Carving Craziness

We decided on a personal theme for each pumpkin this year!

The culprits B.C. (before carving)

And this was "Big Daddy". Notice the tiny hole poked out on the left bottom? Well......That is from the stem of one of the baby pumpkins. It jammed into Big Daddy after I drove around all morning before realizing that the banging in the back of the car was our pumpkins that I forgot to unload.

Digging out the guts. EEEWWWW!

Double EEEWWWW!

Pure pumpkin flesh. I thought about toasting the seeds but then decided that I didn't want to dig them out of all that mess. Toasted pumpkin seeds are good, though. I've done it before. Before I lived by a Market Street United where you can pull the clear canister and the toasted seeds fall into a bag and you take them home. Viola!

Triple EEEWWWWW!

Big nerds! Get Your Guns, Up, Smarty Nerds!

Our finished products. We are proud of our masterpieces.

We lit a candle for the Tech game against the Aggies this past weekend. It wasn't pretty-the game, I mean. The pumpkin is very pretty!

Slade's traditional mini pumpkin. He wanted upside down triangle eyes. And one tooth with a smile. (P.S. I can see Slade right now from where I am typing. He is cleaning his room. He has on underwear and black soccer socks that come up to his knees. Priceless. And hilarious!)

Quite fitting, don't you think!!! "F" monogram, pink paint, black boa, silver hearts placed on by Finley. Also, we ruined the brand new shirt she had on. She leaned against the pink wet paint. Oops. Play clothes now.

And let us not forget the mini-me pumpkins. We call her "Love Bug". She's as white as my legs.

I like to call this one "Cabaret".

And here is "The Web". I knew those plastic spider rings were good for something!!!

Spiders!

On Sunday, Brandi celebrated her 21st birthday! Which makes me 17-the exact age of Edward. Who knew it would work out so perfectly. Happy Birthday, Sis! Finley and I took her out to birthday lunch on Friday. It was fun. Finley was a brat. We ate petitfors. Brandi had raw tuna. I had fish tacos. Just us girls!

Slade's first grade classroom has been studying spiders the past few weeks. He had to recite a poem on Friday and he took "props". It was something about a spider climbing on a wall. He did well from what I can gather. Boys do not give you much information. NID "not into details", as Jennifer Lopez stated during The Wedding Planner. She was referring to grooms, but that statement encompasses all male species down to toddler age and my boys are no exception.

And I saw these in a magazine and had to make them for his class in honor of the spider unit.

I mean, how cute are these??? Right down to their little Twisler legs! They were a hit!

Seeing Orange.......

Happy Halloween, Ya'll!!! I will post more pumpkin patch pics later. We're busy. There are three pumpkins in our garage and they have our names on them!!! Gotta go carve! Happy Sunday-be blessed!

Picture Time!!!

We went and had Miss Finley's 3 year old pics done last week. I wasn't sure what the outcome would be, but she came through with flying colors. She did awesome! It just took a mere piece of gum to bribe her! ha! The pics turned out so great, I had to buy the CD. Here are some of my favs!!!

This is one of my favorite dresses I've ever bought for her. It has little eyelet lace scallops. It was fifty dollars at Gymboree, and I waited and caught it on sale for under twenty bucks!!! I love this dress!

This is the ladybug tea set that Brandi gave her when she was born. Her dress has ladybugs on the bottom.

I had them zoom in and print this in black and white for me-it looks so precious!!!

I just love the kickin' stockings!!!

Blahhh Monday

I really don't have much to blog about today. We went to my parents ranch this weekend and basically came back puny. My kids are croup coughing and I think I have a chest cold. Nobody feels awful, but we don't feel top notch either. I didn't get much sleep this weekend with my chest hurting, Slade tossed and turned all night, and Finley puked drainage/curdled milk in her bed and had to have a bath in the middle of the night and I did a load of laundry. I tried to make lots of noise during the puke episode to get some extra help but neither mom nor Nana heard me, darn it! As always the food and company was nice, but not the best resting trip I've ever had. So today I'm popping Mucinex, drinking tons of water, uping all of our Vitamin C, and hopefully jumping into bed early tonight. It's fall and I don't have time to be sick!!! If you could see my house, you'd know that I'm dragging buns. WalMart sacks, still containing groceries that Kyle bought yesterday are in my kitchen floor, my suitcase is still packed, I've got a load of wet jeans still in the laundry, and I'm sure somewhere in the house a trash can stinks! Finley is sitting upright, right beside me asleep-which means momma may not get to go to bed as early as she thinks, haha!!! Anyways, I'm too tired to load any pics, so I thought I'd post these that Kyle's uncle sent us from Ramma's funeral. Good family pics but unfortunately under sad circumstances. I still can't believe she's gone.


I probably already mentioned this, but Ramma has 18 grandkids and they were all present and accounted for this day. I think that's really neat. Look at that handsome devil in the middle? Who's he?

And here's a good majority of the greats-there's thirty something I think. Ramma could name them all, too! Ramma would have loved to see these pics! I've come to the conclusion that the Ledbetter's are a very fertile bunch, ha!

