Trick Or Treat, Smell My Feet!

Tell me this is not THE cutest picture you have ever seen? Yes, I had to set my camera on the ground :-X *gasp* But it was soooo worth it. The girls and I took an afternoon trip to The Hitchcock nature center!

Well I heard my dad made his way to this blog. Read it and even printed a picture off! Way to go dad! This is big news :) So, in honor of that, I decided I needed a new blog post!!

First things first is Emmy Belle got a hair cut!! Major changes for her :) It was hard to see her hair go, as she's been growing it for some time, but the amount of snarls and whining we lost in the mornings has been WELL worth it!

A local hair salon, here in town, had a cut-a-thon for Domestic Abuse support/awareness/shelters. 100% of proceeds AND tips went to a local shelter. As many of you know this is an issue that is near and dear to our heart. Shannon was supposed to come down, but other things came up. And Suzie was great enough to send along her donation as she had out-of-town company in. While there we learned they were a little over $600! That is phenominal for small town. Hair cuts were $15. So I figure most people gave $20.

If this is what we're in for in the future, Lord help me! A hair cut. Simple, right? NOT when you have a girl involved! NEVER simple with a woman, right? Come on, ladies, admit it!

First is was ALL off. Go ahead, shave it. Emmy has a friend in her grade with luekemia who is bald. Kayla doesn't get down about it. NO! She's happy to not have to have her hair combed or washed! Ha! The innocence of a child :) No Emmy, we CANNOT shave your head! Next? "To my ears". That's a TAD be short, huh? I HAD that hair cut when I was little. It was not cute! Ok, to my chin! As long as it can go behind your ears, GREAT! That was it. Sold!

But nooooooooo..... She wants bangs. We remind her how we had been there, done that. The growing out phase sucks!! But she really really really really really really wants them. FINE! Sh can have them! We had printed out two pictures of hair cuts she wanted. One little girl with bagns (actually a friend of ours!!) and one without. We get down there, she sits in the chair "I don't want bangs.

Decisions when you are 5 are hard. But she looks adorable! Great end result!

Here is Emmy Before....

And after.......

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Emmy Belle..... er Emmy..... er Emilia. Yea Emilia it is. That is what she wants to be called today. I can never remember. Again with the deicisions. If her school hadn't put everything as Emilia (granted it IS her given name, but it was more for sentimental/family memory reasons), she probably wouldn't know it was her name. She surely didn't know how to spell it.

Anyway, Emilia.... but I think she was Emmy that day! Emmy celebrated her first field trip! Off to the famous Vala's Pumkin Patch we went. The place where we would never go without the free-kids/$3 parent discount, because it's over $10 a head to get in! PLUS you have to pay for everything. They picked the most horrible day to have it. It was cold. It POURED. No sprinkled. Literally, poured. We did get one good, misting hour out of the whole thing. So we took a 40 minute bus ride (2 buses full) there, spent 1 1/2 hours there (cut short due to weather HA!) and another 40 minutes back to school! Was it worth it? Eh! :-/ Somehow sinking knee deep in mud with every step is ONLY cool if you are 5 and wearing white shoes! The bus ride was totally worth it though!!

This is Emmy and her friends Kayla and Allison (who was our 'buddy' for the day!)
Emmy and her teacher :)

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So candy day is coming up! Trick or Treat! Happy Halloween! Yay! Of course, in this house, we dress up everyday. But it's still fun coming up with ideas! This year I have made the costumes 98% by myself.

You know how when you envision something? (think..... a rainbow) And it doesn't come out ANYTHING like you thought (think..... the mirage of a rainbow reflection in an oil puddle). Yea... that is the costumes. But the girls are THRILLED with them! Juile's came out FANTASTIC. And I'm even dressing up. Mine is cute. But involves a dress. I still don't like dresses. Never have. The things we do for kids, right? Like spray paint a pair of shoes red and add sparkles!! Yes, you guess it. There IS no place like home! I will be Dorothy from Wizard of Oz! Along with my side kicks Julie the Scarecrow(ess), Emmy the Tin(wo)man, and Jackie the Lion(ess). We will certanily be adorable. No doubt in my mind! Thankfully we live in Iowa. You know, where you spend SO much time (or money) on a costume that gets covered up with winter coast, ear muffs, mittens and pants!

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I have found something that brings me the greatest joy I have experienced in a long time. I have started volunteering at the girls school. Neither of their classes needed help, so I opted for a new class they invented. Jr Kindergarten. Basically it's a maturity thing (so the teachers tell me!). The kids that aren't quiet read for classroomness. So picture 14 energy ridden 5 year old.

There is never a dull moment.

Never.

From picking boogers, to talking about being drunk to talking about how Ms. Killpack's name is like when you 'stab someone in the brain'. Or there was the girl who brought a fried chicken breast (think KFC) amoungst other things in her old crayon box for lunch. Sometimes it seems sad, but really I smile every second I am there. It is the best mood boosting thing ever.

