Happy Birthday Sydney!!

I know I am a little behind, but wanted to post about Sydney's Birthday.

It all started on her birthday Thursday November 6th. Our lives kinda get a little crazy in the evenings and we were having Syd's party the next night with her friends. So I wanted to do something special for Syd on her actual birthday. So I told her I was checking her out of school early for a birthday surprise! I checked her out about 10:30 and headed to Ogden to The Junction. As soon as she saw where we were going, she knew we were going to see a movie. I told her we were going to see High School Musical 3 and she got so excited. We got our monster popcorn and drinks for the two of us and sat down to wait for the show. Well, since it was the first show of the day, when we got there, we had the whole theater to ourselves. We thought we were so special to have it all to ourselves, but by the time the movie started 5 more people trickled in. But that was okay, we still felt like we had it to ourselves. After the show we went to visit Corey while he was on lunch since we were so close and to give him the rest of the popcorn we couldn't finish! We picked the rest of the kids up from school and went home and waited for the grandma's and grandpa's to come over.

Sydney decided she wanted to have a sleepover party. I was thinking COOL! It will be cheaper than taking all kids somewhere to entertain them. Well, as it turned out, I always get a little carried away with my crazy ideas, thought it would be so much fun to make pillowcases with all the girls. So off I go to get decorations, pillowcases and fabric paint for our night of activities. I never thought it would be so hard to find a cheap pillowcase. 4 or 5 stores down, I finally have what I need. Got the house decorated and the projects in place to start. So here are some fun pictures of our sleepover party!!

The making of pillowcases!!

We had all the girls put there handprint on a pillowcase as a keepsake The "Camp Rock Cake"The Makeovers!
The Princess and her maidens!
Sydney had a great party with the girls waking up to pancakes and then on their way home!!!

Needless to say it was a long night, but it was worth it cuz they had so much fun!!

Halloween Traditions

On Thursday the 30th we did our Annual pumpkin carving with the Gotchikas. We always have so much fun getting ooey and gooey with pumpkin mess. We started a little late due to Jake having soccer training, but when Jake and I got there, Bill had everyone going to town on the their pumpkins. After we got them emptied, we took a little brake for dinner. (Homemade Tamales we made in August....yum,yum) Then as the kids were carving their crazy designs, we started making sugar cookies to decorate. So even though we got home late on a school night. we always have so much fun.

(I will post more pictures for this later)

HaLLoWeEn nIghT

So for the last three years, we have gone Trick or Treating with our friends the Greenamyers. Kristin always makes a great dinner for us before the kids go venture out to get their candy. Mark and Corey usually take the kids and Kristin and I stay back to pass out the good stuff. This year was an exceptional Halloween night because it was unusually warm. So me, Kristin, Kalin, Jake and Aubree decided to sit on the front porch to hand out the candy. We were so shocked because we did not get very many trick or treaters. Well, while we were watching the little ones going to the houses ACROSS the street to get candy, we got a little carried away to the music we had playing. We started dancing!!! It was so funny, we danced to Thriller and Monster Mash and some other funny songs. Yes, I think the people in passing thought we were a little nuts!

When Mark and Corey got back with the kids, we didn't think they were gone long enough or got enough candy. So we decided to leave the men at home to pass out candy and we took the kids in the opposite direction to get more. Sydney's feet hurt and Mikaela wasn't feeling well, so we let them stay behind. Well we got to this one house and Darian and Mason come running back to show us what they got. Somebody was actually handing out CELL PHONES!! Okay, they didn't work, but they were real ones. They were handing out the display phones. So we sent Darian and Mason back to get Sydney and Mikaela one. Well, when we finally made it back to the house we were so excited to show them what we got for them. Well....Sydney did not like her phone and was crying because the other kids got better phones(what a surprise!) So the wonderful husbands we have took Sydney back out to searching for a phone. Needless to say, she came back with a big smile!

So here are our crazy kids on Halloween Night!

Annual Halloween Party!!

On Saturday, we had our annual Halloween Party. We have lived in our house 10 1/2 years and we have had 9 Halloween parties. We have so much fun dressing up and having our friends and family come over (and some we don't know, but that is okay). We always try to have the band play and they do a great job of keeping everyone entertained. So if you did not make it to the party this year, we had a great time and really did miss you and hope you can make it next year.

