Fall 4 Sure!!

Today we woke to a couple inches of snow on the ground! I love when this happens on Sunday, we have all afternoon to snuggle in blankets and eat comfort food and just stay inside and veg! We watched some fun old Haloween-type movies (Beetlejuice, Gremlins) I remember being so scared of Gremlins when I was young, but my kids thought it was great, hopefully there won't be any nightmares tonight!

After dinner we carved pumpkins. My kids love doing this, but besides Andrew, they are still to little to really do their own. Rick was helping with Madelynn's pumpkin and when he was done and in the other room I redid it a little! He wasn't to thrilled with me, I think he called me something like a control freak! I have no idea where he got that idea, apparantly it's not okay for a mom to want better for her child! I did make him some cookies to say I was sorry, I think he likes me again!

Cause for Celebration!

Saturday afternoon was Andrew's second to last soccer game in Denver, and they WON!!!! The score was 3-0, the reason for the celebration is this was their first win this season. The boys are a brand new team, meaning this is the first year they have played together and they really showed that they are going to be a force to reckon with next season! Andrew is a striker and sometimes midfield, he is such a great player! Rick said that I was practically playing the game with them on Saturday because I was so excited and getting kind of loud... hopefully Andrew wasn't too embarrased by his mom (just wait till he gets into the higher leagues, you might have to tie me to my chair)! The other picture is Rick and his cousins, Bobby and Kevin, they were so kind to come over and cheer Drew on! Rick doesn't normally dress so formal for a game, he was just at the Temple with our youth group.

So for the celebration, we went to a place called Cinzzetti's.

They have a fabulous Italian buffet, everything you could think of and more! Rick and Drew had been before, so they knew to pace themselves, but Tyler, Madelynn and I went to town! I did make everyone start out with a salad, so then I didn't feel like an aweful mother when the kids kept going back for more dessert.

Rick was cracking up that I brought my camera in, but I am trying to be a true blogger.... nothing is off limits!

T.G.I.F

Today was a day of pure fun, Mr. Biggs style!

We (meaning my kids plus the boys that I watch) met my friend Kadi and her two adorable kids at Mr. Biggs. We were a bit put off by the winter hours, they open all the attractions at noon, and we arrived all eager and rarin' to go at 11:20. So needless to say, we enjoyed almost an hour of their wonderful pizza buffet, we kept telling the kids to eat until they were beyond stuffed! Now this is where my rookie bloggerness shows, If I would have remembered my camera, I would have taken a picture of Madelynn enjoying 2 apple pie desserts and a brownie, that girl can down the sweets (I wonder where she gets that from)? When we were all sufficiently full, the older boys took there passes and went off for some unsupervised fun and the rest of us headed to the bowling alley where they stuck us in the farthest corner, they must have noticed the little angels that were running around and thought they should be corralled somehow. Here I would have taken a picture of Tyler jumping for joy when he knocked all the pins down, I do believe bowling is an underappreciated sport, I was thinking that I should get Madelynn and wrist guard to help her form along! Hee Hee

Then we go to the arcade, spend a ton of money in hopes of recieving the coveted pink tickets, because if you get 100, you could pick a prize like a little plastic ball, or a little hackey sack! What a rip off! Kadi and I discussed doing Dance, Dance Revolution, but we thought the young man that was already displaying his unique talents as a back up dancer for his own imaginary rock star wouldn't want to be shown up by a couple of moms! Last, but not least, we headed to the go carts where we drove like our lives depended on it. Madelynn and I were behind Averi and Kadi, you aren't supposed to bump, but what fun is that! The gentlemen running the ride was lost in deep thought or something because we were seriously driving in the circle for what seemed like ten minutes, I was a little nauseated when we were done! I definately would have taken a picture of Madelynn's face when I bumped into the other car, she was shocked that her mother would break the rules... priceless!

The "5 Things" Tag!

FIVE THINGS I WAS DOING TEN YEARS AGO:

I was already a mom to a one year old Andrew

I was working as a receptionist at the Country Club of Colorado. This was my favorite job ever, access to the Country Club lifestyle, great friends that I worked with, free massages, and unlimited food supply down at the restaraunt below our office (the best split pea soup)!

Rick and I spent a lot of time with his mom and stepdad, they were such a huge support to us in those early years of marriage!

Having the energy to get up at 5 a.m. to take Drew to the daycare, go to work, pick him up and then work out before we went home! I could never do that today

Going to lots of Air Force events, basketball, football, hockey! We became instant fans, Andrew's first basketball game was at 5 weeks old and he still loves going!


