moving on

Time for a new post...hmmm, let's see...

Well today is Halloween and boy are my kids excited! We went last night and did a little pre-trick or treating at my Aunt's work. It was great fun, aside from Thomas who was terrified of everything in costume. Oh brother. I'll post pics tonight of the kids in their costumes. Another interesting situation with my 7 year old daughter. She really didn't have a costume and I suggested a costume to her that was original and fun. We cut a hole in the bottom of a tall laundry basket and put it over her and filled it with clothes, leaving a space for her to see out. She was a laundry basket! So cute. Well then, she balked at the idea, crying that people would make fun of her. WHAT?!?!?!?!?!??! Apparently, all of the girls in her class were either fairies, princesses or Hannah Montana. GAG ME! What happened to creativity and originality???? Now don't get me wrong, I did purchase off the rack costumes this year..well just one as Emma HAD to be Belle. But, why on earth can't homemade costumes be okay? And why does my beautiful girl always bend to the popular vote???? Ugh.

We had our first parent/teacher conference of the year at Jonah's school. I was fairly nervous about it as I had a sneaking suspicion that he wasn't doing well at school at all. HE MADE THE HONOR ROLL!!! All A's and B's!!!! I was so pleased. Two more to go next week.

This coming week is my parent's annual trip to Saugatuck which means Noah will be here for the week. We are all pretty excited about our house guest. There will be Wii tournaments abounding.

And my biggest news of all is..........Matt and I are going on a cruise!!!!!!!!!! I am beyond excited. We never had a honeymoon and have never been away anywhere together. We celebrated 10 years this year and really didn't do much. But I felt that celebrating 10 years of being married needed a true celebration! We are going in March which feels like decades away, but every minute will be worth it.

Well the sun is out and my laundry is calling, thanks for tuning into the Kurtz weekly update!

And the winner is......

My apologies, I promised to announce a winner by Saturday morning and I completely forgot...so embarrassed!

But, the winners are....ad yes, I said winners. Since only three people commented, THEY ALL WIN!! So Annie, Kelli, and Becky are my giveaway winners. So please e-mail me your address so I can get your gifts in the mail. This week is INSANE so please be slightly patient as I get them ready! Thanks so much you guys for reading!

Fall

We went for a beautiful walk last night. It was so great to just be together and enjoy the cool air and the gorgeous colors. I brought my camera and snapped some shots...here are my favorites...take a peek. Don't forget to enter my giveaway below!

Giveaway

Alright, here we go. In hopes of bribing some of you "lurkers" into commenting on my page, I am going to host my very first GIVEAWAY! I won't tell you what it's for other than it's beautiful and perfect for crisp fall days! So here's the deal....leave me a comment with why you should be my very first giveaway winner PLUS you must tell me one of my children's names. Just to prove that you have read a little bit! I'll announce the winner on Saturday morning. I'd also love it if you'd link my blog to yours...unless you don't have one...then you can just comment! Good Luck!!!


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So on Friday my youngest daughter came home from Pre-K with the "Proud Parent" book. Every child in her class has a page with their picture on it and on your turn, you are supposed to put more pictures and write a blurb about what makes your child special, etc. Well, I was already slightly gagging at some of the other entries. Make no mistake, Pennfield is a much more economically sound school district than Battle Creek. So we are already at the low end of the totem pole here! I try not to let it bother me when i pull up the kid's school in my rusty caravan and park admist the many fancy SUVS. Anyway, I digress....I was slightly worried at how I could make her page as fancy and nice as the others (can we say VAIN???) Well, I proved today that pride goeth before a fall....as I went to get the infamous book to start her entry, I proceeded to dump milk all over the thing, ruining the other parent's pages. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! I was absolutely mortified! I swore, cried and stomped my feet. Matt ran for the hair dryer as we tried to salvage the book, but to no avail. I sniffed as I wrote a note to her teacher explaining the accident and begging for forgiveness. I can only imagine what the other mother's will say when they find out. And isn't it perfect that I get to see them all tomorrow on the pre-K field trip??????

Yes another one...I'm TRYING to be productive!




