Halloween...we are done......finally!

The Nacho and his Old Lady

To get prepared for today it meant preparing 4 costumes instead of the usual 2. Since our church was not having their usual Harvest Fair my family decided to have a family Halloween party. When I was younger we used to have one of these parties every year and as a kid I loved them...so I was not sure what to expect. My expectations were met and I honestly had a fun day! Costumes were funny and creative! Games and entertainment was fun! And the food was yummy!

Snow White and the Angel

Sumo mom and Mel as red M&M




Snow White....I just liked the lighting


Enjoying candy....ALL DAY!

The Men....Nacho, the priest, the gladiator

Everyone!

And just the beginning of the candy....by bedtime their bags were overflowing they asked for "overflow bags"....um maybe that means stop....oh no we have to finish!

Pre-Halloween Five on Friday

1. I finally have all the necessary elements of both Brian and my costume....you will have to wait for pictures.
2. This is the first time since we left Chico in 1999 that we have dressed up....in Chico Halloween is(well was) a big deal....HUGE deal!
3. The girls are going to be snow white and an angel....you guess who will be what.
4. I am preparing to make a homemade carrot cake for dessert for the halloween party tomorrow night we are going to.
5. We lit our first fire of the "season" in the fireplace last night....the girls got so excited....funny how fun something so simple can be. The chilly night air has been refreshing.

happy halloween friends.....

Betty Crocker in my kitchern

I have found a new passion.....and I don't even have to leave my house! This summer I got myslef a food processor.....an 11 cup processor. I can not believe I have cooked this long without one....this is the perfect addition to any kitchen. You just have to take the time to learn how to use it.....so what have I been up to you ask? Well here is my list of things to check off my done list....
* homemade banana bread
* white bread
* cookie dough
*pesto
* pizza dough
* slices all my veggies
*salsa

This machine has made miraculous changes in my kitchen....it smells good all the time now. How awesome it was the other night to have pesto chicken with homemade pesto and then to have the bread homemade too with some butter melted on top of it....mmm good!
Brian has asked me when Betty Crocker has come to stay and where did his wife go.....you know the one who hates to cook.....? I think I like the process of mixing it all together, using my hands and then having something that I MADE! When you take it out of a box or simply make pasta its good but you have no pride in it because it is not your creation......
So tonight is homemade calzones.....and cookies made from scratch.....oatmeal chocolate chip with walnuts.....I can not wait....yum! I am sure I will post about more creations later.....

My Peeps!

Now how perfect is this.....the three most precious peeps ever!

Mam?

Today something happened and I just have not been able to let it go....

I pulled up to the Stater Bros. parking lot, parked and proceeded to watch the lady next to me unload her grocery cart....and I offered to take her cart....since I had both girls with me and a gazillion reusable bags to bring in to cart my groceries out in.....it just seemed easier than carting it all across the parking lot to the store.

I turned around to get the girls out and a man came up and took my cart for himself...now I actually did not notice but the lady whose cart this was did...and said something. Whatever it was she said made this man stop.....he asked is this your cart mam? was he talking to me? am I the mam? Then seeing I have both girls and a gazillion bags in my hand he then asked mam do you need help with all that? Did I really look that disheveled or in desperate need of assistance??? I replied with a simple no thank you and I am fine....thanks for my cart back kind of smile....but when looking back on it this man was older than me and he was calling me mam.....that just makes me feel old....and I keep thinking if I really looked whacked out or something.....did I have the mom is going to loose it look? oh well. Grocery Shopping is an adventure no matter what!

LIFE

As a parent I look back on milestones....first its just making it thru the night then its doing solid foods then its crawling, rolling over and walking....and from there the milestones happen so much faster....getting teeth, talking, and then we move into preschool....well just this year our oldest, Rory, lost two baby teeth, is learning how to read and write, and just this past week she learned how to ride a bike without training wheels. Things like this just make me so so excited....I just love to see them reach the next step in their childhood....I was brought to tears (and I don't cry a whole lot). Brian worked with her for about an hour before lunch...then with some lunch in them they took to their task once again and within another hour she had it down pat....now she is doing tricks and tight turns and is so confident. I am so excited for her....it is amazing how quickly your own experience of learning how to ride a bike comes back....some are good and some are not so good! But in the end its passing on what we know and teaching our kids...and then seeing it pay off when they get so excited that they have accomplished it!

Avoiding a near run in with the scooter....phew!

No smiles here....just a mom I don't want to stop for a picture....so this is what I got.

Shopping for Christmas...already?

Well I did it.....my Christmas shopping has begun.....

I purchased the first gift today.....I was online at Children's Place looking for a dress for Rory last week and I found these most adorable shoes....so today I went back online and they were marked down even more....so I had to get them(Brian totally agreed) I so would have loved them if I was here age.....actually I would love a pair for me right now.....don't you just love them?

Friday, Friday, Friday!

Well its finally Friday.....so what is new?
Here are my 5 on Friday:

1. Rory starts her extra curricular classes today at school.....she is so excited.
2. I am excited for an additional 3 hours with only one kid at my side.
3. Rory is taking a Jump rope class....how cool is that. They will teach all the cool jump roping stuff. I wish they had that when I was her age....I loved jump roping.
4. Abi is addicted to starfall.com she is always wanting to play on the computer. it has its good and bad to it.
5. I am so excited it is October.....yay Fall is here!!!!

So there ya go some random 5'ers for ya. Wishing you a wonderful weekend....anyone pumpkin hunting yet????