Happy Halloween!

After all of the drama with our lizard dying. . . We finally went out to celebrate Halloween. . .We visited some of our family members, and then we went to our church for the "Sweets, Treats, and more!" at our church. The kids had a great time at church--it was a huge success! We had planned on taking the kids trick-or-treating afterwards, but they wanted to stay at church the whole time instead. . .so we said " SURE!" Here is my group of Cuties!!! Ian is dressed up as a bank robber(He is too cool to dress up as anything major this year-We were lucky to get him in anything)Macey is Hannah Montana--"Sweet Niblets!!" and Cade is a Wer-Wer wolf(that is what he called it!) Here is Ian posing with his money sack. . .getting ready to make a get away with his stash of goodies!!!!! Hee hee!Of course you can't miss Miss Hannah Montana!! Macey thought she was IT with her boots, wig, and all of the make up she was wearing. . She said, "Mommy make sure you cover up all of my freckles--Hannah doesn't have any freckles you know" And last but not least my little "cary" Wer-wer wolf. . . Cade wanted to be something scary this year. . . He loves to watch Goosebumps(a show on Cartoon Network with his Bubby and Sis). He is going to take after me and daddy--Loves Scary stuff!!!! He is so funny. . .The first time he tried this costume on--he ran down the hall to Ian's room to look at himself in the mirror--and scared himself!! He cracked up over it afterwards!!We went by Mamaw and Papaw Allen's house first. . . Papaw gave all of his grandkids a big ole' hug!!! Mamaw Allen got her pic made with each of the kids. . . Then we made a stop at the Horne's house. . .and they posed for a shot with the grandkids too!!!Mamaw and Papaw also posed with me!! Hee hee. . . We went by Great Grandma Ramey's house next. . .She is my Mamaw, and she is 96 years old. She is so sweet. . . Then James took a pic of me with her!!
Then off to church we go. . There were so many friends here. . The kids had a blast! Here are a few pics of the Horne family. . . Some good friends of ours. Macey was in "love" with Daniel when she was about 2 years old. . So this is a sweet little pic of Daniel hugging miss Mace. . .Mr. Will looked so handsome as Buzz Lightyear. . .To Infinity and Beyond. . . Miss Tina and Bryson the Bumblebee. . . He looks adorable!!!!This is Cade's good friend, Kenny. They are in the same pre-school class. . . They have gotten to be very good friends this year.The Hite's and The Allen's. . . Hunter, Emily, Ian, Macey, and Cade. . . posing for a pic for me. . Macey and Miss Allie. . .She looks so cute!!!!!
Walker and Cade. . .The Best of Friends!!! Love to see them hug each other. . .they are so sweet!!!! I told you I would post this pic of you on the internet Barb!!!!! Love ya!Macey and her Best Friend from school, Alivia McMullins. . .Macey took one of the flyers to school and invited Alivia. . . Too cute. . Christy giving Macey a hug. . and posing for a pic for me. . Thought I better post a pic of Daddy...Sharing a hug with his oldest son... the Bank RobberThis is our Worship Pastor, Brian Sharp, playing the bagpipes--yes he is wearing a kilt. . .and the man in the white shirt is our pastor, Roy Graves. . . manning one of the game booths. . .We had a great time at church. . . spending time with all of our friends. . and of course getting lots of candy!!!! Good Night. . .