FIVE THINGS ON TO-DO LIST TODAY:

Get things prepared for my sharing time on Sunday

Pay a couple bills

Fold and put away clean clothes (about 5 loads worth)

Take kids to Mr. Biggs

Take Drew to soccer



FIVE THINGS I WOULD DO IF I WERE A MILLIONAIRE:

Get out of Debt

Take our whole family (both sides) on a cruise

Buy my dream house and dream car and my dream boat

Purchase land for Rick to build his own golf course

Invest for our future and live happily ever after


FIVE THINGS I WOULD NEVER WEAR AGAIN:

A bikini

Sweater Dress

Leather pants, unless Rick and I became bikers when we retire

Pegged jeans (you know when we used to fold over the cuff and roll up)

jelly shoes or anything that remotely resembles them


FIVE FAVORITE TOYS:

Computer

Ipod

DVR

Jewelry making stuff

My brothers boat (I don't know if that counts, but I so want one)


FIVE PEOPLE TO TAG:

Kadi
Allison
Shannon
Carri
Angie

This and That

This week has just flown by already, I don't recall what we have done...some days tend to be a blur if nothing mind shattering happens! We did go and hang out with my good friend Kadi and her family on Saturday. They hired Rick to finish their ginormous backyard for them. So here he is sitting on his man throne while we were raking the rock and laying down fabric and pounding in pins, somehow I think he knows he had the fun end of the job. But we had a good time catching up!

60 tons of rock, no wonder my back and legs are killing me today! We ended up going back on Tuesday to finish. My kids were so good, they had a few bouts of miscommunication (or fighting) but all in all they were awesome, so Kadi and I are treating the troopers to a day at Mr. Biggs on Friday, nothing will be off limits! Notice the red pathway, the kids took great care in smoothing out more than half of it! Rick is so amazing, he is great at everything he does and he never complains, unless there are a few tons of rock still to move and the bobcat is going to be picked up in a few minutes! We work great under pressure.



Well I must say that I have done absolutely nothing productive all day! Scratch that, I cooked mac and cheese for lunch, so that was productive right?

Madelynn was able to go hang out with Rick at work today, so the 4 boys have been keeping themselves busy with movies, pool, baseball, and football....in no particular order.
As for me, I have been sitting in my jammies, staring at the computer...first I shopped a little. I am searching for a b-day present for Rick, he is a huge Rockies fan and it just so happens that they made it to the WORLD SERIES (for those of you who have been asleep for the last couple days!)! So Rick and Andrew were able to go to one of the playoff games, and that is all that they talk about! My point I was getting at was I am looking for some cool Rockies paraphenalia for him for his birthday, I hate the stuff with huge, obnoxious logos so that only left a few things that I really liked. I am too indecisive, I will probably just wait until he can look with me, although I did find a way cute shirt for yours truely! Well tonight is soccer, the last game for Tyler, and a scrimmage for Drew. I guess Rick and I are flipping the coin to see who gets to stand out in the cold at Tyler's game, or sit in the toasty van at Drew's scrimmage! I'm pretty sure I will get the warm situation, that is just how things work around here!

Fall Favorite!

This is our way of getting ready for Halloween and fall, the kids love decorating around the house and I love baking!

Here is the recipe for these yummy pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

Mix together

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. salt

Mix together and add to first four ingredients

1 tsp. soda

1 Tablespoon milk

Mix together and add

Chocolate chips (as many as you want, I use half a bag of mini chips)

Mix all together and bake at 375 degrees for 8-9 minutes, don't overcook or they will be dry.

Yummy!

Zoo Day!

Tuesday was a free day at the Denver Zoo! It turned out to be a beautiful day, I am loving our fall here in Colorado! I took the two boys that I babysit and we had a great day! I was busy trying to keep track of everyone, so the pictures kind of took a back seat, but I did get one of an Elephant that seemed to be staring at Tyler! We took the train ride and had lunch and then hurried home.

Great Pumpkin Event

This was the first official day of fall break ! I resolved myself to being a fun mom over break this year! Sometimes I can be kinda boring my kids have said in those exact words, and then I tell them back in these exact words "I didn't bring you into this world to be your personal entertainer all day every day"! I know I could have been a little less , well lets face it, MEAN!
So I set off to think of things at least every other day that would be fun and let them do things they don't normally get to do on a regular basis.

This was the Great Pumpkin Event at our local Micheals craft store. So for $5 they were able to decorate these cool craft pumpkins, they are great because they won't rot in a couple weeks.
I have to say, my kids are pretty artistic, although it was hard for me to stand there and just watch, I am somewhat of a perfectionist and I have trouble letting things be! Tyler did need a little guidance with the placement of his eyes and nose, you really need some symmentry with those things.














They had a blast and day one was under my boring old belt!

Catch up Time!!

Where do I even begin!

Well it is Fall Break for our school district and so I have some time to sit down and blog, but I am really hiding out in the office to get some peace and quiet!

I guess I should go back a couple weeks to our outing to Wyoming to watch our nephew K.C. play football. We drove up with Rick's mom and met his Sister and her boys for the game. It was a great night for football, even though the team we were cheering for got smoked! We had a good time and got to visit and the kids got to play. The most interesting part of the trip was the accomodations that the little town of Glenrock, WY had for us! We checked in to the one motel they have which was recently taken over by a bunch of crazies! Our rooms were fine to sleep in for one night, but it was one of those places where you wish you would have brought your own sheets and blankets! We did get brand new towells though, I wouldn't want to have seen the old ones! Our downstairs neighbors were quite the partiers so about 3 am K.C. took matters into his own hands and called the police. So needless to say we were quite tired the next day from the lack of sleep, and for me I just kept thinking about what was crawling around in the mattress we were on!

This is us happy to be out of the less than accomadating motel!

We did find a cute little diner with great food, a far cry from the first place we tried where the waitress didn't even look up at us or offer to seat us, so we left!