Happy Halloween...a little late

We had a nice Halloween.....We first went to see PopPop that morning and bring him some decorated cookies and pumpkin seeds. He loved the girls Halloween outfits especially Angel's boots and striped tights!! Then later my sister Alli and her friends came over to get dressed up as Candy Land characters and my parents came over and we all had dinner. Then Jason and dad took Angel out to get some candy....she was so excited and had been practicing saying "Happy Halloween" all day. The whole time I was getting her dressed in her ladybug costume (Emma was one too) she kept telling me, "Mama, I love this stuff!" So cute. I think she loved watching her Aunt Alli get all dressed up too. She was very excited to do what the big girls did and dump all the candy out on the floor when they got home and eat and look at all the acquired goodies!! There were not that many kids trick or treating anymore....which I think has a lot to do with the loss of a sense of neighborhood these days. Last year we went to the Church's Saints Party...but Angel is still a bit young to participate in a lot of the activities.....maybe in a couple years! Poor Emma was still having a rough time with her cold (although I think it is all teething related now as I see a tooth coming in) so she made a very cute, but sick ladybug!! Angel had to end the night with dancing of course and getting all the other girls to join in. Hope you had a Happy Halloween too!!

Halloween Cookies

Angel had fun making our traditional Halloween cookies and decorating them with Aunt Alli. I use Danielle Bean's recipe for Brown Sugar Cutouts and Royal Icing....super easy and yummy. I think Angel enjoyed eating more of the icing and cookies than she did decorating them.

Pumpkin Project

We had a fun time carving our pumpkins and taking pictures of the girls in their cute Hanna Halloween outfits from Aunty Megs. Angel wasn't too sure about cleaning the pumpkins out...didn't like all the pulp but did like scraping it clean. She also liked getting the seeds out and enjoys eating them. My pumpkin seed recipe is made up but very yummy....I just melt a couple TBs of butter, add to taste and look some brown sugar, garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce and season salt. Add seeds and mix up then pour onto greased cookie sheet. I sprinkle some kosher salt on top and bake at 350 for at least half an hour almost 45 minutes, stirring a couple time in between and until they look done but not burned. I then laid them out on paper towels to dry and SO GOOD and good for you!! There were too many cute pictures of our fun fall pumpkin night, so check out the slide show! (there are a couple of the corn we had on our fall scene...before the raccoons got to it and after) Enjoy!!!

So creative

Angel loves getting her Hanna boxes from Aunty Megs so much that she wants to even wear those!!

Thanksgiving and Hope

Monday when Jason went to get the transmission, the parts yard informed him that they found a crack in the exterior part....but if we still wanted it they would pay to have it welded for us and also knock $200 off the price...so we almost got it for the price of the first one. So we are hoping tomorrow we can pick it up and FINALLY have it put into our van. Crazy, but hoping this is the last car problem for awhile. We are hoping to also sell "rocket", Jason's car....so if you know anyone who would be interested in a Nissan 240 SX...let us know.

But the best news is.....yesterday the Union and Boeing announced that they had come to a tentative agreement. Some details were released today and Jason has to go with the rest of the union members to vote on Saturday. So please keep the prayers going that at least 50% plus one vote to accept this new contract....that would mean Jason could go back to work on Monday!! After 8 weeks and some stressful times, we are hoping this is the case. The new contract also extended the next negotiations from 3 years to 4 years.....the longer the better! We will let you know the outcome come this weekend....and thanks again to everyone that has been so generous and helpful during this time.

Now I lay me down to sleep....

The other night Jason and I were going to bed and all of a sudden my heart stopped because I heard a weird voice coming from Angel's room. Well...after a few seconds we realized that Angel had grabbed her Guardian Angel toy from the top of her bookshelf and she was playing it over and over again. We started laughing.......but after 20 minutes of non-stop "Now I lay me down to sleep" prayers we were wondering if she would ever stop. She would play it over and over again trying to remember the lines......what were we to do, go in there and say "enough praying....go to sleep!?" So funny, didn't come out that great....but hope you can hear it.

