Pumpkin Carving

We had a very lazy day today, so it was nice to do something constructive..... Carve Pumpkins!

Amy, of course, was overjoyed to do this, as was I. I love playing in all the goop. Will and Lee weren't so excited. I like how the girls and boys stuck together.

Amy and the girls pumpkin

Will and the boys

Oh yeah!!!

Hard at work

By now the pumpkins were carved and she was just playing in the goop

More playing

And yet, even more. Like mother like daughter!!

Our mess

The finished results......
The one on the left is the boys- it's supposed to be Ironman.
The one on the right is the girls- it's supposed to be a cat
We free-hand it here!

The outside of our house, right now.
I have 2 black lights and a fog machine that I hope to rig up before Monday.
I just hope I can find some fog solution!! 

Just Some Pictures

I can't remember if I ever posted any of these pictures. if I did, just enjoy them again and forgive me, as I no longer have a memory. 

Lee took this awhile ago on his camera phone. I think Will liked being a cowboy. 

Amy's latest fascination with worms has resulted in a lot of baths! One day I filled the tub with bubbles- Amy loved it, Will not so much. Everytime he wiped his face, more bubbles got all over him and he did not like that. Maybe it'll be awhile yet, before he can appreciate a good bubble bath. 

He's so funny dragging this little stool all around. It's opened up a whole new world to him! This time he's saying "Ummmm!" as he looks at the freshly baked muffins. 

Our old trusty wagon. I took the kids for a walk and on the way filled it with leaves that were all over the road. They thought this was so much fun.  

Amy and I at the ward Trunk or Treat party last night. I never even put Will in his costume! I couldn't find a long-sleeved white shirt for him and it was freezing out. Oh well. I wasn't even going to dress-up, until I found this hat for $5, so I just gathered random stuff and mad myself into a witch. Lee didn't dress up either. Just the girls this year! 

For the party, there was also a chili cook-off. I've only made mom's chili one time, and it didn't turn out really good, so I wasn't even going to attempt it again. But a friend of mine convinced me that there wasn't going to be enough food, so I caved. I thought it turned out good- pretty close to mom's. 

Anyway- at the party- NO ONE ate it. I mean, no one, except me. All of the other 11 pots were completely empty, mine was full, and I brought it all home. Isn't that unreal? Oh man! What did I do wrong??!! Lee said that mine looked more like a soup, and the others were thick, so that was why. But that's just how mom always made it, so I didn't think anything of it. Anyways- when we got home, I called and told her and she was just as amazed as I was. And I think disappointed! I'm sorry Mom- I still love it- and now I have a year's supply to indulge on! 

My other 2 attempts at food collapsed as well. I made chocolate chip muffins. Just plain old white, chocolate chip muffins. They tasted like corn bread. Really! It was the craziest thing!!  And then I made a loaf of white bread. It baked for longer than usual, it looked done, and I was afraid of burning it, so I took it out. But when I cut it open, I realized it still hadn't cooked enough as it was slightly doughy inside. So, that flopped as well. 

Let's just say that yesterday was not my finest cooking day! Oh well, what can you do??!! 

Introducing Halloween 2011

And I thought this year's Halloween was going to be a bust..... since we've all been sick in our own way (Amy- cold, Will- seizure, me- nausea, Lee- he's the only one healthy!) Then we kept asking Amy what she wanted to be for Halloween. At first she said a zebra, but I didn't know how to attempt the head for that (I've since found an easy way). I like family themed costumes, so we debated about pirates. Then Amy kept insisting she wanted to be a princess. But her "princess" was just wear her blue dress-up dress and I wasn't for that.

Then today I searched kids costumes on Pinterest (my favorite new site) and sat down with Amy to see if we could come up with anything doable. There were a lot that she found hilarious, but nothing she wanted to be. Then she saw it...... Rapunzel and her chameleon, Paschal..... and did Amy want to be the princess, Rapunzel???  (If you mentally said "yes," then you don't know her very well). Nope she wanted to be Rapunzel's pet chameleon, Paschal. I asked what Will should be- and she said, "Flynn Rider!" (if these names mean nothing to you, you need to see the movie Tangled.)

So here they are..... Flynn Rider and Paschal.....

I hate to brag, but I think they are just adorable! I'm so excited how they turned out. And they were the easiest costumes EVER!! (Not that I put a lot of time into Halloween costumes, I mean, they wear it for one night. It's not like anyone is going to inspect)

For Paschal, I just bought a green sweatsuit and sewed on eyes, a bow (Amy's request) and a tail.
For Flynn Rider, I used felt. The blue I already had, and I bought a 1/2 yd of the brown and made up the pieces. No pattern or anything- just sewed until it looked right.

Easiest costumes EVER.

