Halloween

It is supposed to be like 65 this weekend for trick or treating. Thank goodness. Aidan is the evil Spiderman this year (Chad didn't even know there was such a thing. Bless you dear) and Elin is going to be a monkey. We probably won't make it much further than around the block once. Last year we did basically an entire neighborhood tour and Aidan about died. Little legs don't travel that far very well. So we have no plans other than that this weekend.

I cannot believe it is November (well next week)!! We have lots of stuff going on this coming month. First up, the ladies (Dawn, Rebecca, Jamey and I) first experience with Pole Fitness...and then Hermann!! WOOT WOOT. I am sure after we try our hands on the elegant sport of "Pole" (I guess that is how you say that), we will really need the Hermann experience. Ha. Experience recap to come...

Today, Aidan's school is having their Halloween parties. They had a "parade" this morning and the big celebration is this afternoon. 4 year olds are hilarious in their costumes. Aidan and his BFF, Cooper are actually both Spiderman, though Cooper is the "original" one. They cracked me up this morning.

Okay this was completely boring, but that is what is happening today/this weekend. I promise, better stuff next week :)

Meet Billy

This is Billy the Exterminator. Aidan thinks he is the coolest guy around. It is one of his favorite things to watch before bed, and lucky for us, there was a marathon last night LOL. Aidan is really into a classy set of folks. There is Billy...Photo from A & E

Then we have the Swamp People...this is our buddy Mike, a gator hunter in the bayous...

Photo from History Channel
Finally, this is Aidan's girlfriend, Lisa. She is his favorite trucker. LOL never thought I would type that sentence...

Photo from History Channel

Before you think Aidan watches a ton of TV, I will tell you. Ice Road Truckers and Swamp People are his Sunday night bedtime shows. He is amazed by those shows. I can't lie, they are pretty cool. Billy the Exterminator is his bedtime watch on Tuesdays. He loves to talk about the different animals that they find since Billy doesn't just kill bugs. They rescue/catch/exterminate any kind of creature. Pretty interesting shows really. We like them because we don't have to worry about violence (yes, they hunt gators on Swamp People but they don't SHOW the actual kill) or anything questionable. That is rare these days! So yes, our buddy watches TV and we are totally okay with that :)

Workin' on My Fitness EDITED

So we all know how that whole "training for a 5k" went...yeah my sister and I did not keep up after week 3--though I have been going to the gym 4-5 days a week. I am still trying, just the dumb running did not stick. Pretty sure I could have guessed that at the beginning since I loathe running more than anything else in the entire world. SOOO...what's next on my fitness adventure you ask? Oh wait, you didn't, but I will tell you anyways. I have done some analyzing of my exercise preferences and it has come down to this: I get bored easily. Running is boring to me. I need classes. I need music and different things. Enter Work It Girl Dance Fitness (website HERE). My friend and I are going to give the Pole Fitness dance class a try. I am sure many of you just spit out your beverage. Supposedly it is supposed to be quite the work out. When I went to Vegas with my sister and friends a couple years ago we tried out the Stripper 101 class at Planet Hollywood and had the absolute best time. We laughed our rears off. Hopefully I will work my rear off in the class. At least it will be entertaining if nothing else. You can even buy a pole for your home LOL!!! I am laughing just thinking about this class. I know you are jealous. It's okay :)

In relation to this, I would like to add that I have continued to lose weight. I don't remember my last weigh in date but I am down another 5 pounds or so. SCORE!

EDITED TO ADD:
Clearly someone knew I am working on my fitness because as soon as I was done typing this, I get an email with this as the subject: Now Legal...Gambling on Your Weight. Say wha???
Essentially it is a website called Lose It or Lose It and you actually gamble on your own weight loss online. You begin by setting your goal weight. When you do that, you have 10 weeks to reach it. If you meet your goal each week, your money stays in your account. If you don't meet your goal that week, the website takes a cut of your pot for itself?!?! You can wager anywhere from $100 to $5000. How do you not cheat this??? Well people, they have thought of that already. You have to email a picture of yourself on a scale. The photo will be checked for authenticity and any photoshopping, etc. This is just crazy!!!! Very interestng site...wonder if they are allowed to tempt you to cheat LOL!!
Here is the link if you dare... Lose It or Lose It

S'more Bars (for Kelley)

Warning...I am no food photographer. And also, we ate some of this before I took a picture. Ha. Classy, but we were hungry.

My new favorite treat: S'more Bars. SOOOO easy and sooooo yummy. I love s'mores (my husband can testify), but they can get boring. How to make them yummier and probably not better for your health ;) You will need:
1 cup butter, softened 1 1/2 c cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup white sugar 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
9 (or however many you think you need to cover your pan) regular-sized Hershey bars
2 cups flour
6 cups mini marshmallows (I used the big marshallows and just broke them up; just need enough to cover an entire layer roughly)

Heat over to 350
Grease 9 x 13 pan (I used a 8 x8)
Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy
Add eggs and vanilla, and blend

Mix flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt in a bowl
Add to the butter mixture and beat

Press half of dough into pan. Bake 15 minutes and take out of oven
Arrange the chocolate bars over crust then sprinkle the next layer with marshmallows
Drop spoonfuls of remaining dough over marshmallows to make the top layer
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes (or until lightly brown)
Cool and cut into bars (However, I like to eat them warm and gooey...they are much better this way!)

