Preparing for Halloween

Well, this is something that Danny absolutly loves. Carving Pumpkins. So one night we sat down and carved away. He did two and I did one. Kelli wanted me to do the cat, so obviously, my pumpkin is the one with the cat on the tree, and Danny did the Haunted House, and the Flame Eye creapy man.... Kelli didn't like that one at all. It was a lot of fun. Kelli colored a pumpkin and helped us do some carving. She thought it was so fun.

*Josie once again was asleep. FYI she goes to bed early. and she usually is involved in family things! ha ha

Haunted Mansions

Every year we get together with Justin and Jennie and build a "Haunted Mansion" for halloween. We do something different every year, and the boys get more and more creative with their house designs. Justin and Danny built it, and Jennie and I decorated it. This year we did an Igloo. Chase and Kelli are now old enough to want to do things too, so Jennie assembled a quick lil' house for them to decorate, and they had so much fun.... as well as putting one piece of candy on, and eating five.. and so on. I must say, their little house stayed put together for 3 FULL days before I came down one morning and she was eating the Oreos and candy off of it.

*Josie missed out this year, she was in bed cause we were doing this a little too late for her taste

Turning DOMESTIC

Well, this fall I turned DOMESTIC. Turns out that pesky apple tree in the backyard, had some top notch apples on it, so we started picking, and picking, and picking.... and we picked a kitchen trashcan FULL and 4 full grocery bags. Danny and I made some super tasty apple sauce, and then I also dried some apples, which turns out if you call them "apple chips" Kelli will actually eat them. Also, Michelle's mother in law gave her a HUGE box of plums, so we made some plum jam which was rather tasty as well. Apparently my mom use to made the best plum jam when we lived in California but, obviously she stopped when I was little cause I think they are all crazy... my mom does canning but I've never seen her do jam. There are too many witnesses for this to be false that she made the "best plum jam EVER!" Which is a quote I've heard hundreds and hundreds of times! My brothers have all said that the plum jam "took them back to their childhood"..... well, I'm glad! Its so tasty, and it was so easy.... It always looked so hard to do so I never wanted to try, but now I've got this canning stuff down.

Gymnastics

During the summer Kelli took a Gymnastic class at USA Gymnastics. So when the fall season started, Lyza and Thomas came along to put a finale to "pancake tuesday." This was the last class that Thomas was going to be attending because they were going to California for a month or so. Lyza and Kelli are still going and they love it! Its only the two of them in their class! Its so fun, Kelli loves gymnastics and she is freakishly strong so its perfect for her..... her new thing is, doing a headstand up against the wall, and then pushing up into a handstand..... I know right?! FREAKISHLY strong. You go try it! ;)

Future Dentist/or..... Construction worker

I was in the kitchen the other day making dinner, and I could hear Josie and Kelli just laughing and giggling. I didn't know what they were doing, but I could hear a weird noise.... like something electic. I came around the corner, and I saw Josie with a toy that Thomas had left at our house, a toy drill.... and she had it in her mouth, spinning it. It was so funny.... she knew that she was doing something funny and her eyes were huge. She'd turn on the drill and it would go around in her mouth inbetween her teeth causing it to make a weird noise.. and her and Kelli would bust a gut laughing.
Below is Josie, doing her full belly laugh.... It was actually quite hilarious, and I wish I have a tap for my video camera so I could of got it on film!

Question

So I put a tracker on my blog, because once I had a comment from someone in Brazil..... So I asked Greg since he went there on his mission, thinking maybe it was someone that he knew or something like that... what they had written had nothing to do with anything, but that I had a cute family..(creeper), and it was some random person that had come across my blog... (freaky!) I dont want to go private, cause I like that people from different places that I've lived can catch up on my life, but I dont know how all these other countries are accessing my blog cause I dont know people in these countries... how do I stop this??? Its freakin me out.....

Helpful tips?

Finally!

Well, this is about a month over due, but I'm finally getting around to posting an entry at midnight... but it had to be done. Josie is finally a 100% walker. She has been walking for awhile, but would still crawl here and there, and the weirdest thing, she'd ALWAYS crawl on the grass... and never walk (weirdo).... but now she's a walker, and now an avid runner. I guess with a sister like Kelli who chases after her at full sprint you'd have to be. Josie and Kelli are best friends, and do everything together. Kelli gets so heart broken if Josie doesn't come down to the play room right away when asked. And in the morning when Kelli wakes up, she runs straight to Josie to give her a hug and kiss..... running right past me! How rude... after me enduring Kelli kicking me and stealing my blanket all night, I should get the first hug of the day! People always say that once your kid walks... they get into more things, but that isn't true.. she's been this busy since she could crawl. She loves to climb and will climb into anything... (top drawers included...she makes stairs out of them) Shes a sneaky lil' devil and I'm sure when her and Kelli and downstairs playing, Kelli is telling her all the secrets and Josie is mezmorized by her intelligence! At Josie's 1 yr doctor apt she was crawling up the drawers to fire truck bed. Its hilaroius. The Doctor finally had to sit infront of it so she wouldn't fall off and nail her head. She's so funny, and seriously, has the biggest smile and mouth and teeth you've ever seen on a 1 yr old. I love it. You can't ever get mad at her cause she smiles at you, and look at her, and see those teeth, and bam! Your heart melts. I'll post some more pics when I have more time of her mouth/teeth. LOVE IT.

(ps: in this pic, Josie and Kelli were "watching a movie'' but really, Josie had stolen my phone, and Kelli was calling people and then handing it to Josie. So, I'm sorry if you ever get muliple phone calls from me and then hung up on. and my lil' Kelli.... already have her sister do the dirty work!)