Mischief Night 101

We create "mischief"....that is just what we do...we were born into it, and it is in our blood. Mischief is us and we are mischief.

So the night before Halloween, no matter how tired and exhausted we are.....we drag our lazy butts out into the cold and work our mischief magic.

Like many family traditions-pepsi addiction, sugar addiction, OCD- Mischief night is high on the list. When I was just a whipper snapper, my father taught me the ways, and now I have passed those teachings down to my children like a good mom should. I have so many fond memories of climbing silos hiding out, being chased by dogs, being whacked with a broom or being shot with the hose by my grandfather on mischief night! What a great childhood I had!

Have you ever walked down a country road on a fall night under the cover of darkness with your family? It is a great bonding experience, I assure you! Looking at the stars, then having people shine spotlights lighting your way...it's amazing!

Since Michael was little, I have faithfully taken him out for Mischief night. Great memories they are. We generally go to my grandparents house, my aunts house and my parents house.

My Aunt even called and asked if we were coming, she looks forward to having her yard trashed, just like we look forward to trashing it! Like I said before, I have the greatest family ever!

Michael getting the job done...

After we got the posse together, we started at my grandparents house. The little kids were so excited, screaming in delight...not exactly the covert mission we planned.

It wasn't long before the porch light came on, and my grandmom, standing in her nightgown, started yelling jokingly at the kids. She was joking, right? Well who knows, but she loves seeing the kids so she is fine with it...really.

The little kids, which included my nephew Colt, and my cousin's daughter, Kara, along with Allyson, had a great time running up to my grandmom and then running away. Colt kept running back to the adults saying excitedly, "grandmom says get out of here"...and then running back up to the door where my grandmom was to hear her say it again. He is so freaking adorable!

Ally and Kara were running and just giggling the whole time. Kara did tiolet paper, but Ally just had a good time laughing and giggling having no real idea what was going on. Thats my girl!

Allyson skipping away from Grandmom's door

Then we walked down to the other end of the street where my ornery Aunt Donna lives. She's the one I mentioned was calling to see if we were coming or not....like we would announce ourselves??? Geez, she must think we are amateurs! She had bought water balloons hoping to peg Michael this year. That didn't happen, but she did toilet paper us adults while the kids were trashing her yard.

Arriving at Aunt Donna's and Uncle Bruce's house...

Aunt Donna, what a face!?

Anybody ever think they'd see Collin as a "mummy"?

My nephew Colt being the mischief maker he was meant to be!

There's Michael writing messages on the glass to my Uncle who is on the other side of the door.

After that, we walked back to our cars at my grandmom's....okay some lucky ones did not have to walk...but I am not jealous...well..maybe...just a little.

After we got back to the vehicles, we drove to my parents house where we finished out the night.

What a great night! I love keeping family traditions alive, and my kids so enjoy having a night of mischief! Of course, when we got home someone had gotten our house, but it is all in fun!

You are invited to our Dance Party!

Last night, we got our groove on....Michael was suppose to go to a Halloween dance, but decided he wanted to go out mischiefing instead. So he brought the moves home....and even better, Fred decided to show Michael how to "moonwalk". Unfortunately, my husband will only do such things when the camera is away, and I wasn't sneaky enough to catch him this time. But I did get a couple of pictures of Michael and Ally dancing the night away. Excuse the shadows in the pictures and Michael's wig. He knows not what he does.

Cupcakes, cookies and muffins....oh my!

Friday is my stepson's big bake sale for his robotics club fundraising. Yes, Halloween day, I know I am crazy to have it then on a superbusy day, but the kids were off from school for an in-service day, and our schedule is so booked, it just seemed like a good idea....yup, it did seem like a good idea at the time. But now the idea of of a 20 hour day isn't looking so appealing anymore. Well, you gotta do what you gotta do!

I have never planned a bake sale so I have no idea what to expect...but at least we are going to give it a try! Wish us luck. I have been baking for two days straight...pies, cookies, muffins, cupcakes. And we have gotten an incredible amount of baked donations as people started to hear about our plans. It has been truly overwhelming the amount of support that we have gotten. I LOVE MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS!

So here is the unvieling of some of my baked goods....be kind!

Have you seen my "mummy"?

The pumpkin Patch

Candy Corn Cake

I will add pictures of our day and let you know how we make out!

Pray for us!

