Right before Halloween the kids and I sat at the kitchen table and made this really cute little Haunted House. Grayson and Blake even helped decorate it–and they did a really good job! The head to toe candy corn you see on the eaves was done completely by the two of them–pretty darn fun I must say!

Well, last night–3 weeks after Halloween, we finally put the cute little house in the garbage! Yes, it was a tearful goodbye for the kids (mainly because they weren’t allowed to touch all of that candy going into the garbage!!) But to cheer them up…we made this instead!!

Christmas has officially come to the Nykaza house!! Three front windows have their lights in them–only 7 more to go–and at least 5 of the Nativity sets goes up today! We have a new Christmas tree–and our colors for this year are just red and white! I think around the upstairs windows it will be red, green and white–but I haven’t completely gone there yet! This week the kids are out of school–so I think we will be getting the lights up outside along with the lighted tree and wreaths! This is the first time since Arizona we’ve actually gone all out on the house–and in Arizona we didn’t get the snow. So this year should be really fun!

**Oh, and if you are curious about the snow around our little gingerbread house—it’s the same snow from the video a few posts down–so totally cool!

Have you ever met someone and seemed to have hit it off right on the spot? Well, for my husband and I (Aunt Peggy too) we met Andrew “BenSpark” Bennett. I had known him online for awhile–ran into him over and over during one of the early “Puzzle” challenges. But what a super nice guy! We talked to him for awhile at the Tao party–until we were all called over to the stage to kick off the party–we abandoned our watch over Drew’s water bottle–and it was immediately picked up by the wait staff–whoops!

Anyway–Sunday evening we headed to the airport for our midnight flight and as we headed back to eat- there was a familiar face over at the “Recharge” desk. I said (rather loudly) “Hey, that looks like Andrew Bennett of the BenSpark.com!” I said it that way so that if it wasn’t him–the guy wouldn’t necessarily know I was talking to him–but of course, it was him–and we got a final “goodbye” in.

We passed the gift shop and they had this darling little pink puppy in the window–so we ducked in to get it for Drew’s new baby Eva. As we headed back to give it to him, he was gone. So it became a gift for Blake instead.

The cool thing about this little puppy, it lets you name a star. So we headed over this afternoon and named our puppy and our star. Since we couldn’t give Eva the puppy–we decided we would give her a Star.

We named the puppy– Princess Blake– we named the star– EvaGrace– and we chose the Andromeda constellation. The Andromeda constellation was chosen for a couple of reasons– first, it’s the Princess constellation– and with Blake and Eva– I think it’s only fitting. Secondly–Andromeda is a very “comic book” sounding name–I guess from the whole Star Trek thing–but I was going for more of a “Cybertron” theme–and if that didn’t just click with you–then you don’t know the BenSpark!!

So Drewski…here is the location of your little girls star…

Andromeda 2H 32M 38.42s 40 12′52.75″

You can click on the charts to make them bigger!

It was really fun–I may have to find these little stuffed animals for my kids too!

Monday we have a huge dumpster being delivered to our old house. We have family and MEN coming to help clear out whatever is left in the house. I can’t believe we are to that point already! After that, it’s paint, flooring and doors–and then we can rent it out or sell it! Wooo Hooo! I gave all of my baby furniture to good will the last time we went through the house. The baby bath, the car seat/stroller combo, the exer-saucer and most of the toys. The sad thing–well, for me anyway…on Monday the crib goes! I’m not normally attached to baby cribs, but this is the one we got when I was pregnant with Jake! Moved it and cleaned it up when I was pregnant with Grayson! Moved it again when I was pregnant with Blake–and lastly it’s where my last little monkey man Barrett slept! I have no need for it anymore. We aren’t having any more kids. But there’s just something about it going into the trash that makes me sad–not that anyone would want it–it’s just hard to leave one stage forever! Goodbye Babies!!

This past Tuesday and Wednesday my sister and her husband and son came to town. It was her little boys 6th birthday and he got a little trip for his gift. We went to see Sue at the Field Museum. It was Blake’s first time in her memory ever going –she was just little when we went the last time. Barrett has never been.

It was really fun to be at the Museum again–even though I really wasn’t feeling well at all. In fact, Barrett and mom cut the afternoon short–and went and fell asleep in the car.

Grayson kept exclaiming that he was never leaving. He didn’t want to leave Sue when we walked in to see all of the animals. Then, he didn’t want to leave all of the animals when we went to eat. Then it was the kids portion–you know–that kid is just too emotionally attached to things! I wonder where he gets that from!!

We have this beautiful tree in our front yard–you know the kind of tree that has four really amazing seasons! Currently it is in it’s bright Yellow Autumn season, but I’m sure I’ll grab some photo’s of every one of them. I love this tree! This tree may be a big reason why we bought this house. I love it’s size, it’s shape–everything! Except for the beautiful carpet of bright yellow leaves it leaves on the ground underneath it!

I have been sick for a while–but being sick does not get to cut into the “Good Neighbor” responsibilities that come with the care and upkeep of my yard! This is the first weekend since the leaves began to fall, and it is my civic duty to get out there and clean up the mess! I’ve been lying in bed all night trying to come up with a plan of action. It ranged from attaching the bag to the lawn mower and dumping it into the lawn bags (every 30 seconds after it got full) to using the blower to corner the leaves in the yard and scoop from there. Then I realized one thing…we don’t even own a rake in this house!! Whoops!!

So imagine my thrill this morning when out of no where the doorbell rings. It is a wonderful family from around the corner. They own a landscaping business and they are offering their services to clean the front yard and side yard for $30.00! HOLY COW!!! Is that a lot? Is that a little? I feel like it’s not a lot considering the dread I was feeling in having to get to it! Next year we will have our ride on lawn mower and I will be the bomb yard cleaner upper–but for this year–these wonderful people are my heroes!!

Because of them–I can do the one thing I really need to do today…get to Insta-Care to get on some heavy duty antibiotics! I’ve been sick for over a year–and I really don’t think that is too normal!

This is my husband at Tao! We were there for the BCA party–and I have to say–I was not prepared for all that Tao was. My hubby was! He, being a Chef, had read up on the place–and knew things about it that I didn’t even know. He even knew that it was the 2nd Anniversary that same evening, and that they were expecting some VIP’s.

All evening he just kept saying…it’s such an honor to even be here, or I just can’t believe we are here–you have no idea how amazing it is that we are here!

So I had to take his picture on the deck with the cool Tao sign in the back!!

This is the floor in the “Mall” section of the Wynn hotel in Las Vegas. The entire lobby is laid out in this intricate mosaic. It was GORGEOUS!! I had to stop and take a picture of it. Can you imagine being the tile setter that had to inlay this pattern? It’s amazing to my mind.

We loved the Wynn–I truly wanted to take a picture of their public bathrooms as well–they were amazing! The rooms at the Wynn were a bit out of our price range–but we will definitely stop back in for a visit the next time we are in town! Plus…it’s the only casino we found where there is actually a table game for “War”! How cool is that?