Happy Halloween!!

We went Trick-or-Treating tonight and it was a blast! Of course we gathered with the Taylor's and the Kirchmann's and we walked around the Kirchmann's neighborhood to get the goods. We let Brady trick-or-treat too and he had a great time. I was only able to get a few pictures but I will post more once I get them from the other picture takers. We were proud of Brady, he was so brave and didn't want to let go of his bucket, even when it got heavy and was twisting around cutting off his finger circulation! Natalie also had a great time and only got scared once when this IDIOT in a creepy mask was coming at her and Ewan grunting and moaning! I mean, come ON! They are tiny kids, back the freak up! (He really pissed me off if you can't tell--what a creep!) Oh well!

Here are a few of the pictures I got.

Our Monkeys. Brady would not let Keith put him down at first. We think he was scared of himself! Natalie-monkey, Ewan-crab, Bella-Bride of Frankenstein (her real hair!!)

Brady and Dad just chugging along, B was such a trooper! You can see in this picture that his bucket is all twisted around his fingers! We caught that pretty fast, his poor little fingers were getting all red. :(

Autumn Fun

So last Thursday Keith, Erin, the kids, and I made the trip up to Flower Mound to the Pumpkin Patch. We have never taken the kids to one before and it has been years since any of us grownups had been to one. We heard it was a lot of fun so we checked the Internet for directions and off we went. When we got up there we made sure to go in the right entrance and it led us to a Photo Op wonderland. The first thing we did was take pictures with all of the fun character cutouts they had.

Here are two of my favorites. They had a million of these wooden characters. You could tell they make new ones every year because some of them were new, like these Backyardigans ones, and other had seen better days like the Pocahontas ones. We all had a good time seeing who we could find in the sea of cartoons.

We only stayed for a little while but we all had a fun time. There was a tiny hay maze, a hay ride, bounce houses, the pumpkins (of course), and a bunch of little kid sized buildings for the kids to play in. Of course the most important part of the pumkin patch was the pictures! And boy did we take pictures. Here are a few of the best ones. We are going to have to go back next year, it isn't often you find something that is that fun and free!

On the hayride.

Bouncing

Talking to Ryan

Busted

I will post more pictures when I can, but our old computer that I upload the images to is slooooow because we have a wireless card on there and of course we couldn't get the super fast one so it doesn't hold the signla very well. So it consistently kicks me off the internet.

Good (mostly)clean fun

So, as my friends have already blogged about the kids and I participated in a garage sale Friday morning. I went over to Kelli's at 7 and then I came back home to pick up Erin and the babies around 10. We then stayed on until 1ish. We had a good time. I didn't really have much to sell because when we moved Keith and I donated a TON of stuff to goodwill, but I rummaged around and found a few things. I will be ecstatic if I walk away with $25. I remembered why I hate garage sales...cheap people! It's like, "No, I will not sell you that HUGE pile of like new, brand name baby clothes for 50 cents!" I mean come on people, it's a garage SALE not a pile of garbage! Those...people...made me laugh to say the least. Not too many stingies that I saw so that was nice!

The BEST part of the day was that Natalie was able to experience some freedom. I told her before we got there that she could play where ever she wanted in the yard as long as she DID NOT go in the street. I even gave her permission to get dirty (big of me, I know). She had a blast. The 3 Musketeers ran around, made a chalky mess, played computer games, and were actually super well behaved! I was SO proud of my kids. Though poor Brady was super tired at the end and WOULD NOT take a nap. He screamed for, hmm...at least an HOUR!!! I thought I was going to have a breakdown when he just. wouldn't. stop. And then I knew it was going to be an ordeal convincing Natalie that it was time to go home because she was having such a blast. So, needless to say that after Erin and I got all the kids/bags/new found treasures loaded into the car the first thing I did was tell Natalie how proud of her I was and that I was sorry for getting grouchy there at the end. Hey, I was pretty proud of myself for not freaking earlier, so I thought it was a pretty good trip, even if it got a little rough at the end. And every body came home and crashed for 3 hours so it was ALL worth it!

Pictures

OK, so none of the pictures actually turned out very well from basketball, but here are a few of teh better ones. Anyone want to come to her next practice and bring your snazzy camera and take some better pictures for me? I would be ever so grateful!

Dressed and ready to go!

Passing...or possibly shooting. She hadn't really gotten the idea of shooting it up yet.

Stretching

The coach was so good to keep trying with Natalie. Hopefully by the end of the year she will be able to make a basket.

Basketball star...

