Halloween '08

Here's the gang all dressed up.

Madi as the Tooth Fairy

Cassi as a Cowgirl

And Elsie as a Ladybug

I have never seen this little one have so much fun!

She takes this Trick-or-Treating very seriously!!! She walked more today than she ever has before! She had so much fun!

Madi with her friend Keva

Cowgirl Cass! She had WAY too much candy!!!

And we can't leave out the little guy!

Our Baby Boy's Bedding

So I am finally getting around to posting about the baby's blanket and bedding.

This is the quilt...stripes of the different material, with the firetruck in the left bottom corner.

All the ties of the bumper pads are raggedy and different colors and patterns

The bed skirt, if you can see through the bars, are the different strips sewn together

Each side of the bumpers have a different vehicle....I forgot to take a picture of the airplane...so there is the car, motorcycle, tractor and airplane, with the firetruck on the blanket.

So now I just need to get the room painted.

Then I can have the baby!

Madi's (and Dad's) last game!

Madi and Brent's game was at the same time as Cassi's, again...

Luckily, Madi's games run longer, so I can go to Cassi's, then head to Madi's for the last half of her game.

I think the girls had a fun game. They actually scored 2 goals...and you would know how big a deal that was if you could have heard the screams from the girls with each goal. Goals mean more you don't get them all the time, right!!!

I know Madi had a fun year with her Dad as her coach, and I know Brent had the time of his life coaching these girls...he about went crazy trying to teach positions and rules to seven chatty 7 year old girls, but he had so much fun!

Mmm...isn't he a hottie...

I also think this picture is funny, cause it looks like that kid is hanging on Brent's hand...

Good hard work Madi Bell!!!

When they had team picture day, Brent was working and another girl was missing...

So the other day I took their picture (after a game, that is why they are all raggedy) and made them their own little picture so they could have something with the whole team together. This is how Madi's turned out.

Cassi's last soccer game

Well, there were a lot of bribes riding on this game. Her very own Webkins, her soccer medal, just to name a few...

The little stinker.

It amazes me how she is so awesome during practice, but the minute the game starts, she freaks out.

I think I figured at least part of it out. I think it is the attention she gets.

I think it makes her nervous, or uncomfortable. She is so funny. I have noticed in the last few weeks she does things that will obviously get attention drawn to her, like wearing her bright red cowboy boots with just about any outfit you can imagine, out in public. And it never fails people always say something about how they love her red boots or how cute she looks, and she gets all shy and tries to hide behind me.

So funny for her to do attention-getting things, but then not like the attention...anyway, back to the game.

We had her best friend Ayden come in hopes that would encourage Cassi to play. First half of the game went by, she didn't want anything to do with it.

Next quarter went by, still couldn't get her in.

Finally her coach came by to let her know that this was the last quarter of the game, so last chance if she wanted in. We told her she could just and by the net and make sure no balls got in...(they don't have goalies at this age but hey, if it gets her on field, no big deal, right!!!)

So we got her to go out...only if I stood right by the goal.

So as you can see in the first picture, they start in the middle, they kick off, and the second that ball is kicked she turns and heads right to the goal to be 'goalie'.

She really does such a good job.

She could really have a knack at soccer if we could just get over this, whatever it is!!!

Anyway, at one point she must have just gotten carried away and kicked the ball away from the goal and kept kicking it to the other end...almost to the goal...then she turned and realized she was out on the field, heaven forbid, and immediately ran back to the goal.

Silly kid.

So long story, short...she played the last quarter, all 7 1/2 minutes or so.

She just looks so cute out there...little stinker!

So she gets to get her Webkins...she earned her soccer medal...she got to get her frozen yogurt...and all the other things I bribed her with to get her on the dang field!!!

Cassi with Ayden...thanks Aydo for coming to cheer Cassi on!

Pumpkin Carving

We carved our pumpkins last night. The girls dug the guts out and drew faces...then Dad used the roto-zip to carve it out....which by the way...works awesome!

We forgot to get candles to light them up...but they still look cool and we wanted to share!


Elsie didn't like the guts!

Dad, hard at work with the rot-zip

The girls with their pumpkins.

Great job girlies!

Elsie's bed

Elsie's bed is done...well, kinda. I still want to make her a matching quilt, so I will get around to that, sometime. But for now this will do....as you can tell, she loves it.

I will post the baby bedding soon, so all ya whiners just hold your horses!!!

Baby Shower!!!

I am so lucky to have such great friends.

Seriously.

Last night my friends Jenni, Elizabeth, Summer and Jen threw me a baby shower.

It was so much fun!

I can't believe how many people came.

Everyone kept calling and saying they were sick or their kids were sick, so we weren't sure if many would make it..

We were wrong!

Wow...it was so fun. Just a bunch of girls sitting around eating, talking, and more eating.

There was so much food! Good food! Mmmm!!!

Thanks to Summer for having it at her beautiful house on such short notice!

Thanks to all the hard work that was put into the party.

