Punkins' and Pumpkins

We carved our pumpkins this week. Each child got a marker and went to work on the pumpkin face. Brooke looks very focused.

Ben was have a grand time with the marker. He even colored hair ALL OVER his pumpkin. (That was interesting to carve).Connor got a kick out of the face Daddy carved for his pumpkin.
Brett made his look like Hopper- the villain grasshopper from "A Bug's Life."

Madi's favorite part was pulling out all the "gick" from the inside. She even volunteered to do it for everyone else too. Yumm... that looks good.

They aren't fancy, but they were really fun!

You do the math

Happy kids with smiling faces

+

Loving and indulging parents

+

"Free puppies" sign at the grocery store

=

This is Tobi. She is a lab and miniature Australian shepherd mix. It's one of those stories: We went to the store for pumpkins and came home with a puppy. Both start with a "P" and make a mess... except one you can't throw out after Halloween. Hee Hee

Getting a dog has been one of those things on the back burner for a while. We all love dogs (Mom and Dad love OUTSIDE dogs)! Nights have been long with a whining, lonely puppy but it's already getting better. The days have been a little more crazy trying to potty training ANOTHER "baby." I did say she is an outside dog... but we are trying to get her to do her duty in ONE spot so I don't have to keep washing children's shoes or find surprises in my gardens.

We are all having a ball with Tobi. I am doing a lot of training... well, trying to. Our lives once again takes on another dimension.

In a daze

The world around me has a beautiful haze about it today. Alright, things are downright blurry. At first I thought, "Aw shoot, I'm getting old." But then my "youthful" ego was comforted with the thought : Putting one's contacts in the wrong eyes might have something to do with it.

My husband just laughed and wondered how in the world you can do that... The large R and L on the contact case usually mean something to most people. I knew he wouldn't understand my explanation... he wouldn't understand because he was snoring at 11pm while I was still madly working with a glaring computer screen. (No, I was not blogging... sheesh). He doesn't get it because he was again snoring at 4:45 am. Suffice it to say, I was not. He can just laugh because, unlike me, he was able to take a regular shower and not try to get ready at warp speed, all the while hoping our offspring hadn't eaten each other.

Why am I still squinting at 4:30 in the afternoon? Because the four point five seconds it would take me to switch my contacts just didn't seem to be available today, and because it was kind of charming not to be able to see all the spots on the carpet and crumbs on the floor. So here's hoping that this is legible. I'm going to switch them NOW.

Halloween is coming!

We ALL love Halloween at my house. SQUEAL!!!! The kids and I can't wait to get out the decor and costume ideas have been flying for weeks. I was just checking out all the fun crafts for kids that you can find on line. Hmmm... what to do. So many fun things and so little time.

This one has some great ideas: http://familyfun.go.com/halloween/halloween-crafts/

What are you going to be for Halloween?

The Love of Learning

The little boys and I are going to the girl's school today to help out. This was a conversation between my 3-year-old and my kindergartner:

Brooke: "You get to come to my school today."
Ben: "Do I get to come inside?"
Brooke: "I think so."
Ben: "DO I GET TO LEARN?! Will your teacher let me LEARN?!"

Do you remember that feeling? Coveting the chance to learn. I cherish that in children.

Project... check!

I have so many projects on the shelf. Some partially done and some still in the "thinking about it" phase. My husband teases me that I am the queen of half done projects. I wish I could say he was wrong... but it's true. Remember these bottles? I'd picked them up at a garage sale earlier this summer with yet another project in mind. And I am so happy to say that I have check at least one off the list. I was so excited about how these turned out. (You know how you have a picture in your mind about something and how it seldom turns out as you'd pictured it? Well I finally got one to turn out). I did six of them and they go perfectly with my Italian Kitchen theme. I used this web site http://whatscookingamerica.net/HerbVinegar.htm (Thanks Katie for the suggestion). I'm not sure they will taste all that great, but I really only made them for decoration anyway.

I did smell like garlic for a week afterward. Ewww! But It was really fun to make and I guess the smell was a happy reminder that I had actually FINISHED a project. Hooray!

MY old man!

Brett turned 30 on Thursday. Yes, he is feeling old and has counted six gray hairs (one from each child and two from his crazy wife). As you can tell, Ben was a great help when it was time to make the cake.

I got Brett a rip-stick for his birthday. (Its like a skate board, only with two wheels, not four. And it pivots in the middle. You propel it by moving your feet back and forth on the board). Not a very practical gift, but he was an amazing snow boarder and I thought he'd like this. We took it into our unfinished basement (don't mind all the storage in the background) and within five minutes Brett had it down to an art. Dang he is HOT! I totally wiped out trying his new toy. ouch.

His party was so fun. We played "A minute to win it" games, had great friends come and good food. It was a great night!
Happy birthday Sweet heart!