Happy Halloween 2009

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!
Well, with Jerome's back, we have been laying low for a couple of weeks, so we relaxed today and carved pumpkins during the day, but it was the evening that was extremely busy (but fun... we'll explain down below)
Here are pictures of the day...

Some pictures of carving the pumpkin. Dayton is ready with his spoon to help Daddy scoop out the pumpkin stuff. Dayton actually asked me if we could make pumpkin pie out of our pumpkins. Since I've never even baked a pie, I told him, let's try the pumpkin pie stuff in a can first and see if I can do that before we try on a real pumpkin!

Here's Amara getting ready to help Daddy. This will be the first time Amara put her hands in a pumpkin... :o)

She didn't have her hands in the pumpkins long, she wiped them off on her pants... very quickly!! LOL! Here she is watching Dayton and Daddy clean out her small pumpkin. I like this picture with her crouching down with her hands on her knees... she's really watching the festivities. :o)

Here's Dayton in the house in his Transformer's costume... he was Optimus Prime.

Here he is posing outside. Here we were on our way to St. Lukes. Grandma and Grandpa (Jerome's parents) were watching the house for trick-or-treaters, so they watched Amara for us as well while we took Dayton to St. Lukes. I'm really glad we did, it was busy!We were going to head out there before heading back home and going through our neighborhood.

I brought the camera in at St. Lukes, but I didn't get any pictures. I think I was so overwhelmed over all the activities there, I didn't even think to get pictures! (Darn). Anyway, we had so much fun there, I can't believe it... it was really an amazing time.

We got there and they were having hay rides and "trunk-or-treating" outside. There were volunteers that decorated the trunk of their car up and had candy where the kids could trick-or-treat out of the trunks... it was hysterical! I've never done that, so it was a fun experience.

Then... we went inside! OH WOW!! The place was PACKED!! I went in and talked to them, I didn't know what to do. They had tables set up to eat dinner. They gave us tickets for the dinner (this was free). It was a hot dog, baked beans, chips, and apple juice. I think that was it, we ate before hand, so we didn't eat, that's just what we saw. Then there was a bouncy for the kids to jump. They had numbers all over the floor so they a version of a cake walk (no music, you just stand on a number when they do the drawing). WE WON!!! Dayton actually was standing on the number two (on purpose) and I was talking to Kaitlyn's mom when they called out that they were going to draw again. SO... I went over to stand by Dayton and they called out number 2!! Dayton picked out a plate of cupcakes!! It was awesome!!! I also saw an old co-worker I've known for about 10 years. We used to van-pool together and I remember him when they were trying to have a baby... their baby was there too... she's 9!!!

I stayed to catch up with them a bit (I haven't seen them for almost 2 years) Jerome took Dayton upstairs to play the games. Brooke and Kaitlyn went too... Dayton came back and told me how much fun he had!! We were there longer than we had planned, but it was an amazing time!

Here's Amara and Daddy getting ready to go out and trick-or-treat in our neighborhood! (We didn't have a pail for Amara for 2 reasons. 1. She couldn't carry a bucket and walk and 2. She's too little for candy, it felt weird taking candy from people... it would just be more candy in the house we really don't need so it worked out great).

Seriously... she was so dang cute. Since she didn't have a bag, she would be in the back of the kids and when the kids would get the candy, she would go to the front and say "Hi" and then turn around and walk away. It was funny!! I was saying next year she'll be confused when she has a bag and people try to give her candy. She was so happy just walking around and saying Hi to everyone. It was awesome!!

Here's the back of her costume!

Here's a picture of Brooke, Dayton and Amara getting ready to go out and trick-or-treat. Ryan also came along, but he came after we had left, so I didn't get a picture of him (sorry).

Anyway, we had tons of fun, it was a great Halloween!!!

Clue Anyone?

