Halloween Weekend

I found a cool idea at Design Sponge for pumpkin carving. (http://www.designspongeonline.com/2010/10/diy-project-janices-illustrated-pumpkins.html) I tried it out and I'm pretty pleased with the outcome even though I didn't have any of the necessary tools and my hands were in pain after all the work! It was a wonderful weekend. Why can't weekends be longer?!

Happy Birthday Grace!

Grace is one of my dearest friends and this weekend I got to celebrate her with many other of her dear friends including her parents. It was such a blast to make her feel loved the way she makes all of us feel so loved!

Grace with three of her favorite little people, Sophie, Thomas and Henry.


Tiff, me, Marcy, Grace, Steph and Sarah. Marcy was the gracious host of the party and the adorable littles are hers :)


A great shot! Aren't my friends beauties???!!!

Great Friends!

Kim, Me, Julie and Tiff

Kim was in town for a short visit and it was so great to get to have dinner with her, Julie and Tiff! I miss this incredible girl. Thanks so much for having us over, Kim. Love you!

fun times!

Last weekend was packed with fun! I got to celebrate Sarah's surprise (well not quite a surprise) birthday with our girlfriends as well as TONS of other people who love her! PLUS Jeff and I went to the Broncos game against the Jets. It was fun! Well, I had fun. Jeff can't stand to see the Broncos lose, so he wasn't too thrilled. I thought the stadium experience was enough to balance it out,though. It's so fun to cheer with thousands of other fans and to have such a great view of the field! Here's hoping the Broncos don't lose against the Raiders. We might not be watching anyway, Jeff says he's given up on them. We shall see.

Steph and Grace looking glam


Me and Gracie


We tried to get a good photo of all of us. Problem was we had this crazy man snapping the pictures. Oh well, it's still a memory.


Me, Tiff and Steph


Just a small idea of the big crowd walking from the lightrail to the stadium.



Even the trees were Broncos fans :)


The socks did make an appearance!


An empty stadium. It didn't pack out until right at the beginning of the game. It was Orange Sunday. Everyone was supposed to wear orange. It didn't look that orange in person, but we heard it looked pretty orange on TV.



The cheerleaders wore pink and the band was fun!





During half time they had breast cancer survivors tell their stories.






And random pictures of veggies. The cilantro is from our garden! I wanted to use garden tomatoes for the salsa, but they just didn't turn in time. I confess the salsa isn't as good as it would have been. Oh well!

A parental rant, with love

"I am not the guardian." I am “just the step mom.” Man alive I have been aggravated this week. First I try to call the school to get a password for Cade’s online learning center. Nope. I’m not a guardian. I’m not even in his records. Nice. Then I try to call the child support office to set up automatic payment and they can’t even confirm whether or not the paperwork has been sent. Are you kidding me?? I understand that some information is important to keep secure. I understand that in some instances you can’t just give out critical information to strangers. But that’s when I call the school randomly, with a creepy man voice asking for a kids social security number or call some government agency asking for bank account information with no verification. Hello, I’m trying to do the right thing here! I’m trying to make sure this kid in my life is doing well in school in case we need to contact his teachers to see if anything needs to be done to help him. I’m trying to help out my husband by doing some legwork he isn’t able to do on his job. I’m trying to make sure the money we owe this child gets there so that he can be properly fed and clothed. I AM NOT “JUST” A STEP MOM! When I married Jeff we became a family of three. I will always be in Cade’s life and he will always be in mine. I will talk to him on the phone, ask how his day was, give him medicine if he’s sick, comfort him when he’s scared or sad, be sure he has healthy things to eat at our house, help him pack and clean his room (at times), drive him around, wash his clothes, keep gifts in mind that make me think of him. I will hurt when he hurts. I will rejoice when he succeeds. I will cringe when he makes mistakes. I will wonder what he does with his friends, hope he has fun on weekends, hope he finds subjects in school he likes and excels at. I will look forward to him getting home to us and I will cry when he leaves. I will not consider it a holiday if he’s not here. I will be at his graduation. I will be at his wedding. I will babysit his kids. If he wants, I will listen and give advise. If he wants, I will play and hang out. I will get annoyed if he doesn’t listen, roll my eyes if he tracks dirt in the house or doesn't smile for pictures, tease him when he complains about chores, get frustrated when things don’t go as planned. I will worry about his life that we don’t get to see, wonder about his thoughts and worries, be concerned about his emotional well-being. I will be overbearing, annoying, prying, irrational, illogical. I will be proud, encouraging, supportive, gracious, respectful, helpful. I will laugh at his jokes, talk to him about yucky girl love stuff, tell him about "when I was his age." I will tell him he plays too many video games. I will try as hard as I can to be a good influence in his life. I will feel defeated by my mistakes! I will be a bad parent. AND I will be a good parent. But believe me-I will not be JUST a step mom. I will be MORE THAN a guardian. Cade has a mom, yes. BUT, he ALSO has me. So don’t MESS with me!

