ShannonAlbert.com - June 2009

Payton and I walked into a store at the mall tonight and a guy was laying on the floor greeting customers and it went something like this:

Employee guy: Hey, how are you doing today, ma'am?
Me: Good but how are you?
Employee guy: Ok, just ready to go home.
Employee girl: Get up off of the floor, that's rude.
Employee guy: I'm sure in some country somewhere it's not rude.
Employee girl: They don't have malls in other countries.
Employee guy: Sure they do...they're called bazarres!

Today was a day of many festivities which is strange to us because in Texas, the kids didn't celebrate Halloween except to go out for a bit in the evening trick-or-treating and even then, nobody carved pumpkins except for us and many attended church events instead. Here, the kids got to participate in school parties and events. After attending Blake's party, Andy brought both kids to my new job and they attended a little Halloween event with a haunted house setup through the office, candy was given out and then some light food was offered at the end. Afterward, the 4 of us headed to Bob and Nicki's house. They have a great idea that they invite relatives over every Halloween for some light dinner and to see the kids costumes before heading out. That lets people see the kids in costume, everybody gets some food before having candy and then the kids can head out for trick-or-treating.

A pic of our 5 kids...


A better pic of Payton in her black widow costume...


Andy's dad in his skeleton costume (he also had a mask but I never got a pic of him wearing it)...


For the first time, I stayed at home handing out candy while Andy and Bob took the kids out. I ended up getting 65 kids at the door. Some tried to come twice for double dips (which I would have allowed except I was running out of candy!), one kid opened the door before I got to it and some weren't wearing costumes.

Overall, it was the kids' most festive Halloween ever and I'm glad they got to have so much fun!

Report: Many U.S. Parents Outsourcing Child Care Overseas

My parents came down for the weekend and helped us with miscellaneous tasks - putting together new furniture, verifying the furniture I was ordering was a good choice and we went to dinner for my mom's birthday on Saturday night. It's so nice being close so we can see them fairly easily and we were really glad to finally have a guest area for them to stay. We spent the previous few days making sure we had a comfy mattress and bedding for them to use when they stay with us. They verified that it was all very comfy and they slept very well.

They left Sunday and soon after, we were off to Gaeddart Farms Corn Maze with Bob and Nicki and their kids.

We started off with picking out some pumpkins to take home to carve.


Then we were off on a hay ride.



Then we got let off in a field to pick out pumpkins but since we had already gotten ours, we just walked around. Lizzie running away as she likes to do...



Then it was time to head back to the hay ride for our return trip...



Slingshot time! If you made the small pumpkin into the tub, you got to take a free pumpkin home w/you. Bob made 1.




Then it was time for the corn maze! Every year the maze is a different shape and this year's was sunflowers.


Previous mazes can be seen here.

Our map...


At each stop, there were letters on the sign that you used to fill in a puzzle and then when you've visited all ten stops, you unscramble them to solve.



Andy doing his infamous "roller coaster" that he does with all nieces and nephews. Anything to keep the squirmy princess entertained! :)


The bridge in the middle of the maze...


I think it probably took us an hour to get through the whole maze and it was really fun. I think next year we might take Payton w/a friend of hers at night and we can try to navigate it with flashlights.

Tomorrow is my first day at my new job. Wish me luck! Have a good week everybody!