A Boo-tiful Weekend

Sorry for my lame title, but I'm trying to be festive.

It's been a fun weekend and it actually started early for me. I got off work at 3:00. Yay for Halloween parties at daycare because then lots of kiddos go home early!

Yesterday we went to the Illinois vs. Purdue game. With Illinois actually being pretty good this season, it's made going to the games a lot more fun! There's lots of energy in the crowd, which usually means that I get pretty wound up too! The weather was pretty much perfect too.

A cup of hot chocolate to start the day off right!

Check out the yards at the end of the first quarter! Haha!

The guy who dressed up as the Chief earlier this month was back this weekend! He's pretty awesome.

There were some touchdowns in question and Jacob kept yelling, "I HAVE PROOF RIGHT HERE!"

I gotta say, I love going to Illinois games with my husband. I wish it were my Hawkeyes, but I have lots of fun yelling and cheering and jumping up and down!

Illinois stomped all over Purdue and will be Bowl eligible once they win one more game!

We stopped for a snack before driving home. I of course had my phone out and ready to start watching the Iowa game updates. We actually got home just after the 2nd quarter was starting. Most of the action happened in the first half, but we crushed Michigan State! The was a great feeling. This puts us back in the running for possibly going to the Rose Bowl! We're in a 4 way tie for 1st right now in the Big Ten.

In Taylorville they do trick-or-treating on 2 nights, so we had it last night and then again tonight. Smaller towns really confuse me. Growing up we trick-or-treated ON Halloween no matter what day of the week that it fell on. I don't really understand the point of 2 nights, but from a kids perspective, it's great. You could load up on double the candy! Anyway, I turned on our light last night and only ended up with 24 kids.  We'll see how it goes tonight. Not many people on our street had their lights on last night so I'm sure that's the reason a lot of people were skipping our street. Little kids amuse me though. One little boy asked me, "Are you guys watching scary movies in there?" Sadly, there was nothing good on last night. Might watch me some Ghost Hunters tonight!

Today after church we went over to the Bates' to see Jack in his costume and to give him the Halloween goodie bag I made up for him.

Here's Super Jack! I think my favorite part is the underwear over the pants.

After pulling out his coloring book and stamps he pulled out the cupcakes and was like, "These are our FAVORITE!!" Haha...he probably says that about everything, but it was cute.

We headed for Taylorville and had lunch at KFC together. Liam and I chilled out for a bit after lunch.

Jack and Liam

Then we came home and I decided it was time to purge. (Not my lunch...although I ate too much grease) I filled 2 garbage bags with clothes to donate. I even got rid of 7 pair of flip flops! Made me feel better to get rid of some stuff!

I've already ruined my calorie intake for the day, so I think I'll go eat a Reese Peanut Butter Cup.

Check back tomorrow...it's the start of National Blog Month! And if you think of something you'd like me to write about let me know because I'm stumped right now!

Halloween Fun

What was your first Halloween costume?
I believe I was a glow worm.

What costume did you hate?
Princess. The only cool part about it was my light up tiara, but my dress came from Goodwill and did not look like a princess dress. I looked more like an orphan!

What are you being this year?
Nothing.

What was your favorite costume?
When I was younger my favorite was getting to be The Wicked Witch of the West! A few years ago I dressed up as a 50's girl and I totally loved that too!

When was the last time you went trick-or-treating?
Maybe when I was 11 or 12

M&Ms or Skittles?
M&M's...especially if they're Peanut or Peanut Butter!

Berry or Tropical Flavors?
Berry Flavors

White, Milk, or Dark Chocolate?
Milk and Dark

Sour or Sweet?
SWEET!

Chewy or Crunchy?
That really depends on what the candy is. Tootsie rolls and those little peanut butter chewy things in the orange and black wrappers are yummy! Crunchy anything with peanuts are also delicious!

Clodhoppers or Whoppers?
What the heck is a clodhopper? I hate Whoppers, so I choose neither.

Chocolate-covered Raisins or Peanuts?
Peanuts. Why is that even a choice? Of course peanuts.

Starburst or Gobstoppers?
Starburst

Bubble gum or lollipops?
How about a Blow Pop?

Cheesy or Barbecue chips?
That's a tough one, but I gotta put cheese just slightly ahead of the BBQ

What was the first horror movie you saw?
My grandma let me watch Child's Play when I was like 4 or 5. AHHHH!!!

