Bad Mom Moment

How did I forget this? Well, I didn't really forget the birthday, just was too busy to blog it! So here goes, Happy Belated Birthday Brookie Bear! My sweet, kind, loving, smart, tenacious, funny, persistent, ambitious 11 year old. The time really does fly. It seems like just yesterday I was a terrified new mom without a clue, but God blessed me with you to learn on. You to make my heart grow bigger than I thought possible. You to challenge me, and teach me, and make my life complete. Happy Birthday baby girl.

Slumber Party

Brooklyn will be 11 on Monday. What better way to celebrate that 6 gossipy, giggly girls laughing the night away? We went to the Halloween Party and then came home to watch Gremlins and talk about boys. It's a very good way to find out all that is going on in your kids lives. I try to be pretty involved anyway, but things come out at sleepovers when everyone thinks mom is asleep. Nothing bad of course, just food for discussion. I found out that Bailey likes, Walker, and Christian and on and on. Basically all boys. Gabby has been dating Keaton for 3 years. (I did dig into this "dating" thing...apparently no real dates need to occur, nor kissing or holding hands. Just mutual respect for each others cuteness.) Nobody knows for sure who Islin likes (besides Zach Efron) but there were many guesses. And Brooklyn's current like is Austin, but I already knew that. He's been calling. All the girls love to pick on Ryan. And who can blame them? We weren't home from the Halloween party till pretty late, so we saved cake, ice cream and presents until after breakfast. Nothing like starting the day out on the right foot. The Griffyndor birthday cake was a big hit. You know, Harry Potter was 11 when he got his acceptance letter to Hogwarts. Brooklyn's been watching the mail pretty closely. Speaking of Harry, we had a very deep discussion about him over cake this morning. As I was the only one at the party who has finished the whole series, there were lots of theories being discussed. They all plan on finishing before the final movie. Better get a move on! And the last picture was taken about 3:00 this afternoon. I call it "Sleepover Recovery".

Caylor Annual Halloween Party

What: The Caylor Family Hallowen Party
When: Friday, October 24th.
Where: Caylor Family Farm
Why: Halloween of course.
Activities include: Food, dancing, haunted corn maze, bon fire...and a KISS concert!







Peter, Gene and I (Paul Stanley) warming up before our gig. Ace couldn't make it. Bummer.
Major Flirt and her husband...Jimmy Buffet. (Lynette and Donny...the Host and Hostess) Barbie and Ken...AKA: Anna and Wade. The bon fire.
This looks like a good album cover. Audition schedule for Ace to be announced. Wow...I've never had that much makeup on. And yes...it is my real hair. Not the hair on my chest! I was asked several times where I got my wig. Hmmm...

Hiking

Saturday Carla, Faye, Stephanie and I took the kids to a Corn Maze and then for a hike around Jamestown Reservoir. Children of the corn. The Geese flying. The reason the geese are flying.

Pictures of Brooklyn

She was a good poser this weekend! I couldn't stop. Of course Rylee's cute too. She's just not as willing.

Pheasant Hunting

Friday night we all went pheasant hunting. The weather was perfect and the dog was excited. Ryan had his gun, and I had my camera. I love getting away from the house and away from the friends, because then they find that they are best friends.

The rest of the story...

