Halloween 2012

Halloween was great. The weather was cold but clear. We enjoyed the trick-or-treat hayride again this year. 6 kids total.

Stroker, Matt and Christopher hung out in the back making sure no-one fell off the trailer.

We even met up with Mickey and Minnie along the way.

Brookelynn went as a Mad Hatter.

Brad and Zander were super hero's, we didn't get to hang out with them but they sure looked awesome.

Jett, Matasia, and Dash were way too cute too.

Yikes...thats a lot of Rain

Wow, I'm not looking forward to next Wednesday. Does anyone have a boat we can borrow?

That's a lot of rain.

Weekend Whirlwind

We sure were worn out by the time we all got to bed last night. The weekend was packed full of places to go and things to do. It all started Friday evening when we met up with my brother and his family for dinner at Logan's. We had planned a visit to the haunted hollow hay ride, but Devin did not want any part of it. Neither Devin nor Brookelynn have ever experienced a spook house so I told them that we would try it this once just to see if they would enjoy one of Halloween's notable traditions. The hayride was great and there were plenty of unexpected spooks jumping out along the way, I just wish that they didn't have all the Christmas decoration still up. That really hinders the scariness of the spooky atmosphere.
Devin didn't seem too startled at any of it until our guide let us to the end and bid us all a good night. A few steps ahead the chainsaw started and Devin vanished with Brookelynn not far behind him.  The rest of us made our way back to the car and found the kids there.
I gave my brothers kids one last scare on the way home. We drove ahead and I got out of the car while Stroker pulled the car out of sight. I had asked my brother to stop and turn off the lights in that location. As he rolled down the back windows I pulled my hood over my head and came running up and tried to grab them inside the car.  There were screams and eyes as big as softballs as they turned and noticed something (me) running toward them in the dark.  We laughed all the way home about it. Good times...Good times
I tried to get Brookelynn, Madison and Braiden's picture with this pig, but it got too dark and I couldn't get a photo to show up well enough.

Saturday was daddy's 75th birthday and a party was held in his honor. There was dinner and cake and presents. I thank God all the time for my parents. I am very blessed to still have both of them with me.
We had plans to go to Autumn Acres on Sunday with our church, but the temperature stayed in the 40's all day and we didn't feel like freezing in the cold so we decided not to go at the last minute. Devin decided to have me take him shopping for new jeans instead. He was way overdue for new jeans too. He has outgrown all but two pair. He grows straight up. Right now, he is 6'3" and he still has a couple more years of growing to do.
We did have some other "running around" to do, but thank goodness we were in the warm truck most of the time.
We ran into a couple of people from church Sunday night at El Tap and they vouched that it was a chilly experience at Autumn Acres.

Trims and Crafts

Whoa...what happened to October? This has been a fast month and a crazy week.

A few of us Hayes' have gotten hair cuts this week.

We made invitations to Brookelynn's birthday slumber party on Monday after we had dinner at Logans.

We finished up Brookelynn's alien from Neptune on Tuesday...and it wasn't even due till today.

 Stroker also waxed my car Tuesday.  I LOVE the way he loves me.

Brookelynn carved her jack-o-lantern on Wednesday before we headed to church.

Date Night, Movie, & Parties

My fall resolution is to prepare home cooked meals this winter. To be honest, I don't know why even bother to keep setting the same goal. I never follow through. I managed to cook one meal last week. Oh yeah...and Thursday evening I made a cheese danish, after we got back home from gymnastics and dinner at Logan's.
Hey, did I mention that I finished the Hunger Games trilogy? Do you know what that means?...Including the book I had to read in high school, that makes four whole books that I have read in my lifetime.
Friday night, Stroker and I enjoyed a nice quiet date. Dinner for two at Outback. After our date, we stopped by to pick up a movie.  Friday night was supposed to be the start of a fun packed weekend...Date night on Friday, shopping with my friend on Saturday and a birthday party for my niece on Sunday.
I received the news around 5pm on Friday evening that Maleigha had to cancel our shopping trip for Saturday because she caught the stomach bug. Of all the luck :( This adventure was so overdue. We haven't gotten out together since probably 1995.  We decided to reschedule in a few weeks.
Saturday morning, we were up by 6am and getting ready for Devin and Brookelynn to head to work. They were serving breakfast at Applebees to raise money for the Women's Group and Youth Group at church. They were both nervous at first, but warmed up to the job quite quickly. They both did an excellent job bringing out pancakes and sausage, refilling drinks, checking on tables to see if anyone needed anything. It was a great experience for both of them.
Brookelynn and I got out and shopped around in Cookeville a bit on Saturday for some new boots that she has been asking for. After three or four stores, she finally found a pair that she liked at JC Penney. While we were out, we decided to go by El Tapatio for fried ice cream...Yumm-O.

Sunday, we went to Madison's party after church. We thought we had time for lunch before we went, but after a long wait at Cheddar's, we decided to go back up and ask where we were on the waiting list. That's when the hostess realized that we were all the way back on the previous page that she had torn off and thrown away. She apologised and offered a free appetiser. By the time we ate lunch, we were almost late for the party.

Siblings

Last weekend, we caught Devin being nice to Brookelynn. She asked him to try out this springy sit down thing and he briefly joined her. Devin's legs are so long, he looks like a cricket with his knees all up in the air like that.

