Halloween questions...

Five years it has been since my last encounter with the pumpkin goo... FIVE years I have been BLESSED with NOT having to get gross and yucky! Then the Armstrongs had to go and invite us to a pumpkin carving party.... THANKS :)

Since our return from the pumpkin patch... Haley walks around carrying this pumpkin and asking me if we can make pumpkin pie.

When I told her I didn't know how... she came back with,
"Well, mom, who then knows how to make a pumpkin pie? I have a good pumpkin!"
"Well, when we go to Tennessee, Aunt Chenoa is going to make a pumpkin pie you can help her." She got a huge grin and asked,
"Will Shelby and Maizie help us too? Maybe Aunt Chenoa can teach you how to make a pumpkin pie."
When she found out how many days it was til we are going to go on our trip, she got sad... So Nana has promised to help her make her pumpkin pie.... :) Such a spoiled girl!

Halloween Questions:
1. What does your Halloween look like this year?
2. Are you adults dressing up?
3. Anyone not celebrate Halloween?

The Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday we headed out to the Pumpkin patch! The kids and I rode with our good friends.... Kelly, Logan and Grant in their Suburban. The kids had a blast on the drive both to and from. They listen to Veggie Tales... sang and "talked" to each other.... what fun!

In this picture.... I told them to make a funny face for the camera... both Hunter and Grant didn't really get it.... Logan and Haley understood (I think) and made silly faces.

We went with our MOPs group. We got on a big tractor and went for a little ride (a circle around the Patch). In this picture: Carrie, Wyatt, Wes, Haley, Logan and part me and Hunter are on the tractor...

After the tractor ride there was a "lesson" on the birds and the bees... and yes... they talked about impregnating the flower to get a pumpkin. Haley paid close attention and would even raise her hand when she knew an answer.

The kids got to pet animals. Hunter mostly liked to chase them. He wanted to hug the ducks. They really didn't like that :).

At the end we all got pumpkins :) FUN!!!

Thanks Kelly for driving us all out there... Tons of Fun!!!

SISTERS: Bella (Brown) Sophie (white) and Lucy (Black)

This week, Monday to Monday, we have my parents two puppies with us. Both of them come from my puppy, Lucy's, litter. Sisters! It is so fun to see them all play together and get along.... Sleeping is another story!

My parents are in Georgia visiting with some family out there.

Kiwi... our other dog laying on the bed as far away as she can be on the bed, secretly loves all the girls :)

My Links

As most of you know, I am a huge logic game gal. A few of my fellow blog friends have had blog entries to describe their links and I thought, I love my links so much, I want you all to love them like me, but I don't think that will happen :). I at least want to make you all aware of what they are. :)

In case you are clueless like I was, my links are on the righthand side of this blog, under the word "Link" :)

Most of my links are games... but let me tell you about each :)

The Flipside ...
This is Jim and I's home church, located in Rancho Cucamonga on Jersey inbetween Milliken and Haven. We have attended this church for as long as it has been a church and even a bit before, when it was just a college group. Pastor Kevin is a good friend and a great leader. Check out the website... When you click on it, you SHOULD see Haley on an advertisement for a Christmas musical coming up. I say SHOULD because on my home computer, I don't... but most people do :)

Playhouse Disney and Noggin and links to kid games, mostly designed for Haley's age. She LOVES these two links and could spend hours playing games and learning. I highly recommend these two links for kids. It really amazes me how Haley can get on the computer and knows what to do. WOW... when I was her age, Atari and the apple computer (Oregon Trail) was big :)...

Suduko ...
A numbers game :) This site tells you how to play and gives you free only games. It shows you clues, has different levels, and tells you if you made a mistake.

The River Game...
RULES...
I have to tell you the rules because when you go to the site, it tells you think (I think) but in some different language I don't speak :)...
1. Get everyone across
2. Mom cannot be left alone with her sons
3. Dad cannot be left alone with his daughters
4. The thief must be with the police man or by himself (hint hint)
5. An adult can only work the raft.
If I am missing any rules I will up date this par tof my blog :)

The States Test...
You have a time limit to get all the states matched.... (Only 48)... When I started, I couldn't do it. I made myself practice over again because I was tired of feeling dumb about not knowing where all the states were (I was like Joey on Friends if that means anything to you) ... after practicing, I can get all 48 in ABC order with in the BLUE range in the timing thing :). I am so proud. Even more proud that when I watch FOX news I know where the state is that they are talking about.... YEA me!

Siana Photos...
My friend Megan is a photographer and is excellent. Check out her website for more details. We have used her and love our pictures!! Many friends of mine have gone with her and love her work!

I think that is all.... Enjoy!

QUILTS!!!

Wednesday thru Friday of last week was very busy for me. I was quilting...

When I found I was was pregnant with Haley (back in Jan of 2002) I went looking for bedding for my new daughter who was to come in Sept. My mom said, "Stef, it would be so easy to make her a quilt for her crib, and so much cheaper..." Key word here... CHEAPER :) It cost me $7 bucks to make my daughters crib quilt (not shown on this blog sorry). That quilt was so easy to make that I decided to make more. I made quilts for grandparents, for my aunt and mom for Christmas. I made quilted table runner for my mother in law. Once Haley got to sleep in a big girl bed, I made her a purple square quilt for her new bed.


When I found out I was pregnant with Hunter I made him this big boy quilt. (picture below) The denim is from old jeans of mine :) .. notice the old navy pocket square...

