Happy Birthday, Pappy!

Hot Firefighters and Candy

I just heard fire sirens outside the house. We all ran outside to see what the commotion was and was pleasantly surprised that it was Santa Clause in a fire truck sleigh with hot fire fighters passing out candy! Jack didn't want anything to do with Santa but did get the hookup on a candy cane.

Now that we are back inside from the cold, Jack is playing Wii. Of course he was very grumpy that I was trying to take a photo of him in his new pajamas that GrAunty Michele sent him. Boys and their video games!

Dear GrAunty M

Thank you so much for the new Lightening McQueen pajamas! Jack absolutely loves them!!

Toy Story III

Jack loves the movie Toy Story 3. So whenever he watches it, he gets butt naked and puts on Woody the Cowboy's hat. He also gets naked when he sleeps, plays video games, and eats. He's just a naked kind of a kid.

Luckily we were able to get him to put clothes on to pose for a picture with Kevin. Afterwards, he got naked again. Sigh...

Jack's Best Friend

A Bunch of Sick Pumpkins

Kevin, Jack, and I are all sick. It's a combo of coughs, sore throats, sniffles, and head congestion. I think it's hitting Jack the hardest though because he has a fever with it and has been sleeping a lot. I was even able to trim his toe nails in his sleep because he was so out! So, with all of us under the weather, we've just been resting a lot and drinking plenty of tea. MacGyver is loving having us so immobile. He just cuddles up to one of us and sleeps all day.

We're hoping to be over our colds soon. Kevin received free movie tickets and we want to take Jack to see the new Megamind movie this weekend. He's been to the theaters before and gets so excited! We'll just have to see in a few days.

This Friday, my bff Cindy arrives from Florida. She's looking for jobs on the west coast and needs a place to live while she interviews throughout Oregon, Washington, and California. She is a biochemist and finding jobs in Florida in that specialty were impossible so she came out here. We cleaned out the office and made it lovely for her. We got her a mattress and put a nice oversized reading chair in there along with a corner shelf. I'm secretly hoping she can't find work so she can live with us forever and ever!

Vacation!

Since we can't afford to take Jack to Walt Disney World, looks like a fake roller coaster ride will just have to do!

The Great Halloween Extravaganza!

Yesterday morning we woke up very sad. Someone in the middle of the night stole Jack's pumpkin. We didn't find it smashed anywhere, just missing. Seriously, why steal a pumpkin if you aren't going to smash it? Luckily Jack had no clue that it was gone. I can't bare the thought of his little heart broken. Next year we'll just have to keep our pumpkins indoors until Halloween night. I wish they would have stolen my doormat instead. I really want a new one but can't justify spending the money. Ugh!

Well, around 5pm we arrived at Nick and Laura's to go trick-or-treating with Pippa, William, and Oliver. Pip went as Cinderella, William as Prince Charming, and Oliver was the cutest darn pirate I have ever seen! Nick had put so many layers under Oliver's coat that he couldn't put his arms down! It was so funny! But all of the kids' costumes were fantastic! Aunt J arrived at their house and we met up with Pippa's friend Chloe to hit some houses.

Jack really enjoyed knocking on doors. He really could care less, though, about the candy. He just was in it for the knocking. And I forget how smart Pippa is sometimes. I went to the door with them and helped knock on the door and screamed, "It's the po-po!" After that, Pippa and Chloe would knock on the doors saying it was the po-po! I must be more careful when I'm around the kids. They are like little sponges!

After about 10 houses we headed home while Pippa and the gang continued on. Jack LOVES to pass out candy to the trick-or-treaters. We had a ton of kids this year. We bought small candy for the regular kids and full size candy bars for the really adorable toddlers. The only big kids that got a full size candy bars were these two 10 year old boys who were so sweet to Jack. They asked him for high fives and fist bumps. They told him how great his Buzz costume was. It was so nice to see kids like that be kind to Jack. So I hooked them up with the good stuff as a thank you. I think they about passed out when they saw the candy bars.

There were a few kids that really ticked me off. Ones that would try to grab the candy, ones that wouldn't say trick-or-treat (unless they were 3 or younger), and the three groups of girls who were obviously over 16 and dressed like hookers. Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE a good hooker costume as much as the next gal, but if you are old enough to have a job, then you are too old to be trick-or-treating. Jack didn't seem to mind though. He loved the ladies and flirted with all of them.

