Trick Or Treat

Happy Halloween!!! Now that Allie is getting older the holidays are getting better and better. We had a great day spent with lots of friends

Allie choose to be a Dr. this year. She tossed around the idea of a cowgirl for awhile, but thanks to my work party in Sept. she got to dress up in Wild West gear then. So she decided that for Halloween she wanted to be Dr. Allie

We had friends over to enjoy the Bronco game and enjoy the Halloween festivities. The kids decorated some sugar cookies

Allie quickly began to go haywire-does the sugar really get to you that fast?

We put together dinner in a pumpkin. I seriously crave this yummy dinner every year and love the pumpkin flavor that is added to this dish. The kids thought this was quite a hoot this year; like I said it's getting better and better as the years go on

We whipped out the "witches brew"-a.k.a. dry ice and apple juice. The kids just loved this and loved to put their hand in the mist...oh so cold

After the Bronco game had ended and bellies were full from dinner, the kids got ready to trick-or-treat. We had a witch, a princess, Super-Why, and 2 doctors.

With all of the church party's being had on Friday night and trick or treating throughout the neighborhoods not being what it used to, we decided to head down to Harrison Boulevard. It has been years since I had been down there and I just used to love going down amongst all the trick or treaters when I was a kid. All of the houses were always decorated up and it was so much fun. Well nothing has changed and we ended up having a great night down on Harrison Boulevard

Macy and Allie were very brave and ran up to the first house together. I wish I would have had my video camera because the reaction to what was behind the door was priceless

A little scary huh????? Allie was screaming, the kids were running, some kids were falling trying to get away so fast. Well that ruined Allie for the night. She would not go to any door and trick or treat by herself. Blake or I had to be with her even if it was an old grandma sitting out on her porch with a bowl of candy

The streets were just lined with kids and parents....what a beautiful fall night it was for trick or treating

You can't beat all the gorgeous houses downtown either

We started to wait in "lines" to get candy at some of the houses. This was toward the end of our night. Allie declared, "I'm tired...I can't walk anymore," so we headed home

Is she really old enough to do this? As I was busy in the other room Allie says to me, "Mom come look I sorted all my candy!" I'm not quite sure where this evolved from but sure enough Allie found all the matches. Now the hard party is going to be choosing what gets put in the plastic bag to keep and what gets left out for the Halloween witch.

We had such a great night. Thanks to all our friends for sharing this day with us.

Happy Halloween!

Oh Where Have All The Balls Gone?

Max has a set of balls I got him when we first brought him home this summer. Slowly they disappeared and I couldn't find them anywhere; I figured somehow they made there way upstairs into Allie's toy bins. So, recently I went and got him more balls with little bells in them, hoping we wouldn't loose them. Well, once again they disappeared in no time at all. I have been wondering where all the balls have disappeared too? Well today was a happy day, I found all of Max's balls. Can you guess from my picture where they were?

In my cleaning crusade I pulled the oven away from the wall (this was the first time I have done this in the 2 1/2 years that we have lived in our house). I highly recommend this be done more frequently; I have done some dirty jobs in my life time, but this was disgusting. There was a good inch of dust covering my floor and wall. So today Max is a happy kitty because his balls have all returned. I am going to have to invent some little blockade under my stove drawer so Max's balls can't go rolling to the back. I guess it will be a good reason if they do, so I can get behind the oven and clean a little more frequently than my track record. Happy Cleaning!

I'm Scared of the dark

Well...I don't know what to do with my child. Out of no where she is "freaked" out by the dark. Freaked is just an understatement. She screams, clenches onto my neck, shirt, anything when I go to leave the room. We have not changed anything in her bedtime routine; but when we go to leave she just starts screaming, "the dark is going to get me." Granted her door is open, the hall light is on; I'm not sure what to do or where this all stemmed from. If she follows us out of the room, we usually close her door in increments (just to be nice and so that all of a sudden the whole door isn't shut and it's dark in her room; that would be a disaster) HELP!!!!

Tonight this has been our sequence of events after Allie was calm enough to lay in her bed without freaking out or crying and with me leaving the room (this is a monumental step since this all has begun)

A few minutes after I left Allie's room

Allie: Mom I have a seed stuck in my teeth (following us already brushing her teeth)

Kim: Okay let me get your tooth brush and I'll see if we can get it out

Allie: Nope its not out

Kim: Okay let me grab some floss and we'll see if we can work it out (we had eaten popcorn and I always need the floss to get out the kernels; I know way to nice huh?)

Allie: It's not out yet

Kim: It will work it's way out when your sleeping

I leave the room and go back to my business

Allie: My neck hurts

Kim: Rest it on your pillow, it will feel better in a little bit

Allie: A spider bit it

Kim: Really????

I go back to my business

Allie: I need a big sister to sleep with me?

Kim: That's not going to happen

Anyways, like I said, tonight has been the first night I have left her room with her awake since this all began. It's usually Blake or I in her room rubbing her tummy, playing with her hair, rocking her in the rocker, singing for minutes on end to get her to sleep. Any suggestions??

