Bubba's coming + Halloween pics

The girls are very excited.....Uncle Bubba and Tina are coming for a visit this weekend!! They arrive on Thursday and leave very early on Monday, so there will be an entire weekend of EAT THE FACE happening at the Chrupcala house. It's only been a little over 2 months since they moved to Seattle, but in that short time they have been super missed. Can't wait to see you Bubba!!!

Halloween was super fun this year. Jen finally got the whole concept but decided she was done after about an hour of candy collecting. Steph has known for quite some time that she wanted to be a ghost this year, so weeks ago we found her costume at Target. Yes, it was a boy costume, and yes it cost about 10 times more than if I would have just purchased a sheet and cut two eye holes out....but she just HAD to have it. So we got it.....flimsy hood and all.

The Tuesday before Halloween was the safe trick-or-treating night at the local High School, so after Ron left for work the girls and I hopped in the car and went to get ourselves some CANDY! That night happened to be a seriously windy night....the kind of wind that takes your breath away. After our buckets were full we headed to the car and I told Steph to hold on to her hood real tight. We got home, got into the house, and Steph informs me that she lost her hood....it blew away in the wind. After 30 minutes of searching outside in the freezing wind (in complete darkness) I gave up. The hood was nowhere to be found. Steph was very upset and I told her that I would try to make her a new one......but she didn't like that idea too much. She wanted her flimsy boy-hood.

So the next night I spent a good hour or so cutting a new hood out of one of Ron's t-shirts. When she saw it she declared that it was gross and that the shirt smelled (yes, it was a clean shirt.....what kind of mom do you think I am???? Although....now that I think about it....that WOULD have been funny. There's always next year.) When I finished I thought for sure that Steph would hate it, but when she tried it on and looked at herself in the bathroom mirror all I heard her say was "AWESOME".

Mission accomplished.....my good mommy deed for the day was done.

Here are some pics of the kiddos including Steph with the t-shirt hood. And just a note for anyone with a three year old: face paint = not a good idea. By the end of the night Jen had a ring around her mouth where she had licked it all off. Gross.

Pumpkin patch

One of my favorite things to do in the Fall is to find a great pumpkin patch that has a corn maze and all kinds of activities to do with the kids. It's a tradition of ours and I look forward to it every year. Luckily where we live there are plenty of great ones around to choose from!

A few weekends ago, on a hazy but beautiful Fall afternoon, Ron and I took the girls for our fun filled day at the patch.

Steph and Jen got to do their first corn maze - - which they LOVED. Well, Steph loved it and wanted to do more.......Jen just wanted to be held and not have to walk. Walking is hard work and Jen isn't a big fan.

They had all-you-can-carry pumpkins for $14.00 and I loaded Ron up with way too many (as usual). He's so big it looks like he can EASILY handle at least 20.....25.....even 30 pumpkins. Guess not.

There was also a zip line, a bouncy-ball maze, hayride, climbers and a hay pit. We did them all........and then some.

It was a great family day and I already can't wait to do it again next year!!!!!

Here are some pics of our day:

Obsess much?

Anyone who knows me even a *tiny* little bit knows that I am basically obsessed with a few things:

1. Donna Downey (I want to come back as her in another life. Or at least come back as her dog so I can watch her work all day).
2. Scrapbooking. Duh....that one is a no-brainer.
3. My camera. Now if I only knew how to use the darn thing..........
4. Snickers and/or Turtles. Nuff said.

Well....I now have a new obsession.

Her name is Margie Romney-Aslett and she is a HOOT!!!!! She is one of the creative geniuses over at Making Memories (for all you non-scrapbookers out there, MM is a company that makes scrapbooking supplies that are completely drool-worthy). Thanks to our fearless leader Sarah at MLPA, Margie recently came to PA and we had the opportunity to meet her, crop with her, and take a few of her (man were they great) classes. Sadly I was busy that weekend and missed the classes (believe me....I was depressed for DAYS because of it), but I did get to go to the crop on Friday night.

And the obsession began.

She is one of those people that you meet and you feel like you have known forever. Only you just met. She cracked me up with her stories and blew me away with her talent......then she really threw me for a loop when she said she has 4 kids!!! Whoa!!!!

Anyways, I regularly stalk her on her blog now (I think she is trying to find a way to block me from it). I just wanted to share my newest obsession with all 3 of you who read my blog. Oh.....and here is a pic of us together. Yep. Just me and my bestest friend in the whole wide world. Love ya Margie! CALL ME!!! LOL

To all the ladies who took my class at MLPA last weekend.......

THANK YOU!!!!

I had such a great time spending a few hours with all of you lovely ladies and especially enjoyed the laughs that we shared!! I loved seeing all the creating, cutting, adhering, chatting, giggling, and general happiness that was going on. All of your projects were looking so great.....I would love to see what they look like when they are all finished.



A special shout out to the one and only Kristol. You are so beautiful and you always bring a smile to my face. As Margie would say.....B.A.A.F.F!!!!!! **laughing**



As promised so that you can see the finished project.....here are pics of each page of my "Family" book for you all to reference if needed. Take a look.....then FINISH THAT BOOK!!!! *smile*

Stephanie's birthday party............

was last weekend and I am JUST NOW posting pics. No excuses....really I am just lazy.

Of course the party was tons of fun. We had about 9 or 10 (or what seemed like 50 at times) of Steph's friends over for a bunch of games, a pinata, some cupcakes, and a little fun out in the backyard. On a side note.....I kept overhearing one of the girls calling the backyard the playground. I guess it's time to get rid of either the playhouse, or the trampoline, or the swingset, or the four-wheeler, or the hula-hoops............

Anyhoo, the day before the party I finally took Steph to the PetSmart to pick out her new fishy friend. She was so excited to bring him home and put him in his new tank. No word on a name yet..........





And last but not least.......a few shots from the "rockin'" party":







Love you my sweet little 7 year old!! Hope you had a great day!!!!!

:)

Donna Downey's campaign for creativity

I have joined Donna's campaign for creativity because......well......she totally rocks.....and because she inspires me to try to learn more about all of the different ways I can express my creativity. Paper and scissors are cool....but there really is so much more.

Thanks for the push Donna!!!!!!!!!!!

:)

Dorney Park - 2008

A few weekends ago we got to take the kids to Dorney Park (a big shout out to my sister-in-law Mischele for hooking us up with free tickets every year. Love ya biznitch).

We met up with my brother-in-law Chris, Mischele's 2 youngest children (Lexi and Karyssa), Steve and Tina. The weather that day could not have been more PERFECT for a day at an amuzement park.......cool but not cold, sunny but not hot, overcast but not raining.

The funniest part of the whole day for me was when Jennifer saw Linus (the Peanuts character who carries around a blue blanket.) She ran up to him and showed him HER blanket that she carries around all the time, and they switched blankies for a minute. I could tell that she was a bit concerned that she wouldn't get hers back.....so she quickly snatched it back from him. It was too cute.

Steph still gets a little bit nervous about going on some rides and flat out refuses to go on anything that she deems the least bit scary or too fast (although she has been on them before, she actually shed a tear on the swings this time). If you don't believe me....check out this shot I got of Steph riding the kiddie roller coaster that day. Totally mortified is what I would use to describe her expression.



Jen on the other hand is game for anything. She was pretty annoyed at us when we told her she was too small to go on the huge roller coasters. Talk about no fear........I bet she would sky dive if we gave her the chance. I think this shot was taken just after I said "No upside down rides for you young lady"........then she threw out the "loser" sign at me. She's only 3. I'm in big trouble.



Of course all the kids had a great time on the rides and eating all the associated junk food. Here are some pics from our fun day!