Carving Pumpkins

Our lazy dog!

How could you not love this face?!?

Maddie is such a lazy bum. Lately Dave's Dad has been picking Maddie up while we are at work, so she can play and run around with Roxy (their dog) during the day. As you can see from the picture above, she is exhausted by time she gets home. For the most part, it is a good thing...but anyone who knows her, also knows that she snores really loud. As I am writing this she is sawing logs and out like a light. What a tough life she lives!

A Time to Give!

Today I signed our family up to work Christmas Day at the Salvation Army serving a Christmas meal to those less fortunate. We have been talking about doing it for a while, so today I finally took the time to get us signed up. I think it will be a great way to spend a couple hours on Christmas Day giving to those that really need it.

Monday Morning Scare!

Well, let this be an warning to everyone. This morning while I was in the shower getting ready for work, I started smelling smoke. Kyle was still home from school,so I had him look around to see if he could see where it was coming from. He couldn't find anything and said it was only in the bathroom where I was. So, I finished washing my hair and got out. By that time the smell was stronger and I was starting to think that it might be the vent in our bathroom. So I went and put on my clothes. When I came out of my dressing room I could see the smoke filling the entire upstairs. I started to look some more and yelled at Allicia to get upstairs. I noticed smoke coming out of the corner cupboard in my kitchen, so I grabbed the phone and decided it was getting pretty bad, so we should get out of the house. As I was leaving the house, I was debating on who to call or what to do, but as I looked back into the house filled with smoke I knew I had to call the fire department. A couple minutes later they arrived and sure enough we had a small fire that started in our laundry room. Thankfully I was home and caught it before we had a lot of damage. The fireman told me it was a good thing I hadn't left for work, because our house would have been gone! Our only loss was a laundry basket, a paint can and Maddie's bed cover.

Above is the location of our fire. Maddie's bed cover was sitting on the floor next to the water heater. The fire department said that it was probably a spark from the pilot lite that caught part of the bed cover. They suggested that we build something around the water heater so it cannot happen again. They said it is one of the most common calls they get. So, let this be a lesson for everyone. When you go home make sure there is nothing next to your water heater and make sure to cover it so nothing can fall against it and cause a fire. We will definitely be building something around our ASAP!

Pete's 53rd Birthday!

Yesterday was my Dad's 53rd Birthday. We celebrated by meeting him at the chicken fry in Adams and then decided to head to Diamond Joe's Casino. We loaded up two car loads and left town about 10pm. After a couple of hours of loosing everyone decided it was time to head home. Just as we were walking towards the door Dad looked over at the roulette table and said, "Hmmm, they haven't hit on number 18 yet,"which is the date of his birthday. So he went over to the table and put a $20.00 on number 18. We all figured he would kiss that money good-bye, but the woman spun the wheel, and surprisingly the ball dropped right into #18. It was Dad's lucky night! He ended up winning $720.00!

The End of Football Season.

Kyle had his last football game on Saturday. They played against Hunt Drug and did very well. The final score was 14 to 12. Kyle had a few highlights during the game. He caught a pass and had a great fumble recovery to save the same. Great job Kyle!!!

Dinner party!

Last night we hosted a dinner party for Carolyn, Lionel and his sister Lynnette visiting from Singapore. The kids and I prepared the food during the day, thankfully I had the day off because of MEA. We made homemade bread, chicken/vegetable pot pies, and apple pie for dessert. The food all turned out very well and the evening was perfect! We always have such a great time when we get together. : ) Kyle cutting apples for the pie. As you can see from the bowl, he cut up a lot of apples.
Mom and Alli working on the pie crusts....we were full of flour by the end of the day.
The finished product, minus the homemade bread.
Finally, we're enjoying the food.
I had to add this one....doesn't Dave look cute in this small chair?!? :)

Kyle's first school dance!

I honestly can't believe Kyle is this old. I remember my first school dance and now I am the mom of a middle schooler. CRAZY! Anyway, Kyle had his first school dance on Friday night. Leading up to the day he wasn't too excited about going, but he came home all excited and said he had a great time. I asked him how many songs he danced to and he said all of them except the slow songs. I was so surprised because he is has never been a dancer. He also came home wearing these goofy glasses full of multi-colored flashing lights and this mouth piece full of lights too. I tried to take a picture to upload but it didn't work of very well.

Conference Time.

This has been a busy week. On top of the normal running to sports activities, we had school conferences for both of the kids. I have to say that I am more than proud of both of my children. It is so nice to hear their teachers say great things about them. Allicia's teacher said she is such a pleasure to have in the classroom, that she is a VERY hard worker, and she wishes she could have a whole classroom of students just like her. Kyle's teachers had many great things to say as well. He had A's in all of his classes and they are even thinking of putting him in an independent Math since he is doing so well. I am so proud!

I Love Fall!

Today we took a nice drive over east with the kids, my Dad, sister Leslie, Bryn and Beau. We took off around 11:00, met them in Spring Valley and then headed to Preston. In Preston we went to a couple apple orchards. I picked up some apples for making pie and the kids picked out their pumpkins. Then we went into Lansburo for a nice lunch and a little shopping. It was such a nice day for a Sunday drive.

Busy Baby!

The past couple days or so I have had strange pains on my cervix, especially when little Ava is moving around. She is a really active baby, so that is good...but I have been concerned, because sometimes it can be quite painful. It feels like knives are jamming my cervix.

I ended up calling the nurse about it, just to make sure it wasn't something I should be concerned with. She reassured me that I don't need to worry, unless I start having bleeding or spotting with it....and there have been no signs of that.

She was breech when we had our last ultrasound and all of her movements are really low....so the nurse said she is probably pushing or kicking against nerves on my cervix, which is causing the pain. What a little pumpkin!