What a week!

This might be the WORST WEEK EVER...I'm not sure.  So on Friday night while ben was still out of town (I have told a few of you this terrible story) I was drinking my Diet Coke minding my own business and suddenly i get this terrible shooting stabbing pain in one of my teeth that needs to be root canaled...my mouth is watering just remembering the pain.  Right after it started Kyle came inside crying because one of his "friends" threw a rock at him.  I could barely stand up but went out to figure it out....the gust of cool air did NOT help matters.  It would be really hard and strong, then fade and I would think oh this is done, then no another stab.  I took a Vicadin and gave it about 30 min and felt no difference.  AHHH so I called my dentists cell phone (i should keep that on speed dial...thank goodness for after hours numbers :) ) He called in immediately a stronger Vicadin (which makes me tired) and antibiotic (which makes me sick to my stomach but better than stabbing pain :)) And if i take that and an 800 IB profen I'm feeling OK like i don't want to knock my tooth out with an ice skate like in Cast Away (I now understand why he would do that....). SO back to this week. I have no voice which means i can't yell at my kids, which means nobody listens to me :)  Ben left out of town again this evening,  on WednesdayI have to go to the dentist for an "emergency procedure" where they will clean out my tooth, drill to alieviate pressure, and put medicine in it- it just sounds painful doesn't it.  I guess I'll be getting the root canal next week...so next week might be the worst week ever.  On Thursday I have to make a pleasant visit to the Dr (if you know what i mean) and then I have to get the house ready for family to come for the weekend.  Mostly it's just bad cause the dentist :( On a lighter note Zach was eating "handisnacks" you know the crackers and cheese for lunch (i'm a loser mom I know) and he decided it would be FUN to rub the fake cheese all over his head.  That is just gross.  I wiped it off with a dish cloth and ran kyle to school.  By the time we got back his hair was dry...and really stiff and definitely smelled of fake cheese.  it was cute though :)   

Zoo Boo

We love Halloween.  My kids usually pick out their costumes about 1 month or more in advance...so we are putting them to good use.  We went to Point Defiance's Zoo Boo on Saturday with a good friend of mine, Jessica and her 3 boys.  It was so fun.  Kyle of course wore his darth vader costume.  His friend,Luke, would only refer to him as "darth vader" not kyle.  I got a kick out of it.  Then later during the day Kyle turned to me and said "Mom, call me Darth Vader, if you would, because that's who I'm dressed as today."  SO FUNNY.  Sadie didn't want to wear hear big sleeping beauty dress (I tricked her into thinking it was her idea not to :) ) so she went as a fairy (wings), princess (crown), ballerina (tutu).  And Zach didn't want his costume on, so he's just in the green sweatsuit that goes under it.  It was absolutely beautiful out and we had so much fun!  

I'm all alone

Today I feel sad. Ben was gone on a small trip earlier this week but just left this afternoon to go hunting with his dad and brothers until early Tues. morning. Which is a whole thing itself. Every year they go and every year I worry, usually we go with and hang out with his mom but the airfare was sooo cheap. But I worry about them when they go him, i always try to call, but of course there is no answer because they are in the mountains, and if they did have service he wouldn't hear it over the 4 wheelers engines. Then if they aren't home when they say that they should be I worry, what if my husband is mistaken for a deer by some other hunter, despite covering himself from head to toe in fluorescent orange (yes we did have a fashion show last while he was packing, bright orange is very attractive I'll have you know). Then there is the worry that they actually do get a deer. Which has never happened since I have been in the family...EVER. But what if they do get one, what am I to do with Bambi meat. I don't want to eat that. No matter how lean and good for you it is...gross. So not only do I pray for safety but I pray we'll never shoot a deer...so far it's worked. Last night he told me that when he gets home he has just enough time to pack and then he has to leave (like an hour later) to go on a business trip until Friday night...ok I can deal with that it's only about a week and a half right (because he was gone tues and wed too) but no it doesn't end there. Then he has to leave early Tues morning and won't be home until Friday night, then his parents are coming for a visit early Sat morning (I am excited about that) that is almost 3 weeks all together. I just counted a bit less I guess...14 and nights all by myself to hear weird noises, and plan escape routes in my head :) On the up side I can cook whatever I feel like for dinner and wear whatever I feel like...or don't feel like :) and watch all the chick flicks I want.

I'm the new Popcorn Man

So for the past few months occasionally at Wal-Mart we'll see the "popcorn man" as called by my kids. I love Fresh Kettle Corn so I'm a sucker (if any of you have a good recipe for it please share) anyway you get a discount for buying 2 bags, so I'd by my kids a bag of the colored/flavored popcorn. That stuff just takes me back to a happy place when I was like Kyles age. Sometimes we'd get it from the mall or something. I don't enjoy the taste so much now, but it's just one of those things. My kids have come to LOVE it. So Sadie kept asking and asking for some colorful popcorn yesterday so I decided to make some. Here's the recipe!