And thanks for all my friends who took time out of their day to come and celebrate a new boy to our family!!!

(And super big thanks to everyone for giving us such great stuff to help us get ready for this baby boy!)

(Sorry Summer...you make faces...it's gonna go on the blog! Don't worry, your still a hottie!)

My friends Jenni and Elizabeth gave me these vintage metal cars, motorcycle, airplane and firetruck for the babies room. Exactly what I wanted! Love them guys!

Such cute decorations Martha, I mean Elizabeth!!!

Seriously...I was buried in a mountain of gifts. Thanks so much to everyone!

Mmmm...I did say there was good food, right?

Thanks so much, especially to Jenni and Elizabeth. You know how to make a girl feel special!

Visitors

Our friend Drew stopped by our house today to show off his new truck.

The lifted it up and over the house.

All the kids and neighbors thought it was pretty cool.

I am sure we had a few concerned neighbors too...

Thanks guys for stopping by. That was fun!

Pumpkin Patch

Well, our pumpkin patch adventures didn't go quite as planned...but we still had a fun time and got to be together as a family.

The plan was to go to Boise Fire station 10, who grew pumpkins in the field behind the station to raise money for the Fallen Fire-fighters fund. We thought that if we were gonna spend so much money, at least it could go to a good cause. So we got to the station and all the pumpkins were gone. Bummer! So we thought...well, we could either just stop by Albertsons and pick some up there, or we can see if we can make it to the Berry Ranch before it closes. We opted for the Berry Ranch, since they at least have some animals for the girls to look at. Well, when we got there, we were informed that the hay rides were over, but we could pick from their pre-picked pumpkins, oh and they closed in 10 min.

The girls didn't care...all they could see were pumpkins everywhere. Kids recover well when things don't go as planned, well, usually. They each picked out their perfect pumpkins...which really were perfect...the pre-picked ones are just the perfect shapes.
So we all left for home happy with our pumpkins, and some fresh honey made right there at the Berry Ranch...yummy!

Oh and by the way...keep voting for which baby name you like from the last post!!!

Help NEEDED!!!

We need EVERYONES help?

We think we have our list narrowed down to two names.

I won't tell you which one of us wants which name...but the names are...

Porter Brent Matthews

OR

Zacary Brent Matthews

So I want everyone to post a comment and tell us which one you think would be perfect for our little boy.

Kids don't lie!

Cassi was practicing spelling words out. She asked me how you spell 'pregnancy'. I told her to sound it out. So she sounded it out, then she ran upstairs to play. Well, I found her paper. She did awesome trying to spell it out, but I guess she found an easier way to spell it.

Love ya Cass!

Elsie's new bed

We knew Elsie wasn't ready to go in the bunk-beds with Cassi yet, but we needed the crib for the new baby. This crib was from my Grandmas house, and I fell in love with it. It is bigger than a normal size crib, but smaller than a twin bed. I thought it would perfect for Elsie. I loved the paint on it...all chipped and worn...unfortunately, it was lead paint. So we had it sand-blasted, we painted it up, and it turned out so good. Elsie will go into Madi's room until she is big enough to move to the bunk-beds with Cass.

BEFORE

AFTER

I am in the process of making a bedspread to match Madi's and a bed skirt...which should all be very cute. Then when Elsie moves onto the bunk beds with Cassi, we can take one side off the crib, add a bunch of throw pillows and it will be a little reading couch for Madi.

And I have finished the baby's blanket, I just wanted to wait and get the crib all put together before I posted it. But it turned out exactly how I wanted it to!

Hunting Trip

I will try to sum up what Brent and the girls did for a week away from Elsie and me.

First they went to Evanston to visit with Grandma Ene, I know they had a ton of fun there. Repainting Grandmas deck, going shooting, going down to the creek with Grandma, helping Grandpa in the feed store, and just having fun! I will have to find Madi's camera. She may have some picts from the Evanston trip, but then again they might have been having too much fun for pictures!

They went with Brent's sister Nancy, her hubby Russ, their two boys, Matthew and Caleb, and two youngest girls, Heather and Lauren. The plan was to camp the first night with Dad and the boys and see how things went then Nancy would either take the girls back home to her house, or stay...well I guess they had so much fun they decided to stay. The first day while the boys were hunting Nancy took the girls into the closest town and had a fun time going to toy stores and eating out for lunch and hanging out with cousins. The the second morning is when the snow came. The boys left early to do some hunting, but had to cut things short cause they couldn't really see anything.

I know they all had a great time, especially the girls! I know that Brent had a lot of fun with his girls. Cassi is going though Dad with-drawls today. He had to go back to work today, and she wasn't very happy about that. They have been together every day since last Tuesday! Anyway, I think I summed it all up...I wish I could have been there with them. Oh well, next year!!!

All bundled up for a chilly night!

Cooking dinner in the snowfall...this picture makes me want to give Cassi a big hug...I am sure she was just exhausted!

Wearing Dads socks to stay warm for the night

Snow!