HALLOWEEN

Halloween has come and gone but the candy still remains!!!

Cody decided to be a little scarier this year! He actually freaked Nikki out, she did not like the mask (at all)!!! Cody thought it was the coolest think ever!! When you pump the handle, blood runs down the face of the mask ;0)

Nate was pretty freaky too . . . don't know what he is but he really liked the get up so that's all that matters ;0)

Nikki was very excited about her costume even though Mom wouldn't let her trick or treat (after days of argument). She did get to show off her outfit to her softball girlfriends at their little get together.

I think they're a pretty good lookin' bunch!

So the kids went their separate ways, Cody's first year knocking on doors alone. Ha, creaped him out a little! We got about half way around the block and he gave up. He still ended up with a full bag of candy but I don't think he wanted to argue with me anymore about keeping his mask on so people would know he was dressed up ;0)

Cody also got to make his first pumpkin this year. Much to his dismay, he had to paint it because not only did I NOT want to clean out the guts, I don't trust that boy with a knife ;0)

Goofin' Around

I am proud to announce that Mom & Dad went on a date for the first time in a long time! You go guys, keep it up!!

I stayed with the kids while they were gallivanting around town. After homework was completed the boys (Nate & Cody) went off to play so lovingly like they normally do (ha ha ha). When the noise level was almost obsolete, I knew I was in for a treat. See what happened next . . . .

I'm so proud of how well they spend their spare time ;0)

Nikki's Birthday

Poor Nik-Nak! This is her second Birthday now that has been postponed due to a hurricane. A couple years ago it was the exciting Rita evacuation. This year, Ike. BUT, she didn't complain and we celebrated at my place this year, which is a first!

Due to the storm, we stood in the line at the grocery store for 20-30 minutes just for cupcakes. Nikki and I enjoyed that the plastic character rings which topped these mini birthday cakes were woman of great statute like Tinkerbell, Cinderella and Barbie.

We did manage to find a Benihana's that was open and Amy joined us for the celebration. I learned how to master the chop sticks . . . . Nikki and Cody found another use for them.

I think Amy was impressed by the zucchini train the chef made.

Against Nikki's best efforts, we still managed to announce her birthday and d0 our part in embarrassing her on her very special day.

IKE!!!!

What a mess!! Around 2 a.m. Saturday, September 13th Dad and I woke up to what we thought was the Wizard of Oz movie. The house sounded like it was going to blow away at any minute. To my amazement, the kids slept through it!!

We "hunkered" (which I just learned means to crouch) down, made it through the night and literally, come 10 a.m., Ike was done with Houston.

Dad and Nikki made their way around the neighborhood to help in any way they could. Amazingly enough, the extent of our damage was no power, mangled trees, and a few missing roof tiles!

I was lucky enough to only loose power for a few hours during the blunt of the storm and my apartment complex was virtually untouched. Mom finally gave in and decided to save what she could from her fridge and move the family into my place. So, Mom, Dad, Nikki, Nate, Cody, I, Titus, and of course, My Grandmother from Colorado (this was her first hurricane) staid at my place till Tuesday.

We survived but not without finding a new appreciation for our loved ones. You can really get to know your family when they're crammed into a two bedroom apartment for three days;0)

There are still a lot of people without power and dead trees that line the streets waiting to be collected by the wood chipper but Ike has passed and we are surely counting our blessings!

TAGGED

OK . . . Andi is making me do this, apparently I HAVE to share six "random" things about myself and post it on my blog. BTW Sooooo love you Andi, thanks for thinking of me.

HMMMMM . . . .
1. Very few people have ever recognized that my left eye is mixed with brown and blue. The brown is becoming more predominate and will eventually take over my entire left eye, leaving me with one blue and one brown eye.

2. I absolutely can not stand for clothe to be in my mouth nor can I look at someone deciding to suck on their shirt color for some unknown reason. It activates my gag reflex, just thinking about it makes me green!

