Opinion Pumpkin Poll

Ok- before I post about our pumpkin carving night last night for FHE-- I need to know- HONESTLY - which pumpkin looks better!:) One is mine and one is NOT mine.... and I'll wait to disclose their identity tomorrow-- with the Halloween night post and carving time all at once! With that being said- Please vote for right pumpkin or left pumpkin:) Thanks!!

Sincerely and ALWAYS yours,
Bertie

Happy Birthday weekend to MEEE!:)

(my youngest sis, Emily and me at her football game! Isn't she too cute!:))



Yesterday (October 28 - Sunday) I turned 27!! Whoo-hoo! I don't feel OLD at all... and most my friends will be like- Bertie, we are getting sooo old! And- I think- we are??, and I always wondered why they felt so old, and I felt so young... as I thought more and more about it - I realized- oh, yeah! Chet is 5 1/2 years older then me!! So- I will ALWAYS feel young:)

Saturday afternoon my family took me to Pappasito's, which is my FAVORITE restaurant! I could eat there every night.... if I wouldn't get so fat from it. If you are ever visiting anywhere in Texas- you need to see if there is a Pappasito's there- and GO! It is mexican food- and it is the best! Then after eating we headed over to Clement's homecoming game. Emily is a varsity cheerleader and I have not seen her cheer at a game ever (me and her have been the only highschool cheerleaders in the family- and it was looking for a while that I was going to be the only one, so I was SOOOO excited when she told me she was going out for cheerleader and made it!!!)- and my kids had never been to a high school football game - so we thought it would be fun. We won like 40-0 and maybe it is because David Carr's little brother is our quarter back... who knows- but this year Clements is undefeated. I have not been to a highschool football game in about 7 years or so - I forgot how much fun they are- and the weather was perfect! Here are some fun pics from the game.



Ethan hanging out! Does he not look like the Olsen twins here, when they were little on Full House??

Erin hanging out in her beloved "fur" coat!




Dante and Josh (Emily's boyfriend). Which reminds me- I had trained Ethan pretty well to answer "Mitt Romney" anytime I asked him who he wanted for President. I hadn't asked him in a while- so about a month ago I asked him- who he wanted for President again and he goes, " Grandpa and Josh" - so he even knew who he wanted for Vice President-- made them both feel good:)
Here is my mom, dad and Ethan being silly!

Erin and Dante haning out! Oh- and Clement's mascott is the Ranger... so they are the Clement's Rangers. So- as the cheerleaders were cheering they would say "Go, Rangers" and Dante looked at me and goes- MOM!! Why are they cheering for our family?? :) Ranger is such a fun last name!

Then Sunday night we had our traditional "favorite meal" and MY traditional pumpkin World Class Chocolate Baskin Robbins cake! It was soooo good as always- I think I have had this same exact cake since I was like 5!
Here is a picture of me and my only neice on my family's side. It is so weird to be the Aunt vs. the mom! I've always just been the mom. This is Clementine aka "Minnie". Isn't she so adorable!!


So, with the highschool football game and me turning 27 and all my friends thinking I'm old--- I thought- I LOVE getting older! I learn so much each year that goes by and I have more experience! As much as I LOVED highschool- I wouldn't go back. I love my life now- and as much as I loved the "honeymoon" phase of my marriage- I wouldn't go back! As much as I loved my kids as "babies" - I love moving forward (yes, I'm ready to have another) but- right now I love where I am at, and where my kids are at... and look forward to moving forward in life.... Each year that goes by- still shapes me and who I am... for the better (I hope!) In "Mans Search for Meaning" Viktor Frankl makes a statement about how when younger people see older people, they are thinking- man, I bet that old person wishes they were young again.... but then he goes onto say- that the older person is REALLY thinking-- I'm so glad I am at where I am at- and that I'm not 20 and going through all that again! Yes- maybe they do wish they had the health of a 20 year old- but they have the LIFE experience of an 80 year old- and they wouldn't trade that for the world! So- bring on more life experience - because I want to keep growing!! Here is to my 27th year and to learning in life, no matter what it may bring!

