Halloween

Halloween

We had quite an eventful Halloween this year! It started off with a return to the infamous Haunted House that we visited (very quickly) a few years back. The kids had wanted to go so bad, but then got scared out of their minds last time, so this time, they wanted to try again. They were convinced that they could handle it, on their own no less. So, we brought them with their canned goods, and got there just in time for opening, learned our lesson last time, and no 3 hour wait for us! A cold front had come in so I had tortilla soup ready to go at home, we waited with the kids in line and then as soon as they went in, we waited in the car to warm up.

The loved it, I guess they are old enough now to appreciate the cheesy-ness of it. Went home to a nice hot bowl of soup, and spent the evening warming up and hanging out.

Then, the next morning Regan and I headed to a Girl Scout event (more on that later) and that evening we had our neighbor's Halloween party. They do this every year and it's so much fun! They have a big shin-dig in their backyard and the whole neighborhood comes out to help do games and they had a s'more pit, a bouncey house, cake walk, the kids have a blast. Riley helped us do some games and Regan got to see a bunch of her new school friends, and we just had a good time, stayed and talked and played till almost midnight!

Then on Halloween night, Regan had made plans to go Trick or Treating with her friends from school, WITHOUT mom and dad! I was a little sad about that, but one of the dad's was walking a big group of them around and she wanted to be a big girl and go with her friends. Riley decided he was too old for Trick or Treating, until one of his friends knocked on the door, so out he ran in an old Jason mask. He didn't stay out long, just enough to get some candy to munch on. Regan was out late and came home with a HUGE bag full of candy! Thankfully it's mostly forgotten now and I can pick out what I want for mom tax and toss the rest!

I dressed as a "Real Housewives of Travis County" with my robe, slippers, hair in rollers, I scared a bunch of little kids, that was fun! Overall, Halloween was a little anti-climactic this year. The kids are getting too old, and that makes me sad.

Regan really wanted to be a Zombie Bride, but couldn't find a costume she liked for it, and when she saw the "Athena-Greek Goddess" costume, she was sold! Glad for at least one more year before she goes scary!

UMHB School of Nursing

The Girl Scouts earned their nursing badge with a trip to the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. They learned about first aid, what do for certain illnesses, and had a good question-answer session with some of the nursing students. We got up early and drove up to Temple, the campus is very small and pretty. We got totally lost anyway, since they moved the venue and didn't let us know! But the girls enjoyed it, they each got their own first aid kit, and we had a picnic lunch before we headed home.

Ugly Sweater Contest

Our youth group had an "Ugly Sweater" contest, so I took Riley before church up to the Salvation Army thrift store, and ran into a few people from church looking for the same things, and a lot of items to choose from! He picked this Cosby-esque gem, but sadly, didn't even come in the finals! There are some pretty tacky sweaters out there people!

Sea Cadet Weekend

It was drill weekend for Sea Cadets, and Riley got his blue camos, most of his dress blues, and 3 awards! He was very excited to get the awards, and he got to call cadence or something like that. He looks so cute in his uniforms, of course I made him model them and let me take pictures. He wasn't too thrilled with the idea, but he knows he looks good! My little soldier boy!

Laundry Room Redo

I love Pinterest. I get all kinds of ideas for things I want to try. But mostly, it's just that...ideas. But when I saw this laundry room, I had to have it! My laundry room is my least favorite room of our house, and not just because of the dreaded chore that goes on in that room. It's tiny, it's dark, it's in a bad place, you can't switch out laundry unless you go in and shut the door behind you, making me, a non-claustrophobic person, slightly claustrophobic. Basically, I hate it. But I stumbled upon this laundry room on Pinterest, I figured that was something easy enough for me and my handyman-challenged husband to handle!

First, we got the washer and dryer out of the room and started massive clean up. I don't know how the floor can get so dirty underneath those things! David took the opportunity to drain the washer hose or something, whatever it was, I know it stank, bad!  Then we went to Home Depot and got all the wood cut. The pedestals for our washer and dryer are around $250-299 each, ouch! The wood for this project was about $110. Major savings!! We also bought a drip pan thing for under the washer, just in case.

