Daddy's Girl

I just had to share this photos of Matt and Cameron last weekend when they went to the Boise State game.  When the opportunity came up to go, I couldn't because Tucker had a birthday party to attend and Brody is just a royal pain the the butt to leave with anyone, so Matt asked Cameron to go.  At first she didn't want to because she had to miss a birthday party, but she finally decided that it would be fun.  I think they had a great day together.  I just love these photos of the two of them, they are so cute!  And she just loves her Daddy...and the feelings are mutual.  That girl has her Daddy wrapped around her finger.

Pumpkin Patch Fun

We love to go to Purdum's for our annual pumpkin picking extravaganza. And this year I got Matt to go with us. Mostly because there was no way I could manage Brody and three pumpkins on my own. It was an absolutely beautiful Fall day. We have been so lucky with out weather so far, but as I'm typing this, I can see frost on everything outside, so I believe my luck has run out and Fall/Winter is upon us. It's going to be a long winter of being cooped up with the kids or outside freezing our pants off trying to pretend it's summer.......

It was a fairly quick trip to the patch to pick Pumpkins. When I go with the kids, we wander, we frolick, we play. And then we remember to pick out a pumpkin. Matt gets off the wagon and walks along side the patch, picking the first thing he sees that is round and he is back on the wagon.

We had a great time. All 15 minutes of it.

The Bug Hat

Tucker had to design a silly hat for his preschool "Hallelujah Party", which takes the place of Halloween. When Cameron went there, we made a tall pink princess hat with ribbons and sequins and glitter. But that kind of hat just doesn't cut it for a boy. So off to the Dollar Store we went to buy a plastic fireman hat, and a few bags of bugs. Then it was just a quick visit with the glue gun and some glue dots and we were set. Unfortunately, it's pretty top heavy and so we have some problems keeping it on his head, so you can see the crack on the bill from falling on the ground over and over again.

It was a huge hit with the kiddos and Tucker was pretty proud of his "bug hat".

Carving Pumpkins 2011

I guess I should have asked Matt more about what he would have wanted to do with his Friday evening after working long hours all week and getting up at 3:30 to drive back and forth every day, but I didn't even think about it and I got the kids all psyched up for carving pumpkins after dinner. Needless to say, it was the last thing Matt had energy for and I got a few exhausted but nasty looks from him but all in all, he was a good sport.

Lesson #1 that I learned from past experience, those "carve your perfect pumpkin" books that are full of awesome patterns only work if you have the attention span of an adult. So your kids pick the most complicated pattern in the book and then you, the parent are stuck carving the darn thing.

So this year I found a KIDS version of the patterns. The nice thing about this book was they were basic basic basic and there were exactly four choices. Four. And Tucker still had a hard time making a choice. But atleast it didn't take endless hours and they turned out pretty good.

Tucker did have to pick the biggest pumpkin in the entire patch. This only happened because Matt came along for the fun so he could pack the thing up and out. I couldn't even lift it to get it into the table. But my lack of strength is a whole different post.


Tucker trying to carve this beast. I don't know if you can actually tell, but there are little bite marks all along the bottom of the pumpkin where some rhodent tried, but failed to eat this pumpkin. That's how large and thick skinned this thing was.







And Cameron decided, with my suggestion, to try to carve a Hello Kitty pumpkin since she chose a white one. Google Hello Kitty pumpkin and look at what these crazy people are coming up with! Mine just plain sucks. But I think Cameron liked it. Atleast she told me it would win a prize in a contest.



Brody's happy pumpkin





















Cameron's Hello Kitty pumpkin






















And Tucker's Scary Skeleton. We are officially ready for the school's Monster Mash this afternoon and onto trick or treating on Monday. Love Halloween!

Boise State Card--2

Good Morning and Happy Saturday! I am downloading pictures this morning to catch up on two months of my Project Life and I thought I would share this BSU card that I made for one of Tucker's friends 5th Birthday. I am having a hard time with boy projects, most all of my card making has a lot of frills and flowers. But I thought this one turned out pretty cute. Have a great weekend!

