happy halloween
I am not sure how many times I heard the question "is it time to trick or treat yet" from our boys. They were so excited that they just couldn't stand it. We had a day filled with soccer games. We were in El Dorado Hills, S. Lake Tahoe & Roseville for games. John took Tanner to his Lake Tahoe game while I got dinner& hot apple cider(wasil) ready. John's sister, Kristina came down from yuba City & decorated our yard. We enjoyed White chicken chili & Lorelie's cornbread for dinner, YUMMY! Here are our little trick or treaters before they hit the neighborhood.

We love Halloween in our neighborhood. There were 100's of trick or treaters running through the streets. We love to visit with our neighbors & check out each other's costumes. The decorations are always fun.

The amount of candy that our boys received this year was insane! I think the candy fairy is going to have to pay a visit to our home tonight.

carving jack's

Another favorite tradition at our house each year. The boys did really well cleaning out their own pumpkins & even helped carve them this year.

Here are a few favorite photos from our evening.

Trunk or Treat

Knowing that we would not be able to attend our ward trunk or treat this year due to the S. Lake Tahoe game @ 3 pm on Halloween day, we hit up the school Trunk or treat on Friday night. we had a great time. This activity will be added to our yearly calendar from now on. we had a great time. The boys loved going from car to car with their friends from school.





Poor Brody was scared. He does not like the SCARY side of Halloween. When he would see something scary, we would bury his face into John's leg. After a while, he decided to sit on the curb & enjoy his treats.


























{Tanner & Garrett with Mrs. Harmier, the principal}

Harvest Party

Today was Tanner's Fall Harvest party, formally known as a Halloween Party. We have to be so PC now that we can't call these things what they really are. I am the party planner (aka room Mom) for Tanner's 5th grade class this year.



























We decorated sugar cookies. We made crafts. They had their choice of a bat, mummy or pumpkin. I found the pattern for the bat online but needed something that was so not Halloweenish, but more Fall to stay with in the PC guidelines. My super talented friend, Mer, created a pumpkin template for me. Thanks Mer! They wrapped either their mummy, bat, or pumpkin around a full sized Hershey bar. I had to a make a deal with them though. The deal was that they would not eat the candy bar at school since they had had sugar cookies, juice & doughnuts :-).















The kids enjoyed a doughnut eating contest. They had to kneel on the ground, with their hands behind their back & get the doughnut off the string & into their mouth w/out it falling onto the ground. It is harder that it sounds. Only 4 kids were able to accomplish this task...Tanner being one of them. I am still waiting for those photos. They also had a chance to guess how many candy corn were in the jars.

We had a great time. Several kids told the teacher that is was the BEST party they had ever had at school. That made all of the time & prep work that was put into the 40 minute party, all worth it.

kit of the week

Here is a look at the most recent kit of the weeks that I have created for Green Tangereines. As always, you can call the store(916-771-8010) if you are interested in purchasing a kit.

{apple hill}



















I love how this one turned out. I love all of the yummy colors. Our family has never been to Apple Hill. It is on our "TO DO" list. I am so glad that Mer had some great photos of Dylan that we were able to add to LO.


{the Patch}
















This LO documents our favorite Fall tradition, Bishop's pumpkin farm. It is one of our very favorite places to visit each year.

boo'ed

This was a new tradition for our family when we moved here to Roseville, 6 1/2 years ago. We had never been BOO'ed when we lived in San Jose or Campbell. The idea behind the Boo'ing is that you leave your friends & neighbors a treat on their porch, ring the bell & RUN!!!!! Then they have two days to turn around & BOO someone else. Once your house has been Boo'ed, you put a little sign on your door that lets your friends & neighbors know that you have already been Boo'ed. It is a fun tradition that the kids look forward to each year.

This photo was taken in our car as we were leaving to BOO some friends. it made for a FUN Family Night.

amazing race - couples addition

John & I got our game on tonight. Our friends, the Jones & Heaps planned a fun evening out, Amazing Race style.
















We arrived at our starting point @ 6:29 pm. Once we arrived, we were put onto teams. We were paired up with our good friends, the Solanos. We started with a handicap right off the bat. We were down a couple(didn't make it due to lack of a babysitter at the last minute). Once everyone arrived, we were given a packet with our first clue & once we were told we could go...everyone ran for their cars. We competed against 4 other teams.


























We had to stop for dinner & come up with a team name. Dinner could be anywhere. We stopped at the first place we saw...Taco Bell. We had to keep our receipt in order to obtain our next clue, exactly 20 minutes later.




















We ended up with the team name V-8(powered by 8). Between the two couples(Solanos & us),we have 8 boys, hence our team name.
We ran all over town, finding our destinations/answers to our clues. Once we arrived at each destination, we then had to complete a challenge, as a team. A few of our challenges included:

Completing a puzzle of the world in a certain amount of time. (this is where that
3rd couple would have really been put to good use).
















Up next, hitting the punching bag for so long(2 minutes). Doesn't sound bad, trust me...it seemed like forever. If one of our team members stopped, we would of had to start over. Good thing we got it right the first time.













Then at the next stop, one of us had to dive into a 50 degree pool at 8 pm at night (the heat had been turned off) & dive for the Canadian penny. There were 19 American pennies in the pool & the ONE Canadian. John took that task on for our team & we were all so grateful. We had to shine flashlights in the water for him, attempting to help him find the ONE Canadian penny.



























Next stop was Big Spoon Yogurt.














Our task at Big Spoon was to fill our Yogurt cup with 10 oz. of yogurt & then another cup that had 2 ounces of toppings. If you didn't get it right the first time, you had to get out of line & add more & then get back in line. Once you got the weight of each cup right, you had to eat your yogurt & toppings before moving on to the next challenge. Can you say brain freeze! Nothing like trying to down frozen yogurt under pressure :-).

