happy halloween

The kids had a great time trick-or-treating tonight. Especially Dana...once she figured out that people were putting CANDY into her little bucket, she was GAME-ON! Aubrey and Dana made it all the way through our neighborhood. Laurel and Malcolm (with Daddy's help) stayed out for at least another hour and a half. A dentist in town is offering to buy candy for $2/lb and make a matching donation to Children's Hospital. The kids plan to go through their candy tomorrow and take out what they don't like so they'll be RICH! ;) Malcolm says he'll put his money into a college account and a motorcycle account...

hunny pot

cute witch

baseball player

modern witch

family night: jack-o-lanterns

We carved our punkins tonight. Aunt Sheila and Preston came and joined us. The kids LOVED squishing through the goo from inside the pumpkin. The collected over a pound of seeds and we roasted them ~ yummy! As you can see, we had lots of fun (except for Dana, who is still too sick to have fun). Hopefully by Wednesday, Dana and Aubrey will be healthy enough to trick-or-treat without facing a relapse with their chest colds.

laurel

malcolm

aubrey

preston

cutest punkins!

soccer...

The kids' soccer season ended on Saturday. They all seemed to have fun, and they definitely showed improvement from the beginning of the season to the end. Maybe next season (Spring Soccer?) you can come see them in action!

dinner in a punkin

We're having dinner in a pumpkin tonight...and I even found the perfect "accessory." It smells good, and it looks soooo cute! But whether or not the kids (and Doug) eat it remains to be seen...

my domestication progress

I recently found a Blog that amazed me. These women post pictures (in progress) of delicious meals that they actually make and prepare for their families. Despite the fact that the recipe had something like 15 steps, the Chicken Pot Pie called my name and so I put it on the menu for this Sunday. The family LOVED it, but it definitely lacked the aesthetic appeal that the "inspiration recipe" teased me with...

You can check it out for yourself by clicking on this link:

http://domesticationinprogress.blogspot.com/search/label/Comfort%20Food

and then compare it to the pie I made ~ I have clearly not reached domestic goddess status:

pumpkin farm

We finally made it to a pumpkin patch with our friends, The Kidds (I just hadn't told you about it yet). Despite the fact that Mosby Farms was muddy, and many of the pumpkins had already rotted out from too much rain, the kids had a fun time. We collected a pumpkin to take home, fresh corn on the cob, and some unique gourds (is there any other kind?)...and on the way home we stopped at Fred Meyers to buy the rest of the pumpkins...

the coyote

The dogs in our neighborhood have been going nuts at night...barking at something that we couldn't see or hear. Last week our neighbor told us she and her husband have heard the coyotes in the not-so-far-off-distance, and we weren't sure we believed her. But then last night as we went to bed, we were pretty sure we heard them howling…


And sure enough, Henry went nuts again (it's the second time that he's woken us up with a very angry, loud barking). When Doug went downstairs to investigate, this is what he found.


He was sitting on our back porch ~ eating right out of Henry’s food and water dishes…he didn’t seem to care that Henry was trying to leap through the sliding glass doors, barking like a mad-dog. He wouldn't even leave after Doug flashed the porch light at him...just sat there looking back and forth between Doug and Henry (who was growling like crazy). Doug was going to open the door to shoo him away, but he was afraid that Henry might get hurt in the fight.

Doug didn’t think to take time to take a picture of the coyote (I would have, but I was cowering in my bed), so we scoured the internet and found a picture of one that looked just like him…he was huge and hungry!

18 months: Nursery!!

Dana's first day of NURSERY was on Sunday. I meant to take a picture of her in her cute & stylish brown corduroy jumper & adorable brown mary-janes...but I forgot. The closest I got was to take this picture of her cleaning out the bowl we made Caramel Apples in. She (obviously) loved the caramel!

She also thought Nursery (Noo-noo) was a very fun place to spend a couple of hours! Hooray for Daddy & Mommy!!

Urgent: Toy Recall

Our neighborhood parks have several of these slides. I had no idea they could be so dangerous! I'm starting a petition to the City to immediately REMOVE them from our parks. When 33% of our population is under the age of 18, unnecessary injuries can ruin lives!

spell with flickr

want to spell your own words? visit: http://metaatem.net/words

4 things

the postings on our blog are usually about the family, but I thought I'd indulge in one all about me...and I figured this one is easier than listing out "100 things about me" (which I may actually do at some point)...


Four Jobs I have had:
1. Sample Lady at Costco
2. Nanny
3. Receptionist
4. Administrative Assistant

Four Places I have lived (I'll just list the 4 most recent places):
1. Maple Valley, WA
2. Yonkers, NY
3. Irvington, NY
4. Santa Clara, CA

Four Places I wish I'd lived:
1. North Carolina (on the beach)
2. Lake Couer d'Alene
3. Aruba (no hurricanes ~ rarely rains)
4. AUSTRALIA!

Four Favorite Current TV Shows:
1. CSI
2. Criminal Minds
3. reality: Kid Nation, Survivor, Amazing Race, etc...
4. The Office!!!

Four Places I have Been on Vacation:
1. Orlando, FL
2. Aspen Grove, UT
3. Grand Teton National Park & Yellowstone National Park
4. New Bern, NC (birthplace of Pepsi!)

Four movies I would watch over and over:
1. A Christmas Story (a CLASSIC!)
2. National Treasure (the sequel comes out later this year!!)
3. Toy Story
4. Toy Story 2

Four books I would recommend:
1. The Book of Mormon
2. Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl
3. From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
4. Tiki Tiki Tembo by Arlene Mosel

Four websites I visit daily
1. www.yahoo.com
2. www.sugardoodle.net
3. http://seattle.craigslist.org
4. www.flylady.net

Four things I want to do before I die
1. visit Australia
2. enjoy being a grandmother
3. get a college degree
4. become physically fit

Four People Who Email Me Regularly:
1. Becca
2. Doug
3. Uncle Alan
4. my Primary Counselors

Four of my Favorite Foods:
1. Italian (real Italian, not "american" italian)
2. barbecue (true barbecue, not BBQ)
3. fresh seafood
4. Sushi (not from the grocery store)

Four Places I would Rather Be Right Now:
1. on a warm beach
2. on the shore of a sunny lake
3. New York
4. on vacation with my family

Cranium WOW!

http://www.houseparty.com/ sent us the brand new game "Cranium WOW!" to try out with our friends. So we invited a few over, banished the kids, prepared some treats to WOW each other, and got down to business (after about an hour of chit-chat).

The game was definitely a Cranium game...we acted out (charades), drew pictures, sculpted with clay, spelled backwards, and laughed and laughed and laughed. Here are some pictures of the evening (buffalo wings; mullet; "talk to the hand;" tea bag; "milking a cow").

WE don't get together with friends enough...we need to do it more often!!

exhuberance

Laurel really loves soccer. She has decided it's "her" sport. And last weekend (driving home from the last game) she told us that the reason she wants to be a really good soccer player is because if she's smart and good at soccer, a college might pay for part of her tuition. Now THAT's a smart girl!! :)

She and two other girls on her team have figured out that they are a force to be reckonned with on the front line...I took this picture just moments after they scored a goal ~ I was actually taking pictures leading up to the shot-on-goal, but got so excited that I took pics of the grass instead...