Halloween Day 2

We started off our second day of Halloween festivities by going to a party at my good friend Rachel P.'s house (Not to be confused with the 10 other Rachel's I know).  She is an amazing hostess, and is the type of person who is unafraid of inviting 50 people over for a Halloween party. Like I said: AMAZING! We ate some spooky Halloween food:

Good job Rachael R. on these mummy dogs. They were a big hit.

The kids played a whole bunch of games, broke apart a pinata, and had serious amounts of fun.

Later that day, we carved our pumpkins!

Jackson definitely complained the most about cleaning them out. He told us, "It's like an icky wonderland."

Sade's did a bit of cleaning, and then stirred the pumpkin guts for a solid hour and told us she was making soup.

Megan carved the ghost, and Jackson carved the witch (with just a little bit of help from mom).

Halloween Day 3

Day 3 was the annual Trunk Or Treat.

Sadie was very reluctant at first, and made me carry her and say trunk or treat for her. However, as soon as I told her I wasn't going to do it anymore and she wasn't going to get any candy if she didn't ask for it herself, she changed her tune, and gladly went up to everyone.

Jackson and Eli were of course inseparable.

I hardly see Megan at these events anymore. She is always with her friends.

When Sadie's bucket was about half full, she said it was too heavy and couldn't carry it anymore, so she  helped me hand out candy. And by help I mean she would not let me touch the candy, and insisted she hand it out by herself.

Which I didn't particularly mind because it meant more time to talk with my friends.

Halloween Day 4

Day 4 brought trick or treating!  

Sadie enjoyed herself immensely and even carried her bucket the entire way. The only meltdown she had was not when she was scared by our neighbor, or by big dogs barking, or by scary costumes, but rather when she saw a cricket on the sidewalk. You have never heard such screaming!

Needless to say the kids did very well. They have been sorting the candy and trading it with each other for the past hour. I know it will provide hours of entertainment.

Halloween Spirit

Just to get everyone in the Halloween spirit, I will post a picture of this horribly scary eyeball STUCK to my ceiling.

Jackson threw it up there a few days ago, and it WILL NOT come down. Believe me, I have tried.  I have thrown something at it, and have risked my life and stood on our highest chair and tried to scrape it off with a broom, but alas nothing has worked. It is disgusting and looks like a GIANT wad of snot. The first order of business when Eric gets home, is to get his ladder out and take care of it! But it has added a spirit of spookiness around here.

Just Another Day In Paradise...

On Saturday, the night I had been waiting for all month arrived. I dusted off my cowboy boots and headed out to the PHIL VASSAR concert!

Now it is a secret to no one that I know well, that I LOVE PHIL VASSAR. Yes, even more than Bret Michaels. So you can imagine how hard it was for me not to rush the stage the entire night! Eric and I were reflecting back on the concerts we went to in our younger years, and how the entire floor in front of the concert was a giant mosh pit. And even the concerts where I wasn't on the floor, I never dreamed of sitting down! EVER. It was simply unheard of.

Apparently I now attend concerts with the eternally seated. There were very few people standing, and a large number of people that I don't think could stand for more than 30 seconds at a time. Case in point these people sitting in front of me:

There was a HUGE number of people there who were easily in their late 80's or early 90's. They didn't seem to know the songs, and many left early holding their ears, so I am guessing they were not big Phil Vassar fans. I'm wondering if they may have been given the tickets as some kind of promotion they won by playing slots. Either that, or Phil now caters to the elderly and I am entering that phase of my life.

So approximately 2 hours into the concert, Phil tells everyone goodnight and leaves the stage. Now, if you have ever been to even ONE concert, I am sure you are aware that this is all a ploy for everyone to clap, and scream until the encore starts. The concert is truly not over until the lights come on.

 So Phil leaves the stage, and suddenly there is a max exodus of people leaving the concert hall! Even some people who were not octogenarians. It was shocking. But ended up being kind of great, because Eric and I were able to sneak into the front for the remainder of the show!

After the lights came on, I noticed Phil was autographing some peoples tickets. So I rushed the stage and got mine signed too!

I am only posting this unflattering picture of me so you can see my proximity to Phil!

My signed ticket.

I pretty much smiled for about 3 hours straight. I couldn't stop. I think even Eric had a great time.

Campaign Central

During this hot-bed campaign season here in Nevada, there has been one particular race that I have been following closely. I have campaigned tirelessly for this candidate. I became completely emotionally invested.  I felt so strongly I even bankrolled the entire campaign! It was in support of my daughter, Megan, aka M & M (her awesome campaign slogan), as Student Body President.

We made posters.

She gave a truly awesome speech, and.........

She lost by 5 votes (insert frowny face here).

She lost to a 4th grader, named Page, who had the ingenious slogan, Vote For Page It's All The Rage. Very catchy. Page also pledged better lunches and longer recesses. Empty promises.

Luckily Megan is not all that sad about it, and is just happy she is still in Student Council. I'm very proud of Megan and the other 10 candidates who ran for President. I wish I had their self-confidence.

Lordy Lordy....

Look whose 40!

Saturday was Eric's birthday. He wanted to go to Mt. Charleston to do some hiking, picnicking and smore making. However, when we arrived at Mt. Charleston it was raining. Well really more like drizzling, so we persevered and hiked into the picnic area. 

I have titled these 2 pictures, Girlz In The Hood. It was seriously cold (like see your breathe cold) and the rain was coming down pretty steadily, but we still decided to take a small hike.

About 15 minutes into it, it started seriously raining. HARD. So we ran back down the mountain, picked up all our picnic gear, abandoned smore making (much to everyones dismay) and headed home.

But at least we still had presents to look forward to!

Per usual Sade's was a great present opening help. We then headed out to dinner, but came home for dessert:

Happy Birthday Eric!!!