As most of you know, I started a new job in August. I started working at Totem Ocean Trailer Express (TOTE) in the accounting department.
I miss my co-workers at Dynacraft, they are an amazing group of people and it is really like a family there and I miss them terribly, but TOTE is a wonderful company to work for as well. They have amazing benefits and it's great to be back in accounting! The group I work with is fun too! As you will see, we really got into Halloween in the Accounting department at TOTE. :o)
There are 7 of us and one person was off (her daughter was back in town from college so she took the day off)... so there were 6 of us there on the day before Halloween so we dressed up as a team. We all dressed up as the characters of the game CLUE!! it was fun! The accounting department was the BODDY Mansion and Eileen was Mr. Boddy (or in this case Mrs. Boddy).
My boss, Jeff was Colonel Mustard. We thought he should be the Colonel since he is our controller. He actually won the costume contest!
Nick was Prof. Plum (he graduated from the UW, we thought since UW's colors are purple and gold that it was fitting he was Prof. Plum).
Heather was Mr. Green (we had to have one gal be a Mr. but since her last name is Green, it was fitting that she be Mr. Green.
Dorothy has white hair, so it was cool that she was Mrs. White.
Aurora had a great red outfit, so she was Miss Scarlet.
And I got to be Mrs. Peacock.
We had all the weapons and the cubes were different rooms in the mansion and we actually played the game all day. We put 3 cards in an envelope a who, with what, and where. We passed out the rest of the cards and everyone at TOTE got to ask us a who, with what and where and if we had one or more of those, we would only show them 1 card. The person who was asking had 3 tries with each of us suspects and the winner got a 100 grand candy bar! Oh we had fun!
Here are some pics!

This doesn't need a caption.

The outline of Mr. Boddy (AKA Eileen)


The suspects: Miss Scarlet (AKA Aurora) Mrs. Green (AKA Heather) Prof. Plum (AKA Nick) Mrs. Peacock (AKA Shai) Col. Mustard (AKA Jeff) and in front Mrs. White (AKA Dorothy).

The weapons and the CLUE board with the box of guesses.

The opening of the envelope!!!

Looks like Miss Scarlet did it with the Lead Pipe in the Ballroom.

Which is actually funny, the body was taped right outside of the ballroom and the ballroom happened to be Miss Scarlet's cube (AKA Aurora).

Col. Mustard giving the reward to the winner Crocodile Dundee (AKA Ken)

The reward: 100 Grand! :-)

A fun time had by all.

Dayton at St. Lukes

Both Dayton and Amara got to dress up for Halloween on Friday. Amara didn't go to school in her costume, we brought it and she wore it during the day, but I didn't get any pictures of that.
Aunt Katrina and the boys gave Dayton the COOLEST fireman's outfit this summer, complete with pants, coat and a hat!!! We decided to wear the coat and hat to St. Lukes on Friday with some great fireman galoshes that Grandma got him. I come from a line of fire fighters and my dad was a fire chief for many years, so it's really cool to see him wearing this outfit (thank you Katrina, Michael, Samuel and Micah for the outfit, it's awesome!!!)
They had a fun day of trick-or-treating and playing games, it was fun to hear all about it. :o)


Amara liked her costume, but I was told she wouldn't keep her hat on, she liked to carry it in her hand. I was thinking the same thing would happen on Halloween night, but it didn't, she did great at keeping her hat on!
:o)

Carey's Baby Shower

My friend Carey is Brooke's mom. Brooke and Dayton met at Miss Robin's daycare and preschool and they became fast friends. Brooke is now in kindergarten and Dayton is attending preschool at St. Lukes, but since Carey and I have become friends, they have been able to keep in touch. :o)
Well, Carey is pregnant and will have the baby before Christmas (they said they wouldn't let her go past Christmas, so if she hasn't gone into labor by then, they will induce. Last weekend Carey had her baby shower and I wanted to post pictures of the fun we had.

In case you don't know her... here is Carey.

The food was really presented well!

Here's a tomato crab! The entire presentation of the food was pretty.

So here is one of Carey's friends, Carey and the gal in Orange put on the shower for Carey. That gal is in the process of moving, so the actual shower was held at Shara's house (Carey's cousin's).

The gals closer are Carey's aunts and some other friends in the background.

And pictures of the guests on the other side of the room.

Here's Carey on one of the games... you know the one, take the string and see who is closest to the actual size of Carey's tummy. The string she is holding is the one that was closest to her true size (that was mine... I won that game, I guess I hug her a lot Ha Ha!!)

