Holiday Pictures

I can't believe I forgot to blog these pictures last year! Mom really wanted to have pictures of the whole family, especially since Grandpa's terrible health problems last summer and fall. Larry was kind enough to take photos of all of us for Mom but I forgot to get the pictures from her. We hardly ever have professional pictures taken and so, these ones being pretty good of us, I'm surprised it took me so long to blog them.

More LEGO creations

Collin loves LEGO's. This is his latest build. He especially loves the catapults and crossbows with this castle. He had been saving his money for this one and then spent the afternoon in his room putting the 963 pieces together.

School Halloween Parade

Would you believe I didn't get pictures of the kids in their costumes on Halloween?!! It was a horrible night, weather-wise, and it was a timing game as to when the kids would go trick-or-treating. Rather than waiting for it to get really dark, when there was a little break in the rain and sleet, Jay hurried and took the kids out, even though it was at dusk. I was going to get pictures of them when they got back but the second they returned, they quickly took off their soaking-wet costumes and begged for hot chocolate. So thanks, Nana, for sharing your picture of Papa and the kids.

Jay and the kids ended up staying out for over an hour and though we didn't get nearly as many trick-or-treaters this year at our house, our kids came back with more candy than I have ever seen! I think everyone was just dumping handfuls of candy in the trick or treat bags. I was doing the same but only used 1/4 of the candy we bought.

We tried to bribe the kids to sell us their bags of candy, especially after the big denist bill for Collin's three cavities, yes THREE! Collin, sold us his candy for $15 but Sydney wouldn't even think about it. Collin is also trying to go the whole month without candy. If he can survive the month he'll get $10 more. I'm proud of him.

This is the kid's school Halloween parade... I got to go since I was sick (wink, wink).

Prowler?

The other evening while getting ready for bed, we heard a really loud noise. It was coming from the outside wall near where Jay was reading in the living room and it sounded like the siding was being ripped off of our house or like someone had taken a hacksaw to it. It lasted for quite a while, too, so we were all pretty freaked out by it.

The first think we did is get the kids upstairs. I grabbed the metal baseball bat, Jay found a flashlight and we tip-toed outside to take a peak. We thought someone must be playing a prank on us but because it was so dark, we couldn't see anything.

Jay went and got his car, drove it up on the lawn and shined the headlights on the side of the house to see if we could see anything more. We discovered that our window-well cover had been ripped apart. It is hard to imagine how anyone could just physically break it to pieces. The plastic is so thick and it was screwed into the metal part of the window-well, too. We couldn't figure out why someone would be messing around with us since we were visibly home - all the lights were still on in the house.

We decided to call the cops to be safe. We reported that we suspected a prowler in our yard and waited for 15 minutes (good thing we weren't being murdered). In the mean time, we tried to calm the kids down a bit. When the officer finally showed up, Jay went out with her and showed her the damage. She and Jay inspected the whole yard with her (much more adequate) flashlight and while looking around, decided to shine the light down the hill. When they did that, guess what they saw? Yep, you guessed it. A couple of deer!

Jay ran in to check with me to see if, by chance, the deer enjoy eating the bush near the window. Sure enough, they do. A deer must have been munching on the bush while standing on the cover and fell through. It made such a loud racket that we suspect it must have been having a hard time getting out of the window well. No blood, though, so the poor thing will survive.

We were pretty embarrassed that we called the police but felt relieved that it wasn't any real problem. Our neighborhood has always been quiet and safe and we were glad that it continues to be.

Looking at the damage the next day, we were surprised that the deer didn't end up kicking out the window too.

Thanksgiving Point and Cornbelly's

To celebrate the wonderful autumn weather we were having, we headed down to Thanksgiving Point's Cornbelly's Fall Festival.

Sydney with Cinderella in her pumpkin carriage?

You can just tell that Jay's favorite part of any fall festival is the corn maze. Actually, this is his second favorite part. His very favorite activity was the hayride where we were all crammed into a old hay wagon and couldn't find any bails of hay to sit on. We had to sit on the floor of the wagon with the rail hitting out backs every bump we went over. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of that!

Maybe Jay had fun after all?

Awesome tower of carved pumpkins lit up.

Beautiful sunset.

Sydney and Collin just had to try climbing the wall. They have done this before but not for a while so we let them have a go. Sydney nearly touched the top. Collin made it pretty far, too.

I did make it to the top. I'm glad Jay's comment about the nice "moon shot" was really about the moon.

Our kids are so far-removed from the farm/ranch life of their great-grandparents. They loved playing at it, though.


For some reason, racing rubber duckies was one of the kid's favorites.

A little cabin filled with corn kernels. The kids loved rolling around in it and stuffing their shirts with it too.

Space Derby

The Cub Scouts Space Derby. What can I say? What Jay and I don't know about building cars and space crafts is a lot. It's a good thing the boys are supposed to do all the work themselves, under adult supervision. The thing is, when we got to the derby, it became obvious that some of the dads had made this their little pet project for the last couple of weeks. The paint jobs alone - it looked like they had been taken to a professional body shop!

Funny thing is, Collin ended up having a couple of really good runs despite much of this kind of "parental supervision". He didn't come close to winning but his space craft did, though I don't know exactly how it happened, get voted as the "Best Looking" space craft. All I can say is, you should see them all up close and judge for yourselves. Sydney got the support of all of her friends and so did Collin and I think that in the end, a lot of the adults ended up voting for a space craft that actually looked like it had been done by a kid.

Good job, Collin! He did an awesome job!

en memorium

A couple of weeks ago, Sydney went and got her little hamster, Sunny, out of its cage. She wanted to play with it a little while before bed. When she pulled her out, the hamster was shaking and was not moving much. Knowing that something was really wrong, Sydney carefully put her back in her cage and made sure she had fresh food and water.

I knew the inevitable was going to happen over night. I really hoped it wouldn't but worried all night anyway. I couldn't sleep knowing that if Sydney's little hamster didn't make it, we were all in for a really rough morning.

Sunny, as suspected, didn't make it. Syd got up early to check on her and, unfortunately, found her just where she had left her. Sydney was heart-broken and sobbed all morning. One of the hardest things to do as a parent is to have to take your kid to school, knowing they are going to have a rough day. I wish I could have stayed home with her instead but I knew she would be okay.

Syd carrying Sunny around the house. This hamster was the friendliest little guy!