Happy Veteran's Day!

Cutest kids EVER!! Ok, I'm biased. Addie cracks me up b/c she only knows 75% of the words.

Trick-or-treat

Trick-or-treat. My least fave holiday of the year. Arbor Day is ranked above Halloween. I truthfully would like to boycott the whole event. Mike doesn't think it is so bad, our neighborhood embraces it AND we live in the the hottest spot in Atascadero to trick-or-treat, so we would basically have to leave town for a week to avoid the "festivities".

To start the fun, my wifey (Beth) had a little party for the neighborhood kids to decorate cupcakes and paint little pumpkins. Addie was thrilled b/c it meant hanging with her BFF, Anabelle.

Next up was pumpkin carving. The past 3 years we have carved with several neighbors. It is very effective... order one batch of pizzas, make one mess (thank you Miller's for volunteering your driveway!) and the kids get to share their creative ideas. Kailee wanted a sun with a smiley face. Addie wanted a Tiger, which was way too complicated for me... I talked her into a "neigh neigh".

Mike had to work the night of the event, so I carved Kailee's and my sweet neighbor dads carved Addie's (I did draw it =))

See below for finished products.

The carving group and their pumpkins.

Finally, the big night. Our great neighbor Deedee had made dinner for all of us the last 2 years. This is a huge help, as all of you parents can imagine. Not having to cook leaves plenty of time to get the children into their costumes, faces painted, hair glittered, etc.

Our friend Rich and his daughter Isabella came to play and have a sleepover. Isabella was the white cat from the play Cats, Addie was a Tiger, and Kailee was Gabriella from High School Musical 3. I cheaped out and wouldn't buy her the $44.99 costume from Target and instead bought material, sparkles, etc. for $10 and made it myself.

Last but not least, one of the churches in town puts on a Fall Festival across the street from our neighborhood. They had paint ball guns for the kids to shoot. My kids were ALL OVER that! Oakie children.

Of course, they were sugar highed by the time we got home and could barely contain themselves to shut their eyes and go to sleep. I guess in the end it was worth it and I'm sure we'll do it again for the next... oh... 10+ years. Man that's a lot of face paint to think about!

Pumpkin Patch

Well, it's only November 7th and I am posting about Halloween! How about those blogger skills?? Woohoo!

We went to our fave pumpkin patch in Templeton to scope out the biggest baddest pumpkins that would stand proudly in our doorway, lit up for all to admire.



Dad and his girls....

Cuties!

Family pose using the timer on the camera that was balanced on a trash can lid... nice huh?

Stay tuned for the next post to see the finished product!

New Toy!!

I am finally going to be able to join the video sharing world! We got a Flip Video camera this weekend and I LOVE IT! It is so easy to use, download, upload, everything! AND it was on sale! Yahoo!

This was the test video =)

So I decided

That my due date that I'M using is May 25. That is the first one I was given and that's the one I'm sticking with. I did that week and 3 days already and I'm NOT doing them again. Finally feeling a bit happier about the food I eat! Hooray! Actually had coffee for the first time yesterday and LIKED it!!!

Numero Tres

So it's official. We are adding to the brood. "Flutter" is its name for now.

Due June 3 (It was May 25, but apparently the online calcs were off)

The girls and Mike are thrilled! I am just recovering from the fact that I thought I only had a few more weeks of sickness left and with that added week and 3 days, I now get to hate food and most smells for longer. Ugh.

The blob on the right in the black teardrop is the munchkin. Not much to see at this point, just the little fluttering heart.

On to recent events...

On our way home from San Luis last Monday evening, the girls and I were traveling about 65/70 mph when a giant deer, a buck, jumped in front of the good 'ol Yukon. I was in the fast lane, he came from the left, slammed across the whole front end. My airbag went off and my driver's side tire popped. I firmly believe that God was there telling me NOT to slam on my brakes (like instinct was telling me to do) and steadying my hand so I didn't swerve into the cars next to me. I was directed by Him safely off the side of the road. CHP came out and had to tow my car and all 3 of us girls got our 1st ride in a police car. My best friend Beth came to rescue us and deliver us safely home (Her husband was gone that night and her mom randomly pulled into her driveway as I was calling frantically asking her to come). Let me just say, that angels are out there and God is watching over us. When we went through stressful times when Mike was in the Academy, I always stressed that God had a plan for our family and that if Daddy was supposed to be a policeman, it would happen. AND if it didn't, it was because God had other plans for our family. The accident (and the CHP saying how he sees these things end so much worse) gave good opportunity to stress that again. God is watching us everyday. He has a plan for our lives. I will never forget looking in the back seat at my babies and seeing them in one piece, not a scratch and just thanking God for the gift he gave me. As a side note.... It was also a fabulous lesson for my girls to ALWAYS WEAR THEIR SEATBELTS!