The Carnival

For the second year in a row, Gavin's school held a carnival as the primary fund raiser for the year. For the second year in a row, it was a rousing success! There were lots of game booths, a cake walk, hot dogs, burgers, popcorn, snow cones, nachos and other goodies. In the multi-purpose room the kids could play Rock Band and Guitar Hero and there was an inflatable maze and karaoke. The pie baking contest had 15 pie entries and 4 judges. The tasting went well and we sold all remaining slices for $1 a piece. I learned what will make it better (and easier) for next year and even thought I did not win a ribbon...I must say my pie crust ROCKED. My filling choice could have been better, but "live and learn". I baked a "Fireside Fruit Pie" and the filling was apples, apricots and dates. It was "good" but not "special". The homemade crust came out perfect, so I will keep that and try a new filling next year! I also made a chocolate pie that got high marks, but my pre-made crust lowered my overall score...I worked hard at the booth all day and the kids played hard with Dad, Gramma and Grampa. There were lots of people there and everyone had a blast! Gavin ran around and LOVED his independence. With a pocket full of tickets, he was free to do whatever he liked. He went through the maze and played the drums in Rock Band (quite a few times), he ate a snow cone and got himself a hot dog. He did the cake walk and won a beautiful cake that we all shared at Sunday night dinner. Ella was clingy, but played games, ate popcorn and found out that snow cones are "weally, weally cold!" Andy ate pie, played games and hung out with Ella and at the end of the day, we were all exhausted! After that, I drove out to a friends house to hang out, meet her new foster children (an 8 month old baby girl and a cutie 2 year old boy!) and we did a little (very little) scrapbooking.

The rest of the weekend was spent catching up, cleaning up, and straightening up. After all of that "up", we relaxed and had some "down" time with Andy's parents. Another weekend over, and another week has begun....I hate to say it, but I can't wait until Winter Break! I am TIRED!

Weekend Fun!

Friday night was fun.. my mom and I had a blast at Gymboree and we did have coffee! When we got home, we found that Andy had hung up the Halloween lights and gotten started on decorating the house! We had a great dinner and then just hung out and relaxed.

Saturday was busy! We got up early and started painting the patio table, we decorated for Halloween with the kids, the neighbor kids came over to play, I did homework, we went to Gavin's soccer game and then we went to Andy's parents house to visit with GiGi and to have dinner. Andy and I even had time to watch a movie last night, we watched "The Breakup" and we both thought that it was pretty stupid, oh well.

Today, we headed off to Apple Country! Andy's parents and GiGi came with us! That was REALLY exciting because she has never gone on an outing with us! The weather was cool and crisp, but the sun was warm. After an hour in the car, we were ready to stretch our legs and have some apples! We bought candy, jam, apple butter, cider and LOADS of apples! We had a yummy fried chicken lunch picnic while we listened to "Merle" the yodeling country singer and the kids climbed around on the pumpkins. We brought home 4 different varieties: Pippen, Honeycrisp, Laura Red and Ambrosia! Lots to eat out of hand, some to cook with, some for applesauce and some for pie! We visited our 2 favorite sheds and figured out some other places that we would like to visit next year, since the kids are getting older and can handle a longer day. We got apple doughnuts and picked a few raspberries (Ella was a pro at this!) and then headed home for a wonderful pot roast dinner! A wonderful weekend with my family makes me feel ready for the week to come!

Another week over

Another busy week is over and I am into another! Last week we had baseball games, dance classes, tumbling, scrapbooking and a trip to Dream Dinners. I have still not blogged about Dream Dinners, but they have really saved my life! I go and make 13 meals for the month in about an hour! It is incredible...but I will post on that another time!

During the weekend we, went to a Pancake Breakfast at Ella's school, headed to the local nursery to pick up plants for a project, stopped at Target for some supplies, watched Gavin play baseball (he hit a home run and a triple!) and later, Andy took Ella to a Father/Daughter Ball. He made a great slide show and I am going to try to upload it later!

