Grandma's Pumpkin Patch, and 2 year old Sugar Cookies

Me, conquering my fear of heights?
Not that I thought I had a fear until I got up there.
I think it surfaced after having children.

Sugar cookies that we made from 2 year old cookie mix.
I'm not kidding.
Sugar cookies are just a vehicle for the frosting though, right.
These were done in honor of you, Jessica.

Beckham wanted to join the photo shoot.

I'm just too comfortable, and the sun feels so good.
Come back in a while.

I love the "I just got up from a Nap" look.

How cute are my kids?
Pretty darn cute.

This was the biggest of them all.
Jaren is glowing with pride.

This Friday we ventured over to Grandma Penny's house. Over the summer she grew these amazing pumpkins!!! They were huge. I guess that's what you get from a lot of watering and neglect. Not that they neglected their garden, their just two busy, working people.

My Mom had some work for us to do in the yard. Well, kind of. She also neglected to tell me that she wanted me to get onto her Roof and cut down the trumpet bush that was taking over the gutters and drains. First of all, I don't even like my husband to get onto the roof, let alone myself. But I did it for my Mom. I think I even sharded in my pants, just a little. Ya, it was that scary for me. It was scary for my kids too. Beckham asked me, " Mom, if you fell would you die?" Just to comfort him I said, " No, but I would probably break something." Beckham then replied, " Are you ready to come down now." At that point, No, the job wasn't finished. Would I liked to have gotten down from the roof, YES. But having to swing my legs down and around the ladder was a horrifying thought. When I finally did have the courage to come down, there wasn't a lot of thougt involved. I knew that if I thought about it too long I would get too scared and get stuck up on that stinking roof. So I approached it more with a Cowabunga type attitude. Do or Die. When I got back to the ground, I literally was shaking in my panies. LITERALLY!!! But on the flip side, I was pretty proud of myself for cutting that ginormous plant down. Unfortunately the gutter came down with it. But I proved to myself that I am stronger then I think I am, in a lot of ways.

Mrs. Octoberlyn and her Agents of Halloween

My silly attempt at dressing up my face and hair.
You can see in Grace's right eye hints of purple.

My agents Of Halloween.
Scary aren't they?

I am not one to dress up for Halloween. In an attempt to appease my children for the Ward Fall Fest I did some "high" hair, put a few spiders in therein, and put on what I thought was a ton of make-up. I forewarned Brent that it was going to be a lot. I told my children that I was Mrs. Octoberlyn. Thanks, Angie for that fabulous name. It was always my favorite. I painted their faces to be the walking dead and thus they became my agents of Halloween. All accept, Hannah, she didn't want her face painted. I think the kids look great. And if you look closely at Grace's right eye, you will see traces of the cause to our trip to the E.R.

While at the Ward function, Mike Fossat said, "Hey why's her eye all black." Her eye's not black, it's just the reflection from the gentian violet in her mouth. Brent, "No, look." He then pulls her eyelid down and to my udder horror, it's violently violet. To make a long story short. I called the Pediatrician which had me call posion control, which had us flush her eye with warm water for 15 minute then take her directly to the E.R. , where they checked for abbrations, and flushed it out with some saline solution, afterwhich the E.R. Doc took time and all eternity to call posion control back and an Optopitrist who informed him that they sometimes use gentian violet in patiants eyes!!!!!

End of Story.

"Vrrrrooooom"

A few days ago Brent tried to convince me that Grace was playing with a toy car accompanied with sound effects. I didn't believe him for one minute. Today I am eating crow. While we were in the kitchen Beckham came running to me proclaiming with amazement "Mom, Mom, Grace is playing with one of my cars." Sure enough as I walked into the living room I heard the familiar "vrooom" sound spilling from Grace's lips while pushing a small car around. It was SOOOO CUTE. I just had to video it to share with you all.

That's my boy

This photo was taken by my Dad at Huntington Beach.
He is such a Cool Surfer Dude!!!
When did that happen?

