Pumpkin Carving

There is going to be a whole lot of Halloween posts! I've been taking a ton of pictures at all our Halloween events. On Monday night we carved pumpkins for FHE. I think its the first time we've ever carved pumpkins (Tony seems to think we did in Boise but I don't remember it -- shocker I know). Any who . . . we'd taken the kids to pick their own pumpkins the week before so each kiddo had their own. Taeya and Aliya had a ton of fun drawing the face they wanted on their pumpkins. I was impressed at their creativity. Aliya wanted 'lots and lots of teeth' while Tae wanted hers to be spooky. Blake just got the typical Jack-o-lanterns. I think this is definitely a tradition we'd like to continue (although next year I'll be a little bit better prepared -- there was a huge, sticky mess left in the kitchen). 

Aliya wasn't much of a fan of pulling out the pumpkin guts. She kept saying "Ewie, ewie" just like she did at the pumpkin patch. When did she become a sissy? That girl is my dirtiest kid yet!

Here are the kiddos with their finished products. 

Ghost Boogers!

We had Julianne and Kate over to play one afternoon and my girls wanted to make "Ghost Boogers". Poor Kate and Julianne had no idea what my girls were talking about. Who wants to eat Ghost Boogers? Once we informed them it is just white chocolate melted and shaped into ghosts, they were cool with it. My girls LOVE that they get to spread the chocolate out and make it into any shape they want. Our first try resulted in foot long ghosts. This time they were required to make them smaller. They have fun decorating the faces (as you can see from Aliya's decorated the whole thing with chocolate chips). Kate and Julianne were excited to take some home to their brother and parents. I am pretty sure they were not excited to receive Ghost Boogers. Ah well!

Patriotic kid

I have to admit, I was blown away when Aliya started reciting the Pledge of Allegiance with Tae. Who knew they did the Pledge in Pre-school? It is so cute to watch her face. She gets all serious and starts to spew out words. Listening to it, there are times when she is still in the running for speech therapy but for the most part it is so stinkin cute you forget that you cant understand most of the words (plus I find myself reciting it in my head so I am 'hearing' it right in there -- weird, I know!). What a cute little imp she is!

(You'll need to pause the music on the bottom of the page to be able to hear her -- its worth it!!)

New Family Member!

One Sunday afternoon at church, Tony pulled his scriptures out of their case when something came scurrying out. For those of you that know Tony, you know he HATES bugs, spiders etc. It gave him a little surprise then he realized it was a LIZARD. Yep, somehow an ity-bitty lizard had climbed into his scripture bag.  I heard Tony say "Babe, look at this". I thought it was a cute little sucker! 

He then brings the girls over (all while trying to be quiet and not attract attention) to see it. They of course were all excited and immediately wanted to hold it. I told him to put it back in his case and take it outside to let it free. Since Tony is a nice Dad, he took the girls with him to release Lizzie (the girls immediately named 'her'). Well, twenty minutes later they returned -- with the lizard! The girls had convinced him into letting them keep her as a pet. I am totally cool with keeping a lizard as a pet. Growing up, my little brother had all sorts of reptiles/bugs/rodents. I told Tony rather than roasting Lizzie through the rest of church (and worry about her getting smooshed) to take her home and make a little home for her.  

After church, I found Lizzie living in a nice Tupperware home. I guess my dear husband didn't have many reptiles when he was a kid! He put some grass in there, a piece of lettuce and half a grape (he said he felt bad because when he unzipped his case, somehow Lizzie lost part of her tail -- whoops!)

A couple days later, Tony took the girls to get Lizzie a real home (and real food). The kids love to watch her and try to find her in her ENORMOUS home (she's only an inch long -- not sure why she needs a huge aquarium). I love these last two pictures. It shows how things often happen at our house. The girls were having fun sitting on the floor watching Lizzie and Blake loves to be by his sissies so he crawls over to them. Tae was nice and helped him stand by her cage so he could look in. I went to snap a pictures, Blake goes for a handful of hair (tempting I know) and Aliya reacted in true Aliya form (see photo below). I just kept shooting so I have pictures of her going from total smiles, to yelling "No Blakey" and all upset then back to smiles all in about ten shots.

Mom's dressing

Well, my Mom seems to have more faith in you guys than I do. She's been desperately looking for a specific brand of stuffing/dressing (you know the stuff you mix up, add some onion/celery etc then stick up the turkey's hiney - YUCKY) and has not been able to find it. She asked me if I would post a question asking if any of you knew where to purchase "Mom's Dressing" (that's the name of it). I figure most of you are like me and just buy whatever is cheapest or whatever name you recognize. If anyone happens to know where to buy the stuff, please let me or my mother know! Her stuffing is really good (probably the extra hiney flavoring) so its worth it!