So going back to what I started saying... This past week I made a king size quilt for Jim and my bed. (No we do not have a king size bed, I just like a quilt that covers all the other bedding underneath.) I had made a quilt for a bed back when I made Haley's baby quilt. Purple, yellow, and green. (Jim can't really see the color purple... he thought it was blue... shhhhhh) When Haley was 18 months, she found scissors a and found my quilt and went scissor happy.... Yes, I had to call in the quilting paramedic for help.... MOM.... She patched it up... nicely too, but there was no way to hide that there was an incident. SO for a few more years, we slept with this quilt on our bed. Until recently when I was looking around our room and noticed that my purple, yellow and green quilt didn't really match the curtains and other accessories in our room very well. So I decided to make a new quilt. Whew.... A lot of words just to tell you about my new quilt huh?

Below is the purple, yellow and green quilt I made a few years back... the one that the scissors went too :( This, still, is my favorite quilt.... :) Scissors or not....

This is my new quilt for our bed. I made it out of curtains I had boughten for our house when we moved a year and a half ago. I had too many... so now I have a quilt that matches our curtains. This quilt cost me $0 dollars to make .... one... we had batting given to my mom and I from my dad's aunt... two, I used my moms thread... Thanks mom.... and three... the fabric I used I had already. I had the extra curtains, I had green fabric from two years ago when I was going to make a quilt for my trailer, and the blue is from one pair of Jimmy's old jeans (shhhh he doesn't know.. he hasn't worn them in over a year) and from an old navy skirt I never wore. So yes, it cost me something years back... so I guess it cost me something.... but years ago....

Anyways... I hope you like my quilts and if you don't ... that's ok cause I like them and I am the one who uses them :)

Out of the one's pictured... Which one is your favorite?

Our little Ballerina.... and Huntman flashbacks

Hunter's first time in a swing and he falls asleep. At this stage, his chin was A-wol. To find it, we had to dig deep, and once we got there, there were often surprises waiting :)

Hunter just days old... isn't he a cutie? In this picture he is wearing premie clothes... can you believe Hunter wore premie clothes?
Haley in her ballerina class. The pictures are not the greatest because we couldn't use a flash and shooting through a window... AND trying not to let the teacher see us :)

She is doing great... this coming week she is starting tap :)

ALL BOY

Is that not a cute boy??? We just got back from getting his hair cut. I actually had a lot of people tell me that I should let it grow out... and I tried... but it was DRIVING ME INSANE!!!! He has thick, wiry curly hair that sticks up in strange places... I couldn't take it anymore! I am so glad I did. I think he looks adorable :)

This is him right after dinner... as you can tell, he isn't the neatest eater. He gets that after his dad... just kidding, actually, he gets that from me. :( Me and my MILLIONS of napkins :).

Jenny's first shower!

Yesterday, my mom and I threw Jenny her first shower. For those of you who don't know, my brother, Scott, is getting married this December to Jenny! They met at our church, The Flipside, and are the cutest couple!

Scott came at the very end of the shower to help Jenny open her presents. They got a lot of great things. I have to agree with my friend Jane, we need to go register :) ... people get you good things when you register :). Haley "helped" them open some of their presents.

Haley got all excited about this flower bow that she had Jane put it in her hair... she is silly :)

There were a lot of family and friends that came that Haley and I ate on the ground. We had fun! And, of course, since my mom made all the food, it is delicious!

The last picture is of Jenny with her two flower girls, Haley and Trisha. The girls are only like a month apart.

Look who has straight hair?

Is she really four? Come on... She can't grow up!

Look at her! She is adorible (if I can say that about my own child without sounding biased). She is such a girl... she asked if she could see what her hair would look like if it were like mine (straight).... so we used a curling iron and this is what came out! Her hair is so long.... :) you just don't see the length with curly hair. It came out really cute.... BIG but cute... lots of body!

Happy birthday Grandma!!! Haley and Hunter help blow out the candles!

Scott and Hunter at Grandma's party. Hunter loves to tell knock knock jokes (they make NO sense at all). Uncle Doby loves to tickle him. Hunter's knock knock jokes typically go like this:

"knock knock"
"who's there"
"cup"
"cup who?"
"Cup...tickle monster...." then he rushes in to tickle you!

Club 33!!! Yep, I am classy!

This Sunday Jim's work, First American Title, treated us to Park Hopper tickets and lunch at Club 33. In the picture is our crew... I will have to have Jim get on here to write all their names (especially the guys from India). Everyone but me and the girl standing, hugging a guy (Teresa) work for the company.

Club 33 was AWESOME. I didn't know what half of what was on the menu and got to show my lameness by asking :)... turned out, everyone at the table didn't know either. The bathroom was the coolest bathroom I had been in. The toilet was a chair... very elegant... and you know me, miss classy! :) Jim took home a handful of napkins in hope to sell them on eBay. Good luck Jim! :)

WE went to the Tower of Terror, and let me tell you, I was scared a bit :). When I get nervous I tend to talk a lot and fast and a little girl in line (had to have been 3rd or fourth grade) turned to me and said, "You don't have to be scared!" I hadn't verbalized my feelings and this girl picked up on my nervousness... She sat in front of me on the ride and kept tell me what was going to happen next.... and I was thankful. At the end, I loved the ride!

Special thanks...
Thank you CEO of FATCO for allowing us to go :)
Thank you mom and dad for watching the kids :)
Thank you Jim for inviting me :)