October Happenings

Happy Halloween! 

We find ourselves at another Halloween! This one is extra special because it's our first one in our new house! We are excited to finish school today and get ready to trivk or treat at our usual spots. Tonight I'll be in the company of a ninja, Sonic the hedgehog, and Rapunzel (affectionately called "Tangled" by Avery). The temperature here is dropping by about 20 degrees during the course of the day so we'll be bundled up while we go on our adventure. 

We've had a busy month (evidenced by my lack of posting). Aaron & I celebrated 14 years of marriage! We had a nice dinner out (and realized we've vastly improved on our cooking abilities and probably don't need to return to that restaurant) and he bought me some On Cloud shoes that he knew I'd never buy for myself. I wear them nearly everyday. :) 

Avery & Noah both had picnics at school that I was able to attend on my lunch breaks which I was super thankful for! I was also able to attend their Fall Fun Day last week which was a blast. I am loving the chance to attend some of their school functions. 

Michael is doing well academically as he navigates middle school and all of the excitement it brings. 

Aaron & Noah built a legitimate dog house for our puppy girls. We are happy to have a secure place for them that they can grow into when they need some outside shelter. 

I'll keep you posted on our costume festivities!

Until Next Time, 

Much Love, Reba

Why it Takes Me an Hour to Change the Sheets

Just kidding. It's probably really more like 20 minutes to change the sheets in all 3 kids' rooms. But why so long, still?! 

Because they stuff their beds to the brim with blankets, stuffed animals, pillows, toys, random craft supplies, you get the idea. 

Today, I went to change the sheets for all the beds in the house. I've found that it's easier to change the kids' beds if I make a pile of what came from their bed. Then I can replace the pile onto their bed after I put on fresh sheets. Now this pile does include pillows and their actual blanket but it also includes SO much more! Take a peek. 

Avery's:

Noah's (I piled everything from top bunk onto the bottom bunk): 

Michael's: 

All three! I do not understand why all of them feel as though they need to have so. many. objects in the bed, but they do, so here we are. 

After making the possession piles, I washed all the sheets and put a different set on Noah's top bunk & Avery's bed. They have spare sets but Michael doesn't, so his bed was last to be made today. 

Here's how neatly everything fits after changing sheets, making the bed, and replacing the piles. 

Avery's: 

Noah's: 

Michael's (also with a washed bed skirt): 

And now my children are ready for a night of being nearly squished out of their beds by toys, stuffed animals, pillows, extra blankets, and zipper pouches. But at least they'll have clean sheets!

Until Next Time,

Much Love, Reba

Photo Round Up Fall 2023

Our lives get really busy between mid-August to late September when we have 5 birthdays for family (Michael, Avery, Aaron & 2 grandparents!). Time gets away from me & suddenly I realize it's the end of the month & I've hardly posted. Here's a round up of some pictures to represent some things we've done lately. 

Lego house creations:

Zuzu falling asleep on coffee table: 

Making cake with modeling clay: 

Playing Sorry while I finished up work one day:

Picking grapes on a walk. 

Being a part of the 100 (blood sugar) club! 

Dot Day at school! We got to go watch a presentation in Avery's class!

 

We got to go to Noah's class on Dot Day too!

Make your mark! 

Noah made a McDonald's in minecraft:

Michael dressed as a tacky tourist for homecoming week! 

I made mini pumpkin cream pies! 

Aaron requested steak & Caesar pasta salad for his birthday dinner. We made chimmichurri to go on the steak. 

We played KingDomino the other evening.

I've waited SUCH a long time for this creamer to go on sale so I could try it & it was a fun surprise to find it BOGO at Publix this week!

Watching Aaron be a dad is super fun! 

We've stayed pretty busy with school work (for kids & for me!). Both puppies were spayed last week and are begrudgingly in the healing process. I'm officially out of trainee status at work. Aaron is back from all of his late summer trips & we're glad to be together enjoying our first fall in our home. 

Until Next Time,

Much Love, Reba

Fall Touches 2023

This afternoon, Aaron got my fall bin down from the attic so I could decorate for the season! Without a mantle, I had to get creative with where I put things, but I like it so far! I'm sure I'll change it up a little bit as the season progresses. 

This was such a great little stress reliever for today! 

Until Next Time,

Much Love, Reba

Birthday Fun

Michael is very low key when it comes to birthday celebrations. 

For his special birthday dinner he chose homemade "shrimp frito misto," which is a copycat Olive Garden dish of fried shrimp & fried bell peppers and a spicy ranch dip. Aaron bought a little deep fryer and made it happen! It was excellent! 