Sharing Time

Following our muddy visit to the Pumpkin Patch (if you missed it read the previous post), we stopped and got the kids an ice cream bar. Since they were incredibly muddy, we let them eat their ice cream in the tub (yea I know, what a fun Mom I am!) Blake is OBSESSED with the bathroom. If the door is left open, he immediately crawls in and heads for the toilet. He of course wanted to participate in the bath but since he was the ONLY clean one, he got to watch. The girls were nice enough to share their ice cream. It resulted in the following picture!

He needed a bath after all the shared ice cream. He was incredibly sticky but LOVED it. How nice is it that he's got two big sisters who love him enough to share? Now if only they were that nice to one another . . . 

Pumpkin Pickin'

Last night for FHE we headed to a local pumpkin patch to pick our own pumpkins. The girls were super excited and had wanted to do it for a while. It was a sad, sad patch! There were so few pumpkins to pick from but the girls loved it! Aliya started the evening out all smiles and so happy. Little did we all know that within 10 minutes, the girl would be hysterical and in tears. Oh dear! Continue on to see her drama!

Tony had a lot of fun helping Blakers pick out his pumpkin. He'd let him touch and hold each pumpkin until they found the 'perfect' one.  This is yet another reason why its good my kids have a Dad. I'd just carry the kid around.

Taeya had fun picking the pumpkins. She wanted to make sure we got size appropriate pumpkins.

This was the experience ender! I guess the owners had started to irrigate the garden so there were little "rivers" (as Tae called it) of water on the ground. Tony had been off helping Aliya find a pumpkin and helped her jump across some water. After she jumped, she slipped in the mud.  Since Tony was holding her hand (with Blake and a pumpkin in the other hand), it tweaked Tony's balance which pulled him forward into the muddy bog.  To his credit, he didn't drop Blake or the pumpkin.  After I stopped laughing and snapping pictures, I went to grab Blakers and MY foot got stuck in the mud. Finally, I got Blake so Tony could get himself and Aliya out of the mud. Aliya's feet and flippies were filthy and "ewie" with mud. She sat there for 5 minutes trying to get her flippies back on. Each time she'd stick a toe on it and start crying "its ewie-ewie". Needless to say we paid for our pumpkins and ended another adventurous FHE at the Dickamore house! 

Dance, Dance

Aliya is in her glory! Ballet has started again and she is thrilled. She was so excited to find out that her friend Zimi from Church is in her class too. Each night before class, she picks out what she wants to wear and talks non-stop about what they'll be doing in class. I love that she loves it and has so much fun doing it. 

Kookie kid loves her cowgirls boots (often worn on the wrong feet of course)! She'll wear them with anything. I think she thinks they are necessary for dance class. If she can't find them, she throws a royal fit because she "need to wear 'dem to mine dance class". 

Once we finally get a different card reader for my new camera, I can post the pictures of Tae at soccer. She has been having so much fun and is surprisingly good (well, as good as any 6 year old can be). We still have yet to see her get too aggressive but with Tony and I as her parents, we know it's in there somewhere!

That's not a Band-aid!

Aliya strikes yet again! Yesterday we were up in my bedroom and I was doing my parental duty of ignoring the kids as best I could, when I heard Aliya talking to Blakers about an owie on his head. I figured it was time to find out what was going on and I found Blake with a panty-liner stuck to his head. I'm assuming she was playing in the bathroom and found what she thought was a huge Band-aid. Tony was mortified that I would take a picture of our son with a panty-liner on his head (and plan to post it). I told him it could have been worse, I could taken a picture of him with a tampon in each hand and one in his mouth (which I've found him doing numerous times). 

After Aliya saw my reaction to finding Blake, she thought it'd be funny to make sunglasses. Uh, not quite as cute but still funny. I figure if I watched my children a lot closer I wouldn't find them in such precocious situations but then I wouldn't have such fun posts either. For your sake, I'll continue to ignore them and see what situations Aliya can get into next!

Tae's school picture

Taeya just got her school pictures back and they are DARLING. In the past, I'd spend plenty of $$$ on pictures that were fine -- not cute, not ugly, just fine. So this year I figured I'd beat the system and buy the cheapest packet so I'd at least have proof she went to school. Sure enough, the pictures turned out cute enough that I'd love to send them to family and friends. Well, its not going to happen this year so you can all see how cute she is on the blog. That's what this sucker is for, right? Tony and I can't get over how big she is getting. Stop growing up you little imp!