The minute they noticed that I snapped this photo, the sibling rivalry started right back up.

Home Cooking and Traveling this Week

Monday night, Mildred invited us over for dinner. She had chicken and dumplings, turnip greens, beans, cornbread, and mashed potatos. It was soooo good.
We left out for Alabama Tuesday morning at 5:45am.

It was cold and chilly that morning. Foggy in some areas of our travel, but by the time we reached Alabama, just before 9am, the fog was clearing out.

After spending a few hours having breakfast and hanging out at the mall, we received a call that the repairs were complete and we could head on over.

We got back home Tuesday evening in time for me to finish the second book in the Hunger Games, Catching Fire.

The only thing we accomplished Wednesday evening was getting to church.
The roofers are supposed to come to fix the nails sometime in the next few days. Hopefully that will resolve that problem.
I prepared a home cooked meal on Thursday. Complete with a meat and two vegetables. My plan was to bake cresent rolls as well, but by the time the ribs were done, everybody was digging in. At that point, I just turned the oven off.

Friday, we tried out the Buffalo Wild wings here in town, but for some reason it wasn't as good as when we have ate there in other cities.
Friday evening was quiet. I might even say it was a bit boring.We gave in and went to bed early because we were all still tired from the traveling on Tuesday.

Silent Sunday

In a single word, I would describe today as AWESOME. As we headed out to church this morning, the temperature was in the low 50's. I sat in the sound booth during service today. The only thing that I don't like about that, is that I can't take notes when I am listening for changes and adjustments in the microphones.
After chuch, we came straight home, changed into comfortable clothes and piled up on the couch.
It was cold in the house and it was a dreary day outside, so we turned on the heat for the first time this fall. Once the house got all toasty, we were useless to do anything for the rest of the day. We ate left over chili, Stroker watched football and napped all day. I took a two hour nap (which never happens) and I read "Catching Fire" for a couple of hours.
I cannot remember the last time that we had a full day of absolutely NOTHING.  As a matter of fact, I dont know when we will get another chance to do it again.

Saturday Struggles

Just a quick run through of our not-so-happy "happenings" for yesterday.

Good News:  The 70% chance of rain that was predicted for today arrived last night and cleared out before 9am.
Bad News: Noticed a yellow spot on the ceiling where the roof has developed a leak.

Good News: The bounce house rental for today was close by. Not far to travel at all.
Bad News: Received a call from the renters that they had ripped the bounce house just a few minutes before it was time for us to pick it up.

Bad News: Stroker climbed on the roof and found that the nails were coming up through the shingles.
Good News: The insurance might cover this since it's not due to normal wear and aging.
Bad News: The roofer says they guarantee there work for one year. Who on earth puts on a roof and guarantees it for a year?! Roofs are supposed to last 20-30 years.

Bad News: We were too bummed out to go out for dinner.
Good News: I cooked homemade chili and it was yummy.

So what is the point of all this you ask?...



Food Irony

We sat down Tuesday night and watched Hunger Games. It was a good movie, but I spent quite a bit of time explaining the scene because Devin had lots of questions since he hasn't read the book).

I am  right in the middle of book II "Catching Fire". I am sure Devin will wait until the movie to find out what happens next.

I think Brookelynn may be developing a kidney or bladder infection. That's not how you want to spend fall break. When she described her symptoms to me, I told her it sounds sounds like the onset of a kidney infection.  She looked back at me in all seriousness and asked if she was going to have to have a kidney removed.

Speaking of hunger games. Wednesday was our fellowship meal at church. I made a cheese danish, but it didn't turn out so good. I thought I could get by with the Food Lion brand of crescent rolls, but that turned out to be a disaster. They would not come apart or cooperate in any way. I eventually tried to press them out like dough and start from there, but that theory fell through pretty fast. It will be nothing but Pillsbury from here on out.

Today, we spent the day in Mt. Juliet shopping. I had hoped that Devin would find him some new clothes, but no such luck. We did go by and enjoy lunch at Red Robin.(Yum!) Is it just me, or does a restaurant always taste better when you have to travel over fifty miles from where you live? If Cookeville had a Red Robin, we would probably never eat there. Now that we have a Buffalo Wild Wings, we will probably never go there. Stroker and I found ourselves some new jeans today, and it's a good thing, we were in desperate need of new jeans. We also went into Target and found Count Chocula, so I bought a couple of boxes.

 Well, is it just me or is there some irony here that all my ramblings have been food related? Right down to the Hunger Games movie we watched. Aside from Brooke's possible kidney infection of course, but then again, it is probably from too much soda.
Again...food related.

Pumpkins

Brookelynn left on Saturday to spend a couple of nights with Ansley. We spent some time yesterday organizing the house. Putting out fall/Halloween decorations. My mom went with me to pick out some pumpkins for the front porch. There were so many to choose from.

 Today, as I was admiring Brookelynn's clean room, I noticed the note that she had left on her dry erase board.

 Here is a close up so you can read what it says. Brookelynn cracks me up.

We were in route to pick Brookelynn up and bring her home this evening when this came across my phone.

That's a bit scary to read when you are driving down the interstate.

While we were in Lebenon, we decided to have dinner at Demos' (after the storm cleared of course). While we were eating, we told Brookelynn that we had a clean house and she didn't need to make messes this week.

Brookelynn replied with "did we hire a maid?".