hApPy HaLlOwEen!!!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

from

Rick.....

Just in case you are brave enough to click on this picture to enlarge it, there is an explanation!!! We have onery friends, and that is all I am going to say about that!!!!

CAREY TROUT AND SHANNA MURRAY!!!!!

Mandy.....

Momma, what yellow, rotting teeth you have?

And what a strange, scary expression!!!

Ryan.....

Ryan shot his biggest buck ever this morning. It scored 144 (for those who know what that means). For others, bear with me. If I hadn't married a deer hunter, I wouldn't know what it meant either. Trust me, for a 13 year old, it's a good score. I will write more about this Monday. Some funny stuff to share.

Ian.....

Ian also shot a deer this morning. A large doe. I have no pictures of it to share yet. I promise to get them up first thing Monday morning.

and Gracie Poo......

Decked out as a pirate for her school party yesterday.

Red Velvet cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting. Decorated by Gracie and her mommy (and Martha Stewart).

Oh, my sweet tooth is wanting one!!!!!

I hope that your night was filled with fun and chocolate.

Pumpkin Guts

Our annual pumpkin carving night was a tremendous success! After dinner, we brought out all the tools. Each of us had a large mixing bowl to collect the innards. Over the years we have accumulated quite a collection of sculpting equipment. Including a dremel tool made especially for pumpkin carving. This year, for some reason, we stuck to the small saws. Less IS best sometimes.

The hardest and messiest part is getting the "guts" out of the pumpkin. I do not like my hands icky and neither do the monkeys. I guess it is a necessary evil to create our masterpieces. All kinds of noises were made during this step. "Gross"......"Ewwwww"........"Uggghhh"!

Ryan was feeling overwhelmed by the mounds of homework that he had. So, he chose not to carve this year. I only agreed to this if he sat at the kitchen table so we could visit. The TV was off, bellies full from dinner, hot chocolate in mugs, and the family gathered. All in all, a good night.

This kid ended up doing homework ALL evening. Algebra (it's a bad word in my opinion) Thanks goodness my husband is a smartie. I hate math to the 10th power!!!!!! SQUARED!!!!

Except for a small amount of help scooping out the insides, Gracie carved this pumpkin 100% on her own. She wanted a cat. Her finished product was darling. I was so proud of her.

Ian's is on the left. Mine is on the right. I think they turned out well for amateurs, don't you?

This was Gracie's. Can you see the cat's head. The swirly thing is the tail. Cute, eh?

We always go to Grandma and Grandpa's to trick or treat their neighborhood. I thought this year we would put our pumpkins on their front step. That is one disadvantage to living in the country.....no trick or treaters!! Besides that, Grandma usually makes us delicious soup to eat while we are there. (I'm raising my hand) You can count me in!!!!

Have a great weekend. It's a busy one for us. Opening weekend of Youth deer season, Ryan's final baseball games, and of course, Halloween!!!!!

gloomy days

It is gloomy, gloomy out. I'm talkin', the kinda day you need the lights on. When I took the kids to the bus this morning, the heavens were cracking!!! It just seemed that way. We saw one mighty fine lighting storm. It's ironic because Rick and I watched "Storm Chasers" last night and it sort of made me miss our Spring thunderstorms.

I'm trying to keep myself motivated today. {Gloomy days are glorious sleeping and reading days}. I just can't though. I must keep pluggin' on.

Our family has plans to carve pumpkins this evening. Last year we did it OUTSIDE on the sidewalk. But since it's rainy and wet, I'm sure that it's going to be moved indoors. Oh....the mess!!! Already dreading it.

Speaking of mess, I created one in the kitchen this morning. I found a super recipe for Pumpkin Play dough on a blog (click on it) the other day. I have been itching to try it. Why not? Here is what I came up with.

I am going to give you the recipe. I want you to remember though........ I added ingredients here and there. It was originally a little sticky. So I added a little more flour and salt. You may have to play with it some. We all know what Play-doh feels like. Well, that's the consistency you want. Not too hard, not too soft.

To make these pumpkins I formed little Play dough balls. I used a tooth-pick to make lines in the sides. Then I cut leaves from our mums. Picked up a few pieces of mulch from the garden. Then placed them in the top. Super easy peasy!!!!

