Upstairs and Porch

We now are starting on the upstairs (including the stairs) and the porch! It's so fun to see it evolve each day. I love walking through and just standing there and seeing what we've only seen in our minds up til now. I love it!

Upstairs view

King of the house!

Trying out the "stairs"

Front Porch

Back Porch

Student of the Month

Ethan was chosen as Student of the Month for his classroom for the month of October, which topic was Self-Control! Awesome job, Ethan!!!

Preschool Pantry

HEY! Check out this new blog my friend is doing!!! http://www.preschoolpantry.wordpress.com/
She just started it, but I think it's an AWESOME idea and wanted to let you all know. BTW - she's AWESOME, too!

Framing!

Wow, this is the exciting part - we're actually watching our house take shape! And, you can see it change every day - so fun! The kids thought it was so fun to walk through the walls -"we're ghosts, look!".

Election 2008

I'm disappointed. It's really neat that we would elect an African-American President and all our country has been through, and what that means of how far we've come. But, I worry that so many people voted for him for that reason or because they blindly think he can "fix" everything, and haven't stopped to really think about what he supports and wants to do. I think a lot of people aren't sure what they themselves stand for, and therefore don't look into the issues of the candidates and where they stand. To be honest, it's a little scary to realize what he could pull through with a democratic Congress and any vacant Judgement Seat. But, I don't want to be fearful. I have no idea how we could still vote against that, but I will definitely try - and I hope our Congressmen will listen to us. He can make laws and make things lawful, but I don't have to choose that way - and I can teach my children that it's wrong - and I will! I've liked McCain for a long time - he's from here and I've always had a great deal of respect for him. I really appreciate that he wasn't afraid to tell people where he stands on issues, like abortion, point blank. I appreciate that he would choose a great vice presidential candidate. I'm also so glad today that Prop. 102 passed - yeah!!! So important. Our question, though, is if it can withstand Obama and his judges. Anyways, my thought for the day. I'm sure there's more, but I'm tired.

It's Election Day!

GET OUT AND VOTE!!!

Trick or Treat

Trick or Treat!!! Ready to go! We had a lot of fun trick-or-treating this year. Talin was so funny - I think he was liking this holiday - at first he just wanted to eat the candy (typical), but then he would walk up to the door and put his pumpkin down so they would put candy in it and say "chant-chu" "bye". Then, he was in the stroller holding his pumpkin in one hand and a piece of candy in the other. Then, when we got home we couldn't keep him out of the candy!!! Erin was a cowgirl, Ethan was Indiana Jones, Jamie was Hermione (Harry Potter), Laura was a cheerleader, Kelcie was a Barbie Princess (last minute choice - was going to be Hannah Montana), and Talin was a Fireman. Oh, and Lafe was a cool Jamaican dude guy. This is the big Candy Trade Session - too funny! I think they did this for a couple hours this morning! Oh brother.

Concrete!

We have concrete now!!! It was so fun to watch! We dropped Jamie off at orchestra and the other kids and I drove over to the property and watched them pour. They all thought it was so cool, including the mommy. Monday they do the porches and garage and then we can frame - yeah!

Americas Choice Now - Video

This is an amazing video - I was shocked! "Punished by a baby"? Please, America, think about this election!

Americas Choice Now - Video

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Carving Pumpkins

Tonight we finally carved pumpkins!!! We wait as long as we can here because they dry out and rot SO FAST! Plus, we've been a little busy... Ethan carved one at scouts, so he was letting the girls carve the family ones. If you look you can see how Talin felt about reaching into the yuck - we decided not to push the issue.

Erin's pumpkin.

Jamie and Laura's pumpkin

Kelcie's pumpkin that she got at the pumpkin patch with preschool and sister drew a face on for her.Talin's pumpkin that he also got at the Kelcie's preschool outing - I think he prefers it whole!

The finished products!

I asked Talin if I could take a picture of "Puppy" to get him to come over to the pumpkins and I just had to show you, too - he loves this puppy. He carries it around and asks for it for bed. Thank-you Grandma Carroll.

Ready to Pour

O.k. - we're ready to pour concrete! Tomorrow morning they will start pouring our slab - yeah!!! But, this is how it looked today. Kelcie and Talin are standing at the front door - can't you tell?

Talin LOVES tractors, trucks, cars, buses, firetrucks, trains - anything that moves and is big and cool! He's so funny because he calls them all "Choo-choos". It's great when we're driving the kids to school because he can find lots of tractors and he gets so excited! Most of the time he has a little car in his hand. I'm sure he was so excited when Lafe let him sit in the tractor today.

Now, the Party!!!

