Quote of the Day:
Alix, to the skater teenage boy down the street.
"Why are you wearing girl's pants?"
Luckily, he only laughed. (His pants were a very skinny pair of checkered jeans in a lovely teal color...)

You know your pumpkin is too big when...

Your baby fits inside!

I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!!!

Halloween is the portal to all the holiday fun that is coming in the next two months. And as I am really a 7 year-old girl, trapped in this 29 year-old stay at home mother's body, I throw myself into the joy of this most frivolous of all non-holidays. (You know it's a non-holiday when my government employed husband doesn't get the day off... Really? Columbus Day is a holiday and Halloween is a non-holiday? What is the world coming to?!!?) Anyhow... I love carving pumpkins. I love candy. I love making all sorts of crafty, spooky things with the girls. I love candy. I love dressing up. I love candy. I love... What am I missing? Oh yeah. I love candy. (I told you I was 7...) Anyway, Tom and I throw a really great Halloween party every year. It's a blast. Adults only. Costumes mandatory. It's the greatest to see 20 adults in costume and not a kid around. This year we played "The Newly-Dead Game". Sadly, some marriages will never be the same! We almost had a couple of the guys banned to our couch for the night... Questions such as "What animal does your mother in law most remind you of?" kept us laughing all night... But not Farrah. Corwin might be out of the dog house now that it's been a few days...

Here we all are. (Missed you guys this year, Brenda and Rob...)

Now that is a drunken pirate! The annual "Mummy Game" competition left Tom too dizzy to stand. (Think of spinning and spinning around while I hold a roll of toilet paper until it's all gone and he's all mummified...)

Tom and Sam-o. My captain and our little matey.

Arrrrrgh, me hartey's!

Now for the kid's Halloween party... Also super fun to my 7 year-old soul...

Here is Brooke and her good friend Alyssa after bobbing for apples. Brooke cheated. I swear. She found one with a long old stem and delicately picked it out with her teeth. Leaving me to...

Plunge my whole face and head into a bucket full of water and children's spit. But it was worth it when I saw the kids' faces in this picture. There always needs to be a mom willing to let loose and let her mascara run down her face. It was fun. And I'll wear waterproof makeup next year!

This picture should be first, but you get the idea...

Here is a picture of the girls. Erin is a red (her favorite color) flower fairy. Alix is a yellow (the ONLY color that she likes) princess and Brooke is a rainbow (too undecided to pick just one color...) flower fairy. We decided to make their costumes this year and had a great time. Alix changed her mind about being a yellow (of course) flower fairy at the last minute, but loved what we came up with for her princess "suit". The tutus turned out so great (I think...) Just frothy clouds of tulle.

Siiiigh. What a great non-holiday!

We went on our annual family excursion to Stoltz farm last weekend. It was fantastic! Not one girl cried (Tom didn't either), there was no fighting, there was no whining, there was no arguing, there was only a little begging... What a great day!
This one is of Sam in the pumpkins. What a cute lady bug! She kept falling over and I was afraid that she was going to take a pumpkin stem to the eyeball. Luckily, she escaped harm!


Brooke almost broke her back actually trying to push the wheelbarrow! She didn't quite get that she was just posing for a picture. We had 120 pounds of pumpkin in there!























Erin holding the first pumpkin that she chose. The first of about 7. Her final one is so big that I could barely pick it up...



This one is of Brooke and Erin up on top of the huge pile of sawdust that the kids can use like a sledding hill.

Alix loved pretending to push the wheelbarrow. She's even pretending to walk.

Brooke, Erin (tired of pictures, can you tell?) and Alix

Erin having a sweet little moment with Sam.

Look how much we've grown! Not only in height, but there's a whole 'nother kid in that picture!

Quote of the Day: (really, this is a quote from Dec. 2007, but hey, who's keeping track?

I had just taken this picture of Brooke...

"Hey mom, that was me, pretending to feel the Holy Spirit!"

