Patio Update

Remember our Patio in Progress?

After the concrete dried it was time to stain it.

The concrete guy said he'd do it but he strongly (bless his heart) suggested that we do it ourselves saying it would be A LOT cheaper. 

How right he was!

It took Matt about 30 minutes of his time for the initial overlay.

Tyler is proud of his Daddy's hard work.

Meanwhile, Lauren tried to fly her homemade kite in the absence of wind.

That quickly lost its thrill so she took to supervising the staining.

After the stain was applied we had to let it dry.

Lauren's idea was to make a picnic lunch and head to the park.

Great idea.

(I made some killer PB&J sandwiches.  My secret:  Mix the peanut butter with the jelly before applying it to the bread.  It makes a world of difference and all for the better.)

At the park we made sure to have a pine straw and leaf fight.

 (I won because I had the camera and no one is allowed to throw stuff at the camera.)

We tried to take advantage of the sun and use the timer to get a family picture but we didn't get it centered just right.

Unless!?...

We wanted to be-dazzle the picture and use PicMonkey to add in our friend Frosty.

Once we were back at home Matt added some gray stain to outline the joints.

After that we met some friends for dinner at Partners Pizza and had the fajita pizza but the kids had a five cheese pizza with feta and of course they all picked the feta off but they had fun playing in the pizza parlor playroom and then we all came back to our house to hang out and watch Oregon beat Stanford and hopefully get into the #1 BCS spot but unfortunately that didn't happen and the Ducks did not play like they should have and they lost to #15 or something Stanford and I was devastated - DEVASTATED and end of story, with one sentence, that's all I'm going to say about it.

The next day the kiddos put on clothes from their "give-away/too small" baskets so they could help paint the weathered and stained retaining wall.

Lauren looks smashing in whatever size she wears, right?!

(albeit, slightly uncomfortable)

Good work kids!  We love us some child labor.  =)

I could easily end the Patio Update here but I still have pictures on my camera so bear with me.

Since we start school so ridiculously early (first week of August) we get to take the entire week off for Thanksgiving. 

To celebrate, today we met up with some friends at the new Skating Rink/Indoor Playground/Laser Tag/Arcade place.  (It's only 7 minutes from our driveway so we LOVE IT!)

Tyler had fun although he chose not to skate today.

Q-T-Pi

Lauren did it all and had a blast.

Love her!

This evening we finished our first day of Thanksgiving vacation with an extra screen time.

They are playing Minecraft with each other via the iPad and the Asus.

Tomorrow we are looking forward to Dad and Dyann's visit (Matt's Dad and Step-Mom.)

It's been quite awhile since we've seen our family.

Let's Catch Up

Okay... here's the thing:  After checking out all the photos I have on my camera I came to realize that I took a lot of pictures with the intent to do many amazing blow-your-mind super-creative blog posts.  But...I now realize that That Just Ain't Going to Happen.  However...I have all these pictures and for blogs sake I should still put them on here.

So... let's catch up why don't we?!

Last month my friend Nicole invited us all over for a play-date.

She didn't tell me she had a Bunny.

Now all I hear is "I want a Bunny!"

 DO NOT GET THEM A BUNNY

(it will be returned to sender)

And moving on:

In October, Matt had business trips which took him out of town two weeks in a row.

I really missed him while he was gone and counted the days until he came back, but somehow when he came back...

I forgot he was here.

I backed out of the garage and smacked right into his almost-brand-new-car.

the Mazda

You'll notice a little dent but...

look what it did to my car!

 luckily mine cleaned up well with a simple wipe down.

Some red nail polish should fix the rest, right?

Quickly changing subjects:

Check out Lauren's Halloween t-shirt she made.

out-of-this-world CREATIVE!

She made the front with fabric markers and the back with stencils and fabric spray paint.

(future Etsy shop owner)

Hey, it's the enchanted forest:

Since it's cooler out and (hopefully) the ticks are hibernating we've been playing more in the woods behind the house.  The kids have even made a bunch of signs and placed them on the "hiking" trails.

Both of these signs say "LOL" (Tyler's idea) but there are more signs (like "Watch Your Step") placed in strategic locations.  I keep meaning to get out there and take pictures.

It was just getting too dark that day.

Anyway:

We've now switched sports from Softball/Baseball to Basketball.

Both kids are playing Upward Basketball again this year.

Lauren's practice

Tyler's practice

(Well, it should have been.  I sent the camera with Matt to take a picture and this is what I got.)

