We went to Chicago, just me and my Dad...

We love the Little Critter books, so the title just seemed to fit! Megan got to join her daddy on a long weekend trip to Chicago in October to visit friends and family. His best friend Gary turned 40 and blessed us with a buddy pass to come help him celebrate. It was a fun party and Damon and Megan thoroughly enjoyed themselves. I was pleasantly surprised that Megan didn't suffer too bad from the jet lag of a quick trip!

Megan love seeing Grandma and Grandpa

They visited a pumpkin patch and look what Bizi doesn't have?? Camel rides! Check out the Bears jersey that Megan is wearing...she loves that football team!

Better Late than Never!

Our fall adventures started with our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. Although Bizi farms is great and the kids love it, I'm growing a bit disenchanted with the expense and crowds and might vote for a more remote location next year! We did have fun and fall wouldnt' feel like fall without the pumpkin launch!

You can't see me, if I can't see you!

Oh, much better view!

Vending machines at a farm....hmmmm

Washa washa washanicey nicey clean!
Must use power tools to carve pumpkin! The "eyes" had to be perfectly round!

Megan's class had a "spider party" on 10/31. Apparently they were doing a lesson on spiders that week and they ended the week with a party on 10/31...hmm, what a coincidence! Since I"m the class party mom, I helped coordinate the party. You know how much I love spiders, so it must be true love for me to attend a spider party!

Megan's spider cookie made of pretzel sticks, oreos, frosting and mini m&m's

friends from class

I realize that Thanksgiving weekend is the kickoff to the Christmas season, but I can't officially start all that fun until I've at least documented the fall fun that we've had. I am quite tardy in posting these events, but since this blog is titled Masters Moments, I better post some fun fall moments that we've had together!

I know the princess thing is way overdone, but the day is soon upon me when my two little princesses will be way beyond it, so I was pleasantly surprised that they still wanted to be the belle of the ball for one more night!

We joined the masses at Liberty Bible for their Harvest Party. So many people were so kind to make it a fun night for my family! Thank you Thank you!

The cutest thing happened at the end of the night when the kids were turning in their tickets for prizes.....Grayson picked out a ring and wanted to "buy it" for Megan....priceless!!!!

Shout out to the hubby

What a special gift I received yesterday from my husband! He let me go shopping almost all day yesterday (it's sort of tradition with my family to do the crazy day after Thanksgiving shopping). When I got home he showed interest when I showed him "my haul" AND he had put away all the fall stuff. That's not all....he had pulled out all the Christmas stuff and had put up the larger items and was getting the Christmas lights hung up outside....wow, what a guy!!!

In honor of my sweetie, I'm posting a silly little clip of the girls. They were being goofy when they discovered one of their daddy's nicknames that his friends sometimes call him. I'm sure your favorite part will be my bribery offer to Katelyn when she did her normal "I won't do it if the camera's on" trick.

I love you sweet husband!

Friday Funny

Last night at bedtime the normal chaos was reining. Kids running around instead of getting PJ's on, brushing teeth, I was probably on the computer instead of overseeing this process. Damon was upstairs and I headed up there to pitch in. I went into the kids bathroom and Megan was brushing her teeth and told me there was a spider in the bathroom. I was assuming it was a little one, but I guess it was more like the size of a quarter or something. That sounded very large to me. I casually asked Damon, "you got it, didn't you?" and he responded, well, it was on the door and blah blah blah, it moved quickly blah blah blah. I needed him to get to the part where he said he got it, but he did not. It snuck through a crack in between the cabinet and the floor molding. Nice. He quickly offered to go get the bug/spider spray that he sprays the exterior of the house with in the late summer. I quickly said yes, go get it and spray it into the crack. He came back upstairs with a water bottle and said he mixed up the last of it. He sprayed and that was that. I knew the stuff worked pretty well because we dont' get many inside in the late summer/early fall. So tonight he calls me on the way home and says he needs to swing by Home Depot and get more light bulbs and bug spray. He then told me that we've been out of the spray for a while. I'm confused. He then shared that he'd actually only sprayed water into the crack. Seriously. He said he knew I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I knew there was a creepy crawly in the house and he wasn't in the mood to tear apart the cabinet. I didn't know what to say. He did have a point, but still....a fibb is a fibb! I've been duped!

She's a Stubborn One

So we've been having bedtime issues. I knew this would happen when I let Katelyn sleep in my bed last month when Damon went to Chicago. I thought I'd just deal with it. Well, we're dealing, but oh man, she's stubborn! She also appears to be a light sleeper. This is a good thing when you consider she's only wet the bed once in the year she's been potty trained. This is a bad thing when she wakes up several times in the night.

Just getting her to bed has been a challenge lately. She's thirsty, she has to go potty one more time, she's scared...on and on it goes. We're sort of used to those last minute pleas, but she's started a new one this week. She said she doesn't like her bed and it's uncomfortable. I don't really have a response, I just want her to go to sleep. Damon, however, decided to throw some love and logic at her. He said she has three choices...she can sleep in the rocking chair (which is in her room), on the floor in her room, or in her bed. With that, we closed the door and headed down the stairs. Within seconds we heard the "thud" of her getting our of her bed and I started to head back to her room, but since she didn't open the door, I just let her be. That was the last we heard of her that night. When Damon headed for bed he called me upstairs....quick, you gotta see this.....and this is what we saw in Katelyns room:

Yep....she chose the floor to sleep on! She grabbed her pillow, her two buddies and her blankie and snubbed her nose at us!! I'd like to report that all is well at night. It is not all well, but it is getting better. We no longer have a night time visitor in our bed. Not because she realized her bed is just perfect for her, but because Damon started locking our bedroom door. Yes, it's kind of mean, yes it's kind of necessary. I wonder what adventure is next!

