spooky and gross...

... check out the Dinty Moore beef stew he is stirring near the campfire...

and then eating!

I don't think I laughed so hard while taking these photos since last year when I took the infamous out to dinner with the napkin tucked in his shirt photo... oh wait, I haven't posted that but maybe I should... along with the matching one almost 19 years ago! Yikes, that makes us sound old!

When he saw which photos I had chosen for this post, he groaned and went to bed... that was enough for his 41st birthday! It is so much fun teasing him... here's to another year of bad photographs and funny photos of him!

Happy birthday, sweetie!

final spooky weekend...

A quick summary of our spooky filled weekend... we started Saturday morning with the annual town parade and while the photo opportunities are endless, I didn't have it in me this year. I wanted to enjoy the time with the kids... but I did take a few photos...

Daddy and Alyssa on the way to Main Street... something about this photo I really liked.

Two angry birds on the sidewalk watching the parade of costumes. Actually the people in front of us pulled them to the curb because as people walked by they would spot them and say "cool, angry birds!" Several people called out things like "huge fan of yours!" "play your game all the time!" It was actually quite hilarious how many adults were excited over their costumes!

At the end of the parade, Jaiden wanted me to take photos of him running into the wall. I had no idea why until Dennis told me it's what the birds always do in the game! Go figure! But I love this is what he asked me to do for him.

On Sunday, we celebrated Daddy's birthday at his favorite restaurant for brunch. Then it was pumpkin carving in the afternoon. Dennis cleaned out 6 pumpkins! Unbelievable!

He also spent a lot of time carving Alyssa's pumpkin only to have her undo his hard work making holes in her pumpkin!?! It was a little frightening her intensity with the pumpkin carving tools...

Jaiden did really well. At first, he wanted Daddy to do it for him but then he got the hang of it and carved 2 more pumpkins.

This is the one he was working on.

And this was his final creation... gory!

miss manners...

Wondering if maybe I should start teaching table manners? Or is it too late?

at breakfast this morning...

Jaiden says in a very serious voice: "Mommy, let me tell you the life cycle of our family."

Me (thinking): Oh boy, what in the world is he going to say?

Jaiden: "First it was you and dad" (He places two marshmallows next to each other.)

"Then it was you, dad and me ... in the middle" (Placing 3 marshmallows in a row below the first two.)

"Then it was you, dad, me and Alyssa" (4 more marshmallows in a row)

"This is Alyssa, Daddy and you in the middle and me." said so matter of fact!

the launch...

You didn't think I would miss an opportunity to tell you that this morning, Dennis called to tell me that the NASA launch for the NPP Satellite was still scheduled to happen. In fact, it is scheduled and ready for launch at 2:48 am PST (technically Friday, October 28th). I mean, seriously, how many wives having bragging rights to answer the question what does your husband do? "He sends things to space!" Never mind the fact that I could never really fully explain what it is or what he does (please don't tell him I have a hard time listening to his explanations), he just sends things to space!

Well, luckily for the occasion, I have a couple of photos Dennis brought home for me to celebrate this success. The first one you may have seen a few years ago when it was published in the annual report!

In case you can't tell, this is Dennis working in the clean room on the instrument that is part of the NPP Satellite. He spent the last 5 years working on this program!

And this is the team that put the entire satellite together. The satellite itself is in the background. 

I wish we could be with him but I am not sure even I could stay up that late, not to mention the kids. I am hoping he will get a DVD of the launch and the kids and I can watch in the comfort of our own family room! Anyway, it is quite exciting to know how long Dennis has worked on this project (the past 5 years or maybe more) and now gets to watch it go into space... I am keeping my fingers crossed that his next project won't take him into space! I am not sure I could handle that!  

PS. I like to think I am quite technically savvy but at this particular moment (past my bedtime but at least I have my glasses on!), I can not get this to upload correctly. Dennis sent out a paper model of the spacecraft that he thought would be a fun activity for the kids. After reviewing it though, it seemed more like a fun activity for adults! If you want a copy of it, either leave me a comment or email me and I will forward you the PDF. You may just want to look at this crazy paper model for laughs, it is so complex that it does require a Rocket Scientist to put it together! (Sheesh, it's getting late, isn't it?)

shoveling cement...

I never have really shoveled cement but if I should, I would assume it would be as heavy as this very wet snowstorm that moved in last night and stuck around all day. It took me nearly 2 hours to shovel the driveway, sidewalks and try to salvage our trees by knocking snow out of them. I could not get over how heavy the snow was for our first snow. Normally we get these types of storms in the Spring, not the Autumn.

This photo is horribly blurry but this is what it looked like at about 4 am when Dennis left for the airport. The funny thing about this photo is I didn't have my glasses on, I didn't bother to turn on the light as I set my camera up on the tripod, I didn't even bother to open the door so I wouldn't shoot through the screen but it was pretty and well, I took it. The really funny part is when I woke earlier, I noticed I had the camera set to manual focus which means I didn't even try to focus it... is my vision really this bad that I thought it was in focus? Or can I blame it was 4am?