 Anyhoo:

 The kids are still busy with their respective CUB SCOUT and GIRL SCOUT activities.

CUB SCOUT MEETING

Chili Cook-off

  I didn't take any pictures of the actual chili cook-off but here's a picture of Tyler (in the grey shirt) and some of his Pack playing a game of marbles.

BROWNIE GIRL SCOUT MEETING

They got to see a police dog in action.

The officer hid AN ACTUAL BAG OF MARIJUANA in the bushes and the police dog sure enough found it.  I was dreading the follow-up questions by Lauren back at home but so far she hasn't mentioned anything.

Hopefully all she remembers is sitting in the front seat of the patrol car.

(I may have told her that the police will arrest anyone who uses a bad tone of voice toward their parents.  And I'm pretty sure my statement was followed with an "Oh stop Momma, you're not being serious.") 

Like without a doubt:

My two kids represent the next generation of GENERAL HOSPITAL fanatics.

(Lauren really likes the Robin story-line because of her daughter Emma.)

However, when I try to take a picture of them in GH Zombie Mode they quickly turn their heads or move away from the TV.

 Whatever!  I know what I saw!

And As If...it would never end:

My last picture to share before we are all caught up.

Guess what I did with a head of cauliflower and some Franks Red Hot?!

I made Spicy Buffalo Cauliflower of course.

(gotta love Pinterest!)

So Yeah:  Thanks for catching up with me.  TTYL

Lights Out in Twenty

Bedtime at our house is currently 8:00pm on school nights.

They are in their beds at 8 o'clock but I give them 20 extra minutes to read a book or write in their journals.

Normally, Tyler just crashes out with his blanket but Matt took this awesome picture of him tonight that I had to share.

He's copying words and pictures from a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book into his journal.

Lauren normally reads for her 20 minutes but today she rediscovered her old journal.

Before reading it to me she said, "Momma, it was from a hundred years ago."  (last year)

She chose to use her 20 minutes to update her experiences from the "last century."

She was hesitant to let me take this picture.

L:  "But you'll put this on the blog."

Me:  "Yes I will but the blog is sort of my journal and you will like to read it someday."

L:  "But everyone will laugh at me."

Me:  "No one really reads this blog."  (ha ha)

I'm so glad I'm able to witness these sweet moments before bedtime.

Patio in Progress

We've lived with this patio for SEVEN YEARS!

Funny thing is,

It only took SEVEN HOURS to do this!

They poured concrete and then stamped it.  

We're thinking about staining it in the near future.

I love it but I need some ideas for a decorative border around it.

Flower bed? Mint Garden? Pine Straw?  

I think it needs a little something.

How to Make a Creeper Mask

(disclaimers:  1.  A friend suggested I "pin" how we made our Halloween Creeper mask to Pinterest.  2.  In order to "pin" I need to post about it first.  3.  While taking pictures of the process I did not think I was going to do an instructional post.  4.  So bear with me.)


How to Make a Creeper Mask

1.  Find a good head-sized box.  We used a 10 x 10 inch box.  Tape up any loose flaps with clear packing tape.  (obviously, leave one side open to insert head)

2.  Measure and glue illustration board (or any other white poster board or white contact paper) onto each side of the mask to give a white background.

3.  Use a ruler to make a grid of squares.  We penciled in 8 x 8 squares per side.

4.  Color in the Creeper face.  We (we meaning Matt) used this template as a guide.

5.  Listen to your children "ooh" and "ahh" because this is SO COOL!

6.  Parade around the house in the Creeper Face Only mask.  How cool is this!

7.  Gather markers in 4 different shades of green and also 1 black marker.  "X" out a few blocks per side for BLACK (technically there is only black on the Creeper's face) and pencil in a few blocks (per side) to leave white.

8.  Let your children do the hard/tedious part for you.  Randomly color in the boxes.

Slowly...

 ...but surely they will get it done.

9.  Cut some layers of foam to help the Creeper mask fit the head and glue them in.

10.  (optional) Cut a "handle" out of a side of the mask so the Creeper can carry the mask while s/he runs from house to house trick-or-treating.

11.  Set completed mask on the floor and spend a lot of time admiring it.

12.  Pair the Creeper mask with green pants and a green shirt and totally rock it.

13.  Pose as the Creeper next to a Creeper pumpkin and two other pumpkins.

14.  Make your Mom happy and pose with your sister as well.

Happy Creeping!

P.S.  The best line I heard while trick-or-treating this Halloween was when a neighborhood boy saw Tyler as the Creeper and said, "You better not even think about exploding right now."