Some people might not be too excited to have 5 unexpected house guests. But I was thrilled. Since I knew my mom was coming, I had made sure the guest room was ready and the house was clean. There were plenty of clean towels for showers and food to eat. I didn't plan on Crystol's milk addiction, but there is a grocery store nearby, so we were able to get by. We came home from the Cheiftan at 1:00 AM. We were all very tired, but I had to show them my house, and then we just couldn't stop talking. We ended up talking till 3:30. Then everyone piled into beds. Mandy wanted the couch, Crystol and Miranda shared Brooklyn's bottom bunk (it's a double), Treasure had Brooklyn's top bunk, and Missy slept in Rylee's bed. So much for a clean guest room! Nobody wanted to be away from each other, so we all slept upstairs. My mom and Brick had gotten a room at the Super 8 and took Brooklyn and Rylee with them. So it was a slumber party at my house. I don't know if Ryan has ever heard so much giggling. He'll have to get used to it. He does have a pre-teen daughter in the house and another up and coming. The next day was great. My mom took the kids to Jamestown for a movie and shopping, and the rest of us just hung around town. I showed them all the cute shops on Main Street, the fitness center, our local Alco store, etc. We drove around town looking at cute houses and just talking and laughing. We stopped at some railroad tracks for some funny pictures and at the city park for a Carrington picture. Saturday night my mom made my favorite dinner (Salmon, Rice and Salad) and we had an early birthday party for Brooklyn and another early birthday for me. Brookie and I each opened a few presents and we had another cake. Brooklyn and Rylee went back to the hotel with Grandma and Grandpa and we all stayed up till 3:00 AM...again. I'm seriously too old for that. I'm still recovering. We watched Juno, played games and did more laughing. Sunday morning started bright and early. My mom, Brick and Treasure had to leave my house at 7:00 am go get to the airport in Fargo. After a tearful goodbye, we fixed breakfast and prepared for more goodbyes. The road trip girls wanted to head out by 12:00 noon and Mandy needed to be to Fargo by 3:00, so we all left my house a little after noon and stopped in Jamestown for lunch. Then Mandy and I headed east to the airport, and the rest headed west to Utah. That's it. I'm still tired, but I feel so loved! Missy, Miranda and Crystol arrived in Salt Lake late Monday night. Missy picked up her kids and then had to drive to Idaho Falls. She got home safe and sound yesterday. Everyone is home and hopefully resting. We are just getting too old for late nights like that! Here are a few more random pictures. These next two were taken in my mom's hotel room while they waited for me to get to the Cheiftan. Apparently Missy was very stressed that I might be on to them.

The Long, Long Drive

The girls let me download all their pictures before the went home. I thought these were so funny. They were so excited when they "finally" made it to the North Dakota sign. Below is a little exert from Miranda's blog, but first I need to mention that Crystol and Miranda are pregnant. Can you imagine sitting in a car for 20 1/2 hours while pregnant. They are crazy! And also the best friends ever.


Destination: Carrington, North Dakota

Date: Oct 9th- Oct 12th

Miles: 1,095

Hours: 20 1/2

Gas: $568.33

People driving: Miranda, Crystol and Missy

People flying: Treasure and Mandy

Purpose: Surprise Nicole

Surprise!!!

And I was. Actually, I don't think the word surprise really sums it up appropriatly. More like agape, aghast, dumbfounded, flabbergasted, nonplussed, rattled, thunderstruck, unnerved and completly overwhelemed. It will take more than one blog post to sum up my weekend, but for me it started on Friday night. Several of my friends and I have fall birthday's and decided to go out to a girls supper to celebrate. Carla, Anna, Angela, Tina, Faye, Stephanie and I were going to go to Jamestown to eat at a nice resteraunt. Well, I thought I was pretty smart and had figured out that my mom was comming to surprise me for an early birthday. Because of that and the fact that Carla was having some work troubles and needed to stay closer to home, we decided not to go all the way to Jamestown for supper. We stayed much closer to home, ate pretty quick and then rushed out. I couldn't figure out what the rush was. Everyone wanted to go to the Cheiftan in Carrington and I was thinking "Then why didn't we just eat there?" Well, here is my reaction when we walked into the Cheiftan. It's blurry, but I was surprised. There stood Ryan, my mom and Brick, and all my North Dakota friends. There were balloons, cake, karoke...the works. I was totally dumbfounded. I kinda felt like an idiot because I had no idea. So a few minutes pass and I'm visiting with everyone, and suddenly I hear someone singing Happy Birthday and carring a cake. I looked up and thought how ridiculous it was that they were having the servers sing to me, and then I did a double take. Carrying the cake was Mandy, followed by Missy, Treasure, Miranda and Crystol. I FREAKED out! For those of you who don't know, those are my girls. My bestest friends. Some from as far back as middle school and others that might as well be. Mandy came from St. Louis, Treasure from Pheonix, Missy from Idaho Falls and Crystol and Miranda from Salt Lake. By some huge feat of friendship, the managed to all come to North Dakota at the same time. The only one missing was Chandra but we had her on the phone. We were all in tears. Laughing and crying at the same time. (Lauging because I never cry. The fact is, my heart is the size of a tiny little raisin. Inside joke.) Anyway, the night went on, with many more laughs, some poor people having to hear us sing, my North Dakota friends haning with my Utah friends. It was amazing. This was a book my mom had made for me. Priceless. Ryan and his dream girl! Laura and Bobbi made me a boquet much better than flowers. There were 30 candy bars! Look out Weight Watchers...here I come! Getting my grove on. We were a little worried that Crystol's unborn child would have shaken baby syndrome!

The rest of the story will come later.