Two Days Late and a Dollar Short (or Happy Belated Birthday Lil Bran!)

This adorable dude just had his 18th birthday. And did his Auntie post about it? No. Damn. I completely lost track of time. So, lil Bran ... we sure hope it was a big, wonderful birthday! You deserve it! We love you!

Happy Birthday Lexa Lou!

Oh, wow. I'm glad I got on here to post this. I have been lagging so much lately. I'm just gonna blame it on being busy. I wanted to be sure to wish Miss Lexa Lou a very Happy Halloween Birthday! We just love you so much, and can't believe where the time has gone? Hope you're birthday is perfect!

Pumpkin patch pictures from Sunday.

Bailey had mentioned that she really wanted to go to a real pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins this year. I was excited (curious?) to try out my new 50mm lens and then quickly realized it's a whole new ball of wax. Wow. I really, really love the ability to zoom in and out. I'm SO used to that. But obvioulsy with a fixed 50mm lens you can't do that. Drat. I'm taking an online photography class, and I'm getting more and more frustrated and confused by all there is to know/learn in relation to photography. The instructor strongly encouraged we get a 50mm lens. The main reason is the ability to blur the background of the picture, while keeping the subject in focus. I love the look, and hopefully will get better with lots of practice.
This picture of Bailey was my very first picture taken with the 50mm lens. It was very weird to hold the camera up and realize "crap" I've really got to back up. So I did. This shot turned out too dark and the background is boring, but otherwise a decent shot of Bailey.

This one was also too dark. Bummy. I'm sure I can fix it in photoshop, but for now will post as is. I love that Shawn wore orange. Haha. Not on purpose, I'm sure.

This one of Austen I was able to lighten up a little. Maybe too much? Blurry background = cool picture (in my opinion).

This was terrible. I had backed up as far as I could (right into a fence). It looks like the pumpkin is going to eat Bailey's head for a snack.

Kale insists on giving me grumpy looks when I take pictures. Especially when it takes me forever to get everything somewhat set up.

Shawn and Bailey fInding the perfect pumpkins.

Don't Take It Personal. (Another t-shirt idea.)

For those of you that know the lyrics, this t-shirt idea came from the song Eyes of Desire. The portion with the eyes is the front and the the other part would be the back of the shirt.

Another Birthday ... here and gone.

We didn't take any pictures yesterday, and that's okay with me. I did have a wonderful day, though. Lots of Happy Birthday wishes make for a great day. Bailey really, really wanted to get me something. Haha. I always say that if she makes me something that's all I need, but she sometimes gets a wild hair and just doesn't give up on the idea of purchasing something. So she went on www.walmart.com to get some ideas. It's good to know that I'm so easy to buy for, and that Walmart will pretty much have something to suit me perfectly. Haha. We were meeting Shawn for dinner at Claim Jumper at 5:00pm, and had about an hour to kill, so I dropped the three kiddos at Walmart and I waited in the car. How silly does this sound? So, I'm thinking ... "hmmm, how much money to give them?" What could they even find at Walmart? So I hand them $60 and say "go for it". What a great little experiment to see what my darling children will decide on for me with $60 from Walmart.

Thirty minutes later they are back, bag in hand. With $40.34 change? What the heck? Now I'm really curious what they've decided to get for $19.66 (which by the way is the year I was born. I'm just sayin'. That's kind of weird.) Anyway, I say wow. You have change? And they say they figure I'd be happy to have some change. Um, okay? And then they inform me that Kale also bought a card (Austen and Bailey made theirs), and a gift bag. This is just getting better and better.

So, we headed to Claim Jumper. The food was delicious, and CJ has been doing this scratcher thing where you receive two scratchers to be scratched off at your next visit. Every single scratcher is a winner, even if it's just a free small dessert. Something along those lines. We had gotten a 10% off your order the last time, and I'm thinking, dang it would be so nice to receive that again. I'd love to get 10% off this order. You know ... Shawn ordered two apple martinis and Kale ordered fried mozarella sticks, and then we all ordered a little dessert. This wasn't going to be cheap. When the manager came over to do our scratchers, I was pretty stoked! We got 25% off the entire bill! Can you believe it? We saved almost $35! And I got a free dessert for my birthday. Pretty cool.

