Wow… 91…. that is a LONG time to live. And, remarkably, my grandma still lives completely on her own, in the house that my dad was born and raised in! We had a little Birthday dinner for her at one of her favorite buffet restaurants. I don’t think my Gram eats anywhere else… but buffets… or McDonald’s if she has a coupon LOL. It was a very good dinner though, surprisingly! It was just Ashlyn, Bailey and I joining them, so it was pretty low key. David had a football game. McKenzie had a Halloween party. Tanner stayed home sick. Katy couldn’t make it.

Ugh. This is a terrible picture and my card was full
so it’s the only one of them I got, but.. it’s all I got.

My gram brought a bunch of little little papers from when I was little. Letters I sent her while we were living in Ocean Shores, momentos from school, etc. Some of my letters I sent her were so goofy, they are fun to read. I used to send her pennies in the mail. No clue why, but it was my thing… pennies and sticks of gum LOL! The letters she saved from me still have the little pennies stuck to them. GOOFY!

Ashlyn had fun reading my letters and scrutinizing my handwriting and making fun of all the times the name “Jessie” was used. BLECH!

Tucked inside all of these papers was this little umbrella from China. I actually VAGUELY remember this. It was something my dad had brought me when I was really little. He is a retired Merchant Marine and used to travel to all different areas of the world and bring me back treasures. That sounds a little Pippi Longstocking-ish. But… it’s true. Bailey thought the umbrella was neat. I let her pose for a pic, but it’s very delicate looking so back away it will go.

Dear Santa: I would love a hope chest to put my things in. I promise I’ve been really good all year long!

Anyway, we had a good evening… and who else can hang at a buffet for 2 hours and say that? LOL. We had some good conversations about how things were way back in Gram’s earlier days. She said her taxes when she bought her house were $9 per year! And then, that was alot! Her mortgage, was $13/month! Holy canoli! So many years my Grandma has lived through and although she’s not always the easiest to get along with, she’s been through many, many things and her stories are always neat to listen to. I’m amazed at her memory and her ability to talk like this all just happened yesterday.

I am not a fan of spiders! I was checking the weather before heading to bed and my heart jumped a bit as I saw these nasty creatures scurrying around my laptop screen. Nice, catchy ad, I must say, by Pioneer Pest Management. The name will stick with me, so I guess job well done LOL.

Heh, but the good news as shown in the picture below is that the weather for Halloween is looking DRY. Cloudy. Warmer than usual. And, DRY. Did I say DRY?! I will try not to jinx it but could we possibly get through another Halloween rain-free? Yipee!

I wonder how many times I’ve watched “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” show. A lot.

You’d think I’d have to force my kids to sit and watch this show with me. The animation that Charlie Brown was created with is not exactly what they are used to these days. But, there must be something about it for them too, that they are always just as excited to watch it as I am. They know that it means Halloween is just a few days away, and what kid doesn’t love the holiday that offers up a buffet of two of their favorite things? Dress up and buckets of candy.

I made chocolate chip cookies tonight, in a pumpkin shape to have for dessert. They weren’t very appealing (I’m no Martha LOL) but they were fun to make and the kids liked them, so my goal was achieved.

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I’ve had a little one in a shopping cart for…. 17.5 years! No exaggeration! It’s funny how there are all kinds of “firsts” that you look forward to as your kids get older. Milestones met and passed. Pretty soon, there are fewer “FIRSTS” and more “LASTS”.

The last time one of my babies were interested in dry cheerios for a snack. The last time I put a lid on a sippy cup for one of my kids. The last jar of baby food bought. The last diaper used on one of my own babies. The last time someone scribbled on the wall with a Sharpie. The last time my kids were interested in an episode of Dora The Explorer. The last time we had to ask for a high chair at a restaurant for one of our babies. The last time I could shop in the beloved toddler section at Target. The last time I had to walk a child to the bus stop or get them off the bus. The last time I had a need to walk down the preschool toys aisle at the store. The last time I “had” to read the directions to a game or a story to a child (I still do it out of want, but all of my kids are readers now!). The last time I had to rescue a child frightened by Chuck E Cheese, Santa Claus, or the Easter Bunny. Some of these lasts happened a long time ago. Some more recent. Some go unnoticed. Some I might shed a tear or two over. Some are still to come. And, on the flip side, there are lots of FIRSTS still to come, which is exciting also!

