Halloween

Sumo Jeff --- this costume is GREAT!!!!

Can you believe he only won second prize?

I thought for sure he'd be number 1!!!! Oh well - I love it! It cracks me up!!!!

Halloween was fun!

The boys got lots of candy!

More than enough to last us until next year.

We had some friends trick or treating with us...

two little witches to go along with Boba Fett and Darth Vader. Randy is Boba and Keith is Darth.

And if anyone wants some candy, please let me know because we'll be more than happy to share! There are KitKats, Milky Ways, Twix, lollipops galore, nerds, licorice, Runts, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (but we're not sharing those), Tootsie Rolls, Mary Janes, Bit O' Honey, gum, M&M's, Mike and Ikes, Bottles Caps, etc......

Oh, the tooth ache, I can feel it now.

Crazy Hair Day!!!

This week is drug awareness week at school- so they do weird stuff all week long. On Monday each child received a red wristband, that they are supposed to keep all week - so much for Randy's, he lost his yesterday. Speaking of yesterday, that was backwards shirt day! Wear your polo shirt backwards - how annoying?!!?? Randy dealt with it and wore it that way all day. Keith attempted to put his on backwards and we didn't even get it tucked in before he needed to get it turned around. Today was crazy hair day. Now their crazy hair matches their true craziness!! Their hair is spiked up big and it's a bit green too, but that didn't show up in the pictures. Tomorrow is "Shades" Day. Meaning that they all get to wear sunglasses tomorrow. How much school work is going to get done if all the kids are snoozing behind their sunglasses, I wonder. Not much I'm sure.

Friday is Red Shirt day - pretty simple - we'll just wear red shirts. :-)

Today is Halloween!!

Stay tuned for costume photos!

Pumpkin Sunday

Today was a nice day. We didn't go anywhere and that's ok because I didn't feel like it anyway. I did get a pedicure and the boys were occupied with their usual weekend routine. Do you wonder what the routine consists of? Let me show you... I bet you all figured it out, even without the visual! They didn't spend the whole day on the computer though. They stopped for a while to have some lunch - Taco Bell - nutritious? Nah, just cheap. But we all like it anyway. I did make some real dinner though - soup from scratch and crescent rolls - so that makes the Taco Bell less evil.


My pedicure was nice and relaxing. And you can rest assured that nobody missed me while I was gone. My toes are green, with white and red flowers - sounds Christmasy, doesn't it? They don't look Christmasy though. The nail polish is supposedly magical - well, maybe not magical, but it is supposed to change colors. If I'm outside, the sun is supposed to toast up my toes and change the color. I don't know if it works yet, because I don't feel like sitting outside. I'll let you know if I ever find out. Maybe I'll even take a picture or two.


Today was "Old Mama's" birthday. We went to their house and had some cake. While we were there, we all played ball in the HOUSE!! LOL! But don't worry, we didn't break anything.


We also carved our pumpkins today. I had the pleasure of gutting, while Jeff did the honors of putting the cool pictures on them. Jeff chose a witch for one. Randy said it should look scary. Keith thought we needed a Frankenstein. So we have a cute Frankenstein and a scary witch. I think they look really cool. We won't put them outside though, because I'm sure it would only take one day for the sun to bake them and they'd shrivel up. Maybe we'll put them out on Halloween night after we're finished "trick or treating".

Boys Night Out

Jeff actually went out with his friends tonight! That left me and the boys to our own devices. What kind of devious, crazy stuff did we do, you're wondering. We went to Wendy's and got some vittles to munch on for dinner. Then we got home and all three of us got on our computers. Shocking! The wildness of it all!! I'm sure you're wondering what those guys did all day long, while mom was at work... You guessed it! They were on their computers! And they played ball in the HOUSE! I thought, mom always said, "don't play ball in the house". Isn't that how Marcia's nose got broken? And I'm pretty sure that's how mom's favorite vase was broken (and the glue didn't work, so those Brady children got in trouble anyway). But so far I haven't come across anything broken (or carefully glued back together either). At any rate can you believe how much fun we can have when we're left on our own? *Yawn* And now my children are in bed and where am I, you ask? Yes, you guessed it, right back in front of the computer.

Work was busy and the day didn't want to end!! Nine hours felt more like twenty, but at least I'm off tomorrow! Off to where? Now that is the question. The Goodyear Swap Meet? Pioneer, Arizona - living history museum? Wickenburg? I guess it depends on the boys and what I can talk to them into.

Here is a photo of Randy "swiffer dusting" his room. And those are his words, he doesn't just dust, he "Swiffer dusts!" And he likes doing it. The boy even enjoys sorting the laundry!!

And here's Keith blocking (or trying to block) his unmade bed. Actually he's says he's being an "X", but I took the picture close up, so you'll have to use your imagination.

This is it for me... Forensic Files are on and then Body of Evidence - must see TV.

Halloween dress rehearsal

We went to a Halloween party at a friend's house today. The boys got to wear their costumes and had lots of fun being crazy with their friends. Randy is Boba Fett and Keith is Darth Vader. There were cobwebs all around and mummies outside. Scary birds were hanging around. There were Halloween crafts to be done. And lots of fun to be had. The kids tried pinning the wart on the witch. They munched down on worms in dirt (yes, they were gummy worms and maybe they weren't exactly in dirt, it was cookie crumbs). We sipped punch that was chilled with a severed hand (OK, it was ice shaped like a hand). And they ate spiders (fine, they weren't really spiders, they were crackers and pretzels). There was so much food I can't even remember all of it, but I can tell you that I ate lots and lots of it!! There was some really neat soda too - Jones sodas - candy corn flavor and lemon drop dead soda!
We had such a good time that we didn't even go home to make dinner for dad - but don't worry, he didn't go hungry. He found the leftover pizza in the fridge and all was just fine.
Can you believe Halloween is next Wednesday? And then October is over!! Where has this year gone? Next up... turkey day. Have you all started Christmas shopping? 59 days!!