At around 7:45pm we ran out of candy. We had bought $30 worth so I was done for the night. I'd say we had 100+ kids which is a good amount. I wish I had taken a photo of this girl who was Alice and her brother was The Mad Hatter. Their costumes were hand made and I have to say, I have never seen such beautiful work before. It looked like movie quality costumes. I was blown away! I even made Kevin come over to see the craftsmanship. They totally got full size candy bars for cuteness and politeness.

The moms loved receiving goodie bags. They didn't even care what was inside, just having something made them so happy. They were all so grateful! I couldn't believe how happy they all were! Here's hoping I book a party or get an order!

Pre-Halloween Excitement!

I am so excited about tomorrow! Halloween is definitly my favorite holiday. I love getting dressed up with Jack and going out with him. I love seeing how excited he gets when he's with his cousins and when he receives candy! This year he is going to be Buzz Lightyear, and I am going as Rex the dinosaur. Second-half cousin, Stefanie (Rich's grand-daughter for all you Reese's), made my costume from scratch and it is gorgeous! She is beyond talented and I can't wait to show all of you our costumes tomorrow. Kevin decided not to get dressed up this year. It's very hard to find a costume for someone who is 6'5". I may make him wear funny glasses or kitty ears though. Poor guy.

The Passion Party business is booming in Oregon... FINALLY! No more trips to Reno for parties!! I had a great party in Madras which is about an hour away. The girl found me on craigslist.com and contacted me. From her party I booked two more parties, and from there it's just spread. All the parties are in Madras, however, a one hour drive is much more doable than an eight hour drive. To get some new customers, I made these fabulous goodie bags for selected moms that come to the door. I'll explain to them I'm a consultant for Passion Parties and would like to offer them a goodie bag with perfume samples, candy, and catalogs. That way I'm not pushing it on people who aren't interested and I don't waste money on giving women something they will just throw away.

GrAuntie Michele has been the Halloween hook up this year! She got Jack the most adorable Halloween pajamas. Getting him to pose for a picture in them has not been very successful though. He loves being naked lately so getting him to keep anything on is quite the task. She also got him cute skeleton glow-in-the-dark gloves for tomorrow night so his lil' paws don't freeze. The weather here has been quite cold and even snowed last week.

Jack has been quite busy with soccer. He is now in his 4th season and has been moved up to a bigger kid's class since he tends to be a little bit more... competitive. He's doing an amazing job and has truly come a long way. Soccer really has helped him focus and listen to instructions. I plan to have him continue with soccer for as long as possible. When he is 4 though, he can do karate and football! I have quite a sports career planned out for him!

I hope all of you have a wonderful Halloween. I'll be sure to post photos for all of you!

The "Rules"

So my mom informed me tonight that my last blog entry does not count. She says anything that has already been posted on my facebook does not count towards a blog entry if I put it on here. To that I say to her, "Mother, here's a picture of the cat."

Enjoy.

Big Fluffy Pillow

This morning I woke up to MacGyver asleep on me. Then this evening Jack decides I look like a big pillow and crashes on me. Needless to say, I am one comfortable woman.

Awwww!

The other night Kevin scored free tickets to a play called Love Letters. They were $75/piece but because he designed the program, they gave him two tickets for free. It was a lovely surprise to be able to go on a real date with him.

We both got dressed up and Nick came over to watch Jack for us. Originally I had asked Nick to take a photo of Kevin and I, but as soon as Jack saw the camera come out, he jumped in the picture. He's just like his mother... loves the camera!

The play was amazing. I laughed and cried. Afterwards, Kev took me out for ice cream. It was just so nice to get out of the house and have a real date-night. Kevin also scored free tickets to the movie theater so we're planning on going next month on another date-night.

Finger Painting

Last night we decided to have some art time with Jack. What started out with water coloring on paper turned into all of us being painted by sweet Jack! We had a blast!

Below I'm with Pippa and William. Nick and Laura let me babysit the kids the other night so we had a sparkle party which included tons of body glitter, Lady Gaga music, and dresses. Oliver was too tired to join us though.

2nd half-cousin Stefanie bought Jack a new Buzz Lightyear backpack! He likes to wear it in the front so he can store toys in it easily.