Halloween!

Boo!

Scared ya, didn't I? If not...well then maybe this will:

We had a great Halloween and we are still enjoying the benefits from the 3 times we went trick or treating (yes, 3 times!)

This year I organized a Halloween Craft Exchange with four of my friends. We each created five crafts (all the same) and then we exchanged them with each other. It was fun and I really loved getting cute Halloween decorations. For Halloween being my favorite holiday, I suck at the decorating and getting into the spirit of it all thing. BUT, I got better this year. Here are some pictures of my decorations:

I spent a lot of money on that Durling pumpkin...shhh, don't tell Patrick. When I got it, I was a little disappointed because I realized that I probably could have carved it myself for half the price. At least it is a fake pumpkin and I will be able to enjoy it for years to come...I look at it this way...in 20 years, that pumpkin will have cost me $1.75 per year...I guess it's not THAT bad!

I borrowed my friend's Cricut Die Cutting machine for a different project and I had these cute little monster patterns at my fingertips so I decided to make some new friends...they were cute hanging on my "Look What I Did" wall. Hey, a mother can show off her work too!

The blocks were part of the craft exchange...LOVE THEM! They are actually double sided and are currently still on my piano with Thanksgiving sayings on them. The candy jar was also part of the craft exchange. It came with a bunch of candy corn and a cute little pinwheel in it. The candy corn didn't last long nor did the two other types of candy I used to replenish it with. I bought the "spooky" sign at Michaels for $5. It was cute and worth the money.

This table runner was from the craft exchange as well. It too was double sided, but I preferred to keep it on the side with the witches hat and wand with the saying of "something wicked this way comes!"

On top of the table runner sat what I had made for the craft exchange. I couldn't for the life of me get a good picture of it. I gathered sticks from the local park and using the Cricut die cutting machine, I cut out leaves of different types of Halloween paper. I used wire and attached the leaves to the sticks. I filled a vase with black and purple marbles and VOILA! A fake dead Halloween tree thingy.

This looked really good on my door. It too was from the craft exchange. It just matched my screen door so well. I know that sounds weird, but whatever.

While picking up children from school, we drove by this house:

Yes, that Jack O' Lantern is bigger than the house...just thought I'd share.

Speaking of Jack O' Lanterns...I hate carving pumpkins. I really do, it's messy and slimy and I am always the one who ends up cleaning the mess up...AND the seeds really aren't that great either. So, I found these awesome no carving - Mr. Potato head like things to plug into the pumpkins and the kids seemed to be just fine with decorating their pumpkins this way:

Apparently after awhile, these Mr. Potato pumpkins weren't good enough so Raya asked if she could carve another pumpkin she got from a church activity. I told her as long as I didn't see any traces that she did it when she was done, she could carve her pumpkin. I knew it wasn't going to be 100% clean when she was done, but I was pretty confident that it would be pretty good...that is, until the neighbor came down with like 3 of his home grown pumpkins and asked to carve them with Raya:

Of course, they didn't clean up the mess, and I...once again, cleaned it up! Well, Raya did help, but I'm a perfectionist ya know.

Don't be scared at the above photo! It's just a huge spider web that Ethan and Carly made in Carly's room. Oh and the mess...that's part of the trap...ok, it wasn't and yes, my kids' rooms "occasionally" get THIS messy. I do have to say that it was pretty creative on their part and as much as I would have loved to keep it up, when both Malia and I tripped over some of the string, it had to come down...I couldn't even get to Carly's bed safely...so, I had to do what I always do and take the cobwebs down.

My sister invited us to her work to go trick or treating. After getting lost (while using my GPS...imagine that!), we made it there and the kids filled a bucket full of candy...They had a little party room where we went after trick or treating and there was more treats including this:

Can you say "disgusting"??? This is cake...yes, cake...I took a picture because I am going to make this one day...I just won't eat it.

Later that day, we headed over to the Trunk Or Treat at the church where we filled up another bucket of candy...Here are my kiddos in all their Halloween glory:

After all these festivities, we still had Halloween to go. Because we already had a ton of candy, I just took the kids around the block. Raya didn't even go with us because she ended up going to a Haunted House with her friend Sierra. She really is growing up...no more trick or treating...I guess it's haunted houses and hanging out for her from now on.

Halloween was great. Now on to Thanksgiving and Christmas...Wow, I can't believe it's almost 2012!!! Where does the time go?

Twins

I forgot that I wanted to post these pictures. Ethan had a homework assignment that required the help of a parent. He was given a doll shaped piece of cardstock and was instructed to create his "twin". We could do whatever we wanted with one rule which was that it needed to resemble himself. With his mother (that's me) being a photographer...it was only fitting that we use a photograph for his face. I just happened to be borrowing a friends Cricut (computerized die cutting machine) and was able to pull some scrap scrabook paper out and get the shoes, shirt, shorts, and even hands cut. It would not have been complete without the batman logo for the shirt. How cute is this:

And here are my twins...

