Day 303

Today was the BCA Varsity v Alumni game. Since this was first year as a Varsity player, it's the first year I went. Most of our varsity players graduated last year (hence, Nick playing varsity, lol). So, we're having a building year. If this game is any indication, this year is going to be HARD. The size difference between the kids that graduated a year or two ago and the currently players is AMAZING!! I hope our boys will have a growth spurt. SOON!!! I have no idea what the final score was 'cause the guys keeping score decided to add about 25 points to the varsity score & they "won" by about 2 points. The funniest thing: Jacob Gray (8th grade) playing against his dad (BCA class of 86!!)

Day 302

How about a little tour of my Halloween House?? Let's start outside: There are lights in the bushes and lights on the dusk to dawn light too but I guess I didn't get pics of those. I also never got around to buying "real" pumpkins this year. But, this is my front door. The ghosts to the left or on the right side of the door and the ghost below is on the left. I LOVE the hanging ghost that's in my tree. I bought him on a whim one year from the garden store at the corner of my neighborhood. The kids have lights in the windows of their rooms. They pretty much NEVER remember to turn them of in the morning so they are on 24/7. LOL

Coming in the front door, these are in my foyer. My MIL got me the witch one year for my birthday. The rusty Halloween sign was a Target clearance!

This shelf is at the top of the stairs. I waited & waited to get the witch. Target had TONS & I knew I could get it for 1/2 off the day after! Into the living room.

The dining room shelf:




These guys are in my kitchen windowsill. The garland I showed a few days ago is above this window. It's been so warm this year that the fan was in the window for most of October.

The doors: Nick's, Becca's and the bathroom (I guess I need to find a spooky for Scott & my room?)

And, finally, the basement:

If I have time before Thanksgiving, I'll take pics of my fall decor then.

Day 301

This is our candy tub! We don't give out Trick or Treat candy anymore and the kids don't go door to door either. A few years ago, I got sick of the "bussed" in kids that come to our neighborhood. I told the kids that I would give them $$$ to not dress up & we'd buy a "good" candy assortment. It worked. Now, I get all the chocolate I want (Take 5s are only available on holidays now!!) and the kids are happy!!

Day 300

This house is right in our neighborhood. They moved in a few years back & started doing cool things to their yard for the holidays. Makes me smile to drive by it everyday!

Day 299

My kids have always referred to this has as the "pumpkin house". They used to do more and used to always have festivness on the "gates" flanking their driveway. I guess they are getting older and don't do as much anymore :(

Day 298

I'm going to take you on a tour of some of the houses that decorate for Halloween. Some of them, my kids have loved for years. This one is in Roxana. We've been enjoying it since Becca first started at Bethel. They used to do MORE decorating, if you can believe it. Last year, they had a giant spider on the roof. They used to decorate their backyard but since they put up a privacy fence, I don't know if they still do or not. The side yard is decorated too, complete w/a vampire looking dude looking out the side window.

Day 297

Went by my brother's house today. It's still not a house but you can tell at least what the basement's going to be like. It was sooooo nice out there. Started to spit a bit of rain but still a nice day. He's going to love living there I'm sure!

Day 296

The carpet in Scott's office is wet. It STINKS too!!! No matter what we do, we can't get it dry (probably 'cause it just keeps raining & raining here). We finally decided that we had to pull the carpet up. The carpet came up fine, we put it in the garage to dry (we think we might be able to reuse it once the basement has been fixed. The pad, no such luck. It just came apart in our hands as we tried to pick it up. This is half the room, standing water! Now, we have to hope that it stops raining long enough to let this water dry (we did use a shop-vac & picked up over 5 gal of water!) and then rain again to see where the water is coming from. What a mess!!!

Day 295

Another trip to Target today. Gotta check out what Halloween stuff is left and what new Christmas. Scott threw this spider at me & it stuck to the cart. He's kinda cute in an ugly sort of way (the spider, not Scott). No, I didn't buy him. I don't do "scary" Halloween, mostly "cute" Halloween.

Day 294

The kids went to their pediatrician today for flu shots. Usually, they get the flu mist but they were out of the mist. The kids had to get real "shots"!!! They were not happy. (If you described them as acting like 2yo babies, you wouldn't have been far off!) They tried to convince me that, since they had been so brutalized, I should not make them go back to school. I said no. They said that at the very least, they should get ice cream from Sonic. Well, that means I could get a Diet Coke so, I agreed. Jr. Candy Sundaes for them, Route 44 Diet Coke for me. They went back to school a little happier.

Day 293

Wet highway to the kids' school. Another day of rain. Another day of a wet office...

