A Sugar-Mamma's Thoughts

Halloween Bash 2010

October 30th, 2010

We had another successful Halloween Bash. The costumes were awesome, chili yummy (if I do say so myself), pumpkins amazing, and of course company off the charts! Thanks to everyone who came out and helped us "go out in style". My words can’t do the party justice, so here are some pictures to recap the evening.

Amazing Banner by Lara.

Tribute to Willy Wonka himself!

Cutest Dorothy ever!

The Wizard of Oz Family!

Avatar, Earbuds, and a Beautiful Ballerina!

The Hippies

Prince Charming, Cinderella, GusGus and their Rock Star Ladybug!

Cat woman and Spiderman

Collin and Allen (they were dressed as two other guys that were at the party…you would have to know them to get the costumes)

Roller Derby Fan and Roller Derby Jammer

Gorilla and Bride

Whoopi cushion and Chilean Miner (and he stayed in costume all night, which meant no sitting down)!

Pajama Party Girls

Rocking it out with the Chilean Miner.

Pumpkin Time!

Brandi pretending to work hard 😉

Best Pumpkin(s) ever!

Scarecrow and Pumpkin being eaten.

Ghost

Scary face and Haunted House

Apple and …(I can’t remember what the other one was…sorry)

Pacman

Stay Classy

Tags: Family, friends, Halloween | Posted in Life |

A Long Day…

October 26th, 2010

Today was a long day at work. It started out okay, but about 10:00 we were asked to take our kids to the hall for a "severe weather drill". In case you haven’t been in one recently here is what it looks like. First, you cram a hundred or so K-3 students in a small hallway. Then you have them get down on their hands and knees, tucking knees in under chest. Then you have them duck and cover their heads with their hands. All while not talking or moving. Are you kidding me?? This is hard enough for an adult to do, not to mention this many kids under the age of ten. We were this way for about 20-30 until we got the "all clear". My kids were so confused asking why we were practicing for so long! This was drill one.

Then, while my kiddos were walking through the lunch line we got called for another "severe weather drill"…I think my kids were catching on at this point that it wasn’t a drill anymore! So we quickly left their trays where they were and headed to the gym. This time it was much harder to keep them in the right position and still for the thirty minute block. Now, while this may not seem like it is exhausting work, keep in mind that the schedule was now way off, the kids were feeling the chaos and the day was only half over. Oh and did I mention we had a fun assembly with Woody the Weiner Dog this morning? Yeah, add all that together and it was a pretty hectic day! However, despite the chaos, these cuties made it all better when I got home!

Tags: Ben, Mikayla, school, students | Posted in Work |

Another Busy Weekend

October 20th, 2010

We had a big weekend full of visits. On Friday we met up with some close friends for a night of relaxation and a backyard fire. It was great to be around friends, sit back and relax! Three day weeks are hard!

Ben’s mom came to town Saturday and Sunday. While in town we hit up Jackson’s Orchard for some fall fun. Mikayla got to go on a hayride, pick out her own pumpkin, drink some more apple cider slushies and experience the mad rush that is Jackson’s on a Saturday in October! Then we enjoyed a nice dinner at home. On Sunday we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. I love me some Cracker Barrel breakfast (or food in general)!

Corn maze

Mikayla would grab a pumpkin and set it down. Then go grab another pumpkin and add to the group. This went on until I finally stopped her. I am pretty sure she would have kept going all day.

Her stash

Posing with Grandma

Mikayla’s Uncle Tim, Aunt Chel and Grandma Kickert came along for the fun!

On Sunday, Mikayla and I hit the road to Somerset. Way back in 2000, my high school basketball team one the Class A State Championship. For most schools this isn’t a huge deal, but for smaller schools like SHS, it is huge! Our high school now has a Hall of Fame and so our team was inducted into it on Sunday. It was fun to catch up with some old ball friends and really special to have our team picture hanging just below my dad’s baseball team picture which has also been inducted in the Hall of Fame. It was a quick trip, but a fun one.