Let's go fly a kite and send it................

DIVING?!?!?! Today has been the most beautiful day! I have spent about 5 hours outside today- and it has been gorgeous! Again- another cloudless day- with it being about 75 degrees and sunny and a nice breeze. Last weekend we were lucky to have gone to the beach- because the next day there was a cold front that came through and now at night- it gets into the 50's. So- the beach might be a little too chilly now..... but during the day the weather is perfect! So- after being at the park for 3 hours this afternoon for Mom's and Tots.... we walked over to my moms when Dante got home from school- and Uncle Brett wanted to go fly his cool trick kite- and we thought we would tag along! This kite is CRAZY!!!! I mean- CRAZY- i felt like it was a HUGE dog and I was this teeny tiny kid with a leash on the dog and the dog running at full speed and making me feel out of control. When the wind caught the kite- it really went, and this isn't an ordinary kite-- it is a "real mans" kite! It was awesome- and you can do tricks with it- once you learn to actually control the strings (it is a 2 arm kite) - Unfortunately - I think I made it dive WAY more then actually flying it!



Here is me attempting to fly the kite. It looks pretty good- but it came down crashing right after the picture!


Here is Uncle Brett flying the kite- and he was very good at controlling it and flipping it. It gets kind of scary because you don't know what the wind will do- and you kind of have to run for your life if it starts coming at you--- which I had to do a few times- thanks to Brett.Here it is soaring!
I took this picture at the park- just to let people know we do have a fall in Houston! See- on this tree the leaves have changed colors. It doesn't matter that all the rest of the trees around are still green, or that this tree is extrememly small - THIS tree had a fall - and that is proof enough for me:)
Here is Dante playing on the bike rack at his school. This is the field where we had fun with the kite!
Erin on her favorite horsey!
Ethan on his little ducky. I love having this park in my back yard!! It is great:) Only setback- is you have to wait for school to be out before you can go play! There are 3 other big kid play grounds around the school too- but my camera ran out of batteries before I could take more pictures.

So- if you feel as though I am rubbing our nice weather in your face- all I am really trying to do is get you to come and visit us here in Texas! This weather cannot be beat right now! And you are welcome in our home anytime:) OPEN INVITATION!! Any takers?!?!:)

Weekend at the beach in mid October!!!

This weekend was very fun and very eventful!! Our whole family had a wonderful time! It started Friday night. Chet and I went on our date night and we used my parents season tickets to go see Dreamgirls on Broadway here in Houston. It was amazing!! I have not yet seen the movie... but the talent and the theatrics were amazing in this production. Going to Houston's Broadway shows has been such a treat for me and Chet. Ever since I was 16 my parents have had season tickets to TUTS. Well, when we moved back to Houston 3 years ago, we decided to get seasons tickets too, because we both love that kind of stuff. However, the following year - we decided to get a different broadway series seasons tickets because they were playing more shows that we would like to see-- but we never got around to buying them... so we missed out on that year completely and we REALLY, REALLY missed it! It was like a treat night date night on show nights!! My parents also missed seeing us at intermission, etc... so this year- they bought 8 seasons tickets vs. the 4 they usually get.... and have invited us to come along each time! So, this season so far we have seen Whistle Down the Wind and Dreamgirls- then over Christmas we will see It's a Wonderful Life and I'm sooooo excited for that one! Our seats are amazing too- can't really beat 3rd row orchestra:) So- that was Friday night!!!