And you should see how excited Amy is. She has worn that thing all day long. And Will, well, I don't think he cares too much. She tried to get me to make Will a wig (since Flynn has brown hair) but I knew Will wouldn't go for that.

So now my kids are ready for the church Trunk or Treat on Friday and actual Trick or Treating on Monday. Lee and I will have to sit this year out. I have no desire to be Mother Gothel or to try and figure out how to make Lee into Maxmius, the horse. But maybe next year. :)

A Sunday At Home

Since Amy still wasn't feeling great, and we were a little reluctant to release Will just yet, I stayed home with the kids while Lee went to church. He had to teach a class, or I'm sure he wouldn't stayed home too.

I needed to find stuff for Amy to do, so the first task was finishing her owls. I saw this idea online and it worked great. You just take empty toilet paper rolls, tape down the top and then paint, add eyes, beak and wings and voila! You are done.

As you can imagine- she loved it. And her and Will have been having a blast playing with them.

After a costume change "because she wanted the bugs to know she was nice," (her new shirt says "it's nice to be nice") I let them play outside for awhile. Amy promptly found worms- her new fascination.....

I can't remember if all three survived- I think at least 2 made it back into the ground. After that fun- prompt bath time was required. Ugh! All the worm juice. (shivering)

Then it still wasn't bed time so Amy convinced me to make some cookies with her. She didn't want chocolate chip, but wanted "shape" ones. Sometimes I don't know why I start these projects with her. I was really too tired to mess with it, so I did get a little frustrated with the mess she so desperately wanted to make. But it was an easy recipe and clean-up wasn't too bad either. Little Will found us and more importantly- saw what we were doing. And he loved it!

He was trying to swipe another cookie. His cheeks are usually puffy- but in this case it's full of cookie. Finally, it was bedtime! We've been putting the kids to bed really early lately (like 6 or 6:30pm) because they don't sleep well. A friend gave me a sleep book that suggests putting them to bed earlier and amazingly- it's worked! Amy is sound asleep by 7:30 and sleeps until 7:30am. Wonderful!!! Will is a little different, but that's going to take some training and patience.

This morning we saw Wills' pediatrician and he wants him to be seen by the pediatric neurologist. Which doesn't surprised us any. So we don't have any news to report on the Will front. But after that appointment, we should know more.

So that's our life. I'm ready for a nap!

A Visit to the MMC

When I was younger MMC meant the Mickey Mouse Club- and I died for the opportunity to visit them. But here in Murfreesboro, the MMC stands for Murfreesboro Medical Center, and I was less that enthusiastic to visit.

Immediately after breakfast our sweet little Will fell into a seizure. If you remember, he had 2 earlier this summer- I was hoping they were the last. I was actually ok with it, I was holding him, I wasn't scared, knew what to do.... until he started turning blue. You literally saw all the color drain from his lips and suddenly his hands, lips, everything was blue. Lee shouted, "Oh my gosh, he's not getting any oxygen!" Lee immediately called 911, I rolled him on his side and we were scared.

Amy was our photographer here

The ambulance got here in record time and by then the initial shaking was over and he was starting to regain color. I got to ride in the ambulance (its more jerky than I would have thought), holding him and thankfully we are really close to the hospital. By the time we got there, he was coming out of it.

After a few initial tests, and a call to his pediatrician (whom we haven't seen yet but have an appointment in 2 weeks) they were a little concerned because he didn't have a fever. The last 2 were ruled as Fibral Seizures which are caused by a sudden rise (or drop) in body temperature. But since he hasn't had a fever and didn't have one, I'm sure more testing will be done.

Lee said, "Why are you taking a picture? This isn't a birthday party." 

We were really scared for out little guy! It's so sad to see your baby in that state! We have a doctors appointment on Monday morning and from there the doctor will determine if more testing needs to be done or whatever else. We got home around 11am and he took a good 2 hour nap. After that, he was back to normal, although tired. They said that having a seizure is like running a marathon, except instead of 3 hours, you are running it in 3 minutes. So it definitely takes a toll on your body! Will ate well tonight and is sleeping again. We gave him a little ibuprofen, so hopefully that will keep his temperature constant throughout the night and he won't have another.

Anyways- that was our Saturday. A very exhausting and emotional day! But we are home and things are looking better. Will started getting a runny nose, so hopefully this is just an onset of sickness- which is what happened both times before. Amy has been sick, so he probably caught that. Anyhow, what a day! What a day! Taking your kid to the ER takes everything out of you!!

**I also should mention that we were very impressed with the medical staff here. The paramedics were so nice and their station is literally a mile down the road. The hospital (about 6 miles away) is brand new and they were really attentive. There is a pediatric neurologist on call, and full time in Murfreesboro, so that's nice. Plus, anything they don't have here, is in Nashville (30 mins away) at Vanderbilt Hospital- which of course, is excellent. So we feel very happy and safe with the medical facilities that are around us. Which is a great comfort! 

