Happy Halloween!

Thought everyone might enjoy seeing the kiddos all dressed and the whole mess of candy they got!!! So colorful! Makes a great pic!

Tracey's Mother in law, Becky, was kind enough to take pity on those of us who live in places where trick-or-treating isn't really an option! She let us set "base camp" and set us free on her beautiful neighborhood! It was quite the group and we had a blast!

Here are my Clone Trooper and Strom Tropper. Thank goodness for Geogre Lucas because without him my children would not have had Halloween costumes the last three years! Well, it's what they love, obviously, and the first thing they think of when picking out a costume! In fact, if you ask Ethan what he wants to be when he grows up he says, "A Jedi Chef"!

It's a miracle!

"Look, Mom, it's a miracle! There are TWO Baby Ruffies!" So, that's how my day started! For any of you that have not spent too much time with Ethan, especially at home, Baby Ruffie is his best little companion friend. He became attached to him when we were unpacking the house two years ago and they've been attached ever since. (His old companion, Pillow, didn't quite survive the big move.) He's been to many different places with us, but spends most of his time at home these days. ("I'm a Big Kid, now, Mom!" is Ethan's mantra these days!) But over the course of the last year, Baby Ruffie has been lost a couple times. Now, I'm sure all the good parenting books at this point would have said that was a natural time to let Baby Ruffie go, but honestly the big crocodile tears and super sad voice just broke my heart! So, I found this cute little Ty Beanie Baby Bulldog on eBay. In the meantime, Katie and Cody found another "Baby Ruffie" and shortly after that the original was found. So, now, I'm armed and prepared for any Baby Ruffie catastrophe! Well, last night Ethan fell asleep watching TV with no Baby Ruffie in sight. I searched the house. Chet searched the house. Could not find him anywhere. Since I really didn't want to get the 3am crying scene, I pulled out one of the back-ups and laid it down next to him. Fast forward to this morning, Ethan says, "How did Baby Ruffie get so fluffy?" (The back up was not quite so worn out.) "Oh, I don't know." Not long after that, Ethan looks under the table in the living room (he obviously has a better view of it from his vantage point...) and that's when the miracle of the TWO Baby Ruffies was discovered! He was so excited and is now carrying BOTH of them around all day!! Now what am I going to do? He has decided the "fluffy" one is a girl (because boys aren't fluffy, he says) and says he is going to give one to his best friend, Karsyn. Of course, she's on vacation for another week, so we'll have to see how generous he's feeling when she gets back!

Football Today

Haven't gotten any football pics up this season! How unthinkable! This is the first season of football for both boys! Now, I really had to talk Chet in to playing. He really did not think he would like it, but here he is with one game left and he LOVES it! He's playing Flag Football in a league at our church and both of them have learned a ton! Ethan knows what a running back, quarterback and center all are and plays those positions in each game. (I have to admit I wasn't really sure what a running back was before the season began. Sorry, hubby, I know this shocks you and that I've hid it well for so many years. Hope you can forgive me...) Of course, Ethan team's is still trying to remember not to pull their own teammates' flags. Thankfully, Ethan understands this concept. He is actually a great little defender. He stands there on the line staring at the ball, knowing the exact moment he's allowed to move and then he strikes and strips their running back of his flag before he even gets going! It's quite a sight let me tell you! In Chet's division, they are doing a lot more passing now. The last two weeks, Chet has come up with an interception! Today he was working really hard get it, but keeping an eye on their quarterback and positioning himself. Sure enough, his hard work paid off when he caught another interception. He's really enjoying himself and I'm so glad to see him try something new!

Who woulda thought?

I didn't know Chet could paint so well! I am embarrassed at how surprised I was when Chet showed me this cute little "ghost" he painted! I've never seen him be so thoughtful and paint so well! I guess that sounds bad, but neither one of my darling boys shows much interest in the creative arts. (Of course, when you are grounded from your Wii and your computer I suppose all sorts of new talents could crop up!) Anyway, I was very proud of his creation and he even went back and painted another. This one is Ghostie and the second one was Pirate. Check out my creative son! You know THAT'S going in the scrapbook!
All in all it was a pretty creative day here. Ethan asked me to face paint for him, so, of course everyone gets face paint (or wrist pain as shown here). One of Chet's favorite cartoons right now is Ben 10. The boy changes in to an alien when he hits his cool watch thingy. So, this is what Chet asked me to paint on him! He thought it was cool and therefore, thinks I'm pretty cool.......for now.
I got to finally dig in to the class kit for my next scrapbook class I'm teaching October 23rd. This is paper I made with the main product in the kit: Glimmer Mist! What fun! I started with a white sheet of cardstock and sprayed two different colors of glimmer mist (latte and cran frost). I used a "glimmer screen" (acetate die cut) as a mask in certain areas, then with the mist still on it, I flipped it over and "stamped" the design on another part of the page! (Okay, I know most of you are just smiling and nodding at this point, but trust me, it's COOL! I mean, LOOK, at my cool paper!) And, in person, it is much more shimmery! So, tomorrow I put together the class project! How fun! (I'll post some pics when I've completed it so you can ooh and aah over it, too!)

