We Want To Pump.... You Up (said in your best Schwarzeneggar voice)

Zach was invited to Kyle's, a friend from school, birthday party.  It was at Pump It Up.  In case you don't know what exactly Pump It Up is, it is a room full of giant inflatables for the kids to jump, slide, climb and act a fool on!  Right up a 5 year old's alley- let me tell ya!  :)

Even Sophie enjoyed herself.  Although I was a little nervous when she climbed up by herself the first time.  And when all of the big kids were around.  But she held her own.  Like always.

This isn't the best picture, but it cracks me up every time I look at it!!  This is Sophie coming down by herself.  Hilarious!!! 

Who says the BIG kids can't play too???  :)

A face of pure enjoyment... and look how sweaty he is!!  Guess where he wants to have his next birthday party at now!  Haha!!

Craft Time With Mommy

 The kids brought a picture of a scarecrow home from school and were asked to decorate it and bring it back for the classroom.  I thought, "Well, they could just color it.  But that's boring."  So I went to good 'ol Hobby Lobby and bought some felt, straw, and eyes to decorate their scarecrows with.  I know... I'm not the most crafty person in this world but I thought it was a good idea and thought it would be fun for the kids!  :)

So we decorated the scarecrows together.  The kids were soo excited!!  Sophie really enjoyed doing the glue by herself.  She definitely felt like a big girl.  And it was interesting to see how they each decorated their own scarecrow.  Zach's is very put together and "in order."  Sophie's on the other hand... let's just call it very artistic.  Lol!  But they both turned out very cool.  Good job my babies!!

Halloween 2010

 Happy Halloween!!!!  The kids were all excited and pumped about trick or treating this year.  They know what it's all about... CANDY!!!!  Lol!!!  I had my little Iron Man and Super Girl ready to go!  The Davis' joined us for pizza and then trick or treating.  Sandra and I took the kids out while Gabe and Stacy stayed behind to hand out candy.  Who are we kidding?  They really just wanted to watch the football game that was on.  And stay in the air condition.  Yeah, let's talk about that for a minute... it was pretty warm.  Too warm for October.  And if it was warm to me, I know it was warm to all those kids in costumes!!  Poor things.  But we had a good time.  And of course we didn't get too close to the houses that were the least bit scary looking.  That was Zach's idea.  :)

 So you are probably wondering who these cool people are.  Only the coolest people ever!!!  With the best idea EVER!!!!  They were handing out "treats" for the adults.  Yeah, you heard me right.  "Treats!"  You know... little bud lights, some wine, a little wassil.  Great, huh??  Yeah, we thought so!  :)  Thanks neighbors!

Funny, as soon as we got back to the house the kids stripped down.  They were ready to cool off!!  And have some candy of course!

And these have to be my favorite right now... SweeTarts.  But not just round boring SweeTarts... skull and crossbone SweeTarts!  Can I get a "GO CHI-O??"  :)

Feels Like 20 Years!!!

Happy 7 Year Anniversary to us!!!!  7 years?  Really???  We always joke with each other that it really feels like 20 years, not *insert number here*.  Lol!!!  So it's the same joke every year.  :D

Anywho... Our Anni was on Monday... so of course we had work and school.  Just like any ordinary day.  Boo!  But we did get to go to one of our favorites after work... Outback!  Yay for some steak!!

So since it is #7 for me and the hubs I feel like doing something special....

7 Reasons Why I LOVE this Man!!!

1.  He makes me laugh

2.  He encourages/supports me

3.  He is a great Father

4.  He is super smart (and talented)

5.  He is loyal

6.  He is sensitive/compassionate

7.  He is ambitious

There you go.  7 mushy reasons why I love him for the 7 years we have been married.  Which, now that I type that it reminds me that come January, we will have known each other for 10 years!  Wow!!

In case the previous wasn't mushy enough for ya... here is a song that reminds me of when we first started dating... ahhhh, memories.  :)

 Happy Anniversary Honey.  I love you!!

What's Cookin' With Papo?

Papo came to visit for the weekend and we decided to grill some fajitas, sausage and corn on the cob.  He taught the kids how to season and wrap the corn up for the grill...

MMMM, MMMM GOOD!!!

Fall Festival

The kids' school hosted a Fall Festival where they had snacks, drinks, goodies, games, activities and the kids got to wear their Halloween costumes.  We met up with the Wittschens and let the kids enjoy themselves.  But of course, it was just Sophie who wanted to participate at first.

 Sophie Super Girl playing bean bag toss.  :)

 Okay, these next few pictures crack me up!!!!!  Each classroom was set up with different activities/games.  We went into Zach's classroom (aka The Big Room) and they had this game set up.  I can't remember the exact name of it, but you have to push/roll an apple across the floor with your nose to the finish line!!  And its supposed to be a race.  I knew for sure that Zach would not have any part of this.  And I thought that Sophie wouldn't either because it seemed a little difficult.  But was I surprised!!  She went for it and did it!  And did it well!!  I was really impressed!  It was sooo funny!!!

 Go Sophie Go!!!!!

 Time for some snacks and drinks.  Check out Dane... isn't he the cutest little Spiderman??

Here are about 2500 pictures of the two little ones together.  I normally pick out the best one, but I had to put all of them on here... they are so funny!!  Super Girl + Spiderman= The Perfect Crime Fighting Duo! :)

 Notice the cars in Dane's hands.  He would not put these down for anything!  Anything.  Not even while he played the games.  It is so funny!!

*Zach was there, I promise.  Lol!!  He of course did not want to be in any of the pictures.

Pun'kins!

