Halloween and Other Stuff

Buzz & Woody

Buzz, Woody, & the Vampiress

The festivities at our house.  We have the best neighborhood for trick-or-treating.  We had about 250 to 300 kids, the most awesome haunted house across the street, a neighbor that has a full-out buffet, and decorated trailers heading up and down the street FULL of families & friends.  I'm tellin' ya, if your neighborhood isn't this much fun, head our way next year.  Our parents came in for the weekend and they said it was the most fun Halloween they have ever had!

Part of Jenna's teacher's gift...travel size tissue holders and personalized hand sanitizers.  Please keep Jenna's teacher in your prayers..she lost her father last week at the age of 57 to stage 4 prostate cancer.  She is such a wonderful woman and a fabulous teacher.  We love her dearly. 

Put your orders in early...I'll be sewing some Christmas tisse holders and pairing them up with some holiday decorated sanitizers.  I'll post them as soon as I get one done.

A proud member of the Daisy Scout Troop 1785...her handmade tie-dyed troop shirt.  She thinks she is sooo cool.  She came home last night hooting and hollering about working towards a Turkey Badge.  I can't help but giggle at her cuteness!

A last minute attempt at Daisy Scout snacks.  Mini waters, goldfish crackers, & individually wrapped brownies with...

personalized troop stickers.  The other mothers thought I was all fancy.  I had to admit that I only made them 'cause I had to cut the brownies so small...some little guy put his fingers in the cooked brownies.  I had to do something to make them look a little less pathetic!

We had the most fantastic weekend with our parents.  Today, we're celebrating our littlest guy's 2nd birthday.  How did my baby get to 2 already?!  He shares his birthday with our good friend's son, Colin.  We're going to CEC tonight to celebrate Colin's birthday and then on Saturday, Joel will host his County Fair birthday party.  I'll keep you posted on how that goes.  Thanks for stopping by...hope your Halloween was as spooktacular as ours!!!!

Jenna's 6th Birthday

 Jenna decided on a bowling party for her 6th birthday.  It was by far the easiest, least expensive party I've ever thrown.  She wanted the Route 66 mini lanes and the kids had a blast! 

 Gabriel in deep concentration.

 T.R.O.U.B.L.E. with a bowling ball!

 Singing "Happy Birthday."  She had the cutest shirt on that my friend Jennifer made for her...you can check it out here.  She spoils us with cute stuff, go order something from her, you won't be disappointed!

 Every birthday photo of Jenna since her birth has included her BFF Tyler.  They just crack me up together!  This is Gabriel and his BFF Ethan, below.

We had such a nice, relaxing afternoon...thanks to all of our friends that were sweet enough to spend their Saturday afternoon with our little girl.  She really loved it!

To Make the Grandparents Happy

 He's not right...seriously, he thinks that rock-climbing the fireplace is a good idea.  And brushing his teeth in a pj shirt and his bricks (what we call his sneakers...7 1/2 EXTRA wide) while playing Polly Pockets.  He keeps us on our toes!

 What goofballs!

And my sweetheart with her new haircut...how did she get so old?!  One of her bottom front teeth came in and her baby tooth still did not fall out.  Guess we better start saving now for braces!

Classy Cupcakes

 My sweet friend (and co-teacher) Marian had a birthday this weekend and I was asked to make cupcakes for our little get-together.  First, let me start by saying that this was an all-girl affair and it was being held here, so the white cupcakes with buttercream icing that she requested were definitely not going to work.  Marian LOVES pistachios, but we have a little guy in our class with a tree nut allergy, so we don't get to eat them as much as we'd like.  I found this recipe from Martha Stewart and I topped them with a cream cheese buttercream icing.  They were delicious and oh-so-classy looking.  I will definitely make these again.

I had such a wonderful afternoon with some very lovely ladies and I just can't believe I live less than 15 minutes from such a beautiful place and I've never been there.  It certainly won't be the last time I visit.

Happy Birthday Marian!

Warning from the Gingerbread Man

So it was Jenna's turn to take home the gingerbread man yesterday.  We were warned that the gingerbread man is afraid of  dogs and cats that chew and he doesn't like water or having his arms or legs pulled on.  So, we decided to give him a fun night on the town...riding bikes, reading our new American Girl catalog, dinner at Pie in the Sky, dessert at Sonic, an episode of Wow Wow Wubbzy we haven't seen before.  A full and exciting night.  We had to journal it all in the "Adventures of the Gingerbread Man" book."  As a P.S. to the teacher, we added "Mrs. M, please add 'almost 2-year-old red-headed little boys' to the list of things I'm not really fond of.  I appreciate it!'"  As you can see from the photo above, the G-man had every reason to be frightened!!!

First Day of Kindergarten

!

So excited to go!

(someone else thought they were starting Kindergarten too...

and don't worry, I know his hair is crazy, there's no helping it!)

Our new backpack & lunchbox...drove like a mad crazy woman to our local Pottery Barn Kids to get them 'cause they were on back order online.  The little Miss insisted she have THESE for her first day.  I made her some matching bag tags and she was ready to go!

Goodies for our teacher!

She has a super teacher and she's at the most wonderful school...we're so excited for the upcoming year!

Sonic~99 Cent Sundaes

After 8 p.m. Need I say more!

Happy Father's Day

The Flood of 2010

We are knee deep (okay more than knee!) in water. It has been a historic 36 hours here in Middle TN. Just take a look... Nolensville Rd...the intersection at Nolensville and Sunset (yes, this is normally an intersection!).
To the left...the ball field and the old Nolensville Elementary School.

It was running like rapids...this is 3 hours after I drove down this road to buy lunch meat at the Feed Mill...unbelievable!

