i know i’m a little late posting halloween pics…but i just can’t get it together lately. better late than never i guess.

and i have to admit…it makes me happy when my boys are rollin’ with the same costume theme.

so…

2006 it was Jack Sparrow and his pirate sidekick

2007 it was Anakin Skywalker and Yoda (the cutest ever)

2008 it was Batman and Robin 

2009 it was back to star wars with…

Clone Trooper and Obi-Wan Kenobi

“help me Obi-Wan Kenobi…you’re my only hope”…

hope everyone has a good day

and…

may the force be with you.      

i got a really cute idea to make spiders out of mini pumpkins. so let me show you how easy it is and how cute they turn out.

materials: mini pumpkins, black paint, googly eyes, construction paper, and black pipe cleaners.

step 1: paint the pumpkin black

step 2: after your kids ask a million times if they’re dry yet…and they are…add some googly eyes and a construction paper mouth.

step 3: bend the pipe cleaners to make the legs. poke holes in the pumpkin with a thumb tack where the legs will go. assemble it…

and this is what you get…

seriously. how cute is he…

sometimes…

it’s a beautiful worship song…

that reminds me of God’s grace and stirs my soul.

towards the end of the song is when my heart explodes. seriously. i get chills.

we sing this in church and it’s amazing…

it’s been so long since i’ve blogged and even longer since i’ve written a “oh no he di’nt” post.

but i’m back. 

at least for this post anyway. so with this short segment, i bring to you…part 8.

ok so…

i always fill up a big cup with ice water and set it down on one of the end tables so i can just grab it whenever i’m thirsty.

this would seem like a good idea.

usually.

but yesterday i went to take a big sip of my water and found something in it that i so wasn’t expecting…

can you tell what it is?

it’s a sock.

yes.

a sock.

and it absorbed most of my water, btw.

the first day of school was so much easier than i thought it would be.

no tears and no worries.

we started off the morning with a back to school pancake breakfast…

blueberry pancakes with a banana, M&M, bacon face

Adam seemed to be less stressed when he woke up, and he was ready for his first day of 3rd grade. i was so happy that he wasn’t upset.

Barrett was ready to walk out the door…with his backpack on…15 minutes before it was time to go. He’ll be in the same program as last year…which is 2 and a half hours a day with speech therapy. 

…notice Barrett has something in his hand?…and the sneaky look on his face tells it all. i’m always having to check his pockets for stuff that he sneaks in there.

so while the boys were at school i worked on a back to school cake (with help from hubby )… it’s a brownie cut into the shape of a pencil. i got the idea from the Family Fun website.

check out the giant piece of notebook paper! (it’s a piece of foam board that we decorated with colored pencils)

and all that hard work was devoured in a matter of minutes…

After a massive amount of sugar was consumed…we went outside to play with some water balloons…(a great stress reliever, btw)…

and after John was over filling a million water balloons …they played in the sprinkler

so now it’s back to helping with homework…driving to and from school 6 times a day…and chaperoning field trips.

It’s so nice getting back into a routine though.

and the start of school means that fall is getting closer…my fave…here’s hoping we’ll get some nice fall weather here in the sunshine state.

um. a girl can dream can’t she?

i hope everyone’s having a great start to their school year.

LoVe…

Barrett has been asking for a skateboard ever since he started watching the new Disney XD show- Zeke and Luther.

so we got him one for his birthday.

and he loves it.

but…it’s gonna take awhile before he can actually master skateboarding skills. i mean, he is only 4 years old. but at least he’s starting out early.

and who knows…

he could be another Tony Hawk in the making.

Oh, and Adam wants a skateboard for his birthday now, too. So of course i’m already giving John the plans i have for him to build a half pipe in the backyard…someday.

i’m a dreamer though.  
                                                 

…did i mention that he needs to master the indoors first, before he can attempt the concrete?…

because there ain’t no walls outside…

just sayin’

My little Barrett is 4 years old today…

and the boy loves himself some cake…

1st birthday

2nd birthday

3rd birthday

4th birthday

You’re growing up so fast Barrett. You’re always making me laugh at the silly things you say and do. And when you give me a big hug and say, “I yuh you, mommy!”…my heart melts into a puddle. 

speaking of puddles…  

have I ever mentioned that you’re a little…high maintenance?

backyard mud puddles (2008)

Happy Birthday, sweet boy! I love you more everyday.

Oh…

and for the last 4 years you’ve had to put up with me squeezing your squishy cheeks on a daily basis…but I’ve gotta say…I won’t be stopping anytime soon, because I just can’t help myself.

I yuh you!

{Love, Mommy}

so i was reading my Family Fun magazine and saw this brilliant idea to make a water slide.

we already had everything that was needed so it was perfect.

so first of all…you need…

water and a slide.

in the magazine it tells you to use duct tape to attach the hose to your slide. but John came up with a different plan…

and i saw him go outside with a drill.

when i first looked out the window and saw him drilling…i freaked out a little because i thought he was drilling a hole in the roof of our playset.

he wasn’t though. he was just being creative.

once he got the hose in place, he laid down some cushioning at the bottom of the slide, then we used a “tarp”….which is really an old tent to which we can’t find the poles for.

the boys were so excited to try it out.

they’ve been having so much fun on this. it keeps them entertained…

this is a water park on a super tight budget, y’all.

that’s how we roll.

honestly, I don’t know why these things just randomly pop into Adam’s head.

but…

they do.

so here’s a short conversation I had with him the other day…

Adam: when I’m married…and my wife’s about to have a baby in the middle of the night…I am not gonna want to drive her to the hospital.

Me: why not?

Adam: because I would be way too tired…

Me: well, how would she get to the hospital then?

Adam: she can take the bus.

So, we thought it would be fun to do this family night while my nieces were visiting. They spent the night at our house and we had a circus theme night.

First, we decorated and tried to make a circus tent that went over the table…but it didn’t work out so well. So we put it behind the table instead. It still turned out cute though. 

 
Dinner was hot dogs, soft pretzels and popcorn. I had found some cute popcorn holders a few months ago that I saved in my family night stash. I printed out some clown pages for them to color while they ate.

I had also picked up some some clown noses, glasses and glow sticks at the dollar store. The glow sticks actually turned out to be glow necklaces.

They looked so funny…they kept laughing at each other.  

The dessert for the night was cotton candy. Which equals lots of sugar. Oh my. What was I thinking?

We played pin the nose on the clown. I printed a clown face from the internet and cut clown noses out of red construction paper.

Then they “walked the tightrope”…a piece of masking tape across the coffee table.

And then there was…

the aftermath

…actually this was nothing compared to what their rooms looked like.

Circus night was a success and I’m glad that Haleigh and Michaela got to share it with us.

It was fun and we laughed a lot.