The "Pumpin House"

Yesterday we went to a local pumpkin patch to let the girlies find their own little pumpkins. Angel was so funny. She kept walking around saying "I love this place....I love this farm" and then kept telling us we were at the "pumpin house". So cute. She liked the goats and llamas which she called "mamas". Emma was fascinated by the ducks and said "UCK"...they were more interested in all the fun things around them than in taking pictures....but here are a couple shots.

Pretty Red Shoes

Thanks Aunty Megs for my sparkly red shoes....and my Christmas dress from last year still fits too!!

Couldn't Have Said it Better...

...read THIS. Pray, fast and offer up small sacrifices for the next 8 days until the election!! The most vulnerable depend on our votes!!

Really Good Reads

The top ten things that would happen if we elect a pro-choice president On November 4th:

and

Would the Last Honest Reporter Please Turn On the Lights?

Delta Crib Recall

Click HERE if you have a Delta Crib (which both of ours are) to find out about the fix it kits for the recall problems.

Can't we get a break?

Well....we had the car towed to a guy Jason found that would put in the "new" transmission for $300 earlier this week. Jason went to pick up the transmission at the wrecking yard (which we had already paid $400) to only find out that they found a hole in it and had to return our money and we were once again searching for a transmission. So....the only one we can found for the van is $650 with still only a 90 day warranty at another junk yard. UGH. So we are hoping that we can still have this all fixed for under $1000 which is still way less than the shop quoted with a new transmission, but more than what we were definitely hoping for.

On the strike front, the members were ordered to go to DC for talks....and those started yesterday...but due to the media black out we will not hear anything about them until they are over...so please pray that it is good news!! We are trying to find out other options for health coverage etc in the meantime.

So....still one day at a time and one foot in front of the other....right? Truly looking forward to my "normalcy" to return to our little lives...

Dancing Diva

We tried to put Angel's hair in a bun like a ballerina....but didn't really work, need more practice. But she wanted to dance anyways....and did circles around her little sis who wasn't sure what to think!

Wish Lists

Thanks to this post by my friend Ellie, I have now become a fan of Amazon's universal wish list. What an easy way to link things you find that you like and then give friends/family one place to look for when they need ideas. We have been collecting the Sandra Boynton books for the girls and just started getting the rest of the Berenstain Bear books....which Angel loves and I am so excited because I did when I was little....so this makes it easy to keep track of ones we need to find. I have our wish lists on our sidebar and know I will have lots of fun adding to them!! I always lose my notes and scraps of paper that I write stuff down on that I think of....like book names, authors etc...so maybe this will make it one nice place to keep it all!!

Living Proof

This was a good movie we watched the other night. My mother-in-law told us about it....it is the true story about the doctor that studied the HER-2 component of breast cancer and created the drug Herceptin (HER-2 is what my mother-in-law tested positive for and why she has started chemo and will start Herceptin in December.) It was a very interesting movie to see how drugs like this get created and how much the drug companies control its production and use. The details about the doctor's life and dedication along with the women in the movie were very touching. It is nice to have a better understanding of the drug and its history since it is hitting home for us. Recommend it. Click on pic above to go to site.

Prayer Intention

Please keep Jason's grandmother, Nannie, in your prayers. She went into the hospital over the weekend with pneumonia. They are keeping her there until probably this Friday....worry a little more because she only has half of one lung working due to her complications with scleroderma.

Belated Birthday Wishes

I just realized that I never blogged birthday wishes for several nieces and nephews....October is a very busy month for us.

On September 19th, Olivia turned 2...

...October 5th, Miranda (on right) turned 4...and on October 18th, Lexi (on left) turned 5...

...October 20th, Tyler turned 12!!!

We love and miss you all!!!