Our last stop was the Jones house. We got to play ROCK BAND,the Beatles edition. We had John on the drums with Kristin & Fernando on the guitars. I attempted to sing to YELLOW SUBMARINE. We passed on our first try...whew
















Then we had to run back to the Heaps for our final time. We didn't win 1st place but had a blast trying to do so.

We had so much FUN! John & I are still talking about it. We had so much fun with the Solano's. We couldn't have done it w/out Fernando's mad Porche driving skills :-)(we were in the min van BTW), navigation & good friends to laugh with along the way! Thanks K&F...We'll take the win next year :-)!

A HUGE thanks to Stephanie, Gerald, Julianne & Brad for putting a lot of time, energy & creativity into such a fabulous night out!










{Their hubby's had already gone by the time I had snapped this picture.}
Thank you so much for a fabulous date night...going down in the books as one of the best!

Recipe Share

Thought I would share another favorite recipe from our kitchen. My boys devour this chicken. Trust me...that says a lot.

Yogurt Chicken
Ingredients needed:




















{chicken and yogurt not pictured - I took photos after I made the recipe}

4-6 chicken breasts
1 1/2 pkgs. of Ritz crackers(crushed)
1 tsp. Garlic salt
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
8 oz. of plain yogurt

Combine Ritz, garlic salt, and Parmesan cheese in a mixing bowl. Place yogurt in a flat dish. Dip chicken breast in yogurt and then in Ritz mixture. Bake @ 350* in a sprayed(with PAM) 9 x 13 pan for 45 minutes.




















The COOK'S notes:
This recipe is so easy & very yummy. I serve a green salad & baked potatoes with the chicken. I made it last week & used chicken tender (sized) pieces instead of the breasts. The boys loved the smaller pieces of chicken. You can also use sour cream if you don't have yogurt on hand.

"sew" much fun!

I have been in the mood to sew! I am pretty sure my Mom fell off her chair when I asked to borrow her sewing machine :-). Lets just say that the last time I touched a sewing machine, I was in 6th grade & it was in my Home EC class. All I remember about that class was the 4 out 10(with a frowny face) I received on the "sew a button to your piece of fabric" lesson. The note attached from Mrs. Forbes read "I know your Mom, you can do better than this." She was right, my Mom is super talented with her sewing machine. I, on the other hand, was not blessed with that talent. I didn't enjoy sewing back then & am not sure what got into me last week! Here is what I have been making.





















I saw these cute Halloween banners online & thought I could whip one up! After the struggle with the bobbin thing, I figured it all out. I have been a banner making fool :-). I strung ours across the top of our armoire(sp?)...kind of fun & festive.

I really am having "sew" much fun! Who knew???

** Answer from previous post...the picture was taken outside of Green Tangerines -LOL. I wish it were from somewhere more exotic. We were running errands, picking up my pay check on Saturday night. The sunset, against the palm trees in the parking lot was amazing. Doesn't look like Roseville, does it?

From sun up to sun down, my birthday was fabulous. I have truly been blessed with wonderful family & friends. I was showered with phone calls, emails, snail mail, Facebook messages, gifts, visits on my porch & lots of LOVE...all day long. This package of green goodness from my parents/siblings arrived just in time for my big day. I love my new green purse that my parents sent me :-).

















My morning started with lots of this. Don't forget to pause the music(on the left).


Talk about melt my heart :-). He is still singing it every time he sees my Salt City candle burning on the stove.



I met my friend, Jan for lunch at Cost Vida, YUM!!! It is always fun to visit with her. We actually had lunch to celebrate both of our birthdays. Jan's birthday was back in August...life is just too crazy.





















{still working on those self portrait photos - note to self OPEN YOUR EYES, RAIMI -LOL}

I loved the treats & gifts that were delivered.So many fun thoughtful gifts.



I was able to sneak away & get my haircut today...a birthday treat to myself. I decided to chop my hair off & bring the bangs back. My friend, Susan did an awesome job giving me the haircut I envisioned. Thanks Susan!.

















The night before my birthday, I was watching TV in our room. I heard a bunch of noise out in the kitchen & I went to see what all of the noise was about. John was the one making all of the racket. He quickly kicked me out. Can you believe that... banned me from my own kitchen? I wish he'd do it more often :-)! I wasn't 100 percent sure what he was up to but once I caught a whiff of the sweet aroma, I knew exactly what he was doing. He was baking me a birthday cake...not just any cake, but a two layered cake. One layer was vanilla, the next layer was strawberry & in between was chocolate pudding. It was very Neapolitan looking & so yummy! I was very impressed. Thanks, John Boy!



















My boys were so excited to give me my gifts.




















I received New Moon movie tickets from John. We are seeing the midnight screening, on opening night -YAY! The boys picked out accessories(car charger, arm band for my treadmill) for my ipod & the new Tim McGraw CD. Love it all.

Seriously, I had the best day ever! Thanks for helping to make it SO WONDERFUL. I think my 35th year of life has gotten off to a great start.

Look at this beautiful sunset.
My hubby whisked me away on Saturday night?
Any guesses as to where we ended up?

Coyote of the Month

We are so proud of Carter. He received the COYOTE OF THE MONTH award at school today. Mrs. Boelens had a lot of kind things to say about Carter. She mentioned that even when he missed a few days of school last week, he had completed all of his work & turned it in on time just so he wouldn't fall behind. She commended him for being on time to school & ready to work each day. She said that he is a trust worthy student & a good friend. As she was winding down her remarks about Carter, she said "I really could go on & on, all day about this student".
Keep up the awesome job, Carter!