Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween, all! We have big plans today, I hope you do too.

First, here's a Halloween card from Morgan. That's a happy monster there. Haha! Some of you should be getting one of these in the mail. Sabrina, you didn't send me your address, so this is what you missed! I used some old product from my stash, which was great.

Lastly is a photo of Morgan and her class at their Halloween party. This was the best I could do, because in my later photos Sarah's butterfly wings are in Morgan's face, and the little guy on his Mommy's lap had a fit and wouldn't sit int he photo. There are two sets of twins at this school, boys, which is very cool, and two very awesome teachers, which is so great. Morgan is standing next to Mrs Rau on the left. It was a very fun party. I just love this stuff!

Have a great day!

Happy Birthday Aunt Alyca!

We are making dinner and I look over to see all of our kitchen towels arranged over the drawers. I commented to Morgan about her beautiful display, and she said it was Aunt Alyca's birthday present.... she thinks it would look really good on her drawers.



So. Happy Birthday Aunt Alyca! More gifts for you from Morgan.

In Memorium

Of course he didn't show up until after we all got home.... Morgan said, "What's that! It sounds like a firecracker!"... and now I am nauseous. We are watching the Lion King now, as a distraction from the windows and doors.. and I'm listening to the whole "Circle of Life" song.... and trying not to barf. Oy. I probably should have picked out something else.

To Snowflake and Applesauce, our two sweet boys. Thank you for your time on our farm. Thank you for humoring my girls so that they could scratch your noses and talk to you in the yard. Near the end when we were grain feeding you to supplement, you always made me smile when you'd start mooing for your treat the minute I opened the door, even if it was only to put a diaper in the pail. It always cracked me up. Snowflake... our Donald Trump lookalike with your hair piece blowing in the wind. Applesauce, our more reserved yet still friendly friend. Thank you.

fa lalalalalal

Humor me as I distract myself. Snowflake and Applesauce have a visit scheduled with their maker in about 20 minutes.... I was on the phone with Alyca and accidentally witnessed Moo and MOO MOO Moo last year and I didn't even like those cows but still shed a few tears. S and A are much sweeter and cuter, so they will be missed. Morgan is at school right now and PJ is down for a nap, so I'll just shut all the curtains and do my thing.... but I'll still here the POP POP! Ack. I like beef so I'm fine with it... but they were still sweet boys.

Next year we hope to get a couple of piggies so I'm going to have to get used to this sort of thing!

We are also thinking about getting a couple of bunnies. We can't have cats because Steve is allergic, but maybe with a couple of flopsy and mopsies the kids will still have a fun pet. We can make them a little house outside and then let the kids run them around the yard... it's a thought. At first I was against it because they live for 18+ years and I didn't want to still be babysitting their pets when the girls are off to college, but then again, with empty next syndrome, it might be nice to have something around here to snuggle! So we are thinking about it. What else do you do when you live on a tiny farm?

On an even better note.... I have it on good authority that Costco bought a ranch down the road by the reindeer ranch. That's a Costco within 2 miles of my house! And you know retail likes to follow.... so it'll be awesome to have some space, some peace and quiet, a couple of cows, a pig and a bunny if we want one.... and then take 5 minutes to get where I want to go. LOVE that. Can't wait!

C'mon already, Mister Meat Man! Let's get this overwith! You had better not be out there with my boys when I have to pack PJ out to the car to go pick Morgan up! ACK!

Another year at the patch!

A butterfly fairy, skunk, Ariel, and then a monkey, a butterfly, and little flounder !

A butterfly fairy and her monkey!

One, two, three, four, five, SIX girls. Whoa.

I love this view

Would you like an ear of corn?

Pirate Morgan. AAarrrrgggh.

The corn maze was a pirate ship, and Krysta walked the plank! Morgan didn't want to do it. It was a little high and I'm surprised Krysta did it! She did it twice! Rylee wouldn't do it either.

The visit to the patch would not be complete without a ride on the zoo train. Morgan picked the animal. Because of the time of our visit, by the end of the journey, PJ was pooped, so in her mouth went the binkie. She really did a great job, though.

