Happy Valentine's Day!!

Hope everyone had a lovely Valentine's Day!  It was busy, busy, busy for us.  Kaitlyn off to school, a few last minute party details to take care of (yes, I was in charge of coordinating the Valentine party.  Last time I sign up to help out with a party), the party itself, dinner, dessert, etc.  And inbetween was shoveling snow, vacuuming the house, tidying up, cleaning up, etc.  Very busy day, but it went well! 

I'm not sure why the picture came out upside down.

Kaitlyn had fun at her party and so did the rest of her class.  I made some Valen-slime (www.stitchcraftcreations.com) for the kids to play with and it was a huge success.  It took me a couple of tries to get it right, but well worth it after hearing all the reactions of the kids when they started playing with it.  It's just psyllium fiber (Metamucil) and water heated up until it congeals into a mass that is a lot like silly putty.  You can add food coloring to make it any color you want.  It's a lot of fun!  Though I have to say I had more success using the microwave over the stovetop. 

Here are Katilyn's Valentine's that she handed out.  She was so excited!

Keith's Valentine party was yesterday.  He had fun, I mean who doesn't when candy is involved.  He had all of his candy ate before we got home.  Thankfully there are only seven kids in his class, so there wasn't a whole lot to eat. 

Here is Keith's Valentine.  This is what he picked out to make and they turned out so cute! 

Dinner tonight was Chicken-fried Deer Steak with mashed potatoes and gravy and a green salad.  Dessert was Chocolate Mousse parfait with a layer of Berry yogurt and Chocolate Cream puffs with a cream cheese filling.  Very good!  Keith didn't make it to dessert, he had such a busy day and no nap that he crawled up to bed right after dinner and went to sleep.  Which is where I'm headed too. 

I had to take a picture of this because it is the biggest box of chocolates
I've ever received.  Thankfully it's only one layer, but still weighs 2 lb. 8 oz.

 



Well I did, because my internet quit working so I didn't get to finish it last night. 

Halloween 2011

I can't believe how quickly October flew by, before I knew it Halloween was upon us.  Kaitlyn was really excited for Halloween this year and knew what she wanted to be at the beginning of the month.  Keith, of course, had no real clue what was going on and didn't really care. 

Grama brought the kids a couple of decorate-it-with-stickers treat buckets from McDonalds.  The kids really liked them.  Then we used the leftover stickers to decorate our mini pumpkins.

We decorated pumpkins the week of, Kaitlyn knew what she wanted to do with the pumpkins too.  She drew a face for on on a piece of paper and then Daddy cut it out after transfering her drawing onto it.  Then we had the puppy face pumpkin pieces that we poked into the other one.  I put a few "spots" on the puppy so we could use the pumpkin lights that I bought (no candles, much safer and more fun according to the kids).  Then I found a collar and leash for the "dog" and our face pumpkin took the dog pumpkin for a walk. 

The first initial "eww gross!" reaction.
That's one of the plastic bag ghosts we made above Keith.

Then, Kaitlyn got over it and dug right in.
Keith still wanted to use the spoon.

Carving pumpkins

Kaitlyn and her creation, silly Keith.

Walking the dog.

The kids decorated a couple more pumpkins at Grama and Papa's with very large Potato Head pieces and of course I forgot to get a picture.  Kaitlyn's was a princess and Keith's was a pirate.  We had also made a bunch of decorations during the week:  plastic bag ghosts, bead and pipe cleaner spiders, and paper bats.  Kaitlyn loved it.  Keith didn't seem to care and did other things. 

We went to the Trunk-or-treat at the church on Saturday.  They do a dinner and a little carnival before going outside and trunk-or-treating.  The kids really like it and who doesn't love more candy!

Keith - Scooby, Hayden - Scarecrow, Hannah - Dorothy
Kaitlyn - Witch, Heidi - Witch

Keith shooting cups with a marshmallow gun with Papa

Kaitlyn and Keith with Grama playing another game.