My husband and I have spent the last couple years trying to pull our finances together. When I was pregnant with my daughter, my husband was hospitalized with Diverticulitus for several days. I barely had the gas money to go see him, let alone the bridge toll to get to the hospital. It was definately a wake up call for me.

After that, I decided that I needed to take action and get our financial house in order. It was about that time that I found Dave Ramsey. What a blessing he has been to us. We paid off over $12,000 in credit card debt following his plan.

We were way over our heads, and we didn't realize how bad it had even gotten until we sat down and tallied up our expenses and debts. We realized we were spending money that we didn't even have and using credit cards to make ends meet. It was scary as the reality hit us. But putting ourselves in this debt, we were doing a great disservice to our kids...leading them to believe that we could afford things that we could not...setting them up to be in debt just like us. We had to turn things around. It has not been easy.

It has been a long, hard journey, and we still have debt to contend with...but we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. My husband and I both falter from time to time and have to refocus on our goal, but we usually get back on track pretty soon. Nobody is perfect. But this spring coming, a lot of our debt will be paid off and we feel that we will finally be on the right track.

The reason we need prayers at this time is we have heard of a couple people being laid off this week from my husband's work. This is really a great concern for us as we are just coming out of the debt, and don't have the money saved that we would need to survive a lay off. My husband works at a flooring company and in these times, people are not buying, building or remodeling cause money is tight everywhere. He has only worked at this job 6 years so he is low on the totem pole right now as his company hasn't hired much since he was hired.

We are in panic mode now, cutting down on a already overstressed budget trying to find spare dollars to get in a savings account so we have a backup plan. We are trying so hard to turn everything around.

First and foremost keep those that have been laid off in your prayers as they try to find their way in this dark economic time. And if you will keep us in your prayers, we would appreciate. We know things will get better, and that we will get through our challenges as we always have, but we are hoping to minimize the impact to our kids as much as possible. Hard times do make a family stronger, and this won't be the first rough patch we have hit. Thank you.

We know that there are so many people out there struggling with debt and layoffs too, and our hearts go out to you. :-(

Are you an Eeyore or a Tigger?

I thought I would share one person who has truly inspired me this year. His name is Randy Pausch. You may have heard of him and his "Last Lecture". He was an amazing man. I was very saddened to hear of his passing mid July.

If you have never heard of Randy Pausch, he was a professor Carnegie Mellon University, and a father of three small children. At age 46, he found out that he had pancreatic cancer. As time went by, and it was determined that cancer would ultimately take his life sooner rather than later, he gave his "last lecture" to a crowd at Carnegie Mellon. That lecture inspired the crowd, and became a worldwide phenomon.

Randy knew that he would not be able to watch his small children grow up, and instead of being angry and bitter about that he decided that he would make his remaining time with them count. He started documenting his thoughts about their futures, and figuring out ways to be involved with them after he was gone. Alot of this is in his "last lecture" as well as the book he wrote.

In Randy's last lecture, one of the things he asks is are you a Tigger or an Eeyore? One of the robotics mentors asked Collin's robotics team today to figure out which one you are. Tigger being the bouncy, happy, get things done type of guy, while Eeyore being the lazy, whining, never happy kind of guy.

I think it is easy to get into the complaining mode...I know I do it quite often, but then I remember Randy Pausch and through all his chronic struggles with pain, cancer treatments, he did the best he could to make time for his kids...and that is amazing.

"I'll get you my pretty..and your little dog too!"

My 2 year old daughter has a shoe fetish....shoes rule her world! She is known to go into my closet and scatter my shoes randomly about the house as she wears them all mismatched..it doesn't matter to her, a shoe is a shoe. One sneaker with a dress shoe. One flip flop with an aqua shoe. She is a trendsetter that one is, let me tell you!

But all this has changed since the ruby slippers have entered her life. I picked up a "Dorothy" dress from a yardsale awhile back. You couldn't beat the price, and I love finding Halloween costumes at rock bottom prices so I went on the hunt for ruby slippers....And low and behold, for once our local Walmart came through!

These ruby slippers have just made my daughter the happiest girl in town. She wants to wear them EVERYWHERE! She tried to wear them apple picking, but I didn't want them ruined before Halloween!

As a matter of fact, quite often she even sleeps with them like they are a security blanket. One morning, I went in her room while she was suppose to be sleeping, and she says "Mommy" with a huge grin, and then flips the blankets back holding her feet in the air...and guess what she had on!

Fundraising...YIKES!