Steve, pretending to defy hunger and enjoy big crowds. Apparently yesterday they had 4000 people! Egads! It was the perfect weekend for it, though.

Had a blast at the pumpkin patch again this year! The weather was awesome! I'd say it was 70 degrees.... perfect. We have always lucked out with fabulous weather, which is amazing considering we scheduled our trip with friends several weeks ago, knowing this was the only weekend day we all would be able to go. Lucky us!

The theme was a pirate's ship which was loads of fun. We checked out the petting zoo, walked the maze, played on the hay fort, took a ride on the train, checked out the pumpkin patch.... and then finished up at Pappy's Pizza. A super fun family day! I always look forward to the patch because that means the beginning of the fall/winter parties and gatherings.

Fiero update

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80073304

I think I want 4. I’d order it but this isn’t available for online purchase.

http://www.containerstore.com/browse/Product.jhtml?CATID=74126&PRODID=70412&referringCategory=77704

I’m also looking at that… the 26 drawers. I want them for all my alphas but then I thought that they’d be great for stamps, primas, etc., ….. actually, just writing all that out made me want the Ikea containers more. Maybe 5 now.

I get the room with the big tank in it! We are in the process of taking that big tank out right now. Steve called and even if we did want to continue with solar heat, which we will probably want to utilize a little bit, nowadays they use an 80 gallon tank. This big tank is 800 gallons. Um. Don’t need it. So a friend who has 5 acres down the road and no irrigation wants to take that big ‘ole tank and bury it in his yard, to use as a holding tank for water. Fine by us! Anyway…. The room is 13x14. Oh. Yah. And I’m going to put a big island in it so that I can stand to scrap, and also a desk so I can sit to scrap. It’s going to be big enough to invite people over! Even clients if I want to… and they won’t be going through my whole house to get there. They will come in through the exterior door downstairs… the mudroom. We are also in the process of taking out that garage door and putting a window in it’s place. All of this needs to be done before we can carpet the rest. Yes. Another setback to living downstairs, but I’m actually seeing progress and Steve has been rejuvenated in our remodel needs. It’s all good!



Let's see.... we finally got the keys for the house in Prineville. There were some things that needed fixed before we could go through with the whole purchase which is why it has taken so long. After Steve gets home from elk season the guys are going to go over and fix a few things, and then we'll throw it back on the market. Easy peasy! And no, I don't have any pictures. I haven't even seen it yet. I don't think Steve has either.



We also got renters in our other house. There was a small snafu and the guy who was going to rent the place backed out at the last possible moment, so it took a couple of weeks to get it back in the papers and applications processed, etc. But the renters that are in it now have plans to stay for a year, which is fine.



Mmmmm.... I've been busy scrapping. I have a really cute 6x12 album class on the 23rd, so I have been busy finishing that up to take to the store to show as an example. I'm also going to work on a class for December. I think I'm going to list this album class again in November because I do think it's a great idea. The theme revolves around this quote:


It's not houses I love, it's the life I live in them. - Coco Chanel


Very cool. Perfect for me. I always complain about how ugly this house is, but it really has given me a lot of great memories, and in the end, it is my dream house. So I need to appreciate what it has allowed me to experience. .... you know, the parties we've held here, Payton was born here, learned to walk, had her first birthday, Steve became a true cowboy because of this house, etc. etc. Very cool.


And finally, after almost 4 years I've started taking better care of myself again. I went to a salon yesterday and had my hair cut and a partial weave. Felt so good! Since Morgan was born, I've just raced to Great Clips and done that route. Crazy, because before she was born I was religiously headed to my salon every 8 weeks. My hair stylist actually came to the hospital to meet Morgan! So it's nice to get back into that groove.


I'll leave you with a picture of Morgan and Payton. She threw her comforter over the computer so I asked her if she was making a fort:

M: No, it's not a fort. It's a club.
Me: It's is? What's the name of your club?
M: Country.
Me: It's the Country Club?
M: Yes.

Silly girls.