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!

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.

It was a nice day for a walk, so I went on a walk with McKenzie and Bailey around our neighborhood looking for leaves to “crunch”. McKenzie and Bailey love the crunching leaves sound. We don’t have any big trees on our street or in our yard, so we don’t really have many leaves, but we knew the nature trail would probably have some. And they did. GINORMOUS leaves! I wish we’d taken a walk sooner, because most of the leaves had fallen and were mushy from previous rainfall. It was still a nice walk though.

The girls were mostly just being silly in the pics I took, which was fine with me. If I try to tell them how to stand, smile, pose, they will usually get frustrated and avoid the camera at all costs. They do better when they get to just be silly. So here they are in all their silly-ness. The Mr and Mrs Smith one was McKenzie’s idea. The very bottom one with the huge leaf was me tickling McKenzie’s face with it LOL.

OH! OH! OH! One more thing…. McKenzie is super stubborn about her hair. I mean SUPER stubborn. She has worn big heavy bangs on her forehead since she was itty bitty. I have tried for years to get her to grow her bangs out, but when they get to the point that they are hanging way down in her eyes, I can’t stand it anymore and have to cut them. She has always refused to wear her bangs back. She doesn’t like her forehead or her eyebrows. I have tried SO many times to get her to give it a try. This morning I was brushing her hair after her shower and I put this headband on her. I told her that she is GORGEOUS any way she wears her hair… but that her hair back gave her a totally different look and I just kept telling her how beautiful her face is and how I like to see it once in awhile. The nice thing about her head of bangs, she could wear them straight and down like normal or go for something different like this. I was so happy that she finally agreed to try this out today… and she wore her hair back ALL day. She really does have a beautiful face… and I feel like her bangs are always covering so much of it up. I want her to be confident any way she looks… and am so glad she isn’t feeling self conscious about her forehead for the time being.

 

 

Belated Birthday I should say… Libby turned 4 on 11/2. McKenzie planned this big party for her pups last weekend but it rained all day. So we pushed it to this weekend.

She had plans, lots of plans. I really think my little girl has a future in party planning. She made invitations. And lists. And Signs. And goody bags. So, I pretty much let her loose to plan what she wanted. She invited all the dogs on our street (and their humans got to attend also). She invited Plain Grandma and her pups Shelby. Games ranged from musical chairs (but on the street and with music from a tiny alarm clock with horrible sound), to a dance off, to dog races, and more. This party was to start at 2pm, but the girls and their friends were outside making a sign before most people are even done with breakfast. All the kids in the neighborhood helped with the sign. SO cute. You know my stinky dog is LOVED. The kids had to wait for Shelby to arrive, which was fashionably late about 4:30pm LOL. They had fun and the girls were very proud of their work so it was a success! Libby is probably traumatized for life, but how often does a dog get a birthday party, right? LOL

Last week, my grandma turned 90! I haven’t met a whole lot of 90 year olds in my life, but from what I see, she is amazingly healthy! She still lives on her own, in the same house my dad was born and raised in. It has a basement with rickety old wood stairs. She still keeps her canned foods down there and her washer and dryer. Amazing!

My grandma loves all of us so much, though she’s not always the easiest person to get along with. When I was little, I had a hard time staying there for visits, because I was an only child and stayed there alone. She was very prim and proper. Sit up straight, elbows off the table, brush your teeth with baking soda, etc. Not that I didn’t enjoy visiting with her, but it was a completely different environment from my own home! A little dose of that never hurt me, now that I look back on it. My grandma loves her great grandkids… she is much easier with them than she ever was with me. My oldest has Grandma eating out of the palm of her hand! My dad still checks in with my Grandma every day and visits her every weekend, sometimes more often. I hope that my kids take care me as well as he does for her, and I suppose a lesson to me on how I need to take care of my parents as they get older! Great Grandma still sends jars of pennies home with the kids, still pays the kids $5 per A on their report card. You would never see Grandma in anything but a dress, complete with “stockings” as she calls them. I think she even wears those to bed She has her hair done every Saturday at the same salon that I remember when I was little, same style too. Once in awhile she may change the style (and when I say once in a blue moon, that would be an understatement!), and we would be in shock. She prays before every meal, and that includes us all holding hands, even if we are dining in a nice restaurant. What other people think isn’t important to her, when it comes to praying before a meal. I admire that in her, because you certainly don’t see that very often. She is very honest, brutally so sometimes. I don’t think she intends to hurt people’s feelings but it happens, pretty often. Most of us are used to that. She has taught me alot about life in general. I wish she lived closer, so I could have learned more from her. I have a feeling she’ll be with us for years to come still. Happy Birthday Grandma!