Have you ever wondered what goes through the mind of an almost 11 year old boy? Today I had a little insight into my son. He was telling how at school they've had debates and voted for a Pres. and who the Vice Pres. was. He told me how he hoped he could be a member of Congress. He then proceeded to tell me how awful the economy is these days. Really, I replied, what do you think about it? " Don't you know?" he asked appalled by my question. Yes, but I would like to hear what you think about it. He then told me what he would do to change the economy. " Gas prices would be the same throughout all states," he paused as he thought further, "and smoking would be illegal." Those are some good ideas kid. He still has a lot to learn, but his passion was real and I admire him for his desire for change.

I am THE Big Fat Panda

Today I braved the Dollar Theater with all my children. I am so sad that the one Theater that we frequented this summer is no longer in business. It shut down due to the New full price theaters that will be opening soon. Any-who....

This time was MUCH better. I was smart and asked for water cups to share the popcorn. No fighting or crawling over seats to get to the popcorn.

And can I just say... I LOVE KUNG FU PANDA!!!!! It is now my new Theme Movie. Have you seen this film? If not run out right away and watch this show. I LOVED the moral to this story. Believe in YOURSELF, there is no secret recipe, no secret diet, no secret wardrobe, just be you. Even though he was fat and flabby, he was Fabulous. And that is what I am. Okay, okay, I'm not SO much fat and flabby, just a little. But I am a whole lot of fabulous. I totally related to Po. He loved food, he was a good cook, he loved to eat and he ate when he was upset. Hello, that's me to a tea. But he channelled that and made it into a positive. That's what I am striving to do this very moment. I just loved this movie. I think I even laughed a little to loud for Jaren's comfort. I heard him quiet me down.

Oh no you didn't....

just say that!!!!

That's what went through my head a few weeks back when Jaren quietly commented to himself about chores, " At least I wont have to do these when I get older!!" What was he referring to exactly? Chores in general? Or kitchen chores, referring to the time when he becomes a Dad? I was really disappointed. I thought I had been doing a better job instilling into my son the importance of helping out around the house. Where did he get this notion? Is it from his own Dad not always helping out with the After-dinner-chores? He sees his Dad finish his plate, set the plate in the sink, or sometimes the dishwasher and then walk away. Now I have to figure out how to resolve this situation. I want my son to be helpful to his wife when he gets older. I'm sure most of you will agree, there is nothing more attractive or turns a woman on more quickly then seeing their husband help out with the dishes.

I guess it's one of those times when I have to have a heart to heart with my husband. I want him to help out more, not for my benefit(although that will be nice), but so he can be a better EXAMPLE to his sons. Show them that it's okay to be in the kitchen helping out. I mean really, if we ALL chipped in the whole thing could be finished in a matter of minutes. It's not like I'm asking him to do the whole kitchen himself. I really feel like this small change could have a huge impact on our sons, and daughters for that matter.

3 Ingredient Pumpkin Cookies

Seriously, just 3 ingredients. I got this recipe from my sister a few years back, props to Jessica. The first time I attempted these I used a small can of pumpkin instead of the large. They weren't as moist as they could have been.

Hannah was my beautiful model this day.
Here she is dumping in the Spice cake mix.

Next, dump in the large can of Pumpkin.

After mixing the cake mix and pumpkin together,
dump the chocolate chips in.
I prefer semi-sweet.

After mixing in the chocolate chips,
dollop the mixture onto a cooking sheet.
I used silpats(silicone baking sheets). Since there isn't a lot of fat
in the recipe I highly recommend you grease your pan before dolloping.

Bake at 350 for 17 minutes and Voila, you have moist delicious
Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies.
SWEET!!!

They couldn't be more simple, and more delicious. Just another reason why I love this time of year. The baking and the cooking always reins supreme. Nothing beats the aroma of chocolate chip pumpkin cookies, or zucchini bread baking away in the oven. Or wassel simmering on the stove top. MMMmmmmm, mmmm ,mmmm, I love this time of year.

