Trick-or-Treat!

Want to guess how much candy we came home with after trick-or-treating down four streets or so?

15 lbs !!! No kidding! The kids actually weighed their bags on the scale and had about 5lbs each. I can only imagine the belly aches and cavities...

It's That Time of Year Again!

Here we are once again carving our pumpkins on Halloween Eve. I enjoy carving pumpkins so much more now that my kids are big enough to do it themselves! I might help draw the faces/ pictures on but other than that they're on their own. This year Amanda's friend, Isabella, came over to carve with us and we all had a lot of fun.

Such a beautiful little pumpkin carver. This year Amanda decided to put a peace sign on her pumpkin and it turned out so cool!

The pumpkins we had this year were filled to the brim with icky, slimy strings that took forever to scrap out.

Austin was such a nice guy, he finished cleaning his own pumpkin, then helped all the girls scrap out theirs. He doesn't look the least bit put out, does he? Just kidding, he was just being a goof ball!

This was Isabella's first time carving her own pumpkin (her brother usually helps her) and the Pumpkin Squad gave her lots of pointers.

Every year we wash the seeds, sprinkle them with seasoning salt and bake them in the oven. They seemed to turn out especially good this year.

The Pumpkins weren't bad either!

Those Special Moments

Whenever I look through old photo albums I pretty much skip past the hundreds of Chistmas and birthday photos. I don't know why I have taken so many pictures of people opening presents other than the fact that it seems obligatory. The pictures I really stop and look at are the ones that capture a little slice of every day life. A couple weeks ago I went into the girls room to deliver their clean laundry and found Lauren laying on her bed reading a book. Something about her look of peaceful concentration and the soft glow of light made me want to remember that moment forever. It's moments like these that I will miss when my kids are grown and gone.

This Is Getting Rediculous

The poor economy once again caught up to us on a personal level. Last Wednesday Aaron was told he was being layed off from his job and that Friday was his last day. We had anticipated that this might happen, after all he is in the construction field, but we still were not prepared to hear those shocking words. Fortunately, we were immediately blessed and had another job lined up the same day. The bad news is that the new job is back in the area we just moved from 6 months ago. I can't even describe how sick I was about having to tell my children that we have yet another move to make. We are trying hard to concentrate on the silver lining of these newest storm clouds. At least this move will be taking us back to a familiar town and the kids will go back to their previous schools. We will also be closer to family and that area is more affordable. There are actually quite a few good things this move will bring. We'll just have to hang on tight to those thoughts as we once again pack up our things and move on.

Upholding Tradition

When Austin was a month old we took him to the Pumpkin Patch, set him down in a pile of pumpkins and snapped a ton of pictures. That was the beginning of our first family tradition. Just about every year since, we have visited a patch where we ride overpriced little carnival rides, pet animals and search for the perfect pumpkin. I look forward to it every year.

Is He Really Thirteen? How Did This Happen???

This morning I was fighting off a wave of emotion as I drove Austin to school. This kid of mine is growing into a young man right before my eyes and my heart aches because I know that in a few short years he will be ready to leave home and build a life of his own. It seems that every day his eye level creeps up closer to mine and I notice things, like how he no longer hugs me around the waist but can put his arm around my shoulders. I know that someday he will be amused when due to his increasing height, I have to look up to him. What he may not know is that I have always looked up to him. I have always marvelled at his intelligence, his work ethic, his strength of character, his integrity, his grasp of personal responsibility and his ability to do well at just about anything he tries. He is an awesome kid and I am so, so proud to be his mom.