I feel get way more praise than I deserve. I have been called a 'savior'. I even got to plan out their next weeks of letters. But really, it is just something I do because I love it. I am not paid in dollars. I am paid in the feeling that is left deep in my heart from the impact these wonderful kids have on me.

And every week I look forward to every surprising word that comes out of their mouth. I only look forward to when Julie is in school full time and I can spend more time there!

The leaves are falling......

It's that time of year..... Fall! My most favorite season of the year. The perfect weather! Beautiful scenery for picture taking. I love everything about it. The holidays are right around the corner. This year I pray to not hear "we can't afford much" from anyone. Because if you can afford to love, you're as rich as you need to be! :) My 'minnow' baby will be SIX on Turkey Day! Full circle :) She was born on Thanksgiving nearly 6 years ago. Great memories!

Today I did.... well.... started on.... fall cleaning!

So I pull out all 5 tubs of fall/winter clothes.

Slowly, but surely my 'give away/sell' pile got MUCH larger than my 'keep' pile.

Last year, Jackie was a size 7. Lord the girl might knock me out later on in life if she ever finds this blog ::ducks::. This year, a size 10!! Why do kids grow SO much? SO fast? In one year.....

So that leaves me with a large pile of size 7's that at barely 40lbs, Emmy won't be fitting into. Haha Emmy is about a waist size 3T and a length size 6X. I swear, I should go into business making kids 'odd size' clothing!

Then there is Ms. WhyCantPeanutButterCupsBeAFoodGroup (aka Julie) who FLEW out of her 3T/4T and straight into size 6!

So in the end, they all have good starts at least! Children's clothing is a FANTASTIC business!

So then I take all of the summery stuff out and put them into the 5 tubs that were filled with the fall/winter stuff. Pack that away for next year. Next year I'll pull it out and 3/4 of it probably won't fit any of them, yet again. And I KNOW the worst is only to come. When, sure they will stay the same size for awhile, but that $70 pair of jeans is only going to be 'in-style' for one month, right? haha The JOYS of having three girly girls! Lets pray at least a couple of them can SHARE clothes! My parents never got that luxury lol But there was only ONE of me ;)

So then I tackle the empty closets. Oh LORD! Who knew SO much could go into a closet? Tell me why there was a 1/2 eaten Yogurt Tube from Lord knows when! How come there is approximately $12,000 worth of play money crumped into the back corner? Why can't that be REAL money that the people that lived here before mysteriouslly forgot? HAHA

So then I get on this task of just cleaning their whole bedrooms. Might as well, right?

Some things I found
-3 headless dolls (apparently I have plastic surgeons in training that one day hope to conquer whole head replacements? Brain augmentation anyone?)
-11 naked baby dolls (because they HAAAAAAAAAAAVE to have THAT doll, with the REALLY cute outfit on @ the store!!!)
-a moldy milk cup ( I know, it's gross. We REALLY do not allow food/drinks upstairs, except for the cup of water by their bed at night.... I guess the household ghost hauled it up there lol)
-an emtpy gatorade container (sadly, i can't remember the last time anyone consumed gatorade here)
-FOUR empty cups (WITH lids! I am forever buying cups with lids because I live with Ms. SpillsAlot and Ms. SpillsMoreThanSpillsAlot)
-$710,000 in play money (still cussing that the old man who lived here didn't hide money all over in hopes that his crappy family would never find it)
-An entirely pulled apart plastic Hawaiian Lei..... (yes, that's A LOT in case you've never had some cute little kid pull it apart. And then it was pulled into 500 tiny pieces. But not QUITE tiny enough that my hand dandy Dust Buster would eat!) And it's made of that annoying plastic that static clings to your hands!!
-4 1/2 pairs of socks (I've wondered where all the COOL ones went. The pretty socks!) We dug and dug for that final neon green sock. It was nowhere to be found. But, alas, Julie points out we can just give it to Aunt Shanny!!! Smart girl :)
-3 pairs of sandals that I couldn't find for 1/2 the summer. JUST in time to be packed away for next year!


that was just ONE room! Made me dread the next room!

But Jackie is Ms. Tidy :) All I really did was remake her bed. She washed her own bedding a few days ago and made her bed 100% on her own. She was really proud. But after last night of sleeping, the fitted sheet was no where to be found! So I just put a little shelf in there for her 419 stuff animals she has :)

Of course, a picture had fallen and shattered all over her floor weeks ago. I remember she told me. But she doesn't really play up there... because why would she? We only remodeled her room and she has a huge easel (with rolls and rolls of paper and enough paint to paint the outside of our entire house) and floor to ceiling chalkboard, but that's boring, right? lol It couldn't have fallen RIGHT onto the plastic we have under her easel. Noooooo it fell 3/4 onto her carpet. You know, the carpet that EVERYTHING sticks to. Yes, especially shattered glass. That was fun!!