Poor, poor Sonic...thank goodness they stayed open long enough for me to get a Route 44 Diet Coke! Jay got called out all night to help with calls and rescues...thank goodness I had my Diet Coke to keep me sane...LOL! Thankfully he is home now, safe and sleeping, until he gets called out again later.

Our hospitals, news channels, schools, malls, interstates and side roads are all flooded...it's been unbelievable to see. Please keep all of us in Middle TN in your thoughts and prayers...so many people have been affected by these devastating storms. We have another rough day ahead of us. I'll keep you posted and if you live here in my neck of the woods, Stay Dry!

A Wee Bit Irish

Our little bit Irish cuties!
The leprechaun visited last night. The kids and Jay set a trap, but that sneaky fella got away with the bait (a shiny penny). Thankfully he left behind some of his "gold" treasure while making mischief in our house. The dining room chairs were rearranged and he turned our milk green! He left us a yummy breakfast of Lucky Charms and even set the table for us. Maybe we'll catch him next year!

I made the preschool teachers some chocolate dipped pretzel sticks with shamrock sprinkles.

I love how these tags turned out...I'm so glad I bought my circle punch. I think I'll get the scalloped one next.

Peanut butter cookies for a girlfriend's little girls...topped off with some St. Patty's bows leftover from last year.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from the O'Moyer's!

Gabriel's Snowman Party

The sweet table...sugar cookie 3's & G's, cupcakes, blue raspberry licorice snowmen, soft peppermints, powdered mini donuts, & chocolate covered pretzels (wish there was a pic of them...Jenna did such a good job).
The hot chocolate bar...with whipped cream and snowman shaped marshmallows.

Goodie bags...glitter snowflake snowman shaky cups with packets of Inst-Snow.

The cheapest decorations EVER...paper snowflakes that I made for my classroom :)

Lots of fake snow EVERWHERE...I love this cup/vase; you can take the paper out and change it for the season/occasion. It'll be sporting something Valentine's by the end of the day.

Snowman Wrap Relay...we had some great sports that got wrapped with toilet paper and decorated with black paper buttons and a scarf. Everyone won a snowman notepad.

The sweetest 3-year old EVER!

We also had a "Guess How Many" snowman marshmallow jar. The kids guesses were HYSTERICAL! Some of the little ones guessed 1, 2, or 3 (there were 143). David won with a guess of 146...he got a tube of playdoh w/ accessories.

Oh, and how could I forget the "Decorate Your Snowman Cookie" table. Thanks for all the ladies that swept the floor around the table!

Our Menu:

Big People

Taco Soup

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Rachael's Delish Salsa w/ chips

Marinated Cheese w/ crackers

Veggie Tray w/ dip

Little People
PB&Fluff Sandwiches

Cheese curls

Strawberries

Grapes


We had such a nice time with our friends and the guys even watched a little of the Super Bowl. I wish the pictures were better, but as usual, I waited until the last minute (and in some cases, after the party) to take them. If you want some better photos, head over to my friend Jennifer's blog The Perry Trio (at right, don't have time to link).

Our New Fish Friend

Joel never got any better, so we took him (and Gabe) to the Dr.'s yesterday for a look. Gabriel's fine...just a cold and possibly the croup. Joel's ears looked great...thank goodness for the new tubes!!! His breathing was another story. He's been wheezing off and on since August so our Dr. thought it was about time that we just purchased a nebulizer of our own. We're on treatments every 4 hours for the next 5 days and hopefully we'll be feeling better! Our Dr. thinks it may be asthma and that we'll have to start daily steroid treatments with the machine. I'm all for it if it makes my little sweetie feel better! Isn't his machine the cutest?! The mask is a fish and his machine is bright green...it even comes with a story about Bubbles, the fish with asthma, and stickers, too! He sits so nice to do his treatments. I think he knows it makes him feel better. Hey, must have worked 'cause he slept last night for the first time in 2 days...HOORAY!!!

Poor Little Guy

This happy little fella that you see in this picture (taken last week) was not so happy today. He had a 104 degree temperature and no appetite (Joel, not hungry? must be sick!). After some Motrin, he managed a popsicle and some cheese curls...works for me! Hopefully tomorrow will bring a happier (and healthier) little guy.

The Birthday Boy

Who would've known that this pitiful little red-faced newborn would make me laugh and smile each and every day?! 3 years ago today, I was blessed with a sweet little 7lb. 3 oz. boy. He's not so little anymore, and not always sweet, but he brings such happiness and humor to our household.Yesterday was his "special" day...we drove him downtown to see the Batman building (something you could only understand if you have a 3-yr old boy and live in Nashville), took him to Build A Bear, and ate lunch at the Aquarium restaurant. Oh what fun!
Brushing his new pony, Nina.

Posing for the camera...can you tell he's a goof-ball?!

Stuffed with mac&cheese and smiley at the Aquarium.

He woke up this morning to a room full of balloons, some Spiderman gifts, and pink chocolate-chip pancakes (thanks Mimi & Papa!). He had a Spiderman party at school with mini ice cream sandwiches and goodie bags filled with Spidey gummies & bandaids and hershey kisses. He made sure to wear his talking Spidey sweatshirt and Spidey crocs...boy did he think he was cool!!! He even had a surprise visit tonight from his BFF Ethan. He brought him a delicious little fudge cake from Publix, Little Debbie Valentine's Brownies, and lots & lots of Moon Sand (thanks Mare!) Oh, and I got a soy chai from Starbucks...I think I made out better in the end! He had the best birthday any 3-year-old little guy could ask for!

We Love You Gabriel...Happy Birthday Buddy!!!

Stay tuned for his Snowman party...it's gonna be great!