BAILEY AT AGE 4 PUSHING A CART @ PETCO

You wouldn’t think that saying goodbye to the kiddie seat in the buggy cart would bring on a sad response, but alas… it kind of does! Just another thing that shows me how fast my kiddos are growing up.

Anywho, the reason for this post and wow sometimes it just really takes me a long time to get to the point…. is Miss Bailey. She is a flutterby girl. What does that mean? She doesn’t walk, she flutters. She flutters around the store (park, mall, pretty much any venue that doesn’t require you to sit down). She sings and dances looking at things (and goodness we are in trouble if she finds a mirror!), lost in BAILEYLAND. She does this at home too, but the store does present a few more challenges. I don’t want her getting hurt, bumping into things and breaking them, fluttering off in the parking lot where she’s too short to be seen by cars, or wandering too far away that she could get lost or taken. DUH! But when I’m shopping, I’m on a mission, I’m not there to flutter LOL… so it can be difficult keeping track of my flutterby girl.

Daddy has been letting Bailey walk on her own for quite awhile now. But, I will throw her in if she is being too fluttery. She fits! She’s tiny. So why not throw her in? McKenzie… who bless her heart, is just a big girl, would need lubricant to remove her out of a cart at age 6.5. I think she was probably done with carts about the time that Bailey was born, so about age 3?

Miss Bailey had a rather serious conversation with me the other day, as she informed me that she wasn’t a baby anymore and didn’t want to be forced to sit in the cart any longer. Wait! Stop! What happened to my baby girl that used to cry when we told her that she was getting to be a big girl, protesting that she was going to be my baby forever! So… okay, I am listening to my BIG girl, who IS, after all, 6.5 and I guess she IS old enough to say… “look mommy, the me and the cart - we are through. let it go.”

Breathe mama. Breathe!

Took this pic last night as her final trip around the store in a cart. Sniffles.

Yay, boy is following a bit in mama’s footsteps! Tanner is taking a school publications class where he’s been developing in his picture taking skills. My budding photog! I worked on the school newspaper and loved it. He snapped a pic with our old jacked up digicam, it is in a very sad state, LCD screen is cracked and broken, but I was surprised at how well the pic came out. They used it for the banner on the school website, which I thought was really cool! WTG Tanner!

Santa if you are reading this: Tanner is wishing for a new camera for Christmas. A DSLR if you are feeling particularly jolly

If you are a Comcast subscriber, have you ever checked out your On Demand listings? The girls love going through the Kids section for projects, recipes, games, exercises, etc. They have seasonal content too which is nice. They have a bunch of different Halloween themed ideas. The other night we were watching a few project ideas, and the next day while I was working Ashlyn made a few of the ghosts and taped them to the ceiling. They actually turned out really cute and were super easy to make. She had 4 of them made in no time flat. The project idea says you need certain supplies but we didn’t have the things they suggested, so Ashlyn simply used copy paper from the printer, a Sharpie marker to draw the ghost and then scissors to cut it out. I thought I could find the project online (at activitytv.com) to post, but I can’t. Basically, you just draw the top of a ghost and the body on a piece of paper, then when you get to the bottom you sort of make a circle and swirl it like a snail would look like. Then when you cut out the ghost, you cut ou the holes for the mouth and eyes and cut around the swirls of the tail so it looks “curly” as shown in the pic. Cute, easy, and no cost!

David showed me this picture this morning and I knew right away what it was, Longaberger! I have never owned a Longaberger basket (or cared to really for that matter), but I remember hearing buzz about them many years ago. Cool baskets with a crazy high price tag. I think maybe more popular on the East Coast areas? Not sure, but I knew by looking at the pic that is what it had to be. Would be cool to work in a giant basket.

