Pumpkin Carving!

As you can see from the picture above, Max is a little reluctant to dig in.

Whereas, Maggie had no problems at all. (I love Max's face in this one...says it all!)

Diggin' out the seeds!

My favorite part!

they turned out pretty cute!

especially mine! (shhh!)

Inspiration!

Scroll down and turn off my blog music before you start the video!



I saw this yesterday morning on the Today Show.

It's amazing how just the right attitude can make a world of difference.

Halloween Traditions!

With Halloween just around the corner, I thought I'd share a few of the Halloween traditions we have started over the past several years.

• Around the middle of October, we gather some goodies, print out a cute little poem (there are several online, "You've been boo'd" or email me and I'll send you mine) and a picture of a ghost. Then we drop them off at our neighbors door without them knowing it was us. A friend of mine started "booing" us when the kids were little bitty and we love getting it started for the rest of our neighbors to enjoy as well. This year was the first year that we actually let the kids to the running (they are much faster now!) and they really got into it. It's so fun to walk around on Halloween night and see all the ghosts hanging on the doors!

• Then of course, we carve pumpkins. Andy learned years ago to cut the hole from the bottom of the pumpkin. That way the "lid" doesn't fall in and you can easily set your pumpkin over the top of your candle. That is a trick that certainly works for us! The kids always get to pick their designs and I always do an "S", we'll have to post pictures of our pumpkins later since it's still on the to-do list! I think I want to do a polka-dot one this year too!
  

• The other tradition that we started when the kids were little is the "Candy Witch!" She is a nice, friendly witch who comes after we are asleep late on Halloween night. The kids get to pick a few pieces of candy they want to keep and the rest goes in a bag. The witch comes to take the candy and leaves a nice little surprise in exchange for all the loot. The candy is gone and the kids get a "treat" that won't help them get cavities (they can do that all on their own!)

I'd love to hear your fun Halloween traditions, and check out more over at WFMW!

Tagged!

Linda @ Growin' With It tagged me in a fun little meme! It's been a long time since I've been tagged, so I thought I better jump in and participate, I don't want to be a party pooper!

So Linda asked me the following questions:

1. What's your favorite time of day & why?
I'm definitely a morning person, that doesn't mean that I get up early, just that I am much more productive in the morning. I love how the sky looks in the morning and I love to feel the cool, crisp air in the morning. Plus, just knowing I have a fresh, new day to look forward to (or sometimes start over) is a great feeling.

2. What has made you laugh lately?
It cracks me up to hear my kiddos use "toot" or "tootie" in all their little made-up words. They crack themselves up and hearing all their giggles, totally makes me laugh too!

3. What was your favorite toy as a kid?
I didn't have one, but my favorite toy was the Barbie head that sits on a tray. You could do her hair, put make-up on her, she even had earrings. I didn't get one (but my cousins did) and I still think I have issues because they got them and I didn't. Does anyone else remember these?

4. What do you remember about your High School prom?
At my junior prom I was voted to be on the prom court, not the prom queen, but it was just fun to be a part of the court. I had a black sequin, mermaid-style dress with a fuchsia bow. It was fancy! My senior prom was fun too, but the thing I remember most was that another girl and I both had the same dress (tragic I tell ya!) and we both looked great! (sure wish I could go back to that size!)

5. What would I find in your refrigerator right now?

You asked!

6. Which do you like better hands or feet?
HANDS! Hands all the way! Feet are just yucky...especially my own! But, as my Grandpa always said, "At least you have feet!" There's really not much you can say to respond to that.

7. What is the craziest thing you've ever done?
Well, I don't know if I've ever done anything crazy, it's not really my style. I'm more of an in-control, gotta-have-a-plan kinda girl...crazy really isn't in my vocabulary. I know, I'm totally lame!

There ya have it. Thanks to Linda for including me in this fun little adventure!

The "new" blanket!

Remember this post about "the blanket", well after a little bit of time on the ol' sewing machine yesterday it now looks like this.

My mom called as I was cutting it up and as I told her what I was doing, I got a little emotional. I know, me?....you're shocked right!? But I was a little sad.

I was sad about how unimportant it seemed to my little miss. I just happened to mention to her the other day that I thought we really needed to do something with it. Meaning, fix it up. It's been around too long to just get rid of. The little miss informed me that she didn't really think she needed it anymore. (There I stood with a sad face ready to pout.)