...in training! So, Natalie had her first practice for her rec center basketball team tonight. I am not sure (because some girls may look like boys), but I think Natalie may be the token white kid and the token girl on her team. The little boys on her team were AWESOME! They could totally make baskets (granted on a lower hoop with these sweet mini balls) where Natalie could barely throw the ball up in the air. We are talking future LeBron James' on her team which if I think about it bodes well for her because she may have just landed herself on the championship team of the 3-4 age group! YAY!

Anywho, they practised shooting, dribbling, passing and running. I had to leave during the practise to come back home for work, but Keith told me a great story that I missed (of course!). So Keith said that towards the end the coach had them "playing" a game. She told them that on one end of the court they are supposed to shoot and on the other end of the court to put their hands in the air and wait. So, Natalie being obedient (and being that we told her to actually listen to her coach and not just follow the other kids) did just what the coach said. When she was on the one end she stood there with her hands in the air. Even when the coach tossed a ball her way for her to catch, she just stood there! I guess the coach should've been more specific on why they were putting the hands in the air (to catch the ball in case you didn't know).

The team name is the Mavericks and they got these super cute jerseys and shorts (that are HUGE) for the game days. It seems like we got a pretty sweet deal for the price we paid and I think Natalie is going to really enjoy it.

P.S. I will post pictures as soon as I can, but we now have two computers (I got a new sweet set up for work-I will have to take pics of that too) so I can't add pictures during work.

Swapping...

...is taking over my life! I used to post on my blog and catch up on all my friends blogs during work and now all my free time is making crafts, or seeing which swaps I can get myself into that won't break my bank. Here are a few pictures of some swaps I have made. I am still waiting on a TON to arrive for me, but I did get my Halloween bucket from my partner. It was very cute.

Halloween matchbox going to Australia.

Ribbon packages for a formal swap. Going to Finland and England.

Profile surprise matchbox (based on her likes and wants)

My favorite-mini note cards- I made 20 for a swap and I can't stop making them. They are just so cute and small, only 2x3.

Halloween bucket received. So much candy (Keith was thrilled) and lots of little crafty goodies for me. Ribbon filled matchbox going to Malaysia.

First Apple

Saturday night Natalie, Erin and I wen to Ashley's Halloween party. We ended up having a great time. Natalie ran around and met new kids, Erin napped on the LoveSac (giant bean bag), and generally a good time was had by all.

My favorite part was the "bobbing for apples" I didn't even think to ask Natalie if she wanted to do it because she generally isn't very adventurous so I couldn't see her dunking her head in a bucket of slobber water to get an apple. So I left her to watch with Kelli and I went inside to check on Erin. I was looking out the window and the next thing I knew there was Natalie stepping up to get that apple! I ran out to watch and cheer her on, Kelli held her hair and she went down and grabbed one (she bit the stem so it was a little bit of cheating, but still), I was SO proud of her!

So then I am thinking "what is she going to do with her new apple?" (actually she had to get another one because just her luck she got the one bruised and battered apple in the tub!) and what does she do? She bites into it like she has been eating them way all her life! My child has never eaten an apple like that, I don't know why, I guess the opportunity just never came up. But she is a pro! She did very well, she just carried that apple around with her for the rest of the time we were there. My little girl all grown up.


Natalie buried in the lovesac!

Mommy and Natalie

I have such cute friends!

Sarah and her girls.

Kelli and her boys.

Basketball

So, Natalie is signed up for the Fall Basketball league at the local rec center. We got a call tonight that practice's start tomorrow and will be every Wednesday from 6-7. Unfortunately we can't go tomorrow (hey, that's what they get when they call last minute!), but we are very excited about the "season" starting next week. My first thought was, oh how that girl is going to crash into bed on Wednesday nights! Luckily today we finally found her a pair of shoes that fit our budget (no Nikes...) and should do just fine for running around, unluckily they are the huge, white, light up shoes that every kid has at one point or another and that I swore I would NEVER buy for my kids. Oh well, Natalie loves them! She has been wearing them around the house all day to start breaking them in.
Keith thinks she looks like a "mall walker" with her little white socks and HUGE white shoes...I agree!

