Today was the last soccer game of the season. This was Chuckles first year playing soccer. I think he ended up having a good time. We had to convince him to stop pretending to fall and stop sliding around. I love that teamwork was emphasized and everyone plays. It was definitely a growing experience for him.

Chuckles as goalie in the last game

Pumpkin Carving 09

We usually carve our pumpkins the day before Halloween and this year was no exception. My hubby has done some incredible pumpkins in the past and this year was no different. This year the creation is labeled "pumpcorn shrimp". He plans to have an another gourd dipped into ketchup to represent cocktail sauce. Get it the pumpkin is eating a mini gourd in the shape of a shrimp. Here is a link to some pumpkins past.

#1 Son did all the carving and designing on his pumpkin. I believe his pumpkin has 6 eyes. It is little scary to let you 11 year old wield a knife but he did a great job of being safe.

Chuckles just did the designing though he really got into getting all the guts out of the pumpkin. His is suppose to be Bob the glob from Monsters and Aliens.

TP and Paper Towel Roll Art

I wish I could blame this on cabin fever. I am going on day 4 of staying home with #1 Son due to a cough. The walls are starting to close in a little. I saw this art idea on another blog that I can't locate now so thank you whoever. This is a little addicting. You basically cut up the tubes and glue the rings to each other. There is something so satisfying gluing all the rings together. I use clothespins to hold the rings to each other until they dry. I think it is pretty graphic in a good way. Don't know if I will hang it up and I can say I don't think it is finished yet. I know my sister, the Polyester Princess, is rolling her eyes. She is just jealous she didn't think of it. And No, I am not going to paint it, Mrs Epi. This just might be the ultimate in eco art. I might just have too much time on my hands.

Randomness

"The bond of loyalty is stronger than any chain of iron."

I found this piece of paper with this quote on it when I was cleaning #1 Son's old desk. It is in his writing. I thought I would share. He has had just a cough and been home the whole week from school. I am so glad it isn't something else at this point.

Kook Factor

My husband has a theory that anyone that has more than 6 bumper stickers is a kook. He claims that is a question on a pysch exam. It seems like there are a lot of cars up here with a lot of bumper stickers. I love that this car has a "Darwin Loves You" sticker and "God bless the Whole World No Exception" sticker. It goes great with the "Your Village called...the idiot is missing.." sticker. Does that mean there are a lot of KOOKS up here?

Feathered Friends

We have spotted some interesting birds out in the school field behind our house. I think the one above is a Heron and the one pictured below is a wild pheasant. #1 Son ran in all excited because he thought the pheasant was a peacock.

Cute Frankenstein

Big E made this on Tuesday. The idea is from No Time For Flashcards. I had all the materials on hand even the golf tees. This is a boy approved project. I hope to do this with Chuckles as well.

Recipe Kick

I have been on a trying new recipe kick. Sorry there are no pictures. Everything that I have tried so far has been delish.

Pizza Pasta - This was inhaled by my children even the one who dislikes pasta.

Sloppy Joes - I think I saw my hubby lick the plate. Hillary's potato rolls are my favorite, too.

I can't believe how much my wrecking crew can eat. Check out the comments on Rocks in my Dryer post asking for suggestions for feeding her bottomless pits. I am definitely going to use some of those suggestions.

Just Witchy

In honor of Halloween, we have been doing some witch crafts. The Diva is going to be a Candy Corn Witch for Halloween. The Diva made this witch. I think it turned out really good.

The idea is from Artist Woman. The other witch pictured below is a pattern copied off the Internet. I also had my boys do this. I made a cardboard pattern and had them trace it onto the colored paper. They weren't really into it and I don't think the Diva really got into it either. As a project it just was "OK".

Good Will Hunting

Mrs Epi and I decided to hit some garage sales yesterday but the weather wasn't very cooperative. It was very rainy. We managed to go to one and then we decided it was good day for looting aka thrifting. Mrs Epi's mojo was at all time high when we hit Salvation Army and ended up with 1 piece of furniture, 4 tins, metal tractor, and thermometer thing. As an added bonus everything was 50% off too. We went back to the garage sale to purchase 1 item we couldn't live without. Then we went to Goodwill. I have been on the hunt to replace a desk that I have my son's computer on in the family room. Now we have two students and sitting them together there wasn't working. Mrs Epi spotted the perfect thing, a double student desk. I hemmed and hawed and she basically said " You are going to regret not getting that." I hate it when she is right like that. We called my hubby and he met us for Mexican food. I took him over to look at it and he said for 6 dollars it was a steal. I love it. Sorry for the low quality picture as you can see it is already being used. I actually had to boot people off to take a picture. The item below I just couldn't resist taking a picture. This is wrong on so many levels AND NO I DID NOT PURCHASE THIS.

San Diego Honey Pot Sighting

I am not sure if Spanky is really an appropriate name for a Port a Potty

The name on this port a potty cracked me up. I am pretty sure I am the only person who goes to San Diego and takes a picture of a port a potty. But my blog is named after a port a potty so maybe it is not that far outside the realm of possibility.