Here is a better photo taken at 8:30 am just before the kids and I headed out for school. Somewhere under that snow is our birdhouse that is mounted to a shovel that is about 2  feet tall!

We did a quick measure of the snow because it was incredible how it covered literally everything. There were a lot of broken tree limbs because of the heavy wet snow, but our official yardstick measurement was almost 16 inches and this is after it had been compacted down because of it being so wet! Later I heard we had between 18-22 inches of snow in less than 24 hours! I have no idea really other than our official yardstick measurement!

I couldn't resist one of this cutie... she was SO excited to get out in the snow and be pulled in the sled to school that she actually dressed herself 20 minutes early only to get hot, take it all off, and then get dressed again. She is really too cute! 

Jaiden, on the other hand, threatened me with snowballs if I dare took a picture. We did the pinky promise but on the way home from school, it was all out war. We were pretty cold and wet by the time we reached home.

saturday...

Saturday morning, Jaiden and Dennis got up very early and headed to a Boy Scout camp north of us. It was a day full of activity and included an optional overnight, which Dennis elected not to do since our camping over Labor Day involved a deep freeze and everything covered with ice!

Here is a bunch of photos taken with Dennis' iPod Touch...

This is a pirate ship fort that the kids can climb on ...

Tyler and Jaiden running off the pirate ship fort.

This is the dining room... with a sign like that I am not sure I would want to eat there!

Shooting their ping pong cannons that they made.

A couple of sharp shooters waiting for the okay to pick up their BB guns...

Archery was fun but difficult.

Jaiden's favorite by far was wrist rockets with paint balls. There were large monkey targets and a few pumpkins.

A hike to a nearby hill overseeing the entire camp. They did the hike again at night and the stars were amazing.

So it appears there was lots of shooting things, eating lots of candy and genuine boy fun! Jaiden came home with a ton of patches and lots of stories. They didn't get back until almost 10 pm! Jaiden is already talking about getting to go again ... next year!

wish blossoms

The other morning I had an idea and spent an immeasurable amount of time photographing a dandelion... okay, this is partially for a course I am taking on composition but partially because I wanted to capture the story of wish blossoms.

I was in awe of this wish blossom and did a little funky processing on it. I posted it to class with the story and then a classmate commented that I needed to capture Alyssa with her wish blossom...

today, I had the opportunity...

... and don't you agree these are SO much better?

The story is that Alyssa calls these wish blossoms, and anytime she spies one, she squeals

 "Mooommmy, a wish blossom!"

Normally she makes her wish but occasionally she asks if I would like a wish blossom. It is one of those moments that if I could freeze time I probably would, it seriously melts my heart even if it's the 10th wish blossom on the way to school (and we are running late!).

Since I can't stop moments of time, I think these photos may suffice.

What is your wish?

thursday folders...

I didn't forget about Thursday folders... it's just that we had more important things happening after school. And truthfully, I only had a brief second to skim through my surprises before I was being pulled out the door to the pumpkin patch!

It worked out well because I would never have been able to photograph them at night when I did sort through their school work and I had the joy of hanging their work up and photographing it a new way...

For those that know my house this is the wall between the fireplace and back door... you may even remember seeing these bulletin board covered in metal mesh (you can use push pins or magnets... love that!) but mostly likely you saw them covered in school work. The Snoopy and Woodstock animals below are on the little table beneath the bulletin boards, and yes, they are from when I was a kid! But I digress...

Jaiden brought home a colorful solar system covered with facts he had learned. The star is actually from a few weeks ago but I love that it says "I chose to tell jokes. ~ Jaiden" which is so true! He has several famous jokes but lots of new material too, especially now that he can read his joke books.

He also brought home a progress report and another beautiful 8/8 spelling test...

Go Jaiden go!

Alyssa's work included artwork from their weather studies done in September... love that paper plate sunshine and cotton ball cloud!

And some samples of her math homework. It's probably hard to see but the cowboy hat one has shapes on the hat band. Circles were to be colored yellow and squares were to be blue. Then she was to draw herself under her favorite hat! I love her drawings... they make me smile and melt my heart. The other page was all about the number 4 ... lots of practicing writing 4's and then drawings with 4 things in it. She chose 4 flowers and 4 squares!

Go Alyssa go!

And now it's TGIF and Daddy's home for the weekend!

las calabazas

Who would have thought that when I woke Alyssa up this morning, the first thing she asked was "how do you say pumpkin in Spanish?"

And who would have thought I'd know the answer? Las calabazas!

And who would have thought that the first thing I was asked to do after school was go to the pumpkin farm by our house?

We did that... we came home, got in the car (because even though this farm is less than a 1/2 mile from our house, I was not about to try to bicycle holding pumpkins on the way home), and drove less than a mile to this quaint farm.

The weather was stunning and the photo opportunities endless... this pumpkin field was amazing. It had not only an endless selection of pumpkins but all sorts of interesting gourds mixed in.

So picturesque but I think I may have return in the morning when the sunlight is coming from the other direction. The afternoon sun was delightful but I think there is a little too much shadow on that beautiful old wagon filled with gourds.

Jaiden found his pumpkins right away and picked out some very interesting ones too!

