loot

Thank goodness Halloween is but once a year. We usually have double this, but because our Ward cancelled Trunk-or-Treating, this is our reward. I am disappointed about Trunk-or-Treating, but this year's Halloween was still a success! We all had fun spending time together as a family. Boy, do we love our kids!

candy, candy, candy

The only picture we got of Jacob trick or treating. Penny and her bucket.
Clyde and the children walking to the next house...

ok, ok... trick or treating

Here we are going house to house getting candy from strangers. Penny was so excited that she was pulling us along and then running in place once we were on our way to the next house. SHe held her own bucket, until it got way too heavy and then, only I could carry it for her. Clyde tried to do the good Daddy thing and hold her bucket, but she wasn't taking any of his Daddy chilvary. Jacob is behind me. He was either 10 feet in front of me or right behind me.
Clyde, our teletubbie Penny and Jedi Josh leaving a house with some loot.
Erin said that she was a scary purple princess. However, she wasn't too scary; just a purple princess.
Princess Fiona, I mean Libby, happily staying up past her bed time.
Jedi Josh.

People we visited

Auntie Raegen and Uncle John are, our annual Trick or treating first stop. This year they dressed up. Raegen was a cat and John was a farmer cowboy. They were cute all dressed up! Raegen scared Penny with her mask, unintentially of course. We always have fun visiting them!
The next stop was the Fun-loving Dougherty family. Penny was really getting into the whole, knock on doors and people come out and give you candy thing. She loves Audra too. So, we parked the van in front of their house and hit their neighborhood. What a blast we had!!!

pre trick -or- treating

I have to explain this picture. All day long, we had been after the children to do their chores. They goofed off and shirked their responsibilities. So, after we returned from Blaklee's birthday party, we were on them for not helping out. (And really, I should have been harder on them and after them more, before we even went to Blaklee's party @ the park.) After we had cleaned up a bit, gotten dressed, eaten dinner, the children still didn't know if the were going trick or treating. Look at their glum little faces.
We were able to get a few smiles out of 4 children. Penny was upset that I wasn't holding her.

Halloween party

This afternoon, we all went to the park to celebrate the birthday of Blaklee, the little girl that I watch during the day. It was a cool party! The kids got to wear their costumes and play. The party was way fun. I got pictures of almost everyone. Libby was running around, being a super helper, so somehow, I missed getting a picture of her.

pigs in a blanket

Following our annual tradition, tonight we ate pigs in a blanket. Yum Yum. This year, I made the bread myself. They turned out great! Plus, I have leftovers for tomorrow's lunch!

glasses

After my shower each morning, I usually throw my hair into a messy bun. It usually takes it all day to dry. However, this morning, after my older three children caught the bus, my head was really cold. (I go outside and wait for the bus, so that my children can stay warm on these cold mornings.) I knew that Blaklee would be arriving soon and so I decided to dry my hair before she arrived. I laid my new glasses, about 8 months old, on the bathroom counter. I proceeded to dry my hair, which takes @ least 10-15 minutes. I left the bathroom, Blaklee arrived, and within a few minutes Jacob was using the latrine. I hear him yelling, "Mom, Penny broke your glasses." Of course I run in thinking that a lens had popped out or something was broken that could be repaired, by me or a glasses repair specialist. Oh no, that little poo head had broken the arm off, with the hinges snapped in 2. Both Erin and Josh wear glasses and have broken their fair share of frames, so from past experience, I knew that only certain types of breaks could be repaired. Once I saw the damage, I knew that I couldn't fix it, and yet I had hope that the kind people @ the place where I purchased the glasses, would somehow have the knowledge to remove the hinge from the frame and the arm, insert a new one and presto, my glasses would be all fixed, for just the price of a hinge. No such luck. I had to purchase a new frame. That really bites, by the way. Thinking back things like this are always happening to me. Clyde is always saying to me, that I should put my glasses in the same place, so I heard his words running through my head once I found the carcass of my frames on the bathroom floor. I should really, but this was just a fluke. But, as I was saying, this type of thing is my life. When the kids forget to empty out their pockets, and a tube of chap stick is left in it, then the chap stick is no where, but on my favorite pair of pants. Or the time that Clyde left an ink pen in his pocket, when I was at least 9 months pregnant w/ Penny. I had just purchased a few new shirts, because my belly had outgrown the leftovers of pregnancies past. Yep, the ink ruined my shirts. I seriously cried. Not only was I uncomfortable, but having saved for a few shirts, to have them ruined after only a few times being worn, was just too much. Plus, I was really pregnant and really sensitive. I am not a pleasant pregnant gal. But this is my luck. I step, barefooted, in the goo on the carpet that the kids didn't tell me about, or I sit on the potty after the boys have sprinkled their DNA on it. Gross right?! So, really I should expect this thing from now on. However, I must confess that I have learned several very good lessons, due to these wonderful 'flukes'; Always put my glasses in their protective case away from the grasp of Penny, check everybody's pockets before washing their clothes, AND- look at the potty before I sit down.