So then I tackle her closet. It wasn't nearly as 'exciting' as Emmy and Julie's though! But her clothing line dwindled from over filling the closet to bare shelves and lots of empty hangers. Mom will fill it back up with bargains! :) I always do!

In between doing all of this, I was baking for Girl Scouts. (our leader hosts a Fall Fenzy Scrapbooking event, we donate food, they [scrappers] pay for it, we [the troop] keep the profits for fun stuff) When I signed up, a month ago, I felt good :) Like I was helping. She wrote everything I volunteered to make and I tucked it away in my purse, knowing I had until the 4th to get the stuff. What was I thinking??? I had to make 2 different double batches of brownies and 2 dozen cookies. Surprisingly, nothing burnt! I opted for Fudge Frosted brownies (with fall sprinkles!), Cheesecake Swirl brownies and cake cookies with frosting. All festive for fall!! My house smelled DELICIOUS!! I guess those scrapin' ladies know how to EAT, huh?! Then I also got a 6 pack of bottled 7-up, ketcup, mustard and pickles. Wow!







Oh! Something else fun that's been happening. I have been volunteering at school. I had to fill out FOURTEEN papers. Don't get me wrong, it's good they do extensive background checks. But my goodness, my hand could have fallen off. I guess I was good enough! I got the thumbs up last week. Glad I hadn't commited any felonies lately ;) But was it really necessary they know what foods I'm allergic to? haha One day, I was signed in, had SEEN the nurse with my own eyes, even waved to her. Yet while I was there she called and left me a message to give her a call haha

So I get an email with a list of what teacher needs what help. I was a bit disappointed not to see Jackie or Emmy's classes on there. So I picked which I thought would be the most fun. Jr. Kindergarten. Yes, that same class that I bitched was so stupid to start back before the school year started. So they now have preschool, jr kindy and regular kindy. Funding anyone?! Ha!

Anyway.... so I go in my first day and there I see 14 kids running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Wow! The energy was AMAZING! They all settle down and say "Hi" in unisen to their new helper. The teacher asks me if I'd like to be called "Wendy or.... Mrs...... G?" haha I'll go with Wendy :)

The teacher apologized a few times. She said they were being 'off' from normal. I just told her it makes me smile. And that it did. I smiled for three hours straight, I do believe. Other peoples kids, that are naughty, are SOOOOO much cuter than your own, right? The ora that comes off of these kids just cannot make you have a bad day. So I get to help my station. I get three little guys and a little lady :) One boy has autism. Sad illness :( So helpless. His name is Joey. But that day, it was George. We just go with George, whatever stresses him out less. Kyle asks me "Do you know Mrs. Kilpack?" (she is another kindergarten teacher) Nope... don't know her. "her name is kill. Like when you stab people in brains. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" Again, I smile. Politely tell him 'that's not nice talk' and go on fishing for letters!! In my group there was Kyle, Lukas, Joey and Madysen. Which magnetic letters were missing?! K, E, L, I, O and Y. Yea.... Kyle was bored ;)

Alright, I've rambled enough!! Just like to give little updates here and there!

A Beautiful Fall Wedding.....

This weekend my cousin Jake and his lovely fiance KJ were married in a beautiful ceremony. Here are some pictures from it:

The girls in their tie dye I made them :) Wedding colors!



Me and my sisters :) You SO can't tell we're all related can you?



I absolutely LOVE this picture. I only wish my other brother was able to attend :(
L to R:
Aaron, Suzie, Shannon, Me, Scott


Andy and his sister ;) Love ya John! :) You can't tell these 2 are related either, huh?



Yea, this was as good as we were gonna get! Afterall they had cupcakes at freewill grabbing and boxes full of 'roll-ups' (Baileys word for Tootsie Rolls). Add in some loud music and they were WOUND!!! :)


My beautiful family! A RARE shot of all 5 of us together!!


My mommy and daddy :) It's rare to see my dad out of his famous St. Michael's sweatshirt. (that was bought when I was in about 5th grade.... so some FIFTEEN years ago!)


I totally missed the kiss :( But I'm loving Jackie in the corner saying "ewwwww" Grammy and Poppy just KISSED *gasp*


Julie 'helping' grammy fill the cupcakes back up. I think she 'taste tested' a few licks of frosting for good measure :)


I swear, all the weird blood comes from her dad! hahaha


The GORGEOUS couple!!!! Their first dance :) They danced to "Grow Old With You" from the Wedding Singer. I love it!!!! I totally dig non-traditional songs.


Shannon's first 1-legged dance :)


The dresses match perfect, huh??!!!!

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The cake I made Shannon :) Sick humor we have. I knew she'd like it. But she LOVED it! :) This is not to celebrate one year of a loss.... it's one year as a SURVIVOR! (I tinted the cake batter a flesh tone and added red for blood too!!!! hehehe)