Halloween

Ready to go Trick-or-Treating.

(Now down two.)

~ ~ ~

Since Matthew's away at college we were down to 4

and then my senior, Alex, decided to stay home to do homework.

(After I offered to buy him his own bag of candy tomorrow.)

Sarah's Loot

~ ~ ~

My husband and I haven't trick-or-treated with just three children in years.

Wow.

Talk about easy.

It was almost too relaxing.

Scary but sweet.

Pumpkin Heads

These are my pumpkin heads.

(It's still so weird with Matthew gone.

It always feels like someone's missing.)

And here they are diving into their pumpkins.


And being good brothers.

Making sure Sarah eats healthy before we trick or treat.

This is quite a disturbing picture to me.

At what point did I let her use a knife?

Boy, do they grow up so fast.

Before you know it they are using sharp objects.

Personally, I like this method much better.

Not much to worry about here.

Just a few hits with the mallet,

and you're done.

Quick, Safe and Cute.

Speaking of cute.

Here's the father of my pumpkin heads.

I would say he has some jack-o-lantern skills.

Wouldn't you?

From left to right:

Ghost.....Princess.....A Cat/Pig?.....and an evil-looking classic.

Now it's time for treats!

Birthday Games

Ranae's friends holding the rope to the pinata.

Ready.....Aim....

By the looks on their faces

you can guess what happened.

A swing and a miss and lots of laughs.
Oh to be 12 again.

Or better yet: seeing 12 again from my daughter's eyes.

Now that's lovely.

Dental Work

Can you tell which side of my face is not working yet?

I had a little dental work done today and getting a drink is comical.

When the kids ask what that wet stain on my shirt is

I'll say, "It's drool. Get used to it.

I'm not getting any younger."

Well.....now that I think about it.....

maybe I'll just say I had a little dental work today.

And leave it at that.

I don't want to give the masses any doubt of my abilities.

More than half of them are teenagers.

They don't need any help with their doubts.

~ ~ ~
Oh. And it's the left side of my face that's not working yet.

If it looks the other way around I've got more than teenagers to worry about.

Ranae is 12

Today's her "real" birthday.

She will celebrate with a few friends this Saturday.

This shirt just screamed "RANAE!" to me.

It just had to be hers.

And the cake had to be chocolate on chocolate.

Yes.

With candles that burn in colors.

Cool.

Car Seat

What did we ever do before car seats?

When my three boys were little I remember loving that

"CLICK" sound the 3 point harness made.

Safe and immobile.

Ahhhh.

My dad remembers standing in the seat beside his Uncle George

with his arm around his uncle's neck.

With the windows down and his hair blowing.

Freedom.

Freedom ~VS~ Safety.

It depends on the circumstances,

but I'll take a little of both please.

(With car seats for the kiddos.)

Cat Nap

A cat as big as a pumpkin.

Please, let me explain.

Prince is 13 1/2 years old.

He lives outdoors year-round.

I feed him 1/4 cup of cat food twice a day.

That's it.

No treats.

Why then is he SO big?

Well.....he supplements.

He catches lizards. (poor things.)

He catches mice. (yippee!)

He catches an occasional snake. (gross)

And I am sad to say it, but he catches birds too. (pout)

So, there is no making him skinny.

There is just too much for him to eat in my small farm life.

Now I wish he could eat fire ants.

(But I'm sure he's tried.)

Regional Cross Country Meet

And they're off!

8 teams from throughout the region.

With my daughter Ranae in the pack headed towards.....

running towards.....

the unknown.....

the never before seen.....

Facing a monster.

Something rarely seen in all of Florida.

And with no experience whatsoever,

and smiles on their faces,

they run straight towards it.

A GIGANTIC HILL.

Oh the terror.

The speculation before the race was palpable.

The wonder. The excitement.

The thrill.

And Ranae was even more thrilled when she finished with another PR.

(personal record)

2 miles in 16 minutes and 58 seconds.

Wow.

She thinks it might have helped to have the hill.