BTW - she knew exactly how she wanted her hair done. She wanted a french braid headband w/ a white ribbon braided through. It turned out okay -- I should experiment on days that wont be documented forever! The white ribbon is there, you just can't see it.

Daddy by us

Last post I asked our girls these questions about me. I enjoyed their responses so much I thought it'd be fun to ask the same questions only about Tony. Rarely being one to not give my opinion, I figured I'd answer as well. Here we go (BTW M is for me or Mom, dumb I know but Tae was T)!

1. What is something Dad always says to you?
A. don't even act crazy

T. go to bed

M. Where my girls at? (what he always says when he comes home from work)

2. What makes Dad happy?
A. when you are loving him and make him feel special

T. when I give him a hug and a kiss and when I smile at him

M. being w/ his family

3. What makes Dad sad?
A. when I bonk Blakers

T. when I had a bad day

M. when his kids get hurt or have a bad day

4.How does your Dad make you laugh?
A. when we play hide-n-seek
T. tell a joke

M. dance

5. What was your Dad like as a child?
A. popping balloons

T. he was really into his dogs

M. stubborn, a tease, too smart for his own good

6. How old is your Dad?
A. 5 years old

T. Um, same as you, 31

M. 31

7. How tall is your Dad?
A. 55

T. really tall

M. 6'4"

8. What is Dads favorite thing to do?
A. Driving

T. spend time with his family I guess

M. aside from being with us, I'd have to say watching most athletic events, computer games, fishing and hunting

9. What does your Dad do when you're not around?
A. going on 'puter

T. mostly go to work

M. watch Sports Center

10. If your Dad became famous, what would it be for?
A. his trumpeting

T. having dogs

M. definitely NOT his singing or dancing

11. What is your Dad good at?
A. cleaning up toys

T. taking care of kids and dogs and eating

M. pretty much everything

12. What is your Dad not good at?
A. not writing good

T. spelling

M. organization

13. What does your Dad do for his job?
A. Driving, helping Lizzie

T. be a Hospital Administrator

M. Hospital Admin

14. What is your Daddy's favorite food?
A. Pizza

T. BBQ sauce

M. anything I cook

15. What makes you proud of your Dad?
A. making dinner with him

T. I dont remember

M. seeing the man he's become

16. If your Dad were a cartoon character, who would he be?
A. Boots (in Dora)

T. Harry Potters wife (since she said I was Harry Potter - interesting answer)

M. the professor guy on Phineas & Ferb

17. What do you and Dad do together?
A. floating in the bath

T. have a date and watch baseball games

M. wrestle 3 kids

18. How are you and Daddy same?
A. give each other hugs

T. cuz we both like dogs

M. our dreams and goals for our family

19. How are you different?
A. daddy's a football player

T. he's a boy and I'm a girl

M. organizational skills, cooking, cleaning etc. 

20. How do you know your Dad loves you?
A. he loves me this much (with her fingers about 2" apart)

T. he gives me a hug and kiss and smiles at me

M. sacrifices so much for me & our kids

21. What does Dad like most about Mom?
A. marrying each other

T. that she cooks for him

M. well, pretty much everything . . . 

22. Where is your Dads favorite place to go?
A. Go at hims work

T. I'd say to go get a massage

M. anywhere but work!

Is Laundry really all I do?

My girlfriend Polly did this entry on her Blog and I thought it'd be interesting to find out what my girls thought of me.  Their responses to the questions were somewhat typical, entertaining and often off the wall. I tried to write down exactly how they said it to make it as authentic as possible (Aliya is 3 1/2 and Taeya is 6 --  since this is my blog I decided to add my thoughts to some of their comments).  I thought it was fun, so here goes:

1. What is something Mom always says to you?

A. Not to hit Blakers

T. Go clean up your room

2. What makes Mom happy?

A. Get you some dollars

T. Us not screaming

3. What makes Mom sad?

A. Hitting Blakey (can you tell we've talked about this a couple times?)

T. When we be mean to each other

4. How does your Mom make you laugh?

A. She plays Tickle, Tickle

T. By telling a joke (uh, I don't think I've ever told a joke)

5. What was your Mom like as a child?

A. Playing on the 'puter

T. Sleepy (as an adult yes, kid no)

6. How old is your Mom?

A. I don't know . . . 15

T. 31

7. How tall is your Mom?

A. 15

T. I don't know . . . 

8. What is her favorite thing to do?

A. Do laundry (is she kidding?)

T. Relax and have a massage (pretty much right on the money)

9. What does your Mom do when you're not around?

A. Go shopping

T. Feed Blake

10. If your Mom became famous, what would it be for?

A. Doing laundry

T. Singin' in the bathtub -- rub a dub dub (no freakin' way. I don't sing period, let alone in the bathtub/shower)

11. What is your Mom good at?

A. Doing laundry (I think she is crazy. It takes me a whole week to wash, fold and put away a single batch. I HATE laundry. Maybe since it takes me so long that's why she thinks laundry is all I do)

