Carving Pumpkins

Sunday night we had a little pumpkin carving party. John always does the messy part and cleans out the pumpkins and we love him for it. Then I usually draw out the designs and do the carving. Not this year. Instead the kids picked out a stencil book and they did the carving all by themselves...well I guess I helped out a little.

Cameron creating his ghoulish ghost pumpkin.

Ashley doing a nice job cutting out her scary cat design.

Zachary working on his haunted tree with spooky bats. Zach doesn't usually wear pink...it's actually his giant whoopee cushion costume. For anyone who knows Zach...this is very fitting!

The finished products.

As we were cleaning up the pumpkin mess, we had a nice surprise as Courtney stopped by on his way home from the airport after spending the weekend in Texas. He had a special mission to deliver a few gifts for the kids from their Nawnie. They all loved their new soccer themed gear and quickly changed to give us a little fashion show. THANKS NAWNIE!!

Here Comes Halloween...

I finally took some pictures of our halloween/autumn decorations. My house isn't really orange I was messing with the setting on my camera again.

Our most recent addition is Headless Harry who totally freaks me out but the kids think he's so cool. He's about 2 feet tall, his mouth moves when he talks and his eyes glow red as he raises his head off his body. He was a big hit with everyone at the Trunk-or-Treat this weekend. He usually lives on the front porch but at night I've been bring him inside because you never know what those crazy teenagers will do. Countless times I've been startled as I've walked past our livingroom and caught sight of Harry looking back at me. I even started sticking him in the corner time-out style but that didn't work for long because I'm afraid he's going to get mad at me or something. So he just continues freaking me out on a nightly basis...I guess that's the point right?

Fun in Black and White

A few days ago I was paging through some of my older posts and realized that I never post any pictures of myself. The main reason is because I’m usually the one taking all the pictures so there aren’t that many of me to choose from. The other reason is that I usually end up hating and deleting the ones of me that do somehow sneak onto my camera. My excuses are always the same…

I look really old in this one.
My roots are too over grown in that one.
Yuck, do I really look like that from behind?

Well the other day the kids and I were playing around with the settings on my camera and Ashley snapped a picture of me in black and white…and you know what it wasn’t half bad. I’m not saying I loved it or anything but I could at least look at it without focusing on all my imperfections. So here are a few shots from our impromptu photo shoot. One more thing…this post is dedicated to my Nanny who faithfully checks this blog and would probably enjoy a nice picture of her granddaughter. We love you guys and miss you tons!

Hannah Montana Concert

Last night Cameron, Ashley and I went with a group of friends to the Hannah Montana 2 Meet Miley Cyrus - Best of Both Worlds concert, also featuring the Jonas Brothers (Cameron's favorite group).

It was so much fun. We got there early to enjoy the before show activities, like sing alongs to win meet and greet passes. Our group even got a few seconds of fame on the local news.

The kids all got concert t-shirts and of course the girls all had to match.
All the girls before the show.

The Jonas Brothers opened the show with a great performance. Cameron thought it was totally awesome and the highlight of the night!

Then Hannah Montana came out to the ear piercing screams of all the girls in the crowd. She sang a bunch of her songs and had the girls up singing along and dancing the whole time. Then the Jonas Brothers came out again and sang a few more songs while Hannah turned into Miley Cyrus.

Miley's set was really good, it's hard to believe she's only 14. I think I enjoyed these songs better than the Hannah ones...the girls would have to disagree with me on that one.

Miley singing GNO (Girl's Night Out)...Ashley's favorite song.

Overall it was a great night and I'm sure something these 2 will never forget.

Crazy Colorado Weather.

I love autumn, it's my favorite season. I love the crisp air and the beautiful colors of the changing leaves. I took these fall pictures in our backyard on Friday afternoon.

Saturday was nice but a little windy at the kids soccer games. Then Saturday night we went to the Colorado Rapids vs Real Salt Lake game with Zach's soccer team. It was 70 degrees with no wind at kick off and by half time it had dropped to 50 degrees with 30 MPH winds. It was still a great game even with the chilly weather and a last minute loss by the Rapids.

This is what we woke up to Sunday morning. Needless to say the kids were thrilled...mainly because I had planned for them to help me rake up all the leaves in the back yard (just so you know...we have 8 trees back there).

The kids were all excited to go outside and play. Since this was the first snow of the year I had to bring up the winter totes from the basement. The kids all started getting dressed only to find that almost nothing fit...they had out grown everything! A few items could be passed from Zach to Cameron but the rest required a quick trip to Target to get some new winter gear. Funny enough we weren't the only ones...Target was totally packed (it looked like the day after Thanksgiving). Most of the carts were full of coats and gloves and even a few scrapers and shovels. So an hour & a half and a quite a few dollars later the kids had a great time sledding and playing in the snow. With the crazy weather in Colorado I hope they enjoyed it because tomorrow's forecast says 70 and sunny.

The kids making a snow fort with uncle Chris, Rylee, and their friends Nathan and Cameron .

Halloween Fun

Cameron, Ashley and I took advantage of the chilly weather over the weekend to do some baking and cooking in the kitchen. We cutout and decorated spooky halloween sugar cookies, made awesome pumpkin spice muffins and mini breads (as you can see in the above picture they didn't last very long), baked yummy rolls to go with a big batch of homemade beef stew which was surprisingly gobbled up by all of my children...veggies and all! Over the years I've found that there are always less arguments at the table when I let the kids help in the kitchen or let them help me plan the menu for the week. We also spent the weekend decorating the house with our fall and halloween decorations...I'll have to take some of those pictures later.