Sunday, I taught Sunday School and then we came home and worked around the house. We set up our new garden fountain (an anniversary gift to ourselves), but we still need to have power run for it. The electrician is coming out later today, I hope that we can have this done before June! We also planted some pots for our front porch, I will post pics when that project is done. Andy did filing and I did laundry and later we had dinner with Andy's parents. We paid bills and had our beginning of the week "touch base" meeting. A busy but productive weekend.

Two weeks ago, our oven died. The electrical panel burned out and no buttons worked, at all. Luckily, we have a home owners warranty plan that pays for things like this to be fixed. The oven beeped like crazy, so Andy pulled the unit out and unplugged it. They sent out a guy, he wrote up stupid stuff like "They tampered with the machine and tried to fix it themselves" and got our claim denied! I was sooooo mad!!! I went around and around with the insurance on Friday and finally handed it over to Andy. He got them to send someone else out today and he said, no problem...they will order the part. So, I may have an oven again by the end of the week. Thank goodness! We are truckin along and going to have loads of fun this week...especially because we are going camping over the weekend!

Weekend Fun!

Whew.... are you ever glad when the weekend is over? Sometimes, I am! Like this weekend, where I was only home for a few hours and now, I am glad to be here to get back to a routine! Don't get me wrong... I had LOADS of fun this weekend, but I am beat!

Friday was really nice... Ella and I went up to Gavin's school to cheer for the Fun Run! The kids run laps and raised money for the school. Gavin ran a MILE! He was very proud of himself! Afterwards they all had popsicles and Ella and I headed home for lunch. After lunch, we hung out in the backyard, Ella in the sandbox and me on a lounge chair with a book. (I am STILL reading "Eat, Pray, Love" and I don't want it to end, but I am almost there...) I did some house work and prepped for the weekend and stopped by to visit with my in-laws while the kids played "Pokemon" around the pool. Later, Andy and I went out... on a DATE! It CAN happen!

Afton stayed home with the kids and we went for $15 massages! It is really very cool...you just sit on a little stool (with clothes on) while your feet are soaking in a tub of HOT tea. The guys work on your back, shoulders, neck, head, legs and arms. When you are done with that part, you sit in a recliner and get about 20 minutes of foot massage with reflexology. AMAZING!

We then went out for dinner at a great Thai restraunt that we have been wanting to try. Food and company were great. We ran into Gavin's kindergarten teacher and her husband and ended up chatting for about an hour before we went home to enjoy a HUGE piece of chocolate cake and an episode of "LOST". Ahhhhhhh.... so nice! (I should have taken my camera so that I could have taken some pics....but...I didn't!)

I was up early on Saturday to do my Snack Shack duty for Little League. I had to pick up the doughnuts (7 dozen in my car... can I tell you how good THAT smelled!) and be up at the field by 7:30. My shift officially ended at 12 noon, but I stayed to help the next shift get into the swing of things, and was done at 1:00. Then it was time for Gavin's game! He is doing so well! He is a great hitter and getting really good at staying and playing his assigned position. It was hot though and the kids were worn out. When we got home, we set up some lounge chairs on our front lawn, in the shade and chilled. I even took a lil snooze! Dinner, story time and some more time with my book rounded out my day.

Sunday was church and out to Pasadena to visit with my brother and his family. It was my Sister-in-law's birthday and we had a wonderful bar-b-que. There were lots of friends and family there, the kids played in the ball pit, kiddie pool, sprinkler and with bubbles. I sat in the shade, tried to stay cool and eat within my points and downed bottle after bottle of water. My lil niece is getting cuter every day and I love to see her toddle around and be goofy. She has a great fake laugh and likes to tell you "no" for every question you ask.

We got home pretty late, I read some stories to Gavin (The Frog Prince & Hansel and Gretel) and then, I promplty fell asleep on the couch. Weekend over.