"BollyBall"

"Mommy...Are we going to Raya's Bolly Ball" ~Carly Fox

Like my previous post mentioned, Raya is on the volleyball team at her school. At her first game I came prepared with my camera to take some awesome pictures of her, but just before her game began, Carly saved herself from falling headfirst onto some concrete, but in doing so, she hit her nose on a metal pole and after we cleaned up the what seemed to be a never ending gush of blood, I could see that she bruised the heck out of it...so much so, I thought it could possibly be broken:

Fortunately for me, a friend of mine whose daughter was on the opposing team, was there and she just so happens to be a nurse. She took a look at it and told me that even if it were broken, they (the doctors) wouldn't do anything about it because they don't want to XRay the face. So, as Carly sat and pretty much cried the entire hour, I took the few pictures you saw in the previous post. Here's Carly the day after:

You can see that it is still swollen (was swollen for over a week) and a little bruised around the inside of the eyes. Ethan just so happended to have a doctor appointment the day after Carly hit her nose and so I asked the doctor if he could take a look. He said that her nose wasn't broken, just bruised and swollen. Phew!

Yesterday's game prove to be a much better experience for both Carly and I. Here are just a few more photos of miss Raya...She's really taking to this volleyball thing...I almost wanted to get out on the court and play with the girls...almost...

Top 5 Reasons Blogging Has Been Sparce!

I really love blogging. I do, but life happens and more important things get first dibs on my valuable time. I've compiled a Top 5 list of items that have really helped in the staleness of my blog. They are:

5. Fundraising...

It's that time again. Raya brought home an Incredible Edibles fundraiser and the day after those were due, she brought home a magazine subscription fundraiser. Malia and Ethan have gotten their annual Jog A Thon Fundraiser going on now and if this year is anything like the past 5 years, they will be bringing home another fundraiser for yummy desserts shortly after the Jog A Thon is over...seriously...I'm broke and I'm tired of hitting up people for $$$!

4. Homework...

Although this is a picture of the King of Homework Quickness...Homework really sucks around here. Some nights are better than others, but it's been quite a challenge making sure the girls have their homework completed before 10pm... The next few items on my list will give you reason as to why homework is getting done so late!

3. Extracuricular Activities...

With 3 kids in soccer, 3 times a week, one would think that would be crazy enough. Any normal person would think so, but not us...The Durlings can't get enough crazy so we twisted Raya's arm and forced her (ok, maybe it was the other way around) to join her school's volleyball team. Not only does she have practice twice a week, she also has 2 games a week all the while keeping up with her soccer team and school work. It wouldn't be too much of an issue except that the games are all the way out in Carmichael which causes for about a 30 minute drive both ways which is why this (along with many other reasons):

is my second home!

2. Yard work:

Yes, we are still not finished and I really don't want to talk about it so don't ask...

And the number one reason why blogging has been stalled...

LAUNDRY...it never ends!

Capital City Air Show

Oh My....How I LOVE the Air Show! It's always a treat for me when we get to go! I don't know what it is about the those planes flying so close and doing such amazing things that makes me feel so good inside.

My sister got free tickets through her work and Patrick got free parking at his work (just a quarter mile away from Mather Air Force Base) and we enjoyed spending September 11th in awe of planes and reenactments throughout different eras.

My dad called after he found out we were heading to the show and told us to make sure we wore good soled shoes. He then proceeded to tell us about the time he took us as kids and that my sister and I wore Jelly Shoes which melted to the blacktop. I totally remember that and feeling kind of scared that my feet were going to melt to the blacktop too. I also remember getting a frozen lemonade and the refreshing feeling it gave me on that very HOT day. Another quick memory from an air show was remembering how tired I was and we had a long trip home (air show was probably an hour away up at Beale Air Force Base). Someone was telling us about a plane that went 60 miles in one minute. I remember trying to do the math at how long it would take to get home if we were on the jet. I remember going to quite a few air shows as a child. Perhaps that is why I enjoy them so much as an adult.

It was super loud so we got some earplugs for the kids. It was also pretty windy and poor Ethan thought for sure that there was going to be a tornado. He was really worked up about a tornado for some reason as it was windy. The weather was great, the company was greater, and the planes were simply amazing!

Let the Soccer Games Begin...

Here we go again...3 kids playing soccer. 6 practices per week. 3 Games each Saturday...The crazy things us parents do for our children. Here are my soccer stars in action!