What was the last horror movie you saw?
It's been a long time so I can't even remember. I want to see Paranormal Activity though.

Zombies or Aliens?
Uh....Zombies

Ghosts or Vampires?
Ghosts

What are the goriest movies you've seen?
Probably the Hills Have Eyes...LOL!

Who's scarier: "The Ring" girl or "The Exorcist" girl?
The Ring girl.

Who's Scarier: The "Saw" clown or the "Chucky" doll?
CHUCKY! I still hate talking dolls.

What did you like better: "Goosebumps" or "Are You Afraid of The Dark?"
I was a Goosebumps girl

What are you doing for Halloween this year?
Staying at home and passing out candy for the first time at our house!

What is your biggest pet peeve about trick-or-treaters?
When a little punk reaches in your bucket and swipes a whole handful of candy! Haha! Or 18 year olds trick or treating.

What was your favorite jack-o-lantern you helped carve?
I've only carved one and I ripped off my thumbnail! But it was a fun night other than that. My mom always carved cool ones for us though!

Ramblings

The pumpkin contest at work doesn't end until the end of the week, but for those of you who are wondering which pumpkin is ours, it's:

The Fall Snowman. Ours and the Tin Man and the Dalmatian are my favorites!

It's hard to believe that it's the last week in October already. I'm excited for next weekend! I have our Halloween candy bought to pass out to our Trick or Treaters! I hope we get a lot. I have no clue how many kids are in the neighborhood, but I love Halloween! I'm proud of myself too. I put the candy in the closet and haven't let myself open it up. Of course I got candy in the mail from my grandma last week. Then my Secret Sister at work gave me this cute fall basket with my favorite candy corn and pumpkins, and my mom sent us a Halloween package in the mail today! I was pretty excited about that. I've been slacking on the working out and eating too much candy, so tonight after work I rode 11 miles on the bike!

Next week we begin a new month. November is National Blogging Month. How many of you can I count on to participate this year? I've done in the past couple of years but last year was the first year that I successfully blogged all 30 days of the month. I just went back and reread all of my posts from last November. Hopefully I can come up with enough to write about without boring you all to tears.

Things that I'm looking forward to in this coming month:

*Watching more football!
*Seeing Jacob's middle school put on "The Wizard of Oz"
*Wearing fuzzy socks and drinking hot chocolate.
*Thankgiving Feast at work.
*4 day weekend and Thanksgiving in Cedar Rapids (Hoping I can see some of my friends this time!)
*Coming home and decorating for Christmas after Thanksgiving (Please don't yell at me for mentioning Christmas. Afterall, it's the most wonderful time of the year)
*Busting out the Christmas tunes.

I believe this has been random enough.

Pick Your Pumpkin

At work we have a pumpkin contest going on. Each of the rooms created a pumpkin and now they're on display in the hallway. People can put money in a jar  next to their favorite pumpkin and the one with the most money will win a pizza party. The money is then donated to a local charity.

Anyway, the pumpkins are all so cute that I just had to share them. Besides, even though ours is cute it won't win. Why?

Because even though the pumpkins are labeled with numbers instead of what room created it, the older kids will tell their parents what pumpkin was from their room and their parent's will then put money in that container. I'm guessing our babies can't speak and tell their parents which pumpkin is from our room. Not to mention the fact that winning a pizza party would entail me and my co-worker Laura pigging out on pizza by ourselves while sharing with the 2 munchkins that can eat table food.

I keep calling it "our" pumpkin, when in reality all credit goes to Laura and her crafty and creative mom. I'm just pretending like I had something to do with its cuteness.

Anyway, I'm going to post them and not say which one is ours. Your job is to tell me your favorite to least favorite. This is just a vote for fun just because I want to see different people's views. I'll tell you  which one was ours in my next post. I won't be offended if you rank ours low either...although I'm biased and think its pretty cute! They're all adorable though.

A view of the whole table

The Tin Man

A Penguin (It's hard to tell, but it has black felt "wings" on each side too)

The Fall "Snowman" (Also..you can't see it well, but on one arm a sign says, "Welcome Fall" and the other has a bird perched on it.)

A Dalmatian

The Rainbow Fish (based off of the children's story)

Cinderella's Carriage

Let the voting begin! (This includes all you lurkers who read my blog and never comment! I know you're out there!) If you leave and Anonymous comment don't forget to sign your name so I know who you are!

