Cheap Labor

Accenture Halloween

Cory's work celebrates Halloween big time!

I brought the kids over this morning to go trick-or-treating throughout the building. While we were there Carter wanted to play a game on Cory's computer. He was sitting on Cory's chair & hopped down & hit his chin on the filing cabinet. It split his chin right open. I thought for sure we were headed to the doctors for some stitches. But luckily we don't think he needed any.

Anyway, back to Accenture's Halloween. Each team picks a theme & they dress up & decorate their area according the the theme. This year Cory's theme was "Tourists." They always seem to pick a theme where they can wear shorts to work & not shave! Cory was the "tour guide." He brought everyone around the building, using a mega-phone, introducing each team. It was really funny. One lady told me that if he ever needs a new job he has this down!

When Cory got home from work last night he said that some of the teams were crazy. They were ordering in pizza & had plans on being there for HOURS last night to get their areas decorated!

And I have to say, I was amazed at what they did. Take a look!

Here is LEGO LAND

The Care Bears
Las Vegas

Some of the Lego people. (isn't that the coolest idea!)

Here are the Vegas people. The Blue Man Show was there as well. And yes, that is a poker table on the right. When I arrived they were all sitting around the table.

This one was a little scary.

DEAL OR NO DEAL.

Mad Scientists

Dr. Seuss characters

Pretty impressive! They all did a great job!

Happy Halloween

We had a fun Halloween night.....once we got to my sisters house! My car was running really hot, like the little lever that shows how hot your car is was on "H". We were afraid it was going to overheat so we had to stop 2 times at gas stations to to let it cool down. The kids were freaking out..ok, mainly Carter. He just wanted to get to Kimberly's party! After almost 2 hours (it didn't help that there were a million people on the rode & we hit EVERY read light) we made it to Lisa's house. Cory called my dad while we were driving & had him go & pick up a new thermostat for my car. So once we got there they changed out the old one & ta-da, the car runs like new! Thanks Cory & Dad!! I'm glad you know what you are doing!

Carter & Claire went trick-or-treating with their cousins & had fun. It started sprinkling a little while we were out & then it started coming down harder when we were driving home.

Our "Nurse in Training", like Aunt Kristen

Claire can't wait to get LOTS of candy (that mommy & daddy will end up eating!)

All of the cousins

Now what are we going to do with all of this?

Cory won the pumpkin carving contest at work today.

Can you tell what it is?

Yes, the Bates Motel from the movie Psycho. Can you see Norman standing there?

Didn't he do a great job?

Afternoon At The Park

I knew the weather was supposed to be changing today, so on Wednesday we spent the afternoon at the park. A friend of ours just happened to be there so it was fun to hang out them for a while.

Acorns are good....see her 2 teeth?

Carter collected lots of acorns

Claire loves the swing

Pre-School Harvest Festival

On Wednesday Carter had his pre-school Harvest Festival. There were so many activities for the kids to do, it was a lot of fun. I had to work for half an hour at the cake walk, so Claire stayed home with Grandpa. Carter enjoyed being with friends.

Petting the bunny rabbits
Making BIG bubbles with Kaylee

Having fun with Gak!

Candy treasure hunt-there were pieces of candy hidden in all of this shredded paper

Carving a pumpkin

Making a cute pumpkin!

Cake Class #3

Tonight was my third cake decorating class. This week we had a choice of making a cake or cupcakes. I decided to do cupcakes because I figured they would be fun to do for baby showers and birthdays.

Here is how they turned out:

I was happy with the grapes!
I had planned on decorating the others with different designs but ran out of time at class. And now they have been eaten....

Harvest Festival

Saturday night was our Harvest Festival at church.

I would like to introduce you to:

Nurse Claire & Dr. Carter

Luckily we have about 3 more chances this week to try & get better pictures of the kids. They did not want to cooperate! We did enjoy a fun evening though. A chili cook-off, and then off to do some fun games. And the most popular booth that night was put on by Cory's young men. Can you guess what it was?

A DUNK TANK!!!!

At the end of October, outside, at night.....sounds like a disaster right?

Nope! It was the hit of the party, especially when the Bishop got in wearing a full suit & tie!

Luckily it was warm outside too! There was a long line all night long of kids (and adults) waiting to throw that ball & knock those boys into the water!

We ended the night with our traditional trunk-or-treating!

Ew, Gross..

