Thursday, October 30, 2008

Halloween Birthday Party!

We had our october birthdays for the Gurr family over at my Cousin Kimber's house. We decided to make it a halloween party.
Clover the spy, Darth Vader, The orange Witch, Big Bad Wolf and Little Red Ridinghood.
We bobbed for apples and I was a mean mom and I dunked Meghan in the water. So The cop (Aunt Penny) Arrested little red ridinghood. Meghan thought it was quite funny.

My Cousin Heather and her Husband Jamison made their costumes. They were awesome. Here they are with My grandpa.


The Spy and the cop joined forces to fight off the evil. Uncle Kim was very cute in his Pirncess costume.

Riley wouldn't take his eyes off of Jeff in the Wolf Costume. He didn't want the big bad wolf to get him.


Indiana Jones, Little Mermaid, Clover the spy and the Orange Witch.



Kimber and Mike made great old people.
We had such a good time at the halloween party. I think we should do it every year. New tradition!!!!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Rocket Launch!

Bradlee had Scouts last night, and they did the rockets. Kind of like the pinewood derby, but with rockets. Here is Jeff winding the elastic that makes it go.
Here is Bradlee's rocket making it to the end of the track.


Bradlee got an award for the Sleekest Rocket.


And here he is winning first place..... Thats right people we had the winning rocket. Bradlee was so proud. I think Jeff was proud that he helped Bradlee make such a fabulous rocket.






Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Red Ribbon Week

Friday started Red Ribbon Week for the kids. They do fun activities all week at school to promote saying NO to drugs. Friday was hat day and wear you clothes backwards. The kids had fun with this one.
Monday was crazy hair day, but I forgot to take a picture. The girls were cute though. I didn't comb their crazy bed head, and I put bats, spiders and Skull rings all over in their hair. They looked good.
Tuesday was wear red day. The class with the most red was going to win a prize. We'll will have to wait and see if Bradlee's class, or Kaylee's class, or maybe Meghan's class will win. As you can see the kids had lots of red on today.

The rest of Bradlee's birthday!

Bradlee got a bike for his birthday. He really enjoys riding it around the neighborhood.
We took him to the Mayan (the kids call it the birdie place) for his birthday dinner. The Wilkersons and Grandma and Grandpa Hokama came with us to dinner.





Thursday, October 23, 2008

The Treasure Hunt!


Since it is birthday season at my house we have another birthday. Bradlee had his birthday October 18th.He had a treasure hunt.

Each clue had a gold dollar attached to it. the hunt started with his birthday card saying this.....

The money is not easy to find, you have to start looking where you wipe your behind! (obviously it was on the toilet paper)


Clue #1 You found just one in a sea of ten, the next one will be where your journey bega! (found outside by the front door)


Clue #2 You are so smart! You found number three, the next one could be growing out by a tree! (any guesses on where this one was?)


Clue #3 You found number four, but not by the door, how about looking down by the floor! (in the basement on the floor of course)


Clue #4 Wow! You got it, but keep going, look for the next one where wii go bowling! (you guessed it hidden by the wii)


Clue #5 the next one you find will be number six, look where we store a lot of sticks! (outside by all the sticks of course)


Clue #6 Are you having fun yet? We hope you are, but how did you get here? In a van or a car? (if you don't know where this was hidden then shame on you)


Clue #7 Your at number eight and you are doing great! You'll eat your dessert on a dessert plate. (by the paper plates)


Clue #8 By the time you find number nine, the clock may just chime.


Clue #9 This is the last one but don't be mad, go search all the pockets of your funny old Dad. (hidden in the pocket was another gold dollar, and a $10.00 bill)


He ended up with $20.00 and he thought he was so cool. Of course he is cool, he is my Dude! Love you Bradlee, Happy birthday!


And in addition to Bradlee's birthday.
Happy birthday Corben Wilkerson, he turned 12 yesterday. I told him he needs to stop having birthday, and he agreed. :)
Happy Birthday to Chelsea Smith she is turning 12 today.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Invisible Mom's

Someone sent me this story, and I really enjoyed it, so I thought it was blog worthy.


