Popcorn Balls

"...a popcorn ball that would smell so sweet...."- sing it if you know it! Tonight we had a special treat and got to decorate popcorn balls. Grams and Grandpa Skip Casida sent the kids the popcorn and decorations in the mail. Very exciting when the kids get their own package!

Nate and Maddie working hard.


Trevor was having issues, so dad steppped in to help.


Maddie is so proud of her creations!


Even Todd joined in the fun.


Forget the decorating, I'm just gonna eat mine.


Some of the final products.


We ran out of popcorn, so Todd started decorating Nate.

A good time was had by all. Thank you for the gift Grams and Grandpa Skip!

Trick-or-Treat

Nate, Trevor, Joel, Maddie,Emily, Christopher & Luke

Friday night we went to Disneyland/Ca Adventure and went Trick-or-Treating. The kids and adults alike had a blast, although us 3 three moms were wondering why we spent the money for our husbands to go too. The 3 of them hung-out,walked behind us and talked together all night. We got a ton of candy which I plan to "re-gift" on Halloween night. My camera was acting funny, so I only got a couple of pics, and even those aren't the greatest. I'll have to check with my friends and see if they have any better ones to add.
I do have to mention that Trevor and his friend Luke braved the California Screamin' rollercoaster in Ca Adventure. They were the only 2 out of all the kids to go. Their dads took them, and those were some very proud fathers when they got off the ride! Both boys actually came back smiling!

I would like it go go on record that I ,Jen, the ultimate procrastinator and last minute girl, had all 3 costumes ready tonight, Friday, October 10th, 3 whole weeks before Halloween!

Nate is the Headless Horseman (He doesn't have his whole costume on here), Trevor is a Ninja Warrior, and Maddie is Super Girl.

A Helpful Tip

I learned a cool tip from my sister-in-law Kamryn the other night and thought I'd share. To keep cut up fruit from browning like bananas and apples, I had always heard to use lemon juice. My Sis in law told me that if you run the cut fruit under tap water, that also keeps it from turning brown and in turn doesn't change the taste either. I tried it yesterday and it worked!I guess it doesn't last as long as citrus, but it lasted all day yesterday. I don't know what that says about our tap water though....:)

Dizzy Dreams

This is a conversation Trevor had with Grandma when she was tucking him into bed. "Grandma, sometimes when I lay my head down on my pillow at night and close my eyes, my eyes get dizzy and start spinning in circles inside my head. Then I just shake my head a little and it's all better."

Don't worry Trevor, it's probably just lack of oxygen to your brain because of your asthma. You just keep shaking your head my "special" little child!

Beauty Rest

Last night Maddie was wide awake laying in her bed, so Todd crawled in beside her to help her wind down and go to sleep. Todd was snuggled up with her with his arm across Maddie's belly, and he was asking her questions about her many adventures of the day. All of a sudden Maddie asks, "Daddy, could you take your arm off me?" so Todd complied. He proceeded to ask her some more questions, and then Maddie says, " Excuse me Daddy, but could you be quiet please? I need my beauty rest."

The "Moon" Is Out.

This morning I'm in the kitchen making lunches, and Maddie comes in babbling something about the moon. I just nodded and said, "oh really?" because half the time you can't understand what she says anyway. Then she says "Mom, look at me when I'm talking to you!" I look and she tells me, "the full moon is out!" I look at her a little puzzled, and then my beautiful, dainty daughter proceeds to turn around, pull down her pants, and moon me!
I'm in shock and thinking, Really?! You just did that to me?
I'll have to thank her father whose favorite past time is going around mooning the kids!

Game Night

So a lot of you know that our family likes to have game night Sunday nights after the kids are in bed. Tonight we played Taboo. It's Crystal's turn to desribe the word for us to guess, and the clue she gives us is,"Sean has really bad this..." I pipe in "Acne!", Kristen says "Eyesight!", Ryan says "Taste in women!" It went downhill from there.We did eventually guess the word- it was asthma. But it wasn't even in the top 5 guesses! Poor Sean, we say these things out of love and because we miss you. Will you still come visit next weekend? You know you don't want to miss game night!

Normal Nate

My poor Nate, he's too normal and serious so I never have anything to write about him. It doesn't help that he's surrounded by a nutty brother and sister. Nate just sits back, rolls his eyes and shakes his head at them. At us his parents too! He's my 40 year old in a 9 year old body. I usually say 30 year old, but realized I'm in my 30's, and he is so much more gown-up and mature than me! We are very proud of Nate because he was just accepted into the G.A.T.E. program at school. I just learned that GATE stands for Gifted And Talented something- I don't remember what the "E" stood for. I guess that's why I was always the kid that just missed the cut-off for GATE. Yeah, you're pretty smart Jen, but not "gifted and talented" smart.
Anyways- good job Nate! We're so proud of you!

Who's kid is this?

Trevor loves to do math. Every night when the boys go to bed, they have 30 minutes to read in bed. Lately instead of reading, Trevor has been getting out this math workbook he has and does math problems. In church the other day, he took multiplication flash cards. He decided he needs to learn his times tables now because he'll have to know them for third grade. He just started 2nd grade! Whenever we go somewhere, he brings the math workbook so he'll have something "fun" to do. Gag! The last thing in the world I want to do for fun is math! I think they sent Trev to the wrong family- He should have gone to Uncle Ryan, the High School math teacher. Honestly, they both think math is fun, they both have OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) and they're both too smart for their own good! I can see them exchanging math equations at the dinner table....

"Princess"

Maddie was hanging out watching TV with uncle Ryan when a Sleeping Beauty commercial came on. Uncle Ryan asked if Maddie was a princess. Maddie replied,"Yeah, that's what everyone always calls me, but my real name is Maddie Casida."

She also insists that she goes to high school instead of pre-school. Oh please, she's a big enough diva now, I have nightmares of her in high school! Let's not rush things!