My Letter

Dearest Jerilynn,

Sure wish I had a toffee oatmeal cookie to finish off my sandwich for lunch. I would warm it and drink a diet Dr. Pepper. My mom would dip it in milk. Maybe I could dip it in milk, but only if it was skim and ice-cold. Or maybe I long for a pumpkin sugar cookie with tiny sugar crystals. Or a white ghost with little black dot eyes. I would most likely eat one in front of my family and then sneak three more when the kids were out of sight. They wouldn't know that three more even existed because I would have hid them anyways before they saw the plate of cookies. I still have lots of built-up anger about your family moving away. I try to hide the pain. The pain of you taking our friend, Cutter, our scrapbooking discussions, the Easter egg dying parties, and you watching my sister's dogs. I liked it when you watched them instead of me. I think I deal with the pain well, but the cookies break me down. When I think I'm ready to move on and accept the fact that you are no longer Brandi's neighbor and I might make it, you send a cookie via Brandi that unleashes the beast in me again. These are the days that I wish I was like my Edward-cold, strong, and not into eating human food aka Jerilynn's sugar cookies. My diet would be better, as well, seeing that you cannot excuse eating six iced sugar cookies. They just cannot fit in a diet, no matter how much you lie to yourself. My last lapse was last week, so I will take the next few months to try to recover-until you come for an orthodontic appointment in December and bring Christmas sugar cookies again. Then the cycle will begin again. Until next time, bake well, my friend..................................

Lonely in Lubbock,
Chey-Anne

PS The response to my letter can be found here http://thehedgerfamily.blogspot.com/

Interesting.........

Saw this on Yahoo today. I found it very interesting - and disappointing!


Here is a top 10 list of some of the worst restaurant salads you just might be eating.

Number 10 Romano's Macaroni Grill Chicken Florentine Salad – 1,020 calories/17 grams/2,830 mg sodium

Number 9 Quiznos Chicken Caesar Flatbread Salad – 1,020 calories/69 grams fat/2,120 mg sodium

Number 8 Quiznos Roasted Chicken Flatbread Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing – 1,070 calories/71 grams fat/1,770 mg sodium

Number 7 Chili's Boneless Buffalo Chicken Salad – 1,070 calories/77 grams fat/4,380 mg sodium

Number 6 Chili's Southwestern Cobb Salad – 1,080 calories/71 grams/2,650 mg sodium

Number 5 Ruby Tuesday's Carolina Chicken Salad – 1,129 calories/71 grams fat

Number 4 Baja Fresh Charbroiled Steak Tostada Salad – 1,230 calories/63 grams fat/2,380 mg sodium

Number 3 Chili's Quesadilla Explosion Salad – 1,390 calories/89 grams fat/2,710 mg sodium

Number 2 Chevy's Fresh Mex Grilled Fajita Salad made with Chicken, Carnitas, Shrimp or Steak - 1,450-1,620 calories/27-37 grams fat/1,570-2,530 mg sodium

And the Number 1 worst restaurant salad you may be eating is…. Chevy's Fresh Mex Tostada Salad with Chicken, Carnitas or Steak - 1,550-1,720 calories/37-47 grams fat/2,480-3,310 mg sodium


I 've had #6 numerous times-Yikes! Guess I should have gone ahead and had the cheese burger!!!

3 Going On 13

Today as we were driving in the car, my three year old says, "Mom, can you turn on Taylor Swift?"


So much for Barney.

More Goodies

More little delightful finds from the Smart Fam..............

I love love love flavored teas. I found these to be particularly yummy. The Black Cherry Berry tastes a bit like cherry Jolly Ranchers if you like that flavor. The Candy Cane Lane is very wintry and minty. It's green tea and decaffeinated so that's pretty darn healthy. I am not big on sugary, sweet drinks because they make my stomach hurt. Flavored tea is great cause you can put a Sweet-N-Low in one or just drink it plain and you still have some flavor, but not sugar taste.

I was excited to find this bc it has only 1.5 grams of fat per serving. Although the sesame chicken flavor is not my favorite, most people will probably love it. I am very particular about Chinese food flavors. This was good though, the veggies looked to fresh and colorful, and it was a bit spicy.

It's no Paula Deen dessert but if you want to eat a brownie and not feel guilty, buy these. Slade loves them! They have chocolate chunks in them and they are moist. A very good chocolate fix and are great warmed a few seconds in the microwave.

Don't want the calories of a cinnamon roll or to have to drive to the doughnut shop, then these are perfect. They are very scrumptious and don't have much more fat than a cereal bar.

I am a fat free snob. I hate fat free cream cheese. I loathe fat free dressings. I gag on fat free mayo. And I would rather eat paper than put a fat free cheese slice on my sandwich. This cream cheese I HEART!!!! It's not fat free but this is only one Weight Watchers point so that means its much better than anything else you could buy. One whole container is only one point and it is GOOD. I feel like I'm eating good fattening cream cheese. It's probably about the equivalent of eating "light" cream cheese, but it's in a convenient little container that is already measured out, it's spreadable, and you don't have to mess with taking chunks out of a block of hard cream cheese and wrapping it back up. If you love bagels and cream cheese or celery and cream cheese or just want to get a spoon and eat cream cheese, then this is the product for you!

