Halloween with the Fam

Brothers, cousins and friends

Awwww, doesn't Rob look so precious with that goatee, shaved head and a Daisy headband??

The girls at the care center

Nancy Drew and Wednesday Adams

Helping clean up

Grandma Great, Steph and Ethan. Cuties!

This is my youngest Brother in law - pretending to be the lead singer of either Nickelback or Hannah Montana...

This is my nephew - I love that he had an A's jersey!!! Nevermind the item pertruding from his head.

Okay, I just look old here. Me and Heather - the only adults who dressed up that night. Hmpf.

It's (S)Tinkerbell! Awwww. She was pretty good about being in a costume :)

Last Saturday we had a family Halloween party. It is an annual tradition now. We do games, crafts and Halloween Bingo. Everyone gets to play Bingo - we even have some cool gifts for the parents! It gets vicious. Ang and I were fighting over a seasonal sign - and I won!

Then, tonight we went Trick or Treating with the girls. We went to a nursing/assisted living care center. They were so cute with the girls! And then the kids went through the neighborhood. What a blast! My nephew who is getting to be "too old" for trick or treating (apparently 12 year olds don't go anymore), helped me pass out the candy. He was pretty cool about it. :)

I must say that there are some strange adults out there though. I know a few of the women that came to the door were mothers. Now, I understand if they were getting candy for their kids, but their kids were already there with their bags! Why would you want more candy in your house???? I guess if it was some decent chocolate or Nibs, I can see why. But really???

Welll, the door bell is ringing... must go off and get rid of the candy! Happy Halloween!

Yesterday I took a huge leap - I submitted my Grad School application. David didn't really understand why it was so scary to me. I either 1) don't get in and feel like a failure or 2) get in and then have to figure out how we are going to work this. I do know that if I didn't apply, I would regret it. So at least that's one thing I don't have to worry about. I did find out that a class that i remember taking (professors and everything, just not the semester) isn't on my transcripts. In fact they have me taking it from other people and then withdrawing. So I am now taking Statistics at Weber State. Good times. Good times.
I know that it will all work out how it should. So, now I need to enjoy my low stress weekend. :)

Bloody Noses

So Maggie has these bloody noses that are HUGE. I am posting this only so my family can see what I am describing. One morning she actually had blood all over her face as well as the WALL. It looked as though someone had hit her. Awful. We have an appointment with an Ear Nose and Throat Dr. in a week. We'll see if we can do anything else for her (other than a humidifier).

DC vacation

So I finally convinced my husband to go on a vacation (outside of CA or Utah). I had to go to Washington DC for a meeting and I was able to coerce him into going with me! Yeah! The only downside was that I was away for a full week instead of 4 days.

The best part of the trip? Watching David in awe at our first pro-football game (NFL). It was the Redskins v. Browns - and of course the 'Skins won. I would have loved to take him to a Steelers' game, but it is just as expensive to go to Pittsburgh as DC and I was already going there. We also were able to visit the Holocaust Museum. I have been to DC 5 times and this was my first time to ANY museum. Keep in mind that I go for work and usually don't get out of meetings until 4:30 or 5 and the museums close at 5:30.

We had a blast going through the National Archives, Air and Space Museum, and the Natural History Museum. I want to take Emma next time!

Snowy Sunday Morning

Unlike Friday night, where we were kept up by the howling winds ushering in the storm, last night the silent cold fell. We awoke to a blanket of snow covering everything. When the snow comes, you finally realize all the winterizing you haven't done! Such as removing the cushions from the patio set, or getting that new furnace filter. Oh well.

What I thought was gorgeous was the autumn leaves dusted with snow. The red still peeks out from under that cold, but it signals that winter is rapidly approaching!

So it is snowing right now. I like it and hate it at the same time. I love watching it come down. But I still have to go out to the store today and I don't like driving in slush.

Last night I went over to my friend Holly's house. Our kids are all just a few weeks apart - except for Kourtney, she is my oddball. I don't have any kids her age. Holly has 4 and I have 3. It really was amazing that the adults were able to eat and then have conversation at all! Maggie and Karli are 4 weeks apart. Mags is a bit bigger, but Karli is walking on her own. Hopefully Mags picked up some pointers from Karli. Holly really is a great friend and I wish I did more with her. This is the first time in a year that we have had everyone together (Husbands and kids). But we are all so busy and then a total of 7 kids???? It is difficult to plan activities. I get to see her one on one (or with half the kids) about 1-2 times every other month. It really isn't enough!

Fridays

Now that the State of Utah has gone to the 4-day work week, I am actually able to volunteer in the girls' classrooms. When I stayed home with Olivia, I didn't have anyone to watch her while I went to the school. Now that I have Friday's off I can still go in (Mags has to go to daycare at least two fridays a month). I get all emotional when I think of the great opportunity I have been given.

I can't believe how big (numbers) Olivia's kindergarten class is getting. There are up to 27 kids! And Emma's class keeps getting new students, but others move out. I just don't remember that many kids moving in and out during the school year.

Well, the photo is our budding photographer's desire to pose us and take pics. Emma is loving taking pictures and then she scrapbooks them. She gave Mags the hat to wear. :)

On to the weekend!

Ah, wednesdays

Okay, so I don't have a new pic for this post, but I am sure you will forgive me. Wednesday's in our household are crazy. Both Em and Liv have dance; plus Dave works at night (counseling). And then there is Mags - she is extremely curious. and thus HATES to be in the car when she could be crawling around.
I am attempting to write my grad school application. I am not succeeding. I am however, succeeding on my attempts to curb my spending. Instead of ordering the pizzas like I usually do, I am making a pizza. With fresh tomatoes from our neighbor's garden. YUM. I love to eat out and eat good food (although I do get cravings for McD's french fries). But I need to be better about it.
Any tips???

GOM sent this pic

My mom sent this pic of me and the girls. She (mom) came out in Sept and it was a lot of fun. We went to TOADs (think a mini-Scandia). Anyway, this is the photo she took as she was leaving. :(

Oh, and GOM = Good Ol' Mom :) Thanks GOM

Hee hee, I grabbed Dave this morning and told him that I was taking some pics of him. Isn't it funny that we (parents) are always clicking away, but we rarely have pics of ourselves??? My original motive was to get a photo of him in these jeans - but Olivia jumped in the photos. Oh well, I know how good he looks in them!

End of the hectic week - almost!

Okay, today I presented at the Utah Fall Conference on Substance Abuse. I had the oh so exciting topic of Environmental Strategies. It went well. I have also presented to my colleagues in the Strategic Prevention Framework Grant (SPF SIG) this week. I had to talk about budget cuts and sustainability for everyone. *SIGH* it wasn't pretty. I was a total downer for that group. But the reality is that the grant money is only around until 2011.

The one of the best things today was that I got to network and be with people in my field. But the BEST thing today was dinner with the girls. Emma was in rare form - actually chatting! Olivia didn't fight with Emma. And Maggie attempted to feed herself. It was wonderful.

I am supposed to attend the last day of the conference tomorrow, however since I already have over my 80 hours and technically we are to have Fridays off... I will work from home. (on my NEXT presentation that is due to the feds tomorrow by 2 pm).

It will be great -