Laura had her birthday party last Friday - sorry for the REALLY late post! She wanted a tinkerbell party and decided she'd rather have the cute party hats (headbands) than the pinata (yeah!). We wanted to make fairy wings, but the day before we realized that felt wouldn't work because it would just flop over, so Lafe ran to the dollar store - I can't believe these were only a dollar - they're cute! He found 11 and we searched lots of other dollar stores and they were all out (lots of fairies for Halloween, I guess), so I filled in with the more expensive ones from Michael's. Turns out, we only needed 11 - how perfect was that?!? So, I got some sparkly foam stickers for them to decorate their wings a little bit, and we made cool little fairy wands. We also played games like "What time is it Cap. Hook?" and Fairy Freeze Tag (use pixie dust, aka glitter, to unfreeze). Then we sent them home with their own Pixie Dust (Huge Pixie Stick) and a little Tinkerbell pen. It turned out fun and I think Laura was pleased. I tried to get her to wait one more week so we could just do a late-night birthday party and watch the new Tinkerbell movie - she couldn't wait that long!

Silly kids!

Really?

I guess I'm a little old fashioned?

You Belong in 1954

You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in!

What Year Do You Belong In?

Laura's 7!!!

My Laura turned 7 yesterday! She's been so excited for her birthday. She'll have a party later this week, but we celebrated as family.
Laura came into this world screaming and didn't stop for 3 days - she actually lost her voice from screaming so much in the hospital. She's also always been a talker - from 6 months she talks constantly in the car! She is a little shy right now, but is a good friend to those around her. She loves to color (really good at it!), likes yellow and orange (but really all the colors), loves to play with her sisters and friends, and does well at school. She wants to do everything just right and is so sensitive to getting in trouble. She's beautiful and I love that she still has the space between her front teeth even after her "big" teeth grew in. She loves to write love notes and I LOVE getting them! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LAURA!!!

Tie Die

Erin got a Tie-die kit for her birthday and finally got to do it yesterday - it turned out so fun and great! I've never done it before so I wasn't any help! She made 4 for her, 1 for Talin, and 1 for me :) They are so fun, so I just had to show them off.

Sewer - oh good!

So, now the footings are done, the stem walls are done, and the sewer is in and ready to be inspected. Just thought you'd want to know...

Strawberry Cabin

This week the kids have Fall Break, so this weekend we went up to Lafe's parents' cabin to enjoy some "cooler" weather. Lafe had Monday and Tuesday off, too, so we got to stay a little while. My brother and his family came with us, which was SO fun - the kids just played and played and..... We slept in our trailer the first two nights until the heat went out and it was 20 degrees outside - FREEZING!!!!! Then we moved inside. A cold front happened to move through Arizona this weekend and we were SO COLD and it was really windy. On Monday, we went to a goat farm nearby to try their fudge and the kids got to see some animals. We were really trying to get a picture of all the kids with a goat, and this is the closest we could get. The Llama sure wanted to kiss Erin! We also drove down to Fossil Creek and it was just beautiful. We really enjoyed hiking along the Creek and seeing the beautiful scenery! So much fun - so glad we could go and enjoy nature for a few days.

Fossil Creek

Tagged, again, again!

I've been tagged

8 TV shows that I watch:
1. Jon and Kate plus Eight
2. 12 News
3. Extreme Makeover Home Edition
4. 17 and Counting!
5. MASH
6. Cosby Show
7. Mystery Diagnosis
8. Lots of Disney Channel and Nick Jr. Shows (as I walk by...)

8 Things that happened yesterday:
1. Swept and Vacuumed the cabin
2. Packed the suburban
3. Hooked up the Trailer
4. Drove Home
5. Made Dinner
6. Unpacked
7. Started Laundry
8. Slept in my own bed

8 Things I'm looking forward to:
1. Selling our house
2. Our new house being done!!!
3. A vacation with just Lafe!
4. Christmas
5. Scrapbooking again
6. Getting the kids to bed tonight and having time to myself, if I'm not too tired.
7. Going to Disneyland when Talin is old enough
8. Going to Utah next summer, maybe

8 things on my wish list
1. New couches
2. New Bedroom set
3. Swing set
4. Cruise to Alaska
5. Trip to Germany/ Austria with Lafe
6. New camera
7. New Bike
8. Trip around the country to historical and church historical sites with my family

8 restaurants that I go to:
1. Logan's Roadhouse
2. Pei Wei
3. Applebees
4. Sweet Tomatoes
5. Texas Roadhouse
6. This BBQ place I can't remember the name of but it was really yummy
7. Haji Baba
8. Chick-fil-a

8 people I tag:
1. Melinda
2. Lori
3. Kanoe
4. Katie
5. Courtney
6. Heather
7. April
8. Cindy

It's October!

Every October we have a great tradition of eating "Meal in a Pumpkin"! I was introduced to this delicacy by Lafe's sister, probably before we got married, and I LOVE it! It's so fun and actually tastes good, too! Sometimes, I can even sneak it in twice before Halloween!

And, I also had to share our treat for FHE tonight - YUM!!!!! Laura had treat and helped make peanut-butter cookies.