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.)