THREE IMPORTANT HALLOWEEN ITEMS...

I have 3 important things to share with you for this very important upcoming holiday.  The first item of business is the Willams-Sonoma carving kit.  My wonderful, and festive mother bought me this kit quite a few years ago and it is still going strong!  It has all the important items needed to carve that perfect pumpkin!  The second photo is my beautiful girl today after she carved her first pumpkin.  I started each shape and she took her Pampered Chef kids knife and finished each shape.  She was so proud of herself she was beaming!  We had the best afternoon!  The final photo is of the kids' teachers' halloween treats.  The cat bucket was for Em's kindergarten teacher and the ghost was for Ben's 4th grade teacher.  They included matching halloween kitchen towels, homemade blueberry pecan muffins and a battery operated candle.  They turned out too cute so I had to share.  I got all but the muffins in the dollar bin at Target.  Love that spot!

This afternoon I made the perfect 1950's dinner which included a green veggie and dessert (Aunt Ethel's marble squares).   I love those dinners, it makes me feel like such a great homemaker.  I set the table with placemats and halloween napkins, baked rolls that I had to let rise for 3-5 hours and served homemade marble squares, warm with milk.  It is the little things that make me happy.

I had an awesome birthday, and the day after I turned 38 I started substitute teaching...what a day that was...but that's a story for next time.  Have a great night and I'll be back!

2 Posts in 1 Day!!!

Look at that...2 posts in one day!  And do you know why?  BECAUSE I AM SICK!  I am being punished for saying I never get sick.  Nice uh?  Well, today I feel a little better, I hope I am on the mend and my husband and my p's have been very helpful with the kiddos so I can lay around, sleep and try to feel better.  I do remember one of the best parts of being sick as a kid, watching way too much tv!  And kids today have it so much better!  On Demand, dvd's, videos and cable as well as the computer make being sick a chance to catch up on all those movies I've been dying to see but haven't had the time to see yet.  So far I've taken in 27 Dresses (loved it), Atonement (awesome!), and The Last King of Scotland (ouch!).  I've also watched some oldies but goodies including "Beautiful Girls" and "Because I Said So".  Here is a pic of my little kindergarten cutie today when she got home from school.  Right now she's with her grandparents having some lunch, doing a bit of shopping and hanging out (so mom can rest.)  Thus, the double post today.   Be sure to look at my sissy's pantry project below.  And, this hanging out has made me start thinking of my Christmas card design and it's coming right along!!!  Yippeeeee!!!

The Pantry Project

I went to Kiki's house last weekend to help her clean out her pantry...honestly it wasn't that bad!  I took some before and after pictures to show our progress.  Note the "Cupcake drawer" above...only Aunt Kiki has a drawer with cupcake papers and sprinkles for every holiday.  A whole DRAWER!!!  It was fun to go through a real cook's pantry.  There are so many cool dips and sauces that I wouldn't know what to do with...an entire wall of cookbooks she loves too much to toss...and some really cool cooking appliances (she actually uses them!)  I love that she could probably put together an amazing 6 course meal at a moment's notice while I am sure I don't even have all the ingredients for sloppy joes.  It was a nice Saturday morning, just add two happy playing kids and a cup of hot coffee and it was a great day.  Now, Kiki has a clean pantry and I got to spend a morning with my sissy...it's a win win!  (and Megan, if you say anything snotty I am banning you from my blog!)  jk

Day 3...MGM Studios

Hello Prince Caspian!  On Saturday (after we called Dr. Lee to get some albuteral and a nebulizer) we traveled to MGM and had a great afternoon!  We rode Star Tours, saw the Indiana Jones stunt show, and the Muppet 3-D movie!  Ben got to make his own light saber and we obviously saw Prince Caspian and went on the Narnia tour.

We really had a great time and rented a stroller so Em wouldn't have to walk and be in the hot sun.  I thought she was on the mend but little did I know the worst was yet to come!  We also saw Jon and Kate plus 2 again that morning. They were all dressed up...couldn't have been heading to a park since the weather was hot and humid and not at all dress up weather!  It was a fun afternoon and we managed to do quite a few things in just a few hours. I was disappointed that the HSM parade wasn't happening, they were getting ready to do a HSM3 revamp...doesn't that figure??

