Sweet Disappearing Nine Patch

I thought I had a favorite quilt that I'd made this year, but this one is quickly taking it's place.

I love it.

I pieced together most of the top at Priest Lake this summer and just got the opportunity to finish it in the last couple of weeks.

It's going to a very special home, but I can't tell you until after December 25th. :)

[ adding personality ]

I spent some time yesterday trying to give my blog more personality....

Thanks to this tutorial, I was able to change my blog title, the date, and sidebar titles!

Downside: I don't have Adobe Flash on my computer and I can't enjoy the new beautiful font. :(

Anyway - the instructions seem daunting, but they really aren't. Go for it! It's fun and makes your blog feel more like *you*!

There's still a lot I'd like to do to bling out my blog, but I don't know html so I'm kinda stuck.

Oh well.

[ Food Bank Scavenger Hunt ]

Tonight was the 2nd annual

CUMC Youth Group Scavenger Hunt

for the

Connell Food Bank!

We had four cars of 3-4 kids, drove all over Connell knocking on doors, and gathered a lot of food for the food bank.

And....we all had lots of fun!

[ Senior Night ]

The football season is still going strong!

We had our last regular season game last Friday night against Warden. The Eagles came out on top....I think the final score was 54-3. Not very exciting. :)

It was the last night of the pink poms too. Sad. I'm already looking forward to using them during October next season!

As the last regular season game at home, it was Senior Night -here are some of my favorite seniors:

Katelyn Knight and her parents

Tiffani Brook and her parents

Briar Carlisle and his parents

This Friday, we play at home against Cle Elum in our first post-season game.

Go Eagles!

{Please please PLEASE....NO RAIN on Friday night!}

[ spook-tac-ular ]

{ Happy [late] Halloween! }

I'm sure a lot of parents did not enjoy having Halloween on a Saturday, but I enjoyed it!

Mom, Melissa, and I went to the Tri-Cities. We previewed Melissa and Zeke's engagement pictures at Annette's, had lunch at PF Changs with Kate & Candace, shopped for Halloween costumes, and went to Heritage!

We got home and enjoyed the Trick-or-Treaters with Melissa, Zeke, and Grandma Marcial. There were some great costumes this year!

Melissa as a kitty (ironic that she hates cats) and Zeke as...

Bob! It was pretty funny to see people's reactions!

Liam the Frog and Ronan the Astronaut

Julia as Dorothy and Anna the cheerleader

Grace as a witch and Mattie Jean as a policewoman

(Funny story about Grace...her Mom cuts my hair (and colors, let's be honest) and was telling me on Friday when I was there that Grace was going to be a witch and her son Kelton was going to be a Skeleton. She said that Grace kept telling Kelton that she was going to use his bones for her witches stew to give it flavor. Tennelle said that she finally had to tell Grace to stop teasing Kelton because she thought Kelton was truly getting scared Grace was going to use his bones! Too funny!)

Delt as a monkey! He & Melissa are comparing tails....

Macie as a princess and Madison as a vampire

Allison the she-devil, Ashley the princess?, and Adam as Scooby Doo. (It was a little chaotic at the Koch household about that time, so I didn't get a good look at Ashley...sorry Ashley!)

Samson and I...I think he was kinda freaked out by all the people and commotion. He was very snuggly!

[ new car ]

I've given up on catchy and clever blog titles. :)

This is an overdue post as are most of mine, but

remember this?

They brought home this fancy schmancy beauty about a week and a half ago.
It's beautiful. It's got all the newest amenities including handsfree speakers for your phone and heated AND cooling seats. I love it.

Lucky Ducks. :)

[ aw, Samdawg ]

Samson had his portraits taken today by my friend Annette

www.olivieriportraitdesign.com.

They turned out awesome! This is my favorite one.

This was achieved by us giving him treats, making crazy noises, and asking questions like: "Samson! Do you want to go for a ride? Do you want to go in the car? Where's Coco? Where's Papa? Samson?! Samson. Samson!"

Only two mishaps: Samson ran head first straight into Annette's floor to ceiling window. Whoops.

Then, when he was sitting on her piano, I think he was getting freaked because everytime he moved, it made noise! Anyway, I went over to pick him up, he stood on his hind legs, and hit his head on the overhang of the top of the piano. Ouch. He's lucky he doesn't have a concussion!

Can't wait to send out my Christmas cards now! Thank you Annette!

[ beta costume party ]

Tonight was the annual

Beta Halloween Party!

I was super nervous about what was in store for us when we received an email telling us to bring our flashlights and our sense of adventure.

I was not excited to be running around Connell in costume.

It turned out to be very fun! They had a fun scavenger hunt planned for us - we had to solve clues and go into businesses to get our ghost. We ended up at the cemetary for our last clue. Melissa, Mom, Jessica Fife, and I were on a team together (randomly chosen, I promise!) - and we WON! Whoop whoop!!

We got back to Amy's and the Halloween Committee had chosen the winner of the Best Costume:

Crazy huh? I am not a fan of Halloween costumes, but this was fun. If anyone needs a Lucy wig...you know where to find one!

Melissa - Groovy Hippie Chick, Mom - Flapper, Marcie - Lucy

Amy as Cleopatra

Marcie, Melissa, and Firewoman Candace

Kara and Karen

the She-Devils: Kara and Annie

Biker Chick Jessica, Hippie Chick Melissa, and Cleopatra Chick Amy

Kelly & Jess

Check out those llllllllllllllashesssssssssssssss

Kate got a Halloween Onesie from her Secret Sister for Baby J!!!

[ full weekend ]

Tonight wraps up a fun full weekend!

• Friday night: Big Eagle win over Royal! Go Eagles!
• Saturday: Crafting day at church with Amy, Stacy, Candace, Jen, Gail, Kara, Melissa, and Jessica
• Saturday Night: Dinner with Mom & Dad
• Sunday morning: quilting
• Sunday: Nails, groceries, new shirt at Wal-Mart (that's a funny combo!)
• Sunday afternoon: lunch with Mom & Dad at IHOP - Eggnog pancakes!!
• Sunday afternoon: Coffee with Jamie, Jen, & Kelly at Starbucks
• Sunday evening: New Car for Mom & Dad!
• Sunday night: Rice Krispie Treats, Laundry, Junior Miss prep for meeting tomorrow

Looking forward to: conferences & Samson's portraits this week! :)

[ happy happy birthday madre! ]

We got to celebrate Mom's birthday today!

After all that has happened in the past six months, we are all very thankful to get to celebrate Mom's birthday with her!

She & I went to the Tri-Cities after school, got the last finishing touches of our Halloween costumes, shopped a little at the mall, and then met the rest of our family at Olive Garden for dinner.

When we got home tonight, we found out that a family friend had a baby girl today, so Mom has a birthday twin....just a few years younger! :)