HAPPY FALL YALL!

This week is Red Ribbon week at school. Each day has different theme for the kids to dress up and participate in. Its a cute way to celebrate and teach the kids to say no to drugs. It was a really fun week. The high school participated as well. Yesterday was twin day at the high school. Kalei and Stephanie were thing 1 and thing 2 from the Dr Seuss story. I thought K had a very original idea. Today Kalei was a princess, of course, "princess Kalei girl." Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of K because she gets up waaay to early for me and my camera, not to mention the fact that she thinks I am totally emabarrassing(...mission accomplished!)

Today was "Don't fall into drugs" day. The kids were encouraged to dress up in fall colors or scarecrows. Lauren wasn't so keen on the idea of dots on her face. The fact that Erin had them as well didn't impress her either. So I had to use the "Lauren you are 5 and not the boss!" line early this morning. Here are my two little scarecrows!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN...TGIF...AND SO ON.....

Happy Halloween everybody! It's every child's favorite day, besides Christmas..candy, candy, candy! I guess it is every dentist's dream as well! I personally think Halloween and Christmas should be spread apart more. The two days every child looks forward to come so close together and they have to wait another year for a little joy, but who cares about my opinion! :0) Another problem with Halloween in the south, isn't it ironic that we sweat just about year round and the costume your child picks out just happens to be a sleeveless sheath and guess what there is frost on our pumpkins! However, if you pick out that cute little wool lamb suit, or the footed fleece pumpkin suit that is oh so cute, its 90 degrees out with 110% humidity! ~oh well that's what we Southerners get! Along with hurricanes, and snowless winters...blah blah blah...

On to much cuter things....WHAT A WEEK! I have already put in 45 hours as of last night this week, hence, the TGIF! That was working hours, not counting family hours which totally consisted of pumpkins. We started off the week Sunday evening working on a pumpkin for Erin to take to school for display. They are having a little contest so we will see how cleaver my idea was. My idea was to make a "pumpkin mummy" however I think he turned out to be "osama bin pumpkin" instead. Of course, the kids wouldn't get this but I think it is hilarious! Well Erin was very proud of her pumpkin mummy(aka "osama").

We had dancing on Monday, which turned out to be our Halloween costume trial run. Every year the girls get to dress up the week of Halloween in their costumes and go to dance. It is very cute because they usually get to dance to Halloween tunes and for me I get to see where I need to tweak the costume and what I am missing...so works out perfect for us all!

By Wedensday our poor little pumpkins were still sitting under the graces of the LSU flag proudly displayed outside of our house...(even if they are having a tough time, I always tell Terry a true fan never turns their back, we Texans know this, just look at the Astros and Texans!) Anyway our pumpkins are still just pumkins and no jack o laterns as of Wedensday night. So here we go with our pumpkins in tow...we start digging and you hear "eehew gross pumpkin guts!...and you thought our girls were "girly." We all got our turn digging out pumpkin guts one by one. As we were carving the pumpkins, Buzz our cat decided to join in. We finished up the pumpkins late that night, however maybe the Manuel family should stick to traditional jack o latern faces with triangles because we were supposed to have a cute witch face and frankenstein...but frankenstein kinda looks like "bubba-stein" to me! Have a safe and Happy Halloween!

THE GREAT PUMPKIN

Today we ventured out to the Pumpkin Patch...every year the Methodist Church by our house has a Great Pumpkin Patch. The girls get so excited when the patch opens every year. We waited a little late to go to the patch but as we all know if you go to soon your pumpkins are "not so fresh," when it comes time to carve them. The pickings were slim but we managed to find a few good pumpkins. Kalei wasn't feeling so well but I dragged her out anyway and promised her she didnt have to take a picture at the patch....well I changed my mind and made her get in at least one picture and she wasnt very happy...but oh well....I am the mommy, that's why! I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful weekend that God has given us. Hopefully I will have some pumpkin carving pictures for you soon!

LAUREN HAS A WIGGLE!

Lauren has, or should I say had her first loose tooth a few days ago. We called it her "wiggle." I just happened to think I bet Lauren will have a loose tooth before long and I mentioned it to her and she informed me she already had one. I checked and sure enough, it wiggled! So we had to check her wiggle everyday. I snapped the first picture on her way out to the bus one morning as I was sure she was going to lose it that day but she didnt. I could hear her and Erin's conversation in the kitchen one night. Erin decided she was going to pull Lauren's tooth...so her they go. I hear "Lauren, Lauren, be still Lauren!" then I hear Erin say, "EEEHHEEW!" a few moments of silence followed by, "oops, wrong tooth!" I am trying to contain my laughter but just cant help it! Finally Dr Erin DDS gives up and I give it a try. It came out on the first try and thank goodness because I dont think there would have been a second opportunity granted by Lauren! So Lauren lost her first tooth and being the totally unprepared mother that I am we borrowed Erin's tooth fairy pillow and anxiously awaited the tooth fairy's visit. Lauren was so excited to wake up the next morning and find that the tooth fairy had left her "one five dollars!" What a generous tooth fairy I thought! The tooth fairy doesnt have lunch money today but there are some happy kids in the world this morning!

Thank You Very Much Tooth Fairy!

Love, Lauren :0)

KALEI'S FIRST OFFICIAL DATE!

They were so cute but very nervous!

K and Connor

where did all the years go?