Way to Go ROCKIES!

World Series here we come!!!

Work in Progress…

A year and a half ago when we moved into our current house it was very bland and outdated and lacked any real warmth or charm. Since then we've done a lot of decorating and have finished quite a few DIY projects (thank you Home Depot 101 book). We’ve painted almost every room in the house. However, the living room with its super high vaulted ceilings that require a rented ladder is still screaming for some color. We replaced the stark white tiles that used to surround the fireplace with warm neutral colored mosaic tiles (our first ever tile project). We’ve also replaced the outdated gold fixtures in the bathrooms with sleek new chrome ones. Our latest project was updating all the lighting in the entire house (we're now pros at electrical work). We're quite please with our progress so far even though we still have a growing To-Do list with major items on it like finish the basement, resurface the deck, replace the carpet and paint the exterior.

Recently we started converting the ‘retreat’ located off our master bedroom (formerly Cameron’s room) into my office, workout area and craft room. I love this room…it’s big, very quiet and has a wonderful view of the mountains. It also has a dark green wall adorned with gigantic bugs that needs to be painted and I’m currently using the kid’s well worn desk as my work station, a folding table is serving as my craft/scrapbook table and 2 old dining room chairs and a wicker chair provide the seating.

My make-shift Craft Table

I still love this room, for the first time in my adult life I finally have a space all to my own…well sort of. It seems like everytime I go in there I find that the kids are slowly trying to reclaim it as their own. Zach loves reading and playing games in there because it’s quite, Cameron enjoys the privacy while he's being artistic at my craft table and over the weekend Ashley moved her pink bean bag chair in there to watch her favorite shows on the little TV with no interruptions. I guess we all appreciate the solitude this room offers.

My Desk

I have grand plans for this room. I’ve been collecting tons of pictures, paint samples and ideas of how the finished product will look (I really like the clean look of the following picture). I might even incorporate a quite retreat area for the kids. Stay tuned for progress reports!

My Vision

Soccer Update

Ashley (U8 - Wildcats) Wins 3 Losses 0 Ties 1

Ashley decided to give soccer another chance after taking a few seasons off and has turned into quite the little star. There are 7 girls from Ashley’s class on her team which makes staying focused at practice a little difficult. Game time she is absolutely fearless on the field and scored her first goal 2 weeks ago. Zach referred to it as a totally ‘sick’ shot, which for us old people means…awesome. Last week she was the goalie for the entire game and had six saves and only let in 1 goal. We were all quite impressed. It probably doesn't hurt that she gets lots of practice from her two older brothers, who love putting her in their goal and taking multiple shots at her.

Cameron (U9 – Invaders) Wins 2 Losses 0 Ties 1

Cameron is having a blast playing soccer again after taking a break last season. His best friend CJ is on his team and the two of them with their matching blonde hair are quite a force. Cameron has been doing very well on defense and played goalie for the first time this weekend. A few goals got past him but he had some awesome saves, even taking one shot right in the face. He as really toughened up lately and is still super fast on the field. All that practice with Zach and his friends is really starting to pay off.

Zachary (U11 Competitive – Red Team) Wins 3 Losses 0 Ties 2

We have all finally adjusted to the demands and rigorous schedule that comes with playing competitive soccer. All the hard work is defiantly paying off as we’ve noticed a significant change in Zach’s soccer abilities. We thoroughly enjoy watching every game and are so proud of what an accomplished defender and leader Zach has become. He is a vital part of the team and has played every minute of each game without being subbed out. Zach is having so much fun and really likes his team mates and both of his coaches. As of this weekend the Red team is in 3rd place in their league bracket with 5 more games left to play. Stay tuned for more updates.


Roxanne (Soccer Mom)
Kids playing soccer 3
Practices per week 5
Games on Saturday 3
Hours in the car (I can’t count that high…it hurts my brain)

Oh the life of a soccer mom. Leave work early, ignoring last minute emails, sit in traffic, call kids…remind them to get ready for practice. Arrive home…quickly change into something comfortable. Make sure kids have shin guards, socks, cleats, bag, ball and water. Ransack laundry basket for matching soccer socks. Fill water bottles…ransack drawers looking for matching water bottle lids. Double check kids gear…ransack garage looking for air pump to refill flat balls. Load in the car…count heads 1,2…”Where’s Ashley?” Run back in house, help Ash find missing cleat located under the sofa. Head count…1,2,3, and we’re off. Make 2 quick stops to pick up boys from Zach’s team…it’s my carpool day. Drive 15 minutes, drop the boys off. Drive 15 minutes back towards our house to Ashley’s practice, run down the hill…we’re almost late. Get to the field, run back up hill to get my chair. Walk slowly back down hill, set up chair, open book, spend an hour chatting with other soccer mom’s instead of reading. Run back up hill, load in car…race back to the boys practice for pick up. Drop off boys…finally arrive home…”Mom what’s for dinner? We’re hungry!” Back out of the driveway, head to Wendy’s. Happily do it all over again tomorrow.