Hey, I was looking up Jon and Kate plus 8 on google last night and came across a blog written by "Aunt Jodi's" sister.  WOW  very eye opening and lots of info regarding how things really are.  I tend to believe her because what she says makes sense and Aunt Jodi is on her blog in a video clip.  Also, did anyone catch Kate and the 6 littles on GMA this morning?  How did she get from FL with the twins to NY with the little kids so fast?  It's interesting!  Anyway, have a great Thursday.  I know I am...everyone went to school today and I got to shower, get dressed (in cute clothes) and head out to do some errands. I can get quite a bit done in 2 hours!  I picked up some coffee at Bed Bath and Beyond (yum yum...they had Pumpkin Spice Green Mt. k cups!)  then to Michaels where I picked up some scrapbooking items 40% off...then on to Target where I found 2 cute sweaters for ME...and a cutie pumpkin chair cover for Em's big girl chair (that hides the taped up part my darling hubby "fixed")  Also, all Archer Farms snacks are 15% off today.  I got some yummy dried fruit to snack on and some raspberry yogurt bars.  One last "yummy"...have you ever tried "IZZE"  sparkling fruit drink?  It's good and counts as 1 serving of fruit!  How great is that?  Well, on to make some sauce for dinner tonight. (Tae Kwon Do night!)  Tomorrow will reveal the fun day we had on Sunday....emergency room and all!)

Disney Continued...Day 2 (Friday)

Day 2 of our trip was our first day at the Magic Kingdom...yippee!  I took my smart cousin Sara's advice and made sure we were there to see the rope drop.  I was FIRST...YES FIRST in line at the boat dock to get on the boat to go to the MK and my family thought I was nuts but then, when the boat arrived and the line was WAY WAY long I was then the family SUPER HERO!!  We saw the train arrive with all the characters and the song being sung and the MK was decorated all cool for halloween and we enjoyed Fantasyland and got on rides quickly and rode Splash Mountain and the Peter Pan ride and Chris rode the Dumbo ride with the kiddos and we had a lot of fun.  We wandered around, saw characters (Donald Duck etc.) and ate lunch and then headed back to the room for some much needed rest about 2pm.  That evening we got the kids dressed in their costumes (Em, a HSM cheerleader and Ben a Star Wars dude) and traveled back to MK for dinner (hot dogs, corn dogs, yummy) and had the BEST time of the whole trip!  We rode rides (Em was a bit sad she was too small for Space Mt.) and watched the Halloween parade (started with the real headless horseman) and saw the absolute BEST fireworks display EVER!!!!  It was really fun to wander the park at dark and see all the crazy costumes.  The kids got pictures and autographs with Pooh and Eeyore and got to trick or treat throughout the park.  It was a GREAT night...definitely a highlight of our trip!  And we got home and crawled into bed about 11:30 or so...lots of fun!

What a Trip!

Well, we did it!  We surprised the kiddos Thursday morning with our trip to Disney...they were VERY VERY VERY surprised!  Chris surprised all of us and upgraded our seats to business class...WOW!  We were spoiled and now only want to fly that way!  The trip to Disney went without a hitch and when we got to the hotel Mom got the biggest surprise...Guess who I saw walking out of the lobby when I was walking in????  JOHN AND KATE PLUS 8!!!! (only they were John and Kate plus 2...just the twins).  We ended up seeing them 4 or 5 times during our stay.  They stayed in our hotel on the top level and were escourted around by Disney employees.  I never saw anyone bother them but it took all I had not to say.."Hey, big fan, can I have a photo???"  Chris did get a shot of them at a distance but you have to look closely to see it's them.  I recognized Kate by her hair and when I first realized who it was I was shocked!  It must have shown on my face because I looked right and saw John and he kind of laughed at my reaction.  Emily, Ben and Chris saw them too.  I've never been "star struck" in my life but I was over the moon to see them and I don't know why.  I guess I had Gosslins on the brain because I fell asleep watching the show the night before we left and thought about them and the trip they took to Disney on the plane (really thinking how much easier it is to travel with my 2 now that they are bigger and helpful.)  Anyway, it was like seeing the Mouse for me!  Rather cool. 