1. Where is your cell phone? in my purse
2. Where is your significant other? work :(
3. Your hair color? dark brown peppered with gray
4. Your mother? Dodi
5. Your father? Michael
6. Your favorite thing? The burn in my chest when I inhale frosty air
7. Your dream last night? Something about the prince of England
8. Your dream/goal? To raise strong, wise children who love the Lord
9. The room you're in? Living room
10. Your hobby? blogging, planning things
11. Your fear? Fear is from the devil :)
12. Where do you want to be in six years? Holy cow, in 6 years, Jonah will be 16 and driving....so I hope to still be alive
13. Where were you last night? Took Jonah to choir and WalMart
14. What you’re not? Productive, obviously
15. One of your wish list items? A new camera
16. Where you grew up? Pittsburgh, Michigan, lower and upper
17. The last thing you did? Copied this from 4 Little Men
18. What are you wearing? my comfiest pants and a hoodie
19. Your TV? is on Nick Jr.
20. Your pet? Bo and Chunky, our dogs and Tank the turtle
21. Your computer? PC
22. Your mood? sleepy, but determined
23. Missing someone? my North Carolina family
24. Your car? Dodge Caravan
25. Something you’re not wearing? Socks, not ready to give in to winter just yet
26. Favorite store? hmmm....Kohl's but can't afford it!
27. Your summer? Went by fast and was totally great!
28. Love someone? Of course
29. Your favorite color? Purple
30. When is the last time you laughed? Today when Emma asked if I was voting for "Arack Obama"
31. Last time you cried? Sunday night

Trying to motivate myself this morning so I just decided to steal this from Kelli so I would avoid another whining post!


Two Names You Go By:
1 Moooooooooom!!
2. Ramada

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now:
1. Comfy clening pants
2. My favorite sports bra

Two Things You Want Very Badly At The Moment:
1. To win the McDonald's monopoly
2. the cleaning fairy to show up

Two Things You Did Last Night:
1. Gave Matt a backrub
2. Read Kirsten with Molli

Two Things You Ate Yesterday:
1. McDonald's
2. One of the yummiest Gala apples ever

Two People You Last Talked To By Phone:
1. Matt
2. My sister

Two Things You Are Doing Tomorrow:
1. Having coffee
2. Cleaning

Two Longest Car Rides:
1. Battle Creek, MI to North Carolina
2. Battle Creek, MI to Nebraska

Two Favorite Holidays:
1. Christmas
2. Thanksgiving

Favorite Vacations
1. Indianapolis
2. North Carolina

Two Favorite Beverages:
1. Diet Pepsi max
2. Orange juice

So many complaints....

So many things to whine about...where to begin?

The laptop continues to be dead. I am simply heartbroken about all of the pictures that have been lost....we have managed to save our big computer and are now back online, as you can see :) However, I cannot get Yahoo messenger to work which is SUCH a pain. So those of you who I communicate regularly with on there (ROBIN!!) hang on...we are working on it!!

I am severely behind on housework. Ever since we got home from vacation I have felt so run down and un motivated. Matt informed me that we must fix this or he is finding another home to come home to after work :) Is anyone else feeling the need to curl into a ball and do nothing???

On an up note, this coming Friday marks a day that my girls and I have been counting down to.....






Yes, I will admit to being a HSM fan. I love them in fact. This coming Friday the movie comes out and we will SO be there. Sydney is so excited that it is all she can talk about. My dad, believe it or not, is a huge fan as well so he and Noah will be accompanying us as well as my sister. So the Waltons go to HSM! I can't wait!!

Well i suppose I should go and clean something...or something :)

Just a quick post to say that I can't post!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! OUr laptop dies and then our other computer decided to pick up a worm somewhere...UGH. So now I am completely incapable of getting online or anything. This is completely frustrating.

We are home...safe, sound, and completely exhausted! My kids were whining the whole way out to the bus this morning. As the bus was pulling up, Molli made one last ditch attempt and yelled up to me as I stood on the porch, "I DON'T WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL!" My response? "Bye honey, I love you." Back to real life.

I took so many wonderful pictures of our trip and when we got home last night, our laptop crashed! WITH ALL MY PICTURES ON IT! No, I didn't leave the pictures on my camera, I always wipe it. AHHHHHHHHHHH!!! So I'm really hoping that Matt can work magic on it tonight so I can share all of my wonderful pics.

There's something hard about coming home. While it was nice to sleep in my own bed last night, it's hard coming home. Part of me wanted to stay so badly. I miss Tigger and his family. Our kids are so close...., but real life must go on. SO now we look toward Halloween aka 4 kids in three different schools with four separate parties...what was I thinking?!?!?!?!

Outside My Window...Well, technically, it's not my window, it's Tigger's...but I can see the rain

I am thinking...about how hard it will be to find all of our stuff to pack it all up

I am thankful for..this trip that has been so amazing.

From the kitchen...we are having donuts from our friends at Dunkin Donuts

I am wearing...black yoga pants and my children's museum shirt

I am creating...this blog...and that's pretty creative for me!

I am going...to the Children's Museum today

I am reading...nothing at the moment, my love affair with Twilight is sadly over

I am hoping...that the kids have made some incredible memories this trip

I am hearing...the 10 kids chase each other through the house

Around the house...are single socks...oh man...

One of my favorite things...watching the cousins play

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: Get home, wash a million loads of vacation laundry, get everyone back on schedule

Here is picture thought I am sharing...