Our Infant Room Makeover...If You Give a "HOOT"

Our baby room at work got a makeover, over the weekend! The room had been the same for several years. Paint was peeling off the wall, and my boss was ready for a change. She came to us and asked a couple weeks ago if we'd like her to redo it. She wanted to do a neutral khaki color and then add decorations. Anyway...here are some "Before" pics. These were actually taken my first week working there last August.

It was a Winnie the Pooh theme. Most of the decals had peeled or ripped and the boarder was falling down and faded by the sun.

And the "AFTERS" I didn't realize until I got home that my camera was apparently not on the right setting because these pictures don't really do it justice. The tan color is really pretty and the decals are nice and bright. By the way, I am totally in love with owls right now. Who knew they could be so cute!?

This is my favorite wall. It makes me happy every time I look at it.

My boss was afraid the pictures were too girly, but even though they're pink, it still kinda seems neutral. The one of the left has boyish pictures on it too.

Another view. The back room where our cribs are is going to get painted this weekend per our request! I'm not a fan of it the way it is.

View of the room from the door (See our twins?)

You can't really tell, but on the babies baskets my boss tied cute little bows. Brown and pink ribbons for the girls and a blue and brown one for our boy. Yeah...we have 6 girls and 1 boy right now! Also to the right is the changing table and above that are mirrors! They're circles and super cute!

Anyway, we've gotten all positive reactions to it other than one lady I work with who said it looked gloomy. Um...brown is the in color right  now! The only bad thing is the circle decals aren't sticking right. They keep falling off the wall. Hopefully we can find a way to make them stick!

Anyway...it was fun having new scenery today!

Bye Bye "Newlywed 15"!

I'm pretty proud of myself. I've almost reached my goal of losing 15 pounds! If you remember I started towards the end of July, so it's taken me about 3 months. I only have about a half a pound to go!

I started because I had pretty much gained back all the weight that I lost 3 years ago. I started feeling "guilty" in April or May. I'd be pigging out and would know that I shouldn't be doing that. I ended up having to buy new shorts because mine didn't fit anymore. I told myself I'd get back into shape one of these days. I also made up some lovely excuses. I wasn't going to start my diet before going to Florida because HELLO...food is a very important part of vacation! Then I had the 4th of July...and there's ALWAYS yummy snackage while waiting for the fireworks (although I ended up regretting my pig out session that night while I was up sick) Then of course I was going to Chicago with my friends and obviously there would be more delicious food that I was not going to want to give up.

Not to mention there is the "dread factor". Knowing that I have to cut WAY back or give up some of my favorite foods for awhile. Especially ice cream. Knowing that I'm going to be starving for a few weeks. Knowing that I have to get off my butt and actually do something about it!

The first 2 or 3 weeks are torture. Forcing myself to go take a walk, even if it's 95 degrees outside...blah. And I WAS starving. My stomach growled constantly. My head pounded for days because I cut out almost all sugar. But I started to shed pounds and that's what always becomes my motivation.

I promised myself ice cream, only after I lost 10 pounds. I must admit that I cheated and ate a bowl after 8.5. I made homemade ice cream for Jack's party and had to have some.

I've let myself have more freedom this time around. That's probably why it's taken me a little longer to lose weight this time than last night, but that's okay. I let myself eat out and not get discouraged. I eat a cookie or 2 here or there. I've indulged in a lot of stuff, but I think sticking the exercise this time has really boosted my metabolism. I'm to the point where I can eat more for lunch than a yogurt and handful of crackers and yet not go overboard. I can eat a slightly bigger portion and still see the numbers drop. I'm really happy we bought the recumbent bike. I usually ride about 8 miles each time I ride it. Plus I get to ride it in my own home, while watching TV. It's my ideal situation.

With the holidays coming, I think I'll be okay if I keep riding the bike. The good news is, my jeans are getting too loose! It's a much better feeling to have loose pants, than pants that dig into your skin when you attempt to button them!

If It's Never Ending, Then Why Does It End?

Thank goodness for lazy weekends. It's been awhile since I've actually been home all day on the weekend.  I slept in yesterday day until 8:00, which was apparently too long because instead of feeling refreshed, I felt sluggish and ended up with a headache.