For dessert, Michael picked "churro cheesecake bars." Sometimes this is called a sopapilla cheesecake etc. It's basically crescent rolls as the base, some cinnamon sugar sprinkle, a cream cheese mixture, topped with another crescent rolls layer and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and baked. Yummy!

I made a primitive "11" with two singular candles and he was just as happy as could be! 

For his gifts, he had a few things to open from us and he waited patiently all day to open them! 

My in-laws came over at dinner to give Michael their gift. My parents & younger brother came over at dessert to give him their gifts. Michael opened his stash from us (not including the early gift he opened on Sunday afternoon from his siblings). Michael's last gift was a scavenger hunt! He LOVED this, & my other kiddos are asking for scavenger hunts for some of their Christmas gifts. :) Michael had to go to four different locations in the house (toothbrush holder in bathroom, lightswitch in laundry room, under pillow in his bedroom, and eventually to our closet). His gift was a very large toy sword that I couldn't figure out a good way to wrap. Hence the scavenger hunt! All three kids were running through the house with grins & excited feet! This is the only picture I got from their adventure, but it was so fun! 

It was the perfect fun evening!

He had a fun day & is happy to be 11! 

Until Next Time,

Much Love, Reba

Michael is 11!

 Wow! How did we get here?! Today, Michael turns 11 years old! I am floored. Just yesterday it seems I had a little second grader eating lunch under our dining room table as something fun to do during the pandemic, and the day before that it seems he was a toddler running around the backyard with a stick, and prior to that he was a squishy little baby who giggled with precious fervor. And today he is this amazingly tall eleven year old! And he's still just as sweet! 

Michael and I will hang out together this morning (medical appointment), then he'll chill at home while I work, and we'll cool the meal of his choice and have grandparents over for the dessert of his choice. It's going to be a great day! 

I'll recap the birthday fun later on!

Happy birthday, sweet Michael! I love you!

Until Next Time,

Much Love, Reba

Avery's Frozen 2 Birthday Party

Avery's birthday party to celebrate with friends was this afternoon. We had such a good time! The theme she chose was Frozen 2 so we ran with that and put together a fun little gathering for friends! Two classmates showed up (one brought some sisters which was great!), and we had our little church friend too. Cousins couldn't make it to this party but we look forward to seeing them soon. Since I knew we'd have a few little girls age 7 and down, I tried to find activities to keep them occupied for the 2 hour party. 

Sometimes for parties, we set up the bouncy house but it makes the worship center super loud & I convinced Avery to skip it and do activities instead. It worked out so great!

We started out with some Frozen 2 themed color sheets & mazes. Every girl loved picking pictures & coloring. 

We played Pin the Nose on Olaf! This was something I purchased on Amazon and it came with 2 blindfolds & lots of sticker noses. 

We played "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" where I set out marshmallows, pretzel sticks, mini chocolate chips & orange jelly beans and the girls created their own Olaf! 

After this, we sang and & had cake. I asked my mom if I could borrow her castle cake instructions. I had this cake so often over the years and it was fun to make our own version of Arrendelle. 

After cake, we brought out our craft kit which is a wonderful mix of all types of crafty things. The girls loved choosing anything they wanted & just making random things. 

We had our gift area in the same room. That way, the girls could craft while Avery opened her gifts. 

After gifts, we played "Land Giants Destroy the Dam." The girls built a wall with pretend bricks, then they made boulders with foil and threw them at the brick structure. This is referencing a scene in the movie where stone giants release a dam to save the town. The girls loved this! 

After this, we played Dance Freeze Party where each girl got a balloon and I played the Frozen 2 soundtrack. Periodically, I'd pause the song & they'd freeze. It was so fun! 

Here's the birthday girl with her loot!

I used a Frozen 2 party decorations kit from Amazon for much of the party decor, and I purchased the large mylar 6 balloon from Amazon as well. In our Walmart order this week, I got a balloon inflator machine. Until this morning, I inaccurately assumed it was a helium filler. It was not. But that's okay. It was easily able to fill each balloon including the mylar one!

Earlier this morning, I looked up templates for paper snowflakes. I made one of each of the 6 but only took pictures of the Olaf & Sven ones. 

In my morning research, I also came across a tutorial for making 3-d crystal shapes to mimic the shape Elsa sees when she sings Into the Unknown. This was super easy!

We also made tiny ones as table decor filler. 

Overall, this sweet girl had a great celebration and a great time with friends! 

Until Next Time, 

Much Love, Reba