happy halloween!

this year we had a southern belle, belle from beauty and the beast, a cheerleader, pocahontas and an octopus (not pictured below)

the fam and some friends gathered drive way style and we had some chili, gram's spinach salad, grapes, orange & black chips and salsa, corn muffins and a veggie & grain dish.

after filling our tummies, we started off to gather candy.
da boys.
oh mom!! that chili you made is delicious! can we have more? do you have any more veggies we can eat? we're gonna go easy on the candy this year!
feeling free and sugar spiked w/ cousin A and a soda.

i called them poke and straw all night. they liked it.
the serious business of candy sorting. preparing for trade.
the whole group.


even tho there were not as many trick or treaters out, the kids had a blast.

until next year.....

BooohaaaaHeeeeHaaaaOOoooooooo

that is supposed to be a scary laugh.

country living

just got my country living magazine in the mail and holy cow. i love the idea notebook section. i love the new uses for old things article. i really want to do this....

well the picture won't load. but it's of a bookcase/shelving unit made out of 3 salvage doors. so cool.

also... look for a catholic endorsement of dexter soon. he's praying now.

just kidding. if you haven't seen it, don't. it's bad. but terribly addicting.

i want to do this to my couches. after i recover them.

i would have loved to do this with all the old du monde newspapers that i didn't buy when i was in paris.

mid oct. 2011

lately i have enjoyed listening to the melodious sounds emerging from our music "studios".

S in the basement with her cello.

L in the family room on the piano.

and D set up on the keyboard in the office.

L and D rotate between the keyboard and the piano. they are moving right along and so proud of themselves when they master a song.

we haven't found a cello instructor for S yet, so she is self-taught. it reminds me of my glorious and successful days in 6th and 7th grade orchestra. let's just hope she doesn't get in trouble for passing around inappropriate jokes and putting her instrument in her mouth. boy may parents must have been proud.

(kind of) funny story: since my husband played in the chandler orchestra in college, we actually ran into my 6th grade orchestra teacher, who was also in the chandler orchestra. i ducked my head down , but paully called out her name. she marched right up to the car and said "is that nellie welch in that car?? you know i almost changed careers after having you and courtney that year." i was so embarrassed and apologized. she said it was her hardest year but made her a stronger teacher. i can still play boil them cabbages tho.

let's just hope that the apple falls far from the tree for my sake.
we attempted to make caramel apples. after getting all set up, we could not get the caramel to stick to the apples. tried another caramel batch.... no luck.

plan b: slice the apples and let the kids dip them in the caramel, peanuts, coconut, mini choc. chips & sprinkles. not as pretty, but easier to eat :)

S and D had a little halloween crafting session. they were chatting and giggling and happy. they said this is so fun. S said "yes, we can hang these crafts on our walls. our room really needs to look more halloweenie."

D thought that was the funniest thing ever.

mommy dearest moment: L and i were removing labels from water bottles and reapplying tape that matched the color theme for a baby shower. totally necessary. L is very precise, so she was the perfect companion for this job. we had them all lined up and i was inspecting them. i pointed to one that needed to be redone. L nodded her head a little and agreed that it should be re-taped. she tried her best to get it straight and quickly put it in the back of the line and glanced up at me to see if i was watching.

i told her she did an awesome job and thanked her for being so industrious.

goll.

this morning, while enjoying the beautiful weather and green grass in our backyard, i changed baby's poopy diaper and let him run around naked. he was so happy. in a flash, he had climbed up on the swing set and slipped down the steep slide. i put the diaper on the table and rushed over to the naked baby lying in the grass. it was a sad sight. he was totally fine, but it scared me.

in the meantime, the dumb dog swiped the diaper and was running around the yard like a maniac. he has a tendency to shred things like lightening. i really wanted to retrieve the diaper before he shredded it and distributed big chunks of poop all over the yard for us to step in. oh i was so mad. i finally got the diaper and he then swiped the jammies baby was wearing. grrr.... i was really mad at this point. luckily he dropped them quick without putting any holes in them. i really like those jammies. why did i think it was a good idea to get a dog?

well, it's friday and i am looking forward to seeing a family movie tonite and going up north to a pumpkin patch. i need to see if i can gather up some cute outfits and get a cute picture for christmas cards. hmmmm.... i wish matilda jane clothes weren't so expensive. they would be perfect.

dc trip

i'm not really sure where to begin with my adventures in dc. a trip without kids means to me....

