Help hanging lights!

Today was perfect for hanging Christmas lights. Sunny and light wind. In fact I was not much in the Christmas spirit, but I know that when its cold and snowy and I'm in the Christmas mood, my husband would not want to be out hanging lights. It was so nice that all our animals enjoyed the outdoors with us. Marley and Mo had a fun time playing chase! Marley soon tired of Mo and turned her attention to helping Gordon hang lights.Marley wanted to make sure that when the wind blew the lights would still work, so she put them to the test!

If only we could get her to hang them in the tree!

Megan went out and took pictures of our big pine tree, however it is quite dark, but very nice in person!

A view from the front

Now all that remains is to decorate the inside of the house!

Twirp 08

Katie got a group of friends together and decided to have a progressive dinner for Twirp.
Smart girl! Twirp stands for The girls are required to pay. Sadie Hawkins for us older folks! They had appetizers and pictures at one house, dinner (lasagna) at one, then all dressed up, they went bowling. That's right bowling!!

Dan and Katie

They look so cute!
The group and their dates. Notice Katie and Dan are the shortest of the group!
I thought the appetizer plate looked cool, and wanted a picture to remember it.
A group effort, of setting the table for dessert. The dance was a secret garden theme, so we did the same. Megan made really cute place cards, Gordon and I set the table.Megan dressed up to serve the guests, as a secret garden fairy!
Per Katie's request we served Bananas Foster! Now we had never made nor tasted Banana's Foster before. So we called our cooking friend Karen, and got a recipe. Then we figured since it needed to flambe we had better try it first. So we had a test run, it turned out perfectly!! I thought my microwave was going to melt, but it was fine, and beautiful. Flames to the ceiling, really. Then the kids came and everything was perfect, except we couldn't get the flames to go it just kind of fizzled. But they said it still tasted good.

The night was a success, and Katie said our table and decorations were better than the dance!!

Sweet girl! It did look awesome if I do say so myself. Lights down low, and lots of candles!!
It helped save them $$ and was a lot of fun to do!

HUGE!!!!!

OK, so with this warm sunny weather I decided to make potato salad. I figure there aren't too many sunny days left this fall. Well I went down to get some potatoes for the salad, and when I looked into the bag, this is what I saw....

This is a regular large potato... I should have used a big cutting board, what was I thinking?
One potato was plenty for our potato salad!
I figured I'd better use a big jar of pickles with such a big potato

Let it snow!!!

I love the snow! I don't care when it comes. So this weekend when we got 12" in October, I'm just fine with it. It looks so pretty, and I love to cook, and snow puts me in the mood to cook.Our back deck on Sunday October 12th,2008
Tayler and Megan went out and built a snow fort!
I think it's so cute that my 21 year old went out and helped his little sister build a fort! They even have chairs in there. They built it while Gordon and I were gone.

She's got spirit!

During Skyview's homecoming week the kids got to dress up each day in some sort of theme clothing. This day was "show your school spirit"

OK, had it not been 6:30 am I would have thought of a better place to take a picture. It was early and as you can see out the window, very dark, and I was still waking up!
This was "nerd day" and though it's hard to tell Katie and her friend MacKenzie are dressed as girls from Senior!When we lived in Lockwood, Katie was going to go to Senior as did her brother, then when we moved (after convincing her that we weren't going to drive her to Senior everyday) she said she would get a transfusion (from bleeding orange & black) to blue & silver. Seems from this picture she's adjusted quite well!!

EEEEEWH!!

I found this bug in the church parking lot one day, and mustered up the nerve to pick it up. Well I was going to be brave and pick it up with just a Kleenex, then it moved (slightly), so I went into my preschool room and grabbed a Ziploc bag, and placed it carefully in there. I was horrified and intrigued with this insect? I've never seen anything so large. The picture really doesn't do it justice. It was as large (in width and length) as my thumb.I know he was tucking himself in for this picture! (haha)
Anyone know what it is for sure? My guess is a cicada

Not too many first day's left...

Katie is a junior this year, and soon my baby will be off to college. I'm not trying to rush it, I'm just trying to face reality. It doesn't seem possible. I do remember the day she was born!Katie and her friend MacKenzie
MacKenzie, Megan, and Katie
I love when the girls all get along!!

Q2 BBQ

Megan's 13th birthday!!

So on the 15th of August my baby turned 13, so we decided to invite the news station!
Not exactly...
As most of you know I am not the best party planner, I come up with some good ideas from time to time, but left up to me, that's all they'll be, is ideas. I am not very good at carrying out the plan. Well this year I entered the news stations summer event, of the backyard BBQ. Mind you I've been entering for many years. But this year I happened to win it! And better yet it happened to fall on Megan's 13th birthday. Now Megan all her life has looked forward to being a teenager! When she was 5 she drew pictures of what she would look like as a teenager (unfortunately I can't find them right now). I think she wasn't too far off, if my memory serves me right.
The BBQ was AWESOME!!! The news station and its sponsors did a fabulous job. They provide everything!! And I do mean everything-except for the guests!
From paper goods, to dessert no one went home hungry. In fact I bought a cake for Megan's birthday, and we had to freeze the brownies the news station provided because we had so much food. Why they even provided these lovely pictures. Because also left up to me you wouldn't have much of the BBQ to view. I don' remember to take pictures. There was a gentleman from Q2 that went around getting every ones picture. Then they give you free film developing (thanks to Karen, you get to view them she told me to get a CD of the pictures!) another great idea I would not have thought of!! My blog name really rings true! So here are some of the many pictures from that beautiful (75 degree) day!

Bob McGuire & Marc Moranic
Singing "Happy Birthday" to Megan on the air!
Chandler, Megan, and the now famous for her faces Hailey! A memory I'm sure Megans not going to soon forget! Jay did most of the cooking, and Gordon got the credit!

Thanks Jay!!

Gordon, Kathy and I

Jay, Marc, and Gordon

Shane, and Dale

Tayler, Hailey, Pat, Erin, Julia, and Jay Taylor, Hart, and Dale

Marc, Gordon, Bob and I Karen and CaelTayler

Chris, Carol and Brett

The Camera guy (obviously)
back row: Shane, Bob, Marc and Cael
middle row: Taylor, Hailey, Megan
bottom row: Jordan, Julia, Chandler and Brett

My last teenager!!

So she's off and ready!

My baby turned 13 this and is going to junior high all in the same month!

I know God doesn't give you more than you can handle, but sometimes it feels like I'm pushed to the edge, and can see the bottom!

this was the best smile I could get from her, she wanted me to hurry for fear she'd be late
He sister starts tomorrow, and is upset that her younger sibling is going today! NOT!!!
Hailey, Megan, Cheyanne

My friend Karen and I had a long talk yesterday about school. What you can't see in this picture is that the junior high is literally across the street. You almost can't live closer to school. I would have loved to lived that!! I always dreamed of living that close to school. Megan on the other hand wanted to know if I'd give her a ride, I just laughed. She said well you could drop me off in the parking lot on my way to school, I said no!