My stepson, Collin, has to raise $800 in funds to be on his robotics team. This money goes towards traveling expenses and competition fees. So Fred and I have been racking our brains trying to figure out ideas for Collin to raise this money.


We spent last night making caramel apples and chocolate lollipops to sell at the soccer concession stand! What a task! But at least I got to spend some quality time with all three kids. We made it a family event (Fred had to work though) so it is always fun to teach the kids some new things!

Michael washed the apples, Collin stirred the caramel, and I dipped the apples! Ally stood on the stool and watched, proclaiming over and over..."I don't like appplllleeesss! I like LOLLIPOPS!". She has an opinion on everything!

In between dipping apples and melting caramel, we also made a bunch of chocolate lollipops in the one mold we had. It took a long time to make 4 bags worth of chocolate in one candy mold, but Collin finished it up late last night!


Thanks to my cousin Shannon for letting us borrow the mold and a small crockpot, and many thanks to my sister-in-law Jen for selling them for us at the concession stand!

This is only a prelude as to what is to come cause on Halloween day, we are doing a bake sale in front of a local convenience store....and that is going to be tons of fun! (-;

Sunday Sumo Wrestling

Yes, you got that right...on my Sunday, there was Sumo Wrestling...at a soccer game...go figure.

Luckily I wasn't Sumo Wrestling...that might have been even crazier. But I got to say it was pretty funny anyways watching my neice and her friend Sumo Wrestle and then my stepson and his girlfriend duel till their demise.

First off, let's start with Michael's soccer game...

Michael had a hard time, he got pushed several times by the other team. He played his little heart out, but in the end his team lost. )-:

During the soccer games at our local school, the 8th grade class is trying to raise money for their class trip so they had put up some bouncy things. In addition to the bounce house, an inflatable slide, an inflatable soccer field...there were also these Sumo Wrestling outfits so you and your "friend" could duel it out.

My sister in law who graciously volunteers at the concession stand even though her daughter is out of this soccer league "talked" my stepson and his girlfriend into giving Sumo Wrestling a try. My stepson is usually not so willing to make a fool out of himself...he has been known on occasion to accept monetary bribes (from my sister in law), but rarely does begging and pleading work. I think in the end she bribed them with food, but we'll let that remain a big mystery.

So the next thing we know, Collin and his girlfriend are off to Sumo Wrestle with all the family in tow...we weren't going to miss this! It was pretty freakin' hilarious! Once they were in the Sumo suits, they couldn't even move. They had to be lifted up, rolled over....my sister in law tortured them by tickling their toes....so funny.

I could narrate the whole thing...but in the end, I could never do it justice...you just have to look at the pictures!

See how funny that is?

Saturday Blessings....

Saturday started with a trash pick up for my stepson's robotics team. They gave us the shortest streets ever in a residential area where there was virtually no trash. So at least it didn't take too long, and one of the grandparents brought donuts, a nice bonus for Ally and I cause it was a little chilly following them around.

After trash pickup, we had Collin drive us home as he needs the practice. He has his drivers permit right now, and will take the driving test in January. All I will say about that is he is getting better. LOL.

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After arriving home, I made a mad dash to get ready for my family reunion. This family reunion was my grandmom's family on my mother side. We had a great turnout, and it was awesome to hear a lot of family stories. I videotaped a lot of it, and also took a bunch of pictures.

We had a great turnout so we had two rooms of tables for dinner.

My Uncle Roy, who hosted the reunion, lives on a beautiful farm. I had never been in his house before, but it was awesome! Big rooms, massive fireplaces, gorgeous wood staircase...the things I would do with that house!

My uncle has only lived there for a few years, and they have worked more on the outside than on the inside, plus with farming, that takes up most of their time. But I love this house!

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As soon as I got in the door, my stepson started on how he had to go to the pumpkin carve at our local fairgrounds cause his girlfriend was there. As tired as I was, I mustered up the strength to get ready and off we went to the GREAT Pumpkin Carve. It was an easy choice to make, I love seeing all the massive pumpkins and people's creativity...plus even better, it supports a great non-profit agency, Meals on Wheels...and they are desperately in need of all the funds they can get this year with the way the economy has been.

I always enjoy things we can all do as a family. With such an age range of kids, it is getting harder and harder to find things all three kids enjoy. Collin ran off with his girlfriend for a time, but they ended up finding and walking with us part of the time. Hey, you take what you can get!