But after finishing it and handing it back over to the little miss, she began to rub it on her face and cuddle it like I remember so well. I was secretly delighted as she informed me how happy she was with the "new" blanket.

So the blanket lives on....who knows, it might even be around for my grand kids (in a very long time from now!)

Thankful Thursday!

Today I am just so thankful for a loving God and how He works in amazing ways. Just when I needed a big-flashing-neon sign, He gave it to me. Just so happy that my eyes were open, along with my heart, to be able to really "Focus on God!"

Now I am really for a nice 4-day weekend with my kiddos. Oh, the fun we will have!

Wordless Wednesday (Almost!)

Max: "Look mom, I have eyes in the back of my head too!"

He's a little square!

Okay, really I'm the square one, but I think it might be time to buy a few stripe work shirts for my man....we really need to venture "outside the box", if you know what I mean!

Life Lessons!

We recently attended the visitation of a very dear lady. She was the kind of lady I want to be like when I grow up get older.

At her visitation, inside the program booklet it said:

"Mom's Philosophy of Life"

and it listed ten things. I have been looking at this piece of paper everyday since that visitation and I have made the decision that everyday, I will try my best to take the advise of my sweet friend.

• Love God, your spouse and your children with all your heart.

• Always look for the good in every situation or person and praise it. Be positive!

• Never waste your time with criticism and negativeness.

• Work hard and plan well for your future. Be involved in bettering your community.

• If you start something, finish it. Don't be a quitter.

• Do something nice for someone every day, even if it is a giving a pleasant greeting, a smile or a telephone call.

This was not the complete list, but these are the points that stand out the most to me. Thank you Doris for your wisdom, gentleness and love. It will live on for a long, long time!

Trip #3 - Santa Claus, IN

Since the kids had a long weekend off school (they had Tuesday off too!) we decided to pack up Harvey and hit the road again! This time we headed to Santa Claus, IN where we camped, went to Holiday World, and camped some more!

Maggie had a soccer game Saturday morning, so we didn't leave until after her game. After about a five hour drive we pulled in to the camp ground only to find this.......

Campers E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E!

The camp ground was completely full and everywhere you looked kids (and adults) were dressed in their Halloween costumes....doing what you do on Halloween...Trick-or-Treat! And to top it off, the camp sites were decorated to the hilt. I don't think I've ever seen so many Halloween decorations in one place! It was crazy! And apparently, they do this every weekend in October!


After we got set-up, the kids wanted to walk around and see all the sites....and since we didn't have costumes to wear or candy to pass out....(the nearest Walmart was 30 mins away) we decided that the kids could tell people they were professional scooter riders and off they went with their make-shift goodie bags to collect some yummy candy! Andy and I walked along too, and I informed all the people that we were not aware of the festivities! The people graciously included our kids despite the lack of costumes!

Below is a picture of our lonely, undecorated site....sure looks pitiful compared to all the others!

On Sunday, we spent the day at Holiday World! The kids (all three of them) had a great time riding rides and taking in all the fun things to do. We had a perfect weather for the entire weekend....Indian Summer for sure!


On Monday morning while Mama Bear packed up, Papa Bear took the two baby bears for a hike. Again, it was a perfect morning! Hiking while still in your jammies was even better!

The kiddos climbed all these stairs....

Just to get to this...

Then Papa Bear and baby boy bear (baby girl bear got too scared) climbed to the top to see this...

If you look carefully, you can see baby girl bear sitting at the bottom waiting patiently for Papa Bear!

Trip #3 with Harvey was a great success.

MS Walk Update!

Just wanted to take a minute to again thank all of my family and friends who supported me during the MS Walk last month. Traci's Troops! was a huge success this year with a much bigger team than last year and together we raised $3611.00! That is HUGE! Thank you so much for being so generous with your money and your time! I really appreciate it!

I can't wait to see what we can do next year!

Max's Lego Party!

Max had his first real "friends" birthday party on Saturday. And of course we had to do a Lego theme!

I think it turned out really cute...

The Lego cookies by Baked Blessings!

The goodie bags that included darling Lego chocolates and a Lego magnet along with a lot of pinata loot!

the pinata!

We had the guys build their own Lego cars which we then took outside to the race track.

Then they beat the heck out of my cute the cool pinata!

and gathered all the above said loot!


Here are just a few of our favorite friends....

It was a fun first-friend party and I think fun was had by all!