Rested and Relaxed

This past weekend started off with a fun jump in the leaves at Nana and Poppy's house. It only got better from there. Although Damon had to work on Saturday, he was home by 2ish and I figured I'd also work to get all my chores done so we could enjoy the rest of the weekend. And we did. Before the weekend started I checked all my calendars (don't ask me why I have more than one) and I couldn't believe it....both days were blank. I got really excited, almost giddy at the thought of a REAL weekend. You know, the kind where you relax and everything. I'm not sure how it started, but somewhere along the way weekends evolved from relaxing into "cram as much stuff as possible into two days so you are exhausted on Monday" kind of weekends. I mean it's always good stuff we're doing....birthday parties, family gatherings, church, date night, home group, but running around isn't quality rest time. So anyway, with the chores completed, there was time for napping, family movie night, sit on the couch and read the newspaper while you are watching your football team lose, puzzles, more naps, eating and reading. It was nice, I hope we can do it more often!

The very messy "art supplies" cabinet got a make over

So much better...I've wanted to get this accomplished for MANY weekends! Now I know what is actually in the cabinet!Cousin Erin came to visit from Oklahoma! We wish you lived closer!

family nap time....don't you love my Christmas flannel sheets! So Cozy! The kids were both up until 10pm that night...now I remember why we don't do naps anymore, but it was blissfully quiet for an hour!

Katelyn's braids. I'm no hairdresser, but she loves for me to braid her hair and this weekend I said yes, because I had time! I hope we get another restful weekend soon!

Tagged!

My dear friend Meredith tagged me a couple weeks ago! I know I'm overdue, but better late than never!

before I get started, I have a Katelyn funny for the evening. Tonight when we were reading our devotional, it asked a question about what we can do for someone to show them that we love them. Katleyn replied...."like, we can push them on the swing"....how cute was that? But seriously, what three and a half year old already says "like" to start out a sentence????? OK, here's my list!

1. I'm an introvert. I think I've always known this about myself, but when I heard a definition a while back, it totally confirmed it for me. Extroverts gain energy by being around a group of people, and introverts are exhausted after being around a large group of people. I need to hide in my cave for a while after being around a group of people. I tend to overanalyze things and replay converstations in my head, etc, etc, it's tiring! I'm more of a one on one person.

2. I'm a news junkie. I love reading the newspaper. Everyday. Cover to Cover. I wish I was as excited to read my Bible everyday. Sad but true. I need to know what's going on in my local area, the whole country, and the world we live in. I need to know the weather for the week, local sports, national sports, business news. The whole shabang!

3. I love watching sports. Watching on TV is fun, but live is sooo much better. I went to my first NFL game this fall and it was so much fun! Qwest Field (home field for the Seahawks) is amazing. It's so loud with lots of non stop action. A few years back I had the most amazing weekend in mid october: I watched a world series baseball game on Friday (on TV), went to a Husky game in Seattle on Saturday and went to a pre-season Blazer game on a Sunday. Now that's a fun weekend! (I'm thinking that must have been before kids!)

4. I love being a mom. I loved the pregnancy experience. We would love to be blessed with more children. This is completely in God's hands and in His timing.

5. I can recall two specific times in my life where I heard God speak to me loud and clear. One of those incidents was when I was in my mid twenties and I had this friend named Damon. I had put him in the friend box where I was assuming he would stay. He was easy to talk to and fun to be around, but when he asked me out, I kept him at an arms length knowing he would stay in the friend box. God spoke to me and said to open my heart to the possibility of more than a friendship. He's an amazing husband and father and my best friend. God knew what I needed in a husband and I am blown away by the way he loves me (and puts up with me).

6. I love the sun. Summer is by far my favorite season. I love being warm, I love feeling the warm sun on my skin (I know this is so bad and I have gotten way better about sunscreen in my old age). I love that it stays light out late. Fall is nice too, but I struggle through winter and spring is ok when it doesn't rain 24/7, but nothing compares to summer!

7. I love getting good deals. It's like a high or something! I have a lot to learn from my egg farming, grocery gaming, soap making friends, but I think I'm on my way! Here's my latest great deal....guess how much I spent for all this stuff at Old Navy a couple weeks ago

$16.27! Seriously!!!! It's all brand new!

7 1/2. Ok, I know I'm really posting 8 things, but I have one last outrageous fact that could be filed under the "weird" category! I would love to learn how to pole dance! I've heard it's a great work out! Not to perform for anyone other than the special person listen in item number 5 (who has said he would install one for me....guess how quick that home improvement item would get done???)

Ok, enough about me, I'd love to hear from Paulette, Heather, Meleea, Lisa, Sarah, Rachel and Annette