Alyssa, however, was on a quest to find the largest pumpkin possible (see I would never have been able to ride my bike home!)

Here is one of the interesting calabazas Jaiden found. It was this soft golden yellow and incredibly smooth. I couldn't resist taking a photo of his hands as he inspected it.

I seriously think she hugged every pumpkin there but this one was the chosen pumpkin... finally!

And our final loot. Look at all those lovely gourds and pumpkins! The amazing thing (at least to me) was the price... all of these for $25!

Had to include this photo because while I was trying to photograph the above photo, Jaiden came running up asking for his photo to be taken with the pumpkins... it isn't often... in fact, it is next to never that I am asked to take a photo of him! He wanted to make sure I noticed he was doing the hang loose sign!

Oh and wait until Daddy comes home to see how many calabazas he is going to have to help carve!

road warriors...

We discovered this amazing off road bike park not far from our house a few weeks ago. Dennis took Jaiden and his friend first, and then this past weekend, Jaiden took Alyssa and I. It is an amazing place with lots of trails from easy to extreme, from super flat and mildly bumpy to a whole railroad staircase that you can bike down, narrow bridges to large boulders to skinny logs... the place in a word is incredible!

My serious road warrior... he totally digs this place and requested we come back after school so yesterday the weather was beautiful, cool but sunny and thankfully no wind!

I took a few opportunities to photograph him riding around. It was a bit difficult since you can't really stop on the trails and with Alyssa on the tag-along, it adds another element!

This is one of the back roads path and it was stunning among all the beautiful trees and grasses. You can barely see Jaiden zooming away!

Maybe when Daddy comes home, the 4 of us can go and I take a few photos of Alyssa on the tag-along! She loves the adventure and thrill of it... I just wish she'd realize she can do it on her own... than I could do some log and rock hoppin' on my own!

around here...

... Alyssa has been showering me with drawings. This has been going on for about a week but it was only yesterday morning that I thought to capture her in the moment. As she hollered "Moooommmmy", I grabbed my camera knowing what to expect... 

... and did a quick click as she dropped her drawing to me. (notice the yellow blur in the upper right corner?)
 

And my lovely drawing landed on the stairs. This is Super Diaper Baby's flying dog. Super Diaper Baby is a Dave Pilkey book that Jaiden has been reading to Alyssa. I won't go in detail but they are incredibly crude books and of course, 2nd grade boys LOVE them! I believe it is part of the Captain Underpants series but I am not certain.

Anyway, I have quite a collection of these little cut out drawings, and I got to say, she is really good!

Here is my collection from the morning. The mermaid is Ariel - notice the red hair, purple shells , and tail? She is swimming on the white waves (the big piece of paper) with her castle on top of the waves (far right). Super Diaper Baby's dog is flying in the sky next to the sun and cloud (thin strip of paper on top). Right after I took this photo, I was interrupted with

"Moooommmmyyyy!"

And looked up to find two more invitations - one for Daddy and one for me!

Around here, I am in love with this stage she is in. She sings me songs, draws me pictures and gives lots of hugs and I love yous! What more could a Mommy need? (okay, more hugs and kisses from a certain little boy around here too!)

angry bird cleans pumpkin...

We had a busy day yesterday; wait... we had a busy day today... wait, who am I kidding? We always have busy days! But these days may be busy but they are a hoot and a delight. Friday, the kid's had the day off from school so we took them on a long hike (will show those photos later), brought them home, carved pumpkins, sent Jaiden and Daddy off to their pack meeting for Cub Scouts while Alyssa and I snuggled and watched Tangled. I have lots of photos but this one cracked me up!

Just who is carving the pumpkin?

When he got to the pack meeting, 3 boys said right as he walked in "Cooool, angry bird!" I am certain Jaiden beamed. He also won 2nd place for his pumpkin carving and got an AWESOME ribbon. I promise to post photos of the pumpkins - Jaiden did a bob cat claw and wrote Akela on it (part of the Cub Scouts) which was quite clever.  Alyssa directed me on how to carve the pumpkin and drew some scary mouth and eyes which were near impossible to carve, but super fun and spooky when lit.

this is for you, cyndi!

Remember that cute email Cyndi sent me about her sewing project... and mess?

One thing Cyndi said was my photographs were always so neat and organized, well, I promised I would show her what it really looks like when I get involved!

My project today involved finishing the kid's Halloween costumes so you can see my designs... and yes, that is Mr. Bubbles in the background, along with 7 other fabrics that needed to be cut up for 3 different projects... clearly, the kids were at school because no one was going to be sitting at this table to eat! But this is what my work surface looks like and this...

... is how I fool you into thinking I am neat and tidy!

Here is a close up of Jaiden's soon to be hat, which is actually almost complete as I write this.

And this one is Alyssa's (also notice the neat and tidy!). I adjusted the eye on the right but hers too, is almost finished as I write this. Both hats need the beaks sewn and adjusted but I need the kids and they are busy at their own sleepover in Alyssa's room.

As for those other 3 projects? I managed to cut them up but they are still sitting on the table... oh, wait the ironing board that is bound to trip someone as they try to get into the dining room or perhaps kitchen!