cram it all in! no stops! go until we drop!

which is what we did the first day. we literally dropped. i think i napped on the floor. i was tie tie.

there is a lot to see and do in dc. walking. walking. walking. which is why i justified my cupcake crusade. i hit up 3 shops.

cakelove- too much icing and too rich. i ended up tossing it :(

red velvet- good.

georgetown cupcake- delish!

georgetown was definitely the best. i waited in a 30 min. line to get in the joint. thank goodness it was worth the wait. there were beautiful fresh flower arrangements on all the tables. they even had the cheapest price! $2.75 ea.

day 1

* arrive at 10:30 pm

* auntie whips up some delicious pasta for me at midnight. aglio e olio. yumm.....

* sleep

day 2

* get coffee and croissants at PAUL french bistro

* walked around penn. ave. and checked out the newseum & the front page newspapers of all the 50 states. conspiracy theory if you ask me.

* walked "the mall" a little bit & checked out the castle smithsonian which gave us an overview of all the museums.

* freer museum. asian art. kinda boring.

* hit up the american history museum. my fav exhibits were the original ruby red slippers, julia child's kitchen and the life and deaths of the presidents. so interesting.

* freedom plaza to witness occupy dc. kinda exciting but lame. jumpin' on that peace train.

we did learn the basics of protesting tho.... integrate, agitate, educate. no stripping of clothes or chaining happened tho.

* changed gears and headed to the willard for an upscale white wine kind of lunch. very fancy :)

* walked to the white house. looked for the doorbell to ring & ask if we could come in. no luck.

* took a taxi to cakelove.

* took the metro home to rest.

* got up and walked some more.

* checked out a pretty awesome corner. cupcake store, liquor store (with local beer) luke's lobster shack.... ummmm sooooooo good. and a starbucks to top it off. what else do

you need in life?

* headed back for a delicious dinner and a scrabble game.

day 3

* oatmeal and coffee for breakfast.

* mass at st. patrick's. awesome. founded in 1794. met the ambassador of spain. he had a driver.

* red velvet cupcakes and starbucks.

* the national gallery to view the presidential portraits. loved this. so cool. a must see.

* walked to the lincoln memorial. very cool.

* walked to the viet nam memorial. joined in more protesting. realizing that the protests are actually annoying.

* my aunt and uncle picked us up and we drove to see my uncle's fancy downtown dc office. very cool. they are both really smart and amazing people. they should write books.

* headed to georgetown.

* ate delicious pizza and waited in line at georgetown cupcakes.

* realized that someone swiped my aunt's phone and had a good adventure trying to track it down. but to no avail. we did have a police officer come to the apartment & filed a claim.

all very exciting.

* joined up with my cousins at an irish bar and headed back to their swanky dc apartment. sat on the rooftop and enjoyed views of the capitol and the washington monument.

day 4

* woke up to my mom staring at me.

* went over to the national archives to see the declaration of independence and the bill of rights. pennsylvania is spelled wrong. i don't know if it was just because i was hungry, but the lack of lines really annoyed me. you have to wait a long time to get in and then you have to push your way in to get a good look at each document. i'm into non-contact sports, so that part was annoying.

* headed to chinatown for some lunch.

* walked to ford theater and the peterson house to relive the assassination of lincoln. amazing. you can sit right next to where he was shot. you can go in to the house he was taken to, see the exact replica of the room. see the tiny bed where they laid his 6'4 body. so sad. but a really cool tour. also a must see.

* an anthro stop

* walked back down penn. ave. checked out taste of dc. getting hot and sweaty and irritated at this point.

* big hold up at the white house. roads blocked. grrr....

* but then the presidential helicopters flew over and it was very exciting. even tho i waved so nicely at the helicopters, i still did not get into the white house.

* checked out the folk art museum. at this point i was a little overwhelmed, trying to take in the sights. there is just so much to look at. i asked for the kids scavenger hunt to help me focus. i'm not sorry i did it. i didn't get the prize at the end tho.

* headed to old ebbitt grill. it was so cool. we got cold beer, shrimp, oysters and crab claws. it was just what we needed. it was perfect.

* made a stop to pick up ice cream and went back home for a delicious italian pasta dinner.

day 5

* wake up early to fill our last day with fun.

* walk over to capitol hill for breakfast at market lunch in the eastern market.

* walk around capitol hill neighborhoods

* take a tour of our nation's capitol building. again. a must see. very well done. loved all of it.