Legoland

Darth Vader and R2-D2 made out of Legos

Our trip to Legoland wasn't good but GREAT according to Chuckles. Chuckles was so excited as he only found out the day before our trip that we were going to Legoland. Legoland is amazing. The things that they build out of bricks. My favorite part was Miniland with the miniture towns and mini Vegas. You can't believe the detail. Miniland is incredible and I really enjoyed all the Halloween elements - mini treat or treaters, pumpkins, and witches coven.

There is a lot to see and a lot of people. This is the perfect place for the under 12 set.

We were able to trick or treat Legoland In their Brick or Treat which was fun. They had little houses set up and handed out various treat including a commemorative block. We did not make it to the night time portion as we were all worn out. We brought our costumes but decided just to trick or treat without them. Chuckles favorite thing was everything. #1 Son enjoyed buying legos and the temple of doom ride - Lost Kingdom Adventure Ride where you shot targets.

Chuckles driving a Lego car. Both boys got their Legoland Driver Licenses.

San Diego Zoo

#1 Son

There are so many alternative titles I wanted to use - such as:

Spooning Tigers, Crouching Dragons

What do Hippos Eat? answer: Children and Vegetables

Anteater Love aka PG rated exhibit

OK, my Hubby and I are a little juvenile. We can't help ourselves. I love the San Diego Zoo for so many reasons. It is huge. They have pandas, koala's, and a albino python. I love giraffes. They have an awesome giraffe enclosure. The Zoo is huge. We walked our tootsies off here. As an added bonus, October is kids free month. I love that. When we lived in San Diego we had a zoo membership and it was worth every penny. There have been a lot of changes in the last 6 years since we had visited. They have Elephant Odyssey and a playground over by the Children's Zoo. There is just more of all the good stuff - animals and things to get kids involved. We did not see everything but we saw a good portion.

Our Whirlwind Adventure

On Sunday, we made it back from our adventures in San Diego. We left on Thursday afternoon for San Diego. We went to the World Famous San Diego Zoo on Friday and on Saturday we went to Legoland. There was a lot of walking. I venture to say we are still tired. The above picture was taken after leaving Legoland in Carlsbad. I was thinking - "Beam me Up Scotty". I am going to do separate posts on the zoo and Legoland. We had a fabulous time. I imagine the kids are going to be talking about this for a long time.

Can you Guess Where we are?

Don't know if you can see the little Lego guy on the pumpkin with Chuckles

We are HUGE fans of the blog Lego a Day. We were really excited to hear that the Star Wars Lego Visual Dictionary was released. Based on the picture above can you guess where we are visiting this weekend? Here is the big hint. This is surprise trip for our kids. We use to live in America's Finest City but our youngest has never been to this place. So we are spending this weekend on the Southern Border. Pray for SUN!!!!

Check you coins

While Big E and I were at the centennial river walk in our town. I am going to do a post just on the centennial river walk on a later date. Big E found a new Bicentennial Lincoln Penny. In case you haven't heard, there are 4 Bicentennial Lincoln pennies. This year, 2009, is the 200th Anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth and the the 100 year anniversary of the Lincoln 1 cent. Here is some more info. I have only seen the Youth in Indiana and Professional Life in Illinois pennies. This past summer my kids and I read quite a few books about Abe Lincoln as we hoped to go to the US Mint in Denver when we visited my parents. We were unable to gets tickets but I used this teacher guide found at the US Mint Site. It was really helpful. I have some great discussions with my kids and Big E about money.

Awkward

Homework Time at our House

#1 Son has the word "awkward" for a spelling word. Every week he has to write a definition for the words on his list. His definition for awkward was - A very embarrassed person or thong. That cracked me up. I guess he meant to type thing not thong.

Fall Crafting

It's feeling a lot like fall. We had a beautiful harvest moon the other night. On Monday, the kids and I made skelton hands.

We stamped bones with Scooby snacks. The kids were "OK" with that. This craft was pretty much a miss. On Tuesday, we made haunted houses. These were a big hit! The foamies were from the dollar store. The houses were my pattern.

House by Diva

Chuckles, ME, and Big E

Art by Chuckles

Eel going down an escalator by Chuckles

I am loving the art that Chuckles is bringing home.

Crafting Weather

It is rainy and cold here so yesterday I decided to craft. I saw these cute pumpkins here and decided to give them a shot. They are a lot harder than they look. I had originally wanted to try them with the Diva but I think I will find something else. I thought they would look cute on my candle holders. The EEK sign is construction paper in a dollar store frame. The best part of this whole project is that it used stuff I had on hand. The most expensive thing was the dollar store frame.

Extra Teeth

It has been a long time and no blogging. It has been a complicated week. Have you ever had one of those? I usually pride myself on being a fly by the seat of the pants type of gal. I have recently found out I am not that flexible. Isn't it annoying when you find out that you or not what you thought?

Part of the chaos was a trip to the Oral Surgeon. It appears that #1 Son has some extra teeth that are blocking his adult teeth from erupting. They need to be removed along with my wallet. So we had our consult this week. Today it is a doctor's appointment and he is getting his school picture.