Trick or Treat...My Girls Are Neat!

The girls had a great Halloween! My mom makes their costumes every year. They are pretty lucky girls! Lauryn was a hippie chick and Jen was Little Miss Mustang.

We don't really trick-or-treat. By the time we stop at the grandmas' houses and a few friends, they have enough Halloween treats to last until next year. They were quite tickled because they were given several gift certificates to McDonalds and bunches of delicious goodies.

Great grandma's house is one of our regular stops. The girls are so lucky to have a spunky great grandma!!

This is our favorite Strawberry Fairy! Miss Rowyn is cute as a button. We get a kick out of her. She is a lucky little girl to have a sweet,sweet mommy that gives her lots of love!!

My mom makes yummy caramel corn and popcorn balls for Halloween. She has regulars that come every year just for her treats. The girls would rather hang out at grandma and papa's than trick-or-treat because we get to see so many friends and family.

7 Random/Weird Facts About Me

Ali "tagged" me and wants me to share 7 random/weird facts about myself.

1. I have a huge fear of birds! I can't stand the sound of their wings flapping and I'm pretty sure they will peck my eyeballs out if I make eye contact.

2. I was the captain of the Prosser High School Drill Team. Yep...I wore the knee high white boots, short white polyester dress with a variety of overlays (corduroy, sequins, fringe, etc.). The thought of putting our dance leotards on now makes me just about vomit. It's a good thing I was a size nothing back then.

3. I still jump up on the bed at night. I don't know what I think is under the bed but I fear that it is going to reach out and grab my ankles.

4. Once, early in my teaching career, I was shopping at "The Bon Marche" and needed to take a little potty break. I placed a seat cover on the seat and pulled my britches down. I started to sit and noticed that the seat cover had fallen off. I turned around to get another seat cover and bent over to place it on the seat. Little did I know, the door had swung open and my bare behind was smiling at the two girls waiting in line. The really embarrassing part was that they just happen to be students at Housel, where I teach. Poor kids!

5. I love lemons! When I was a kid I would hop on my bike and go to the store. Instead of getting candy, I would buy lemons. After racing home I'd slice them up or peel them and douse em' with salt. Nummers! My dentist made me stop though. Not so good for the teeth. I still sneek one from time to time though. (Shhh...don't tell.)

6. I can say the alphabet backwards really fast!

7. My daughters are better at doing hair than I am. It's not quite how I imagined things. I always wanted girls so I could do their hair so cute. Well, once I had them (and their hair finally grew), I quickly learned that I'm not so skilled in that area. In fact, they will "do" my hair from time to time and I always receive compliments when they do it.

That's about all the useless information I can come up with right now. Sorry if it was painfully boring. I'll try to think of more and enlighten you at a later date. It's always nice to have something to look forward to;)

So now I am tagging: LynnnAmynKaranStacynMichelenKarinKaren

You're It!

Tag!

I was tagged by Karen!

Name: Lauryn Christine Essary

Age: 9

Nicknames: Bugs, Little One, Peanut, Bugaboo

Favorite Activities: Soccer, Basketball, Cooking, Playing Webkinz, Tetherball, Volleyball, Riding Bikes, Driving the Golf Cart, Camping

Favorite Foods: Rice-a-Roni, Caesar Salad, Pizza, Tacos, Hamburgers, Hot Dogs with Cheese in the middle, Cucumbers & Lime, Crushed Ice with Lime and Salt

Least Favorite Foods: Blueberries, Bacon Sandwiches, Biscuits & Gravy

Favorite Music: In the Ayer (Flo Rida), C'est La Vie (Bewitched), Days of Elijah (Twila Paris), Fly on the Wall (Miley Cyrus), Eye of the Tiger (Survivor), Girlfriend (Avril Lavigne)

Toys: iPod (games & music), Nintendo DS, Computer (Webkinz), Wii (Wii Fit & Guitar Hero)

Books: Ivy & Bean series, Wizard of Oz, Ghost Hunters and the Incredibly Revolting Ghost

What Makes me Happy: When dad's happy (not grouchy), Sofie, Brandi, Asia, hanging out with Papa

What Makes me Sad: When dad's grouchy, when mom burns cookies, when the batteries in my Nintendo DS die, when Papa's gone

Tag: Kara (Kourtney), Lynn (Kampbell), Stacy (Ashtyn)

Happy 12th Birthday Jenna!

Jenna is 12!

Yikes!

That means she is 2/3 of the way to 18(adult).

How does this happen?

It seems like just yesterday that this beautiful 8lb 12oz sweet baby girl was born. I can remember every single moment of the very long...but worthwhile adventure. I had a C-Section after 26 hours of labor because she was being a touch stubborn and wasn't turning. A respiratory team was in the operating room because Jen had taken a little poopy (meconium) in the womb. They wanted to be able to suck it out before her first cry so she didn't inhale the "stuff" since it would block her airways. Well...Jen came out screamin' so the team worked on her and then she was off to the NICU. She was naughty in there because she was fully developed and had a set of lungs on her. The preemies didn't care for her too much because she was soooo loud. They kept her in a "sound proof" bubble so she didn't bother the other babies so much. I wasn't able to make too many trips over but Blake spent a lot of time with her. She was released from the NICU on Halloween and we came home shortly after.


Now this little girl is 12. I can't even begin to describe what a true gift she is! There are very few people with hearts as big as Jenna's. I'm so lucky to be her mom!

Jen celebrated her birthday for three days. I know...a little crazy (but tons of fun)! Saturday she had her "friend" party, Sunday was the "family" party, and Monday she had her "real" birthday.

Jen and Uncle Rich apparently have the same taste in clothing.

Lauryn inspecting Jen's lighting skills.