Think About It

"Love is the ability and willingness to allow those that you care for to be what they choose for themselves without any insistence that they satisfy you."
~Wayne Dyer

"The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them."
~Thomas Merton

fabulous quote

"The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow. But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow. So quiet down cobwebs, Dust go to sleep. I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep."

Foundhere .

Bang Bang*

*quoted by Kim when she cut her bangs! A fun change :)

Celebration

Clarence wanted to help give Jeff his gifts :) Happy birthday Jeff!



This card was from my parents. It was a music card with a country song. They no just how much he loves country. haha...


...NOT!


Reading a birthday email from Patsy and Jim who are in Ireland.


Broncos tickets!


Broncos throwback socks! Hilarious, right? Nothing can beat this pose. Hopefully he'll wear these to the game in two weeks!

It is so fun celebrating with the ones you love. Thanks to everyone who wished Jeff a happy birthday!

Happy Birthday Hubbs!

Today is Jeff's birthday! He is not overly impressed with birthdays. We celebrated yesterday because of work engagements he has tonight. I love that we went out to get BBQ, his fave. I love that he got excited about all his gifts and cards. I love how thankful he is for all things big and small. And I love these other 34 things about him, too :)

Dear Hubby, Happy Birthday.

1. There is no one like you, but if more people were like you, the world would be better.
2. You are an amazing painter.
3. You are an amazing father, which I will break down, because, duh, this encompasses a lot!
4. You are patient with Cade.
5. You are willing to play games with him that you normally wouldn't care to play. And you win, which is crazy and funny, and probably really good for him :)
6. You teach Cade how to be responsible with chores, helping with dinner, cleaning up messes, being nice to the kitties, being kind to his friends. And you don't just talk the talk.
7. You don't get frustrated when Cade goes through struggles, you are understanding and patient and encouraging.
8. You encourage good grades and don't hesitate to tell Cade you're proud of him when he does well.
9. You show a genuine interest in the things Cade enjoys, his everyday life, even though I know it must be so hard for both of you to have to talk about those things on the phone, rather than get to live them out together.
10. Political correctness around me is non existent and you think it's just so funny to push my buttons with your crazy phrases, even though I know you are really a softie and respect people and their differences.
11. You like to do projects on the house to make it more like a home. You know I hate to paint and you tell me I don't ever have to.
12. Even though I can't do a lot of helping on some of your projects, you like me to just be there with you, keeping you company, and that makes me feel so good.
13. You like to sit on the couch and relax together. I think nearness is how you show love :)
14. You get trapped by the intense and deep plot of Desperate Housewives with me and want to see what will happen next ;)
15. Your crazy fake laugh when you watch funny movies or shows and the fact that I really don't know if it's fake or not.
16. How you love to nickname your students and to have good relationships with them. And I know they love you because they joke with you, they ask you to come to their sporting events and they give you a hard time.
17. Your appreciation for the small things I do, like sewing on a button. Your thankfulness makes me feel like I saved the world with that button!
18. You are an amazing landscaper.
19. Your loyalty to the Broncos! OK, actually, the way your moods are like a crazy woman's hormones during a game is strange and odd, but also endearing and funny. (even though I would clearly never laugh at the horrendous running game we have. Or the fact that if we fumble the ball on one play you are yelling mad and the next play they make an interception they have the greatest player in the league ;)
20. The fact that you built a budget for us and you are so good at taking care of our finances and making our family secure, and at the same time we don't have to pinch pennies because you want to enjoy life.
21. You make me feel like I'm a good wife by enjoying my cooking and telling me I do a great job and that things have turned out perfectly (even when they are burned or raw or just plain gross).
22. You are an amazing woodworker.
23. The fact that you don't get worked up about much. You are so even keeled, which keeps your wife's extreme emotions in check. What? They are in check! Imagine my emotions without your steady guideline to follow.
24. The way you keep me from being a worry wart.
25. The fact that you like to make our own traditions and do special family holiday things with just the 3 of us.
26. You don't care if all your cloths have paint stains and holes and yet you still look HOT.
27. Your contentment with solitude.
28. You get along so well with my family. Not only do you get along with them, you truly like them.
29. Your sweet relationship with your family and the fact that it was so easy for me to fit right in with all of you.
30. You don't want to see me cry.
31. You are honest.
32. If I'm sick or have a bad day you are compassionate and you commiserate with me, making me feel like my hurts are your hurts; and it always makes me feels better.
33. Even though being around lots of people isn't your favorite, you really are great with people and people really enjoy you.
34. You do things with me, to make me happy, even though they wouldn't be your first choices.

Happy Birthday, Love. You.Are.Hot., funny, smart, intelligent, talented, well-rounded, kind, a great teacher, soft-hearted with a tough exterior, trustworthy, conscientious, a loving husband and dad. I could say so much more. Guess I'll wait for the 50th bday! You are loved and deserve to be celebrated. I am so looking forward to what is in store for you and us in the next 34 years!

Love, Wifey