School Pictures

Guess what came home today?? I thought it would be fun to post my own pictures in the girl's respective grades. I've come to the conclusion that both of them are WAAYY cuter than I ever was!

Alden & ME 2ND Grade



Mariah & Me 5Th grade

Trick Or Treat!

This was our basket of candy...10 bags to be exact. It lasted 1 HOUR before we had to turn poor little costumed clad tykes away. This was giving one piece EACH! I am usually not that chincy but I had heard that in this neighborhood you had to be or you'd run out of candy in the first 15 minutes.



It's a bird, It's a Plane, it's Super-Girl, Mariah! Pretty as a Princess Alden, and Count Dracula Beckett... well that's what I had intended him to be. I have never allowed my kids to dress in anything dark spirited for Halloween. However I found this costume and tried it on him and thought he looked too cute. SO--thought I could adhere numbers to his cape and he could be "Count Dracula" from Sesame Street. But we had a litte costume difficulty and he went as he was. I guess I could have taped a sign to his back that read "Edward Cullen" if you're a Twilight fan, you know that he's the prince charming of vampires...

Hitting the streets...




This is my friend, Thelma. She seemed appalled that I wasn't going to dress up to dish out candy. She told me that I lost my Cool Parent Status! he.he.he. She looked great though..I love how spirited they are. They are definitely the cool parents on the block. Her neighbors house was very Scccarrryy and Beckett wouldn't even go up to the door.




Speaking of getting into the spirit of Halloween look at this cutie...



Another cutie..Our friends Chris and Heather's litte Tiger (aka Katie) We did a trial run the day before to practice her trick or treating. She was too cute. as soon as you would put the treat in her bucket she wanted to eat it.




All in all it was a fun night. Beckett walked the entire way with a death grip on his pumpkin pail. He wasn't giving his loot up for anything...even when he started to become unbalanced and started tripping because his pail was too full and two heavy he wouldn't let Trace carry it. I had some interesting trick or treaters. Teenagers without costumes that actually had the nerve to tell me that they didn't like the candy I handed them and wanted something else from the basket! I should have sent them on their way with nothing at all!!

The kids brought in quite a haul and I am sure we'll still be seeing remnants at Easter!

Pumpkin Carving

And this is what they look liked when they were all finished...



ooh...very scary!!!

The Great Pumpkin

Last weekend we took the kids to a local farm near our home to pick out their pumpkins to make their jack-O-lanterns. The Great Pumpkin just happened to be visiting this day. He talked to the kids and offered them a gift...Apples right off the farm. The sure were tasty. They had a good time looking for their perfect pumpkin. Alden was determined to find the biggest one in the patch. Mariah didn't mind if hers wasn't the biggest, she just wanted one that was perfectly round and the perfect shade of Orange. Beckett didn't care much for looking, he preferred to sit on them. After their pumpkins were picked Trace hauled them to the Van.




They had this display honoring our Military. I know i am biased...but I thought it was pretty cool!

Some 80's Inspired Family Fun

New threads purchased at the Goodwill.... $14.00
One pair of Leg Warmers $4.99
One can of Aqua Net $1.99
A date with our kids to a decade themed sock hop and showing up as one of very FEW parents that dressed up... PRICELESS! (Does that make us the COOL parents????)



Yes... our first clue that we could possibly be the only parents dressed up was in the parking lot. Alden's school PTO sponsored a family sock hop last night, the note home said to dress up in your favorite decade. I convinced Trace that it meant the whole family. He reluctantly agreed, and probably asked me a 100 times if we were going to be the "only" ones dressed up. I assured him that NO WAY...everyone was going to be dressed up. Uh... NOT,so much!! We were probably one of 5 couples that dressed up. It was rather embarrassing. In fact, Trace actually scared a child. She took one look at him and ran to her dad who was in earshot of Trace and said "that man over there is scaring me....!" Trace quickly went to restroom and removed his mullet. However, it's not all about US!!! The girls had a great time they boogied down with their friends and we had to carry them out kicking and screaming...Not really, but they didn't want to leave. They looked totally cute in their get-ups... LIKE, TOTALLY!






Beckett was our rebel child and dressed in circa 1950's duds. He's really hard to get a picture of because he's always on the move. We completed his outfit with a tattoo and a pack of cigarettes rolled up in his t-shirt. NO...not real cigarettes, no need to call Child Protective Services it was only a battery.. I PROMISE!

Pumpkins, Caramel Apples, & Wagon rides...

Fall has arrived! So did our good friends from South Dakota. Well, Cindy and the boys arrived on their way to their new home in Virginia. Allen is STILL deployed,(we missed you, bud!) We didn't tell the girls they were coming so they were SO SURPRISED when they showed up in our driveway! Sam called Alden from the car and asked her to come out and play. Their reaction was priceless. I wish I would've thought to get it all on video. Sunday we took the kids to Young's Dairy farm for their Fall festival. They had such a good time. We took a wagon-ride tour of the farm, Trace and the older kids conquered the corn maze and Beckett hung out in the pumpkin patch. Their visit was too short--they had to leave this morning, but it was so good to see them!

The Fabulous Four! Alden, Sam, Mariah, & Alec


For completing the corn maze they were awarded 4 trips down the super slide.


I love this picture of Trace with Alec & Sam, they look scared out of their minds! Good times!

#39

Trace celebrated birthday #39 yesterday. Unfortunately, it wasn't so celebratory he had to return back to AFIT for his Winter quarter. Back to the books for him! There should be some law stating that you shouldn't have to go to school on your birthday! Poor guy!

Happy Birthday, Sweetie! you need to start cracking on your 40 before 40 list...You've only got 364 more days to complete it! LOVE YOU!


In honor of the official start of hunting season I found it only appropriate to get him a deer cake! (which he loved!) Yes, thus marks the days of lonely weekends as my husbands out searching for food! I am so excited!! (not!)