Anyu & Apu's Birthdays

Party time! Ok, not really. It was simple and quiet and really we just ate. Oh, there were a couple of presents too, but they weren't mine, so that's not as much fun. Although giving presents is almost as good as getting presents. For Anyu's birthday we had dinner and dessert here at our house. For Apu's birthday we had dinner and cake at their house.

Yesterday was Wednesday and that means that the boys got out of school at 12:15. Since they got out early, they had a job to do. They needed to set up some headstones, graves and bones for Anyu and Apu's friend Bob. They did a spectacular job. It looked pretty good and it will look very creepy and scary on the actual day.

We were unable to find a cool wig for Jeff's Halloween costume - darn! Hopefully what we did find will work out well. We can't show you yet because that would ruin it for Halloween - I'm afraid you'll just have to wait until Halloween to see him in costume. And no, that's not Jeff's wig that Keith is wearing.

Back to school

Today was the first day back to school after fall break. It was a good day. I helped out in Keith's class for a while in the morning. The kids didn't forget how it worked. I was impressed - they all did very well. After school, it was all business until the homework was completed. Then we went for a bike ride around the neighborhood. We tried to see who had been ghosted and who we might ghost tonight. We chose two houses to ghost and it didn't work. Neither one answered the door to take the bags in. So we took the bags and tried two other houses. Who would have thought it would be so difficult to give someone a little surprise. The third house opened the door - we heard it close as we were making our getaway. The fourth house didn't open the door - I don't think their doorbell was working. We gave up and left it there. They'll find it in the morning (hopefully) and since it's nice and cool out, the chocolate won't melt! And I'm hoping that no one walks off with it, but if they do, they better follow the rules and keep it going!

The apple crisp just came out of the oven -- it smells good and must be eaten a.s.a.p.!!!!!!

A nice surprise

We got Ghosted!!

The boys (that would be Randy and Jeff) were playing Battlefield. Keith was going back and forth between watching them and talking my ear off while I was sitting at the computer.

The door bell rang - and of course nobody wanted to get up to answer the door - which I'm sure was great for the door bell ringer because that person needed to get away without being spotted. Well I finally got up and turned the outside lights on and I saw no one! But I did see a bucket sitting in front of the door!!

Very exciting!! and sooooo unexpected! Once I read the letter accompanying the basket - it got even more exciting because now it's a mystery... who left it on the doorstep? Will I ever find out? Tomorrow we will have to leave our own goodies at some one's door! :-) I have to go shopping!

Ahhh.... Sunday

I'm off from work today and I slept as late as Keith would let me -

quarter til 8 - can you believe he slept later than 6am?

In case you were wondering what the first thing is that you should do when you wake up...

let my children help you out with that.You must get on your computer right away -
even before going to the bathroom and before eating breakfast...

who needs breakfast when you have the Internet?
Note Keith's crazy hair - he wakes up like this every morning!
And look at Randy's hair - he wakes up like that every morning. ???
The picture above is before haircuts...below is the after haircuts picture.
Just so you know, I didn't make Randy look like Waldo -
he combed his own hair and he's very proud of it.
Don't worry it will look better tomorrow :-)

Did you happen to notice their location?
Before haircut - after haircut -
resume the standard position in front of the computer.
I think it's programmed into their brains.
Jeff also got his haircut.
And if you were wondering why my children love their laptops so much,
just view the picture below.
Jeff doing what he loves to do....
Grandma and Grandpa stopped by and brought the boys some goodies.
They went to the G.A.I.N. (getting Arizona involved in neighborhoods)
event at the Goodyear community park last night.
I drove past it on my way home from work last night -
it looked like madhouse - tons of people, lots of cars -
just the kind of place I hate to be.
Lots of businesses and reps from several of the communities around us were there - handing out candy and lots of advertising trinkets.
While my parents were here, our kitties were laying claim to Grandma's shoes...That is Ginger loving Grandma's shoe. The next one is Henry trying to love Grandma's shoe, but Keith is there trying to love the Henry. And my bad, I neglected to take photos of Grandma and Grandpa -
maybe tomorrow...

Dinner...

Two posts in one day. I'm on a roll - let's hope I keep it up!
I went to dinner with my friends - We went to the Cheesecake Factory. It was my birthday dinner and I have to say it was very nice and the food was yummy. Pulled pork - delicious! (And those poor boys were stuck at home eating pizza.) Kahlua cocoa coffee cheesecake for dessert! Thank you Michele, Amy & Lisa!!!
Jeff is busy playing Battlefield and the boys are snoozing. I'm heading for the couch!

Tombstone, AT

Wednesday, October 17th, the boys, my mom and I went to Tombstone! And Tombstone, AT is not a typo -- it is Tombstone, Arizona Territory. Unfortunately, Jeff couldn't go - (well, somebody has to work). We watched a comedy gun fight show at Helldorado Town- it was pretty funny. The audience was a little slow with the participation, which made things that much funnier.

We took a ride on a stagecoach and got some extra information about Tombstone. We saw the house that Wyatt Earp lived in. We peeked into the Bird Cage Theater, but we didn't see any ghosts.

We saw the world's largest rosebush - the boys are sitting on the trunk of it in one of the pictures. Of course we went into almost every store.

We saw a huge stuffed buffalo. The picture is a little dark, but you can still see it. After getting our fill of the 1880s, we went to Sierra Vista and stayed at my parents' friends' house. They fed us and gave us beds to sleep in. The next day we toured the town a bit and checked out the post of Ft. Huachuca. It was a good two days! Now we are looking forward to our next adventure!