(At least the going down part.)

Mowing

Me and the John Deere.

Catching up on the mowing.

Down here in Southwest Florida the grass seems to never stops growing.

Never.

It does slow down though.

And this is the time of year when it is so nice to mow.

Less bugs.

Less heat.

And I love these little egrets.

My grandma always called them "cow birds".

They follow the John Deere and capitalize on all the displaced bugs.

O.K. I will just tell you now.

One of these days if I have a big tractor accident,

~it's because I am looking at birds~

I'm just saying.

One time when I was mowing I displaced a mouse.

And before I knew what was going on

a huge hawk swooped down and made off with him.

This time I saw a Great Egret in the pond.

But I stayed on my tractor.
My husband would be proud.

Milestone?

Before

(Big Smile)

After
(Still Smiling)
Well, she did it. And we let her.
That ONE AND ONLY new hole in her head.
Ranae now has pierced ears.
Boy was her experience different than mine.
Mine went something like this:
My mom had a friend who was a nurse.
After dark we went to her house.
Then to numb the pain, they held ice cubes to my ears...
...for what seemed like hours.
And then the nurse slowly pushed a pointed earring through my ear.
Emphasis on SLOWLY.
And my right ear was a little difficult and she had to twist it.
Left and right, left and right, pushing, pushing...
...well, you get the point.
~ ~ ~
Ranae's went something like this:
Point earring "gun" at pre-marked point on ear.
Count to three and shoot.
Repeat other side.
Done.
Yeah!

Sarah Running

Today Sarah's school had a Move-A-Thon.

She was SO excited.

She felt like this was a "Cross Country" event.

And she wanted me to be sure and bring my camera.

They started a little slowly.

But soon they got the hang of it and started running.
She smiled from ear to ear every time I yelled, "Go Sarah!".

Good job sweetheart!

You did great!
And youv'e got the red face to prove it.

Ranae.....Still Running

This is Ranae's team stretching before a Cross Country Meet.
It was good weather for running today.
The sun was hiding behind some clouds and the temperature was mild...
for Florida.

This is Sarah offering Ranae a fresh, picked flower while she runs.
That's my girl. Just trying to help.
So was a mom I overheard who caught a few girls
on the other team walking.
She shouted, "THERE IS NO WALKING IN CROSS COUNTRY!".
Point well taken.
Would you like a fresh, picked flower?
Just trying to help.

Smores!

Just the thought of making smores made Sarah giggle for hours.

She kept asking everybody if they had ever eaten one before.
She was taking surveys at school and home.
(Notice how I positioned the fire pit close to the pool.
I told the kids that was so if they caught fire I could just throw them in.)
Yep. I'm a safety girl.

And Sarah was very glad to finally eat one herself.
From giggles, to smiles, to marshmallows in her hair.
Sweet.

Pumpkin Patch

Searching for the right pumpkin takes time.

I've always said that you have to be able to carry it.

~ ~ ~

(This always helped when I had 3 toddler boys

who always wanted the BIGGEST pumpkin in the patch.)

This year they had light green pumpkins.

Happy Fall Y'all.

MATTHEW'S HOME !

Matthew is home from college for a long weekend.

They call it "Fall Break".

I call it fabulous because I miss my kid!

It also coincided with his birthday.

(So I haven't missed one of those yet.)

I tried the candles that you can't blow out.

It was fun for about a half a minute.

~ ~ ~

Then it got smokey

But, thanks to Alex and Kevin's ingenuity,

we dealt with that issue quickly.

(So there does turn out to be another use for those face misters.)

These are the wonderful gadgets you can buy at any outdoor

event or establishment in the state of Florida.

They should pass these out at the state line.

Everybody gets one.

From May until November.

~ ~ ~

That and sunscreen.

Personal Record

I'm learning what "Cross Country" means.

It means you run on asphalt.

It means you run on grass.

And this time it meant a new personal record for Ranae.

2 miles in 17 minutes and 37 seconds.

Wow.

With a capital W.