Some home remodeling....and TWILIGHT! :)

Well, no crazy-girl concert antics to share this week! For the most part, it was fairly typical here at our house. Took the kids to their activities and on Wednesday I had a job interview (which went OKAY, but I decided about half an hour into the interview that I do NOT want that job, so I'm not caring much if I get a call-back on it!). Keep your fingers crossed for me though! I'm running out of time here!!! :(

Last Sunday at church, we were given a "talent" (choice of a bunch of weird gifts....books, candy....Karl and I both chose cake mixes) and we were supposed to report back next week (ie today) with how we 'shared our talent'......the kids picked candy and either ate it right there during the service or shared it with people sitting next to them in church. So their "assignments" were done. I made a gooey butter cake (YUM!) with my cake mix and took it to work for a fellow refugee coworker (another unlucky soul who was being reassigned)'s last day. So I shared mine with my coworkers....and they inhaled it quite quickly, being the gluttonous engineers they are......Karl intended to make his cake "himself" (I was ready to see this!), and take it to some friends of ours that had been sick for awhile.....what happened instead was a double-date night to see Twilight!

So Karl didn't end up making his cake, but we coordinated schedules with Andy and Melissa for Friday night to go see Twilight. Melissa and I had both read all the books....the guys were just along for the ride. We had a great time. We went out to dinner at the mall and ANYTIME we go to this particular mall, we get bombarded with "Hey Mr. Herman!".....as we ALWAYS run into a bunch of Karl's students. This night was no exception. Karl said he could even tell during the movie which kids were screaming and whispering because he hears them whisper all the time in class! And of course all his students had to ask him what he thought of the movie afterwards too...... Andy swears that the best part was hearing all the girls squeal everytime Rob Pattinson came on the screen (I might've been doing some of that squealing too actually....*sigh*!) But all in all, it was a pretty good movie. Team Edward all the way! We hadn't been out on a date since our anniversary so it was nice to just get out of the house and leave the kids behind for some grown-up conversation with some friends......it was a fun night!

The only other thing we had happen of any note this week was Karl FINALLY finished the upstairs hallway...YAY! So now it's complete:

We ripped up all the carpeting and put down laminate wood flooring on our stairs and hallway (to match the living room and kitchen). I'd been wanting to do this FOREVER....and we finally did it as a Christmas present to ourselves. So Merry Christmas to us!

Oh, and I gotta post this picture since it just cracks me up....please ignore the horribly messy house in the background....but look what the kids did:

They made "Santa's Sleigh" (complete with a reindeer rocking horse!) Isn't that the funniest thing ever? :P Why do we buy them toys again??

Yesterday, Matthew was invited to a swimming party for one of his classmate's birthday....so that was the excitement of the day. He and Alaina had lessons in the morning anyways, so it was double-swimming day for Matthew, and he was SOOOO excited! Even if the party was for a GIRL! He had a blast! And I'm leaning toward renting the place for Alaina's party in March....the kids were having so much fun!!! Pool party, anyone???

And I really can't think of anything else that happened this week worth mentioning......we're getting ready for Thanksgiving just like everybody else! I feel wierd though, 'cuz I haven't been cooking anything, as it's all at my mom's and we're cooking everything there. I just feel wierd not even buying any of the traditional "stuff"! Alaina/Matthew's classes have a Thanksgiving program at school on Wednesday, so Karl and I are cutting out of work early to see that. Then we're off to Fairfield to help my mom fill all her catering orders.....then we plan to come back home sometime on Friday......it depends on whether we get up early for any after-Thanksgiving sales or not! Then we'll probably spend the weekend getting out Christmas decorations and getting our house ready for the holidays......maybe I'll work on Christmas cards!

So that's the update on us......and here's what I've scrapped this week:

The New Kids on the Block concert.....*sigh*......good times, good times!!!

This is probably my last layout from our last Disney trip.....I'm finally done scrapping it! Only took me 11 months! This is Alaina's first ride on the Tower of Terror.....she was so freaked out, I loved it! It's a great ride though...LOVE IT!

And this one is with Vicki's new kit she'll be releasing tomorrow, called "True Blue"......it's so I can memorialize some of the oddball things Matthew asks. He's been on a "God kick" lately, asking me all these questions about God......'does God have a Wii?', 'does God have to eat salad?', 'Who made God?'.....just funny stuff.....so I started writing it all down so I could remember it all. Alaina was never this inquisitive, so some of his questions have thrown me for a loop, like, "How can God hear everybody's prayers?'......uhm......go ask your dad! :P I love that he's asking though.....it's funny to see kids' minds working like that, ya know? So here's Matthew and all his questions:

This is of Zach helping with the offering a few Sundays ago when we were at Brush Creek.....Chuck Knapp had taken up the money and Zach didn't like him putting it into the bank deposit bag, so Zach took it all back out and put it back into the offering plates! Then Chuck had Zach help him "count" it into his hand......it kept him occupied during the service! So I told Karl all we need to keep Zach quiet is a big stack of cash! No problem!

And lastly, my blessing for the week.........this has been on my "list" of blessings since I first considered this project, and I'm just now getting around to scrapping it: Brush Creek. Since I was up there not too long ago, I had the chance to take some current pictures.......it's such a special place to those of us that have had the opportunity to spend time there, it was a total no-brainer for a blessing:

Journaling reads: "There aren’t enough words to describe how special Brush Creek is to me.Not only is it part of my family heritage, but it is the site of some of my fondest memories of my life. As a child, my family spent two weeks every summer at church reunions held here. It was sometimes the only‘vacation’ my family took. Us kids went to classes and made friends that have become lifelong friends. We attended the nightly services in the auditorium, and until the lodge was built, we spent the weeklong reunion in a cabin. Once they built the lodge next to the dining hall, we spent our weeks there. I learned how to canoe and swim in this lake, and my brothers spent many hours fishing here. I sang in the choir and stayed up late when I was a teenager talking with my friends. I went to camps aside from reunion, both as a camper,and then when I was old enough, as a counselor, working alongside my camp friends. Brush Creek represents the best of my childhood, the foundation of my character, and a place that is and hopefully always will be there for me to return to. It is a refuge from a hectic life and to anyone that has ever been there: a true blessing."

so that's it for me....Happy Thanksgiving everybody!