Halloween Pics

We had several friends and lots of family come to our house from Halloween this year. Neil and I live in a pretty small neighborhood, so it was a nice little loop for the kiddos to make and get their candy. I asked Anna after she was done eating her dinner if she wanted to go get some candy? She had seen me put a big bowl by the front door and ran right over to it to get some out, but I stopped her and told her no we have to go get our own candy outside. She looked at me like I was crazy, but since there was candy involved, she ran and got her shoes! It was so cute. And the promise of candy was the only way I could get her to wear her scarf. Little punk! We ate hot dogs and chili for dinner and then headed out the door. At the first house we went to, Emily rang the door bell and when the gentleman opened the door, Emily walked right in. Made since to her, "Why would mom take me to a strangers house? We most know him." So funny! It took Anna awhile to warm up to the idea, but by the end she made sure her bag was open real big to get that candy in there.
This was the first year I have ever gone trick-or-treating, and it was really fun. Some of the houses got skipped though, because they REALLY got into the season. Yeah my kids 2 and that crap freaks me out! It was kind of fun though to get to see all of my neighbors. A lot of people walk out little loop, so even though I recognize them and say hello, I don't really know where they live. Kind of funny.
So here are some cute pictures of our little kiddos. It was fun to dress the girls in a trio again. Last year they were all Strawberry Shortcake girls, this year . . . Snap, Crackle and Pop! They were so cute. Of course!
Noah said that since I had made both his sister's costumes before, this year was his turn. He couldn't decide between a pickle, or Jack Skeleton. I think the pickle might have been easier. Heather poked around a lot of second hand stores for a suit, but in the end, because it was pen stripped, I ended up making that too. All in all, I thought it turned out pretty good. But the fun part for me was seeing Noah's face the first time he saw the costume. He seemed pretty pleased. One of the biggest things he wanted was a fake head. He DID NOT want to pant his head white or anything were you could see his face. So that made things a little harder. I ended up using a beachball as a template.
And this is my little "Abby Cadabby" I thought it would be so cute when people asked who she was to say "Abby". She is such a sweet happy little girl. Anna calls her "happy Abby".

Abby has something to say . . .

Abby is such a little talker. She can tell the best stories and with so much detail. It just cracks me up. Here is a video I took of her back in August. She has changed so much since then, but I still thought the video was worth sharing!

Mission: Summer Games

Object: to have a great night playing games
Outcome: Success

Neil and I hosted a Summer Games Event at our house this last weekend. We had so much fun! Thank you to everyone that could come and share the evening with us. It was so great to have so many friends in one place just hanging out together. (and the no kids made it even more fun!)

Everyone was so willing to play the silly games that Neil and I set up for them. We played "backyard bowling", in the bowling alley Neil built. We had lawn darts and we had slot car racing. Also in the mix was golf the card game and a salsa and ice cream contest. And we finished the night off nicely with Disneyland pictionary.

The overall winner of the evening was a Mrs. Brenda Walker. But I would like to take this opportunity to make some honorable mentions. A Mr. Jed Wilburn dominated on the lawn darts with very impressive accuracy, acquiring a very nice score. A Mr. Burnett made one of the few strikes in bowling, gaining himself the highest score in that game. And a Mr. Shane Ballensky got quiet a bit of attention with his homemade salsa, complete with homemade chips. We finished the evening off with our ice cream contest in which a Mrs. Jennifer Wilburn had a delightful ice cream that she invented herself. Very Yummy! The boys taking their turn with the salsa tasting. I think they might have gone through the line a few times. They said, "they had to be sure!"

Jed with very nice style in the bowling alley!

Here is a picture of one team as they played the lawn darts. It wasn't really a game you wanted to get in the way of. But I think it was an overall favorite.

And the golf card game. This was the only game that we could not finish in the time limit of 20 minutes. One team had a really good time making it is a speed game. That was fun to watch!