My sister introduced us the the Tyson Any'tizers and I have a whole new appreciation for chicken bits. These are not nuggets. These are little balls of moist spiced chicken goodness. The kids are nuts over these and the adults steal what's leftover on the baking sheet. My kids eat them for dinner with a fruit and veggie on the side. They would even be perfect as an appetizer during a party. So so so good!!!

Just sneaking in my cute little necklace I made for one of Shane's cousins. She wanted it for a Tech game and I wanted to keep it myself!

Who doesn't love bread and who doesn't mind it being 100 cals for the top and bottom?!? These are my new favorite bread obsession. They taste remarkable and you can use them for anything! And I do mean anything. We have used them with peanut butter and bananas, with cream cheese on them, toasted turkey and pepper jack cheese, as hamburger buns, and the list goes on and on.

Six Things and Some Pics

A few things I've learned today..............

1. Even shoes from Naturalizer will leave a blister on your foot if they are new. But they are cute. Cute sometimes hurts. This point will be proven again someday when I win the lottery, make an appointment with a top-notch surgeon, and my boobs are painstakingly lifted to a cute new height. Cute sometimes hurts.


2. No matter what day you visit, the Driver's License Office is always full. Now here's a place that you can go and feel really good about your life.


3. If you gargle with salt water because your throat hurts right before you go to bed and don't rinse your mouth out, you wake up feeling like you licked half a salt block and walked through the Sahara, never mind that your tongue feels shredded. Learn from my mistake. Rinse with clean water after gargling. The sore throat was less bothersome than my damaged tongue. Raise your hand if you don't know what a salt block is?


4. Your husband will pout if you don't get the sheets on the bed before nine o'clock at night, even though it was his fault that our child wet the bed last night. You know I'm right. He might have resorted to doing it himself. Gasp........ I guess I'll let this one slide since he had a part in making the two cutest kids in the world!!!


5. If you wait two years and the Aqua Dots people still haven't sent you a replacement for their product they recalled, call them again. They will send it in four days via UPS. Evidently they aren't busy in October. Persistence, I tell you, persistence. Persistence plus a small bit of insanity that I saved that 1-800 recall number for two years. I got Pixo's. BTW-they are crap, too. Maybe they should put the whole dot thing to rest and move on.


6. I have a single chin hair. It's prickly. It ain't blond. It just keeps coming back, pluck after pluck. Why won't that pesky little nemesis just go away. If you ever cross my path and see it, just pull it. I will thank you for it. I think the birthday gift card from Hobby Lobby should have been appropriately switched with one from Laser Dynamics. Again, Cute sometimes hurts.


And for my pics..............................

This is a "Punk". That is what he told us his gymnastics teacher calls him. Fitting don't you think? Who in the world would have thought my five month old, twenty pound, blond chick fuzzed hair baby would ever be called a "Punk"??? Why the squinty eyes, my son? Difficult to be called a Punk, isn't it.

This is a 100% on our first spelling test ever!!!! Look out Harvard, here he comes. I will also accept an institution of higher learning in Texas, as well. I mean, look at the pencilmanship.

This is what you get when you hand Finley the camera. Nice tile, appropriate grout choice, but the chipped cabinets could use some paint.

This is my very own Brat Doll. Comes equipped with attitude, sass, and spunk. Likes chocolate, rice, tea, macaroni, and cucumbers. Changes undies at least five times per day. Colors a mean Mickey Mouse page, dances and sings like Beyonce, and is scared of furry life-size animals, like the cow at Chick-Fill-A.

This is a seedless cucumber. It was glorious. All that a seedless cucumber should be. And who knew there was such a thing???

This is what happens when you don't wash for four days. Seriously, it was like four days. Let's break it down a little and see where it comes from. Two soccer practices, four school days, two gymnastics, two workouts, one music class, three sleep pants night, three play in the water or with the dog days, fifteen size 2T panties, two preschool days, plus mine and kyle's daily clothes, and a partridge and a pear tree.

This is what you find packed away in your wedding scrapbook album Rubbermaid bin under the bed. The cutest size 5, squeaky, almost brand new, baby shoe that went missing in the Fall of '07. The partner has long since been File Thirteened. It was so cute, it made me teary. Did her foot really fit in that little shoe or did they pull a three year old little girl with blond ponytails from my loins cause I don't remember a baby that small???

This is what's left of a red velvet cake when served in Edward's cardboard presence and on china. It was lip smacking deliciousness. I have some in my freezer still. I have to put it there. So I won't eat it. Standing there with a fork. Eating out of the plastic container. You know you've done it too, don't lie. And I bet you have a chin hair, too. If not, give it a few years and you'll be asking for a Laser Dynamics gift card. Or even worse, you already have one and don't know it and your friends and family have seen it, but just don't have the balls to tell you. I'm just saying...............