Sad Day in the Allen Home

It has been a really sad day today. . . Our first baby bearded dragon that we got, Lenny, was really acting strange this afternoon. He wasn't moving his back legs, and was really pale. He just didn't act normal. We called the vet, and they said if we brought him in they would evaluate him, and see if they could find out what was wrong. So this is what we did. Needless to say the outcome wasn't very good. The veternarian was really nice, and went out of his way to explain the problem to James and Ian ( I didn't go in because I couldn't stand to see him so sick--yes, I cried. . It has been an emotional day--believe me!) He diagnosed Lenny with a spinal cord injury. He said it could have been an injury (falling off of his log, ect.) or it could have been genetic. He checked him thouroughly, and told Ian that there wasn't anything else he could do for him. Lenny had 2 seizures while he was at the vet. So we had to put him to sleep. Ian didn't exactly understand what that meant, so James and I explained it to him. He was upset, but tried to be "tough". Tyler, his friend that gave him Lenny, had told him if either one of the lizards didn't do well, he would give him another one. So we do plan on getting Ian another lizard. It was sad for all of the kids, especially Macey. She had a more difficult time with it than anyone else. Losing a pet is always sad, even if it is as small as a little lizard.

Pumpkin Carving

We always carve our pumpkins the night before Halloween. . .So that was today. . .Mrs. Fuller gave us the biggest one that we have. It was part of the decoration at the Fall Family Night, so she let us have it after the event. That made us only have to get 2 more. . .Cade was sick today and had to stay home from school, so we were just lucky to have him feeling good enough to participate. . . Ian had play practice until 8 pm, so we didn't even get started until almost 9. . . That is the story of our lives. .always pushing things to get them done on time. . . . Anyway, this was the first year that we actually let each kid do their OWN. . .(I did help Cade), but Ian and Macey did the entire thing by themselves. Macey was not too keen on the cleaning the pumpkin out part, but she did it anyway. . .She kept on saying how gross it was, ect. Ian was a pro! He took off and did the entire thing , designing his, cleaning, carving, and lighting his candle. . . We ended up not getting the kids to bed before 10:30. . . on a school night. . .Oh well, it was worth it. . They had a great time. . . Thought I would share a few pics from the night. . .

Bojangle's Boberry Biscuits

Many of you have already heard this story, but one of my friends from work thought I should post this story on my blog. So here goes. We have been having some difficulty with Ian and the "cleanliness" of his room. A couple of weeks ago, we were in his room feeding the lizards, and I noticed the sleeve of his Under Armor shirt sticking out from under the bed. Hmmmmm. . .I thought, I hadn't seen that shirt in a while, I think I will look under the bed and see what else is under there. Would you believe that there was 19 articles of clothing under the bed???? Yes, that is correct. 19!!! Dirty underwear, shirts, Khaki pants, empty coke cans, water bottles, ect. Needless to say Mom went C-R-A-Z-Y!!! Yelling and trying to make the point that underneath our bed is not a place for dirty clothes and trash. . . I tell this story to make this next part make more sense. Two days later, ONLY TWO days later---Macey was in the need of a pencil for her homework.(Pencils are so very hard to find around our house, even though Mom has desigated a specific place for them--No one seems to listen) Ian told her to look in the top drawer of his dresser. She opened it and to her surprise found 2 Boberry Biscuits that were hard as petrified wood!!(James had bought the kids some of these biscuits back in July-if that tells you how old these biscuits were!!!) So Mom went off the deep end. . .telling Ian how we would have rats, cockroaches, and all kinds of pests due to his Nastiness!!! My plan is to take Ian's beds off of the bed frame. .Mattresses on the floor. . .take his drawers out and place them downstairs for him to go and get his clothes out of the basement. I don't know if I will actually do this, but I did make the threat;)Just part of the joys of being a mother to boys!! Gotta love them!

