Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween! I am happy to finally share my Halloween costume!

I spent part of Saturday, putting it together. I am an iPhone!

I even have the Apple logo on the back!

I made the entire thing out of felt. I made a basic bag type pullover, and then attached the apps with fabric glue. I used my own phone for inspiration. I even have Angry Birds!!

Kevin and the boys went on a Scouting adventure yesterday. They visited a tank museum. A good time was had by all.

One person is the owner of all of these tanks. He has since passed away, but wanted the tanks to be available for small groups to visit. I didn't go on this adventure, but apparently his collection is quite extensive, including not just tanks, but other weapons of war as well.

Only a LITTLE intimidating huh?

I am a girl, so I don't know if I know the "technical" terms for these guns, but I would call that some sort of machine type gun, on a tank. Quinn looks thrilled to be blowing away fake enemies. He looks a little too happy, if you ask me.

Riley wouldn't hurt a fly, but he looks pretty intense with this gun. Geez, boys and guns.

Quinn, riding a motorcycle. Look, it has one of those little side cars! It's very Indiana Jones, or is it GI-Joe?

Riley, "driving" the military jeep. You know, he'll be able to really drive in just over 2 years!

I believe that is a bazooka. Again, a little too excited for my taste! Go Quinn! That thing is bigger than him! I wonder if those things had a pretty big kick-back after being fired?

Quinn, inside a tank. Looks like everyone had a really great time! I had a great time here. I went to Ikea and I worked on my Halloween costume. I will have pictures of THAT tomorrow.

Pumpkin Patch

We decided to visit the local pumpkin patch last weekend. We waited until 4:30 on Sunday to go. Kind of a mistake. It was super crowded and the sun sucked. You can't tell how glary it was, from the pictures, but it was horribly bright. Also they didn't have any decent pumpkins. We took pictures and then left. Kevin got a nice pumpkin from the grocery store.

This pumpkin patch is located at Ardenwood Farm in Fremont. We hadn't been to this pumpkin patch for a couple of years. We've been driving out to Livermore. There's a nice one out there.

I had to snap my picture quick as there were tons of kids trying to climb this tractor, even though the sign clearly says not to.

This is at this patch every year. I have pictures of Riley, sitting on the ground, as a smiley baby. I would link to those, but those pictures are from film. Remember film? You had to load it into the camera (out of the sun) and then take it, and drop it off, at Longs or somewhere, to get it developed. AND you couldn't delete any bad pictures. Getting your pictures back, in that cute envelope, with the negatives, was a lot like Christmas though.

All of the pumpkins were dented and smashed in some way. They had good sides, but then you turn them around and there would be a hole or a yucky part. I like my pumpkins pretty on all sides.

Quinn, in motion, running from the hay structure. I am amazed that there aren't any people in my picture (only half), as this tower of hay is a big draw. The little hay maze is an even bigger draw, but when you are finally taller than the hay, it's just not as magical. Both boys are taller than the hay now.

Kevin wanted to get this pumpkin, as it's already mostly cleaned out!

I think we waited too long to get pumpkins. They were really picked over.

These are the nice sides.

I really love this one, but nobody else did.

Corn! Such pretty colors.

Mini pumpkins. I love these.

By the way, I tried not to get the many people in my pictures, and now that I look back at them, I was pretty successful. I really hate to have strangers in the backgrounds of my pictures. I know I just opened myself up for some photo bombing from my friend, Michelle. It's a hobby of hers. :-)

Work is really cutting into my play time! Things are starting to get busy. We are conferencing this year, so I am trying to schedule all 27 of those, and it's a complete nightmare. I sent home a note to my parents, to see best available times-as suggested in a staff meeting. I got almost all of them back! Awesome. Only that's not the problem. The issue is not with them, but with HOW we are scheduling the siblings, and the fact that I have a sucky number for getting to the sibling book so that I can schedule them. I can follow my own schedule, but then the parents may be at school more than once for conferences. I am trying to avoid that, but I so dislike the way the procedure is being done this year, that I feel I may just make my schedule because it's what the parents want-it's the times they chose, when they are available. That could open up a whole can of worms. Did I mention that I have 15 students with siblings???? It's stressful. I'm not going to think about it anymore tonight because it just gets me all worked up.

Anyway, we have been equally busy at home! Scouts, appointments, piano, meetings. It is never ending.

I am participating in the American High School Holiday Boutique again this year. It was rather lucrative for me last year. I've made 44 new bracelets, plus a bunch of earrings and some rings, oh and glass pendant necklaces! I am all set! Now, let's hope I do as well this year. It's November 5 from 9-4 at the high school. If you are local, come on by!!

We finally got to play with our Lightning McQueen Appmate! It was designed for the iPad 2, but they came out with a compatible version for the iPad, so we were able to use it. It's pretty cool. You drive the car on the screen and it interacts!

Saturday night we went to Palo Alto. We had dinner at the Peninsula Creamery, and then walked through the downtown, to the Apple store. All of the trees are lit up and it's so pretty.

We have our own clouds now! Super cool, but I'm not too sure just how it works yet.

Quinn, concentrating on his game.

