Ward Talent Show

Last Saturday evening was our ward(church) Talent Show. Its always a highlight of the year, seeing different people either make fools of themselves or show some real talent:) Kidding! Here are a couple of video clips of acts. And no, we didn't perform anything this year. We're boring I guess. Maybe next year...

And I also thought I'd post a cute clip of Cali enjoying it all. . .

Shoelaces

These were pictures taken a couple of weeks ago that I just came across(Joey was the man behind the camera). Too cute not to post, even if it is a little late:) I love how they both had to taste test the laces. Yum.

Buds

Tile!

I thought I'd finally make it so the first thing you see when you come to my blog isn't the freaky masked picture of Laura. You are welcome:) So, I haven't blogged much this week and I'm blaming the fact that I have spent all of my free time sleeping. Yep, still not feeling completely myself, very very tired. So, anyways, I'm back. Today I've had more energy and I actually didn't nap! So, I thought I would finally post pictures of the beautiful tile Joey put in our bathroom. It turned out PERFECT. Joey can do ANYTHING I swear. I love my handy man.

Before picture(Who puts carpet in a bathroom?? It was even in the toilet area-eewww):

After:

Thank you Joey! You worked for many many days and nights on this project and it turned out amazing! I had no doubt you would do a great job because everything you do is great!

Gotta find the perfect rugs now. . .

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Just thought I'd leave you with one last image of Halloween horror. . .my best friend, Laura.

Happy Halloween

I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Halloween! Here are pictures taken over the past couple of days of some Halloween fun we managed to squeeze in. . .

We carved our pumpkin yesterday, when everyone was finally feeling pretty good. The kids reactions to the goo are always funny. . .

They got over the initial "ewwww"s quickly though.

Joey was the master carver this year. The kids helped him pick out a design on the internet and then he went to town. It turned out so cool! Meet Jack.
Earlier in the week, before I became miserable that is, I made a huge batch of pumpkin chocolate chip muffins-its a seasonal favorite. YUM.

And twice this month we got ourselves a Papa Murphy's Jack O Lantern pizza. The kids love it. This year they were selling them all month long vs. the usual one week, so we couldn't resist ordering twice:) This has become another family tradition.

Friday night the kids painted their little pumpkins from the pumpkin patch. I spent most of the evening on the couch in the living room listening to them while Joey manned everything:( I couldn't even stand for more than 2 minutes without feeling weak and ready to lie back down. But it was good enough to just be able to hear them talking, laughing and creating.
Finished products: L to R, Aubrey's, Joey's, Ella's, Cali's. Great job guys!

All dressed up on Halloween Night and ready for some candy! A witch, Strawberry Shortcake & Belle.
Jack all aglow waiting to greet visitors.

And here is the candy, which they are generously sharing with their parents. Good work kids:) Cali was so thrilled to get so much candy. As many of you know, she is a little bit of a sweet freak(not sure where she gets that:). So for her to be able to go door to door and for people to just hand it to her was a dream come true:) This morning she said, "My be Strawberry Shortcake again? Get more candy?" If only every day could be Halloween Cali. . . if only. Aubrey and Ella were all about going to as many houses as possible and getting as much as possible. Until it started getting chilly and Ella's feet became tired:) Then they came right home, no complaints. They couldn't wait to show me their loot. I did trick or treat with them to a couple of houses near us but then stayed home the rest of the evening. I'm still not feeling great, but I was happy I was able to be well enough to be part of it.

And there you have it, October all wrapped up and over-which I can't believe. Thanksgiving next and then Christmas is already around the corner. How did that happen?! I'm hoping we can have a healthy holiday season coming up since we've already had the flu. Hoping. . .

Back from the dead

So, our family(Ella, Aubrey and I) got hit with the flu bug this week-fun, fun. The kids are feeling much better, no fevers, and I'm on the mend, but still not 100%. Very tired. I'm feeling good enough to blog though and thats what matters! LOL. With this being the week of Halloween, we are having to miss out on a lot of fun stuff, 2 parties this week as well as fun school activities, but luckily, we were invited to a couple of parties over the last 2 weeks, so the kids didn't miss out on everything. Here are pictures of some Halloween fun. . .while we were still living.