Now this was a game I've never played before. You divide the guests up in 2 teams. Everyone gets a balloon. They stand in a line. One person on each team starts to blow up a balloon. They have to blow the balloon up, tie it and put it under their shirt before the next person in line can blow up their balloon and tie it and put it under their shirt and so on. After the last person puts it under their shirt... The first person needs to take the balloon out and pop it, then the next person and so on... the team that finishes (the last person to pop their balloon first wins). It was a funny game. The entire team gets a small candy bar as the winners (my team didn't win).

Here's Shara trying to pop her balloon by stepping on it (I thought it was easier to sit on m

The other game played was another unique one. The person throwing the party went to Wal-Mart and listed out a bunch of baby stuff. As she rattled it off, we needed to put down the price we thought it was. At the end, we added it up (this is what they are doing here). I had $555.55 for my stuff, I believe the grand total was around $700.00. WOW it's crazy how much this baby stuff is (and you would think I would know since I JUST went through it, but I was still low on my estimates). LOL!!

I loved this outfit, I thought it was just so dang cute!!!

You already look so proud Carey!!

Carey just loved this book, I think it's a book of Anne Geddes pictures (I'm not 100% sure) but she sat there looking through it for a while...

Here's Carey opening the rest of her gifts.

I'll have to ask Carey who this friend was, I just thought she looked so cozy and comfy on the couch.

We can hardly wait to see the little one Carey! We are so excited!

Busy couple of weeks

Well, we had a crazy couple of weeks.

I found out that I will need gallbladder surgery. I had an episode back in May and another one in August, my last day at Dyncraft. Starting the first day in September through October I was having at least 1 attack and up to 3 attacks in a week. I assume it was stress and maybe it could be an ulcer. I finally went to the doctor and he assessed me and really thought it was my gallbladder. An ultra-sound confirmed (and I do quote the technician) my gallbladder was "all jacked up". I have an appointment later this month to see a surgeon and maybe will have surgery later in November. One reason for not doing surgery right now is since I switched jobs... I don't have medical leave yet. :o( The attacks were getting pretty darn bad, but (knock on wood) I haven't had an attack now in 2 weeks... which is a good thing because of the 2nd half of this posting, I've been too busy taking care of the family to worry about an attack.

Jerome hurt his back somehow. He was hobbling around for about 2 weeks and was seeing the chiropractor and getting massage therapy. I was worried, so I made him a Dr. appointment and they said it was the sciatic nerve (we already knew that, but wanted to get him some help) so he prescribed an anti-inflammatory. That didn't help much, he went to the Dr. on Wednesday and had to stay home on Friday. He was so bad by Saturday that we tried to go to Urgent Care (they turned us away, LONG story there), anyway, we ended up in ER where they gave us some medication for him and muscle relaxers. This was good, but not good enough. He went in on Tuesday for an MRI and we found out he had a herniated disk and we couldn't get him in until Friday for a back specialist. It's a very long and frustrating story, but shorter version is, I was finally able to get him in on Wednesday (after much frustration with the Dr. staff) to get more medication from the doctor and a spinal epidural shot (I had one in 07 for my herniated disk and it worked), so he went in as well. WOW, his shot helped him almost immediately, (mine took several days). He's doing so much better now, but his calf and shins still hurt from the spasms his muscles were going through. So needless to say, we've been hanging out around the house trying to play low key. It would be really relaxing if Jerome was feeling better. He's much much better, but still hobling around. Hopefully by next weekend he'll be feeling better.

Dayton at the Dentist

So, the same day we went to the pumpkin patch (see the next posting below), we went to the dentist. There's a story behind this dentist. This is the very same dentist office that I actually remember sitting on my dad's lap before I had to go in for cleanings. My dad would bring me in and sit me on his lap to get me used to the dentist. Well, I've been going to the very same dentist since. Now Dr. Sullivan has since retired about 4 years ago and Dr. Cooper took over his business. Dr. Cooper has 4 kids of his own and has done a great job in keeping the business the same atmosphere and all. I also love the staff that's been there for years. I love that if I don't respond to their post cards, they will call me and hunt me down for an appointment. I really love that. I forget to call way too often and them calling me has been wonderful.
Well, ever since Dayton was 6 months old, I've been bringing him to my appointments (Amara has gone to them too, this was the first one she missed), but I've been bringing Dayton and getting him ready for the dentist. He's gone 2 other times, but all I had was a cell phone picture that I never posted, so here's Dayton... his day at the dentist.