sleeping beauty

Seriously, how cute is this? She has a bit of a head cold thing happening and this is when her medication kicked in. I wanted her to eat before napping, so that she wouldn't wake up starving. A just woken-up, starving little Penny isn't so pleasant. Right after I snapped the picture, she woke up. She is just a beauty!

my spidermen

While Clyde was grilling some steaks, our boys climbed our back fence. They tend to do this regularly. I have dug out some nasty splinters too. Boys...
More poses from the boys.
See how high they are?

Primary Program

So, yesterday was our Primary Program. I really do think that it went well. Audra did such a great job writing all the parts. For others looking in, the program doesn't seem to be as stressful. The whole reasoning behind the stress doesn't seem to be understandable. I know first hand, I've been the Primary teacher where my presence for the program was null. I liked it that way. I've been the music leader and had to have 20-50 children sing with all their hearts & w/o screaming their heads off. That was fun too...not really, but rewarding. All the behind-the-scene work is what got me this year. Again, very rewarding but a tad stressful. I am glad that it'll be another year before that happens again.

Look what else I did!!

I finished Erin and Libby's outfits for Sunday. I wanted them to be somewhat similar, but different. Erin got a dress and Libby got a shirt and a skirt. I did the same hand embroidery on Erin & Libby's yokes, as I did on Penny's. I think that they turned out adorable... I am so very proud of myself. :) Erin's dress.
Libby's shirt and skirt.

Look what I did!!

Penny needed a few warmer dresses for winter, that is, if winter ever comes. I found this fabric this past spring and held on to it. Last year for Christmas, my Mom renewed my "Sew Beautiful" subscription. Last month's issue had this adorable little prairie dress in it. Their's was similar fabric and pattern that I used. The difference is that I didn't make the collar, and I hand embroidered the design, where they had some machine embroidered on the insert. Then they had a cuff (on the sleeve) to make the white pop, and I used rick rack. I think this turned out just as cute, if not cuter... :) I'm hoping to be able to finish some matching things for Erin and Libby before Sunday. Sunday is our Primary Program and I thought that it'd be cute to make them matching dresses. I usually use the same fabric, with different style dresses. Since they are mine, hence the same fabric, but they are their own little gals, so they get different styled dresses. I think that I put too much thought in my reasoning and that I've seen "Little House on the Prairie" too many times.

Princess Penny

Today, I pulled out our box of dress-up gowns that Miss Jen had given us, years ago. Penny grabbed this one along with the shoes that came along with another costume. She wore this around for hours. We had to run a few errands and she wore it for those too. She is a little Princess Diva!

State Fair of NC

This past Saturday, we decided to take the family to the NC State Fair. We were out of the house by 8:30am. We stopped and got a bite to eat at the wonderful Hardee's and then we were off to Raleigh. We made it there in a little over an hour. We were so excited. We stopped at all of the animal exhibits. Those were my favorite. We looked at chickens, roosters, chicks, rabbits, turkeys, goats, pigs, cows, horses, and a few more.
We enjoyed strolling in the different craft sections of the fair. We saw so many wonderful artists. One of my favorite parts, was the Yester-year Village. It so reminded me of Asheville. I loved going to the Belle Cher Festival each year that we lived there. Asheville is such a beautiful place to live. In the Yester-year Village there were so many beautiful handcrafted things. It was neat to walk around.
Among the other sights, we saw the NC record breaking pumpkin at over 1100 pounds. We saw other horticultural fruits and veggies. One lady offered to sell us apples, but the children weren't interested in an apple, until it was smothered in candy. We saw men making taffy, the wonderful, filling-pulling candy that is a delicious southern treat. We bought some hand crafted, old-timey wooden cars and planes. We ate and ate until our bellies were full of sour pickles, elephant ears, gyros, steak sandwiches, cotton candy, candied apples, and corn dogs. We rode a few rides and went into fun obstacle courses. We were splashed by a water ride too! We saw a few of our dear friends from our old Ward in Asheboro and a few friends from our Wal-Mart days. We had a blast!
If you haven't been to the State Fair, it is highly recommended. It is good family fun. Just be prepared for the high priced fair food, port-a-potties, and the tons of walking. (There other bathrooms available, which were worth the wait.) One bathroom attendant had little poems and my favorite one she said was, "This is the best urination station in the nation!" Ahhh...the State Fair!!