I'm going through some of my old pictures (for a wonderful, creative series of blog posts that will be coming to your computer screen shortly...) (Like my teaser to get you coming back?) and found this and remembered what she had said. As it is funnier than anything they have said in the last week...

Tagged:
Here it is... The fourth picture in the fourth file on my computer. This is my Grandma and Grandpa Pierson holding Alix (in pink) and Erin (in yellow) (Imagine a life where you always have to have a tag by your name saying which one you are...) at a family reunion in Leavenworth, WA. My kids are so lucky to still have SIX great-grandparents still alive!

Now I'll tag...

Debbie (thanks for dinner...) ;)
Brenda
Mom
Heather
Whitney
Trina

Have fun ladies! I spent waaaay too long looking through my old photos once I got down there...

Quote of the Day:
"Alix, what are you doing?"
"Licking your mirror clean."

At least she wasn't eating her boogers this time...

Brooke got to give a talk in primary on Sunday. I asked the primary president if it was okay to record it (as I am never without my camera. Just in case...). She said, "Of course." And so here it is. Brooke wrote this whole thing herself. After we had written a whole different one together, on the subject it was supposed to be on. Ah well. This turned out great and she had just gone to a couple of our best friends daughter's baptisms, so it was on her mind. She sure is a sweetie. Even when she doesn't let me help...

And yes, it is a documented fact that I am indeed a moron. At least half of my videos are sideways like this. You think I'd learn. But I've chosen not to.

Early Morning Surprise

You realize that "love hath no bounds" when you arise one beautiful Sabbath morning and look out your front widow and behold... No, sadly not the wonder of a beautiful sunrise, or the glory of Mt. Rainier, but instead... The wonder of $30 worth of toilet paper strewn across your lawn, and the glory of 100 forks stabbed mercilessly into your lawn... It brings a tear to my eye to realize that the youth of our ward love us enough to bestow this greatest honor upon our home. I would have doubts to the depths of their devotion if they had instead chosen to bring me brownies, or send a card, or perhaps even call... But I can now state without hesitation, I am finally THERE. Where? I am popular! My neighbor couldn't understand why I was so excited. I feel like I was just crowned Home Coming Queen. They like me! They really do! Now if only they were all here to pick it up. Wet. And Dewy. And dissolving. And stuck on the roof. Before church starts at 9.

The girls had a great time picking it all up and Brooke kept asking "Who would do such a thing?" I just kept laughing and thinking how lucky we were that it hadn't rained last night! Then I wouldn't have thought it was so funny...

Quote of the Day...

Brooke : "What's the opposite of hair?"

Erin : "Daddy!"

This would be a longer post if only I could stop hysterically laughing.

Quote(s) of the day:
1.
"Brooke, is your tummy full of birthday cake (from a friend's birthday party) or do you have room for dinner now?"
"Mom, I need to save room because I'm going to be eating a lot of candy and I don't want to fill up on all that healthy stuff!"

Yes, it's true. I am a good, good mother...

2.
As Erin walked up behind me and poked my bottom several times (with gusto...)
"Bouncy, Bouncy, Bouncy!!!"

No, really, I didn't need that self confidence anyway. I heard it was overrated...

Paramedic for a mom...

Few people have ever heard of the "nasal hemorrhage sling" . Fewer still have used this rare, specialized technique. It is shown here with the added benefit known as the "Barbie Bandaid Factor". The Barbie Bandaid Factor has been shown to decrease crying and increase the efficacy of the "Will Ice Cream Fix It?" bribe.

2 years of paramedic school - $6,000

Litman cardiology stethoscope - $200

Sphygmomanometer - $50

Barbie Bandaid Factor - $2.99

Will Ice Cream Fix It? bribe - $1.76

Stopping the tears in two minutes or less - Priceless!

Useless trivia fact: A sphygmomanometer is just a fancy word for a blood pressure cuff. Who knew that applying a stupidly placed bandaid, listening to a heartbeat and checking a blood pressure could cure the ills that befall those coordinated children that run straight into walls. Without slowing down.

Picture of the day...
This is of Alix