Star Wars ... the next generation

Hannah's Princess Leia costume was made out of an old white dress given to me. Caleb's Luke Skywalker costume was made out of a small adult karate Gi. My Mom came up a pattern and plan for both and we set to work. After Caleb's costume was sewn it was so white. So the pants were dyed brown and the jacket dyed with tea bags. It now looked like a jedi costume instead of a karate costume. Cory put together an awesome belt for Caleb and that completed his costume.
I based the dress after a pattern but it turned out WAY too big. My Mom created a pattern for a new dress and then her sewing machine did the rest. Hannah's belt was made from felt, aluminum covered cardboard cut outs and 2 pieces of velcro held it together.

Ward Halloween Party

October 30, 2010

Tonight was the Ward's Halloween party at the Monica building. Typically every year the Monica Ward does a trunk or treat. There have always been enough cars and people willing to hand out gobs of candy but there have also been a few questionable characters that have joined the fun. Only they stole the fun and made it scary. This year the trunk or treat was done away with and we did something different. The party was inside the building and instead of decorated cars there were decorated classrooms. The kids walked around to different rooms, just like they would houses on the street, said, "trick or treat"(well most of them) and were given candy... without razor blades... like the good ole days. Caleb and Hannah loved it. Although when we got to Bro. Pitts room Hannah was scared because Bro. Pitts likes the "scary" Halloween decorations. You know the kind: The screaming banshee, floating ghost head and wall (literally a wall made out of black plastic) of glow in the dark macabre masks. Yikes. Good thing sweet Sister Nicholos room was right after. She sat in a nursing chair with a friendly witch hat and a smile on her face. Hannah was releived. Caleb on the other hand liked Brother Pitts room and wanted to investigate every decoration and know how everything worked. But he's funny because he is fascinated and terrified of ghosts at the same time. We let him watch a few Scooby -Doo episodes a month ago and he talked of nothing beside the no face zombie but he also wouldn't walk down the hall to go potty by himself. One day he paced around and around crying because he was scared to go the bathroom and had to go potty at the same time. We made it through and the following weeks but two new rules were introduced: NO Scooby-Doo and NO ghost anything. So far so good.















Alison was a witch and Jesus was a MAC computer. She must have put a spell on him because he couldn't keep his eyes off of her... or maybe it was because she looked Gorgeous.














After all the candy was passed out some kids ran around in circles screaming because their blood had turned to sugar and they didn't know what else to do. Others lined up together like they were addicts in a secret alley.














Caleb and a few other kids (including Hannah) chased/ran from the terrifying vacuum beast as it tried to suck up all the cupcake crumbs and smashed candy corn.

Meg Whitman and Dewars

October 29, 2010

Cory and I went on a date tonight... whoo-hoo! But I forgot the camera so I have no proof. We went to a Meg Whitman rally to see what she was like in person. Cory and I knew that we would never vote for Jerry Brown but we weren't head over heels in love with Meg. After seeing her tonight we both feel excited about having her in office. She is dynamic and driven to say the least. The only thing anybody really has is their "word." I want to give her a chance to prove herself and show me that she is a woman of her word. I'm not expecting miracles (although she is). I just want to see a change in the right direction. Like the tortoise... slow but steady. I would be very happy with that. The neat thing about her is that she seems to have the big picture in mind as she is making plans for the future.
To top off a fun night we went to Dewar's and made the night even more fun and split a George's Special (with Ice milk instead of Ice cream). If you like bananas, walnuts, chocolate syrup and vanilla Ice milk/cream blended together, this could be the special treat for you.

Dinosaurs and Football

October 28, 2010

This morning Caleb went into his room and played while Hannah played with toy Dinosaurs. The dialogue went as follows, "Are you Poopy?" "No." "I love you Mommy." And that was basically it. She played like that long enough for me to a make a meal plan and grocery list.
We all went to the store, along with everyone else on the NE side of Bakersfield. It was crazy at FoodMaxx! But we did make it out alive and now our cupboards are full of food. Don't you love that? I do. But you know I love even more? Clean sheets. I change our sheets every week on Monday and Monday night when I climb into bed I say, (usually out loud) "I love clean sheets." I've said that every week since Cory and I were married 8 years ago.
Cory and Caleb went to a BHS vs. Centennial football game tonight with Ryan Pitts and his son Aaron. The boys were more interested in the construction area than the game. But Caleb did remember the important details: the Blue team beat the Red team.
While the men were at the game Hannah and I went to my Mom's again to hang out. After Hannah swung in the swing, we went for a walk to pick up Nini's mail. On the way back we stopped at the two story house that just went up for sale. The house is white with forest green trim and is right across the street from my parents' house. As I push Hannah in the swing I stare at that house and make a laundry list of things I would do if that house were mine. I love this house. As we walked by it I steered Hannah up the driveway and we peeked in the windows (the house has been empty for months). We went into the backyard to find that it was overgrown and long since forgotten. I imagined lush green grass and garden in place of the dog run and half as many trees. This made me love it even more. As Hannah and I walked back I knew this house would never be ours. But I do hope that whoever does buy it, fixes it up to be the beautiful house I think it could be.