T. Cooking food

12. What is your Mom not good at?

A. Not picking out donuts

T. Talents (this kid does know me pretty well. I really have no talents. I keep trying to find 'um because I know I've got some somewhere, they just have yet to appear)

13. What does your Mom do for her job?

A. Laundry and doing craziness (if by craziness she means certifiably insane I think she's got it right)

T. Taking care of kids

14. What is your Mom's favorite food?

A. Chicken and rice (nope)

T. Macaroni (even further from the truth. I don't really have a favorite food but I know its neither of their answers)

15. What makes you proud of your Mom?

A. Blinking and talking 

T. Putting your foot around your head (now this is a talent. Luckily through the years I have maintained a smidgen of my flexibility. Tae thinks I am so cool to be able to do it. You should all come to a FHE at our house. This is where my kids find out their mom is pretty talentless - but flexible)

16. If your Mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?

A. A "Fancer" (what is a fancer?) when you talk and dance

T. Harry Potter (this kid has never seen a Harry Potter movie nor read a HP book)

17. What do you and your Mom do together?

A. Mopping, doing laundry (she does help me mop. I give the kid a Swiffer and let her go at  it. I figure she may hit a spot I miss)

T. Have fun -- just like getting our haircut (we've gotten our haircut once together but its obviously stuck)

18. How are you and your Mom the same?

A. Our hair

T. We kind of sometimes dress in the same colors

19. How are you different?

A. You don't have toys

T. You are taller than me and I'm smaller

20. How do you know your Mom loves you?

A. Give me kisses

T. Cook for me, do cute hairdo's (I'm glad she knows I love her by doing her hair. Here I've been thinking its torture for them but at least she knows I love her enough to want her to look nice)

21. What does your Mom like most about your Dad?

A.  His dancing (uh, nope! He is the whitest, white boy I've ever met. Kid has no sense of rhythm.  I don't understand how he played an instrument and still cant hear the down beat. Bless his heart for trying though)

T. That I married him. He goes to work and gets money.

22. What is your Moms favorite place to go?

A. To Target (in our old town yes, this probably was true. There is no where else to go. Here in Phx I have yet to find a favorite place -- there are so many different things to do I am still finding new spots)

T. Somewhere to get a massage or a salon

Well, according to my kids all I do is laundry and get a massage. Laundry, yes. Massage, rare! 

D'backs

Tony has been wanting to hit a Diamondback game all summer long and since his wife is soooo not the baseball fan, he decided to take Taeya. They had a fun Daddy/Daughter date. When they got home a bit after 11 p.m., she gave me the complete rundown, no detail spared. You could tell she just LOVED it to (well, everything but the game). Although they had pretty good seats, she wanted to head to the tippy-top to see the view. Tony said she enjoyed those seats a whole lot more. I guess the two of them didn't watch much of the game but had a ton of fun. Taeya said her favorite part of the game was walking around with Daddy. Tony said his favorite was just getting to cuddle with Tae. What a neat Dad to want to spend time with his girl. 

While Tony and Tae were living it up, Aliya, Blake and I went on a date -- to Chick-Fil-A. Yep, big spenders!  I wasn't about to wrestle those two at a baseball game but I figured I could handle them in a greasy fast food joint for an hour or so. 

Splish splash ...

I love watching Blake in the bathtub. He absolutely loves it and goes crazy once you lay him down. He starts with his arms over head and from there just splashes away. 

At the end of his splash-fest,  the poor kid cant breath because he's got so much water everywhere. His eyes and nose are filled with water. I love watching him rub his eyes and get ready for round number two! (Yep, those are ALL girl toys in the bath with him. Once he gets bigger THEN I'll get him boy toys. Till then, he's content to play w/ his sissies toys and I am content not to have to change toys around).

Baking buddies!

Taeya's bestfriend Kate and her sister Julianne came to play the other day. My girls LOVE these girls. They had a ton of fun playing and decided they wanted to make something. Never one to turn down sweets, I opted for homemade brownies! YUM!

Kate and Julianne's mom is a good mom and taught them not to lick the bowl due to the raw eggs. I, on the other hand, give my kids the beaters and tell them to go at it. I think their girls gave in enjoyed licking the bowl. 

Any doubt by this mess that she didnt have fun?