Fair, Gymnastics and Trunk or Treat all rolled into one!

We went to the fair a couple of Saturdays ago. It was not very crowded but soon realized why "It cost too much!" It was full price to get in and then there was no wristband that day so the tickets were $1 each. We bought $50 worth of tickets which did not last very long. Carmel and I kept saying to each other, "Well that ride cost $9 to ride." We were suppost to go on military day but it rained. The most important part is that we had fun and spent time together.

The girls have been asking to do gymnastics for about a year now but there was not a place in Crestview. We finally found a place here and they have had 2 classes so far and love it. They look forward to it every Tuesday.

We attended the annual Trunck or Treat at the Lineberger's. I had this plan of how I would decorate the van. Well that idea was blown out of the water when the transmission went out(long story another post). So after a long day of running errands, the unplanned pick up of Carmel and the girls on the side of the rode and a rush back home, I had to quickly throw something together. Carmel's trunk was filled with junk( I mean manly things) so we could not do an actual trunk or treat. Ours was more like a by the trunk or treat. Below is what we came up with. I had throw the eyes in the bucket, make a Halloween card and find the spiders in the monster's guts.

I am so glad the girls were easy to please this year. Laney was a SPA PRINCESS and Ella was a COOKER GIRL. Easy and you can't beat free for a costume.

Ella trick or treating at Mrs Cheryl's van.

We had a great week last week and are ready for some Halloween fun!

Griffin's future wife will love me one day!

For now, Griffin may think I am cruel, a bad mother or even evil but I see it as preparing him to make his future wife happy. Homeschool is taking up a lot of my time these days and finding the time to clean the house is very scarce. So I thought to myself, why do I have to do it all. Now in the past it has been because I was the only one who could do it right. I have learned I am just going to have to get over it( yes, I will still do the bathrooms. The men in this house are afraid of putting on the gloves and digging down deep in the toilet). So today being the only day to clean, Laney dusted and vacuumed, Ella dusted and Griffin swept and mopped. That must have triggered something in him because he made us an appetizer tonight. It was bean soup. He did it without a recipe. Of course, I had to stop him when he tried to put vanilla extract in it. I did not want it to become like the wackamole(guacamole) he made once before. A little of everything from my pantry was in that. I guess he thought it was guacamole since it turned out green. Anyways, he did a much better job tonight. Who knows I could have a future chef on my hands.

Notice how he gave himself five stars. He deserved 5. He did a marvelous job.

Our weekend in Birmingham

We left for Birmingham around 12:00 because Ashton was having a fall festival at his school that afternoon. We did not make it due to stops, rain and oh yeah a wreck (involving me). Long story short it was raining HARD, tried to stop, hydroplaned and crash... hit the car in front of me. The 5 cars behind me swerved and went into the median to avoid hitting me. I think we were lucky no injuries and minimal damage to the car( of course Carmel would not think so).We had to wait an hour and a half for the cops to show up.CRAZY and FRUSTRATING I know! Sad thing is we just changed our insurance deductible from $500 to $1000. That is going to hurt! Anyways back to our weekend. When we finally got there, 7 and half hours later, we missed all of the festival. The kids were bummed but had cake/ ice cream and were happy again. Saturday, we watched AU get the crap beat out of them, shopped and went to see Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs. Sunday after church my sister wanted me to take a few pictures of Ashton. She had her house decorated for fall so it made for great pictures. I couldn't help but take a few of my kiddos too.

A funny story about Ella. My dad went in the bathroom to check on Ella. She had peed all over the floor. I thought she just did not make it in time. Come to find out she was trying to stand and pee like a boy. While giving her a bath, I explained that boys stand up to pee and girls sit down. She then tells me, "Well, when I get bigger and grow a wiener, I am going to stand like a boy."

Laney has been wanting to text anyone and everyone now that we have it.I had to set guidelines because one time Carmel texted me and said "Hey sexy!" Laney gets it and responds with "What?" Carmel sent back "What do you mean what?" I had to explain he just had a conversation with his daughter. Anyways.... I thought it would be good for her writing skills. Let me know if you think it is working. A text from Laney to my sister, "Can I poot on sum makeup" She spelled makeup right.... go figure.

Catching up!

I have fallen so far behind in my blogging so this is my catching up post. Last week the girls attended their co-op classes. They just love the study on Eric Carle. That days book was on The Grouchy Ladybug. They made a book on the growth of a ladybug, worked on the lapbook and made a ladybug snack.

Laney finished painting her bank in the Time and Money class. They continued working on money and began the basics of telling time.

We went this past weekend to South Carolina to visit Carmel's parents and attend a SC game. My sister only lives about an hour and a half from their house so she and my niece Emma came for a quick visit.

Emma loved watching TV.

Carmel, Emma, me and Jen

Such a sweet girl! There is nothing like the feeling of taking a nap with a sleeping baby on your chest.

Laney is at that stage of wanting to hold the baby the whole time. It is a good thing she does not have 2 sisters to compete with. I can remember when my cousins were little my sisters and I watching the clock anticipating our turn to hold the baby. Ella is not as interested as Laney at the moment. Laney will be a wonderful mother when she grows up. She has told me on several occasions that she wants to be a plain mom like me one day. I guess that is a good thing.

Now onto the South Carolina game. I will just start out by saying that I am an Auburn fan and Carmel is a USC fan. He has attended several Auburn games so I figured he was well overdue on this trip. So I dressed the kids up in their USC attire, put on those hard to get off tattoos and headed to the game. We tailgated for about 20 minutes to let Ella eat her food( we ate our Maurice's barbecue while in the car waiting in traffic. She was asleep).

Just a few pictures from the game. Griffin is not in the picture below because he went to the concession stand for water. Our tickets were way up in the nose bleed section. By the time we got up there we were thirsty and out of breath.

The advantages of staying until the game is over. People leave stuff behind. We snagged this sign, tons of souvenir cups and even a necklace. So for all my frugal gals out there, it was like shopping without coupons and getting stuff for free. We almost collected enough cups to pay for our tickets. Those cups will make great pooper scoopers. Just kidding honey!

We had a great time because we were all together!

Germs and the Law

Yesterday we were in the car and Laney offers Ella some of her water. Ella replies, "Ewwww, you had your mouth all over it." I think it is funny that she will not drink from her sister but she will chew gum that she found from underneath a table.

Laney and I were in CVS(getting the latest deal). The cops had a man in handcuffs and was asking him questions. I assume he had shoplifted( It could have all been avoided if he just knew the shopping game. He probably could have gotten that item for free this week.) I tried to go about my shopping very quickly because I had 90 questions girl with me and I knew they would be coming. I was proud of her because she waited until we got out to the car before she asked( probably to busy staring and taking it all in). I was surprised because she only asked 1 question, "What was he stealing." I found it odd but proceeded with a lesson to learn. You steal the cops take you to jail. I didn't realize until later that night when she tells her daddy about the incident that while I was checking out she was over there with the cops. I am sure she was interrogating them on the situation. She said, "The cop told me to go with my mom." I guess that is why she did not have 90 questions in the car.