3. One day I pray to have a big beautiful garden. I love plants and flowers, particularly the unusual ones. Unfortunately I can't get most of them to survive the Houston, TX heat ;0)

4. My son most likely gets his OCD from me. Very few people realize how particular and orderly I am with my life. I have weekly calendars, behavior charts, cleaning schedules, and my budget is through the end of 2009 including everything from estimated rent & insurance increases to estimated prescriptions. I can walk into a room I've never been in before and with in just a few minutes, be able to tell you where any given object is. I also have to have things lined up symmetrically and I can't just eat one M&M at a time, it has to be in even numbers! Can we say FREAK???

5. I am not scared to die. I am at peace with my life and the wonderful gifts God has given me. I even find it hard to understand why others fear death. I feel a new journey for religious answers coming on . . .

6. OK, this is random but not unknown. I LOVE FROGS!!! When I was in elementary school there was a family of tree frogs that lived in our back yard and the baby was (don't laugh) named Fred. Some kids have imaginary friends, I have frogs! My mother even has a picture of me and my childhood friend, Fred.

So now that I've done this, it's your turn. And I do say that with all sincerity because I am supposed to tag six others with this task but I don't know anyone else with a blog (except the one who tagged me). So if you feel so compelled, here are the instructions:

1. Post the rules on your blog. 2. Write six random things about yourself. 3. Tag six people at the end of your post. 4. If you're tagged, DO IT and pass it along.

Happy Birthday To ME!!

I celebrated my 27th Birthday on Friday the 29th. For some odd reason, I am getting the 30 jitters! I have never been scared of aging, in fact I respect it. I've always been intrigued by my elders and always though of aging as a wonderful gift given to us by God.

My mother thinks I'm just weirded out because when I was little, 30 was old ;0) Cody keeps telling me that I'm so old, hopefully he'll realize (sooner rather than latter) that I'm a young mother! I'm sure my mother mannerism makes me feel so much older too. I was talking with some friends the other day and called a 22 year old a "kid!" How odd is that!?!?

I must say that this was definitely a great Birthday! I received some wonderfully thoughtful presents and the family had a blast at Lupe Tortilla's for dinner!

American Idol

I managed to win two tickets to see the 2008 American Idol Tour, this is where the top ten contestants of the show go on tour all over the USA. So of course, I had to take my number one compodre, Nikki, with me to see the show ;0)

We managed to make our way up to the nose bleeds which worked out just fine because we had a good view and less people to fight for leg room. The top 6 came out and performed . . .

Chikezie is Cody's favorite and Nikki really enjoyed Brooke. I always thought Brooke cried to much on the show but her voice and range of musical talent are nice. I was rather upset with the David Archuleta craze, that boy should have never made it as far as he did, in my opinion. I was sure that Michale would be competing against David Cook.

It was kind of disappointing because it felt like the first 6 really had to stick to the songs they sang on the show and they didn't give them much room to play it up. Or maybe they're just crappy performers ;0) After they finished there was actually an intermission!!! I had never heard of music concerts with intermission, how weird is that! They had these two guys battle out on Guitar Hero, and a human Pop Tart floating around the crowd, it was just too funny!

Then the show got good!! Thanks Mom for letting us stay latter considering the next morning was the first day of school for Nikki. It was sooooooo worth it!! Syesha and Jason came out, Syesha looking like a hooker version of Whitney Houston and Jason got some good cheers from the crowd. I rather liked Jason on the show but he always seemed so stiff on TV. You could definitely tell that the show and the tour has really brought him out of his shell. His performance was more "real" so to speak and he actually made a few jokes ;0)

THEN . . David Archuleta came on stage (he got smoke and no one else did, I'm sure he put that in his contract! wrong!), the crowd went wild!!! Of course he sang a few songs from the show and then another one that Nikki says is his new release (I've never heard it).

I think Nikki LIKES David ;0)

He did his goofy, big tongue laugh and walked off stage. Then came David Cook!!! OMG!! The entire place stood up and just went wild. He couldn't talk for what felt like 5 minutes. He is definitely the greatest performer I've seen in a LONG time!! He worked the stage, the crowd, even the crew!! It was a blast to watch all the teenage girls go crazy trying to reach out and touch him. He sang his version of Hello, which I think he won the show when he sang that song!

The atmosphere was great, we left in smiles, good times . . . good times.