The first day we hung out at the hotel, swam, shopped at the gift shop and had an early dinner and went to bed early so we could go to the MK the next day....more on that tomorrow.  But here's a teaser...the parks are so cool all decorated for Halloween!!!!

THE COUNT DOWN BEGINS! Shhhhh!

Two days and counting until we leave for the happiest place on earth...of course my big fear is someone is going to wake up the morning of the 9th with a raging fever and vomiting...do we stay or do we go?  I am already making my bargins with God...just let us get through the next week without any illnesses and I will (fill in the blank.)  I know that doesn't work but the pressure is crazy!

Other happening news...Mamma and I are going to Oprah (the female happiest place on earth...next to Nordstrom) and we are excited.  I am crossing my fingers it's someone famous or there is a free giveaway of some kind.  I will let you know.

Of course my kids still have NO IDEA we are going to Disney so shhhhh!  And because I am trying to pull off this massive secret they've both been invited to birthday parties I've had to call and lie about and Ben has a big project due the day after we get back!  Uh!  So we finished that tonight and it's going to school tomorrow.  Cross your fingers we can pull this off without anyone getting ill!!!  (or finding out our secret!)  Shhhh!

Saturday...Saturday...Saturday!

Don't you just love Saturdays?  Of course for me they are turning into days where there are so many things I want to do I can't make up my mind and end up starting a dozen different projects and finishing none.  Today, well, we will see.  Lauren called last night to see if she could "take the kids" today...what?   You think you have to ask?  Silly girl!  So I may have a couple of hours to myself...I'm thinking a bit of fall shopping?  We'll see.  

Last night the kids got to hang out with their buddy Gavin while the mommies went to make Stampin' Up cards.  FUN!!!  When I got home we put the kiddos to bed and started this crazy movie called "Little Children"  with Kate Winslet.  Really, not my favorite but one of those we just couldn't pull ourselves away from thus, the Dows were up until 12:30!!!  Uddy was having a heart attack!  He's so used to going to bed by 10 (wow...how marriage changes you!)  So, he and Em are still sleeping (at 8:45am) and Ben and I are hanging in the family room, happy that it's Saturday!

By the way, if you are a scrapbooker, you need to visit Stacy Julian's site...she put up an Oct. 1 challange and it's easy and cool and I can't wait to get started.  Today is my day!  Check it out!  I always like to post a photo so here is the girl doing her homework.  Isn't she cute???

Happy 39th Birthday Chris!

Happy Birthday my sweet, sweet husband.  I will post the official "Birthday Festivities" another post (what's appropriate to post...haha!)  But today, I would like to reflect on all the reasons I love you.  So  here it is...my list of 39 reasons I love you...(ready?)

1.  You are cute

2.  You used to be very patient (you say I beat it out of you but I know it's still there somewhere)

3.  You're cute

4.  You are always willing to rearrange your schedule to help me when I need it.

5.  You're cute

6.  You listen to Radio Disney in the car with the kids.

7.  You're cute

8.  You walk with me an hour almost every weekday morning!

9.  You're cute

10.  You put me to bed almost every night.

11.  You're cute

12.  A good meal and a trip to Barnes and Noble is truly a good date night for u

13.  You're cute

14.  You gave me 2 beautiful children

15.  You're cute

16.   You never complain about all the bad meals I make

17.  You're cute

18.  You're fun to be with

19.  You're cute

20.  You encourage me to find time to scrapbook and do things I enjoy

21.  You're cute

22.  You watch House Hunters with me

23.  You're cute

24.  You take care of all the business type things in our house like registration stickers for our license plates and insurance cards

25.  You're cute

26.  You spoil me!

27.  You're cute

28.  You are a good sharer!

29.  You're cute

30.  You iron

31.  You're cute

32.  You always open doors for me

33.  You're cute

34.  You surprise me with coffee in the middle of the day

35.  You're cute

36.  You are ALWAYS willing to go for ice cream

37.  You're cute 

38.  You make me laugh

39.  YOU'RE REALLY REALLY REALLY CUTE!

Love you!

me