Wildcats Football

We have played football ALL day long! First, we had a game at the Boys and Girls club this morning at 11:15. We played the Trojans. The boys played AWESOME! We won 30-6. Ian is just a tough little player. He got the breath knocked out of him during one play. So when he came over to the side line, he said to me (note that he has had alot of trouble with his allergies this week)"Mom, I got hit so hard that I think my allergies are better now!" He said smiling from ear to ear. . . in front of everyone sitting in the bleachers. I was laughing, and one of the parents said, "I guess he got the snot knocked out of him!" Ian is so funny. . . After the Trojans game, the boys were so excited about the Bowl Game that they had gotten invited to attend in Greeneville, TN. This is a bowl game that goes on every year, and they invite area teams from all of the different leagues. The Wildcats were invited to go this year, because we have had such a great season. Our first game wasn't over until almost 1,and we had to get the kids lunch in the drive thru-and "book it" to make it to Greeneville by 2:30(our scheduled game time). We got there right on time. Cade and Jett getting ready to watch the game. I videoed the game for James so these pics are not with my good camera, they were taken with my video camera. Not bad though.Emmy and Macey sitting together on the ground. They weren't too excited about a second game in one day! They wanted to go and play on the playground, but I didn't think that was a good idea. . . So they stayed and watched anyway. . . Here are some serious Wildcat Fans!! Duffer, Nicole and Christy. . . It was so sunny today, I actually got sunburned!! Becky entertained the kids. She is HILARIOUS!!! She kept on making Cade crack up calling his Racoon a squirrel. . . or a skunk. . .He kept on telling her "NO, it is a RACOON!!!" I asked her if she would like to come over and play sometime, and she said she would love to!!!The boys played hard, and I am sure they were exhausted, considering this was their second game they played today. To make a long story short,we lost this one 12-6, not for lack of trying. The boys gave it their all, I was so proud of them. Ian had a couple of great runs, and lots of great tackles. That boy may be little, but he sure knows how to tackle!!! :) Ian is number 20. At the end of the game, the Greeneville Game Coordinators presented the teams with a couple of trophies, one for participating in the Bowl Game, and Ian recieved a trophy for Best Defensive Back. Great Job Wildcats!!

The Field Of Screams

Tonight we had a "date night". We went to Fender's Farm with our good friends, Kevin and Christy Hite. Adults only! No kids tonight! We wanted to go to the Haunted Corn Maze and Barn and didn't think the kids were quite big enough to handle it yet. Ian really wanted to go, but we attempted the Haunted Corn Maze last year, and he almost lost it. . . Maybe next year. . .But the kids had a great time with Mamaw and Papaw, and they don't spend near as much time with them as they used to due to James and I working the way we do. So the grandparents were glad to have them for a little while.

We had a great time. I love to spend time with my family, but it is so good just to spend some quality time with James. We need to do this more often than we do. And spending time with such special friends was great too!

While we were waiting for it to get dark for the scaring to begin, we decided to play on the playground. That is what you do--isn't it? Play on the playground when you Don't have your kids with you. . .We had a blast just laughing at each other climbing on the hay bales, and watching each other fly off of those crazy slides!! Hilarious. Kevin said he went down this VERY fast slide last year with Cade on his lap and they came out very fast and landed on their bottoms. . .The reason you don't see a picture of Kevin coming off of the slide : )Christy and I even had this little boy show us how easy it was to jump off of the VERY high hay bales(the one in the striped sweater in the picture). . .Needless to say, I didn't jump. I took a few pics before it got dark, and then the good ole' camera went back to Kevin's truck. Wouldn't want any monsters to knock my camera to the ground. . .

For those of you who know me, you know that I scare easily. ; ) So going to a "haunted"anything with me, is fun for all who are in attendance. Hee hee. . . I love to just "get scared" and scream! Too much fun! We got the Haunted Package, the Haunted Barn, and the Field of Screams. . . It was so funny. I laughed so hard that my jaws are still hurting. I held on to a strange man's shirt during the Haunted Barn--he didn't seem to mind. He had his daughter who was probably just 6 years old--and was the bravest child I have ever seen!! But at one point as we were going through the barn, this man was in front of James and I--I couldn't see where I was going. . .and I said "DAD! Where are you?" This strange man said" I am right here!" and then I grabbed on to the back of his shirt again. He sort of led us through the Haunted Barn. . .Too funny! Then when we left the maze we stopped for coffee on the way home. . . Had a great time. . .Can't wait until next year!! We are gonna let our oldest kids go with us. . . Cade may need to wait a few more years, but we are gonna break Ian and Macey in soon!! Happy Fall Ya'll!!! Good night.