Carving Pumpkins

Sorry this is so late....attempted to post this earlier last week but blogger wasn't being nice!

JR's friend Mark came down from Boulder last Saturday to carve pumpkins with us. He has done this just about every year with us so he is keeping up tradition! It was messy but fun! Emma even joined in after a bit....and ate some pumpkin too! She got a hold of a hunk that came out of someones pumpkin and gnawed on that for a little while. Here are the pictures from that.

Emma conquering the pumpkins! That baby will sit on anything that will hold her!

The kids with their pumpkins...look at how cute Emma's is!

JR carving and Eli getting the guts out

Emma contemplating digging in

Kayla with guts in her hand....ewww....and the ever mysterious Marks leg......

Emma diggin in...she found that spoon was great for digging seeds to eat! I caught her each time before she could actually do it...I think you need more teeth to be able to chew a seed....

Here are our pumpkins lit up...mind is the dim one on top...it just says MOM...then JR's, Eli's, Mark's, and Kayla's. You can't see Emma's because I didn't carve it, I just wrote her name on it.

The kids and the pumpkins

The big 3-0

Yesterday was my 30th birthday - yep you read that right I am ONLY 30 - and I was asked to post a blog about it....so don't think I am THAT full of myself! :)

Anyways, I had dreaded this age for so many years that by the time I got to it...it was nothing! I welcome it!

My entire family wished me a happy birthday in the morning before work/school, I got to work to a happy bday email from my mom (JR is the one that drops Emma off so I don't typically talk to her until after school/work), got a call from several people throughout the day, a card from my coworkers welcoming me to the "30" club (heehee I was one of the last!). My mom watched the kids while JR and I went out to dinner. The funny part about that was we went at 4:30 but we went to Texas Roadhouse which is impossible to get in at any other time of day! Then the family did cake and presents for me. Sorry but I only got a picture of the cake...I am usually the one behind the camera! Then after all that I went and hung out with a couple of friends for the evening! Overall a good day and was treated wonderfully! Naturally! :)



Here is my cake that Kayla made while she was at Nana's house. That should give you an idea of just how crazy this week has been....that was seriously the only time to do it!

We didn't have 30 candles...nor did we think it would be such a great idea...so I only had to blow out 1!

Final track stats

So sorry it took so long for this update considering track was over as of the 10th but I had to wait until the awards ceremony just to find out the standings.

On Monday the 8th the classic's (used to call it city) started. Kayla did not have any activities that day but she did go to show her support. I went and sat with her for a while and then we took off. On the 9th, she didn't have any activities but wanted to go really bad and I did not. So we let her spread her wings a bit and she got to go to the stadium by herself and hang out with her track buddies. Finally on the 10th she was doing the long jump. She didn't place in it, but she did try!

We had the awards ceremony with a dinner done by the families which was yummy! It's always fun seeing what people come up with for these things. Anyways, the Irving girls came in 4th overall which is pretty darn good if I do say so myself! The 9th graders came in 4th, the 8th graders came in 3rd and the 6th graders came in 2nd! Woo hoo for them considering this is their first school sports experience!

Here are pictures from that last track meet and from the awards ceremony. I tried to get pictures of Kayla doing the long jump but I couldn't get close enough so you just get to see her pretty face sitting next to me in the stands!

Here she is after doing the long jump - at least she is till wearing a smile!

Here she is receiving her award....look close she is in the blue shirt....

Here she is with her certificate of participation

And here she is with her letter! She has a little track pin to go on it....but no jacket yet......

Notice how she looks a bit worn out.....here is a glimpse into her day....

She wakes up at 6:20 to get in the shower and start her day.....gets to school at 8:10ish, school goes from 8:45 to 3:40....she goes from there to basketball practice (which on a regular day ends at 6) and was let out at 5:15 so we could go to the ceremony. Wears me out just typing it! Oh yeah...and somewhere in there she has to do her homework and have a minute to relax before starting the cycle all over again!

Emma is ready for winter!

Emma was loaded after her birthday....girl had more money than I did! So the original idea was for her to buy a winter coat with her money but Nana and Grandpa decided they would buy it for her. Which meant that she had all this money with nothing to do with it because she is in NEED of nothing! She decided she wanted a little kid couch that folds out to a bed....she rode through Wal-mart with the couch in the cart and her sitting on it. I did get a picture of it but it was with my phone and it isn't letting me send the picture anywhere so sorry for that! And then while trying to figure out what to do with her leftover money I decided that to get a hat and gloves would be a good use of the money and passed the CUTEST pair of boots for her. Well naturally, I have to play dress up with her as though she is a baby doll. So here are the pictures of that.

She looks so darn cute in her hat alone that I had to get a picture right away.

Here she is in the entire get up....aren't those boots cute?!

Awww so sweet....Kayla was wearing her jacket because she truly was cold....she is still working on kicking the tail end of this stomach flu that blew through our house last week!

It's finally done!

Back in March or April I started to crochet a baby blanket for a friends baby shower and very quickly realized it wasn't going to be ready by the shower let alone by the time the baby was due to be born. So I decided to make her a fleece tie blanket and figured I would finish the crocheted blanket for Emma as it was girl colors. Now just to give you a bit of background, my mother has tried to teach me how to crochet many, many times. That lead to my ability to crochet a chain a mile long....but was never able to wrap around to the next row. I do believe she tried to teach me that several times too and that got me nowhere. So I really couldn't tell you what made me decide to attempt a blanket this time other than I think I was feeling a little crafty at the time.

Anyways, I had put the blanket away (with only the trim to finish) in the summer because it got too hot to have that thing laying across my lap! I got it back out this weekend and finally finished it. I have to say that I am quite proud of this thing as my craft abilities are pretty darn limited. A pro can look at this thing at a glance and see my errors but I didn't make it for a pro....I made it for my baby! And now I am making one for Eli in the same "pattern" but with blue and green colors. I am also doing a different stitch so this one shouldn't take as long and will look a little bit different!

Here are my pictures of the blanket I finished!

Here is the entire blanket - it turned out quite big

This is a close up of the trim...I had to get a refresher course from my mom yesterday

And here is Emma laying on her blanket.....she isn't happy because I pulled her shirt down instead of letting her belly hang out!