Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Panoramic Sign Riders

I totally hate to take anything away from my Halloween party update, but some posts are just too few and too far between. So check this out!! As most of you know, I also have my own Virtual Tour company I do on the side?! And now I can incorporate these new panoramic scene sign riders WITH their own website!! I'm really excited about this and the potential it has to provide! Let me know what you think and if your house is listed.... tell your agent you need one too!!

Our Halloween Bash!







They say that a picture's worth a thousand words... in this case the pictures only begin to tell the story! We absolutely could not have asked for a better day for our party! And the turn out was astronomical! There were times early on when I had to calm my husband down of course, as everyone did not promptly arrive right at 4pm! "Hello," I said, "the parking sucks! They have to walk 1/2 a mile to get here and then all the way up our driveway! Give them a minute to get here and then catch their breath!" And they just kept coming and coming! It was great! As we reflect, Anthony keeps telling us still that his favorite part of the day was diving for apples! And that's no joke, he was literally diving for apples- soaked to the bone and had an absolute blast!! I think he was diving for everyone elses apples too! And people keep asking how many people showed up? But I really have no idea! From the costume contest line up picture, I think I counted about 42 kids, but many were hidden behind others and cut off at the ends and some, like my daughter, were not even up there! Plus we had the parents and families and everyone else too! The kids decorated their treat bags and set out into the woods to trick or treat from the parents who were strategically placed throughout the trails for candy galore! Then we made it up to the tree house for the bonfire and s'mores and a skeleton scavenger hunt, in which we're still somehow missing some bones?! And the fireman's pole was a huge hit!! I can't believe how they lined up to go down it again and again! Go Tony!! (Aka: Captain Jack!) And if I do say so myself, what a hot pirate he was!! Ooo la la! :O)
Thanks again to everyone who came and shared in the fun! We look forward to doing it all over again next year! But first, we'll have to start planning again for our 2nd Annual Easter Egg Hunt!! At last check, I think we had nearly 5000 plastic eggs to fill and hide.........

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Halloween Madness...

Ok, so in case I didn't mention it before and for those of you who are wondering where I've been lately.... well, I've been up to my eyeballs in Halloween Madness! What were we thinking?! Having this crazy party!? Seriously, we're pretty pumped and excited about it, but even more so, it looks like a Halloween party store blew up in my house! I am finally starting to get some of the things off the counters, but now they're just in piles all over the floor! And when I told my husband this week that I would be sitting at Open Houses both Saturday and Sunday this weekend, I thought he was just going to die! Who would have thought he'd be rained in the past two weekends?! Fortunately, mom and dad agreed to take the kids for the day and overnight too! So that should help!! Now, Tony can try to get some yard work and clean up done too! And we can all cross our fingers for good weather next Saturday too! But, just in case, that means we really need to clean out the garage and basement anyway!

Ok, so what else is there really? Well, I've been "making" signs to hang in the woods, around the house, just anywhere we decide to hang them really... and working on what we're going to do for ghosts in the trees, maybe even a pinata?! I bought those punch ball balloons and thought we'd just put some white sheets over them and hang them from the trees, but of course the kids thought it'd be more fun to blow them all up and start punching them- and within a day or two, they've lost their air- so when do I hang them, really? The other thought is to use one or two to paper mache and turn into a ghost pinata- but don't hold your breath on that one as I haven't started that project yet! And I still have to seriously deep clean the house, at least dust and scrub the toilets for Pete's Sake! It probably wouldn't hurt to vacuum too.... But first you have to pick up enough to find the things to dust and the floor to vacuum, and then hope that it will stay picked up at least until the party. So many things to do, but the timing has to be just right or else I'll have to do it all over again and that would be just plain silly!! Oh, I did I mention the 9 pumpkins I'm going to carve?! I'm excited about that, but again.... if we do it too early, they'll rot and won't be any good by Saturday.... it's all in the timing! And who says we can't participate in the carving contest?! Bummer!!

As it stands right now, I think we're around 50 positive RSVP's!! Who would have thought?! Now I've got to figure out where to put everyone, schedule the events, organize the partylines- yes, Pampered Chef, Premeir Designs and Simply Fun will all be represented and making deals, and figure out what we need and how to display it all!! And don't forget the food!! I've asked everyone to bring a side dish- we're going to serve brats and dogs and I've started stocking up on some drinks.... we even made our own fun water bottle labels for the event! And of course to promote my Real Estate habit!! Do you think 72 bottles of water on the wall will be enough?!

I hope that gives you just a glimpse into my reality for the moment and will try to keep you updated as the week goes by.... sorry no pictures today as I'm at an Open House and forgot my camera too. Fortunately, you can see- there's always something to do!! :O)

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

October- A Month of Parties!






As we begin October, I'm compelled to think that this is going to be one heck of a month of parties!! The first Saturday alone, was booked with three main events! We started our day in Holt, MO at Jed's Pumpkin Patch, http://www.looperfarms.com/ where we met up with a parenting group from church, then mid-afternoon we trecked across town where we celebrated Gunner's THIRD birthday in true Superhero style-with spider sandwiches and spinach dip too! We finally ended our day burning off any excess energy possible, running wild at the newest (and only) indoor blow-up playground in the Northland, http://www.airzone.com/ to help celebrate Michael's SIXTH birthday! We had an absolute blast!! I can't believe we made it through the day without any serious meltdowns or naps!! ~Sunday, on the other hand, was not so smooth....


We are still looking forward to more great fun as the kids will both have field trips to other pumpkin patches and farms later this month and we have more birthdays filling our calendar everyday!! Not to mention our Great Halloween Bash that we are planning ourselves! Why not celebrate with some fright free fun right in our own backyard! We've been breaking out the Halloween decorations and making crafts for the past two weeks! And I have a feeling that this may be even bigger than our Easter Egg Hunt last spring... We're planning of course, your typical Halloween party ploys with a costume contest, pumkin judging, apple bobbing, a guess how many game, s'mores and much, much more! The kids will decorate their own treat bags then while the parents go "hide" in the woods as they come to find us and "trick-or-treat" as we say "boo!" Stay tuned for more as the days wind down.

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Backyard Visitors

These pictures aren't the greatest as they were taken through the backdoor and at a distance, but I just had to "shoot" this buck the other day when he stopped by for a visit!



Of course, the doe momma wasn't quite as pleased with his visit! She put him in his place and made sure he kept his distance so she and he two fawns could come and chow down on the corn we put out! It's so nice to share our dinners together as we can see them from our table!!


This cute little guy came by yesterday. With all the rain we had, Tony thinks maybe his den got flooded. Poor guy was out in broad daylight, very unusual for our nocturnal little friends. He was scavengering right along, until I just had to grab the camera and go right out- that startled him a little so he scurried right up the tree! Boy those guys sure can climb!