Another Fun Halloween.....

Well another successful Halloween down! I'm sad to say that this is probably the worst I have ever been about taking pictures on Halloween so please excuse the fact that they are blurry and not very detailed. :( I just got so caught up in the fun and all the kids that I lost track of taking pictures.
Morgan was the Mad Hatter and Ryanne was the Cheshire cat. Their friend Maddie was Alice.

We had 10 kids and lots of different costumes. Princess Leah, a ballerina, a viking and more.

The kids had fun and were wound up TIGHT! LOL!

There were ghoulish gluten free treats........

A fun kids table complete with fruit kabobs, glow sticks and crazy straws.......

Oh did I mention Aerial showed up too!

Dry ice added to the fun of the night........

Dan in his costume.........Kidding!

And then there was me....yes I did the bride of Frankenstein. It was fun and different and HOT in that dress and wig! My favorite was the purple lipstick and diamond frog ring. My mom sewed plastic spiders to the front of the dress as well. Too fun. I'm sad cause I should have taken a better picture but it just got crazy.

The kids table before the kids got to it. LOL!

The adults table......I went with a Disney Haunted Mansion feel this year.

I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween. Thanks everyone for coming to our house and for the fun fellowship. Thanks mom for all the help! Looking forward to seeing everyone's pictures.
Happy November!

If I Tweeted.......

If I tweeted which I do not these are some of the things you would have had the pleasure of being part of over the last couple weeks:

I would have tweeted that we had a baby rattlesnake in our bedroom (yes our bedroom) and that my mom almost stepped on it. But I saved her life. :)

I would have tweeted that despite my better judgment I let my girls & Macy sign up for dog training on Wednesdays. It went better than I thought, Macy didn't eat any of the little dogs and the girls had a blast!

I would have tweeted how I am holding on to the hope that my 7 year old will one day be a world famous artist and that all the "art work" I keep finding on the walls around the house will have been worth it. *sigh*

Then I would have tweeted how I made my 7 year old scrub the walls and write sentences about writing on walls just in case it turns out she's not all that talented. LOL!

I would have tweeted how when I called a location to ask about rooms for our spring marriage conference and the lady asked me if the couples were OK with sharing a room with two beds I thought I was on some hidden camera show. Really? Married couples sharing a room? Here's your sign..........

I would have tweeted how when I woke up the other morning to a sick great Dane with loose stool.........we'll leave it at that. Blah!

I would have tweeted about how I went to the Dr. and for the first time in almost 11 years I got good news about my rheumatoid arthritis. Other than a couple holes in my foot and wrist bone there was no more permanent damage to joint tissue. I was so encouraged when I left.

I would have tweeted that after 7 weeks of water aerobics I have killer six pack abs and you could bounce a quarter off my butt........OK not really but I am toning up and feel so much stronger from the classes. Not to mention you can't help feel young and positive when hanging out with those feisty ladies in class.

I would have tweeted how my 10 year old informed me the other day that she needs to get married and have kids young so that her daddy won't be an "old Grandpa." (Watch out Andrea, she's coming for Carson!)

Probably more I could "tweet" about but I think suspense is good for all of us. :)

Came Up With An Idea......

I just wanted you all to know that I came up with an idea for my costume for Halloween and will NOT be this...............I'm sorry to disappoint you but I just can't bring myself to dress my kids up as some smokes and me as an idiot. I mean bottle of alcohol.

I know that leaves you even more on the edge of your seat in anticipation of what I have come up with. LOL! Be patient my son, be patient.

Christmas Card Photo

My friend Jess started her own photography business for the mere fact that she loves looking through a camera and capturing people in their element.
We asked her to take our girls school pictures for the year and decided to turn it into our family Christmas photo op day as well. :)

This is only one of many she took that turned our super cute and really captured our family in all their silly glory. If you need photos for ANYTHING click over on Jess's blog to the right and you can find her photo web site from there. Thanks again Jess for making yet another fun family memory for us that we get to hang on our wall and smile at every time we pass.
Oh and I forgot to mention we were Jess's youth group leaders and have known her family forever so if you need any juicy stories about her rebellious teen years I might only tell you that she made sure to torture me whenever she had the chance. We'll leave it at that. LOL!

