Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween! This year Tyler was a pirate (or Captain Tylersword) and Kendall the pirate princess. I can't believe its come and now gone. We went to lots of parties and went trick or treating on one of the downtown streets in a neighboring town. Can you believe it was 45 degrees out when we went at 4pm yesterday?








We won't do that again next year, I knew it was bad when Tyler touched our car and said I can't feel the car. Then today was the real deal and we went to the mall and did some trick or treating with our friend Henry.
Can you believe that within 2 seconds of getting those rulers for treats they became swords for pirates! Then to top the day off we went trick or treating around our neighborhood with our neighbor pals, Patrick & Allison. Kendall and Tyler both had lots of fun getting candy and Kendall did not want to give up her pumpkin of candy at the end of the night.

Pike Out of Water

Tyler started his first swim lessons all by himself today. I think he was a little nervous but he did everything he was supposed to do and did it really well.
When I asked the teacher at the end of the class if I should have put an extra bubble on him she said no he did extremly well and two bubbles would be plenty for him.
She even said the class was a little more advanced for a beginner (the three other boys had already been in the class a few times before) and he did great for a first timer. The coach was impressed. Looking at the skills for the next class up I think Tyler will be moving right along next session. Good job, Ty!

Family Photo's

We had our annual family portraits done this past Columbus Day weekend. We went to Tower Hill Botanical Gardens right near our house. Here are a few of the pictures, if you'd like to see the rest let me know and I'll send the ofoto link. There are about 120, our photographer did a great job of giving me all the pictures in both color and black & white and also something she calls split tone so actually there are 360!

All About Me--7 random things you might or might not want to know

I'm not sure how this "tagging" thing works in the blog land but my guess is I read it in the post that my friend "tags" me in and then I'm supposed to do it in my own blog. So here I go, (thanks Jennifer!) Seven random things about me:

1. I'm shy (stop laughing!) I am, but no one and I mean NO ONE believes me when I say this. (if you all just knew the anxiety I go through talking to new people, I need a therapist!)

2. I don't think I have OCD but I have OCD tendencies. I have to have things in order and I do things in order. I write everything down and complete things in order of when I wrote them down. It's really quite strange. When I was in high school/college I used to line up my lipsticks and would rotate them on a daily basis of when I wore them. I would freak out if they got knocked over. Maybe I shouldn't share this info, again I need a therapist!

3. I hate chocolate cake, chocolate icing and chocolate ice cream, but I don't necessarily hate chocolate.

4. In high school I was arrested for petty theft. I stole an orange pylon off Magnolia Ave. where they were barricading the new "no cruising" law. My punishment was that I had to do some outrageous amount of community service (I served with a girl who was arrested for stealing over $1000 worth of clothing at the mall), I had to write an apology letter to the officer's involved and write an essay on the penal codes I violated. My dad never found this out until I wrote a short story of the event for a college class and I sent him the story via mail 500 miles away.

5. Speaking of high school I got varsity letters in both soccer and baseball. Yes baseball, they gave us stat girls letters for keeping score.

6. I've started selling Close to my Heart scrap booking stuff. I really love to scrap my memories.

7. One day in the summer of 2005 I got a call that changed my life. I lost one person that at one time meant the world to me. We had drifted apart because our lives were not going down the same paths. I know there wasn't anything more I could have done to prevent what happened but there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of my younger sister, Kara.

Now I need to tag a few of you and hopefully you'll "play" along. Stephanie, Nyree, Amy, Karen, Sara and I'm going to include you too Jen (Japel) because I just know you'll be getting your blog up and running any day now!

Pumpkin Painting

With daddy gone on another long business trip we need to keep our days busy so today after T-Ball we did a little pumpkin painting at the park. Tyler picked out his pumpkin. They all looked the same to me but this one was "the big one". Then with his friend Henry they painted their pumpkins.










Tyler was off to a good start.
Kendall wanted to join too but there was no way I wanted paint on her nice white sweater and hat!
I didn't get a picture of the finished product but basically it was a big black mess of paint! Afterward we went back to the park and played.
I guess all that fresh air (and boy do I mean fresh it was 30 degrees out this morning when we woke up) must have been what the kids needed because both kids were wiped and I had to wake Tyler up at 4 and Kendall up at 4:30. Of course it's after 9pm now and I can still hear Tyler up in his room. I think as much as mommy doesn't want to do it, that nap is going to have to disappear. What's more important 3 hours of daytime sanity or an early evening of piece and quiet after a long LONG day?

Close To My Heart

Well my stuff finally came in today. There is so much, I'm so excited I just want to scrap it all right now but I guess I need to save it so I can use it at any home gatherings I can book. I'm really nervous about how good I'll be at this but my goal is if I can just get enough sales to keep my discount, I'll be one happy scrapper! So my website is all up and running so friends and family can order directly online if you'd like. I really like the product and if you enjoy crafty stuff then you'll enjoy the product too. And for those who don't like scrapping then consider things as gifts! OK that's my sales pitch. Visit me at http://michelequattrin.myctmh.com

We've Hit the Peak!

I think we hit peak leaf peeping season here. It's just been stunning. I drove around today taking some pictures. Not great since I didn't get out of the car but not too bad either considering. The first picture is of our backyard, the rest around our neighborhood. The last one I took I was driving on the freeway, look at all that traffic!