The old team, minus a few who couldn’t make it.

Tags: fall, Family, Jackson's Orchard, memories, Mikayla | Posted in Life, Parenting |

Latest Clippies

October 20th, 2010

I have been playing around on Etsy for some time now searching for new ideas for hair clips. After searching for quite some time, I laid my eyes on a handful of ones I just had to try! Tonight, Ben had a meeting at church so I dug my supplies out and got to crafting! I am open to selling these in any colors, cost is $4 each (you can find other clips I have made here). Here is the end result.

Flower, inspiration from here.

Turtle clips with large and small eyes. Inspiration here.

Large eyes

Small eyes

Owl, inspiration came from here.

On another note – does anyone know how to get rid of a mouse??

Tags: crafts. hair clips, Etsy | Posted in Life |

Swimming and Snow…

October 11th, 2010

On the same day even! As we were prepping to leave Colorado we took one last trip to the hotel pool. Then jumped in the car for the drive back to the airport. On the way there we drove through some snow! How crazy is that? We hit it all: desert, snow, swimming, mountains, rocks and sand. It was a great trip with two of my favorite people ever! Here are some of our swim and snow pictures!

Tags: Ben, Colorado, Mikayla, travel, vacation | Posted in Life |

Halloween Themed Play Date

October 11th, 2010

Mikayla had one of her best buds over today for a play date! We began the day by getting all decked out in our Halloween/pumpkin gear.

Then we played some dress up and enjoyed the bubbles for awhile.

When Lylah got here Mikayla was so excited, she ran up to the car. The girls played outside for a bit and then headed inside for some homemade play dough action. Lylah lasted a total of five seconds, but Mikayla played for quite awhile while the mommies prepped our lunch. Unfortunately, I did not snap any pictures of Mikayla and the play dough, but will try to get some later.

For lunch we had Pumpkin sandwiches (ham and cheese sandwich cut into the shape of a pumpkin with cheese for the eyes and mouth), Frankenstein fingers (cheese stick with peppers for the fingernails), Skeleton Bones (Gerber Veggie sticks), Brains (broccoli), and Eyeballs (grapes). For desserts we had Ghosts (frozen bananas on a stick covered with whipped cream and raisins or frosting for the eyes and mouth). The girls ate it all up.

Ghosts on a stick

Frankenstein fingers and brains!

Pumpkin Sandwiches

They loved the ghosts!

Lylah Playdate 024

We ended our date with craft time. Lara put together fun Jack-O-Lanterns for the girls to make. They did awesome making them, but while we were trying to snap some pictures they promptly tore apart the craft!

We had a great day, thanks Lara and Lylah for coming to play!

Tags: friends, Halloween, Mikayla, playing | Posted in Life, Parenting |

Celebratory Ice Cream

October 9th, 2010

Can you guess why this chica is eating an ice cream cone all of her own?

This beautiful big girl and her yummy ice cream…any guesses?

No guesses yet…

Want some help? Well, let me spill the beans on this celebratory ice cream. My 17 month old went "poo poo" in the potty today! Such a big step deserved an amazing treat like mint chocolate chip ice cream! We aren’t officially potty training, but we aren’t discouraging the use of the potty either. She acts interested in the potty when we go, so we bought her a potty seat and occasionally sit her on it. Today she came up to me and was farting. Then she said "poo poo", so I took her into the potty and sat her down with her book (already in her hands). She sat there and while reading her book she went "poo poo" in the potty. We were such proud parents!

Tags: Growing up, Mikayla | Posted in Parenting |

Colorado Day Four and Five

October 9th, 2010

Day four of our trip took us on an adventure in Moab, Utah where we spent the day hiking through Arches National Park. However, this wasn’t before we almost ran out of gas because exits were 65 miles apart! It got interesting for a minute, but luckily a little gas station on the side of the road saved the day! Arches National Park was absolutely gorgeous. Beautiful red rocks towering above you on all sides, arches everywhere. Too hard to explain, and just like Rocky Mountain National Park, pictures don’t do it justice! We spent most of the day in the park, grabbed some Mexican on the way out and headed back to Grand Junction for the evening. When we got to the hotel we swam for a bit. Mikayla was even more fun in the pool this go round than she was this summer! We topped the night off with some Hagaan Daz Triple Dark Chocolate Ice Cream. It was so creamy it literally melted in your mouth!

