Denver and the Soup and Scoop

This is my nephew Henry. I hope it's okay that I took this from your blog Hon. I just want to eat him up. Last weekend we went to Denver for Clay's baptism and Henry's baby blessing. He is such a snuggly baby. He has a very "familiar" look to me. He kind of looks like my kids did when they were babies. Henry is a big boy. He is 3 months old, but he looks at least 6. He is so cute. While we were out there I got him to do a belly laugh. It was so cute and he was cooing a lot. I loved holding him and having him snuggle me with his cute little baby head. Can you tell I am a bit baby hungry?

Blake lost his second tooth while we were in Denver. Thanks Honey for encouraging him to pull it out.

Blake, Henry and I.

The kids with their faces painted. I LOVE Kaycee's expression. Those are play earrings Ashley has on. :)

My pretty girl.

Ashley coloring her pumpkin at the soup and scoop.

Getting the guts out.

Jeannie don't kill me! This is my oldest sister Jeannie. She can still fit in her 9th grade graduation dress after 6 kids. That is AWESOME!!!

Ashley posing for some pics. Ashley told Uncle Spencer that she wanted a mustache so he gave her one!!

Blake and I carving his pumpkin. I was so dead tired, we had gotten in from denver at 12:30am the night before.

Ashley and my niece Cassy with her Lady Gaga wig and glasses on.

Two Gagas.

Ashley's pumpkin on the right. Grandpa Allen grew Blake and Ashley's pumpkins in his garden.

All done! Thanks Micki for the pictures.

Now I am all caught up on my blog. While I was typing this Blake and Ashley are sitting on the floor of the living room sorting halloween candy. Ashley said, "Wow Blake that candy (bottleheads) looks like medicine." Blake replied, "Ashley we never take medicine unless we need it, if you do, that is called doing drugs. Miss Hansen taught us that." My kids make me laugh every single day!!

Halloween, Block Tutorial and Random Stuff

Optimus Prime and Tinkerbell. I was so glad the rain let up so we could go trick or treating. The kids and I were in the car during the day and it was just raining and raining. Blake asked if the rain would stop before trick or treating and I said I hope so, and then Blake said if not we might not be able to trick or treat. After hearing that Ashley put her fist in the air and looked out the window of the car and said, " Curse you rain!!" It was hiliarious!

Ashley tired of taking pics, so she is pulling faces. :)

Blake before school with his face painted, masks weren't allowed. I am grateful my mom is such a good face painter. Ashley with a puppy face.

BLOCK TUTORIAL:

I have had lots of people ask me how to make the vinyl blocks and they are super easy. Buy a 8 foot 2x4 at a hardware store. I got mine for free thanks to my parents shed. I made the "Give Thanks" and "Believe" from 8 feet of wood. Next you cut them into segments. The first block is 8", second 6", third 5", fourth 6", fifth 8", sixth 7". For the "e" for the end of believe that was 5".

Next you sand and paint the blocks, leaving one side not painted where the craft paper will go. Leave them to dry on the non painted side (obviously :)). Next, once they are dry, trace your block on the chosen craft papers. Hobby Lobby has really cute paper that is usually40% off. Helpful Hint: trace the block on the back of the printed paper that way you don't have to erase lines. Once the paper is traced and cut, glue it on the block with a glue stick make sure the sides are well glued. I then sanded my edges, this is optional. My mom has a great vinyl letter machine that made the letters. The font is Font Sparkly. Then for the "believe" I used a sparkly glue, you can use sparkly modge podge. For the "give thanks" I used matte modge podge. These are super easy. I am telling you, if I can do it, anyone can.

Ashley is now in a booster seat with a back. This is her old car seat. When I made the change I almost cried. Good thing my sister Micki was there or I would have. My kids are growing up way too fast.

Ashley didn't want to brush her teeth one night so she hid under her bed. This is what she looked like when I found her. I just put the camera below her bed and pressed the button. I love this picture!

Reverse Trick or Treating. The YM and YW of our ward are awsome. Matt (far left) even took my garbage out for me. Such a nice kid!

Blake's pumpkin. A spider. Ashley's pumpkin is on my sisters camera.