Kalei and her bff Stephanie

Well at last blog I told everyone about Kalei's Homecoming date. It was a very, very hectic day. We started out the day looking for earrings, ended up late to band practice, made a nail appointment, changed the nail appointment, picked Kalei up from band practice, come home showered, washed her hair, went to nail appointment, left cell phone at home and could not contact anyone from nail place to let them know we would be late, came home contacted everyone...by now its 415 and we havent even begun make-up and hair! Yikes! Of course Kalei decided she want to wear her hair down, which meant I had to use a tiny curling iron to spiral curl all of her hair...one itty bitty little section at a time. Her date arrives at our house on time as expected, and poor Kalei is a few curls short of a head full. Luckily they had Erin to entertain them while they waited.....all the more time Connor had to "officially" become nervous! Anyway we got her ready and thanks to my friend Misty for hauling Erin to softball practice earlier in the day...just one more thing to scratch off of my todo list for the day! Also Misty helped Kalei's best friend Stephanie get ready as well. I was supposed to help Stephanie fix her hair but I barely got Kalei done, so mucho gracias Misty!!! Kalei and Connor took a few pictures and headed out to The Cheescake Factory for dinner. I tried my best to capture the moment, minute by minute, by the end of the night the kids probably had burned retinas from the flash! I think my baby girl turned out beautiful and I was so proud of her, still makes me teary eyed to look at her!

Life is hectic...

Okay so who said having three active girls who enjoy softball, dancing, band, numerous other school activities, working two jobs (because I love what I do...), being parents to a teenage girl......AND TRYING TO BLOG WOULD BE EASY!! Maybe I should have titled this life in the fast lane. My problem is dabbling in too many things at one time. I should be a once a month blogger. I love my life and I wouldn't trade it for anything...my only concern is what are we gonna do when the girls are grown and gone...I know sleep! Anyway I am trying to blog and it seems when I have time I have to do it all at once while I am in blogging mode...so let me see if I can catch you guys up on the Manuel month of October all in one day!

HAPPY HOMECOMING!!!

Happy Homecoming everyone! Here is what we have been doing for the past few weeks...working on a mum. Apparently this is a big deal in Texas. Homecoming=Mum.

Kalei had this bright idea to make her mum, she thought it would be quality time we could spend together....ok....so I thought.....a few staple sticks and glue gun blisters later..viola!! All in all it was fun. Dont know if I want to do it again but I did it. For my family who lives in Louisiana this is a "Texas Thing" you just wouldn't understand!! And remember since we are in Texas, bigger is better..and this mum is on the small side.You spend all this money...and I do mean all of your money on this mum...that you wear one day....which would be today for Oak Ridge High School and tonight is the big game. Tomorrow is the dance, which is a formal affair....it will be Kalei's first of many things....first formal dance, first date, first time to pin a boutinnerre on a guy, first time to go out to eat on a "date," oh my...remember those days...makes me feel kind of teary eyed! Kalei and Connor have been friends forever and are going to the big dance together. While Terry misses it all, however, this maybe a "good thing"......at least for Connor! Terry is in Louisiana for his 20 year class reunion. HAPPY HOMECOMING OAKDALE HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 1988!! Ha now we all know how old Terry is! I am so bummed I couldnt go with him but Kalei needs me..even if she thinks she doesn't, her hair does!! I was up late last night trying to figure out how to attach this to Kalei and I was up with her at 5am this morning to take this picture...the first of many...look at my baby girl! Love Ya K!

POST IKE

Hangin out coloring

gone!

going....

going...

Amazing what kids do when there is no internet!

Move over Jim Cantore, (TWC anchorman)

these two are on the scene!

pics from the 'hood

turning in to my section,

Terry actually helped push a car out of this water

He had on hip boots and water came in them!

............so long IKE!!!

Well we made it thru IKE....9 days without power, and we were some of the lucky ones who got power back rather quickly. Lets have an IKE recap...Friday I spent the day cleaning..why I dont know...but we would have a clean house and clothes if nothing else....Friday nite, early Saturday morning we lost power about 1am...we were all still up and you hear a loud..."awe man!" from around the house. Well that lead to an even longer night. I made the girls sleep in my room on the floor and I never slept a wink. Terry and I ventured outside about 330am or so to watch the wrath of nature. It was absolutely amazing to watch mother nature in action. After that I spent the next few hours texting one of my friends who had a crank radio....her poor husband cranked the radio all night long...crankin' is no fun if there is no ice cream as an end result! Anyway we finished out the night with our front door "honking" like a kazoo, apparently the weather stripping at the bottom of our front door came off and every time the wind would howl, the door would sound like someone was blowing a kazoo or harmonica...after a while I found it some what amusing and couldn't help but laugh. About 600am we started to see daylight and all the family phone calls started to pour in, after reassuring everyone we were ok I decided to get some sleep, even if it was short lived. The next few days were long yet amazingly kind of fun. There was no tv, no power and not much to do. We hung out with friends and socialized to the wee hours of the morning, met almost all of our neighbors and discovered just how awesome they all are. We had a big feast in my next door neighbors yard one evening. The only requirement bring something to eat if you have it.....we stopped counting at 100 people in one front yard! Lauren met new best friends and even learned to ride her bike without training wheels. Kalei hung out with all of her friends and Erin and I colored and almost completed every coloring book we had. We played games and put a few puzzles together. It was all good until the humidity came back on about day 5 or so, by day 8 my patience had grown very thin and I was real snappy...thank goodness for day 9 and school openings.....I have posted some pics I took in my neighborhood and some of the girls just hanging out....