Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Storybook Forest

We had never gone to Storybook Forest before, but with our hectic schedule this year, this was our only chance to do something other than Trick-or-Treating....so we went on opening night in the COLD! It was freezing, but very fun, and very worth it!

Here are Dustin and Jodee with Rapunzel...Dylan wouldn't get in the pic...I don't really know why!Here are the kids at the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe....and Dad is swinging.

Here we are on the hayride: In case you couldn't tell, we have a ninja, hula girl, and of course, the Hulk!







Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Pumpkins!

One of my favorite activities in the fall is carving pumpkins! We do it every year--sometimes they turn out great, and other years, they have triangle eyes and noses....this was a good year! (Thanks, Josh!) I always get the job of cleaning the pumpkins out--not my idea of fun, but it has to be done. Dustin tried to help me this year, but I still had to go back over it again. Yuck! Josh got Dustin's started, and Dustin actually carved most of his--very impressive! Jodee picked out what she wanted, and just had daddy do it for her. Dylan picked out his, and I fully expected to have Josh do it, but he was busy, and it was getting late, so I started on it. I think it turned out pretty good!! Dylan was happy with it--that 's what matters.
Getting started:Dylan and his spider:Jodee and her haunted house:

Dustin and his bat: Here they are with candles....lookin' good!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

The BEST Concert EVER!!!

Well, I had the time of my life! I got to go to a NKOTB (New Kids on the Block, FYI) concert on Sunday night in Dallas with my friend Angie, and her friend Sarah. We had SO much fun all afternoon catching up on each other's lives--we've known each other since 4th grade in Iowa--that was about 23 years ago...wow--I'm really getting old! haha! Anyways, we had fun hanging out and talking, and laughing at all of her scrapbooks and memoribilia (sp?) of NKOTB from 20 yrs ago, or so. We went out to eat at a mexican restaurant--very yummy--but even better than the food, was what she found inside on the wall...the New Kids had been there earlier that day! Joe signed the wall...here I am by the famous wall:Then, she had been texting a friend that we went to high school with who is now married to a guy in the music business, who used to work for Jordan Knight. Long story short, we got passes to the After Show from Danny Wood...I was SO excited!!Yes, that says "DW" at the bottom of the pass! I couldn't believe it! We knew we probably wouldn't get to meet all of them, but they said whoever shows up, shows up. So I was going to be happy no matter what!


The concert was AMAZING!!! Some strange girl was up first with a funny little tutu outfit on. Whatever...I didn't really care...I was waiting for the New Kids! Natasha Bedingfield was the opener, and she was actually pretty good! I like her more now that I've seen her and heard more of her songs. I thought of Dustin during "Pocketful of Sunshine"--he detests that song!
FINALLY, the New Kids came onstage--we were SO excited! They sounded SO good, looked SO good, it was so worth it!
On a sidenote, the people at this concert ranged from nice looking women in their 20's and 30's, to crazy starstruck women stuck in the 80's, full with crimped hair, scrunchies in side pony-tails, miniskirts and high heels, and of course, NKOTB t-shirts from 1988! It was hilarious! Oh, and there were about 10 men in the audience of thousands...those poor, whipped, men. Josh would NEVER go...now I don't blame him! How embarrassing for those guys!
Anyways, back to the concert. They sang all of their good old songs, "The Right Stuff", "Please Don't Go Girl", "Forever", etc, etc. EVERYONE was standing up singing, dancing, having a great time. Then, during their newer songs, the girls next to me would sit down....WHAT??????? We stood the entire time, except during Joe's solo song, which I didn't know, and it was slow, we needed to rest our feet for the rest of the concert. Their choreography was really good--except during one song--Angie and I were laughing SO hard--it was during their song "Grown Man", and it was hilarious...we couldn't stop laughing! Don't get me wrong--they looked great, but this one little part of it was really not necessary!

Here is Angie and me at the concert:And, saving the best picture for last: I felt like a dork--we made him take like 3 different pictures with us because we kept blinking! It was like midnight--way past my bedtime--I was wiped out, and I couldn't keep my eyes open when the camera flashed! So on this one, Ang and I are both making our eyes stay open--it was funny. He was very nice and didn't seem to mind that we kept bugging him for another picture! Jordan was in the room too, but he was quiet and reserved and I didn't want to bother him. And he wasn't my favorite. Ha! Donnie signed my CD paper too...I didn't ask him, I just had it out on the table and their manager came over and opened it up to Donnie's picture for me and said Donnie would sign it....that was cool.. he was a nice guy (the manager).