New Graceland

In honor of the pending Cowboys game I thought I would post some pictures of the new Cowboys Stadium I was finally able to take. Now, I may not agree with the way the land was acquired, but in this house we think it is pretty awesome that the new Stadium is going up basically down the street (we're talking less than a mile from our house). The sensible half of me know that it is cool in theory, but it will probably be a total pain once the Stadium goes up. The other half of me can't wait! When we first moved here one of the first excursions that we planned was a tour of the old Stadium. Keith (along with his brothers) has been an avid Cowboys fan since he was a small child, so to him the fact that we now live where they play is pretty darn cool. I mean they sell Cowboys stuff at Wal Mart! (It's kinda like how when you live in Rexburg you can get church books and fancy Book of Mormon's at Wal Mart, they sure try to please their customers!) When we were touring the Stadium he told me it was like his Graceland, needless to say it cracked me up! Anywho, It has been really fun seeing the Stadium grow and grow. We are kicking ourselves now for not taking pictures of the before, like we were planning on.
Across the Wal Mart parking lot. I can't even imagine how crazy this place will be on game days.
For some other cool pictures and a walk through of the completed "vision" go here.

Drunk as a Skunk

The other day I was trying to put Brady down for a nap to no avail. We were out of milk and Brady usually will have a bottle (I know, he should be only on a sippy, but whatever) before his nap. Unlike Natalie, however, Brady will drink juice, so I went into the kitchen to make him a bottle. I like to do the juice 50/50 with water and I accidentally poured too much juice out, so I ended up making him a full 9 oz. bottle of "juice". (I know this is a lot of story, but I am getting to the point) Anywho, I gave him the bottle and left him to drink it while I went and did other Mommy type things. After a few minutes I heard the bottle clink on the side of the crib which normally signifies that he is done drinking and ready for his teeth to be brushed. But not that day, that day I went in and found this:



There was my sweet son, lightly moaning with his eyes half closed drunk on his apple juice. It was the funniest most pathetic thing I had ever seen. I felt SO bad for giving him too much juice, but hey, he needs to learn when to say when!

What's for lunch?

Me and Brady deciding what to eat.

Update

Well, I am once again taking an idea from a fellow blogger. I realized that I too have not put any "real" information about how life in the Bowers house is going. I guess with my new job and Keith in school time has just been flying by.

Right now we have a guest for a few days, Keith's brother Jason, who is staying with us till Friday night when he is flying to Spokane to pick up my sister Erin and help her drive her car down here. Erin is going to move in with us until she can get a job and get settled. We are so excited to have her, I think it will be challenging at times, but SO worth it to have actual, real family nearby (they are a lot easier to hit up for free babysitting than friends...hehehe). We are still waiting for our bunk beds to show up! They emailed a while back and said they are on back order and that they should be shipping out by at least today, so hopefully they will arrive soon, so poor Erin isn't sleeping on the floor/couch for too long!

The kids are changing so quickly that even I am noticing it. I feel like usually it is so gradual when they change that I don't even realize it. But, lately I feel like I am noticing changes every day. I think a large part of that is that Brady is going through a mental growth spurt! He is trying out a bunch of new words (nothing too hard, he doesn't want to strain himself) like apple, shoe, cloud. Small words, but big in my eyes considering the kid DOESN'T TALK!! He is also not so much of a pain in my butt anymore. He has become very lovey and it makes me melt. If you want him to pay attention to you , all you have to do is lay on the floor and he will come running over so he can use you as his personal jungle gym (hey, any attention is good attention from my non-snugly kids!). The down side of this is that he is VERY clingy, when either Keith or I leave, he cries. He has to wave to us out the window, and this lessens the separation anxiety somewhat, but this too has an upside, whenever we return home he is overjoyed to see us! Nothing makes me feel better than pulling up to the apartment to see Brady laughing and smiling at me in the window and then running to me when I open the door.

Natalie on the other hand is turning into a teenager more and more every day! She is sassy, and moody, and hates to go to bed, and hates to get out of bed, and doesn't want to eat with the family. When I write it all down like that it sounds bad, but she really is still so good, I don't know how I got so lucky with her. I think she too is growing mentally and is testing me and Keith to see what her boundaries are. She is finally learning that we eat dinner together and she can't play while we eat and then decide 5 minutes later (when me and Keith are mid-meal) that she wants a plate of food now. That doesn't go over to well. I definitely think I need to get her into a preschool. I was hesitant at first because I didn't want her to be in preschool for 2 years, but her little mind is soaking up so much that I think this is a prime time for her to be in some sort of learning environment. She loves to do grown up things too, she wants nothing to do with her booster seat half of the time, she loves to "craft" with me, and is pretty much an enjoyable kid to be around. And she is absolutely THRILLED that Uncle Jason is here, if she were older I wouldn't be surprised to see her trying to put makeup on him and ribbons in his hair! Right now though she will settle for a game of Chutes and Ladders with him.

