Hope you have a happy Halloween

An old person's Halloween ...

Well that isn't quite right, so how about we change it to ... An adult with college age kids Halloween. (that sounds a little better)

I guess this is the middle Halloween years. Were too old to have little kids who go out trick or treating, and were too young to have little grandkids who go out. So this is what I like to call the middle Halloween years.

We decorate the house with cutesy Halloween decorations, like this metal pumpkin I got from this adorable little gift shop when we went to Wisconsin a few years back for a grateful dead concert. (There is so much wrong with that last sentence, I really wouldn't know where to start. lol)

We give out real normal-size candy bars. (not those "fun size" because we all know ... what's so fun about a tiny candy bar ... nothing) Everyone can remember the one house in the sub, when you went out trick or treating that gave out full-size candy bars. That was the house that has college kids.

And last but not least ... since we don't have any little kids to put in costumes ... we dress up the cats.

My favorite Halloween picture's ...

These are my favorite pictures from when the girls were little.

Just photos today ...

I can't believe it ... it finally stopped raining. So I'm taking advantage of the break, and doing some running around. (Good new's for you Deb .. since I'll finally be getting your birthday present today)

The early years ... continued

This is another picture from years ago. This was the one and only time (when Ashley was lets say ... grade school age) that she didn't go out as some sort of princess. It was a Power Ranger year. The girls loved Power Rangers (probably still do). Power Rangers and Captain Planet were the tv shows of choice. Ashley's favorite power ranger was the pink one, Kayla's the yellow one. Unfortunately, we couldn't find a yellow costume ... so red had to do.


Now I don't have any pictures for this next story ... But around this same time frame. (when the girls were little .. little) Kayla went out as a witch, and Ashley as ... you guessed it a princess. Kayla was a cute witch, not a scary witch, since I don't like scary Halloween stuff .. just cutesy Halloween stuff. But anyway, back to the story ... Kayla was a cutesy witch with the long dress, hat, standard witch outfit and a spider ring. This is one of those cheap black rings you can get for like a penny at a thousand stores. So were out trick or treating .. and every few minutes Kayla would just scream and jump. omg .. the first couple of times it scared me to death, not realizing what was happening. She would forget she had on a spider ring, look at her hand .. see the ring .. thinking it was a huge spider on her .. and scream. So I would calmly explain to her, it was a ring .. not a real spider and she would be fine, and laugh and all's well with the world again. That would be for about another 2 minutes ... until it happened all over again. So after about the third time ... I just took the ring for good. It was this same year Ashley (the princess) was really developing her own self worth. We went up to a house where the people weren't home and just left a big bowl of candy on the porch. (keep in mind this was the olden days, when you could do stuff like that and it wouldn't disappear to the first kid that showed up) The girls walked up to the porch and read the sign with the candy.

Please take one piece of candy, and have a happy Halloween.
p.s. If your costume is really nice ... you can take 2 !!

I didn't go all the way up to the porch then, (they were getting older and I stopped where the front walk breaks from the drive .. lol) Kayla gets her candy and comes back. I'm watching Ashley and shes just looking over her costume ... the front, the sides, the back (in the reflection of the storm door) and really pondering what to do. By this time, I've walked all the way to the door to see what the problem is, because she is just taking forever. I read the sign and assured her that her costume is really nice .. so she could definitely take 2 pieces of candy. She takes the 2 pieces of candy and we start back down the walkway, she stops and runs back to the porch and takes a third piece. When she gets back to me she says ... "I have the nicest costume, and I'm the prettiest princess .. so I should get 3"
Oh sweet, adorable little Ashley. lol

Halloween ... the early years

Since Halloween is this week, I thought I would share pictures from the girls Halloween's all this week.


Kayla was about a year and a half when this was taken. We lived in South Carolina at the time and it was her first attempt at pumpkin carving. I did all the cutting, but she got to scoop out all the icky stuff from inside. lol
Mom and Dad came down this year and took the girls out trick or treating. Now in South Carolina it's a little different than up north.
First of all ... its not snowing (always a plus) so you can actually see their costumes.
Secondly, not alot of people participate in Halloween activities. (we were in the bible belt)
So Ashley and Kayla went out trick or treating. Kayla was a cat, and Ashley a princess of some sort. (every year ... always a princess) I remember the first house we went to let the girls pick out their own candy from a giant bowl. Ashley picked hers and then it was Kayla's turn. Now at the time, Kayla had alot of food tolerence issues, and could only eat cherrios, fruit, and formula .. so this candy which someone was giving her was very new to her. She took the candy and kept smelling it. (it was a reeses cup) I remember this because by the time we could pry it out of her little hands .. there was a tiny thumb pushed all the way through the wrapper, and into the candy. She wasn't letting go of this one for anything. I think she's made up for it over the years since this food problem has been solved. lol

This next picture was when Ashley was about 2. Kayla was a baby and since we were up north at the time, (snow, snow .. very cold and snow) she didn't go out.