What did your baby eat?

If you look very closely you can get a peak at Grace's first two teeth.

Oh nothing. It's just Gentian Violet. In an attempt to get rid of the yeast that is infecting my baby's mouth and my breast I turn to Gentian Violet. It is a messy liquid and if your not careful you'll stain anything it comes in contact with. So I have been VERY careful with this stuff. The side effects are a very purple mouth. I love the photos. They show perfectly her stained mouth and her personality.

Photo Op.

Photo with Micky and Mini.
I'm laughing at Grace's reaction to the large Characters.

Mini was absolutely taken with Grace.
I could hear the actor inside the costume cooing over Grace's cuteness.

Grace's favorite position, Standing.
She was so done sitting in her stroller on the last day that I ended up just strollering her around while she was standing. I had one hand on the handlebar, and one hand on her shirt.

Another fun photo of Grace's standing ability.

So cute.

Jaren, Isabel and Annika waiting in front of the Tower of Terror.
Brent and Hannah were taking their turn.
This is the only ride that completely scared my socks off.
SOOOO FUNNN!!!!

Picture of Hollywood Tower Hotel taken by Brent.
Our first time going on this ride we ran into Ray Romano.

This is a GREAT photo with Mini Mouse.
If my EYES weren't shut.
Shoot.

Some of the fun Decor that we experienced before
the official Halloween Time.

Photo with Donald.

The first few days at Disneyland my Dad was the official photographer. He took some outstanding photos. As soon as he gets those to me, I will share them freely. So for now, all I can share are these few photos that I took our very last day.

For all those that would like to take a trip to Disneyland, let me suggest going in the month of September. It is amazing. No crowds, the weather is Gorgeous. There are hardly any lines. I think the longest we had to wait was 20 minutes. And the BEST days to go are Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Absolutely no waiting on these days. You practically walk right onto any ride you please. It makes the whole experience that much more magical.

I am also impressed with how much effort they put into making that place immaculately clean. While we were waiting for the parade to start one night, the girls spilled some popcorn. Not 15 minutes later a street sweeper was there to clean up the mess. I didn't notice this so much last time due to the excitement of all the rides and rushing around to make sure we did EVERYTHING. It caught my attention this time.

When it Rains, it Pours

As most of you have noticed I haven't been very active on my blog for the past week. No, I haven't been on another vacation, I wish. In the beginning of last week I threw my back out. It was the worst I have ever experienced. I went to get up off of the couch and I couldn't. When I finally did, I couldn't make it to a standing position. I called my Mom and tears and she rushed right over. I couldn't even walk to the bathroom to relieve myself. I made it half way, bracing myself on anything in my path. When I got to my table I turned my upper body toward the direction I wanted to move, and my backed completely ceased up on me and I literally couldn't move one single part of my body. I didn't even want to blink for fear of breaking in two.

Just before my back went out, the garage door decided it no longer wanted to work for us. Brent has been ordering different parts to get the darn thing to work properly. Still waiting for that to happen.

A few days into my back going out a knock came at the door. It was my next door neighbor, whom I've never had one conversation with, telling me that there is a flood on my side of the fence that is just about to overflow over his window well and into his basement. Luckily, Ed Huhtala was at the door and quickly came to the rescue, once again, and turned off the water system and helped to bail the water away from the windows. When Brent came home he diagnosed the problem as a broken sprinkler pipe UNDER the cement. GREAT!!!!

On top of all that, I have a yeast infection in my right breast. It hurts like hell to nurse Grace. I get to treat it with Gentian Violet. Yay for me.

So yes, your problems are nothing compared to my right now.

After two sessions of physical therapy I am feeling better. Still really sore and taking things very slowly. Back problems are the WORST!!!!

I hope to get more fun photos posted next week.

Better get up before my back goes out again.