Happy Halloween!

Well it has been a busy week for sure. With all the Halloween celebrating and the Dance performance with it's dress rehearsal and my part time gig babysitting on Monday and Tuesday, it sure flew by. We got off to a bad start Sunday night with Chandler throwing up all over our bed right as we had fallen asleep. Talk about a rude awakening. If that isn't motivation enough for us to get her sleeping in her own bed, I'm not sure what is. So Monday I didn't dare babysit and get my friends kids sick too so it was a pretty mellow Monday for a change. That night we had our annual Averett family Halloween party at Gramma Dixies. She always goes all out for the kids. We're all suppose to dress up but this year Addison was the only fun one. He made an awesome Mr. Incredible. We had yummy food, including maggot stew cooked inside a pumpkin, and even yummier treats. (Have you tasted Dixie's sugar cookies? Mmmm! My fave!) Then all the kids carved their pumpkins with a lot of help from the parents, and the prize for the best pumpkin was handed out. Guess what! It was like a 20 way tie and everyone got an envelope from Gramma.

Then Tuesday after babysitting, we had dress rehearsal for the dance show and didn't get home till later and even Hayden kept saying what a long day it had been. Wednesday was Hayden's preschool party and she had to dress up. I should have been that cute mom who sends homemade treats for the class but I just couldn't fit it in this year. That night was the actual Dance show and this year they did 2 separate performances to accommodate all the people who come to watch. It's hard to have a big event in a small town unless it's a football or basketball game. Of course the girls biggest fans came all the way up to see them dance like they always do. Grandpa Joe, Grandma Linda, Aunt Jamie, Ally, and Cooper. The girls are always so excited to see them all and we appreciate them running up for such a quick show.

Thursday was a total waste of a day and we didn't do anything, including getting dressed for the day. Chandler and I stayed in our pj's all day long and prayed nobody stopped by. Then came today. Halloween! Gracie had her party at school and got to dress up for the second half of the day. She chose to be a ballerina (which I'm not sure why, she's that once a week) Hayden was so excited all day. She kept asking if it was Halloween yet and I kept telling her yes it's Halloween but we can't get dressed until the house is clean and Gracie and Daddy get home. So when Greg walked through the door she says "dad's home time to change". We like to go the trunk or treat at the stake center. They get more than enough candy and you pretty much run into everyone you know. Hayden was the first to say trick-or-treat at every car and Chandler was not sure at all about it. There were some pretty scary costumes and so I packed her and did all the work. Then we left and went to Gramma Dixie's for more treats and homemade caramels.(Yummy! My fave!) Then we came home and ran around with a sugar high until Chandler tripped and landed super hard face first on the hard wood floor. I was afraid her teeth had gone through her top lip and she would need stitches from the amount of blood, which totally freaked her out, but I think it's just a small cut and a really fat lip. I think it will be pretty sore for a couple days but nothing that an otter pop can't fix.

Here is Gracie witch. She thought if she wore her hat cocked to the side she looked like a "punk witch".

Hayden was Belle. It looked kinda dorky with a long sleeved shirt and leggins underneath but I hate to buy a costume and then cover it up with a coat. What's the point of that?

Then there's our little penguin Chandler. This was Hayden's costume from when she was 2. Thank goodness she was excited to wear it. Call me tight but I hate spending money on something they'll wear once. That excludes princess costumes of course, because we have a princess costume on constantly at our house and we've now almost completed our collection of princesses dresses. So that's our busy week in a nutshell. I hope the next few are a little less hectic. I think we all could use a little break before the holiday rush hits us smack in the face. Happy Halloween everyone!

Tag!

So I guess I got tagged for the first time! Thanks a lot Maryanne! Hmmmm 6 random things about myself.

1- I hate things touching my nose. Snowflakes are bad but people are the worse.

2- I'm a night owl. I like staying up late then of course like to sleep in but it's pretty hard with kids that have to get up for school. I wish I was a morning person but I'm far from it.

3- I was a "jock" and super shy in high school and didn't date or go to any dances. Boys or girls choice. Man if I could do that all over again.

4- I was a total tomboy growing up. That probably explains why I didn't date. I loved camping, riding horses or playing ball. Hated barbies then, and still do and that's what my girly girls love doing. I've dressed more barbies in the last 7 years then I ever did as a kid.

5- I think I'm addicted to my computer. I love the Internet and especially blog-stalking.

6- This is a family thing but we (meaning the Beddoes' because Greg would never) put raspberry jam on our grilled cheese sandwiches and peanut butter (with syrup) on our pancakes and french toast. Don't knock it till you try it!

There it is. Random enough. Now I get to tag 6 people. Mmmmm. Billie Jo, Jamie, Neina, Aleena, Addison and Mindi. Can't wait to see how random everyone else is.

Now we're cookin!

