Unusually Busy Week

Oh my goodness- I cannot believe October is almost over!  I guess I'm glad to have gotten a lot accomplished, but also glad to make Monday's my stay home and clean up the house/tackle laundry day.  Last Monday was my pajama day.  Yes, I'll admit it, I hadn't had one of those in a long, long time. Didn't go anywhere, and my hair didn't get "did" and I didn't care.  Course you know Murphy's law -- I did have an unexpected drop in visitor (which only happens on days you are NOT presentable- haha), but luckily it was just the neighbor kids with their fundraiser- and not the UPS man:-)

I made this super easy flower arrangement for my front door.  I wanted something fallish- but not all orangey.

I hosted a nice morning play date at my house with some new friends from this Momtourage group I'm in.  Yes, the name is so funny,  like we've got our "entourage."  Rollin' in our minivans- haha. It was fun with donuts, juice, and some incredibly cute children.

 The kids got their flu shots, and Drew had an unexpected trip to the doctors office, and after a few tests, including a blood test, which he was NOT happy about, I had to take the sweet kid to Jimmy Johns. (well, all the kids since it was after school and I forgot to bring snacks and they were starving.)  Luckily everything was fine and the doc had simple explanation for his problem, and we checked his sugar levels and allergies too.

He did like his cool red bandage however, and was quite brave after the initial freak out-- but I can't blame him.  I remember being so worried about getting my blood drawn when I was 14 and he's only 7.  I had to do it in order to get a wellness pass to the rec center where I worked so I could work out there for free... I was really anxious about the whole thing but managed to suck it up and got the pass.

I had another dentist appointment- luckily that was only 10 minutes instead of an hour so I ended up being kid-free and got some shopping done at the mall... I need to do THAT more often. Totally nice to recharge by myself with some retail therapy--and a pretzel from Aunt Annies- yum! Picked up my new favorite "sparkley camo" top.  While I shopped for outfits for our family pictures.  Also took the kiddos to play at the library this weekend, and get Drew some more of his favorite "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" books to read (we just laugh and laugh together while he reads them to me at bedtime).  Now if I can just make it through Halloween festivities this week-- and yes I do have to buy more candy to pass out because there is only like 10 pieces left in the 150 pc bag I got previously-- big surprise I know. :-)

Countdown to Halloween 2013!

It's one of my favorite times of the year- Fall!  I love the crisp air, and weather just cool enough for a sweater and jeans.  I had planned to go to the mall Saturday, and then a few costumes arrived in the mail and Leah and I couldn't wait to try ours on.

The little boys got excited and dressed up too.  It was also raining-unfortunately-- or maybe fortunately-- since we ended up doing the photo shoot in my garage!  I haven't dressed up for Halloween probably since Leah was 2.  It's something I always enjoyed doing even in college, so I finally got myself a costume and will be wearing it to the ward Trunk-or-Treat, and potentially if I take the kids around the neighborhood, or stay home and pass out candy.

It was a good trial run of make-up, which I will be doing up more on for the actual halloween festivities, and I'm in dyer need of some extremely long witchy nails!  Anyhoo, I love how the kids get so into their characters: Leah is Batgirl, Drew is a Ninja, and Landon is Spiderman (he is just crazy so only a few pics for him).

 Leah took my witch picture- didn't she do such a great job?:-)  She's the one person in the family besides me who knows who to take an in-focus picture-haha. Warning-- picture-overload!

**Disclaimer-- the photos of Drew with the machete were done in a very safe environment. There was absolutely no swinging around of that thing. He is a very responsible kid, and he held it only for about 2 minutes while we got the shot, and it was very carefully held in position each time.  So, no I don't give my kids machetes to play with, but for a great photo op, and  in a safe situation with a kid I trust to be responsible- yes:-)

Really wishing I hadn't cut her boot off in this shot.

Boys Room

Hola! Now that I finally have LJ's big boy bed to match his brothers, I thought I'd share an updated pic of the boys room. Just excuse the crappy iphone pics- will have to take ones with my nice camera, once I make 2 new bolster pillows (not striped) to coordinate with their new matching bedding.  I'm not a fan of "matchy" rooms, but in the instance of twin bedding it works.  You can see more of this room on my decorating blog: www.houseofchicandpenoche.blogspot.com

and when I take away the boys head lamps after bed time, apparently they will just turn the light on. This is how I found them at 11pm the other night.

And when I went to Colorado this summer I picked up the cutest apron at Peppercorn on Pearl Street in Boulder.

Clear Danger

The kids were dying to make another trailer- here they are starring in "Clear Danger." I even make a short cameo.

Waffles

One of my favorite breakfast foods is waffles with strawberries and whipped cream.  So we make them a lot around here on the weekends.  Leah is almost 10, she can make a lot of stuff in the kitchen. She's a great helper.

and me on clean up:-)

Well, I'm completely skipping our trip to Disney, that will have to come when I'm ready to write all about it.

And here' s a few pics of the backyard campout on memorial day weekend, before it went south, throughout the post.

 Just wanted to update my gardening progress, for myself, since I am so happy with all my hard work, I have been falling asleep at 9:30 cause I'm so capooped from manual labor- haha. and I'm not even minding the run-on sentences:-)

We rebuilt the vegetable garden from the 4x8 rectangle raised bed into a U shape, easier access and more space. 

I will be planting my broccoli, peppers, tomatoes that I grew from seed in my makeshift grow light in my guest room.  Hopefully they actually produce something edible.  

Planted my flower pots, somehow I thought I had more flowers last year.... but we also rearranged the eating area and moved the bench, is seems sparser this way.... I might need even more pots and flowers...

Tonight I planted a hydrangea in the front yard, hot pinkish coral petunias by the mailbox  (upset the insane ant hill that is under there), and divided one of my mums and replanted them along the walkway to the front door.  

So, the goal is to finish planting the veggie garden this week, and then I can turn my attention back to the family room, which walls I was going to paint last week, and the room still has all the furniture pushed to the middle, ladder up, but the walls haven't even been prepped yet.... oh boy, I have started more than I can handle at once.  Plus I have new photo shoots scheduled,  Just got switched to the nursery after serving in the primary presidency for the last 4 years.  I will be Landon's teacher so I am excited about that, but I will miss the big kids.  Trying to figure out flight plans to get Leah out to colorado this summer to visit gma and gpa. wa wa. sometimes I swear I am not busy for weeks, and then everything comes all at once...

Funny Things Kids Say- Leah addition

"Times is so much easier, I'm kicking addition and subtraction out of my life." Leah age 9 3/27/2013

Leah talking about money- "unless I got a first communion, that would be a ton of money." Leah age 9 3/23/2013