Trick-or-Treat...Smell my feet...

 Yes, Elijah was a cow for Halloween-this was his first pick and he stuck with it for a while. I found his costume for $2 at a consignment sale and sewed on the utter so he wouldnt be confused with a dalmatian. 

As we were riding to Grandmas house, Elijah said, "Mom, I'm thirsty. I need some milk." and then proceeded to suck on the utter! Mark and I DIED laughing which of course encouraged him more! 

 The girls were all Strawberry Fairies! I found these costumes last spring at Gymboree for $5! Then this summer I found all the accessories at Gymboree Outlet in Silverthorn for really cheap! I will resell the whole set and probably make more than I bought them for- thats how well Gymboree costumes resell! This is a side note, but I primarily only buy Gymboree clothes for my kids, not because I am snobby or rich:)  They wear SO well and last forever without ripping, fading,etc.(and are SO cute) AND the added bonus is that I resell mostly all their clothes and make very near and sometimes more than I paid for them! I only shop SALES at Gymboree and if you have the coupon or Gymbucks, I get most items for around $5-$10. I resell on Craigslist, Ebay or JBF consignment sales. Then I use the money to buy new wardrobes for the kids. Also, to get the cheap deals at Gymboree, you have to buy off season. So, I have bins of clothes waiting for the next year for each of my kids. Gymboree runs really true to size and sometimes a tad big and I have had no problem buying a year in advance. (except with shoes- I dont do that! because feet grow weirdly in my family!:) So, overall its a great gig that I started when the twins were around 3 yrs old. 

Okay, I am done.. back to trick or treating! 

 On Saturday, we went to Aspen Grove for Trick or Treat Street- it was fun! 

 Our yearly Trick or Treat tradition is to go to Grandma and Grandpas for pizza dinner and then trick or treat in their development! Lots of houses participate and they are really close together so its easy to walk. 

This year Elijah REALLY got into it! He knew what to say and did most of it himself! 

Although, Elijah saw this weird joker guy with a very scarey face and he STILL talks about the man with the horns being in his closet,etc. Poor guy! It scared him pretty badly!

 Grandpa got all the kids glow stick necklaces that they were pretty excited about! And of course, they had to pay the Granpa candy tax after when they looked at all the loot! (aka- Almond Joys) 

 Sophia and Arianna got out all the Milky Ways for their teacher and gave them to her the next day- it was cute! 

Another funny story...

The twins heard the little rhymn about trick or treat at school 

but they only heard the below version

and said it this way for weeks before trick or treating!

"Trick or treat. 

Smell my feet. 

Give me something good to eat. 

If you dont, I dont care.

 I'll take all your candy."

Now, thats not the version I knew as a little kid and I was happy with their innocent ignorance and of course, I never corrected the little ditty! .

But innocence doesnt last forever... after we were done getting candy, the kids passed out candy at Grandmas house. Well, this big group of older kids came up the steps and started saying the rhyme really loud.. I cringed as I knew what was coming! 

The last line really goes..

"I'll pull down your underwear."

When the older kids got to that line, the girls looked at me to gather my reaction. I was laughing so hard because I knew what was coming and the whole story struck me as very funny! So of course, they started roaring with laughter! Afterwards though, Ella told me that they were still going to say it the old way because she thought it wasnt nice to talk about underwear! And amazingly, I havent heard them repeat the new version! We will see how the rhyme changes next year! 

Hi Ho Hi Ho Its off to Work I Dont GO

Hard to believe but after 17 years I have stopped working all together and am truly a stay at home mom!

The decision to stop working was a good one, I think. It wasnt like I was working a lot but it sure is nice not having the work schedule hanging over your head when planning weekly activities.

Mark recently got an assistant speech and debate coach position at Valor and that has enabled me to stay home altogether. It pays REALLY well and is not a huge time commitment at all. 

Win! Win! Win! 

I thought it would be fun to blog about my work experience-

someday my kids will love to see this:) 

So if it bores you, you can close my page right now:)

15 yrs old-18 yrs old: Worked at The Creamery (an ice cream store) where I learned to make ice cream cakes and decorate them! I also worked at an Insurance Agency for an hour and a half filing papers- before the world was going paperless! and ALSO worked retail at Nautica at the outlet mall by my house- for a while there (like a few years)  I was doing all 3 jobs after school! crazy, right! I also worked at Mt Airy Lodge as a front desk clerk. At that job, I was almost robbed while carrying a bunch of money down a dark hallway.

COLLEGE:  I worked at the Information desk giving tours of the college, etc. for 2 years. During summer and winter breaks I worked at Vinny D's Deli and gained a hundred pounds:) I sat out a year of college and worked there a whole year full time. I also worked at The Shannon Inn doing front desk work. Again for a while there, I worked 16 hour days going from the deli to the hotel- it was crazy! 

My junior year of college I worked at Country Inn as a waitress. I really liked that job because I made REALLY good tips! Sometimes I think I should go back into waitressing- it was awesome money!

My senior year of college I got married and then managed The Daily Grind- our college coffee shop for the summer during camp. It was a FUN job! AND I truly developed a love for coffee! 

AFTER COLLEGE TO THE PRESENT: I taught 3rd grade for 2 years after college and loved it- then got preggo with twins. I did stay home with them for about 2 months after they were born and then went back to work as an Assistant Day Care Director for a year. I had enough of my kids in daycare, so I started working evenings as a Trainer for Dunkin Donuts- I also loved that job because I got lots of free coffee!  Then we moved to Colorado and I started working for Gymboree a kids clothing store where I worked for 4 years up until now! 

So there you have it- wow, I am tired just typing all that! Thats a lot of work! I have met MANY wonderful friends through all my jobs many of whom are still friends today! Even across the many miles! I am so thankful for the ability to work and hope to instill that in my kids at a young age so that when they turn 16- they can get a job and start saving for college- all my money from all those jobs went to paying for college. I am going to miss working but I only have about 2 years with my little munchkins and then all my kids will be in school and I will have plenty of time to work from there on out! Plus, I think being a mom is one of the hardest jobs out there and we get paid with hugs and kisses and smiles... and right now that's worth more than any amount of money in the world!