Pumpkin Carving Fun

Family Home Evening carving pumpkin night. So much fun!!! To quote Tess, "I love it, the punkins - I love it!!"
Daddy gets the job of carving out the lids and scooping out the gunk for the girls (and mommy :-)!



I love the, "I have to touch that?" face!!

Tess loved every minute of it!!

Here's Emma drawing out a picture of what face she wanted to carve on her pumpkin. In the end, she neeeded some help from mom, but it turned out great.

The mostly finished pumpkins (Ty ran out of time to finish his). L - R : Zach, Ty, Tess, Mom, and Emma. Daddy never does his own because he is too busy helping everyone or finishing peoples when they get too tired to finish their own!!! This year, he completely redid Zach's pumpkin, because Zach tried to "wing it" and it didn't turn out so good.

Zach's re-done pumpkin. Looks really cool!!

Mine - I love it!!

Emma's mean faced pumpkin. Are you scared?

Tess' cute face

Tyson's completed pumpkin. It looks cool!



We put up orange lights this year and I think it looks so cool!! Next year, we'll put up even more.

The end of my good day

First this post was going to be about something ridiculous that my son said to me today. But now it has morphed into a mommy complaining post. To begin the story, there is a little news, I got a job. Just part time at Michaels. I work 3, 5 hour shifts a week and its when the kids are in school. I have been so busy. I started working at the beginning of the month and I have been so busy with extra stuff like birthdays and coffees and Halloween parties that I have been going non stop. I really never get to sit down anymore. But today, I was feeling pretty good about my ability to handle the new schedule and get everything done. I even considered myself a wonder woman of sorts. That was around 2:30 pm. Then my kids got home at 3, and that all changed.

Tonight for dinner we had hamburgers, homemade potato salad and chips. I was proud of myself for taking the time to make the potato salad from scratch. I knew the kids would love the hamburgers and chips; well I thought they would. When Tyson asked me what was for dinner and I told him he said "I was having a good day until now!!" Apparently he was angry with me that we were having hamburgers and not hot dogs. He proclaimed that his day would be salvaged if I would only add hot dogs to the menu. I refused on a matter of principle. My kids don't get to tell me what we are having, nor do they get to pick and choose what they will or wont eat!!! Oh, and I'm not a short order cook either. So I was annoyed, but I let it go. I figured I would blog about it and vent my annoyance to the world wide web.

Then dinner time came. Tyson still wasn't thrilled about the hamburger thing but he was willing to choke 1/2 of one down. But then came the dreaded, miserable, disgusting, revolting, awful, potato salad. I gave each of the kids one small spoonful, I promise they were small. Tyson put one spoonful in his mouth and started to gag, he actually looked like he would throw up. By this point I had had it!! I was so furious!! I am sick and tired of making nice meals for my family and then all they do is complain. I can't believe that a dinner of hamburgers and potato salad could make my son physically gag at the table. I finally couldn't even look at him he made me so mad. Then Emma and Zach started in and would only pick out the egg pieces. What has happened to my world? What can I do to make my children appreciate good food and not be so ungrateful? AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Oh, and just so you know this complaining about what I cook for dinner is a pretty regular occurrence around here and I have had enough!!! Ron thinks we should start feeding them bread and water. What do you think?

Cowgirl

Family Photos

Okay, so I wanted a GOOD family picture taken before Ron deployed again. And since my awesome photographer friend Kerri happens to live over a thousand miles away, I had to find someone here to take her place. I did find someone, and she did a great job. Of course, it is always impossible to get a picture where everyone is smiling and looks great, but we got pretty close. So below is the link to her website where you can go and see some of our favorites. Go under Client Proofing, and the password is Crowther (with a capitol C). And just so you know, the family picture that we ordered for us and for our Christmas cards is not included in these pics because I want it to be a surprise for everyone when they get our Christmas card in the mail.