A train and a swing ( Ariel too)

October 26, 2009

Cory and Caleb walked to Grandma's this morning and Hannah and I went to my Mom's house to finish up the Halloween costumes. Before we got started Hannah wanted to swing in the sun-faded, red swing in my parents front yard. My parents bought the swing for Caleb when he was about a year old. He loved it. But not nearly as much as much as Hannah: she could swing until the sun set. This morning I let Hannah swing until it was time to go potty (yes we're still working on that!) It was seriously close to 45 minutes. I got a great accidental/on purpose shot of her asking for one more minute.















The big news of the day is that Hannah got her Ariel underwear. While she napped at my Mom's I ran a few errands including a trip to Target to pick up the promised Ariel underpants. When she woke up from her nap I gave her the package and she was ready to put them on and be a "big girl." Look at that face. Isn't she pleased.



















Cory and I took a silly picture at Connie's house this afternoon. I don't know why, but I love taking pictures of just the two of us... myself. I guess I don't want to feel embarrassed asking someone else to take it and I also think maybe it wouldn't be as candid.



















Cory and Caleb basically played with Ben's Trains ALL day at Grandma Connie's house. Cory did manage to pull Caleb away after some tears and a lot of, "No thank you Daddy's." After a few minutes in the fresh air (wasn't it a really beautiful day?) even Caleb forgot all about Trains.



















I hope you had a great day!

The two "P's" - Potty and Phone

October 25, 2010

Hannah is ready to be potty trained and so am I. She shows all the signs; she knows when she needs to go potty (or she says "pee-pee")and as soon as she is done with #2 she wants to be changed right away. So this week we are staying close to home or at least at a safe, familiar place like Grandma Connie's or Nini (my Mom) house. So far it's going good. I set the timer for every hour and when it goes off Hannah and I run to the potty and she goes... every time! She is very excited and laughs and claps afterward. The big seller is the promise of Ariel underwear at the end of the week. I LOVE Ariel!
Caleb wanted to call Grandma Connie today to make sure (again) that he could still come over tomorrow morning. He walked around the house talking with her and holding the phone with one hand. After doing a "few laps" he sat down in a chair by the front door. Grandma was at Alison's house so she passed the phone over to Patrick and they talked for a while too. The conversation revolved around Trains, Patrick's new Hamsters (I think he called them Pepper and Sarge) and Caleb going over to Grandma's house tomorrow and that he really hopes Patrick will be there. Patrick said he couldn't but that didn't keep Caleb from mentioning it every 14 seconds. Oh the simple pleasures of a child.

Sick on Sunday

October 24, 2010

On the drive home from the Temple, Hannah's runny nose evolved into a cough. I kept her and Caleb home from Church so we could keep the sickie bugs to ourselves. While Hannah was napping Caleb and I looked at a train book he is borrowing from Grandma Connie (Mahalo Grandma [she's in Hawaii-lucky girl] ) for the 5th time. I looked down at his legs and noticed a leg that did not belong to a little boy but to a big boy. His legs have tiny blond hair on them. When did that happen? So I had to take a picture and mark the milestone in his life.

Temple Trip

October 23, 2010

Today was the Stake Temple Trip day. Caleb and Hannah really wanted to go with us. I think Cory and I should always take advantage of these requests. Since they came we weren't able to participate with the Stake but we were at least there the same day. We saw the finished Visitors Center for the first time and the kids loved it. The statue of the savior is massive: the foot of Christ is bigger than my thigh bone. He stands in front of a violet, turquoise and pink celestial looking sunrise and his gentle face looks down on you with his arms opened reaching down to everyone. I remembered parts of the Book of Mormon that read "His arms were stretched out still". I stared up into the face of the statue of Christ and felt His love and Hannah and Caleb did as well. A sister missionary sat beside Caleb and asked if he would like to hear something about Jesus Christ. He said, "You bet!" She laughed and turned on the audio. We all sat still and reverently and a couple that did not seem to be members sat down as well. The spirit was strong and I believe the couple felt it too.
I love the Temple. I love being a member of this Church. I love what President Hinkley said in one of his last talks directed to other people who were not of our faith, (summarizing of course) Take the good you have and see if we can't add a little more.

By the end of the day, The kids were a little wild but did not want to go. Caleb cried and said that he never wanted to leave the Temple. We knew how he felt but still we had to go. They both quickly fell asleep in the car (how nice). Cory and I looked back at the Temple until it was completely hidden by the surrounding buildings and only the spirit of the Temple remained.

Halloween Crafts

October 22, 2010

I found this really neat "blog" (who hasn't) called The Crafty Sisters They make and come up with great stuff. I saw these two crafts , the Halloween Topiary and the Eye Ball wreath and fell in love. Cory especially loved the wreath and that was all the encouragement I needed.
The candy makes the Topiaries really heavy so work out your arms for a week before you make them.