Pumpkins and Rockstars

Sunday evening, Dad picked me up from the airport in time to come home for dinner with the family, carve pumpkins with the kids and then III and I headed out for the AC DC concert-- we had a blast!

Icefest

Talk about fun!!!  I spent a long weekend (last Thursday - Sunday) in Niagara Falls with some friends.  Just a girls weekend away with some of the funniest chicks I know!

This is Patti.  She was our Canadian host. She is a VIP at the casino and we were treated us like royalty all weekend.  Nice, eh?

This is Gina.  She is our loud mouth Long Island, Italian friend that can make you laugh even WHILE you are getting into trouble. hahah--Poor Gina!

 This is Cheri. She is a crazy Californian who is queer for electrical power and will make you laugh until your sides hurt.  This girl is dangerously funny!

We spent our time, shopping, dining, drinking, touring...and laughing harder than I have laughed in a LONG LONG time. Some of my best memories from this weekend include cheers at the roulette tables, Cheri cussing at Glenda Anne at the slots, Gina getting in trouble for gymnastics in the chairman's club, doggie kisses from Max at Patti's house, bottles of yummy icewine, hilarious dice games in the suite and the best surf and turf I have ever eaten! This was seriously one of the best Girls Weekends away you can imagine-- I was spoiled rotten!

A cakewalk that will give kids nightmares

Feeling a little crafty, I thought I would google some cakes that I might possibly make for the cakewalk at Halloween.  I came across this one:

Poor ol' Frankenstein looks a little hard up, dontcha think?  Seriously, that's nuts!  This cake got the shaft big time. Who would want a cock-eyed cake?.......(enough???)

Paranormal YACKtivity

Have you seen the movie Paranormal Activity?  It is very Blair Witch-esque and filmed with a handheld camera; therefore, the camera movement was substantial. I don't normally have motion sickness, but I got quite nauseous during the film....twice. The movie was good.  The quick sprints to the ladies room were less than fun. A great meal at Maggiano's was quickly lost. Thankfully Will was more than understanding!

I originally thought Will's little Chi-Weenie dog (Lacie) looked like a love-child between a Chihuahua and Yoda but we decided that she looks like Fire Marshall Bill. Especially when she works that bottom lip for a pout!
What do you think?

Seriously? Duke beat State???

Saturday, Laura and I went to the Duke-State game. We had a great day of shopping (Sephora, Lush, etc!) tailgating (wine, cheese, chocolates, etc!) and dinner out (Greek at Taverna Agora).

Will's seats are excellent-- 50 yard line, 3 rows behind the Duke bench, so other than being harassed by the surrounding State fans- it was fantastic.  When we first got there and were going down the row to our seats, the guy on the end said, "Holy Crap! A Duke Girl and a Carolina Girl. Well isn't that just great?"  We knew it was going to be rough in the sea of red...

We handled the heckling from the State fans much better than we handled the bottles (plural) of wine while tailgating BEFORE the game...in the sun....yeah, not so smart :-)  The walk to the stadium was...uhmmm...interesting.  But alas, after some water, we were fine!

And Laura REALLY enjoyed seeing the history making game where Duke actually beat State.  I mean c'mon-- who would have predicted a 49-28 win for Duke???

Since Will has to work every game, he kept an eye on us via binoculars (kinda creepy, huh?) and contact with us through lots of texting (kind of sweet, huh?)

Friday Night Smackdown

A Friday evening play date sounded like a good idea when Laura and I were sitting at K&W having dinner tonight and planning our trip to Raleigh tomorrow.

Sure, let me have the kids for the evening-- they can play while I do some laundry and baking....uhmmm, yeah,  how did that work out for me?

I was referee, noise police, snack provider and at least three times, nurse to the injured. 
How can a game of Hide and Go Seek be the auditory equivalent of a cacophony of motorcycles driving through a speed metal concert?

Feels like Autumn

The weather has finally turned cool-- and it was the perfect weekend for it.

Spencer had his first ever sleep away/church retreat/lock-in this past Friday night. The Third Grade retreat included pizza, movies, fellowship and a new bible. Spencer enjoyed every second of it and made several new friends.

It was an excellent weekend for staying in, cooking up yummy cool weather foods, cuddling up on the couch and watching football.  Too bad Carolina lost this weekend or it would have been perfect.

We also enjoyed the late summer sun while walking around at the Dixie Classic Fair.  Spencer enjoyed the Honeybee exhibit and bought some honey / honeycomb. Fair foods, petting zoos, agricultural exhibits, stupid games, lots of rides---and some quality family time!

Happy Birthday III !

III's birthday was celebrated with soccer team photos, a game, a quick dinner and then cake at Mom and Dad's house. We'll go out this weekend and have a "real" dinner with him-- but this is the best we could do on a weeknight totally controlled by the kids' schedules.

We gave III an AirZooka. Let's just say that Mom's poor cat will have some serious nightmares about airballs tonight.....