Michael had his cousin with him, and they ran about for a time too, but they came back when we went to look at the pumpkins. Allyson was stuck with us, but she didn't mind too much.

Then we all went on the hayride together. Unforunately, I didn't get a picture of my husband covered in hay as he was sitting next to two little girls throwing handful of hay on each other. Ally was nervous when we got on the hayride, but she felt better when her daddy was holding her. Daddy makes everything alright! (-;

Our ride home was hilarious. Michael's cousin, Scott, is the mirror image of Michael...much to Collin's dismay..especially with his girlfriend in the car! We were all cracking up at Scott's ramblings...even Collin and Sam!

So although exhausting, it doesn't get better than this....or maybe it does. Wait till you see how our Sunday went.....

Yummy Cookies....

Tomorrow I am going to a family reunion so since I am definately not skilled in the cooking department, I decided that I would bake and take some cookies as my contribution. Baking is my new found love. I've always enjoyed it, but now with the kids, I love making things they will enjoy...and its even better when they are around to help! A great family activity.

On this particular day though, I alone made my chocolate chip cookies. I had to make a double batch, one for my family and one for the reunion so while they baked, I took my cookie jar to the next level, courtesy of my Cricut. I love that thing, especially now that I have used the vinyl to make sayings.

Majority of the time, my baked goods are "yummy", but yes, we all have those times where they get a little overdone. I admit that I have a short attention span, and 9 minutes is a long time for me to stay focused on one task. Therefore my strategy is that if I put "yummy" on the cookie jar, the family will see it when they go for a cookie, and then they will "think" it. But I have no worries, the kids are usually so happy to have a sugary snack, they don't care if they are burnt.

FUTURE AMERICAN IDOL CONTESTANT!

My 2 year old recently made the "big" move from her crib to a twin bed. At first it was more traumatic for me...my little girl already 2 has really grown up so fast...but try as I may, I can't stop her from getting bigger. Then after 3 nights of falling out of bed, it became more traumatic for her. We have solved that with a bed rail. And yes, I would have solved that sooner than 3 nights if our lovely Walmart carried anything useful. :-)

After probably about a month now of being in her new bed, today she decided at naptime that she only had to stay in her bed about 20 minutes. I hear the pitter patter of her feet in the hallway upstairs, and then the thumps as she walks down the steps. I go to the steps, and tell her in my sternest voice to get back in bed for her nap. "Mommy, I not in ttttrrrrouble anymore...I not". Translation - "nap is over". So back up the steps, back into bed with a stern warning that she better stay there. I will win this battle....LOL.

So I go back to the kitchen to make some cookies and I suddenly hear her singing her little heart out as LOUD as can be....WE WILL, WE WILL....ROCK YOU...as has been taught to her by her brother Michael.

I chuckled...my poor husband is on overnight work this week so now while he sleeps across the hall from her, he is being serenaded. But everybody loves a lullaby, right? And we all need entertainment while baking! What can I say? She stayed in bed as I asked...I won the battle today, we'll see what tomorrow brings....

Apple Picking and ICE CREAM!! Can it get any better?

This week we went apple picking with my cousin and her kids...Allyson was so excited, especially to see her cousins!

Apple picking was even more special this year cause it was the first time that we got to take Baby Ava with us. Baby Ava is a beautiful little baby girl that I have the pleasure of watching while her mother works.

You are never too young for apple picking!

We headed over to the orchard and we watched the kids marvel over all the apples. Ally watched the other kids pick apples for awhile, then she decided she wanted to get one for Collin, one for Michael and one for Ally.

Hill Creek Farms was really nice, well kept...there weren't a lot of rotten apples laying on the ground so that avoided a lot of the problems with bees. But we did miss having our apple cider donuts and apple cider at our usual apple picking market. I think we might just make a small trip over there next week just for an outing with the kids and some of those sweet donuts...they are amazing! Hill Creek is suppose to build a barn with a bakery, produce and crafts so I am looking forward to seeing how that turns out!



We left the orchard and then moved on to the highlight of the day...FRIENDLYS. Okay, maybe not the highlight for the kids, but for me! If anybody knows me, they know that we went to Friendly's more for me than the kids. I LOVE ICE CREAM! All the kids were really well behaved during lunch, and we recieved many compliments from the waitstaff and patrons ...particularly an older couple sitting near us.



We got A LOT of apples and now I really need to start using them up! It was a great day outside and since it was Baby Ava's first time apple picking, it made the day even sweeter! Happy Fall!