This recipe is definitely not good for your diet if you are trying to lose weight or increase your "healthiness." There, that is my health disclosure. Enjoy!

M-I-Z-Z-O-U!!!

Let me just begin with the usual warning...there are a LOT of pictures to follow. As Dawn and I told Chad and Justin, we are commemorating!!!!

This was a huge weekend! We had sooo much going on. Friday, Chad and I took the day off to experience HOLIDAY MART! Well, technically Jamey and I experienced that; Chad and Deric experienced Tanner's and their chicken lips. We had a great time. It was so fun. We headed back to town that evening to meet up with the family. Grandma and Grandpa had come in to pick the kiddos up after school until we got home. They had a blast... We got the best surprise as in Grandma and Grandpa from Iowa decided to drive in last minute. Aidan was going to have his first soccer practice, he was going to be in the MU parade AND it was the homecoming game against OU. Who would want to miss this?!?! BOOO...Mark and Rebecca we are so sad you guys couldn't make it!!

Saturday morning was the big day. This picture of Elin in the morning pretty much sums up how we ended the day LOL:

First up was soccer. We all headed over to the MAC and watched Aidan try it out. He loved kicking the ball around. We were early (shocker!) and so we got to play around a bit before it started

The spectators...

Practicing hard...

IMMEDIATELY after practice, Aidan and I had to be at the parade to get on the CMS float. Chad and the crew dropped us off and we made a run for it. Yeah, good thing since even after the parade started it took an hour for us to move. No need to rush LOL.

The kids all loaded up...we didn't move for at least an hour after this picture was taken. Let me tell you, that is AWESOME with a bunch of preschoolers...

The view of the line up from our position (we were #140 in case you were wondering)

Me and Tracey patiently waiting

During the parade...Parents were the candy tossers since you can't throw things from floats. I believe I ran a 5k that day. Once we started moving, the parade was MOVING. I had to walk, pass out candy to begging kids, and then RUN to catch the float again. It was STRESSFUL!!!!

Aidan had a ball! He was thrilled to be carrying the "Z"

Elin and Grandma after the parade...

So about an hour after the parade, my mom dropped me, Chad, Luke and Ruthie down at the Stadium for some tailgating before the Big Game. This was MU's homecoming. It was madness. In addition to this, ESPN was in town to film College Gameday at the Quad. It was soo awesome. Luke and I at the College Gameday bus...sadly, no Erin Andrews to be found :)

Walking to the tailgate

Luke and Chad

Awww...sorority sisters :)

Yes, I am holding two beers at once...I am craaaaazy like that, riiiiight

Well hey there, Snooki...hahahahahha

Darn it guys, we are commemorating!!!!

We were lucky enough to score some FANTASTIC tickets. The game was sold out. PACKED. I will say I was pretty certain Oklahoma was going to beat us. Well, we all know what happened...the view from my seat...

Faurot Field

At the half...it was starting to rain a bit

Ha, this picture is terrible...that is what you get when drunk people take your photo!!

The game was amazing. The Tigers held on (which I truly didn't think they would be able to) and won the game against #1 OU. Happy Homecoming INDEED!!

Luke and Ruthie outside the stadium

The night was awesome. We were all so excited. The next day we rememebered who MU plays next week...

What was that, Elin?

Ah, Nebraska. I am hoping MU can win, but I have my doubts with good ol' Nebraska. They are playing IN LINCOLN and that is an intense place! We will see. Sunday everyone headed home and we relaxed finally after a BIG weekend. We were so glad everyone got to come in this weekend. Go Tigers!

Teen Mom

Okay, one more thing before I am done blogging for the weekend (remember, its Holiday Mart weekend WOO HOO!!!). I watch Teen Mom. Yes, I do. And I occasionally make my husband suffer through it as well. Last night I caught the reunion special with Dr. Drew (I HEART HIM). I want to start out and say, when I first saw these girls on 16 & Pregnant I wanted to take Farrah and shake her and say "What is wrong with you?!" She never wanted anything to do with taking care of her baby and she disrespected her family so much. She was such an ass (to put it bluntly). So we watched her somewhat grow into a mom and learned more about what happened to the dad (he was killed in a car accident right before baby Sophia was born). Anyhoo, she has grown on me.

Next, my personal favorite, Catelynn (and her boyfriend Tyler). If you have watched these people from the beginning, it's amazing. They made the decision to give their baby up for adoption to a loving couple. It is a semi-open adoption and it seems that these two have become amazing people because of it. They both have what I would describe as HARD home lives and come from some upbringings with serious issues. I just cannot believe that they were strong enough to make such a selfless choice for their daughter. They were able to see their baby take her first steps and know that she will have all the opportunity in the world to flourish. It's awesome to say the least.