Jacob had musical practice and I told him I'd send him updates of the Illinois game. I hadn't really thought I'd watch the whole thing, but I ended up really getting into it. I never really knew I'd get into football so much but I found myself flipping between 3 football games!  Illinois beat Penn State which was quite exciting! When Jacob came home we watched the Alabama vs. South Carolina game. I ended up falling asleep and woke up an hour later! I warmed up the chili we had the night before and we ate while we finished watching the game.

Last night we went over to Seth and Sandy's and had a fire. It had been so long since I had a s'more! We always enjoy hanging out with them. Jack entertained us with super hero stories and Liam cried his little head off for awhile. He's so cute though. Heidi called me "The Baby Whisperer" one time so that's what Jacob referred to me as when I got him to stop crying and he fell asleep in my arms. The source of my magic you ask?  I hum or sing, "You Are My Sunshine" over and over again. Jacob told me he's gonna sing awesome songs to our kids. Hey...this song has been working for me for years, and I don't mess with a good thing! :)

We didn't stay for potluck after church today. We did however indulge in Olive Garden's, Never Ending Pasta Bowl one last time for the season. Today was the last day for it! We also had to get one more slice of Pumpkin Cheesecake. Delicious as always. We had the strangest waiter I think I have ever encountered. He had to be in his 50's and was just odd. For awhile he would not leave us alone. Then he would disappear when we needed him. He'd make the strangest chit chat and was driving us crazy and cracking us up at the same time. He'd walk away and we'd just look at each other like, "REALLY!?" Then at 2 separate times he would say that he hoped he wasn't a terrible waiter. We came to find out that it was his first day and he said he hadn't waited tables in like 30 years. I felt much more compassion.

My greatest laugh came when I asked to take my 2nd  bowl to go. (This was after he tried to swipe my bowl. Dude...I want my leftovers!) Anyway, he brings me the container and scoops my leftovers into it. Then he proceeds to put my container in this:

I seriously LOVE that he put my container in a giant bag. I didn't even have the heart to tell him that I really didn't need the bag, so I just took it and kept laughing when I'd look at it.

Now another weekend is almost over. Even though I didn't do much, I could still use another day! Weekends just go by too fast!

Fall Is Upon Us

So many things run through my head during the week that I could write about, yet when I sit down to blog I go completely blank. I better get into gear because next month is November and November means it's National Blog Month! Last year I finally blogged on all 30 days of November and I'm planning to do it again this year!

I love fall. I think October has become one of my favorite months. It's the month where the leaves start changing colors and the air is crisp. I can wear jeans and a hoodie in the morning and be wearing a t-shirt and flip-flops by the afternoon. It's ideal for football games, hot chocolate, and bonfires! Not to mention Halloween is coming up! We all know I love Halloween! I'm excited to actually get to pass out candy this year. Hopefully we have trick-or-treaters! I have no idea if there's lots of kids who trick-or-treat in our  neighborhood or not.

Although fall also means that the days are getting shorter and that winter is creeping up on us. I'm never ready for that. The thought of the bitter cold makes me cringe...so I guess I'd better enjoy this weather while it lasts!

This weekend is our first free weekend in about a month. I'm excited because Saturday night I think we're going to go over to the Bates' and have a fire and make s'mores. Nothing says fall like a s'more either! I feel like it's been so long since I've seen them  because we've been gone the past 2 Sundays from church.

So many things that I should do, so hopefully I get some motivation. I hate when I end up wasting my day away, yet I don't like doing so much stuff only to realize that I never really relaxed.

Jacob has been busy with musical practices after school several days a week. I'm excited to see the musical in November! They're putting on "The Wizard of Oz"! Then on Wednesday nights I don't see him until about 8:30. Youth group changed to Wednesdays this year and so he's been staying and working after school and doing some other stuff before that starts.

I had decided to stay home this year. My heart really isn't in working with youth group. I did it for several years at Valley View and then finally stopped a couple of years ago. Did a year of the kids program and then took a year to myself. I thought about working with the kids program here, but thinking back to when I helped at VV, my heart was never really in that either. Coming from a full day of taking care of kids and trying to focus on another group just doesn't work well for me. I  would find myself lacking patience and just not really putting my heart into it. I have to decompress after work. If I have to go do anything after work I have to psych myself up for it. I don't know why...but I was even like that as a teenager. Always a homebody.

Anyway, I've rambled long enough.