Hanging at the visitors center for a bit before we headed out.

It is amazing to me that there are structures like this in the world.

Trying to keep Mikayla entertained on the way down with a little "If You’re Happy and You Know It".

Balanced Rock in the middle, seriously how does it not fall?

The Three Gossips

On Friday, we got up and enjoyed a breakfast in the hotel. Then when for another round of swimming, packed up and headed to Denver. Mikayla was a champ in the car, sleeping or entertaining herself for most of the way! When we got to the airport we found out that Mikayla would indeed be a "lap baby" because the flight was completely booked. Things got a little interesting! She did great for the first 1.5-2 hours. It was the last thirty minutes that were tricky. The flight was supposed to leave at 7 (her bedtime), ended up leaving at 8, which put us getting to Nashville around 11:30 or so. Mikayla has never been one to be rocked to sleep, so trying to get her to sleep on the plane was a bust! About thirty minutes before landing she started a screaming fit and there was nothing we could do to calm her. She was just overly tired and needed to crash. Luckily, the other people flying were gracious and tried to share in entertaining her. Finally, as we touched down she crashed in my arms. We made it home about 1:30 and crashed ourselves. It was a great trip, but now we need like a week to recover. Anyone else ever feel like that after returning from vacation?

Tags: Ben, Colorado, Mikayla, travel | Posted in Life |

Colorado Day Three

October 7th, 2010

Yesterday we got up early, in hopes of missing the rain/snow in the forecast, to hike and hang out in Rocky Mountain National Park. Our first hike was to three different lakes in the park and then we ended up driving Trail Ridge Road to get more of a feel of the Rocky Mountains. The hike was a little cold and foggy, but luckily it never rained or snowed for that matter. Then during the drive the clouds came and went so we actually got some decent views. We ended the day at a terrible Mexican restaurant, that only allotted one basket of chips per table. If you know me at all, you know I require at least two baskets! On the way to Grand Junction, CO we stopped for a quick ice cream treat. For seats they had saddles to sit on. It was a quaint little spot. Here are some pictures from day three. If you want to see more, check out Ben’s Facebook photos.

Check out that view! You could see for…feet!

Mikayla admiring the fog…I mean "wa-wa".

Bear Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park

The pictures don’t even do it justice.

That’s right folks, we are from Kentucky and we let our daughter run around bare foot in National Parks.

Food has been a little tricky on this trip so Mikayla decided to fend for herself!

Tags: Ben, Colorado, Mikayla, travel | Posted in Life |

Colorado Day Two

October 6th, 2010

Despite getting up early, going to bed late and not getting great naps, Mikayla still woke up at 6:30 this morning. What in the world was she thinking? When our alarm went off at 8:30 (wishful thinking 😉 ) we had already, showered, packed and eaten breakfast! Our first stop today was to the Butterfly Pavilion. We weren’t sure what to expect, but it turned out to be pretty cool. It was basically a bug and spider museum. They had all kinds of rare insects, spiders, tarantulas and a ton of butterflies. We enjoyed looking at them all (well except maybe the spiders for me) and learning a bit. We even saw a butterfly hatching from a chrysalis and Ben got to hold a tarantula.

After we left there we had a yummy Thai lunch and then drove on to Fort Collins, CO. Mikayla actually fell asleep in the car so we ended up sitting in the parking lot of REI and taking turns going in and shopping while she napped. Then we concluded the evening with a couple of Brewery tastings and dinner with a friend from BG. It was a nice relaxing day. Here are some shots of the Butterfly Pavilion.

Petting Hissing Cockroaches