Halloween we went to Grama and Papa's again, I brought caramel apples, two kids and a dog.  Keith didn't want to wear his costume and he also didn't want to go trick-or-treating.  Of course, I forgot my camera with all the other stuff I brought, so I didn't get pictures while I was there. 

Took the kids, minus Keith, out to collect their treats and the weather was pretty nice until we were half way through and then the wind instantly picked up and it became colder.  That didn't stop Kaitlyn though.  We were walking back toward Grama's house and Daddy was walking toward us with Duke and Kaitlyn wanted to keep going.  So we took her and the dogs out for more in the wind and cold.  Finally we had to tell Kaitlyn that was enough and we should go back to Grama's.  She was a real trooper.  It was one more house, let's go to that house.  She really loves Halloween.

Happy Halloween!!



Kaitlyn as Jessie the Cowgirl



Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween and was able to get many treats and not too many tricks.  We went to Grama and Papa's again, doing our trick-or-treating out their way.  We ate some dinner and got all the kids ready and it rained.  So, we took some pictures and by the time we got a few decent pictures, what with all the kids wanting to do anything but sit still, the rain had let up.  We went around a couple of blocks and after each house Kaitlyn kept telling me her bag wasn't full yet.  So, on to another house we went.  Kaitlyn was Jessie from Toy Story 2 and so we found Keith a Woody costume.  Sis thought I was being cruel to make them match, but when Keith has his own opinion about what he wears on Halloween, then he can decide what he'll be.  Until then, I'll make them match if I want to. 

 

<>                  Jessie (Kaitlyn) and Hannah the Witch

Woody (Keith), Jessie (Kaitlyn), and Hayden the cat



Happy 4th of July!!

Well, it was a cold and rainy morning on the 4th this year.  I almost thought we weren't going to get to go to the parade this year, but the rain stopped and the sun came out.  It was perfect parade watching weather.

We got to the parade just in time and collected some candy.  We were in a bad spot I think.  We had two groups of slightly older children on either side of us.  They were a little more aggressive than Kaitlyn is.  That and the parent of the boys were always telling the older of the two to "go get it from him/her, and get one for you little brother!"  It was a little annoying.  They were nice enough to give Kaitlyn a handful of candy at the end of the parade.  Surprisingly, they must have felt bad about the boys constantly running out to get candy before Kaitlyn could.  Keith just chilled out the whole time. 

That night Kaitlyn stayed up and watched the fireworks from out bedroom.  I was thinking we need to put a deck out from our room so we could sit outside and watch them.  The houses that were built behind us now blocks the view from out patio, so we sit in our room.  It's nice having the only two story house around us.

Here are some summer fun photos, when the weather was actually summer-like.  We had about a week of it.  I'm hoping there is more to come.  Sadly, this is the last time the fish gets used.  A rather large hole burst in one of the seams.  We do have a new whale now, but it hasn't been warm enough to use yet.   

Happy Easter!!!

I should say hope everyone had a safe and happy Easter! We had a very busy Easter weekend. On Saturday we started with Skippyjon Jones story time at Hastings. Kaitlyn and I went, Daddy and Keith stayed home. Daddy's not really into running around and doing stuff like this, so Keith stayed home too since he's really too little to enjoy it yet. At story time we listened to two Skippy stories and Kaitlyn got to color a mask. We also had snacks and juice.

After that was done we stopped at Payless to get Kaitlyn some white dress shoes to go with her Easter dress. We didn't have any white ones, because they don't sell white dress shoes during the winter months. Whatever. I was afraid we were going to miss the Rec Center Egg Hunt, because we come out of the store and there was a little fender bender right behind where I was parked. Fortunately, when I asked them if they could move they were nice enough to get out of the way.

We made it in time to the Egg Hunt to stand in line with Grama and Hannah for a little bit.  The Egg Hunt was supposed to be outside at the soccer fields, but we received about 4 inches of snow a couple days before, so it was inside at the old rec center.  Lots of people packed into the gym like sardines waiting and staring at candy and plastic eggs strewn all over the floor.  Then the mayhem began.  Lots of small children running around trying to pick up all the candy and eggs they came across.  The parents were also following behind telling the kids to pick up what they see.  Kaitlyn wasn't too sure as to what was going on, but Hannah went after it.  They both seemed to get about the same amount of candy though.  And after maybe a minute, the locust like scavenge ended about as quickly as it began.  It is absolute insanity.  I figure it gets Kaitlyn out of the house and doing something, so in the end it must be worth it. 