At home I finally got to open my gift. Homemade cards from Austen and Bailey. My favorite thing in the world. No offense to Kale, but he dropped the ball this year. haha. He knows I'm just messin'. He did write something nice in his store-bought card. Bailey made me a stack of coupons. Kind of funny. I rub her back every single night. I mean every. single. night. Without fail. So she made me about 10 coupons that state "no back rubbing". Isn't that precious? Like I'm gonna use a coupon to get out of rubbing her back. Adorable. She knows I'm still gonna rub her back. Then we have: feet rub, neck rub, back rub (for me), full massage (*giggle, giggle*), and there were two that said: "whatever you would like". This should be interesting.

So on to the Walmart gift ... they decided on a New Moon poster and a box of Russell Stover chocolates. I was thrilled. :)

I've been busy doing CV stuff.

Carcerys Vale just keeps progressing, and moving forward. Such good stuff. Austen is such a determined, hardworking dude and we're just so proud of him. He is such a driving force behind this band, and all that happens with it. (Secretly, we think this has a little bit to do with us. *wink wink*) But it is so rewarding to see him actually implementing and following through with things we've been preaching and instilling for years. (Yes, he has been listening!!)

Apparently, he came up with the idea to approach family and friends for their support of their upcoming mega-huge show, Battle of the Bands! This is actually the second time he's done this. The first time, he just asked grandparents and they all willingly helped out! Hey, you never know if you don't ask, right? This time, he sent out the request to grandparents, aunts and uncles. What a little salesman!

He has had a tremendous response! He (we) are truly humbled by the outpouring of support for the band, and especially for Austen. We are so lucky to have family that cares. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your generous hearts!

In other CV news, I've been busy coming up with some t-shirt designs. This is my first attempt, and the band just loved it! Phew. That's good news, huh? It's always a little nerve-wracking and even embarrassing to put something out there, and wonder "gee, will this even be cool to them?" Apparently, it passed the cool factor, and I, of course, am thrilled. Our first go around, we will be printing on white t-shirts (they are the least expensive). Eventually, we would like to do black. I'm also working on some other designs, and will post those as they are finished. If you're wondering, the quote used is from their song lyrics. Please tell us what you think.

For Today: October 16th

Boy, I've been a bad blogger. I really have no excuse, except to say, where the heck does the time go? Almost Halloween? How did that happen?

Anyway, trying to recall what's been going on around here ...

1. We got the minor damage on my car repaired. A $500 deductible, and about $200 for the rental car, and we're good as new. Sucky.
2. Later that week, Shawn's truck was broken in to. They broke out the back window and stole his briefcase, probably thinking there was a laptop, which there was not. $300 to fix that, and we're good as new. Double sucky.
3. I went and had my annual "womanly" appointment. I sure love those. I had blood work done and everything came back normal. Good news there. Then the pap smear results came back abnormal. Crap. I hate that word when it relates to medical issues. I'll be going in on November 4th for an Endometrial Biopsy. I'll keep you posted on those results, too.
4. Kale started Independence High School this week. Kale came to us asking if he could give it a try, and after meeting with the school, we agreed to see if this is something that will allow Kale to be more successful in school.
5. Austen's been having some ringing in his left ear that won't subside. We went to see the doctor. He believes that it's temporary, gave him steroids for a week, and says Austen must wear ear plugs at least when he practices. He needs to give his poor ears a break.
6. Bailey is looking forward to her Halloween party. She has lots of great activities planned, and is such a good little party planner.
7. We're all looking forward to Lex and Bryan coming for a visit Halloween weekend!

I'm sure there's more, but that's it for now.