I dropped Quinn off at a birthday party on Saturday afternoon and then I went to the thrift store. My $11.95 went far!! I got that Disneyland plate for Riley. See the vintage, plastic pumpkin up there? 50 cents!!! My favorite is the little glass tumbler in the front, the one with the birds on the lid. 50 cents!!

Well, I have some correcting to do, so I better get to it. It's not going to correct itself!

Disneyland!

We made a quick trip to Disneyland this past weekend. We drove down Friday (after Riley got out of school), and we came home last night. Both parks were way busier than when we were there in August. Halloween Time really draws the crowds!

On the way home yesterday, we stopped at Griffith Park so that we could see Walt Disney's Barn. He was really interested (and collected) 1/8 scale trains. This barn, which I believe was his hobby barn, used to be in his backyard. It was moved to Griffith Park, and is open to the public once a month. We happened to be in the area this time! Inside the barn, there's memorabilia from Walt, and at least one of his trains. Super cool. Check out my other pictures of the barn HERE.

Before heading home yesterday, we were in Disneyland for a little while. Quinn sure loves this little door. He's drawn to it on every visit. It's the side of a hat store, in Fantasyland.

In the Hub, near the Partners statue. Each of those pumpkins has a face from one of the lands.

These next pictures crack me up. I love, love, love that big Mickey!

Quinn being silly, screaming. Riley-posed.

More silliness from Quinn. Riley-still posed.

This is about as serious as we could get Quinn. Riley-posed. This guy at Riley's new Scout troop asked me if I thought Quinn was on the spectrum. Um...No. Obviously. To see the rest of Halloween Time at Disneyland, click HERE.

And now....

I stayed home from school on Friday. I was going to just take a half day, so that I could pick Quinn up early, so that we could leave for Disneyland as soon as Riley got out of school. It turned into an all day absence, because my car needed an oil change before the long drive, and I had no time during the week to get it done. It also helped that I was home when the new iPhone 4s' arrived!!! The poor UPS guy was so overworked. I heard the truck on my street and was waiting on the front porch when he pulled up. He said he should have called in sick as he had so many of them to deliver. He was darting all over town, delivering them first, so that people could have them. Cool huh?

Oh Hello!

Um, I guess things have been crazy around here. Kevin was gone all last week, on a business trip. Of course the week was jam-packed with a cut/color for me, dentist for me, Scouts for both boys (Tuesday and Wednesday), a pick-up of glasses for both Quinn and I, and Riley's weekly appointment. Whew! No wonder I didn't blog! I was NOT home. Oh yeah, and I worked too!! Ok, so back on track...Let's catch up...

This is my newest pumpkin. I got him at the Homegoods store last weekend, for $12.99!! He's huge! He's an Annalee pumpkin. Super cute. He's too big for my mantle though, so he's on the hearth. Huh. I like that word, hearth. Sounds so Martha Stewart. Hearth. LOL

This weekend I completed a project. First the boys and I went to Dale Hardware and purchased spray paint. Kinda a LOT of spray paint. No, we don't plan on tagging any walls with all of that color. I promise. I'm a teacher, so you have to believe me. I'm honest.

The project involved painting this small printer's tray...

and this bigger printer's tray. I got the idea from Pinterest, to paint them and use them to store Lego mini figures. The small one is Quinn's and the big one is Riley's.

Quinn chose silver, which was VERY easy to work with. Riley chose a really great shade of blue, but the paint was really hard to work with, and it's already had 3 coats and it needs more, and I am out of the blue. I think I prefer the Krylon paint to anything else.

I am participating in a holiday boutique, for the local high school, on Nov. 5. I am making more button bracelets (see my sidebar Etsy shop). In addition, I am making glass tile pendants, glass tile earrings (pictured) and filigree/flower earrings (pictured). I have been glueing, sanding, and glueing, and assembling. If you are local, you will need to come by. It's at American High School.

Quinn has this master plan of growing his hair out. It's driving me crazy, but he has his own ideas, and I am trying to let him be who he wants to be. I did offer him $20 yesterday to cut his hair...short...but nope. He's not interested. He wants long bangs. I wish I could figure out how to scan a picture of me, my senior year in high school, because looking at Quinn is like looking at me! I will work on it-I had bangs down to my chin! I was into New Wave. Anyway, I digress...Kevin and I were able to talk Quinn into getting his hair shaped for longness...

Ta DAAAA! Look at how cute he looks! It's still long, but it's better shaped. I seriously need to find that picture!!

Pumpkins!

It's pumpkin time around here! I got my pumpkins out last weekend, and I have been arranging and rearranging them ever since.

I used to group them all in alike sets, and now I try to separate them out some.

Those two gourds and the tall lantern are some of my favorite pumpkins!

I also love glass pumpkins.

These three are my MOST favorite though. I love them!

Mickey Mouse pumpkins! LOVE.

The sad guy at the front in one of my newest pumpkins. I got him at West Elm in Emeryville, the night Kevin and I got to go on a date and we ate at Trader Vics.

The Mickey in the back was purchased at Disneyland when we went this summer.

I love the teeth on the pumpkin in front.

I probably should not buy ONE MORE pumpkin, but I love them so much.