Halloween Party!!!

My friends Mylee and Lori and I had this genius idea to throw a Halloween Party! So, we got together and planned it all out, and then on October 24th, it all came together! We had just shy of 80 people here at my house and it was awesome!! We wanted to get to know some of our neighbors better and nothing brings people out like Halloween!! We had some good food, played some fun games and had a costume walk to show off the costumes. I laughed pretty stinkin' hard the whole night. We had a blast! Thanks to everyone that came and made it what it was. I'm looking forward to next year already! My Favorites, The Walmart Greeters: Jode and Deborah

Greek Goddess and Hercules : Mike and Mylee Funk

Mat and I as Trailer Trash

Homer and Marge Simpson: Nellie and Tim

Dwight and Angela (The Office) : Bryan and Jessy

Dog the Bounty Hunter and Beth: Jen and Mike

Alfalfa and Darla: Mike and Lori

Instead of bobbing for apples, this was apples on a string. It was funny!!

Tag your it...

Ok, so I was tagged twice, but because I'm kinda lazy about this kind of thing, I'm just going to do one! So, here it goes:

1. I look forward to November 1st when a local radio station plays ALL Christmas music!! (You know you all want to come and ride in my car for a while!!)

2. One of my favorite candies is circus peanuts. I have yet to find anyone else (well, except for my kids) that will eat them. But, that just leaves more for me!!

3. I have a hyper active nose...I can smell anything miles away! It kinda drives me crazy sometimes because I'll smell something rotten or nasty that no one else can smell.

4. When I was younger I would say that I wanted 10 dogs and 10 kids. Well, I can't stand dogs because of the smell (see #3) and the hair. I want a larger family, but 10 is over my idea of "larger".

5. I hate warm milk. If I'm going to have milk for dinner, I have to pour it RIGHT before I'm going to drink it.

6. I taught high school special ed. before Carter was born and I would love to go back when my kids are older.

7. I love to multi-task and I once thought I was really good at it. At night if I'm watching TV, I always have to be doing something else while I'm watching. But, I have learned the hard way that I can't be doing anything else while I'm cooking or baking.

I tag: Sarah Bugarin, Mylee, Annmarie, Lindsey, Sarah Oman, Denise, Kim

The Birthday Party

Here's a ton of photos from Carter's birthday party!! He had a really fun birthday day and a super fun party that night. We took him to Jungle Jims. His cousins, Luke and Bentley came, as well as his aunts and uncles. Thanks all of you for coming and for the fun presents that you gave him!! He loves his family and he was so glad that all of you were there to celebrate with him! We love our Carter boy!

Berklie didn't think that the bouncy place was very fun at first. She got into it later though.Mat rode this spiny ride with Carter and Berklie and got really dizzy from it. They thought it was the greatest!!Carter and Berk riding the Safari Train.
Uncle Rich, Bentley and Carter on the rollercoaster type ride.It's time for cake!! Carter wanted the Superman cake from Walmart. Which made it nice for me, I didn't have to make a cake this year! "This is what I always wanted!!" he said.

Aunt Leslie (she loves having her picture taken and probably loves that I posted it even more!!)

Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Jenny
Aunt Kristine (uncle Ryan missed out!!)

Aunt Natasha and Uncle Andy
Luke and Bentley gave Carter an awesome tractor. It was so awesome that Luke had to get his own!!

Happy Birthday Carter!

Happy 4th Birthday Carter boy! I can't believe that it's already been 4 years since you were born. The moment that we found out we were pregnant, we were so excited! When we found out that you were a boy, we were even more excited to meet you and see what you were like! Then on October 15th, 2004 at 8:30pm you were born! We heard that first cry and both dad and I cried with you. We brought you home from the hospital and had no clue what to do with you when you kept crying and crying. We were so clueless, but you survived. Your first birthday came so quick and I cried that day too. Now, here you are, 4 years old! I didn't cry today, not yet anyway. You have always been such a happy, energetic, loving little boy! You love to race your truck around the house, ride your two wheeler bike, eat candy, play with daddy and play with friends. You are so inquisitive about life, always wanting to know why something is the way it is. "Why do we have ears?" "Why do we wear underwear?" Not only are you full of questions, you are full of answers and silly comments too. "I pee in the tub because I want the water to be yellow." "We have ears so that we don't have to go to timeout."
One of my most favorite things about you is how loving you are. The other day you came over and laid your head down on me and said, "Mommie, your my bestest friend, I love you." It melts my heart every time you say it. You give the best hugs and kisses. You are also very sweet to you sister Berklie. She can sometimes get on your nerves, but you are usually (!!!) very sweet to her. You told me the other day that, "when I'm like a daddy, I want to marry Berklie". I love looking over from whatever I am doing and seeing you taking care of Berklie. It is moments like these that your dad and I think, "maybe we are doing something right after all."
You also love to sing and are really good at it. You can hear a song a few times and sing it pretty well. You don't always get the songs right, but it sure is cute.
When you wake up in the morning and go to bed at night, you love to know what are we doing to do? When I tell you, you will say, "what are we doing next?" Most of the time we'll end up going through the schedule for the whole day. I love the conversations that we have together. I like to ask you at night what your favorite and least favorite parts of the day are. It always put things into perspective for me. You say things like, "my most favorite was riding my bike and my not favorite was taking a bath and getting out." Life is simple.
I adore you, we adore you. You have your fathers sense of humor and my stubbornness. I thank the Lord everyday for trusting me with you. I hope and pray that I can teach you well and keep you safe and keep you happy. I look forward to another year of watching you grow and discover the world around you! I love you Carter boy.

*Stay tuned for Carters birthday party pictures!

It's already October??

Holy crow, where does the time go? The weather is cooling down and the leaves are turning. This is almost my favorite time of year...it's a close tie between fall and winter. I love snuggling up in a warm sweater and wearing my favorite beanie...but I also really like to wear shorts and a jacket. Anyway, enough about what I like to wear. We've been staying busy around here lately. We took the kids to the circus, kinda as an early birthday gift for Carter and just to go. We were running a little late and so we got to see the elephants crossing the street to go into the arena. The kids really liked it. Carter laughed at the clowns jokes and thought the motorcycles were awesome. Berklie really liked all the music and colors and bright lights. It was almost 3 hours long, so they were both ready to go by the end. I think maybe the most memorable for Carter was the elephant pooping. Yes, that's what I said. Today he was playing outside digging in the dirt, and I was listening to him pretend like he was the "worker that swept up the elephant poop at the circus". It was pretty funny. Berklie's new thing is finding things around the house that she can put on. Usually it is a random sock or shoe. She'll wear it until I take it off of her hours later. Today it was a swim diaper that she found in a drawer. She brought it to me to put on her head. She is quite the character.

So in Mat's defense, I'm pretty sure he came downstairs and found the kids doing this. However, he decided to join in. I couldn't resist taking a picture.

One of the many silly faces of the Berk.

A new skill she recently acquired. Climbing up and going down the slide! (see video below) Today she conquered the big slide all by herself. She climbed up the swing set and went down the big blue!
Weeee!!! We got it out of storage a few weeks ago and she can't get enough of it. Carter likes to push her in it too. The simple pleasures in life.

Elephant Crossing!
The fam at the circus...aren't we cute??

A quick little video of Berklie and the slide! Her new favorite thing to do. She stands at the back door and begs me to take her outside, "ooside".