Cousins rock

WE ARE HERE, WE ARE HERE, WE ARE HERE!!!!

We made it, all in one piece to North Carolina. We ended up leaving around 3 AM as I was wide awake. I am proud to say that I did my fair share of driving, about 5 hours in total. The drive down was absolutely GORGEOUS! We hit the mountains in West Virginia and it was breathtaking. My kids couldn't get enough. The kids traveled brilliantly...they only got crazy in the last 15 minutes. We watched quite a few movies and played the alphabet game. It was a great trip. It was a little overwhelming coming onto the base, this place is like a country! We survived the car search, my kids were terrified of the soldiers with weapons! Nothing like a good healthy dose of fear! The cousin have been reunited and have spent every moment playing together. So just a quick update...more to follow!

Boy do I have vacation on the brain! I'm laying things out and making piles to be placed into suitcases. I made Matt pack last night because it takes him HOURS and he needs to pack the car tonight. Does anyone else's husband pack like a teenage girl? He actually got a bog box to transport his 6 pairs of shoes!!!!! I love that man, but SERIOUSLY!

Since I have vacation on my mind, I thought I 'd quick blog about my top 4 favorite vacations ever. Here we go! These are in no certain order...

1. When I was 16, my mom, dad, three siblings, my grandparents and I all stuffed into a large white station wagon and drove to Atlanta Georgia to celebrate Thanksgiving with family. They had one of those station wagons with the seat way in the back that faced backwards. We were CRAMPED. But some of my best memories came from that drive. After Thanksgiving, just my immediate family continued on to Florida where we met my other grandparents and did the Orlando thing. Best part? Sea World....got to touch and see a real live manatee. Best moment ever.

2. Our "two week" vacation as us McGlynn kids still call it. We drove to Pennsylvania and went to Gettysburg...so cool. Then on to Philadelphia and Washington DC. It was a great trip filled with good memories...my dad driving through the streets of Philly yelling out the window "I LOVE BLACK PEOPLE!!" I'm shocked we didn't get shot at.

3. Matt and I drove to New York to see my family there. On the way through we stopped at Niagara Falls. I've been there so much and yet it is always breath taking. And watching my kids and my husband discover it for the first time. Best moment...going on the Maid of the Mist which is a boat ride that takes you to the base of the falls. We got soaked but the kids LOVED it!

4. Spring break last year we headed to Indianapolis. What a cool city!! The zoo was wonderful. The kids getting to see a dolphin show for the first time was priceless. They also have the largest children's museum in the country there. It was out of this world. We could have spent all three days there!!! Best moment - the dolphin show is starting and the lights dim....they let the dolphins swim out into the main tank. Everyone is very quiet and then all of my kids are on their feet screaming.."DOLPHINS!!! WE LOVE YOU!!! WOOOOOO!" Priceless.

5. I'm wracking my brain trying to think of another one...but ti's probably the trip we are about to take. The kids are so excited. We get to see mountains, the ocean, and let's not forget the cousins. Molli is already making plans for her and Morgan (we call the two of the Thelma and Louise) My brother has arranged for Matt and Jonah to tour the Special Weapons facility. I did warn my brother that Jonah is going to be a veterinarian so he must not sway him :)

I'm sure I'll be posting while we are there, but now I must really get moving!!

I have so much I should be doing...but I sit her blogging. Ah well, the kitchen will still be dirty when I get there.

Vacation fever has set in....Emma is counting the hours! I am on laundry patrol. It is no small task getting 7 people ready to go on vacation. There are so many things to take into consideration. Plus this is our first HUGE car trip since the kids were tiny. Thirteen hours in our van. I have a feeling we will be VERY glad to arrive. Tigger has called and we get to watch him jump on Wednesday. While this is very cool and I'm glad we get to see it, I am slightly panicked about watching him descend to the earth with a small piece of cloth keeping him safe. I know he's done this a million times, but there s something nerve wracking about watching it. Jonah is beyond excited to be going to an Army base. I must try and keep him focused toward being a veterinarian!

Yesterday it was COLD!! Well it's only 44 this morning so that is pretty chilly. But yesterday, I just couldn't warm up. I had warm pants, long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt, socks and I was still freezing! My husband was home yesterday and I casually asked if perhaps we could turn the heat on...just a little. He is determined to not turn on the heat until November. But he said he was open for negotiation. Hmmm...... now how many of you have had to negotiate with your husbands? Is this fair procedure? So the negotiations began.....I won't tell you what he wanted to trade (hint: bedroom...big surprise) but let's just say I got to turn on the heat. There was something very nostalgic about hearing the furnace roar to life. Bring on fall.

Wordless Wednesday

Enough said.