Day 292

This is a house I drive by daily on my way to pick up the kids. I don't know how I got this shot. I was just taking random shots thru the sunroof. I like it. I don't like the fence tho, it's covered in moldy, mossy stuff.

Another random shot here. I know it's totally out of focus but I thought it was funny. Looks like my Cubbie antennae ball is looking at the speed limit. Yes, I know I've got a twisted sense of humor & NO ONE else will find anything funny about it.

Day 291

Buy one get one free coupon for a Blizzard. Expires today. Guess where I went???

Day 290

Weird day today. I did a little laundry but, spent most of the day asleep!! I was sooooo tired. at about 3 or so, Scott decided he wanted to go to Target & I had to go with him. He had a coupon for the movie "the proposal" that expires TODAY. Well, the Target in Alton didn't have the movie on Blu Ray. He suggested we drive to Edwardsville & try the Target and Best Buy there. I explained that I had to get home to make dinner. If he wanted to go, we'd have to eat out. Even tho the kids & I had eaten every meal out since Wednesday, he agreed.

These are cheese curds from Culvers. Becca gets curds w/her meal & Nick & I get fries. We dump them in the middle of the table (Scott doesn't share w/us as he hates curds!) and we all share. I prefer the cheddar, Becca doesn't care as long as they are small and I really don't think Nick eats the curds at all, he just likes to share. LOL

We did finally get the movie at Best Buy. Target had it but would not accept the Internet coupon. Best Buy took it w/o a problem. I also found Risky Business on BD for $10!

Day 289

It's official! I want to move to Sycamore, IL. It's the cutest town!! It seems like every house we passed had pumpkins and/or halloween decorations. The heart of town is old but out where we stayed, there are lots of shops & resturants. I didn't see a mall but, there was no shortage of shopping opportunities. Next week, they are holding a pumpkin festival. Wish I could be here for that. Maybe next year, the tournament will fall on the SAME weekend???

The girls won their game! And, they presented the trophy right after the game so Becca made the pics & we STILL got an early start. The trip home wasn't so bad (probably 'cause I got more than 4 hours sleep the night before!)

I will say I'm glad I got to experience a championship season & a championship game. But, the down is WAY DOWN!!! It was hard to take such a tough loss but, wait 'til next year!!!

Day 288

Last VB pic, I promise!! Unfortunately, that means I'm going to have inundate you w/pics of Jack again. LOL

The girls won 2 games yesterday. A win today would put them in the Championship game. Unfortunately, the other team was TOUGH!! They killed us in the first game. We made dumb mistakes & they were flawless! We hung in there for the 2nd game but, in the end, they were just a better team. All the Bethelites were very sad. I guess we thought we were better than we really were. We do have another game tomorrow for 3rd place. We're going to leave town as soon as that game is over. We'll miss the trophy ceremony but, we gotta get home!

Day 287

We stayed in a different hotel than the rest of the girls. Scott had points & we got all 3 days FREE!! Anyway, 3 other school participating in the tournament were also staying at the Holiday Inn Express. Becca thought she should let them know that Bethel was staying there too so she put this sign on our door. She expected the the Soccer boys that were there for their tournament too, would rip it off. But they didn't. Even tho there were ALOT of teens in the hotel, they were very respectful, and after 9:30, quiet.

Day 286

Leaving today for Sycamore, IL for the VB tournament. If we win, we're state champs & get a banner for the gym. I only got 4 hours sleep last night and I'm not the best at staying awake behind the wheel. We'll see how it goes. We leave at 12:30 from the school. Scott's out of town so it'll just be me, Becs & Nick. Poor Jack will be home alone until Friday when Scott gets home from Iowa.

Day 285

The last regular season game. Becca started for the JV & played the whole game (Trish making it up to her that she forgot to play her AT ALL in the last 2 games!) JV still lost both games but they played better than they had all year. I'm sure that's 'cause Becca was in! LOL Varsity won both their games handily & Becca got to play in both too. I'm sure going to miss VB practices and games. NOT!!! Glad to have our evenings to ourselves. At least until BB starts the first week of November.

Day 284

Columbus day, no school. Back during the summer, Becca won a $25 gift card to AMC theaters. There is not an AMC in town but there's one in Creve Couer, MO about 40 minutes away. Becca wanted to see Toy Story on the "big screen" so we went to the 1pm show today.

The movie came out when Becca was just a baby so the first time we saw it, it was on video. It was so different to see it at the theater. It's still completely amazing!! So realistic. The 3D was not that great and honestly, gave me a headache. Hope when it comes out on Blu Ray, it'll be "normal"! I'm not sure that these movies have come out on DVD. Even if they are, we hoping that when TS3 comes out next year, BD of 1 & 2 will come out then! Pixar ROCKS!!!!