All About Ethan

So, Ethan was the Teacher Helper in class today and they wrote a "story" about him entitled "All About Ethan". (These are all his answers without any prompting...)

"Red is Ethan's favorite color. His favorite movie is 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars'. He likes to go to the scrapbook store with his mom. Cheese pizza is his favorite food. In school, Ethan likes to 'be quiet and listen to the teacher'. In kindergarten, Ethan wants to learn to read."

When he brought this home to show me and his brother, we both let out a little giggle at the "be quiet and listen" part. Ethan looked at us both very indignantly and said, "What?! That's how you learn!"

As I told his teacher and his father, his God-given skills of flattery and telling someone what they want to hear should serve him well in this life, the little cutie!

Yes, it's been awhile!

What can I say? Life happens. I'll get to more of that later, but I had to share a story before I forget it....

So, Chet and Ethan are upstairs bugging each other as brothers do -

Ethan: "HE hit me in the nose!"

Chet: "No, I didn't HE walked in to my elbow!"

(Wait, it gets better!)

Me: "Do I need to send both of you to your rooms?"

Ethan: "No, just Chet!"

Honestly, I can't make this stuff up!

(Pictures taken at the Homecoming Parade. The theme was "Stripes". Our float was based the children's book "A Bad Case of Stripes" by David Shannon. We were definitely the most colorful float out there!)

I'll catch up soon I promise!

10 on Tuesday, part I

Hi all! Well, we are off to California soon but I've been meaning to get pics of Chet's visit home on here before we left, so here I am - Ten on Tuesday - picture edition! (Of course, I've loaded all the pics in the wrong order! Someday, I may make it in to the 21st century! I am getting closer! My hubby sent me an iPod for my (early) birthday present! Thank you, Honey!)

Ten on Tuesday - Picture Edition
1. (Above) - Man vs. nature. Chet battled these little finches in their nest building efforts again this year! (Last year, they fought over an outdoor lighting fixture.) So, my husband outsmarted them again by putting a water bottle in their favorite nesting spot! I swear to you he wasn't out of the country more than a couple of days and I discovered this!

2. The BURN pile! The burn pile featured prominently in this visit home! These are all the branches and trees we lost during the ice storm in December. Now, coming from California, it seems like it would be easy to burn a bunch of dead tree branches and that you would have to worry about setting your neighbor's house on fire (and the surrounding 10,000 acres!), but out here, not so much! In fact we had to buy many Duraflame logs to get the pile to stay lit! Amazing! I guess humidity will do that!

3. My favorite three boys! Love this picture of the boys following in their dad's footsteps, eager to be with him and see what he's going to do next!


4. Me & My Honey! This is my new favorite picture! This picture was taken by my friend, Steph. We had Stephanie and her husband Allan and David and Tracey over for a wine tasting dinner. Chet barbqued and smoked steaks that were yummy! We served four courses and had tastings with the first three. It was a fun (and grown up) thing to do!

5. Chet jumping in to our pond! THIS was a Daddy thing! He let them swim in the pond. I don't want to be swimming with all those fishies, but the boys thought it was the greatest thing ever!

6. Ethan's first "gone" tooth! (have I already posted this?) Doesn't matter! The kid lost another one today. He got impatient waiting for me to pull to it, so, he pulled it himself! (Speaking of, the tooth fairy better remember to stop here tonight or she will be in BIG trouble!)

7. My first scrapbooking class!!! I taught my first scrapbooking class at a local scrapbook store last Thursday night! Here it the project I created and taught! There were six people there (including Steph & Tracey-thanks again for coming!) and we had great fun! I've already created a page layout class for the 17th of July! Mark your calendars now!



8. Latest family photo! Can you believe this is the only family shot I got of the four of us while Chet was home? Lucky, I got this one or they would've revoked my scrapbooking license!

9. Me & E. He just kills me with that smile! This was Mother's Day and what a great day I had with all my boys! Chet even had them bring me breakfast in bed! I am a lucky girl!

10. Chet & Dad! This was the last day of school or what we like to call: Super Kids Day!!! Dad was real trouper and manned the bounce house with me during the morning and then we got to watch Chet and his class win the 3rd grade tug-of-war battle! Go, Chet, Go!!!

Well, that's a fairly good summary of our last month or so! More adventures this month as we head off to see many of you out there in California! We are all very excited and I will post more during our trip! Happy summer!