Pumpkin Carving

One day last week (I can't even remember which day it was) we carved six of our pumpkins. I had no desire to do anything that night but Scott promised the kids and so I declared myself team photographer and opted out of getting messy. Of course, Scott was right to insist on doing them that night (and I write this only because he doesn't read my blog so he'll never know I said that!) because we ended up with things to do every night the rest of the week.

We all know Cate doesn't mind getting herself dirty! She loved cleaning out the pumpkins. (Precious Mother II- I hope you notice the sewing machine in the background...I'm busy making new curtains and a table runner for Thanksgiving!)
Photo Bomb. I think he has officially lost it.

Carter "studied" while they carved

Things That Are Bugging Me Today

• When Scott does something as simple as push the reset button on the garbage disposal and then dances around and cheers like he just finished an entire kitchen remodel.


• When the garage door won't go down because something is in front of the sensor but I can't figure out what it is.


• When Carter decides to start studying at 9pm the night before a test


• School papers. How am I supposed to conquer clutter with four kids in school?


• LAUNDRY!


• Finally getting to the front of the checkout line at Walmart and realizing I forgot the main ingredient in tonight's dinner


• Making school lunches


• Scott screaming at the Cardinals game. Sorry to my sons' future wives for their screaming at the tv habits...they get it from their dad.


• When Bennett is crabby and starts repeating everything everyone says but with force. Ex. Me-"Bennett go to bed" Ben-"YOU GO TO BED" Good one.

So happy tomorrow is Friday!!!!

Hayride

On Saturday, we attended the Relleke's annual Coolidge Staff hayride/bonfire. The kids love going out into the pumpkin patch after dark and having to use flashlights to find their way. Funny story about the hayride....Oliver was in charge of Cardinal game updates and when we left for the hayride, Cards were up 1-0. Five minutes into the ride, he announced we were losing 2-1. Everyone was deflated until he said that he accidentally looked up the score from the previous game and the Cardinals were actually winning 4-0! Ha! I think Scott was about to throw himself in front of the tractor!!

Rob let the boys pile pumpkins under the tractors tires and watch them blow up when he ran them over. They're still talking about it :)

Our very own pumpkin patch! We're going to carve tonight....

Scott is allergic to hay but insisted on going on the hayride because he doesn't like to miss anything that has to do with the kids. Of course he had a pretty bad reaction when we got back to the house and we ended up having to leave because he could hardly breathe. After a dose of medicine he was feeling better and was happy to watch the final innings of the most amazing baseball game from the comfort of his own couch :) GO CARDS!

Week Review

In our neighborhood, we are the youngest family...by like 30 years. There is good and bad to this. Good=it's a well established, wonderful street filled with people who take care of their homes/yards and it's super quiet. Bad=we stick out like a sore thumb. HA! Just kidding...sort of. The real bad is that there are just a few kids that live by us. I find this to be a bummer, but Scott prefers it. He would rather entertain and play with only our kids in the backyard but I know our kids would also like to have friends within walking distance. A few years ago, The Webbs moved a few houses down and they too have four kids. But, they got screwed and have three girls and one boy :) Poor Jack is the youngest in a houseful of girls. He and Brady have become very good friends and spend ALL of their free-time together. They must ride 100 miles on their bikes each week...up and down the street, around the block, and over to the school yard. And, I love that Jack is very good to Cate who often insists on tagging along when they play out back!

Brady is such a gentleman...offering Cate his jacket when it got cold (even though he made her help him carry this slide across the yard!)

Carrying the slide to the trampoline so they can climb on top to reach the tree to jump out onto trampoline. *I can hear my mother's groan and loud sigh*

A teacher's aide in Bennett's class is being reassigned within the district and on her last day he and Rhett wore mohawks in her honor (I have no idea why). She left quite the impression because he spoke very highly of her and he went to school with crazy hair just for her!

The first grade classes do a leaf painting project each fall. Cate had dance class so Scott took a few hours off work and volunteered in Brady's class. Before school Brady said "I can't wait til 12:45 when my dad walks through my door!"

On Friday, Cate's preschool class went to the pumpkin farm. She was so excited to hang out with her friends outside of school.

Reid was talking to the "rubber duckies"!!! Miss Christy is a rockstar teacher...Cate adores her (and so did Brady). Both of her teachers are awesome.

Difference between girls and boys-Reid was done taking pictures after 30 seconds-Cate insisted on having her picture taken with every pumpkin!

I was surprised to look through my cameras viewfinder and see this little guy...my cousins son Owen!! They happened to be visiting the farm too.

Hadley slept through the entire pumpkin farm trip and Cate was so sad that she didn't get to be in any pictures. So after lunch we had a mini-photo shoot in the front yard. I love this picture of Cate trying to lean on her hand and, well, just about everything Cate does makes Hadley belly laugh!

Also on Friday, Brady reached 100 book reader status. Holla! He had until April to hit this goal but he is so competitive that he wanted to be the first in his class to reach 100.

Now, I must brag.....

1st quarter report cards came out this week...Bennett and Brady both had straight A's. I think the lowest average between the two of them was a 96.98. Carter also had a great report card...not all A's, but I'm hoping he'll get there next quarter. He's finally started to adjust to highschool academics....soccer + being super social + hard grading scale + being super social + Spanish + being super social = a rough first few weeks!!!

ISAT scores from spring came for Ben and Carter this week...both "exceeded" our expectations! (that's a play on words for those not familiar with ISAT. Grades are categorized by "below standards", "meets standards" and "exceeds standards") Both boys rocked their tests!!

