All the summer projects are DONE!

Back in April I decided to do a few home improvement projects. 

1. Order and install blinds for all the bedrooms. That was a success. Back in May I ordered the blinds and Kelly and I installed them in one afternoon.

2.  Decorate Thomas’ bedroom.  That also was a success.  I picked a baseball theme for him and finished it in two phases. He loves his new room and best of all I never have to fight with him to sleep in his own bed.

3.  Decorate Noelle’s bedroom.  This was my challenge.  I really couldn’t figure out kind of theme I wanted to do.  A lot of things and colors popped in to mind but nothing that I thought she wouldn’t end up growing out of to quickly.  Finally after a long debate with Kelly, I chose cherries.  I found some cute fabric at JoAnn’s and made pillows, a bed skirt, and a valance. I panted the walls white and had a plan of stenciling cherries on the walls but I couldn’t find one that I liked.  By the time I decided on something it was getting close to Kelly’s wedding and then my Mom’s wedding and I just couldn’t find time to do it. Finally last weekend my Mom came over and helped me paint the cherries.  We didn’t find a stencil so we painted them freehand.  I think they turned out pretty cute.  Last night I hung the shelves and did the final touches. 

I’m so glad that all of the projects are done and I’m pretty happy with how everything came out.  

 

Halloween

Thomas got to wear his costume to preschool and went on a parade with his class. Grandma surprised him and walked with him and his class in the parade.

Halloween evening I took Noelle to Kelly’s house and had a great dinner with Grandpa and Grandma. Then Kelly and Dave took Noelle trick-or-treating to all the neighbors before having to go to work.

Then we went back to my house and handed out candy.  I think Noelle enjoyed seeing all the kids and handing out candy more than trick-or-treating herself!

Getting ready for Halloween

I can’t believe how quickly this month has gone by.  Before we know it, it will be Christmas!  This month has been busy with our usual fall activities. We started October with decorating the house for Halloween.

The kids enjoyed putting Halloween decals on their bedroom windows.  Later that evening we made Halloween sugar cookies.

Then we went to Apple Hill and to the pumpkin  patch.   

 

We bought Noelle her Halloween costume.

 

and lastly we carved pumpkins.

Thomas loved getting the seeds out of his pumpkin 

Noelle wasn’t as fond of the pumpkin carving. Until the seeds were out. 

And then in typical Noelle fashion, she licked the top of the pumpkin.Thomas was trying to show us what kind of scary face he wanted on his pumpkin.

                  

The finished products!!!!

I asked the kids if I could take a cute picture of them by the Halloween flag.  Thomas decided he needed to pose and of course Noelle does whatever her big brother does.

Apple Hill 2009

We had another fabulous trip to Apple Hill today. My Mom joined Kelly and I and the kids again this year.  We hit all of our usual spots and the kids had a blast.  Thomas has been every year now and it’s nice to hear his stories and what he remembers from the years past. I love tradition and I love that I’m able to go and do these things with him and Noelle.  Hopefully this will be something that they will always enjoy doing as a family. 

When I downloaded this years pictures, I took a look at last years pictures and it’s amazing how much the kids have grown.  Noelle was tiny and ever so cute and Thomas was getting that “big boy” look. Apple Hill 2008. 

Soccer Time

Thomas started playing soccer for the first time in September.  Prior to going to Thomas’ first game, I had never been to a 4 year olds soccer game.  Boy was I missing out.  It truly one of the cutest things I have ever seen.  There’s nothing like watching the kids as happy as ever when they kick the ball in the wrong goal and celebrate because they think they have done the right thing.  The kids and the parents alike were happy to be there and having fun just running up and down the field. 

Saturday I had a completely different experience than I had the first week.  The kids happy.  The parents from the team we were playing weren’t so happy.  I have never seen parents act so ridiculous in my life.  They were yelling and screaming that one of the kids on our team grabbed the shirt of one of the kids on their team.  Right after one of their kids knocked down three of the kids on our team.  These ladies were nuts.  They got up from their chairs ran up to the field and started yelling at their coach to do something.  Even he told them to relax.  What was sad about the whole thing was their team was ahead by like 6, there was 3 minutes left in the game, none of the kids were hurt and none of the kids even knew that the other kid did something wrong.  C’mon people these kids are 4 years old!!! 

I hope next week is a better week.  Here’s some cute pictures of Thomas and his team.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

It’s been a really long time!!!

I can’t believe that it has been so long since my last post.  I have never gone this long without posting something.  My life has been a rollercoaster ride the last month or so.  With the end of summer activities, my computer busting, craziness at work and my own health issues I haven’t been able to get it together enough to post anything.  But, I’m happy to say I’M BACK ON TRACK! The past couple of days I have tried to look back at the last month and tried to figure out what lessons that I can take from these experiences and what I have come up with is

1. Always listen to that little voice in my head.  It wont lead me astray.  Go with my gut.

2.  Back up my data on my computer so I don’t freak out when it blows up!

3.  Don’t over schedule myself and take time to smell the roses.

4. Realize that I cannot change people’s attitudes, experiences, or motives and I cannot take on others issues as my own.

5. Be the best friend that I can possibly be!

My family and friends are unbelievable and have been patient, understanding, thoughtful and encouraging even when  it wasn’t easy to be. I am grateful to all of them and appreciate all that everyone has done to make this time a little easier.

Noelle the model

I woke up one Saturday and I decided that I wanted to go play with my camera.  So, I packed up Noelle and a few changes of clothes for her and drove around Stockton trying to find places to take pictures of her.  We ended up at the University Park campus and at Oak Grove Regional Park.  I was lucky that Noelle was in a good mood that day and was able to get some really cute shots of her.

 

   

 

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The joy of cousins

As many of you know my Mom was married in September.  Which meant that Troy, Julie and Tyler got to come and visit for the weekend.  Kelly and I had been telling Thomas and Noelle for weeks that “baby Tyler” would be coming to visit soon.  Every time we talked about it they would get so excited and ask if he was coming tomorrow.  Thomas was thrilled and really wanted Tyler to spend the night at his house.  Unfortunately, with them living far away we don’t get to see them nearly as much as we would like but this year has been unusual and we have gotten to see them more than we normally would (that really tells me that it’s possible and we just need to work a little harder on doing it). Troy and Julie came in on Saturday morning and my Dad and I picked them up at the airport.  By the time we got to Kelly’s house Tyler was ready for his nap. Kelly and Dave had the kids running last minute errands so they weren’t home.  The kids were very disappointed when they came home and Tyler was sleeping!  But when he woke up the fun began!!!  It was really cute to see them all playing together so nicely. 

Thomas is very protective over Tyler and wanted to help him do EVERYTHING!

Noelle wanted to give Tyler hug after hug after hug!!!

We had all the kids upstairs playing after their baths while we got ready for the wedding.  All of the sudden we heard the music going in Thomas’ room and when we went to go in and check in on them we found Thomas giving the littler kids dancing lessons.  It was about the cutest thing I have ever seen!! 

They had a blast playing together!!! 

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