They're almost lit.

Uncle Rich always wraps with his signature tinfoil and writes his "greeting" with a Sharpie.

(I had to change the color because I couldn't get the red eye off Jen and it looked really creepy.)

Jen received moolah and gift cards that she wanted to keep secure. She taped them all inside one envelope so no one could get them. I wonder if she considered how hard it will be to get her loot out when she needs it?!

The secured package

This morning Jen opened her presents from us. She got an iPod touch and a pair of cozy jammies with a bunch of girly magazines. I had the camera ready this morning to capture her expressions and guess what? Yep...my batteries were dead again. Tonight after basketball practice and a bath, she put on those cozy jammies to read her new magazines. She wanted to listen to her new "toy" but it wasn't ready yet.

Happy Birthday Jenna Marie Essary!

Papa Created a Monster!

This afternoon Lauryn and my dad ran up to Uncle Rich's for a bit. While they were there, Joe asked Lauryn if she had ever driven the cart. Well it doesn't take much to get my dad thinking. He and Lauryn are kind of a scary duo. They are always up to something. Well...within minutes the cart ended up with Lauryn behind the wheel. She had a blast!

After a little cruising they ended up back at grandma and papa's house. The rest of the afternoon Lauryn was begging to go drive again. When I mentioned that I needed to run to the store to buy ice cream, Lauryn's eyes lit up. She thought it would be a great time to show me that she can "drive". So...off we went.

I hopped out of the cart so I could get a picture. (Actually I was a little frightened to ride with her and wanted to see if she could really do it.)

I wish I had a video of this. She thought she was being pretty funny and was giggling up a storm. She came up to me and pretended to stop and then took off. I was thinking to myself, "please don't tell me I am going to have to run around the cemetary after this little joker".

Yep...I'm still trying to catch her.

Is she having fun or what?

She's starting to get a little comfortable so I decided to hop in. That's the look of "I'm gonna put the pedal to the metal".

Lauryn actually did really well with her "driving". I was a little nervous because before we left my dad quietly told me I might want to keep my hand on the emergency brake.

More Birthday Baking!

Once Jen's birthday orange rolls were finished, it was time to start her cupcakes. Lauryn is a machine in the kitchen so she jumped at the chance to help.

Mixing the batter.

Everyone knows that all great bakers lick the beaters...right!?!

The real chef took a break so I had to step in to relieve her.

She's back! Now she can really make some tasty cupcakes because she found her hat.

Oh yeah...those are going to be some yummy cupcakes!

Making sure to drop just the right amount to make the perfect cupcake!

A little more batter licking. Yummy!

Here they are with the birthday girl!

We had Jen's family party tonight at my mom and dad's. Birthdays sort of take a few days around here. We kind of like it that way! Tomorrow is the big day so...more to come;)

Mmmmm....Orange Rolls!

Jenna LOVES orange rolls. My mom has a super yummy recipe that she was given from a nice lady in town. The rolls are a real treat. We only get to enjoy them twice a year....on Jen's birthday and Christmas morning.

Jenna spent the day with a friend in the Tri-Cities so Lauryn offered to help grandma with Jenna's birthday orange rolls.

Roll

Spread

Sprinkle

Cut

Roll up

Place in pan

Ta da...the finished product!

Jen came home after another fun day to find the orange rolls ready. She always eagerly hops out of bed on the morning of her birthday because she is anxious for the yummy treat. Just a few more hours and we will help celebrate her "real" birthday with orange rolls for breakfast. Happy almost birthday Jen!!

It's a Girl (Party) Thing!

Jenna celebrated her 12th birthday today with some darling friends. I have to admit I was a little anxious leading up to the party because we had a lot of time...with little planned. This is hard for me because as a teacher, every minute of my day is planned. I did plan a couple of goofy games and kept my fingers crossed that they turned out okay.

Jen didn't really have a theme this year so decorating was sort of an afterthought. Since her invitations had polka dots on them, we cut out a bunch of circles this morning and slapped them all over the patio. We also threw some gourds in my pots and tucked some balloons in the middle. I always have something "fall" in Jen's birthday. This is my favorite time of year and it is so easy. At least this year we didn't do something with pumpkins. We have carved pumpkins, decorated pumpkins, played musical pumpkins....and this year Jen requested no pumpkins.

Once the first awkward moments of the party passed, the girls migrated into the house garage for a little ping pong, foos ball, and air hockey.

Snacks and drinks were set out in Blake's garage. The girls munched on junk until it was time for pizza.

Breaking into teams for volleyball.

The girls had a blast playing (or trying anyway) volleyball. It was fun to watch the girls help each other out.

Here are the party girls!

This is one of the games that I did plan. Each girl had a small balloon tied to her ankle with a piece of yarn. They had to try to pop each other's balloon without getting their own popped. Their were a few squished toes and lots of laughs and giggles.


This is the winner of the balloon pop. Doesn't she look smashing in her glasses? The "teeth" were in her prize bag. As soon as she saw them in the bag she ran behind the garage and came back looking like this. She is a nut!!

That's not lipstick...it's a Flamin' Hot Funyon. What a character this gal is!! She was the winner of the "other" game I planned. I read a "Left/Right" story. Sounds corny...but they loved it!

The girls came running when we hollered "cake time".

Checking out one of the great gifts Jen received from her friends.

The girls all had a great time! It was so gratifying to sit back and watch them "be girls". I couldn't have asked for a better party for Jen. She deserved every single minute of fun with her friends and she got it!

The night ended with a little lesson in helium sucking from a fun-loving friend of mine who came to pick up her daughter. It took a little training but the girls got the hang of it. It was dang funny too!

I am so thankful for the friends that Jenna is blessed to have!