were both very good, but for me the best part was the dessert! I have had plenty of chocolate cake in my life, but never like the cake I had last night! I can't even describe how good it was! So, if you are ever in Baltimore and craving some Italian fine dining, try Aldo's!

Friday, October 10, 2008

All bad things happen in 3's....right?

Let me start with the beginning here.

  1. Zoe had a game on Tuesday which we were unable to attend. During the game, she got hurt (rolled her ankle) and was in a lot of pain Tuesday night and Wednesday. I ended up getting an evening appt. with her doctor on Wednesday but because he wasn't sure if it was just sprained he needed us to get x-rays. So, on the way home from there we called the x-ray place and found out they were open until 8:30pm so we headed straight there to get the x-rays. Because it was so late though, there were no doctors available to read the results so we just went home. It ends up a good story in that she didn't break her ankle, she just really hurt it. Phew. But, she is out of soccer and gym for 2 weeks, and while unsporty kids would love this, it is near criminal for Zoe to have to sit out of her soccer games.
  2. We went to the farm yesterday (as you know from my last post!) but afterwards Landon went to his friends house to play. When I went to pick him up that afternoon, he didn't look good. He said his head hurt as well as his stomach, and he has a yucky cough right now too. So, we came home and within minutes of lying on the couch, he was out. IMG_1157I let him sleep for about 30 minutes then put him in the tub and he felt much better. When he woke up this morning he said his throat hurt and he was coughing some, so I gave him a little cough medicine and we went up and back about him going to school. In the end he decided he wanted to go, and that he would call me if he started feeling bad. I hate making those kind of decisions...I am always worried I should keep him home, but then I feel he should go as long as he's feeling up to it. Sheesh. So far, he hasn't called...but it is only 9:50 am!
  3. On our way to the bus stop I noticed there were several cop cars in our neighborhood. Apparently there were several cars broken into. I didn't notice anything wrong with mine on the way out the door to the bus stop, so I wasn't worried about it. On the way home from the bus stop however, this is what I saw: IMG_1168  IMG_1169

 

 

 

 

 

 

Someone did vandalize my car and steal my GPS unit and cell phone. Like an idiot I left my cell in the car charging yesterday! I have never left my cell phone in the car before, but yesterday we were so busy that I completely forgot about it! So, I am out a cell phone and GPS unit. Hopefully this is the end of my bad luck streak...

Thursday, October 9, 2008

E-I-E-I-O

IMG_1083 Today was our annual trip to the farm. The kids were out of school today for Yom Kippur, so we used it as an excuse to go! As usual, we had a great time, but every year I think that place gets busier. I started going to that farm years ago when Zoe was in daycare (I worked there). I think the first year we went she was probably 3 or 4 and I am pretty sure we have been every year since, which means that this would be our 10th year or so! We took Landon's friend with us and he was thrilled to see these animals up close! There are the usual farm animals (pigs, ducks, turkeys, horses, cows) and the not so usual (emu, steer, zebra). We also went on a hay ride and saw a show about farm animals that included a pig race. IMG_1068 The pigs were only a couple months old, but man they are quick! There were five pigs and the one our section was rooting for won! Her name was Bluebutt! We learned that Bluebutt wasn't just her name, but actually the type of pig she was. Guess I learned something new today!

Today was also Tony's birthday. Unfortunately he had to work, so we didn't really do a big celebration or anything, but he did open his gifts this evening. Here is the card and altered canvas that I made him:

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This was my first attempt at altering canvas, and it was a lot of fun! I was nervous about trying it, but now I am really glad I did! Both the card and canvas were made using (mostly) scraps, so that was another good way of using up some old paper...and that ALWAYS makes me happy!

April Fools Pranks

The two little kids made me laugh yesterday morning.  I was upstairs getting things ready for school when I heard them talking about how ...