I was FREAKING out that I had just met Donnie! Could not believe it. He was a lot littler than I had pictured...his arms are small! And he's really skinny. You can't tell that when he's on stage or on TV. But that's okay--he's still cute!

One more small story--we felt like we were on SNL while waiting in the room for them...this lady was SO annoying--and weird! She was with 3 other people, a mom and daughter and another lady. She asked one lady to make sure she didn't lose her contact when she took it out. That girl told her to go to the bathroom--no kidding--there was a bathroom right there! But she didn't, so she made the daughter who was probably 10 yrs old, watch her take out her contact, clean it IN HER MOUTH, and put it back in. GROSS! We were so annoyed by these people--it was unreal. I guess it was worth it, since we met Donnie, but come on! Oh, and she had an OLD winter coat with NKOTB embroidered on the back--looked like a flea market find. Not the real logo or anything. She had Jordan and Donnie sign it...and told Jordan she had met him 9 years ago. Do you think he cared? What in the world! It was interesting to say the least...but all so worth it!

I got home at 4:30 a.m. on Monday. I am way too old to be out that late. The first 2 hours of driving weren't bad--adrenaline was pumping, but the last hour was hard! Luckily Josh was waiting up for me, so we talked on the phone for some of the time. What a good husband!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

I have to add another picture...

Okay, looking at my last post, I realize that Jodee's friend party looked like the MOST BORING PARTY EVER! So, I will add some fun pictures

There. I feel better now!

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Happy 6th, Jodee!!

I can't believe my baby girl is 6! Her birthday was Friday, and she had so much fun celebrating at school! She had a friend party that night, at our house, and they played "High School Musical Sing-It" on the Wii. It is a really cool game--they had tons of fun. Josh vetoed the sleepover this year, so we actually got to sleep that night...I agree it was nice, but stay tuned for next year--I bet she'll have a sleepover! Ha! They're just so much fun for the kids. ( I know, I'm crazy, but come on, they're only kids for a little while!)
Here is a pic of Jodee taking her turn, and 5 of the 6 girls watching from the couch. (Lily was watching too, just didnt' get her in the pic!) Soon after this picture was taken, they were all up singing and dancing, and having fun. This was a serious song, it looks like!

We had her family party Saturday, along with a watch party for the sad OU/Texas game. We had a nice array of burnt orange and crimson...look in the pics below. Jodee had a blast, and just kept saying, "I love my birthday!". Very sweet. She is such a fun girl, loves her family, her friends, and tries so hard to be a friend to everyone! She does so well in school, and has an amazing ability to do math. She is a wonderfully talented gymnast already, and is SO strong, she is catching up to Dustin!! ( I know he's going to LOVE to read that!) Her favorite things are baby dolls and playing house, and writing in her journals, her many, many journals! She loves to do her daily bible readings, but I will admit, we usually do them all on one day! She is a wonderful daughter--and we are so blessed to have her!
Here you can see the craziness and abundance of gifts, along with the orange and red in the background:

Jodee and her guitar cake:She has wanted a guitar for a LONG time, so we did a High School Musical party with a guitar cake. I figured it works just fine....and plus, it matches the real guitar she got as a gift!

Working hard on those chords:

More pics to come...

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Our handsome 4 year old!

I love getting the kids pictures taken....it's one of my favorite things! I especially love Target, for their very inexpensive, but GREAT photos! Here are some of Dylan that I just recently picked up...

Friday, October 3, 2008

A Puggle....named Jake

I don't think anyone will remember these, but these funny little stuffed "animals" are called Puggles. They were around when I was very little--this one was my aunt's, and I somehow acquired it. Well, Jodee has been playing with it, calling it "Puggles", a very unique name, I know! But today on the way home from school, she asked what it was called ( for the millionth time), and I reminded her, and she said, "Instead of Puggles, I'm going to name it Jake". What a jump--so I thought maybe she had a boy friend named Jake or something, but no, it was just an easier name to remember. So our new favorite toy is Jake the Puggle. We'll see how long this name lasts!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Merry Christmas (yes, 3 months early)

We had been planning on getting new couches for ourselves for Christmas, and decided to go and get a start on "looking". Well, our looking turned into buying! We LOVE our new furniture, and we're totally okay with having an early Christmas present. Who isn't?
We went with leather this time--our last couches got so dirty--our kids are outside as much as I will allow them to be, and with that comes dirt! So, leather was definitely the way to go. They are SO comfy!