Here he is getting any tarter buildup scrapped off.

Brushing his teeth.

He's getting fluoride on his teeth here.

Dr. Cooper looking at his teeth.

A closer look.

Dayton all done giving the thumbs up sign!! :o)

Dayton's field trip to the pumpkin patch

Dayton had his first field trip with St. Lukes to the pumpkin patch. I had the very fortunate experience to go with them!! We had a beautiful day, no rain and it was a blast! Here are several pictures of the fun!

There are so many pictures that I can't post them all. The first one he was just jumping and splashing in the puddle, but paused enough to pose for this picture.

Here is the class talking to the tour guide and Dayton is up front and ready to answer one of his questions.

The tour guide taking the class around the farm. Wait until you see what they are looking at!

Here is a mama sheep with her 3 day old babies... how sweet!

They also took them around and showed them an old fashioned kitchen, here are the kids holding hands, isn't that just sweet!?!

And they are looking at something else here...

A very cute goat!!

And Dayton posing with the goat!!

Here is the class taking a picture in the pumpkin patch.

Dayton picked out his pumpkin!

Going through the corn maze!

He found the end of the maze!

Dayton on the tractor!!

Hello... we are here!

So it's been a while since I have had a chance to blog. So much has happened.
Amara started walking on her own, we went to Hot August Nights, the 57 Chevy got windows, we had an anniversary, a birthday, new schools, Puyallup fair fun times, and I started a new job. It's been a crazy two months.
I'm sorry for the delay.
I have posted 10 postings about the last two months, so take some time and enjoy!
The postings are:

• The oldest: Video of Amara walking
• Hot August Nights
• Our 57 Chevy
• August 23rd, our anniversary
• A visitor in the back yard
• Amara's birthday
• Pictures of the kids
• Dayton starts St. Lukes
• Some family fun pictures
• The newest (you will see first) Puyallup Fair

Puyallup Fair!

So we were able to go to the Puyallup Fair on opening night and we had so much fun!! Our friends Carey, Jay & Brooke were able to come with us!

Here are pictures of the fun!

Baby bunnies!! Oh, they were so cute! I've never seen baby bunnies before!


Jerome loves the chickens and roosters... he loved the color on this one
(hope you can see the color).

I loved the funny hair on this one!! :oD

Dayton getting a train on his arm.

Brooke and Dayton showing off their paintings.

Brooke had a dolphin with sparkles on her cheek!

Brooke and Dayton at the petting farm.

Amara enjoying the day too!!!

Dayton and Brooke on a ride together!

Here they are getting ready for a roller coaster ride... looks like Dayton is jazzed!

Its so hard to take pictures when they are on rides, but I was able to get this one... Dayton has his arms up!! :o)

(sorry Brooke, I cut you off there)

Here's Dayton and Brooke on another roller coaster. Again, Brooke is hard to see because she's behind the boy in red... but do you see her arms are up in the air!!! :o)

Dayton was just tall enough to ride the big ferris wheel (he was actually about 1/2 an inch too short, but they let him ride. I got to ride with him!!! (Thank you Jerome for giving me that ride with Dayton). Anyway, Jerome asked Dayton to take a picture of what he saw up there and this was Dayton's picture. :o)

We had split up from Carey, Jay and Brooke and here's Dayton "milking" the cow!!! (it was a plastic cow, but there were utters that you could really milk although it was water that came out.

Oh Dayton had tons of fun!!!!

Here's a cool story here! We stopped by the dog area and here's Dayton petting a St. Bernard. Now here's the cool story... both Jerome and I had St. Bernard dogs growing up, weird huh!

Dayton really liked them.

This one really liked Amara too!!! Amara thought the St. Bernard was pretty interesting and didn't blink an eye when this one stole one of her fish crackers!! LOL! :o)

My favorite family picture right now!! We had this done on a fabric poster and I took a picture of it. We don't have many family pictures, so I just love it!!

Ah... the end of a long night... Amara sleeping on the way back to the car.

What a fun night!!!!