Keith is doing good in school, I assume! I really don't know much about his schooling this year, other than he has chosen a field he wants to enter (estate planning) and has joined some cool groups that are going to be giving him that needed experience to get started on the job search that will be coming up here pretty soon. He LOVES to fish in "our" pond, and he does so every time he gets the chance. Our poor wii is feeling left out I am sure, but I love to see at least one of us getting a little fresh air and sun!

And me...well, I never know what to say, plus I am all typed out! If any of you actually made to to the end of this post than I am impressed. I am doing well, working as much as I can to bring in that needed moolah, and now I am also becoming obsessed with swaps! I work on them while I am working and it helps the time fly by! (I put a link to the pictures of the swaps I am doing on the side bar) I guess over all life is pretty good, which in turn makes me worry about what trials are coming next!

A first

So, yesterday Natalie was sitting on the floor and she called out to me, "Mom, something is wrong with my foot!" She then proceded to lift her foot and she let go and it thunked to the ground. Her foot was asleep and in that "dead" stage! This was her first time, we though it was SO funny, Natalie wasn't too thrilled when the "tingles" started though. Hey, at least maybe now she will listen to us when we tell her to sit on her bum at dinner instead of her knees.

Here's a cute picture just for grins. Natalie in her first pig tails at 10 months. I see a resemblance with Brady, no?

Quilt!!

I am asking all of my fellow readers to join together and do me a HUGE favor! I have been reading Crazy Mom Quilts Blog for a while now and I love it so much. She has inspired me to try and start quilting again. And now she is actually giving away one of her gorgeous quilts....here is the catch: The person who gets the most referrals to her blog will win the quilt.

So here is where the favor comes in. If you love me you will go here and leave one comment stating my name and blog and that I got you onto that site. Please everyone that reads this do this for me!!! I will love you all forever!!! Oh, yeah, and pass it on, it only takes a second and every person counts!

P.S. this is the quilt.

Shocked!!!

That was hands down the BEST Monday night game I have EVER watched. You gotta love those Cowboys! They did it, Tony Romo pulled himself together and led the team to a heart stopping victory. That game just proved my love of kickers! You can't win games like that with a crappy kicker. The Cowboys are 5-0 baby!

Hello Autumn, hello pumpkin!

So, I have really had absolutely nothing going on around here that has been post worthy. Except this:

Hello Kelli's Double Layer Pumpkin Pie!

(The first pumpkin pie I have actually liked)

Mmmm...Sooooo yummy!

Double Layer Pumpkin Pie

4 oz. cream cheese, softened (I use lowfat on this and the cool whip, and it's just as good.)
1 cup plus 1 Tbsp. cold milk
1 Tbsp. sugar
8 oz. Cool Whip
graham cracker crust
1 can pumpkin (15 oz.)
2 pkgs. vanilla pudding (instant)
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. cloves

In large bowl, mix cream cheese, 1 Tbsp. milk & sugar w/wire whisk until smooth. (Be sure to gets lumps of cream cheese out.) Gently stir in 1 1/2 cups whipped topping, spread on bottom of crust.In 2nd bowl, stir pumpkin, pudding mix & spices into remaining milk. Beat w/ wire whisk until well-blended (will be thick). Spread over cream cheese layer. Refrigerate 4 hours. Serve w/remaining whipped topping. Serves 8. (Ha! More like two.)

P.S. I hope Kelli doesn't mind me blabbing her recipe all over town, but it is just TOOO good not to share! Let me know if it is top secret and I will take it off my blog....hehe...maybe....

more swaps

Well, hopefully my partners don't link onto my blog through my swap-bot profile and see these pictures, but I just can't wait any more. I finished two more swaps and I think they turned out pretty good. I guess I will never know until I receive mine back from a more experienced partner!

Autumn recipe scrapbook pages.

Simple Matchbox swap (I chose a fall theme obviously)

Tumbling Tots

Natalie had her first "gymnastics" class today. I thought she did very well in such a new setting. We definitely have to work on the whole "wait your turn in line" thing, but she did fine with listening to the teacher which is what I was most worried about. She even made a new little friend to giggle with. I could hear Natalie across the room listing her friends off, "Ewan, and Bella and Sierra", the little girl, Ariel, asked "Am I your friend?" Natalie's reply with a shrug, "Maybe." I feel like there is something I need to teach her about, based on that conversation, but I am not sure what (tact? manners? everyone is your friend? I don't know). So anywho, Natalie got to bear crawl, bunny hop, somersault, and walk and hop on the balance beam. She had a blast so that is the main thing.

She looks way too old in this picture.

Stretching
Waiting

The video isn't the best, but I will try and get better next time. I was actually a little scared when the teacher told them what they were going to do (bunny hop on the beam), but Natalie pulled it off with a little help and did great!