Dad rented the Portland Sternwheeler Rose for her birthday gathering. We had a great 2 hour boat ride up the Willamette River. The rain stopped just for 2 hours that day. It literally started to rain as I was carrying the leftover food back up to my van. We were blessed!

Here are some pictures. I didn’t get any of me on my camera with Grandma, I hope that someone else did. I was busy taking tons of pictures of my own. Each picture can be clicked to enlarge.

Daddy and Bailey carrying supplies onto the boat.

Bailey and Austin (my nephew) with the captain!

Great Grandma and her great grandkids!

Grandma and Dad

Just one of Grandma by herself!

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dork… they were writing codes I think? Goofy boys.

Ah and then there is goofy mom with Katy and Bailey

My mom with all of my kids

My mother-in-law with the kids

My sister and her “dating partner”…. not sure they are boyfriend/girlfriend yet, but they were last year. Confused yet? Me too.

Katy and Kenzie

Me and Katy

Bailey and Katy

The 3 oldest, aren’t they cute? Ashlyn, Tanner, and Katy

 

 

Grandma blowing out her candles! I wonder what 90 would have looked like

Hope you all had a great Halloween! We had fun! We expected (and were prepared) for rain. We were blessed with a dry evening and enjoyed trick or treating for 3 hours with not a single raindrop! My mother in law drove down to join us. My dad and his girlfriend and my nephew came along, and even my mom stopped in. The girls were thrilled because their good friends were able to go with us for a little while too. It was so warm, we didn’t even need jackets! The kids got so much candy! Tanner stayed home this year and ate passed out all of our candy to trick or treaters. When we got home the other 3 donated enough to fill a half of a freezer ziploc bag! Then they had fun trading what was left over. I discovered Bailey is candy CRAZY. McKenzie is very picky and only likes certain things. Tanner and Ashlyn like pretty much anything.

Today at lunch, I told Bailey she could pick out 3 pieces of candy from her bag. She took the bag to the table and when I walked over she had covered her whole lunch plate with candy. She had 14 pieces of candy on and around her plate, she thought she was going to eat. I don’t think so baby! She cracked me up Halloween morning by telling me (FIRST THING AFTER SHE WOKE UP) “Mommy it’s Halloween. I’m so excited, I can already taste it!”. She remembers it all too well! Such a goof ball!

Here are some pictures —- enjoy!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Pictures below include:

Bailey’s Last Day of Preschool - she’s had a great year and is so excited to start Kindergarten. I, on the other hand, am not so excited! My baby is growing up!

Ashlyn’s Team Party - Pictures of Ashlyn’s party, her trophy, and some with her friends. The parents played the girls in a game of softball… it was alot of fun. I was surprised how many parents were actually very good players in our old haggard states. LOL.

Jon’s Surprise Grad Party - I’m not sure how long Jon has been taking classes, but he’s been working full time and taking classes when he can… and they have a baby! That’s commitment. I know his wife, Tiffany, has worked just as hard. I give them total props! We had a date night that day… we went to a wedding first, which was really nice. Then, we picked up some dinner at Sonic (the famous Sonic, we’ve been watching commercials for this place for YEARS but not having anywhere nearby, it’s been worth the wait - fabulous food!). Then, we went to Big Al’s for bowling, pizza and Jon’s party. I had my first ever Cosmo - by Jon’s recommendation. I don’t really remember how it tasted now.. but it was okay. I drank it fast and I’m such a lightweight and cheap… $6.75 a drink is outrageous! Needless to say, that was all I had LOL.

Good times… bring on Summer Vacation!!

Sorry… the captions don’t all lign up right for some reason, even though they look right on my slide page. GRR!