Sometimes we need to be reminded of what we arebuilding.....

It all began to make sense, the blank stares,the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walkinto the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be takento the store.
Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?'Obviously, not.
No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, orsweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in thecorner, because no one can see me at all.
I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am onlya pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can youtie this? Can you open this?
Som e days I'm not a pair of hands;I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask,'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer,'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm acar to order,'Right around 5:30, please.'
I was certain that these were the hands thatonce held books and the eyes that studied history andthe mind that graduated sum a cum laude - but now they haddisappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seenagain. She's going; she's going; she is gone!
One night, a group of us were having dinner,Celebrating the return of a friend from England ...Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she wasgoing on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I wassitting there, looking around at the others all put togetherso well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry formyself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turnedto me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'Ibrought you this.' It was a book on the greatcathedrals of Europe.I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to meuntil I read her inscription:
'To Charlotte , with admiration for thegreatness of what you are building when no one sees.'
In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book.And I would discover what would become forme, four life-changing truths, after which I couldpattern my work:
No one can say who built the great cathedrals- we have no record of their names.
These builders gave their whole lives for awork they would never see finished.
They made great sacrifices and expected nocredit.
The passion of their building was fueled bytheir faith that the eyes of God saw everything.
A legendary story in the book told of a richman who came to visit the cathedral while it was beingbuilt, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the insideof a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why areyou spending so much time carving that bird into a beam thatwill be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.'And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'
I closed the book, feeling the missing piecefall into place.
It was almost as if I heard God whispering tome, 'I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices youmake every day, even when no one around you does. No act ofkindness you've done, no sequin you've sewnon, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me tonotice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, butyou can't see right now what it will become.'
At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But itis not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the curefor the disease of my own self-centeredness.It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride.
I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a greatbu ilder. As one of the people who show up ata job that they will never see finished, to work onsomething that their name will never be on.
The writer of the book went so far as to saythat no cathedrals could ever be built in ourlifetime because there are so few people willing tosacrifice to that degree.
When I really think about it, I don'twant my son to tell the friend he's bringing home fromcollege for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in themorning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastesa turkey for three hours and presses all the linens forthe table.'That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument tomyself. I just want him to want to come home.And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend,to add, 'you're gonna love it there.'
As mothers, we are building great cathedrals.We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And oneday, it is very possible that the wo rld will marvel, not onlyat what we have built, but at the beauty that has beenadded to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.
Great Job, MOM!
Share this with all the Invisible Moms youknow...I just did.
Hope this encourages you when the going getstough as it sometimes does.
We never know what our finished products willturn out to be because of our perseverance.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Game Night!

So we had some friends over last friday to play this game that Jeff bought. The game had all these little pieces that you had to use to set up, and it took Jeff and T.j 30 minutes or so to build the battle grounds, and then they took another 30 minutes to figure out how to play. The funny part of the story is it took them only 10 minutes for one of them to win. Ummmmm, I think something is wrong there. Bradlee wanted to play with the boys so bad, he tried to help them and he was a good little helper. he helped Tj and Jeff get their armies together. It was so cute.
This is Kaylee, Meghan, and Candy and Tj's daughter Haylee. The girls were playing their own games... Hungry Hungry Hippos. Classic!

Monday, October 6, 2008

The Big 3-0!!!

I am officially old. At least that is what my kids are telling me. They have been warning me for weeks that on my next birthday (which was October 4th) I will be old. According to my children 30 is the old mark. Kaylee has reminded me numerous times that I am now OLD..... I actually feel pretty good about turning 30, it didn't bother me at all. At least I am younger than my OLD husband. :)

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Three Already!!!!!!

Happy Birthday babies! Yes I call them babies. Aren't they just so cute? Below are some pictures from their preemie days.
Marek, Evan, Brenden, Lily
Brenden Drake as an infant
Evan Denali
Evan, Lily Cassandra and me
Marek Bryn
Marek and Me