* walked to air and space museum.

* walked to natural science museum. i liked the exhibit on race. i also liked the big whale. i like whales. they are big. very big.

* went back to the apartment, packed up and headed to union station to catch our train back to the airport. :( saw oprah's boyfriend... steadman. he was tall and seemed nice. he was stopping to take pictures with people.

* non eventful plane ride home and so glad to see mi familia!!!!!!!!

i really missed them!!!!

i'm off to see the wizard...

today i'm headed here....

i'm pretty pumped.

i also plan on stopping here..... first stop :)
luckily it's in walking distance from my aunt and uncle's.

will i get cupcakes or coffee cake.... maybe both (since i'll be walking there)

i also plan on joining a protest.

i'm not sure which one.

i guess i'll figure it out when i get there.

i always envisioned chaining myself to something for a cause.

it's always hard to say goodbye

some of our dear friends are moving away :( it's poopy.

we really like hanging out with them and laughing and playing games and hearing about their exciting life.

we understand that they have to, and that the welters are not enough to be the sole reason to stay (i kinda think it is if you ask me) and that phoenix is not the most happenin' place for recording artists. i guess nashville is. big whoop. at least we have a new fun place to visit.

anywho, the kids were taking it harder than i thought. they were very sad. so i decided we would write down all of our favorite things and memories we have made with them.

what says "i love you and will miss you" more than a

big old affirmation bag???

i thought the little messages were so sweet it almost made me tear up seeing how important these awesome people are to the kids.

paul and i had fun throwing in our little notes too.

we really will miss you!!!! you better come back when you start having kids!!!

stuff

we have been "cleansing" for a few weeks now. eating healthy. no sugar, at first no alcohol but it's more like "little" alcohol now, no bread. lot's o veggies, some legumes and protein. it's pretty cool. i def. feel healthier, but it's a real toss up of which way of life is better. i think it has to be a balance.

i struggle with balance tho.

i'm either de-toxing or re-toxing.

it works for me. as long as i can fit into my jeans :)

one day after school, my mother and i took the girls to get pedicures. well, we got pedis and the girls got paint.
they really like the suckers at the register.
they said "this was really a fun day mom!"
pdubs and i went on a date. bianco's... really long wait but good pizza.

then we walked over to where we were married 13.5 years before.
we've matured a lot since then.

art & music

we took the kids to a matt maher concert a few weeks ago. they loved it. we sat way in the back so as to not disturb anyone as we did not know how late the concert would go. the kids happily sat on the stairs the whole time sketching.

bathing beauties

love these cute retro suits from lands end. wish they made it in my size.

love is all you need

grocery shopping

just a quick trip to the grocery store. no biggie.

i kind of like having an entourage of helpers.

as long as the baby is not screaming, no one is fighting, no one runs into my heels, nothing breaks and no one sneaks things into their baskets.

none of that happened. this time.

thanks to the heavens above for that small miracle.

is it fall yet?

we are forcing ourselves to believe that it is actually cooling off and that fall is among us. one of my dear friends gave me some adorable halloween cupcake cups, so i thought today would be a perfect time to break them in. it's feeling cooler already :)

i sure like...

that my mom is back and can come over in the mornings for coffee.

that on tuesdays, S can stay in her pj's and lounge around the house all day.
when my affirmation bag has new notes in it :)
when my husband brings home flowers for moi.

stuff

i was thinking of all the things i could be doing....

1. put away clothes

2. organize my closet (sadly it's back to it's usual state)

3. make baby gifts

4. go thru clothes to donate

5. find new recipes

6. cleaning

but instead, i put the baby down for a nap, got dinner together in the crock pot, and am wasting a lot of time on the computer enjoying the quiet house. oh well. i'm fine with it.

i'm really obsessed with the peanut butter cups from costco. i know they are not very green. we are not supposed to put anything in the kids lunches with a bar code on it, but these are just so great. they can use them with cut up celery, pretzels, apple slices, their little fingers, graham crackers... so many options and such a healthy snack :)

we recently watched this documentary. it was pretty interesting. i'm not vegan now or anything, but i appreciated the angle. it was medically driven, not trying to gross me out of eating meat ever again. but it did make me want to cut my family's meat consumption down and increase veggies. i really want to learn to make more bean and rice dishes. streaming netflix yo.