Pumpkin' Play dough

1 3/4 cups of flour

1/2 cups of salt

2 tsp. cream of tartar (what is cream of tartar exactly....just wondering?)

2 Tbs oil

2 Tbs pumpkin pie spice

1 cup water (warm is best)

orange food coloring (I used Wilton paste but any will work)

Mix all ingredients together. If it's sticky, add small amounts of salt and flour until it's the right consistency. If it's too hard.....I don't know. That didn't happen to me. Maybe try more water and oil? Beats me.

I put the Play dough in zip-lock bags so it wouldn't dry out.

You may be getting tired of these puppy pictures, but I cannot help myself. The vet said that their eyes should open this week.

I call this one Boo-Boo. Rick thinks that's a crazy name. It just came to me though. To me, he is Boo-Boo. You can call him whatever you want.

This reminds me of when Gracie was a newborn. She would fuss in her car seat. I couldn't reach her, nor should I have, since I was driving. I was also nursing, so a bottle was out of the question. Instead, Ryan would pop his finger in her mouth. As I'm thinking of this now, I'm wondering, were his fingers clean? It didn't matter then. I was in survival mode. The finger worked so the finger it was. Ryan, you're a good big brother.

And Jesse, you're a good mother.

Yes you!!!!

The pups always look so content after their meals. Ahhhh, full bellies, warm kennel mates, life is good.

Real good.

I love these critters!!!!

My Pet Peeves

Wanna know what makes me blow my gasket? The things that make me stark-raving mad?

Look, just look at this........

Why?

Lordy-me, Lordy, Lordy, Lordy-me!!!!

Seriously!!!!!!

This is a spare bed! When their beds look like the above photos, they move to this one. Better yet, there is another spare bed in the basement. They also have been known to destroy it!!!!

Monkeys, come here!!! NOW! OK, gather around while I tell you something very, very important.

Messiness drives your mother crazy! It makes my hair turn grey and my eyes bug out!!!! You know that look that I get sometimes. We don't want mommy to look that way, do we? No!!!! So, I have a simple solution. One that will make momma have happy looks and a calm voice. MAKE YOU BEDS! It's really not that hard. It takes about 3 or 4 minutes tops. 5 if you want to make it look especially fancy. With throw pillows and no wrinkles. That's all I ask of you........today.

Ahhh, the corners of my mouth are starting to pull upwards. Yes, it's official, I'm smiling. Why, you're wondering? Well, my friends, look below.

Oh, I do declare!!!

It's happiness in a soft cushy rectangle.

With puffed up pillows and......

Strange magical powers.

GRRRRRRRR........

Well, I'm itchin' to get this Halloween stuff OUT OF MY HOUSE!!! Halloween is Saturday. The stuff is going in tubs Monday. I would do it Sunday but Ryan has his very last baseball game that day. I'm pulling out lots of silver, pastels, and crystal. That's what I love for Christmas. Soft, soft, soft look.

I like this............

This.......

These......

and this.....

and (Rick close your eyes) this.......

I only like this because I am a fan of the books and movie. (cough, cough, ahem)

My baby is participating in RED RIBBON WEEK. What does that mean? It means the school is "Stamping Out Drugs". Heck yeah, we are participating!!!!

Monday: Don't be a slug...stay away from drugs. Wear pajamas. Gracie wore these....

Tuesday: Don't let drugs defeat...be an athlete. Wear sports apparel of any sort. Gracie REALLY wanted to be a cheerleader. We, regretfully, don't own a cheerleading uniform. So, she was a MU Tiger. Grrrrrrr!

Hear me roar!!

Wednesday: Each class picks a color. Gracie's class picked RED.

Thursday: Red and black...drug free attack. Wear red/black/hornets for football game

Then, the topper to the cupcake.....

Friday: Halloween!!!!!

I'm not going to spoil your surprise, however, they have a themed party. Which means....everyone HAS to be a pirate. You know, as well as I do, that Gracie and I are going to take this to the next level. But we aren't too excited about being a pirate!!!!! (poo)

Ian dressing up is day to day. Depending on what friend he talked to last and what they are doing. I would love to squeak one more Halloween out of him.