Brady's teacher called me a few weeks ago and said she can't wait until his spring testing because she's dying to know his IQ. (Dear Lord, please help Brady to continue using his brain for good and not evil. Amen.)

Our fall schedule is finally winding down...Bennett's fall ball is over, Carter's soccer is over, Brady only has a few more soccer games, and best of all..Scott's 8th grade basketball season only has 3 weeks left. WOOHOO! Here's hoping for a very boring winter! I could really use a few months to relax before spring.

Clever Cate

When I needed ten minutes to shower, I sat Cate down at her table with an erasable marker and a new Fisher Price toy catalog. I told her to circle the things she wanted for Christmas. This is what I found.....

Homecoming Dance

On Saturday, Carter attended his first highschool Homecoming Dance. He decided he didn't want to wear a suit coat and instead chose a vest...which I think was a great choice. He looked fabulous :) Because boys are useless, he had no idea what his plans were for before the dance until the day of and that drove me crazy! He met up with 1100 other kids at the park at 3pm for pictures, then he went with a group to the Country Club for dinner (Scott and I joined six other parents for dinner in the downstairs grill) and then the kids headed to the highschool for the dance.

Scott had to google "how to tied a neck tie" right before we left. HA!

This picture cracks me up. I know there are three years between these two, but come on, how unfair is this? When Carter calls me after school and says he's with Brant, I have to laugh at the image of these two driving through town... My nephew Jon also attended the dance. Here he is with his favorite little ladies....Cate, Harper, and Delaney
This picture is classic!Carter said the dance was "the best night of his life" and I'm so glad he had such a great time. Afterwards, I took him home and he changed and then a friend (senior girl, ahem) picked him up and took him to a party. I know, I know....I can hardly talk about it. But, she's in student council with him and I asked his student council rep that ran the dance about it and she said she trusted the group he was with. Bottom line...we both survived the night. Which brings me to a little rant:

Student Council parents were asked to volunteer during the dance. I accepted the challenge and was assigned to the drink table. Luckily, I "worked" with a couple other awesome moms who made the night super fun (Michelle is seriously the funniest person ever). We poured 2000 drinks in three hours. I have blisters on my thumb from opening 2L's of soda. Being on the front line of a highschool dance as an adult was very traumatic for me. The tears, Good Lord, the tears that were shed in that cafeteria made me crazy! Girls sobbing at tables and, I kid you not, one girl literally had to be supported by her friends before she fell to the ground hysterical. I wanted to walk over and slap that girl right across the face. My speech would have gone something like this..."Are you f#@$ing kidding me? You are in highschool...the best years of your life. Why in the hell are you wasting one of the best nights lying on this disgusting floor in your too tight dress crying over some loser that you aren't even going to remember in five years? Do you know who should be crying? Me and the other moms working the shitty soda table. That's right! We are mere shells of the fun-I-love-life girls that we used to be at your age because our kids have sucked the life right out of us. So, do me a favor...get your pathetic butt up and go dance with every guy in that gym that will look past your tear destroyed ugly face and give you a chance. DO IT FOR US!" She'll one day look back and realize what an idiot she was (for both crying and going out in public in a hideous dress). So, there wasn't much I could do for her besides make fun of her with the other moms. I know I sound terrible, and I am, but come on, she was obviously doing it for the attention and now I've given her way too much of mine. Damn. My point is...well, I don't know what my point is...but I did have a fun time watching all of the kids file into the cafeteria sweating like crazy from tearing up the dance floor. And I look forward to next year when we graduate from the drink table to the coat-check table. Woohoo! Overall it was a very successful night!!
THE END

(and in reality, it's probably just me, not the other moms, who feel so far removed from the free-spirited teenagers that crowded that cafeteria. I'm just going to pretend they feel the same as me because it makes me feel better!)

Homecoming Week

Last week was Homecoming for the highschool. Each day was dedicated to a different theme. Tuesday was tie-dye day and I made a trip to Baxter's in search of a few groovy things. FYI, Baxter's in Alton has every party supply you could possibly need...very overwhelming but in a good way...I love it :)

I only took a picture on Tuesday because the other days were boring....pajama day, casual day, and school spirit day on Friday. Of course the kids loved being 'uniform-free' for a few days!

Tuesday was also Carter's last soccer game of the season...holla! Ben was in charge of game-time photography and obviously loves his new shoes (he has been fired for all future events)

After the soccer game, we headed to the Homecoming Parade. ROAST THE REDBIRDS!

Nicholas and Brady waiting for the parade to start

Cate was patiently waiting for the band and firetrucks!

Annie and Cody...aka CJ SKILLZ I...aka the 2nd greatest, 2nd coolest, 2nd most awesomest guy in the whole world (2nd only to Scott Smallie of course)
Carter was representin' Student Council. I bought him 200 beaded necklaces to throw out and told him exactly where we would be standing so he could throw a few to Cate and the boys. He, of course, was on the opposite side of the trolley and totally missed us. I was so mad!
There were some very creative floats!

The football team threw out Warrior footballs and the kids were all lucky enough to catch one (thanks Aunt Kathy!)

The boys loved their new tshirts and were proud to wear them while cheering the Warriors to a big football victory Friday night!!!

Saturday was the dance and Carter had "the best night of his life". It deserves an entire post of it's own :) I was asked to work the dance, which sounds awesome, but in reality I was stuck (with some very awesome ladies) working the drink line. I poured 2000+ sodas and I have the blisters to prove it....more details tomorrow!