November

This month has had it's ups and downs, but mostly ups. The kids got to build their first snowman ever, and it was awesome. Jeff and I tried to make it as fun and cool as possible for the kids, so of course we broke out the Halloween candy and winter accessories to jazz things up a little. I have to admit that I don't have any solid memories of making a snowman, so this felt like a first for me as well. This was several weeks ago now, and we haven't had any snowfall since, but the kids are anxiously awaiting its arrival so they can build another one.

Later in the month my beautiful grandmother passed away at 94. I love her with every fiber of my being, and I feel so blessed that she was in my life. I am sure that many of my good qualities were planted and nurtured by her over the years. I felt a tiny bit of sadness at her passing, but honestly it was mostly joy. She lived a full and vibrant life, and was surely missing her husband of seventy some-odd years. My sweet grandmother suffered from Alzheimer's at least 10 years of her life, and I have been missing her all that time. I knew she was in there, but it was difficult to reach the real her. She must be thrilled to be rid of her body that was filled with restrictions, and be free to be herself once again. I am sure she will love getting her body back in it's perfected state. I'm sure we all will. I will miss her until we meet again.



The kids were so excited that Christmas is coming that they begged to put the tree up early. So Jeff went to the garage and pulled out our cool fake tree, and all the decorations to go with it, and we turned it into a two night event. I will post pics of the tree later on, but here is a couple shots of the kids playing in the tree box. They loved that box so much that we are debating wrapping up several different empty boxes and giving those to the kids for Christmas... hee, hee...

Thanksgiving was such a peaceful holiday. Judy made a delicious dinner as always, and the company was very pleasant. I made pumpkin pie and a real cheesecake (I had to bake it and everything!) for the first time by myself. I am an okay cook, but I have never baked a pie before, and it was pretty fun. I think I will try that more often.

Thanksgiving day was also our 9th anniversary, so Jeff took me to see the movie of MY choice, which was Twilight. I thought it was so sweet that he was so willing to see a chick flick with me, no questiions asked. We usually try to compromise and see a movie that we both are interested in, but he insisted on giving me the movie of my choice. After 9 years he is still as sweet as ever.

Zane's Artwork

I have been such a slacker about posting, and I have so much to post, but since I haven't loaded my new pics from my camera yet, I thought it might be fun to post a little bit of Zane's artwork. He loves to draw and paint, and I think he is pretty darn good at it.

Bat

Octopus
Dolphin

Santa Maria

Horse

T-Rex

The horse and the T-Rex were painted on the same day, and I like to think of them as a set.

The Praying Mantis is my very favorite.

I know I am his mother, but I think it is brilliant.

There are quite a few other pieces that I have put away and have not scanned yet, but I will scan a few other good ones later. Nyah loves to paint and color with Zane, but so far it is pretty much circles and lines. I will have to post a few of hers too so she can see her creations on the computer as well. I think her natural gift of art is dance. She has natural rythem, and can twirl and move with ease. We put on music just about every day and let the kids get their groove on. Jeff says poor Zane has inherited his dad's rythem. I wouldn't know since I have NEVER seen Jeff dance in the 10 years I have known him (other than basic slow dancing, of course). Anyway, he has a pretty cool way of busting a move too, and you can tell that he really gets into it. It's pretty funny to watch.

I love my kids, they bring Jeff and I so many smiles every day.

Our Halloween Experience

We had such a fun Halloween this year. When I say "we" I mean me and the kids. Jeff was sicker than a dog. Poor guy.

Getting ready for Halloween, the kids and I decided to make cupcakes for the ladies I visit teach. I ended up making 2 batches, but I only have pictures of the first batch. By the second batch I figured out a way to make the witches a little cuter, but you will just have to take my word for it.

Jeff liked the mummies the best.

Zane and Nyah enjoyed placing the spiders and worms.

Zane wanted to carve the pumpkin that he and Nyah got from Grammy and Grandpa. I pulled up photos of jack-o-lanterns on the net and let him tell me what he wanted to do. As soon as he saw a picture of a pumpkin barfing he knew he wanted to do that too. So I had him draw a picture of exactly what he wanted, and we negotiated a few funny changes (the eyes). Then Zane helped me draw the design on the pumpkin. I did all of the gutting, and Jeff did the carving. Zane thought the smell of the pumpking guts was revolting, so he walked seveal feet away from it while we worked. He is such a funny kid!

The Saturday before Halloween I took the kids to the community center for their big Halloween Bash. RJ and Ethan came with their friend John, and Krista and Tiff brought their cute kids too. We had so much fun playing games, trick-or-treating, and going through the haystack maze.

Gavin, Nyah, and Zane

Nyah, Alyssa, Tatum, Gavin, Brianna, and Zane

On Halloween I took the kids to the mall with my friend Heather and her kids to trick-or-treat. When we got home we had a dinner break, and then we went back out to trick-or-treat in our rainy neighborhood. We had so much fun seeing the neighbors all dressed up.

Every time we would get to a door, Nyah wouldn't say "trick-or-treat". Instead she would say,"happy Halloween!" And then she would reach down into her bucket and find a treat to put in the bowl of the person at the door. Most people were confused, and tried to give her treat back, but a few accepted her gift and returned the favor with two treats for her. Every now and then she would ask the person at the door if what she gave them was their favorite. So funny.

Zane was very excited and wated to go to every house that had a light on. By the time I was totally pooped, I told him we were done and should walk home. He conceded, but insisted on still going to the houses with lots of cool Halloween decor on them. That sounded like a fair deal to me.