We went over to Mom and Dads to go trick or treating with Ashley. She was dressed as a princess (always) and had a furry white coat over the top. Debbie and I took Ashley out, mom and dad watched Kayla and handed out candy. It was cold ... but we could live with that. Ashley was so excited and would run from house to house, I don't think she even noticed the cold. After about a half hour it started snowing. That turned into sometimes snowing, sometimes sleeting .. and then just a mixture of them both. The excited to be out trick or treating Ashley, was turning into the ... your taking too long to answer the door and give me candy Ashley. When she got to the door instead of her adorable little girl voice ... "trick or treat" ... we got a BAM, BAM, BAM.
She was using her glittery fairy princess wand to bang on the door. Hmmm, thats not very princess-like. Thats when we realized ... maybe it's just a little too cold out here for trick or treating, so we started home. It was a huge sub, and we had gotten pretty far away.
Debbie (who's 5 years younger than me) suggested to save time, we should just hop a couple of fences. I don't even think she waited for an answer. She picked up Ashley and just dropped her over the fence. Deb quickly jumped the fence, and I was left with ... what are you kidding me ... I'm way too old to be hopping fences. But it was too late ... I had to hop the fence to keep up with them. It probably took me 5 minutes .. but I did it. I was 29 at the time, and can't even remember the last time before that I had jumped a fence. We made it home pretty fast after that ... and I decided if I'm taking Debbie with me next time .. I'll need to check in advance and make sure there are no fences. lol

When your not paying attention ...

It's amazing how much time flies. I was pretty shocked earlier in the week, when I realized ... OMG ... Halloween is next week. How in the heck did that happen. K .. summer's over .. the kid's all went back to college ... but that was in August. K .. a little more time went by, but I was busy getting stuff done at the house, painting, furniture .. that sorta stuff. Always in the back of my mind .. the kid's just left for college.
Fast forward to earlier this week. I realized Debbie's birthday was Thursday ... huh thats October 22 ... which means .. back to omg .. Halloween is next week. Now the fact that its Halloween really isn't the important part ... the important part is how things work. First you have Halloween, then a month later is Thanksgiving, and then a month after that is Christmas, and then 2 weeks after that ... Ashley and Doug are getting married.
Wow .. I really need to get things moving. Since we'll probably be busy with wedding stuff in December .. I need to have all the Christmas stuff done early (and I was planning on making my own Christmas cards this year, I had all the stuff to do it last year, but I don't remember what happened .. I just know ... they didn't). Of course, there's all the Thanksgiving stuff which has to be dealt with also. Hmmm ... well this worked for me one other time so I think the best idea so far is ... Christmas decorations go up this week. lol I did that once when the girls were little, I had a bunch of stuff going on and found a had a week right around Halloween free ... so up they went. Gotta tell you though, in January when the decorations finally came down ... it was like we were living in a new house ..

Handy Handy over your head ... what is it ?

Happy Birthday Deb



Gotta love the kool-aid smile/little smirk combo.
Deb- Hope you have a wonderful birthday.
If no one's buying cars today ... try the little smirk ... might work lol

A whirlwind weekend ...

It's been such a busy weekend around here. Ashley and Doug came in Thursday, Kayla and Brad on Friday, Danny was already here, and Debbie and Trish flew in on Friday afternoon from up north. Friday, Ashley had her dress fitting, and although I can't put any pictures up ... Ashley looks beautiful in it. Saturday was the shower, and it was such a nice suprise to not only have Debbie and Trish .. but Ashleys co-matron of honor Marie there. She had flown in the the shower also. The shower was very nice, and Ashley received so many beautiful gifts. Everyone had a wondeful time, and Ashley and Doug drove back on Sunday afternoon. And just like it started on Thursday around here, the whirlwind went back through ... and everyone was gone (except Kayla ... she's off of school for a week)


Ashley at the shower ... hmmmm wonder if she still has that tiara on .. lol

Well ... it's almost done

I didn't get to finish the guest room before everyone came in, but I came pretty close. I wanted to get the whole thing done, but the "being sickly" came into play. So this will work for now.

Yes, it does look different ...

It's amazing what getting a dresser out of your foyer will do for a room. Mark & Danny took the dresser upstairs tonight, thank you, thank you, thank you.



And this is where it all went. We officially have a "guest room". Although Mark said it was alot nicer than our's, and he's moving up there. lol



And we made it with a couple of days to spare. Deb and Trish are coming in this weekend for Ashley's shower. (actually I think they're just coming in for the room)

Hmmm what to do ...

Well, it's still raining. Its been raining non-stop now for over a day. I just hope the house floats. But the problem is, I have stuff to do ... which brings us to the real problem. As all of you know me know ... I don't go out in the rain. Some say it's because I'm so sweet I'll melt ...



Others still imply I'll melt, but with a little bit different take on why ...



I really don't know why, I just hate to go out in the rain. So it looks like I'm here for the duration, and for dinner tonight .. we can always order in.

I need a bigger baby gate ...

Well today I spent 5 hours cleaning the upstairs. Top to bottom, windows, blinds, baseboards, bathrooms, kid's rooms (except for Kayla's), rec room ... it's perfect. As I came downstairs I realized ... I put the baby gate up on the stairs to keep the cats out, but what's going to happen when the kid's are back home. That's when I figured it out ... I need a bigger gate.

Scrapbooking retreat weekend

I spent the weekend at the scrapbooking retreat at a local hotel. I had a great time, and I got this project done.



Believe it or not, it took all of Saturday & Sunday. I had never been to one of these before, and I have to say ... I was blown away. I assume you could run NASA with the stuff in that room. It was about a hundred ladies all with computers, printers, die cutting machines, computer generated cutting machines, laptops, scanners, sewing machines, and more paper and scrapbooking supplies than most stores carry. All this was organized by each ladies workstation with tables, bookcases, and scaffolding they brought in for the event. So much extra light was brought in, I really think you could do surgery in there.

This is what I brought ... and I thought I packed alot !!!