Macy...poor Macy. LORD I CANNOT STAND RYAN. What a loser. He is worthless. She is so much better than that. That is all I have to say.

Finally, Amber and Gary. This situation saddens me. Amber has a violent temper and unfortunately made some extreme choices. She is under investigation for felony charges relating to the episode that she beat Gary and then punched him in the face. All in front of their baby. I know. Clearly she is a prime example of why a 16 year just isn't ready to be a parent. They (most) do not have the maturity, development, whatever it takes to be a parent. They are just kids themselves. The reunion show was so sad. She is still struggling with this and it is so sad to watch that their baby girl has to be in that environment.

Moral of the story...do not become a teen mom. You have soooo much more life ahead of you. Babies can't raise babies. Ok, I will get off my soapbox now...you can continue on with your life :)

Extended Breastfeeding

I was reading some of my normal blogs and saw a comment about a woman who is an "extended breastfeeder." In my opinion, I was thinking that the baby was over 1, but probably not too much older. My mouth fell open when I saw that this boy was 1 month shy of 4 years old. I support people who breastfeed and think it is wonderful, but this actually makes me uncomfortable. I guess I don't know anyone that has done this that long. I am interested in knowing if this is a secret norm that I am just unaware of. I just think of Aidan (who is 4 now) and how completely weirded out I am by the thought of still breastfeeding him. Just a thought for today...CRAZY in my opinion :)

The woman says that she nurses him because he still wants it. She will stop when he wants to stop. She also said that she would nurse him in public if he "needed" it. My question is, how much does a 4 year old "need" it? Maybe that is just his learned behavior and wants it because that is all he knows...I don't know. I just can't seem to wrap my head around this idea. I just think that at 4, kids are starting to know more about what's going on around them, they are aware of their bodies and it just seems "wrong." I don't know if "wrong" is the right word, but frankly I kind of can't think of an appropriate word for this. Anyhoo, you can see her blog, she has a discussion going on about it and why she does it. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

Party Time!!

We are pumped for some fun weekends coming up! We are going with some friends to KC one day for some major shopping...it's actually called a "shopping extravaganza" hahaha. Jamey and I will be attending the Holiday Mart and surely going crazy with some purchases! In a couple weeks we are headed to Hermann for some winery-shenanigans. We are going with some friends and Mark and Rebecca. I am so excited. We have planned this for a while and it is finally almost here. Watch out! Party time!!!

Pumpkin Patch Fun!

We had a great weekend! It didn't feel like we did a whole lot, but it was busy!! Chad of course went hunting and had luck nabbing a couple doe (I have pictures, but he nailed them in the lung so yeah, those pics are so not blog friendly). Aidan and I braved Wal-Mart because if we didn't we would surely starve at home. The weather was amazing. We couldn't believe it's October. The high temps were not making Chad very happy in regards to hunting. TOO WARM!! It was mid-70s on Saturday and Sunday.

Sunday we met up with the O'Rileys at Peachtree Farms. Dawn and I went with the boys on the school trip, but Kennedy didn't get to go on that one so we needed to go again!! We met them out there and it was sooo nice out. We were not the only ones with the idea! The kiddos had so much fun. Kennedy loved the bunnies... This was right after Aidan "held" a bunny for like 1 second until he pretty much threw it back into the pen because it was "scratching" him. LOL we left there quickly before any more bunnies got hurt (no, that flying bunny didn't get injured, but we figured we should leave while we were ahead!)...

Elin spent the day chillin' in the Baby Bjorn...

Everyone had to get a look as to what was in that giant tank... Only the biggest catfish I have ever seen. I believe they said it was like 60 lbs!!! I could be totally wrong though. We know I am not the best listener ;)

Checking out the chickens...

Feeding the goats...this was probably one of their favorite parts. They giggled so hard when the goats would lick their hands...

You may wonder what is happening here...the kids are running around this shed-thing chasing some uncaged birds (Justin knew their real name, guinnies? ginnies? I don't know how to spell that...Chad said so too. They looked like little turkey things to me LOL. Dawn will agree with me hahahaha)

...to achieve their goal of getting the "birds" to run around the shed to chase each other. This lasted way too long for the grown ups :)

Aidan looks annoyed. He wanted to run not take pictures with his mama...

Aidan and Chad

Kennedy and her favorite baby, Elin

Kennedy, Aidan and Cooper messing around

Right where those trouble makers are headed... Kennedy being the good big sister :)

Kennedy was kind enough to take the boys through the maze after they made Chad go :) Sheesh, they then went through it again like a million times...

Ahhh, relaxing after the long hike around the farm...

That evening we headed over to Justin and Dawn's for dinner. They grilled steaks and the kiddos played. It was such a great evening! Aidan didn't even stay up to watch Swamp People! Heck I don't even think he got to watch all of Ice Road Truckers :)

My Babies

Little Miss Elin was sporting her very own jeggings yesterday...