Thank you soooo much for playing along and making the evening so enjoyable. Neil and I had a great time! and hope that you all did too!!!

Baby Dixie/Baby Abby

Dixie was looking through some of her baby pictures a few weeks back and she came across this picture of herself. It reminded us so much of Abby. So I thought I would share these with you.

Arkansas Trip (Part 3)

One of the things I forgot to mention from our time with Tammy was Abby's BIG accomplishment! One night while we were playing cards I looked down and Abby was holding her foot! She had found it and was just hanging on to it and wiggling! So I had to take a picture. It was so cute. Isn't she brilliant?! I mean you think, you hope, your kids are smart, but then way day you are just like, . . . wow! You Are Brilliant! Doesn't she look so cute holding that fat little foot! Well, the last day of our trip was spent in Little Rock. Our flight left pretty early, so instead of driving the 2 1/2 - 3 hours from Tammy's house, we decided to get a hotel. And without that extra driving it still made for a 14 hour traveling day. The last hour before we got home was not fun. Anna and Abby both cried from Old Station to Shasta View. Then the last 10 minutes before we got home, they both fell asleep! Perfect!

Anyway, back to Little Rock. I really thought it sounded like fun to go to the Zoo in Little Rock. So after we checked into our hotel, we piled back in the car again and drove over. It was really annoying, though, because there was construction all around our hotel. We asked the clerk how to get to the Zoo and she printed out a map, which sent us directly into the construction zone. Then we had to detour through the airport! Which spit us out the back into some seriously forsaken community. There was house after house of vacant nothingness. Just house and emptiness. I seriously thought, "I wonder if this is what it will feel like after the rapture?" There was no one nothing around. Not even a cat? Some of the houses had been burned and most were missing the glass from the windows, but it was just the eeriest feeling. Neil and I could not believe how many houses we vacant, and we couldn't really see a reason why they would be. Needless to say, it took us a long time to find the Zoo. We finally got there at like 3:00 and the Zoo closed at 5:00. So we made a pretty quick loop. I think it was feeding time too, because a lot of the animals were all sitting by their doors just waiting for something to happen. Anna loves to watch the birds. She thought they were pretty fun and she also liked the spider monkeys. Probably because they were so active. It was REALLY warm while we were there so most of the animals we all hidden in the shade.Doesn't pour little Abby look so hot in this picture? She was such a little trooper. So was Anna. Anna walked most of the time we were there. I think she need to burn of some being cooped up in the car for so long. One of the things I read on line was about the carrousel that the Zoo in Little Rock has. I guess it is a pretty one of a kind carrousel in that the ponies are not on poles that go up and down, but rather on a track that goes around. And while that track is going around it goes up and down "hills". So it is called an "Over the Hill" Carrousel. It was pretty neat to see. We didn't get to ride it like I wanted, just because I didn't know how Anna would like it, and I didn't want to pay to hear her cry! :) Over all, I really did like the Zoo. I thought it was really cute and set up well, with a lot of different kinds of animals. Anna really seemed to enjoy looking around at them and trying to find them in their pins.

Here are a few pictures from the airport before out flight home. Man was that a long day. It will be a while before I want to fly with the girls again, but it was totally worth it. We had a great time and were so happy to get to see so much of Neil's family. Thanks for having us!

Arkansas Trip (Part 2)

The second half of our trip was spent with Neil's sister Tammy and her family. Her oldest boy, Curtiss was chosen to play on an All-Star Baseball team, so we only got to see him for one day. (His team won though, so I hope he had a great time.) I made sure to take some pictures with the girls and their cousins before Curtiss left. Curtiss and Craig have gotten some new pets since the last time we saw them. Their names are Darla and Slinky. They are ferrets. Anna loved watching them run around and chase each other. It was so cute to hear her yell "Darla" whenever they would disappear.

Anna with her Uncle Scott. He could sure get her laughing.