Then David started assembling the pedestal while I painted the room. I went back and forth on the color, I recently painted my dining room wall a dark orange, kind of paprika color, and I like it, but I also had turquoise paint for the fireplace wall, and it's nice and bright and cheerful, so I went with that (maybe this will be my new happy place?)

While the pedestal building and painting took longer than we expected, having to work on it bits and pieces after work, we still managed to get it ready in good time. Of course, Regan comes home with a last minute picture day order form, and no clean picture clothes, so that was one snag in the process, but we got it worked out!

Then we put the pedestal in place and had fun trying to get the washer and dryer back on top and re-connected, but we managed. The only thing left is I want to trim the front so it looks a little nicer, and I'm looking for orange bins for the shelves. But, as it is, I *love* it! We even did a load of clothes as soon as we were done to make sure it didn't jiggle off the pedestal, and it worked great! I'm loving not having to get on my hands and knees to switch out laundry and we can now walk through to the garage without stepping over broken laundry hampers!

 

 

 

 

Now, back to Pinterest so I can find my next project!!

Sweet Berry Farm

Sweet Berry Farm

The kids had the day off school, David took a day since he had just been on call and it was a rough week for him, so we thought we would surprise the kids and head out to Sweet Berry Farm. David had only been once, and not during fall so he really wanted to do the giant Texas corn maze. We got there, and it was pretty crowded, but we got our obligatory pumpkin ice cream (best ever, in the world) and I went camera happy, taking pictures of all the crazy pumpkins they have out there. We fed the goats, and then made our way over to the huge Texas maze, and it is ginormous! The kids wanted to do it by themselves, so we had a parents vs. kids maze race.

It took over an hour to find all the towns, but the parents were victorious! They give you a card with 12 towns on it, actual towns, this theme was towns with animal names (like, Crow, Crane, Marlin, White Deer, etc) and each place has a unique hole punch, so you punch your card as you find towns. Well, it was hard, but we got them all and were sitting enjoying our prize "free" drink when the kids came out, upset that they couldn't find the last two towns. So, dad to the rescue, he took them back in, and they emerged victorious a few minutes later.

Then we headed back to town for dinner and home. The weather was perfect, and the kids (and parents) were exhausted! I love when we have fun family days!

Red's Range

David has been wanting us to get some guns lately ('A' gun, I don't want to be on any government watch list!) so we went to Red's to do some target practice, and see if we liked this one. We didn't, so he's still looking. But it was kind of fun. The kids were mad that we didn't take them with us, and someone brought some very loud something or other, even with those headphones on, I would flinch each time it was shot. I really don't know much about guns, and just want one that will put a hole in a bad guy, but David says I have to be all comfortable with it and all that. Annie Oakley, I'm not!

I thought I did pretty good though, the ones closest to the black are mine. Of course, David shot farther away than I did (full disclosure) but still, I could hit a bad guy at 3 yards! We have the best date nights.

Fashion Show

The kids have been growing like crazy, time for new clothes! I've been finding some good deals at Ross and Riley seems to love what I get him lately, so I had him do some modeling for me. He's just getting more and more handsome each day. He's such a great kid, I know as a parent, you have to LOVE your kid, but I really like him. He's turning into a great guy, and he's so funny. He keeps me laughing, which is not what I expected. I thought he would be more serious, and he can be, but he does have a wicked sense of humor!

And Regan, she's just so sweet. She is volunteering at church now, with the two year olds and she loves it. Every week I get huge compliments from the people she serves with about how great she is with the kids, and how sweet she is. She loves all animals, and is still wanting to be a vet someday. She is a HUGE A&M fan, and is hoping to go to vet school there, and loves reading about the school, their mascot, and their traditions. She's pretty funny too, but mostly unintentionally. She just has such a servant's heart, and is always fixing us drinks, or asking if she can get anything for us (even her brother!)

Well, I didn't mean for this to be a "brag on my kids" post, but oh well, I can write what I want! To be fair, as great as they are individually, they are like oil and water together, or fire and black powder. They are highly combustible! I love them dearly, but together, oy vey!