Well, after the egg hunt and after getting out of the parking lot Kaitlyn and I went to lunch with Grama, Hannah, Chelsey, and Carissa.  We ate at the Main Bagel, or I should say everyone but Kaitlyn ate.  She wasn't really eating the bagel pizza that she and Hannah were sharing.  She loved the Italian cream soda and chips. 

Went home for about two hours, give-or-take, then we had to get ready to go to Jackson's, Kaitlyn's second cousin, baptism.  It was a nice ceremony with lots of friends and family.  Jackson was really excited to be baptised.  We got to visit with some of the Jackson side that we don't get to see very often. 

Then we came home and "relaxed".  I say "relaxed" because everyone but me got to relax.  I made Jell-o salad and carrot cake so it would be ready for Easter lunch.  Kaitlyn also dyed Easter eggs.  She had fun drawing on them so that a pretty design would stay on them after dying.  Jordan helped, I think he does it so there isn't a huge mess everywhere. 

Sunday morning, Easter morning, Kaitlyn got up and looked at her Easter basket and Keith's as well.  She really liked what Keith got and still has a hard time not playing with it.  Then she found all the eggs that the Easter bunny hid.  Jordan made breakfast, thankfully.

I got up and made a new carrot cake because the first one was texturally wrong.  I thought I would make things easier on myself and use a spice cake mix and add carrots.  Yeah, that didn't work.  Not sure why.  I even decreased some of the liquid to off set the moisture in the carrots.  Oh, well.  The new cake was made from scratch and turned out just fine.  I was decorating it to look like a bunny up until we had to leave so unfortunately I didn't get a picture.  I forgot to grab the camera and basket before we went over to Grama and Papa's.  Oops! 

We made it over to Grama and Papa's with time to spare.  We ate a lot of food, good food mind you, but a lot.  The kids had their egg hunt and the Easter bunny brought them some things there as well.  After the egg hunt we celebrated Papa and Quintin's birthday's.  Papa's was on Easter and Quintin's is today.  Happy Birthday "Q"!! 

Finally we got home and relaxed.  It was a crazy and hectic weekend. 

Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!

Now I can breathe and relax a little bit again.  Christmas is done and gone.  Don't get me wrong it was great to spend time with family, especially those that we don't get to see very often, but I'm glad it's all done. 

We had Christmas Eve dinner with Jordan's family.  All the food and the company was great.  We stayed there way later than we wanted to, but that's normal.  Kaitlyn and Hannah just played and played, which was good considering Kaitlyn seems to have picked up the cold that the rest of us have had and so she was crabby and not feeling very good.  She and Hannah even go to the bathroom together and were in there for quite a while.  Someone would check on them now and then.  I peeked my head in at one point and Kaitlyn was still sitting on the potty, but she was holding a magazine.  She sees me and holds up the magazine saying, "I'm looking at this."  It was really funny and I was thinking she's seen Jordan using the potty one too many times. 

When we got home last night, Kaitlyn put a few cookies on a plate for Santa.  We made candy cane cookies for Santa the night before.  She liked making them because she got to roll out "snakes"  to twist together for the candy cane look.  She then quickly went to bed so that Santa could come. 