I was going through pictures and found this one that I had missed. The kids and I on Blake's first day of kindergarten.

This is Shirley. I forgot to mention that we had Shirley for a week and then she ran home. (I hope.) She was in heat so who knows where she went. :)

The kids feeding her cheetos. We miss her.

Being Crafty

I made this "Spooky" at my friend Heather's house and was so amazed at how easy it was, so I made one for Thanksgiving and Christmas the other day.

Sweet Deals, Potty Mouth, BBall and More...

First off, excuse the mess in my entry way. It snowed this morning so we had to bust out the snow gear. Ashley took this picture of me. It is to show my $34 dollar top to bottom outfit. Everything you see that I am wearing including the boots and necklace came to a grand total of $34! Such awesome deals thanks to my sister while we were in Denver. Her goodwill there rocks! I got the sweater and jeans there.

Ashley was taking my picture and she said she couldn't do it, so I was walking forward while she took this pic. and out of frustration she says really loud, "D@#n it!" My first reaction was to laugh, then I realized she got this from me. I say that bad word when I am frustrated with the kids. Like the time Ashley poured apple juice in Blake's new shoes, or when they haven't been listening or if they have been non stop fighting. When Mom says the "d" word they know I mean business! After Ashley said that Blake came in from the other room and said, "I heard Ashley say a very bad word!" I need to not say that word anymore, even though it was really funny.

Blake and Ashley at G&G Allen's. They really do love each other.

Ashley and my boots. She loves them. I got them for $7 dollars last winter at Target.

Chico and (my hand) . Chico thinks he lives here.

Blake "calming down "Gilbert after we cleaned his bowl. We have had Gil for almost 16 months. I can't believe he has lived this long. He loves to follow us in his bowl around the kitchen. I have only seen him puff up once.(He is a betta) That was right before he killed Gary the snail we put in there to help keep his bowl clean. The pet store said that snails were great companions for bettas. Well, not for our Gilbert. He likes riding solo! :)

Blake at his bball camp. He has done so well.

My camera absolutely stinks. Here is Blake practicing passing with one of the coaches.

I came back from a run and my kids were sharing the tricycle. It looked so cute.

Last week we went with my good friend to Cornbellys. It was so fun. Here are Blake and Ethan on the bouncy things.

On the fun cow tractor ride.

Blake on the big bikes. They are like big trikes. Ashley and I went on the adult ones and a guy had to give us a running push because me legs were almost too short for the pedals. It was hysterical!

Blake and Ethan on the train ride.

Ashley and Camden. They are such cute little blondies.

In the fire truck.

Ashley and I in the Princess carriage.

My little princess. They have dresses for the girls to wear for these pictures. Such a cute idea.

Blake had his last day of camp today and they had a bball game. Blake scored two baskets. It was awesome. There is only one girl in the whole camp and look how close she stands to my son! So cute!

Blake getting his prize for finishing the camp.

This past weekend we were in Denver. It was a very fun time. More pics to come!

My Blakey Baby

On Wednesday Blake started his month long basketball camp called, "Little Hoopsters." He loves it. When we got there Blake told them his name, they gave him a ball, and he made a basket first try! Yeah! It is so fun to watch him.

Blake loves to climb things. It is in his blood. I hope we don't have to go to the ER anytime soon.

Yesterday Blake lost his first tooth. It was quite the event. His tooth had been super loose for a while. His gums right below the tooth were starting to look red and inflamed. My mom tied a string around the tooth, but that caused it to bleed quite a bit. Blake opened his mouth to have me take the string off, but all I could see was blood all below his teeth and oozing onto his lip. Blood makes me feel so sick and light headed. Blake and I went upstairs for my mom to take it off and pop! it came out. At that point, Blake was hysterical. Screaming and crying, Ashley was jumping up and down so excited and I was sitting on the stairs feeling kind of light headed. I wish I would have gotten it on video, it was hilarious.

Blake woke me up at 2am this morning so excited to see what the tooth fairy brought him. He knows it is me. Before bed he said, "Mom since the tooth fairy is you, can I get 5 dollars instead of 1?" Yeah right.