Owens Birthday

In the mix of our crazy weekend we were able to get over to Owen's 3rd birthday party. He had a Cars Birthday Party complete with a Piñata and jump house. The kids first spent some time in the jump house while the mom's enjoyed the nice weather

Two cute friends outside of the jump house

The birthday boy coming out of the jump house

The next event for the party was taking a stab at opening up the pinata

Allie was attempting a whack at the piñata and Owen decided to step in and help. Luckily no one was hurt in the process

All of the kids waiting their turn to take a whack at the piñata

Unfortunately none of the small kids were able to break the piñata, so the big kids decided to have a go. My favorite was Aaron spearing the piñata open, while Chad was bravely holding onto it. We had to leave the party at this point and it was before we had a chance to enjoy the yummy looking cake Kelly made. Thanks for having us to your party Owen, we hope you had a great birthday!

Cabin Fever

We had Blake's brother and his family come visit for the weekend. We traveled up to the cabin for a quick over night trip, dip in the warm water, and night of fun before we headed back to Boise.

We headed to Gold Fork Hotsprings on Friday night. It has been a long awaited wait trip since we have made it to these hotsprings and I'm thinking we aren't going to wait this long the next time

Everyone enjoying the "sand pool"

Allie and Jane playing in the steamy water

Cute Cam stopped to smile for me

It is so hard to get pictures because you never know if you are going to be in a steamy spot of the pool or not. I finally got one of all the grandkids (minus Lucy) after multiple attempts. They all earned a fruit roll-up for their cooperation

I love this pool because my child can throw sand into the water. The bottom of this pool is covered in sand; it feels so nice on those calised heels of mine

Back at the cabin we had a little bit of W.W.F. wrestling from Cam and Allie. It's been awhile since we have seen the two of these guys wrestle; they used to wrestle all the time when they were younger

Then, the dad's started a ginormous pillow fight with the kids. Believe it or not, there were only a few tears and a lot of laughs

Then the kids decided to jump off Papa's chair onto the large pile of pillows and blankets. The next few photos are the kids in action

Jane had a rough go in the pillow fight and took a breather to read her book

Cute Allie found this "hat" to take her picture with. Blake informed me this was some roofing material that needed to be placed back on the roof

The following day we had a picnic down at Municipal Park with Blake's siblings and a couple of Blake's cousins and all of the kids. These are all children of either a cousin or sibling; they all had a great time together. What a wonderful weekend of fun, family, and beautiful weather.

We Live On A Ball

The other day Allie had to inform me what she had learned in nursery a few days earlier. Allie said, "Mom....we live on a big ball called earth." I then responded you're right. She then stated, "It's got to be a really big ball huh?" You're right....I can't imagine what these little 3 year minds think when they are learning and soaking everything up. Do they think we're quacks or what. It must be funny to hear for the first time that we live on a ball. You just got to love them though.

Allie is such a hoot sometimes and I just had to through this cute picture on here because I'm biased and I think she's the cutest!

Rainbow Maker

Allie called me into the kitchen the other day to see her rainbow. I was thinking that there would be a beautiful picture drawn on paper. Instead, I was greeted with this beautiful tomato rainbow.

I don't think you can tell from this picture, but Allie decided it would be a great idea to take a bite out of each tomato. Thanks for your creative edible art work Allie.

Daddy Date

We've been having Blake take Allie out once a month on a date, while I'm at work for some good quality daddy daughter time. I think Allie has enjoyed these times to just hang out with dad and have his undivided attention.

I got this cute text from Blake cluing me in to where they went this night on their date. Allie got to go play in the toy land and get an ice cream cone at "Old McDonald's" as she calls it. When I was talking to Allie during the day about going on her date with dad she told me that all she wanted to do was go and get ice cream with daddy. I guess that date gets a check mark since they accomplished the one thing Allie wanted to do

Then there are other times when Allie is left in the care of her dad and I get these crazy pictures texted over and it leaves me wondering what is going on? The pink face is the result of daddy buying Allie some licorice; I guess it was really good it all couldn't make it into her mouth and got smeared all over her face. We love our Dad!

Light the Night

Out of the four years that I have been working at St. Lukes I have missed the "Light the Night" walk because I have been working. I was so excited when I found out that this year I wasn't working; and even more excited when I found out some good friends weren't either.

Light the Night is a walk and fundraiser for those who are battling Leukemias or Lymphomas. The walk is held in the evening and everyone is given an illuminated balloon to carry along the race route. Those with white balloons are survivors, red is for supporters, and gold is in memory of those lost to cancer. I have grown to love working in the Pediatric Oncology Unit and love showing my support to the kids and their families.

I drug my little one down to the race with me. She just loved the fact that her balloon lit up

Ready to brave the cold and walk with mommy; Allie wasn't to thrilled about this

The team of friends from work

I just loved the fact that everyone had a balloon flying high in the sky for the entire 5K. It was fun to look around and see the sky lit up by thousands of balloons

Allie was in good company with her buddy Owen strolling beside her the whole way