So I do have to give Kudo's to our great neighbors. Like I said, we have been here awhile and those of you new or old to the neighborhood have had to endure the craziness of our family. Sometimes we can be loud when the band practices getting ready for our Halloween or New Years Eve party or when our kids are running around causing havic. We love being in this neighborhood and are so thankful for some of the close friendships that we have made. We do love and appreciate our great neighbors for putting up us.

We had a great variety of costumes. We had: Devil, Jesus, priest, hunter, cowboy and indian, pirates, vampires, pumpkins, nun, witch, hippies, Grandma and Grandpa, Jailbird, a doctor, some really scary guys that wouldn't show their face! And the most scariest of all were the ones that dressed up as THEMSELVES!!!! .....hehe. Here are a few pictures of those who came to the party. We had a lot of people come and I took lots of pictures, so I am sorry if I missed you as it would take forever to post all the pics.

This was my costume....nobody could guess who I was supposed to be! I forgot to get a picture of Corey, but he was Iron Man. ( that might give you a clue)

Thank you for coming to the party!!!

McDuff Moves In

Sydney had to do a character presentation for her 2nd grade class. She had to become a character in a book and present it as a commercial to get the other kids to read her book.

So of course the procrastinator that I am, I waited until the night before to try to find the dog costume we needed. I knew we had it at one point, but didn't know if we gave it back to my friend Lisa. So I called and she went looking, and couldn't find it. Then I remembered my other friend Kristin had lent us a dog costume a couple of years ago, so I called her and sent Corey on a trip to get the costume. Then while he was gone, Lisa called to tell me she found her costume so I arranged to pick it up the morning.

Meanwhile I was going through all of our DVDs for our camcorder to see where Darians presentation was so I could put it on the same one ( and of course I could not find it). So after a good hour or so I finally found one to record Sydney on for the next day.

Sydney worked so hard on her presentation. She made note cards in case she forgot what she was going to say. I kept trying to tell her she did not need them, but she was very determined that she was going to have to use them. Well, as it turned out we got into the school and were getting ready for her to start, Sydney realized she did not have her note cards and can not find them anywhere. We got a little panicked, but tried to assure her that she will do fine without them.Well, as it turned out, she did AWESOME!! She only forgot one little thing, but you would never have known.

And of course, with my luck.....Sydney gets up to the front and I start recording...but wait, it won't work!!!! I can not record anything!! So I try to hurry and record it on my digital camera and it won't work either!!! So to my dismay, I only was able to get a couple of pictures of her presentation. So I guess you have to take my word how well she did, and I am so proud of her and how hard she worked at it.

America's next top Model.......

We always sit back and laugh and wonder "What Planet is she From" She is so funny and comes up with the silliest things. Sydney is definitely her own little person. We love her so much and always look forward to every minute that she makes us laugh.

First snow!....YUCK!!

Those who know me, know I HATE cold! I have been dreading the coming of winter, and I keep telling everyone, I am READY to move somewhere warm. But of course winter was sure to come and here is our first snow fall of the year.

Even though I have been dreading this day to come, I have to sit back and thank God for this beautiful world he has made for us. I do love it when I look out and see a clean blanket of snow in the yard. But to my dismay.....it does not last. With the kids and the dogs, the smooth whiteness does not last long.

I guess it is time to cut the rose bushes!

As you can see the girls were pretty excited today. So we went searching through the winter totes to find bits and pieces of snow pants, boots and gloves.

I think Sydney is ready to upgrade..hehehe
Darian is ready to hit the snow!
My Snow angels

On our way to Mexico

Grandma Bonnie was taking pictures at Great Grandma Robins house in Las Vegas before we left for Mexico. ( I wish they were as sweet as they look ALL the time)

On our way! It was a 10 hour ride from Las Vegas!

The kids were great and they actually didn't fight!

Kalin looks a little bored

Darian- a little attitude!

Jake teasing one of the girls! (as usual)

Sydney wanted her picture taken while she was thinking