 Halloween is approaching and that can only mean one thing... PUMPKIN CARVING!!!  Haha!!  Okay, okay.  Not ONLY one thing!  Would you believe me if I told you that I have never actually carved a pumpkin before??  And Gabe hasn't done one since he was young.  So this of course was going to be an experience!!!!  Lol!!

But seriously.  How hard can it be??  That's what Google is for!!  Lol!!  We did find some pretty cool designs online that we Gabe would attempt.  :)  He actually did a really good job.  But for next year, he requested the proper carving tools.  Ha!!

The kids were really excited to watch.  Unfortunately they are still a little too young to assist in the carving process, but I wanted to catch their reactions to the whole thing.

 My pretty girl.  Sidenote: her teacher does her hair like this almost every day.  It is so random/messy, but gosh darn it, it is so cute!!!  :)

 She was very curious to see the inside.

 Crazy boy.

 P-U!!!!!  They asked, "What's that smell?  It stinks!!!"

 Ta-da!!!  The final product!!

 "Moon Bitten"  Do you see the bat and the moon??

"Tinkerbell"  We of course had to do something girly!

I Just Want To Eat Them UP!

They are just soooo cute!!!!!!!!!!  We were about to leave for school when I noticed how cute they looked today!!  And how grown up!!  Check out Zach's sweater... he would wear it everyday if I would let him!  But it is so cute on him.  And look how tall/big Sophie is getting!  Oh my gosh. 

My First Week

Well, I had my first week of work in which I was all alone and in charge.  It went pretty well.  I'm gaining more and more confidence with each customer/contract/phone call, etc!!

And it helps that we have a lot of repeat customers, so they are real understanding to the fact that I'm the "new girl."  :)

And it's also funny to see/hear people's reactions when they find out that Gabe and I are married.  It's usually the men that say, "Oh wow!  Y'all are married AND work together????"  And the women say, "Oh, how nice."  LOL!!  See the difference?

But if you stop and think about it, we aren't working together too much.  We overlap mostly on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and that's pretty much it.  Then he leaves for school.  And the other days, we are on our own.  And what's so wrong with working with your best friend anyway?  :)

**********************************************************************************

So on Saturday, my neighborhood hosted the bi-annual garage sale again.  I had already decided that I needed to have another one (this would be my third).  I didn't really want to do it, but I knew I should.  And my friend, Jayne wanted in on the action this year, so that made it easier to get in the mood for it.

It wasn't all that hard to get ready and set up for it... I still had the tables set up in the garage with most of the items I needed to sell in the garage as well.  I did pull out a few more clothes and toys from the house that definitely needed to go.  Its amazing how may toys the kids have!!!

So we set up Friday evening to be ready to open for business on Saturday morning bright and early!  :)

We "opened" up around 6am.  Yes, we are crazy... but these garage sale shoppers are crazy too!  Lol!  Believe me, there were shoppers this early!

It was good having a partner this time.  First, it was good to have her there because it made the garage sale look bigger and better!  Second, she helped to keep a watch on the crowd.  Some of these people would come in car loads at a time.  Crazy!  And third, it's just always fun to have one of your best friends around!

We made some good money!!  Most of Jayne's stuff was gone.  I had started with two tables full of clothes, in which I was pretty much selling everything for one dollar.  I think I ended with maybe a small bag of clothes left.  Anything I had left over, I took to Good Will right then and there (except for toys).  I wanted it gone and out of my garage!  It felt so good to get rid of this junk.

This was Jayne's first garage sale ever... even though she made some good money, I don't think she will be having another one anytime soon.  Lol!  I think she got a little overwhelmed at times.  Lol!  But we had a great time together.

*********************************************************************************

My parents had also come into town over the weekend.  So of course the kids were very excited to see them.

I had already made plans to have a girls dinner out with Jayne and Becca for Saturday.  We met up at Don Julio's and had a long, much needed, dinner out!  Lol!  It was great to have some girl time (like always).

*********************************************************************************

On Sunday, Gabe worked for me so that I could go to the local VFW with the rest of my family to attend a benefit for a longtime family friend.  He had recently been diagnosed with skin and bone cancer.

So the community came together and had a BBQ dinner, silent auction, and live auction to help with his medical expenses.  We got to see a lot of people that we don't normally get to see anymore.  Including his family.  I used to play with his children when we were younger.  I hardly even recognized them!  

*********************************************************************************

So there you have it... my week in a nutshell!  :)

It's Official...

Well, it's official!  I am now an employee at Avis.  Lol!  And I'll now start working by myself!  EEEEK!!!!!  Gabe has class on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.  So these are the days that I will be "holding the fort down."  I have to admit that I am a little nervous.  But at least I have all of the basics down.  Its just those curve balls that customers throw at me sometimes that I don't know how to handle.

But I have all of the important phone numbers for those to call whenever I have a question and Gabe isn't available to answer them!  Lol!!  I actually have a lot of stuff written down in case I forget something.  But I still got my customer service skills!  :)  After working in Juergen's Store for several years and then working at The Gap for 11 years, customer service is my forte.  ;)

So for this semester, we will split Mondays... he will open and I will close (because the kids don't have school either).  On Tuesdays...he will open, I go in around 9, then he leaves for class around 1ish.  On Wednesdays... he will open, I go in around 9, then he leaves around 11:30ish.  So these days I will mostly be on my own.  On Thursdays... he will open, I go in around 9, then he leaves at 1ish.  On Fridays... he works by himself and I'm off.  On Saturdays... he works by himself, and I'm off.  On Sundays... I work by myself, and he's off. 

Does that all sound fair??  :)

It will take a little adjustment, but I think it will all work out.  The kids are getting more and more used to school and their schedule, so that itself is a relief. 

Wish me luck on my first days by myself!! :)