Anna had a blast following Craig around. I think Craig didn't enjoy it nearly has much as Anna did! :) We got to see some very clever things that Craig has been making. Curtiss and Craig are some VERY clever boys. Craig is making a bow just the way the Indians used to. He is also chipping his own arrowheads. It always cracks me up the things those boys can come up with. I was NEVER that creative when I was a kid. I'm not even that creative now!!!

Craig is also in a golfing class, so he really wanted to take his Uncle Neil out on the course. It was so fun. I had actually never been to a golf course before. Tammy, the girls and I wanted to go too, so we got three golf carts for three golfers. Tammy and I sat in the shade of our golf cart and chatted, while Anna went from cart to cart to Daddy. Anna got a new friend from her Aunt Tammy. He is just as soft as her favorite friend, Puppy. So he is making a great cuddlier.

My favorite thing that we got to do is go to a junk yard. It had the coolest name, "The Junk Yard Dog". I have been trying to collect license plates from every state for several years now. I got 6 new states while at the junkyard. A few I already had, but I didn't have that style. I now have 26 states, so I am just over half way there. It is so silly, you're are not allowed to get license plates from junk yards in California, so I only get the chance to look when I go out of state. I love going to the different places and looking at all the cars they have there. It is like a treasure hunt for me.
There were some many good pictures I wanted to share, but this post is already packed pretty full. Thank You Tammy and Scott for spoiling us while we were there. We haven't eaten that yummy in a very long time. I loved that white browine, strawberry, chocolate thing. I was very sad when I forgot to eat a second piece. And that was the best carrot cake I have ever had!! No wonder it is Scott's favorite!

Arkansas Trip (Part 1)

Neil and I have been Arkansas for the past week. It was a packed week full of family. Of course I took too many pictures to fit into one post so this is the first half of our trip. We flew out of Reno on Monday (the 13th) at 2:30pm and landed in Little Rock at 10:40pm. Then we rented a car and drove to Uncle Charles and Aunt Martha's house. We arrived at their home at 1:00am. The first thing Anna said to Aunt Martha when she opened the door of the van was "Cookie". And of course Aunt Martha had the cookie jar full. So Anna had her cookie at 1:00 in the morning. Silly girl! But hey, she's on vacation!

When we got to the car rental place at the airport, the guy behind the counter said they didn't have anymore cars the size we reserved, so we got a free upgrade, to a Mini Van! Neil was NOT very excited about that! He said he felt like a dork! But it was actually REALLY nice. It had the automatic doors and a DVD player and it was really quick.

The flights went pretty well. Neil and I both had our own row each flight on the way there. Anna had two seats to herself and she could never decide where to sit, so she was constantly moving the whole flight! Abby pretty much just sat and watched and slept! When we walked out of the airport in Little Rock my eye glasses fogged up. It was 11:00 at night and humid!!!

It was so fun to get to sit and visit with Neil's uncle, aunt and grandmother. We sat around and shelled peas one morning. Then Aunt Martha cooked them and we ate them for lunch. We even had turnip greens one day. Neil's dad loves turnip greens. Neil and I, not so much! :)

They have a really big piece of land that is pretty fun to hunt on. So we went for a walk one day and Neil scoped it out. Aunt Martha even has some tree stands set up to hunt deer out of. Uncle Charles has a plane that Anna got to climb around in.

Anna had a lot of fun playing on the piano. She was so cute sitting there wiggling her little head around while she was singing "LaLa" and banging on the keys. I took a little video of her that I will post later.
This is Abby with her name sake. We named Abby after Neil's G.G. They have the same middle name. Louise. It was so fun to watch them play together. I think they both got a kick out of each other. I am so glad that we got to go and that G.G. got to meet Abby!!!

It was a blast to finally get to see the farm. Thank you so much Aunt Martha, Uncle Charles, G.G. and Leann for having us and taking such good care of us.

(Check back for part 2)