{proof}

omg. zac looks like a chick.

what a good friend to dress like an elf.

{lost puppy}

my friend ashley's puppy, sookie, ran away this weekend.

she lives near west albany high school.

if you have seen her, please call the bgca at 926-6666.

you can ask for her mommy, ashley.

her mama is very worried about her and wants to make sure she is safe.

she has tags on with contact information.

please call if you see her!

come home sookie!!

{elf}

zachary dressed as an elf at school today....complete with green tights and jingle bells

to help his friend jake ask his girlfriend courtney to the winter formal.

what a good sport!

of course, i have no pictures, so i subbed a picture from my favorite christmas movie.

here are some quotes that make me smile!

"I'm sorry I ruined your life and crammed eleven cookies into the vcr!"

"I'm a cotton headed ninny-muggins"

"You stink. You smell like beef and cheese. You don't smell like santa!"

{thanksgiving weekend}

had a couple of extra kids with us for thanksgiving this year....

calvin and his four year old sister amya.

we had a great time. i forgot how exhausting it is to chase after a four year old.
i admit it. i am getting older. don't think i could do it full time. it was good for me to have her five days and get a fix and then send her home. don't get me wrong, she was an angel....but, i am tuckered out!

took them both home this afternoon and then took calvin and maddie to the rogue brewery for lunch. calvin lives in newport and had never been, so that was kind of fun for him

went to the carousel in salem on saturday and to the mall to see santa.....3 times.

had a great thanksgiving with family in oregon city.

my mom took some great pictures and i will post some as soon as i am able too.

busy week ahead with celebration of trees. i am ready for the christmas break.

{nerd town}

heading to the coast to pick up my other little nerd tomorrow.

{guess what i get for the weekend}

a super sweet and cuddly four year old.

so excited.

{it's official.....}

zachary officially was accepted to the university of oregon on friday.

he still has a couple more options, but we are very proud of him.

still looking at eastern oregon and southern oregon {uncle grant!!}

{finally decorated and ready to roll....}

when you work full time there is one thing you don't want the holidays to be

and that is hectic! i have been slowly christmas shopping for the last three months and am probably about 75% done. technically could probably be completely finished, but let's

be honest.....it's not even thanksgiving and i can't NOT shop on black friday.

that would be a sin.

i took madison and hailey to go and watch the 8th grade boys play at reeser stadium this morning. we froze our buns off and left at half time. it was 30 to zip-o when we took off, so i wasn't feeling all that bad. better luck next year bulldogs.

came home and decided to finish decorating the house for christmas.
zac is having about 8 of his friends over in about an hour to watch the duck game, so that was my goal....to get it finished before they walked in the door.

the little black dresser is in my downstairs bathroom. my camera is crap, so most of my pictures turned out horrible, it's much cuter in person when all the lights are off and everything is all twinkily and cute. did the whole bathroom in green and white this year. those are ice skates hanging from the knob.

here is my silly little branch tree i tried to recreate from the post the other day.
the cost of mine was only $10.....my mom cut down the branches for me and i spray painted them white. i had the container and i bought a box of ornaments at target.
i originally tried to put it on my dining room table, but the twigs were too high, so there they sit in my window. i love it!
the quilt and pillows were made by my mom a couple of years ago.

horrible picture.....new camera would be lovely for christmas by the way.
here is our fakey tree that makes my life much easier.
we get a real one a little closer to christmas because it wouldn't feel like christmas without that yummy smell. the basket with all of the little presents is for calvin and his sisters. there is a present for them to open every day up until christmas. bought everything for $1 or less...total cost....$24. love how it turned out. i will send it home with him after thanksgiving so they can start opening on december first.

the "real" tree we get has all of the ornaments that the kids have picked out over the years. my fakey tree has pictures of the kids from over the years framed in frames from the dollar tree, ornaments from target (snowflakes and red balls), and some word ornaments. i can't find a whole box of ornaments, so as soon as we put up the other tree i will be able to finish this one. still need to lug down the rest of the presents for people outside of my family. it makes a tree look so much prettier when there are presents underneath.

and i love my hutch at christmas. it's my favorite.

just threw my old bird house on the dining room table and propped it up on a little side table. put my topiaries on either side, the shawl my great grandma knit down the center of the table as a runner, two red chargers, and added a little bow and wreath to the front of the bird house.
wah - la!! instant centerpiece....cost $0

looking forward to the boys getting here. just layed out all of the food and will head down to domino's to pick up pizza after the first quarter.

still need to reference all of my twilight stuff from yesterday. i'm tuckered out. i will do it later.

{i love my ducks}

this time last year i was talking about twilight.