This morning we opened presents here at home and looked at what Santa brought us, then went to Grama and Papa's to open more presents and have brunch.  The kids really hauled it in, go figure.  They got clothes, which Keith really needed since he is rapidly growing out of his clothes, small toys, big toys, etc.  Some of the big things that Kaitlyn got were a first computer that is a keyboard which plugs into the TV, she learns basic preschool grammar, math, etc and keyboarding skills; a Fisher-Price Fit park mat, again teaching basic preschool skills; a Cozy Coupe Flinstone type car, meaning she uses her feet to get around in it, it's not battery operated; and two quilts, which I had made for her from her receiving blankets with a fleece backing and "frillies", you can't have a blanket without frillies.  Those quilts took a while, but I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out.  I made two for Keith as well with his receiving blankets.  Ketih also got a Bumbo; a couple of talking/teaching stuffed animals, a cow and a puppy; a sit and play toy, it has safari animals that slide down a little slide and do a couple of other things; and several small two handed toys and clothes.  Jordan got his 10-gauge shot gun, so he didn't receive anything else from me, but he did get some clothes and a reloading press that was supposed to be for the 10-gauge, but turned out to be for a 12-gauge.  It's turned out ok though becuase he's been wanting another 12-gauge press to reload a different size of shell.  He also got other small items.  I got a Total Gym home workout system.  I'm hoping to lose those few extra baby pounds this year.  Keeping my fingers crossed that I can.  I also got several items for the cricut that I inherited from my mother-in-law when she got a new one.  I'm still wanting to get that thing out and just play with it, but this past month has just been crazy busy.  I also got a nice jacket and some kitchen items. 

We stayed and talked with the family for a while, the kids played and ran amok.  Then we finally mosied home to pick up and sort through all that we got.  We put as much as we felt we could away and by that time it was time for dinner.  After a meal of spaghetti and meatballs with cornbread (Jordan cooked, so I wasn't going to question the combination), we video talked with my dad and stepmom, though she was in and out making dinner and talking to her dad.  It's really nice to be able to "see" them when we can't be right there to see them. 

The kids went to bed and I got busy doing the little things that I have a hard time doing when they're awake. 

I hope everyone had an as fulfilling Christmas as we did, and not just with gifts but with family and friends.  We also hope that everyone who had to travel did so safely and without incident.  Merry Christmas and here's to a wonderful New Year for everyone! 

Thank you to everyone for the wonderful cards and gifts.  It's so great to hear from the family, especially mine since we all seem to be so far apart. 

Happy Halloween!!

Yes, I know that was yesterday, but I was busy yesterday. I hope everyone had a great and safe Halloween with lots of goodies. We carved pumpkins with Grama and Papa on Friday night. The kids were a little crabby and weren't really into it. I ended up carving 2 pumpkins, Hannah wanted a cat, but became uninterested quickly. I also did the pumpkin with the ghost.

On Halloween I got the kids dressed up and we went to Grama and Papa's for dinner and trick-or-treating. We took the kids out around the block when we got there and then ate some dinner and after a while went back out again. Kaitlyn was a little hesitant to go up to the door, but having Hannah there and the prospect of candy helped. This is the first year that she's really gone out and trick-or-treated, so she wasn't real sure about all of it. Next year will probably be better. Keith hung out with Grama and slept.

The Arnolds did stop over for a bit. All the kids played and ate candy for a while. I did make caramel apples again this year and have been left with more than I would like. Maybe I can con Jordan into taking some into work tomorrow. We'll see.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Halloween was good this year. The weather was nice, we made a bunch of decadent caramel apples and we spent time with friends and family. We went to see Great Grandma and Grandpa Jackson and we ran into the Black Clan (cousins), they all dressed up as Star Wars characters (sorry sis I didn't get a picture). They were Leia, Palpatine (after the force mishap), Vader, Luke, and little Wyatt was Yoda, so cute. Then we headed to Jordan's parents for dinner and some play time with cousins and friends. Kaitlyn was a fairy; cousin Hannah was a ladybug; cousin Hayden was a bumble bee; and the Arnold Quads were the three little pigs and the big, bad wolf. Kaitlyn tried to go trick-or-treating but didn't make it. She's been a little crabby and clingy lately, but I can't figure out why. We handed out the caramel apples (some were dipped in different chocolates and had candies on them) to our friends and family and finally went home. Kaitlyn got to stay up late, like she always does when she's at Gama and Papa's. It was just nice not to have it snowing for a change. Hopefully its nice again next year.