Two happies

One, Happy Birthday, Hannah, and two, Happy Halloween.


The weather was beautiful on Thursday, so we carved our pumpkins outside.



Hannah is 12 now.

Hannah wanted to decorate her cake with her friends. I think they did a great job.

Hannah and her BFF.

Next year, she'll be a teenager... I'm not ready for that. Is there a pause button or a skip button to either avoid the teen years or let us skip to 20? I'd like one of those, please.

She had a slumber party with 5 girls here. I think it was her last too. It was loud and crazy. Did I mention LOUD! SO, LOUD. And sleep wasn't something they were interested in, but I was. I think they were up until about 4 am. Anyway, we survived... I am only twitching slightly...

One last photo, just because it made me laugh. I took Seth's picture in front of his school.


So, have fun tomorrow. Trick or Treat and get lots of candy! Happy Halloween!

Trees

I truly love this time of year. The leaves are so beautiful right now. The trees around our house are full of color.


Look at what else you can find in the trees.


We are supper crazy around here. Hannah's birthday is this week. I am in denial that my baby girl is turning 12. When did I get old enough to have a kid that age? Anyway, there will be a sleepover with 5 extra girls in the house this weekend plus Sunday is Halloween. There will also be parties at school and an abundance of candy and sweets. Busy, busy, me...

Completely random here, but check out the size of the cauliflower that came in CSA box this week!

Halloween countdown

Life can never be dull as a full time student with three kids...

Seth and I got pumpkins and mums last week. Yes, we went without the big kids this year and we didn't go to the pumpkin patch. It's like $1 a lb when you pick yourself and my kids pick out the biggest pumpkins they can find. The pumpkins at Gasko's were like $5 each. I told Seth to pick out three...


Simon and I went camping Saturday with the Cub Scout and the Boy Scouts. The boys did all the cooking and cleaning. I could get used to that. I don't know if I could get used to sleeping on the hard ground when it's in the mid 30's outside. I like my warm comfy bed. Although, I do love the smell of a camp fire.


While Simon and I were off camping Hannah helped out with a haunted hayride. She was in a roaming skit about a crazy chef, I think. Anyway, she was the victim.


Dan took Seth to a movie and then took Hannah and Seth out to dinner. Hannah didn't wash off her makeup and she apparently scared a little girl...

Mid-terms are over. I am determined to quilt this weekend! But first, we have to make it through the week of gymnastics, Cub Scouts, Tae Kwon Do testing, PTO meetings, soccer practice, more gymnastics, Halloween party, and movie night at school on Friday. The kids still need Halloween costumes too! Will I be sane when I am done with school?

Banking

Before I show you my adorable children I have a small rant...

The older kids wanted to start bank accounts. Hannah was first to open an account. We opened the account for her at a very large bank in America. They told us the custodial account had no minimum balance. Perfect. Just what they need to start off saving up some hard earned money. Months later we go in to start an account for Simon. Hannah made a deposit while we were there and we found out that they were taking fees out of her account and they had an incorrect address for us. Two weeks later I finally heard back from them. We were told they could only refund $15 dollars to Hannah's account when they had fined her like $40.

Hell, no.

I was furious. How dare they steal money from a little girl who rolled effin' pennies to open a savings account!!! They hold our mortgage and I can guarantee you they are making money there! I talked to the branch manager, as calmly as possible, and he resolved it. The accounts apparently have a minimum balance requirement now. They wanted to know if we would bring the account up $300 or if we'd like to close it.

I think I'll take the money elsewhere thankyouverymuch.

I think it's awful that banks punish people for not having enough money in the bank and reward the ones that have a lot.

Quilt Display and Comic Con

Yeah, we're all over the place! In this house we are all different kinds of geeks.

Our guilds quilt display went well on Saturday. It was a small event, but it raised a little bit of money for the guild. It was wonderful to see such an array of quilts from the members of our guild.


Today we went up to New York for Comic Con. It was actually pretty cool even though I am not a big comic book/gaming kind of person. I did recognize one person though. I saw an actor, Shane West, walk by with a big group and security. Dan and Simon had a blast and will probably go back together next year. Hannah was bored and Seth ran out of steam from all the walking. While we were there the kids made some capes and little clothes pin superheroes.

(I can't imagine drawing like this in chalk!)

Well, I have to study for my next midterm. Here's a glimpse of the next quilt I'm making. I washed and ironed it all. Now, I have to decide between two patterns...

SSDD

We're in the grove now.

School. Work. Activities. School. Work. Activities. Wash, rinse, repeat.

I had a midterm yesterday and I have two next week. Yay, me. I think I a doing well so far this semester and hopefully this trend will continue.

Tomorrow I am going to help set up the quilt display the guild is having. They asked us all to show something. I have quilts that I could show, but they are all on our beds. I decided to take the one off of my own bed. If I remember to use my brain tomorrow I'll take my camera along and get some yummy quilt pictures. With the upcoming weekend being a 3 day weekend I'll have some time to quilt. Ok, I really won't, but I wish I did. I have a few baby quilts to make soon.

How are you all doing out there on the internetz? Working on anything exciting? Doing anything fun?

Newport, RI

We missed it.

What do I mean by missed it?

We missed the wedding.

You know, the one we were trying to get to on Friday. We missed it. See, we knew it was a 4 1/2 hour drive so we gave ourselves 2 extra hours to get there. What we could have never anticipated was the weather causing serious delays around NYC. It took 90 minutes to get across the GWB (George Washington Bridge). Then the traffic was still heavy into Connecticut. We tried but we couldn't make up the time. We missed the wedding... I should take up drinking...

We did however get to go to the wedding reception here.


We mingled and had a good time. I saw some pictures and the wedding looked lovely.

I still can't believe we missed it.

This morning the storm had cleared and it was beautiful. Newport is an adorable town with some seriously large mansions. We went on the Cliff Walk before breakfast. It was awesome. The ocean is so wonderful. I love the sound of the crashing waves.



After breakfast we went into Newport. I love the cobble stone streets and the little shops lining the street. Adorable. Quaint. Yeah, we'll go back.


Even though we missed the ceremony we got to enjoy time with some of the family. I am glad we went.

The drive home was uneventful. Too bad the drive out hadn't been the same.

Oh, I found out that the bride and groom read my blog. Oops. See, if people don't post I don't know they're there. In my attempt to share my quilting with my three trusty readers I also shared the gift with the recipients. However, she was very, very excited to receive the quilt. Phew. That makes me so incredibly happy.

Congratulations to the bride and groom. Welcome to the family.

(Sorry about the grainy iPhone shot.)