Boys in the tub

Brody is finally to the point where he doesn't try to crawl under the water or stand up and slip or get swept off his tiny bottom by the tidal wave that is big brother. And so the boys are loving their morning baths. And Cameron has moved up to showering on her own, because as fun as it is, three is a crowded tub. I just love this shot of the boys playing with a simple plastic glass of water. Brody is just fascinated with every "Trick" Tucker has up his sleeve. Love these boys!

Monster Invitations

I have been taking a small break from blogging because of one website in particular.  I didn't think there was a bigger time sucker out there than Facebook, but I managed to find it.  It's called Pinterest.com.  I need to quit.  I need to just cancel my account and never go back there.  Because now instead of atleast using my computer time to record family memories or work on something productive, I just get into some sort of zone and off I go dreaming, imagining, and making lists of things I don't have time to do.  And then I start to feel bad.  I look around my house and see all the possibilities.  But if it wouldn't have been for Pinterest, I would have never seen the possibilities at all.  Damn that Pinterest.

So rather than obsess about the projects I won't be getting finished, I thought I would post a photo of the birthday invites that I made for Brody's Monster party.  Pictures of those are coming in the next day or so.  I used the Monster themed Cricut cartridge and cut out a few different monsters.  Then I made the information part of the card and hole-punched and tied baker's twine to the monster and the card.  I used googly eyes for dimension.  I thought they turned out pretty cute for something quick.

Monster Invitations--Brody's First Birthday Party




Good Lord, it might be time for a manicure...and some hand cream

Everybody is quiet and sleeping tonight.  It's just me and Jay Leno up this late and I can't help but say I love the quiet time late at night.  Especially when I'm not so zonked that I can actually enjoy it.  And since I just did finish watching tivo'd Beverly Hills 90210 and half of Private Practice, I can call this evening a complete success.  Can I just say how much I love tivo?  I would NEVER get to watch tv if I had to watch it during prime time, which also happens to be the witching hour(s) in this house.  Whiny, hungry, arguing, homework avoiding kids all take place during all of my best shows.  So I just hit the DVR button and then turn on Cailou, which is a life saver during dinner prep.  Again, Cailou is tivo'd so we have him whenever we need him.  When I list my blessings in life, I list episodes of Cailou right up there with food, water, and shelter.  Something about that little rat bastard just calms my kids down, keeps them quiet, and limits the fighting long enough to get dinner on the table.  Even if he is a whiner himself.  We love Cailou.

An Ode to Summer

Unfortunately, I do believe we are completely finished with summer here.  We went from 91 degrees last weekend to two days now of cold, wet, and rainy.  And to top it off, the kids are out of school for Thursday and Friday.  A great day to be home.  So I thought I would post photos from our annual trip to Roaring Springs, when it was well over 100 degrees and we were tan and happy. 

 I had a great shot of Matt and I in this photo booth, but the camera fairy (Tucker) was looking through my files and it somehow got deleted.  Love kids looking through the camera.  So now there is no proof that Matt was actually participating in silly photo shots.

Cameron, however, is no stranger to posing and loves a good shot of herself.

 Enjoying the 300% mark up on a delicious snow cone.  $12 later....

So summer is over.  And all I can do is hope for some warmer fall so that the transition is not so traumatizing.  Have a great weekend!

BSU Creativity!

Last month my nephew was going to a 10th birthday party for a buddy who loves Boise State Football.  Part of his gift was a certificate for a home BSU game.  They wanted to know if I could design some kind of gift certificate for the party.  And of course I did.....

 This is the second part that slides into the pocket.  The actual "certificate"

 A close up of the name. 

I love to step outside my comfort zone and try something new.  I'm not a blue and orange person, but I thought htis turned out stinkin' cute!