Then since I had promised my kids all week we would go see Christie down at her "beach house" (apartment 2 blocks from the beach), we packed up Saturday morning and headed down to see her after she got off from work. It was one of the prettiest day EVER!! It was so perfect! As you can see from the pictures NOT a cloud in the sky- it was about 80 degrees with a light breeze and the water was cooler then it is during the summer time, but not as cold as the pacific ocean. The kids had a blast! I remembered to bring my camera this time:) And my kids behaved pretty perfectly.... I'm still amazed-- the whole car ride down and back (1 hour each way) they didn't fight, they didn't whine... and the DVD player wasn't working either! It was great!


Playing in the waves with Aunt Christie!!

Ethan - he prefers to run up and down, up and down, up and down when the waves are going out and coming in!

Dante, Ethan, and Erin playing in the sand. Digging and then getting mad when the water comes up and fills their holes.
Dante and Ethan burying their feet in the sand!
Ethan playing on one of the sand dunes and pushing the sand off the "cliff"

Here is Dante being the recipient of the sand being thrown down from the "cliff" by Ethan, due to the breeze, and still finding a way to pose for the picture!Here is fun Aunt Christie and Erin snuggling on the beach!






After the beach we went back to Christies apartment and showered and got cleaned up to go back out for the night. We went to the Rain Forrest Cafe for dinner and while we were waiting for our names to be called- we went on their "scary" river ride. I tried to catch some of their scared expressions- but they didn't really get scared. Christie was the scaredest of them all!! Maybe that is because they have seen too many scary movies and they know what is real and what isn't?? Hey- I was subjected to IT when I was 5 - so I didn't think it was a bad thing for my kids to watch it either... LOL!

Aunt Christie scared to DEATH with Ethan trying to get a better look at the monster!



Erin's candid moment!


Dante isn't liking something?!
Here is Christie again freaked out- and Ethan is just kind of like... is it over yet?? Me and the kids waiting for Dad to come meet us!

Dad makes it and we are trying to take a nice family shot--- and well-- this is the best it is going to get:) LOL!! The frog was just too tempting- and I could see Ethan falling backwards right into the water!
And here is a pic of me and Chet. We love weekends like this where it is out of the ordinary- but we also love our weekends when they are nice and quiet at home:) I guess that is the person you want to wind up with- when you enjoy eachother- no matter what you are doing!! I sure did get lucky:)

Having too much fun with this "time off"

Ok- so I guess I'm having too much fun with my time off- where I kind of feel obligated to stay here with the painters incase they need to ask me something- even though they haven't yet needed to ask me anything thus far! So, here is what I do when I'm "bored"

Here is what Erin looks like after we are coloring together and I decide to mark her forehead in yellow! (They also hate it when they are coloring and I "accidently" push their marker or crayon in the opposite direction)






Here is Ethan after I decided to pants him. They think it is soooo funny!
















And this is a random shot.... but I was talking with Chet in the office... and I looked out the window because I thought I saw a cat go by... but then I saw more of it and it was an ARMADILLO! It was crazy! I mean I see them all the time camping in Texas-- but not in my own front yard... so I went to go get a great picture of the Armadillo since he was so close- - but I couldn't find him anywhere- I'm all looking in the bushes and saying "where are you little fellow" and then I go to the side of my house- and he is already in the street!! This little guy was so super fast- and I'm SO glad he did not get smushed by a car at the same time I was taking a picture- it was right afterwards! I'm just kidding- he made it across safely as far as I could see!

I also got to clean my blinds today- because my painter guy took them down so he could paint. So, I thought- why not clean them- I'll never take them down, because I won't know how to put them back up! So, I took them out back and got all my kids in their swimsuits and got out the hose and a bucket of soapy water.... and sprayed them down and the blinds too! It was a lot of fun- and I was so mad- because my hubby took the camera to work with him - so no pictures!! But- I did discover - that when you try to clean the blinds by yourself- it might be better in the bathtub-- this was my first time to clean blinds and learned my lesson- because outside they still get dirty again- unless someone is holding them- so I tried to one arm it- and it didn't really work... but they still got clean:)

Update on paint: 2 rooms are completely done- and I'll be putting them back together shortly and taking pics for ya'll to see.