Man… Monday comes way too quickly these days. Arg!

The girls had fun making some cute Halloween candies this afternoon… it was just a little kit I picked up at Michael’s, but we’ll save the molds to make them again. They couldn’t see the front as they were filling the molds, so when we popped them out later after they were set, we had forgotten who had done which ones LOL.. they are kind of goofy looking - but for something that is gone in two bites, they are pretty cute in my book!

I’m 33 years old and I remember going to Harvest Festivals at Lake Shore Elementary School like it was yesterday. I remember decorating pumpkins and taking them in for the biggest pumpkin decorating contest ever, dressing up in costumes, bobbing for apples, going through homemade haunted houses, and all kinds of other fun things. From then til now (my two youngest girls are in 1st grade and 4th grade this year), they have scaled down… the emphasis is really taken off “Halloween” and put more upon “Harvest/Fall”, which is fine with me, as long as they haven’t done away with it completely. Katy (my oldest, who is 17 now), used to dress up in costume in 1st grade, 2nd grade, etc and parade through the school halls for Halloween. I understand the desire to keep everyone in their diversity happy, and not everyone celebrates holidays the way our family does. I remember there were always 1 or 2 kids in class that would either stay home that one day or they’d go to the library for other fun activities while we had our Halloween or Christmas fun. I always wondered if they felt sad about that, or if they truly understood how their parents felt about making them miss the fun we were all allowed to have. Again, as long as my littles are still able to enjoy some of these festivities, I’m not going to complain too much. Our family had a good time tonight, and for the price of 2 movie tickets, we were able to enjoy dinner, games, ghost stories, face painting and desserts courtesy of the bake sale. Something we can feel good about!

Each of the kids’ classrooms were able to decorate 1 pumpkin. This was the 1st place winner, it was a giant pumpkin covered with white fur, to look like a mouse. LOL. Very, very cute. 3rd place winner (which I didn’t get a pic of) was simply a pumpkin pie. That was pretty creative LOL!

This was Bailey’s class pumpkin, an octopus… McKenzie didn’t want me to take a pic of hers.

A couple of other cute entries!

The dart game which so pleasantly rewarded my girls with FUN DIPS. Ick! LOL.


Who can pass up FREE face painting after paying $5 per kid last weekend at the pumpkin patch?! My girls love it… but dang this time it was HARD to get off… we’ll be working at it tomorrow too!

Bailey spent the evening being a kitty cat… McKenzie got a clown face that I forgot to take a pic of. Sorry Kenzie!

Just found this cool program sponsored by Oscar Meyer. You pledge to drop a note in your child’s sack lunch and they will donate a lunch to a child in need. Pretty cool, if you ask me. I always try to include a little note on a napkin on the rare occassion that I pack a sack lunch for one of the girls… they like to eat lunch at school This site has cute little notes you can print off too if you want to be really cutesy!

Lunch Note Promise

My dad’s girlfriend, Elaine, lost her dog Lexi last week. She died pretty suddenly and definitely unexpectedly, she will be greatly missed by everyone! Lexi was a mini Dachshund. I had never even seen one of these dogs before we met Lexi. Funniest thing about Lexi….she used to come over and visit and she’d go hunting around the house for Libby’s toys and once all those were found (not many since Libby isn’t a huge fan of dog toys), she’d move onto the kids’ little stuffed animals and toys. Cracked me up watching her carry things from room to room, piling them up under my kitchen table. She was a sweetie and while no dog could ever replace her, my dad and Elaine got a new puppy last weekend and my Dad brought her over today to introduce her to us. She is absolutely adorable. I’ve never seen a Dachshund puppy before, and me-oh-my, I fell in love with this little thing! My guinea pigs were bigger than she is.

Here are a few pics of my animal freaky girls enjoying her. I seriously might have to dognap this little thing…. simply adorable.