Our friends and neighbors, the Schneiders, threw an awesome Halloween Bash. The kids had lots of fun playing games and playing with friends.

Cali catching some MAJOR air on the mini-trampoline. She loved this thing. Santa may have to find one for her. . .

Chillin with friends

Ella getting mummified


One cute lil mummy

Watch out! Shes coming after you!

Our other friends had their party last weekend-lots of fun stuff and goodies! Thanks for inviting us! Pin the skull on the skeleton was one of the favorites. . .

A princess just hangin around

Decorating cupcakes

The little guests enjoying their cupcakes at the little table.

Thank you for having us-both parties were so fun! The kids really enjoyed it. I'm grateful they were able to enjoy some Halloween fun before they all got so sick.

Hope everyone has a Happy Halloween tomorrow! I'm so glad my kids have been fever free for 12 hours already and if they still are tomorrow, then they will get to trick or treat-yea! I'm crossing my fingers.

Ella's first bus ride!

So, I was going to title this "Ella's pumpkin patch field trip", but then I thought, nah. I'll title it what really made her excited-getting to ride a school bus for the first time ever! I was able to go with Ella on her first kindergarten field tip to a nearby pumpkin patch(thanks Joey for watching Cali so I could go!) last Friday. When Ella woke up Friday morning, she was singing, "I get to ride a bus today! I get to ride a bus today!" over and over again. The excitement was so adorable. She could care less where the bus was taking her:)

Here she is with 2 friends waiting for the bus to start moving. When the bus finally did start moving, all the kids were cheering. They were so thrilled to ride a bus "with no seatbelts."

Once we arrived, the first thing we did was feed farm animals. The kids got to feed goats, sheep, cows and even Texas Longhorns(Hook em Horns!)

Ella was a little nervous to feed the cow with the huge mouth, but she did it! And she didn't lose a finger-phew.

One goat grabbed the cup right out of her hands. Totally freaked her out and she ran off! I had to take a picture and while I did some worker came over and grabbed it from the goat like it was an emergency and it could kill him. Oopsie. I just wanted to take a picture! I was going to grab it-honest! Shame on me.

Ella and her empty cup. Good job Ella!

Ella's class
Picking from the patch-it was an actual patch. Pretty cool. I still like Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch better. More fun stuff in my opinion. But picking a pumpkin from an actual patch is pretty awesome too.

Ella and her friends with the pumpkins they picked out. These were the 3 little girls I was in charge of-they were angels.
All in all in was a fun day. There was about an hour of torture while we had to wait for the hayride. It was morning- very cold and very very windy. Kids were shivering and almost purple. Some kids parents didn't dress them warm enough and there were actually some

tears:( But we survived! And once we were on the hayride, they were all smiles again. After the hayride the kids ate their little lunches, played on a playground and then we were back in the bus on our way home. I was so glad I could come. I had missed Ella's first preschool field trip last year and was really disappointed so it was really sweet of Joey to make sure I could go on one this year. It was fun to be there to watch Ella's excitement as the wheels on the bus went round and round:) And now Ella can say she rode the big kid bus(which she is very proud of). Woohoo!

Every last drop

A girl after my own heart. . .

Blue Bell Icecream, we love you.

Joey pretty much ROCKS

I have to take a post to brag a little about my man. As you know, I went on a trip to visit my best friend a couple of weeks ago-not only did he fully support this trip, fund it, take off of work, take care of the kids, feed them, get them to school, give them their baths, etc. but he kept a very clean house! I came home to a house cleaner than I left it. Fo reelz. And I don't keep a horribly messy house. (Right?)

Here is an example. This was the kids pencil/junk drawer. How I left it. (I do organize it every so often but obviously it had been awhile:)

Well, here it is after Joey got to it. Dang, hes good.
He got me caught up on laundry. And while he was at it, he also cleaned out my laundry room. I hadn't done that in a long time. The kids rooms were also super clean. I was like, wow, maybe he should be the Mom-haha:)

Joey, I just had to take a minute to give you a shout-out and tell you how AMAZING I think you are. Thank you for everything you did while I was gone and everything you do on a daily basis to help me out and make my job easier. I love you more than I can ever say. I am a lucky girl! You are so good to me.

Aubrey & Zac

Tender moments between a girl and her puppy. . .