IT's soooo easy

10 cups popped popcorn (my hot air popper broke after the first batch and then I used microwaveable...it worked good, but I would recommend using no butter kind)

then in a saucepan mix

1/2 cup butter (it called for a cup, and I used 1/2 that, you could probably even do a bit less)

3/4 cup sugar

1 3 oz package of jello

3 tbsp water

1 tbsp light Karo syrup

Bring to boiling over medium heat stirring constantly. It then says to boil until it's at the "hardball" stage with a candy thermometer....Let's be real I don't have that, so I boiled stirring for almost 4 minutes. Then I poured over popcorn on a cookie sheet. Bake at 300 for 5 min, stir and then another 5 min

When I make Caramel Corn I love it gooey, but for my kids I wanted this to be crunchy. If you want gooey,don't bake it.

I used Lime (green is Kyles Favorite color) and Raspberry (trying for Pink for Sadie)hence the christmas colors :)They really enjoy the popcorn....that's what they wanted for breakfast :) Kyle told me I'm just like the popcorn man....haha!!

Picture 4

So I saw this on my cousin Emily's post and thought it was fun so I did it too.  She opened her 4th picture file and chose picture 4 to write about.  So mine also comes from April 2007!!  Zach was 3 months old, and he is laying in Sadie's bed.  She had a sticker obsession....still does I guess.  At the time she was almost 19 months old.  But that's how the sticker got there!  In the other picture you'll see her by him right before she put the sticker there.  One time I came in and he probably had 20 stickers on his face. then in that file I found these 2 pictures I love from when my dad came to visit us.  The kids loved having him come...I hope he does again soon.... 

The Great Pumpkin

We had a fun Saturday! Kyle has been eying the pumpkins outside of Fred Meyer everytime we go shopping for the past 2 weeks so I decided it's time for a trip to the pumpkin patch. I got everyone ready in their rain gear and off we went. Right when we left it started pouring rain, but if the rain kept us from doing things here...we'd never get to do anything fun. Ben's rule was that the kids had to be able to pick up the pumpkin and put it in the wheel barrel. So Ben's was named The Great Pumpkin (from Charlie Brown) by Kyle. It was huge. Even Zachy picked out his own. It was so much fun. They even had some fresh picked apples that we bought, which I think I'll make another trip for some more. When we got home Zach kept picking his pumpkin up off of the steps to throw it like a ball. I also have a cute picture showing Zach with a balloon. We had a babysitter on Friday night for Phantom of the Opera (which I absolutely LOVED ....even thought I thought Ben was going to pull his hair out :) ) anyway I bribed the kids to be good/go to bed with a trip to the dollar store. How long will they LOVE to go to the dollar store? I hope till they are about 18 :) Zach chose this balloon and loves it. Also We did our annual spiderweb decorating on our bushes. I'm sure our neighbors just love the way it looks. This year Kyle chose green his favorite color. Then the kids decorated it with lots of spider rings. It was a really fun weekend. I love the fall! and I have to add I have actually missed the rain. It's perfect for a "lazy" weekend.

Nonalcoholic Please

Ok the other night I went to Applebee's with a few friends.  We went for the 1/2 price appetizers- but since we went in Bellevue they made us order drinks too (our "regular" Applebee's doesn't enforce this rule) So I decided to not get "the usual" diet coke,  get a little crazy and ask for a Strawberry Limeade.  It was out of their little drinks book.  You know Margaritas, and daiquiris were on the previous pages.  She brought the drinks out and I took a big sip....REALLY GROSS.  I can't remember exactly but I think Ashlee tasted it and said did you ask for Nonalcoholic?  So when the waitress came by  I said "Excuse me, but I didn't even think to order the nonalcoholic version of this drink."  She looked at me and said "It is nonalcoholic limeades always are."  I felt SOO dumb.  I just said Oh it tastes kind of funny and she just said it's probably the strawberry.  What does that mean??? I'm sure she thought I was such an idiot! I told the story to Ben last night and he says he would have died had he been with me.  So Ladies I apologize for the embarrassing situation :)   On top of the grossness of the drink it cost me $4...the amount I saved on the 1/2 price appetizer :) Also I just looked at their website and it says in really big letters "Speciality Non Alcoholic Drinks" with the limeades right under it :) So I learned a few things from this experience- 1.  I will from now on just stick to the Diet Coke and 2.  I am not meant to venture out of the little town that we live in.  

The Phantom of the Oprera is HERE!!!

I am beyond excited.  Tonight Ben is taking me to see Phantom of the Opera in Seattle.  It has been here for a month and it is the final weekend.  He is actually bringing a  client so that we could go for free :)  I can't wait.  I have been dying to go for years.  It came to Salt Lake I think while we lived there, but we were poor college students.  then while we live in San Francisco it came again, but we didn't know anyone to babysit and there weren't any youth in our ward (we just moved in and had a newborn) I've been thinking maybe someday we'll get to Vegas to see it....but tonights the night!!!!