****Disclaimer**** I know I am vain, but I hate the way I look!! Every time I think I'm not too fat, I see a picture of me and I am shocked back into reality!! So needless to say that I am back on that never ending diet to finally loose those last 20 pounds - yes 20!! Wish me luck!!

http://www.aprilmacphoto.com/index2.php

Good News

Good News, Good News!!! Ron's January deployment to Iraq has been canceled. 1st Brigade Combat Team is now waiting on new orders. In other words they are probably going to Afghanistan with the surge of troops and will deploy sometime after January. We are just THRILLED to know that we have him for a few more months, and that he is guaranteed to be home for Christmas. So it has been a good day for members of 10th Mountains 1st Brigade Combat Team!! Climb to Glory!!

Lake Placid, NY

Ron and I got to go on a little vacation up to Lake Placid in the Adirondack Mountains for the weekend. My mom is awesome and came out to watch the kids so we could have this time together. We combined our usual post-deployment vacation with our Anniversary and his birthday, we covered all the bases. It was wonderful and relaxing and we didn't want to come home!! The Adirondacks are at their peak Fall beauty and I was in heaven! My biggest regret is that we didn't bring our camera :-( :-( :-(. So all of these pictures we snapped with Ron's iphone. I hope you can imagine how spectacular all the rolling mountains were. We could never get a good shot of the mountains - Ron doesn't have zoom on his phone so the pictures just never turned out. There are rivers and lakes everywhere, and as you can tell I love the fall leaves and the water.

Fire Pit Fun

I have always wanted a fire pit and Ron surprised me this summer with one. We only got to use it once before he left in August, so we busted it out a few weekends ago. It is so much fun!!
An evening in pictures........

All gathered around the fire.

Tess couldn't wait for the roasting to start.

Zach was the only one who torched his marshmallows.

Now this is more like it!

Hailey stayed far away from the fire.

The final product - ooey, gooey, goodness!!

The key is to place the chocolate bar between two marshmallows, so the warm marshmallows help to melt the chocolate. Its the best!!

Telling stories around the fire. My Uncle Randy use to tell the best campfire stories, I just can't remember any of them!! So we made up our own - and they ended up pretty weird :-)

Ty doesn't like smores but he is a master roaster.

All done with the fun, and time for baths.

What an awesome evening!

Kind Act of Service

Today, someone performed a kind act of service for me and I want to tell you about it.

Once upon a time, just kidding, hahaha!! Okay, so this morning Tess and I left the house around 10 to run 3 errands: Michaels then Target then the Commissary for our groceries. By the end of Michaels Tess was turning into a little terror. Tess is either on (super happy and obedient) or off (yelling and throwing fits all day). Yesterday Tess was on, so that meant that today she would be off, its basically an every other day phenomenon. Anyway, so she was awful at Target, but she was pacified at the end of our check out because she got to hold the cool pony pinata we bought for Emmas birthday party next week. From Target to Post it takes almost 20 minutes. About 15 minutes in I notice she was getting a little glazed over and I asked her if she was tired and she said yes. I was hoping this meant she would be more mellow at the Commissary for me and fall asleep on the way home. No such luck. Just as I got through the gate I look back and she's asleep. So then comes the dilemma, what do I do? Do I turn around and just go home? Or do I lug a sleeping almost 3 year old through the commissary (because she won't wake up once she's asleep)? I've done the latter and let me tell you its really hard to push a cart, carry a sleeping child and bag groceries all at the same time.

But then I had a glorious idea. I have a friend that lives in one of the housing communities right by the Commissary. This sweet friend is pregnant with her first child and works part time, so there was a good chance she would be home. So I took the chance and drove straight to her house and banged on the door. I was so thrilled when she answered!! Then I asked her my CRAZY favor. "Will you come with me to the Commissary and just sit in the car with Tess so I can let her sleep and I can run in and grab my groceries?" I seriously thought she would laugh at me, but she said "Sure! Can I stay in my sweats?" "Of course!!" So I told her to grab a book so she wouldn't be completely bored, and we took off. It was so wonderful!! Tess slept the whole time I was shopping, the whole way home, and then for another 2 hours at home(she didn't get a nap yesterday so she was extra tired today).

It was such a small thing for my friend to do, sit in a car and read, but it absolutely made my day!! I got to finish my errands and Tess got a good nap. We were both happy!! Oh, and I did buy her a Twix as a thank you. So a HUGE shout out to sweet Christina for helping me out today. It was a little thing to do, but it was a big deal to me. Thank you!!