Today I took the kids on a bike ride. We had just crossed Coloma Road at Cordova Lane & there was an AT & T worker at one of their boxes. He asked if we were just going on a bike ride.

I said yes.

He said "You may want to go that way (pointing in the opposite direction that I wanted to go) a naked guy on a bike just went this way.

What??!!??

"OK, thanks I said."

We were gone for about an hour & on our way home we were at that light again. The AT & T guy was in his truck getting ready to leave. He must have recognized us. He rolled down his window & I said "we never saw him."

He said that the park rangers had the guy. He said that the guy just went riding by with a lollipop in his mouth & said "How ya doing?" as he went by. The AT & T guy said "Only in California......"

I said "Well, it is a bit warm out today...."

I'm just glad that we didn't have to witness his nakedness!!

It's Not Soup Weather...

But I had some half & half I needed to use up so we enjoyed Chunky Potato Soup for dinner tonight. I didn't have any french bread so instead we had some corn bread to go along with it. Yum! You really should try this recipe!

Note To Self....

Don't leave candy corns out in the open, especially in a place you walk by all day long.

"Uncle"

Cory was tickling Carter today & Carter kept asking him to stop.

Cory said "Say Uncle, say Uncle".

Carter said "Marci!"

Yes, he does miss you "Uncle" Tom & Aunt Marci!

Dr. Claire

We put Carter's "Dr. Glasses" on Claire. She looked so silly!

Woo-hoo Tooth Number 2!

Claire got her second tooth on Saturday. It's another bottom one. The two on top look like they are trying to come through. Hopefully she'll sleep better once that happens!
She also learned how to drink from a straw.

Cory saw her watching Signing Time & had to snap a picture!

Rainbow Cake

Here is the first cake that I made at my class tonight. We didn't have time to finish it in class & I was too tired when I got home to do it. So we just ate it the way it was. It was fun & I'm learning a lot, but my back sure does hurt!

Play Date

Carter had a "play date" with his friend Kaylee today. He thought it was pretty cool that her mom left her at our house. They had a lot of fun together.

We Support Prop 8

November 4th is a very important day this year.

Not only are we voting in a new President of the United States of America but those of us in California are voting on a Proposition that I feel very strongly about.

Proposition 8 is simple and straightforward. It contains the same 14 words that were previously approved in 2000 by over 61% of California voters: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”

I am not one to talk politics to people because I feel everyone is entiled to their own opinion & I try to steer clear of arguments. I feel like I need to stand up for this cause that I believe in, so I thought I should post some links to sites that will answer your questions regarding the consequences of a YES or NO vote.

http://www.protectmarriage.com/

www.preservingmarriage.org/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zbpDe_QhS0

If you are still undecided about how you are going to vote & want some more information on this proposition, please let me know & I will try to help.

Did you hear?

Mervyn's is shutting down.

Yep, all of them!

So 2 of my sisters, a brother-in-law & a cousin will all have to find new jobs. They are filing for bankruptcy, like so many other companies.

(i.e. Mother's Cookies-thanks for the heads up Carrie!)

Basically Carter's whole wardrobe is from Mervyn's....now what will I do? I guess we'll be headed to Target for his clothes.

The plan is for them to stay open until the end of the year. I went yesterday because Claire had some gift cards that needed to be used up & it was INSANE, like worse than the day after Thanksgiving kind of INSANE!!! And there weren't even good deals. People are crazy, they were buying things left & right & paying high prices for them.

So farewell to SPROCKETS and really good deals from my sisters.....

image via: flickr

Soil Born Farms

Cory left at 6:30am this morning to go up to Emigrant Gap & help close Girls Camp for the winter. I needed something to do with the kids so we decided to go check out this Farmers Market that I had seen advertised. It is called Soil Born Farms & it is located across the street from Carter's pre-school. It was pretty neat to have a place so close to home to pick up fresh fruit & vegetables. Next time we plan on riding our bikes. I found their website interesting too & look forward to learning more about them.

There were some chickens....

and a pig.

And right now there is a pumpkin patch.

Our Day At Apple Hill

We had a great time at Apple Hill today. Cory took the day off, so we headed up there this morning. The crowds were pretty mild & it was so worth going on a weekday.

It was quite warm too.

Claire is a crack up!

We may have found our Christmas card picture. (not this one, but one like it!)

Bigger than last year. This pumpkin weighed 1153lbs.

No pictures of the apple fritters this time. I didn't want to torture anybody, but if you really want to see one check out last years.