Morgan's First Sprint.....

This photo was taken from my phone at 5:30am so bare with me here.
This past weekend was super fun for us. We went to San Diego so Morgan could compete in her first full size sprint triathlon. Morgan was super nervous about the distance so Dan's sister did the buddy wave with her and encouraged Morgan the entire way.
They swam a 1/2 mile ocean swim, a 12 mile bike and a 3.1 mile run!!

Morgan said about half way out on the swim she had an anxiety attack about how far she was from shore and what could be in the water. Suzanne helped her snap out of it and a life guard on a board also encouraged her so she said even though she still struggled she knew she could finish.

This was the SheRox all women tri to raise money for ovarian cancer research. So it was really fun to see all the women out there getting fit together. They even had a survivors wave of the race which was cool. Morgan was the youngest athlete doing the long distance wave and so she won everyone over. The announcer was talking about how young she was and cheering her on and all the women on the race were giving her words of encouragement for fighting to the end. The grin on her face when she completed was so sweet. She was so proud of herself. I was a nervous wreck the entire time. LOL! Needless to say she was starving and super sore. We prayed over her and I encouraged her to have a joyful heart and attitude even when it got hard. She totally did! :) When we got home Dan went on line and donated money in honor of Morgan finishing her race to the little girl Winter's foundation that Morgan supports. She wears her race gear and we told her every time she finishes a race we would give money to this little girl who's dad died of prostate cancer a few years ago. Winter races to earn money for awareness and research. So good clean family fun all around. Thanks for racing with her Suzanne, it meant a lot to Morgan to have the support. That officially closes tri season for our family. Wheeeeew....no more 4am wake up calls to stand on the beach.....until next year that is. :)

I Need Ideas People!

OK quick I need some great Halloween costume ideas. I am so stumped this year. I was going to be the bride of Frankenstein but I don't know..........anyways, in case you are new to my blog I apologize ahead of time for the photo below. But every year I come up with some costume and then I sneak out my back bedroom door and run around the house to ring the door bell (stay with me here) my kids then know that when they open the front door their insane mother will be standing there in some silly costume. Then we proceed to have a fun dinner complete with silly house decorations and neighbors, friends and family all hanging out. So you see I'm under A LOT of pressure to perform here. So please throw some ideas my way.
And because I am a giver I will gladly lend out this costume (seen below) to anyone who would like to borrow it this year. You know you want it! :)

Another "field trip"

We took the girls to Disneyland on a "field trip" this past Monday. The weather was AMAZING and even though it was a little crowded we had fun all the same. My mom came out and went with us. She had not been since I was little so she loved seeing everything.

My brother lives in OC so he popped over and hung out with us for the day as well. By the way, he's single and we need him to find a wife and settle down. He's 33, has a good job and owns his own home. Oh and he loves Disneyland. Let the match making begin. LOL!

I have never been around Halloween so it was fun seeing all the decorations the put up. The haunted mansion ride totally inspired me for Halloween and all the little decorations I do for the kids dinner that night.

What is it with girls this age being so fickle about taking a picture? That girl! Or maybe Dan is tickling her? :)

Did I mention my brother is single? Physically fit, likes to travel and pretty much has the same sick sense of humor I have. Any one? Hello is this thing on?

LOVE! LOVE! All the pumpkins and the orange flowers everywhere.

The girls basically fought over riding with my mom and brother all day which was nice for Dan and I cause we took it as a chance to talk and just be together on the rides.

After hitting both Disneyland and California Disney and then staying late for the World Of Color show we were exhausted. 12 hours of walking about did me in. I felt like someone beat me the next day. LOL! Although I did push past the desire to sleep in this morning and I went to the gym before we did school.

Oh and if your wondering yes Disneyland does count as a field trip when you home school. :)