Oh- and this paint drys sooooo fast! Right after the guy finished rolling one room he comes out and Ethan runs in like 15 min. later and grabs the wall and almost gave me a heart attack.... but no paint came off onto his hand.. and the wall still looked perfect! Thank goodness for fast drying paint.

Our little Dennis the Menace!

Now how can ANYONE get mad at a face like that?? He is just too precious and even though he is a little too much like Dennis the Menace, and even though sometimes I can really, really relate to Mr. Wilson - I'm trying to look at everything he does that is "Dennisy" from the audiences point of view and just laugh! Dennis make you laugh, right?! So, lets start out with the stories! As everyone knows- that is if you have been KEEPING up with my blog:) - we are in the process of painting our house. So, as I can't really clean around the painter guys- I usually wait until they are gone at 5 - I've been enjoying my time with my kids and doing the things they normally do in the day. So- I've been very RIGHT THERE every minute- and Ethan STILL manages to get around me! So- yesterday here is what happened.

1. Ethan comes up to me snickering- Mom, I painted the wall white! - and I thought he was kidding because he was laughing - and I was like - haha! very funny! So, I then think- oh, wait- I better check! So, I say Ethan- show me where you painted the wall?? He shows me and sure enough- you can definitely see in the picture below where he went. The painter did it nice and straight and then Ethan did it all squiggly. Thank goodness it was just the primer!



2. So, I thought I learned with the white! Well, this time- he decides to paint the wall red! That wall is our entry way wall- and it is going to be totally tan- NOT red! All he can say is SMILE REALLY BIG and say I didn't mean to!

3. Whenever I try to vacuum either Erin or Ethan will hide behind a door or in another room and hold onto the cord and figure I won't know it is them. It is funny the first time or 2 and then after the 100th time- I'm like - ok- NO MORE! LOL! Well, Ethan had just woken up from his nap and I started to vacuum and he came out on the couch, still a little groggy- and hmmmm..... you would think he's be able to resist the vaccuum cord, without a place to hide- but can you see him?? And that he is holding the vacuum cord?? Yes- that is his blonde hair and one eye peeking out:)4. So, Ethan has been wanting to go down to the beach to visit his Aunt Christie and so I told him we would go this weekend. Well, he immediately goes and gets his backpack and puts his pajamas in there and what else does he decide to put in there because we may starve out there?? A block of cheese! That's it! Just a 2 lb. block of cheese- and he decided to take it out of the 2 ziplock bags that keep it fresh and just stuck it in there with his pj's! I found it probably an hour later- and put it back in the fridge asap- and not 10 min. later he must have noticed his backpack wasn't as heavy or just had a craving for his cheese and noticed it wasn't there and went back in the fridge to get it!


5. These next few pictures are a series that I thought were hilarious. He is playing a game on the computer- his first time ever to be interested in an actual game. So, he is playing ZUMA and has no idea what he is doing so he dies really, really fast! I tried to tell him what to do- but he wants none of it! So- I'm sure you can read the pictures ahead and how it panned out- when he lost the last time!



6. This one I do not have a picture of because if I had taken a picture of this poor creature and put it up for the world to see- I would have felt totally derranged! So, yesterday we woke up to a flat tire- and as Chet and I were changing it.... Ethan finds an earth worm. At first he kind of freaks out, because the worm is wiggling like crazy, but then he picks him up. I'm too busy to really notice what he does with the worm. I just figured he would do what I would at that age- and pick it up and look at it and then drop it! EWWW slimy! So, I come back into the house and I'm checking my e-mail real quick and Ethan runs in, and is like mom- the worm is all bloody and dead! I said - You brought the worm in the house?????????????????????? And I did not want to see a bloody worm... so I told him..... you go get some toilet paper right now and throw him in the trash or put him back outside! I thought if I didn't have to see him - then he never existed..... so about 5 min. later Ethan runs back in and I figured he was going to say DONE like normal... but this time he doesn't say anything and THROWS the WORM onto my keyboard and it is split in half and dead! I about gagged! I immediatley pushed my chair away and went to go get toilet paper and finally put that worm away! What was he thinking??? LOL!