Crafting and a Finished Project

Yesterday, my friends Linda and Roberta came over to make the book page wreaths. They are probably the main 2 that I hang out with, so if you have heard me talking about them, now you can put a face to a name. Linda is on the left her sons are, Dallin (who is Amy's age) and Caleb (age 2). Roberta's daughter is Alida (age 2). It was great to sit and craft while the kids (literally) ran wild.

The other day I got the handles in for my dresser! I had to order them special because they are a strange size. Anyhow... the dresser is done!! Let me show you some before shots..... (I kind of forgot to take a lot of before shots. I just got busy working!)

The top- very worn!

And who can forget my wonderful "dust wipe-offer" 

So now it's complete..... ta-da!

Our bedroom looks so fancy now! Well, much better than before! We still need a headboard, but I'm still debating on what kind to build. So that will have to wait. But other than that- we are done!

Oh- and this is the match piece that I did a few years ago.... Lee is happy to have all this space to himself now!

Crafting to Relieve Boredom

Amy is sick. Just a cold. But nonetheless, sick is sick. Will seems ok, although he did start sneezing a lot today, so I hope he doesn't catch it too.

Two days ago, the biggest hail storm I've ever witnessed, hit. I mean, it was insane. It sounded like the house was being pounded by golf balls. I wasn't brave enough to venture outside and get a picture, but my friend did. I stole this from her.... and it's no exaggeration.... this is what the ground looked like!

We had two of these storms, back to back, then it cleared up and the rain came. It rained all day yesterday. Since that was the first day of Amy's illness, and I promptly threw up my breakfast, I was fine just hanging around, doing nothing. Ok, actually, I sat and watched hours upon hours of the tv show "Felicity," trying to finish it. I did. Now Anna is trying to catch up. :)

Poor Will though, yesterday was pretty boring for him. He started trying on/wearing my shoes. (I have got to get a better camera. I can't get a non-fuzzy shot of this mover!)

But today, I'm bored. So I decided to pull out a few craft projects. Actually, I had nothing in the works, so I had to come up with something.

First, I made these skirts for these jars. Inside the jars are some holiday bars- you know how you have all the dry stuff and then the person just adds the eggs or whatever? Yeah, those. They are for some friends at church.

Then I moved onto a wreath. I took the top of a pizza box and an old book.... and created this Book Page Wreath.

Cute, huh? And so easy! Who would have thought. Just rolled up book pages glued together.

Now I have 2 friends coming over tomorrow to make them! I guess I'll make another. Anyone want one? :) I'm in a crafting mood now. Ut oh!! haha.

We Belong In The Zoo

Lee is on Fall Break for a few days so we decided to take a family trip. Originally, we thought we'd go to a waterfall, but Lee wasn't sure if the kids would like walking around all day.... and since neither one wanted to carry them, we made a change of plans. We decided on the Nashville Zoo!

Zoo's are always fun with kids, and it proved to be a worthwhile endeavor. It wasn't huge, but big enough that we were exhausted by the end. Of course, carrying/pushing/feeding 2 children for 3 hours may have had something to do with it.

Admiring a very large bull

There was a neat bird area.... the birds flew all around you! They also had some nectar you could buy to feed them. At first we weren't going to do it, but Amy really wanted to hold one, so we opted for it. After she did it, we decided that watching her was well worth the dollar. When it comes to animals- this girl has no fear! 

Weren't they pretty??! The colors were amazing! 

Some giraffes. There was even a baby- sooo cute! 

I had to buy 5 tokens when I bought the bird nectar. We decided to use the rest on a carousel ride. Will wasn't sure what to think, but Amy wanted to ride again. 

We don't have a double stroller, but with this new one coming soon- I may just get one. But for now, we sit the kids like this and it's a good make-shift one.

The zoo has a Halloween program at night, so it was decorated for it. Amy wanted to take a picture in the skull. She thought it was so cool.

For almost the entire zoo trip, all Amy could talk about was seeing the flamingos. I told her I wasn't sure they even had any, but she insisted. Then she took the map, found them and said, "See! I told you there were flamingos!" She was very happy, when almost at the end, we finally saw them. Although you can't see her face, this spot was really sunny, she was really excited (she sitting in front of Will, who is standing)

And the end all to beat all, there was a petting zoo. I'm really glad the Lord sent her to us, but really, this girl belongs on a farm. If she becomes a zookeeper, or marries a farmer, or both, we won't be at all surprised.

It was a very fun family day. And a very tiring one! Will missed his usual nap, but have no fear, he was asleep before we even got out of the parking lot!! Amy fell asleep a little while later, Lee is taking a nap now and me, well, I guess I'll just go to bed early!