Piglets

One of the 1st exhibits that we went to see was the kiddie barn. We looked and ewed and ahhed over the animals. There was an exhibit where you could milk a cow for $2. We watched a nanny goat competition. (I was raised on a goat dairy farm. It was neat to show the children the different types of goats. There was a shop in the Yester-year village where a gal was selling goat milk soap for $6 a bar. My Mom made that for years.) We looked at the cows and their calfs. There was a black cow licking her calf and a white one nursing hers. At that moment, I was so totally tempted to become vegetarian. Of course, we will have to eat the beef in the freezer first.

Anyway, there was this sow in a crate and her little piglet on the left spent every bit of 20 minutes nudging it's mother's teet. It was hilarious. There was a big crowd around this pig and her piglets. Penny loved this exhibit. When we walked away from the pigs, she began to cry. That was until we saw a HUGE pig a few minutes later. :0)

Fair Food

We told Josh that we wanted to eat an elephant ear and he was totally grossed out. Once we explained that it was a funnel cake, then he was all over it. Here he his, with powdered sugar all over his face enjoying his 'elephant ear'.
Yum, Yum...a chicken gyro.

Restful climb

About 1/2 way through our day, we needed a bit of a rest. So, we found a shade under this little tree. The children found new energy as they all, except for Penny, shimmied up it.

Penny was awoken by Jacob and was looking at a few of the passerby's.
Our Boys!!

leaving the fair

Here the older children are enjoying these candy apples, as their final treat from the fair. It really kept them from thinking about how tired and sore their feet and legs were, from our day of walking. The apples lasted until we got to our van. It was a good mile walk, from where we parked to the van.
We couldn't leave the State Fair, without a family picture. We had an awesome day!

I Love Daddy

Last night, I was helping the girls clean their room. We were in there for nearly 3 hours and to be truthful, we aren't done yet. Erin had a sewing project that she had to work on for school today, so we needed to stop. While I was helping them clean their room, we sorted clothes that we didn't need. I pulled out a few things for Penny because of this crazy weather we're having. In by stash of clothes, we found this cute t-shirt. Clyde was nicely surprised by her wearing it today. He insisted that we get a picture. She didn't wear it too long, because she got oatmeal, from breakfast, all over it. It was cute, while it lasted. :)

Twins

We had some errands to run on Saturday; looking at a house, buying pumpkins, a Costco run, Wal-Mart etc... Anyway, as we were heading out the door for dinner, Josh noticed that he and Clyde were dressed alike. We ran around all day and it wasn't until Josh said something, did we notice. We had to get a picture or two. The 1st picture, I cut off Clyde's head, but it is still cute. Then, in the 2nd, Penny had to be in it. Again, still cute.

dog pile

Clyde took this picture last night, while I was @ church. How cute are the Wardlings?!

Maylee

Maylee came for a visit last night. She crept into the boys room and got this picture. This is how the boys sleep. Jacob doesn't like to sleep alone, so he cuddles with his favorite person, Josh. Josh is such the coolest big brother to Jacob!
Another gem, taken by Maylee. She caught Jacob using 'the force' in this one. Jacob, being the biggest star wars fan of all, had no problem showing Maylee how to use the force.
Here is our Maylee. This morning, she watched Jacob and Penny while I went walking. Jacob was telling her that boys were stronger than girls. So, to prove her point, she challenged Jacob to an arm westling match. I asked her who won. She said, "Ashley I had to prove a point that girls were too stronger than boys." SO, she won the arm-wrestling match. Isn't Maylee adorable?! :)

Papa & Grammy

This was taken a few minutes before Grammy and Papa left our house. Penny was munching on a chocolate rice krispy treat, so it's on her face. She really enjoyed visiting with Papa and Grammy.
A very happy little boy and his Grammy & Papa. He loved seeing everyone this weekend. He'd tell them 20 times a day that he loved them. He does love his family!

Surfside Family Festival

On Saturday, we went to the Surfside Family Festival. My father-in-law, Ed was a performer. I got some neat pictures of his performance.

This is my Mother-in-Law, Becki, who helped Ed with his music changes and sound. She did a great job.

There was a firetruck @ the festival on Saturday. Here Jacob and Penny are behind the wheel. Ahhh...