Halloween Party at the Fire Department...

Tonight was the annual Fire Department Halloween Party. The kids got their costumes on and Hayli brought her friend Ashley. Steve had to work but he was working at the station the party was at so that worked out great (not to mention that its just accross the street from our house)! Hayli was a CIRCUS kinda girl, Kenli was CINDERELLA and Gracie was TINKERBELL! They all looked so cute...Hayli's friend Ashely was a PINK LADY the other little girl that is dressed like an Indian is Samantha and her Dad works with Steve at the Fire Department.

At the party we had HOT DOGS and CHILI for dinner and GLAZED DOUGHNUTS they even had SUGAR COOKIES that you could frost and decorate. This year was really fun for the kids since they had a great big blow up toy for the kids to play on! WHAT A HIT!!! They all had a blast on it. Gracie had to take off her wings to play on it and Steve ended up wearing them! He is such a GREAT DADDY!!! We really had a good time watching the kids play and enjoy themselves.

Hope you all have a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! Love to you all!

Sickness update...

I wanted to give you all an update on everyone that has been sick. Hayli & Kenli are all better and have 2 more days left on their antibiotic. I am better as well other than a little bit of cough lingering around but I feel 110% better than what I was. Gracie the poor baby is still sick. In fact she went back to the doctor today because I think she is WORSE not any better. Her sinus infection is still the same and the PERTUSSIS isn't any better either. She now has a cold in both eyes but heck the strep is gone!!! The doctor put her on a new antibiotic and also antibiotics for her eyes. Poor little thing she just can't seem to catch a break with this stuff. The doctor told me today that PERTUSSIS can take up to 10 weeks before she is completely better! 10 WEEKS are you CRAZY!!!!! That means we would have about 6 1/2 weeks to go!!! I really don't want to go that long with a sick child so I hope this new medicine will help! I'm think I will have Steve give her a blessing to help her recover quicker! I should have done that in the beginning but a lot of times I just don't think of it for little colds... I KNOW this one wasn't little but I just never even thought of it. I guess I need to be more in tune with our Heavenly Father and the needs of the kids...(being a better listener)!!!

What a bunch of silly girls...

As you all know Gracie had given my camera a bath...after many hours of trying to dry it out and after several battery changes it is working once again!!! YAY...YIPPEE...YE HA... YESSSS!!!

I have been taking crazy pictures of the kids in trying to make sure all is well with the camera! So far so good! What a blessing! Hope you enjoy these random shots of the kids being silly!

Chocolate Chip Cookies....

This evening Hayli and I decided to make Chocolate Chip Cookies... Just to give you a little history on my ability to make "non-flat" chocolate chip cookies is pretty BAD!!! For the past 14 1/2 years I have yet to make chocolate chip cookies that don't end up FLAT! They always taste good but they are never a pretty cookie like my sister Nichole makes and another friend. I have followed every kind of recipe and they still never turn out!!! Well tonight Hayli got all the ingredients together and started putting them all together. Well our mixer broke awhile ago and I haven't gotten a new one yet. I told Hayli that we would have to mix them like the PIONEERS did...ALL BY HAND!!! I will just say that my arm is sore from mixing the cookie dough! I guess we should have cut our recipe in 1/2... But the funny thing is.... MY COOKIES WERE PERFECT!!! Can you believe it! I can't!!! I was so excited that I actually had PRETTY COOKIES!!! They were so PERFECT that we even took them to our neighbors for treats! YES I finally found a good recipe so here it is for you all... LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK IF YOU TRY IT!!!

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

3 Cups shortening
2 Cups brown sugar
2 Cups sugar
4 tsp vanilla
4 Eggs

Cream these together...then add...

6 Cups flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 pkg. chocolate chips

Bake at 375 for 10 minutes

Hope you enjoy the cookies!

Gracie's works of ART...

Gracie the fabulous 2 year old she is decided that there were several things in our house that did not have enough color to them! She decided that the walls, stove, dishwasher, oven door, refrigerator, bathroom wall & the bathroom door needed to have a little art work on them. She has taken a magenta crayon to all of these items today! Hey at least she picked a nice shade of purple! All is well now that everything is cleaned off and I MADE HER HELP!!!! I think she thought that was just as fun as coloring! In fact all of the kids were fighting over who cleaned what! crazy girls... I'm sure this is just the first of many to come with the coloring on things other than paper with her! " (thank goodness Kenli is past this stage!)

Hayli's new hair...

As you all know Hayli got a new hair color and tonight she now has a new hair cut! She has been wanting side bangs and today I was doing hair and decided that since everything was out I would give the girls hair cuts. Hayli looks so grown up with her new do! I hope you like your hair Hayli...it looks really cute on you! Lots of LOVE...MOM!

HAYLI'S ORCHESTRA CONCERT

Hayli had her first Orchestra Concert last night at her school. She is in 6th grade this year at Legacy Prep. This year they decided to have ALL 6th grade students either do BAND or ORCHESTRA. Hayli choose to play the VIOLIN! This has really been a fun thing for Hayli and she really enjoys playing it. At first I wasn't real happy that the school was mandating that each student play and instrument...BUT NOW I LOVE IT!!! I am so glad that she has this opportunity and its been fun watching her progress and learn. She did a GREAT job last night and I am SO VERY PROUD of HER!!! Way to go HAYLI!!! The entire concert was amazing and so much fun! All of the kids did a great job.

Its all fun and games till someone gets hurt...

Kenli & Gracie were playing around with the lid to the garbage can. I had just taken out the trash when the kids started putting the lid to the garbage on their head saying they were ROBOTS! They were laughing, giggling, and chasing each other having the time of their lives when all of a sudden play time turns tragic! Kenli screams MOM...MOM Gracie's head is stuck!!! What?!? Whats her head stuck in? Here comes Gracie with the garbage can lid stuck around her NECK!!! They had been trying to pull it off and it wouldn't come off. I got looking at how she was stuck and needless to say she was really stuck! It wouldn't come off... We had to pry the opening of the lid to be able to get her head out! As you can tell from the pictures she was really upset and I think it really did hurt her when KENLI was trying to help her! MY KIDS ARE ALWAYS FULL OF SURPRISES....NEVER A DULL MOMENT AT THE CHAFFIN HOME!!! EEEWWWWWW I just noticed how dirty the garbage lid was!!! Sick...getting cleaned now!