Prepping for Halloween

When I was a kid, I loved Halloween just like every other kid. Who wouldn't? But, once I got into my teenage and adult years, I really haven't enjoyed it all that much. But since I've had kids and they are now old enough to get really excited for all of the different Halloween activities, I have rediscovered the joy of Halloween. This year, I've been really excited to help the kids pick out costumes and decorate the house. We've made halloween cookies, read halloween books, listened to my old halloween records from when I was little, and today we went to Pack's Pumpkin Patch in Farmington to pick out some pumpkins to make Jack-o'-lanterns. It was so much fun! The kids loved picking out the pumpkins. Naturally, Mason wanted the biggest pumpkin he could find. And also very naturally for her, Mallorie wanted the smallest, cutest, little fella she could find! They were so excited to look at all the pumpkins and pick out what they thought was the best one. They also had a hay maze, which was probably more fun to the kids than even picking the pumpkins was. They spent about 20 minutes running through the maze and left it very reluctantly because I told them we wouldn't get their pumpkins if they didn't come out. Then we tooak pictures at one of those cutout wood pictures that the kids put their faces in. And, because it was just the three of us and I wanted a picture of me with each of the kids, I gave them each a turn taking a picture. They did pretty good! But of course, the funnest part was coming home and carving the pumpkins. We have some of the little carving tools that work really well and are not as sharp as knives. The kids were able to carve their pumpkins pretty much on their own and I was surprised at how well they stayed on the line. They wouldn't stick their hands in to get all the guts out of the pumpkins, so they used spoons to scoop it all out. We had so much fun with all the Halloween stuff today and I loved to see their little faces light up when they told Jeff about it when he got home. They were so proud of their jack-o'-lanterns, and I'm so proud of them. There is nothing better than being a parent! There were more than a few pictures, so I made a slide show, enjoy!

One Word Answers Tag!

The rules: Answer the following questions with one word answers and pass it on to seven others.

Here are the questions:
1. Where is your cell phone? pocket
2. Where is your significant other? work :(
3. Your hair color? brown
4. Your mother? friend
5. Your father? leader
6. Your favorite thing? family
7. Your dream last night? hmmm
8. Your dream/goal? eternity
9. The room you're in? livingroom
10. Your hobby? music
11. Your fear? dying
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? home
13. Where were you last night? couch
14. What you're not? shallow
15. One of your wish-list items? freedom
16. Where you grew up? suburbia
17. The last thing you did? work
18. What are you wearing? jeans
19. Your TV? big
20. Your pet? Mason :)
21. Your computer? desktop
22. Your mood? better
23. Missing someone? Jenny
24. Your car? white
25. Something you're not wearing? ring
26. Favorite store? undecided
27. Your summer? stressful
28. Love someone? Jeffrito!
29. Your favorite color? red
30. When is the last time you laughed? constantly
31. Last time you cried? yesterday

Tag: Lucky seven! Jenny, Katie, Missy, Meredith, Jackie, Tiff, Lis (stuck with the relatives this time!) So, as always, if you don't do this tag, I won't be offended, but I thought it was kinda fun!

Ah, the good ole days!

My recent all-nighter with the B-52's got me thinking a lot about the 90's and I've been listening to the 90's station on XM radio. It's great!! Now, I know I don't seem like it, but yes, I am almost 32 (holy crow!) and my high school years were in the early 90's. I loved high school and my young adult years just following, so I wanted to share some of the things that this music reminds me of:

Hammer Pants
"The Claw" Bangs
Boys II Men
Girbaud Jeans
90210
OJ Simpson
Ace of Base
Gulf War "Free Kuwait"
The internet (hard to believe, but I didn't use the internet until college!)
Sega
U2
Ear piercings all the way up the ear (not me, but it was a trend)
The Real World (we didn't have cable, but I remember people talking about it)
Dance music was huge! Techno was just getting big...
Mariah Carey
B.U.M.
KISN 97
Guess
Espirit
Aerosmith, our senior song was "Livin on the Edge" I think.
Saved by the Bell
NKOTB (if you don't know, you're too young to remember!)
perms
Grunge music, specifically Nirvana
Friends

I know there is much more that I haven't listed, so if this list conjures up some memories for you, leave a comment or post a list on your blog. I'd love to hear what everyone remembers!

Tin Roof! Rusted!

Sometimes when I get woken up in the middle of the night, like tonight, the little squirrels in my head start running on their wheels and I can't get my brain to go back to sleep again no matter how tired my body is. Thus, it is now 4:00am and I'm blogging. I've been up since about 12:30 with Mallorie. She is sick and throwing up, poor baby! Now don't worry, she hasn't been up this whole time. She was off and on from 12:30 to 3:00, but has been asleep for awhile now. But not me! My mind is a-racing and its useless to even try anymore. So while I'm laying on the couch next to Peanut trying to force myself to sleep, I've been thinking about all the things that need to be done, and all the bills that need to be paid, which Presidential candidate to vote for, where to live, and worrying about life in general. And while all this is running through my mind, I'm also headin' down the Atlanta highway, lookin' for the love getaway - that's right in the background of my thinking is the song "Love Shack" by the B-52's....mmm hmm. Over and over and over again. And it doesn't stop! What a funky little shack.

Stages of Grief

You know how "they" always talk about the five stages of grief? Well, in dealing with my orphanism, I think I've finally made it to the final stage, acceptance! For anyone who I haven't complained to about it yet, my parents are moving to Denver at the end of this month. And it really sucks!! My sister and her family moved there 4 or 5 years ago. They've pretty much lived out of state for the last 10 years, so I miss them but I'm used to them being gone. Then my brother and his family moved there about 2 years ago, and now my parents are moving there. What's so great about Denver anyway? Its supposedly colder in the winter, a lot more liberal politically (obviously, since the Democratic convention was there) AND, I hate the Nuggets. So, I don't know what the draw is. But, I went through the denial for about a week. Then, the anger, bargaining and depression were all kind of mixed in together and that lasted these last few months. Although I didn't realize I was depressed until now when I have started feeling better. And now I feel like I'm gonna be okay. Its only 7 hours away and I can still talk to them on the phone everyday. I've got my wonderful Jeffy and the kids to keep me busy and happy. And I couldn't ask for better in-laws and friends! So, while its not going to be the same, and I will miss them terribly, I have accepted that they are doing what's best for them and I can handle it. I know this sounds really silly, but I have really felt like I was becoming an orphan since they "announced" it to me earlier this year. But I feel like I'm finally out of the depression and can enjoy the sun again. Yeah for me! Now I can move on to the next crisis. Ha ha, jk! Maybe I can avoid any major life crises for awhile.