Yay! We finally fixed our oven. In case you didn't know, we've been without our oven for the last 3 or so months which really sucks because we've only had it for about 3 years. The stove top still worked but the oven was kaput! I was in the middle of baking cookies one day and it made this really horrible noise like something from the movies when they bring Frankenstein to life. Then it started smoking and then it was dead. (If you ask my dad it was all the cobwebs inside burning up) I was scared to death thinking it was going to be a super expensive repair so we waited a while till we had some extra money. But after talking to my mother in law who has fixed her oven many times we decided it was probably the heating coil. I was getting really annoyed at not being able to use it so I bit the bullet and I called and ordered one and was relieved to find out it was only a $50 part but of course it was on back order and ended up taking about a month to come in. Apparently it is pretty common for the heating coil to go our. (News to me but i guess I did grow up with gas appliances) So when we took it apart It was obviously burned up because it looked like a giant used up sparkler and it was broken into 3 pieces. Anyway we replaced that, turned it on, and still no heat. Great. $50 down the drain. So we called in a professional to come check it out. We (Greg) had a pretty good idea that the next step was the control board so we asked the repair guy to bring one with him which of course he couldn't until he confirmed that's what it really was because It was a special order part and couldn't be returned blah blah blah! Cha-Ching! Another $75 just for the Maytag man to look at it and say "yup it's the control board". We said okay order the part and we'll put it in. Cha-Ching $225 bucks! So after $350 dollars or so we are finally operational. (I found a new one on line for $389 but I won't even go there!) Everyone has put in their order for what they want. Greg wanted home-made pizza, Hayden wants meatloaf and Gracie wants cookies. I however just want someone else to do the cooking.
Now is the part of the post where I complain about Maytag appliances. Since we moved into our house 3 years ago we've fixed the dishwasher twice, the microwave has been overhauled twice then finally replaced with a new non Maytag one and now the oven has been overhauled. I guess we're being punished for not buying the extra warranty but when you're starting out with all new appliances and by the time you buy the dishwasher, microwave, stove, fridge, washer and dryer, we just couldn't afford the extra warranty on 6 new appliances. That's the whole reason we went with Maytag in the first place is because we thought it was a better brand and was suppose to be quality merchandise. We couldn't buy the most expensive models but they were mid-grade at least! One salesman even told us we didn't need a warranty because if something were to go wrong it would probably be in the first year or not at all and it would still be covered with the basic warranty. Well come to find out 3 years later, like so many other big companies Maytag was bought out by Whirlpool who owns other big names like Amana, Magic Chef, Jenn-Air, etc, and so all their parts are basically the same. So if you buy a Maytag it may as well be a Whirlpool or a Jenn-Air. One repair guy told us they just basically interchange parts anyway. I've definitely learned my lesson and although I'm sure there are great Maytag appliances we didn't get them. They just don't make things like they use to. My parents had the very first microwave they bough for at least25 years and the only thing that ever got replaced on it was the handle that opened the door! Phew! I feel better now. I guess I'll go bake some cookies and get over it finally! (Well maybe after I write a letter to the Maytag Corporation) And the next house we build we will be researching the appliances and definitely buying the warranty!!!!

Cutest girls!

Well this weekend was fall break ( I guess really only for Gracie) but we didn't do one fun thing. We didn't go to any pumpkin patches or corn mazes or weekend getaways. How boring can one family be! Greg was shipping cows this weekend so he was tied up for a couple days and the girls and I just hung out and slept in. The one thing we did do was get pictures of the girls. It was a dance fund-raiser and we got family pictures done not even a year ago so I didn't think we needed the whole fam again. (Truthfully I just didn't want to be in them. I hate pictures of me) Last time in all the fuss trying to get Chandler to cooperate we didn't get one of the three girls together so I definitely wanted to get one this year along with each individual girl. Needless to say the big girls don't have a problem in front of the camera and I thought this year would be better with Chandler being another year older. Not. She was a stinker of course and we were lucky to get one or two okay shots of her by herself. She wouldn't even cooperate with her sisters sitting right next to her. We had to call in reinforcements and get Billie Jo and Mia to come down and help us and even bribe her with lollipops. I guess it will have to do though because if she acts this way in a familiar place like the neighbors dance studio, there's no way she will humor us in someplace like kiddie kandids. Here's a peek.Although they all turned out OK this is one of my favorites. It pretty much sums up life at our house. Someone is usually crying and everyone else is trying to figure out what the heck is wrong.

girls, girls, girls

I got some cute pictures of the girls playing outside with the neighbors the other day so I though I would post them. I made them go outside and play because they're not going to get the chance for too much longer with cold weather quickly approaching. We are so lucky that our neighbors have 3 little girls about the same age as ours. They don't always get along but most of the time they have a ball.

Ellie and GracieTess and Hayden

Mia and Chandler

It's really comforting to know that in about 8-10 years when the hormones in our house start to really peak we won't be alone. Tim and Billie Jo will be in the exact same boat and a couple years ahead in fact so they can give us really good advice on how to handle teenage girls.

We've been doing swim lessons for the past few saturdays also and I though I would throw in some pictures.