UPDATE:

Ryan is still home sick. He seems a little better but sounds awful. He hasn't lost his appetite, of course. And he hasn't showered in days. I suggested that might one might make him feel better. But, what do I know.

Puppies are doing much better. They are changing by leaps and bounds. Poor Jesse Jane is getting beat to death while they are trying to nurse. They are much more aggressive than a few days ago.

Catching you up

The flu bug has bit my red-head. He is missing his first day of school today. He is torn-up about it, I'm sure!!!

A diet of Motrin, applesauce and toast are in his future.

I'm sure he thinks that I'm a freak for sneaking up to his room and taking his picture this morning. Weirdo mom!!!

9 times out of 10, if someone has "good" news, it's usually accompanied by "bad" news. (that is my own statistic by the way. Based on 34 years of life and a "glass half empty personality").

So, the good news was that we have at least four happy and healthy puppies. The bad news, we have one who is a little less than happy and healthy and one who went to puppy heaven.

Thursday evening we noticed that one of our apricot females was under the weather. She was weak, cold and wouldn't eat. Rick and I were in panic mode. We brought her in the house. Wrapped her in some heated cloth and placed her in a box. This revived her some. We took her outside that night to nurse from momma. She fed and seemed like a happier pup. All was well the next morning. She still looked smaller than the rest but was plugging along. Saturday morning was a different story. She was, if possible, worse looking than the first time she was ill. Rick rushed her to the vet and he came home with a tube and syringe. This was how we were going to feed her.

I was on my way to Liberty for baseball practice when I got a text from Ian. "One of our puppies died". A lump rose in my throat and I felt sick to my stomach.

We have another who has been under the weather. We have been tube feeding it at least three times a day since Saturday. The others get bottles three or four times a day. The excitement from having new babies at our house has worn off, exhaustion (mental and physical) has set in. I worry about them constantly. I tube fed the baby last night for the first time. This responsibility has been left to Rick for the past couple days. Since he in on call tonight.....and the puppy HAS to be fed, I have no choice but to do it. I'm not sure why, but it gags me. I'm hoping that we are able to save it.

Wowser, I've been somewhat of a downer!!! Sorry.

These pictures might lighten my mood up some. It's their 1 week photos!!!!

Gracie loves holding the babies. She has a little trouble holding still though. It makes Jesse Jane nervous beyond nervous! So Grace gets to come in after the feedings.

I love how they are always piled on top of each other. My kids are never this close to each other. If they are, it's because there is a fight!

You are able to tell now the difference in colors. The two in the center are fawn. The one on the left and the two on the right are apricots. The fawns are both males and you can tell they are going to be massive!!! Thick necks and heads. I hope someone I know buys one of them so I can watch them grow.

Rick is a A+ bottle feeder!!! He took the first feedings of the morning so I wouldn't have to wake up so early. Isn't he precious!!! We did the night feedings together and I must say, we are very efficient. Parenting......I tell ya!!!!! (sigh)

Oh my goodness! Funny story alert!

We arrived at Ryan's game yesterday a little later than normal. Oh......15 minutes, or so. Not too bad, eh? We had 45 minutes until game time. By the time we arrived to the field with all our folding chairs, blankets, cameras, drinks, ETC., it was 30 minutes till game time. Ryan was visiting with other teammates while his coaches had puzzled looks on their faces. We had the wrong field!!! The right field was on the other side of the park. Oh jeez! So, we packed up the kiddos in the car again. Along with the chairs, blankets, camera, drinks, ETC. and drove to where we were supposed to be.

This is where we noticed our next problem. We only had 6 players. We needed 8. Without 8 we would have to forfeit the games. So.....guess who had to suit up. Our very own Ian Michael and another "little brother"! Awww....doesn't he look wonderful in pinstripes! As he was walking to the field, he said.."Mom, this is horrible!!!" Don't worry, we bribed him. Dinner of his choice! To him, that was worth it!!! To think.....I never thought I would see Ian in a baseball uniform again. Goes to show ya, never say never!!

Ryan pitched a no-hitter the second game.

One more week till baseball is done. Sometimes that's a good thing, sometimes it's not.

I'm going to miss the new friends that I have made. I'm going to miss the game.

I'm not going to miss the driving.