Sometimes that boy makes me go crazy! But then he puts on that smile and charm and I'm like ok- do whatever you want!

Oh, yeah- almost forgot.............

Along with the painting- I forgot to mention what else is getting fixed! For those of you who don't know.... Erin used to love eating anything BUT food! She didn't understand that paper was not food. Well- whenever you couldn't find Erin- you knew she was somewhere- under the table, in a closet... eating paper! In fact- 2 of my favorite stories to tell about Erin's paper eating habit- are:

1. She ate my dad's temple recommend. Yes- this is true... and he was like- so what am I going to say to the bishop- my granddaughter ate my temple recommend?? You think he'll literally believe it? I mean- she DEVOURED the whole thing! Not just took a bite- I mean - ate it up- no trace left but a little tiny piece when we pulled it out of her mouth! My dad LOVES that story!

2. When Dante and Erin started preschool- I was so so so so so excited for their first Valentines party!! So, as soon as I picked them up from school and we got home- I threw their Valentines bags on the table- and was like "Look at all this candy you guys got!!" Yes- I was WAY more excited then either of them! Dante did humor me though! Dante had just turned 4 and Erin was 2 1/2. So- I pick up a piece of candy and Dante picks up a piece of candy- and I give Erin one. Not 5 seconds later- I look over.... and what do I see-- I see 2 children with probably 100 pieces of candy on the bar in front of them, and I see Dante madly devouring his chocolate- and I see Erin happily chewing on one of her Valentines-- i think it was a Barbie one. So- needless to say- the paper chewing had to stop!

Now- you are probably wondering why that has to do with anything getting fixed in our house with the painters. Well, after we kept telling her no paper and would try our hardest to keep it out of her reach- she decided she would start a new chewing habit and starting eating our walls! Yes- any corner she would chew the paint right off, down to the sheetrock! In every room, wherever there was a window- she would just go to town! I have only caught her doing this once - she is that good! Anyhow- I did talk to my pediatrician about it- and he said that the paint isn't dangerous and just stop her whenever I see her doing it. Something called Picah--- incase your child ever does this:)

So- all of our "corners" have now been repaired! I'm so glad- and she has not done this for probably 1.5 years now- she is 5! So, that is just a funny tidbit of fact- that I thought you would ALL love to know:)


And 3 things about Dante real quick:

1. Last night we were driving out of my moms drive way after dinner and it was dark outside-- and the Bishopric is walking up my parents front walkway- Dante only sees 3 men in suits and he asks oh so seriously and VERY intrigued, "Are those secret agents??"

2. This morning after I got Dante up from school i asked him what he wanted for breakfast and he says- I'm not hungry. So, he gets dressed and does all of his usual morning things of getting ready and I ask- ok are you ready for breakfast now- and he goes - No, mom! How many times do I have to tell you? He said it in a very sweet tone, like helloooo?? Are you losing it mom- don't you remember ANYTHING??

3. I'm so proud of him- he now walks to and from school ALL by himself! It is sooooo nice:) He is a true big 1st grader!

House is getting prepped!:)