i accidentally bought these almonds at whole foods. i meant to buy the "regular" almonds but as you can see, these did not have a price on them and i thought they were the regular ones. however there are like 10 different kinds of almonds there so who knows. apparently these were $12.99 a pound. there was a line behind us and we needed to go, so we bought them anyway. we griped the whole way out of the store, thru the parking lot and into the car. we even mocked the almonds as we opened up the bag and put them in our mouths.

they were delicious.

i will pay the $12.99 a pound again. and can't wait to do so. not sure why they are so good, but they are. i wish you could've heard paul going on and on and on and on about how good they are and how he now understands almond extract and how these almonds tasted just like it.
this is little D's favorite book to take to school. an old college book. she has all kinds of construction paper book marks in it tagging pages that strike her fancy. she says she is not going to bring it as much anymore because the big kids told her that she is not supposed to have so many things to show and tell. i found out where all those kids lived and tee-peed their houses.
this is a common sight. that little baby just helps himself to whatever he wants. he's eating an apple while testing out how securely those lights are attached to the ceiling.

the big hype around our house these days is once again fish. we tried beta fish this time. crossing our fingers that they are a little more "hardy".

these two want to fight. i kinda want to see what would happen if i put them in the same bowl, but i don't wanna get arrested or anything. and i certainly don't want to be on the news for fish abuse or fish fighting.
there they all are.

ogg, sparky, romeo and shaina (she insists it's a girl and we just go with it)
i came across this pic from our trip to indy this summer. i like it. a lot. i like indy. a lot. my mom and my daughter and my bro and his family are headed there in a few weeks. it's S's first solo trip on a plane. she'll be with my mom. but still. she really wanted to go and paid for the ticket with her own money. ( her greenergy money) it will be fall there and i'm super jealous.

hmmm....

well, well, well. i just don't know where the time has gone. i can't even think of what i have been doing. i must be pmsing because i feel in a funk and can't think of anything to blog about. i haven't even been taking very many pics. humph.

things are good around here tho. L & D started piano lessons. they are very excited. S has been creating costumes with all my materials and sewing machine for about a week. i admire her persistence. she is determined to make pants. she just keeps cutting, sewing, trying them on, re-sewing, starting over.... then finally she came in and said "look mom! i did it!" she had one leg sewn on. she was so proud. i also admired her ability to think outside the box. she traced a pair of her underwear. cut it out, sewed it together and then cut out material for legs and sewed that to the "underwear". it is pretty cute, i'll snap a pic of the finished product.

it finally rained a little. i got a new lens. we got our dryer fixed, well really it was an electrical issue, but anyway, it's fixed. the cars have been in and out of the shop. it's never a good time to get our cars fixed. we need the van to cart around the kids and do carpool. but it also drives me crazy that the cruise control and the sliding door are not working. those are the only reasons i drive a dumb minivan. and the great gas mileage. so we need to find a time to get that fixed.

are you asleep yet?

no, ok. i'll keep going.

i have been making a lot of memory books. those are really fun. since S had all the sewing stuff out, i made a few things. that is always very rewarding and enjoyable. i embellished a baby gift for my friend having a baby girl. i made a few "patches" and covered a few holes in favorite dresses that the girls just can't get rid of. i'm on a cleanse and it is so boring. but it is equally as frustrating not being able to fit in my jeans and shorts. i got a new lens. it's cool. i really want to remodel my house but that is not going to happen. i can't even watch any remodel shows or read any remodel blogs because it makes me really really want to do those things. maybe i'll just redecorate D & S's room. it needs a new coat of paint. the kids are obsessed with writing on the walls. they don't even care. they just write "i love you mom and dad" in really beautiful cursive. they have no shame. all of them do it. it's pathetic. i'm really excited for the new season of dexter to start. i'm doing lots of volunteering at church and at school, i think that is keeping me really busy. i can't wait for the backyard to be green and beautiful. i am so ready for the cool weather. i want to have dinner parties every night. i'm going on a trip with my mom. i'm so excited, but it is also exhausting trying to coordinate a time for me to get away. only because of the burden it puts on everyone else (paul). our friend gave us a week of their timeshare in nov. so i'm super excited about that. i want to go to disneyland. i think the kids will actually ride the fun rides now. the baby is a handful. boys are so different than girls. he cracks me up. he runs so fast and dumps everything over and tries to take everything apart. i shouldn't even have to do this dumb cleanse with all the running around after him that i do everyday.

well. it was nice unloading my thoughts for a few minutes, now i'm off to a parent-teacher conference.