{twilight love}

new moon officially came out at midnight last night.

although i was still wide awake at midnight, i didn't go to the showing.

i was all tucked into bed listening to the rain fall dreaming about the

party jessie and i were going to throw for the girls at work the next day.

she and i both have been scouring websites looking for ideas for this party.

there are some really good resources.

jess made the great cupcakes with black frosting and red sugar sprinkles.

we put labels on water bottles. obviously red jones soda would have been even better,
but we were on a budget and the water was free!


the wearwolf kibble was a hit and was gone right off the bat.
i suppose i will need to make some sort of "snow" something or other
for everyone at christmas.

we held a twilight confessional drawing.
the winner will receive an "i love vampires"
wallet. we have yet to draw the winner.
i will post their confessions tomorrow.

red licorice

hot tamales and swedish fish

fun little gift bags with black or red polish, vampire kiss lip gloss, and a twilight bracelet.

everyone could either be on team jacob or team edward.

everyone wore their favorite sticker all day.

we also had red candles flickering in the room with all of the lights turned off and had "twilight" playing on the new flat screen in the board room.

here's janie and megan in their new moon t-shirts.

they are gonna go see the movie tonight after the middle school dance.

it was so fun to do for everyone. i will post resources tomorrow because there are some good ones and i want to give everyone credit.

{tonight's the night}

this is the inspiration for my centerpiece on my dining room table.

my mom is cutting down branches as i type this.

is there any possible way that spray paint can dry in about a half hour?

i just want the whole room to be done.

so excited for christmas.

it makes me happy.

{top ten reasons}

{happy veteran's day}

we all had to work at the bgca today.

this one was all snuggled up in my bed with john when i left

this morning.

heading out to breakfast with her daddy soon.

happy veteran's day.

{senior night at south}

rainy, sloppy night at south for {senior night}

the whole time i kept thinking....this is really the last time i will be at a high school game watching my son play. it was really surreal.

we brought lots of blankets and bundled up and braved the cold. madison was a trooper. she had a bunch of friends at the game, but wanted to sit with her family to watch her brother's last game. what a sweet girl.

here's zac with john and i after they introduced all the seniors.
i don't know why in the heck he has his helmet on. the only one.
he kept saying he was freezing and didn't want to take it off. like his little hat.
hahahaha.

he did finally take it off after awhile.
the guys lost to corvallis and didn't make the playoffs.


it was a hard loss, but life goes on.


he and neusch went down to the batting cages at 8:30 tonight.
it is like a monsoon outside. sideways rain.
they are in the batting cages with the heaters blazing and the music blaring.


thank goodness for amazing friends and a spring sports on the horizon.

i love you zachary!

{here we go}

jess and i are off to ikea to get decorations for

celebration of trees.

it's a tough job.....but, someone has to do it!

{thanks dad}

flowers from my daddy today.

plus an invitation for a big date to the arizona/duck game.

thanks, dad!!

{valley league champs}

thinking about a break.....

madison's volleyball team won the valley league championship again this year.
she's looking forward to club volleyball starting on thursday.

the champions.

{is it wrong.....}

to be this excited for christmas the first week of november?

gift wrap station set up and ready to roll.

presents will start getting wrapped tomorrow.

can't wait.

bring on the starbucks christmas cups, sugar cookies, and snow!!

{too tired}

"honey, i'm too tired to slap you. bash your face up against my palm"

- karen walker {will and grace}

{halloween day at the hunters house}

the boys left for the ducks vs usc game at about 10 a.m., so madison, calvin, and i had the house to ourselves all day. it was nice and quiet.

the kids got dressed in their "fright night" duck spirit shirts and we had orange rolls with spiders on them for breakfast. by the time we finally ate it was almost 11 a.m.

then we headed out to get lunch and to finish up their halloween outfits at goodwill. omg! madison's christmas turtle neck and vest were amazing! she makes a very cute nerd. she could pass for sure.


then we headed out to see paranormal activity. not scary at all. what was all the hype about? seriously dumb. i don't even know why it was rated "r".....waste of time, but kind of fun to do on halloween with the kids. on the way home we ran to papa murphy's to buy pumpkin shaped pizza for dinner and breadsticks for later that night.

nicole and a couple of friends showed up to come trick or treating. they all looked so cute and glamorous. loved nicole's outfit the best. cutest lady bug i have ever seen. and then there is my little nerd on the end. so funny. she definitely didn't fit in with the crowd. then again, she never does and i love that about her.

calvin and madison lookin' awesome and nerdy.

before the south/west game.

uh oh. look away grandma. nerdy smooch!

drove calvin back home today. zac's still at megan's house and i am addressing about a million senior all night party letters. tuckered out. ready for bed. night.