So, last night Chet and I picked out all of our colors for our house! I'm so excited! I'm the type of shopper- the 1st color I see that I love I'm like- yes! That's it- let's go- let's go RIGHT NOW! I don't look around for something that might be a little better or cheaper or anything like that - I completely trust my judgement. Chet on the other hand is quite the opposite-- he'll shop and shop and shop and then go back and make sure he made the right decision, etc... So, last night- I thought it was sooooo funny while we were looking through the big old Sherwin William's Paint Color thingy - I started to look through the colors that I would like for a basic traditional color throughout the main rooms- and I chose "totally tan". Well- Chet did not like that color ONE bit (mainly because he didn't want people asking what color we used- and he didn't want to say-- our house is "totally tan" dude)- so we moved on, and kept trying to find a color he liked. (I'm not the picky one- he is!:)) I didn't want to go super dark- because I like things lighter and brighter-- So we decided we will move onto the colors that we would like for our Master Bedroom and Bath- and the Dining room - since those would be our "colored rooms" We figures out the Master bath pretty fast- we are going with a color called Distance- and it is blue greyish-- kind of like a midnight blue- it is really, really pretty. Moved onto our bedroom. In our master bedroom we have a "chair rail" We also have one in our dining room- so we decided to do 2 seperate colors one above the chair rail and one below. We wanted a deep red in our room and dining room- but he was unsure of what he wanted to do for the 2nd color. So, I leave and start doing some things around the house, and say- just let me know when you have narrowed it down and I'll come back and say GREAT!:) So, he pulls up the Sherwin Williams online check paint thing- where you can "paint" your own rooms virtually to see how it will look. Well, he calls me back and he is like I want Fireweed and TOTALLY TAN! I was like- see - 6 hours later- we are back to "totally tan" So- in our master we will do fireweed above the chair rail and totally tan below. In the dining room we went with fireweed above, and below the chair rail Arresting Auburn.... below the chair rail, we also have like these rectangle things - which we will paint fireweed inside. We'll see how it turns out- and I'll post pics as soon as it is done:) The rest of the house we are painting "totally tan" It should all be done by Friday!! I'm so excited!!

YEAH!! Here's #2!

Here is Erin seeing for the 1st time what it is like to be on the webcam. Silly kids!! How funny would we, as adults, look like doing something like this! Kind of reminds me of like when you go to Sam's you can do a little jig and see yourself on their tvs! It's great to be a kid:)

1st video upload??

Whoo-hoo! Let's hope this works! Ok- now this video does not have any sound... and it is actually funnier without sound - you will see why when you watch it! Me and Chet just laugh and laugh whenever I pull this up. It was when we first installed our webcam to communicate with Grandma and Grandpa Ranger in Cali. Needless to say- the microphone is the devil!

Birthdays, birthdays are SO fun!

This afternoon I took all my kids to my best friend from highschool little girls birthday party! She is 3 weeks younger then Erin - and they all had so much fun together. The party was awesome!! The weather was pretty perfect and the kids just loved running around and playing.



Dante is my ham... he has to pose for EVERY picture- in this one- he is dancing towards the camera.
This is Ethan and his wonderfully disgusting habit of having to have ketchup with EVERYTHING! Here is it ketchup and Lay's potato chips... after that it was ketchup and Dorito's.
Here is Erin with her pink cotton candy! They rented a cotton candy machine... it was a hit!!:)
Here is Erin posing for the camera back at home.... I took one of Dante and his medal.. and she had to have one taken of her too! Silly little girl:)
Dante again posing! Now- the medal- what did he win?? Absolutely NOTHING! The kids played a few games and whoever won was given a medal... well Dante was following Morgan's dad around.... and when he noticed there was a medal left over he asked if he could have it. So- it doesn't matter what if y ou win- it matters if you GET the medal!
Here is me with Melissa! We were inseperable in highschool! She has 3 little girls now and they are all too cute! It was so nice to catch up:)
Here is Ethan just laying back and trying to stay cool. He should have had lemondade out front to sell! It was too cute of a picture. He is my most relaxed kid- but then again- he also plays the hardest. But everyone always laughs when they see him sit back and prop his feet up and then put his hands behind his head-- I'll have to get a picture next time and post it.

Here he is again on the other side just chillin!

All in all it was a really fun afternoon... and I wish there was a party every weekend- it tires my kids out and it is nice to chat while the kids just run around!