Pumpkin carvings

This past Saturday we (Daddy) carved the kids pumpkins. He actually went and bought a Dremel pumpkin carving tool. Seemed to make things a lot easier and quicker. K actually helped dig the guts out; C did not "want to touch that stuff." Oh the difference in my kids. I actually tried to toast the pumpkin seeds too. They didn't taste bad but for some reason really upset my stomach. C wanted a football helmet or the NFL logo. He settled for the Colts horseshoe. Simple but I think it turned out really good. K picked Cinderella. I think she's cute. A fun but messy project.

School in the bathroom?

Today proved to be an interesting day. Daddy called me a few minutes after he left work and told me to check the weather. There was a huge storm headed our way; complete with high winds, lots of rain, and possible tornadoes. Great. Once I got up and saw how bad the storms looked, I decided to set up camp in our tornado room--our very small half bathroom downstairs. But I didn't want the kids to start school late. So I decided to have them do school, sitting in the bathroom, waiting the storm out. Of course they thought it was kinda cool. Thankfully, we didn't have to sit in there long--maybe 45 minutes. And thankfully it was all needless work; we are all safe and sound.After the storm was all done (it was lightly raining), I happened to look out the front door. I saw a lady with a long stick and a tub turned upside down--on something. So we went out to investigate. Turns out that she had trapped a snapping turtle. TURNS OUT HE LIVES IN MY POND! She was trying to get him out of the road so no one would approach this mean turtle and come away missing a finger. This lady had caught this same turtle before and knew how mean he was In the end, she took him with her and was going to have her son release him somewhere else so we wouldn't have to worry about him again. Check out the video of him snapping at the stick. Scary stuff.

Collages

Daddy has had so much fun with his new camera lately. He's also had fun with the picture software on his business computer. Here is the end result of all such fun. Good job Daddy!

Pumpkin Cheesecake

And yes, I made it. For those of you who fell on the floor after reading that, you may get up now. I usually don't cook or bake. But I wanted something pumpkin. And this was fairly easy. We ate some before it chilled completely. Definitely needed to chill more. And could use more pumpkin. Not an overly strong pumpkin flavor. But still very yummy! I'm pretty proud of myself.

PS: Must give kudos. I used my sister's recipe.

K's songs

K loves to sing. And she loves to make up songs. Here are 2 videos of her new songs--her debut. The picture quality is horrible: I put the camera on the counter so she hopefully wouldn't know I was taping her. As you can see in the one video, she figured it out. But she sang anyways. The other video is just as much to show off her OCD (all the letters laid out) as it is for her song. Disclaimer: Sorry. These are not yet available on iTunes.

Pumpkin Patch

The day of my birthday we were going to go to the apple orchard just down the street. But the kids weren't very cooperative, so we skipped it that day. Instead, we met Daddy there one night after he got after work. There are always some beautiful places to take pictures there. In fact, we saw a professional photographer there taking pictures (with a really really nice camera) of a family. Anyways. All that to say, Daddy was able to get some really good pictures of the kiddies while we were there.

Before we met him there, the kids and I stopped along side the rode where there was a beautiful tree. I love, love, love this picture that I got of the kids. As Daddy said "only thing that would have made it better was if they were holding hands."

Tooth update

Or is it teeth update?

C has lost his 2nd tooth. Bottom middle 2. And you can see the adult tooth very much coming through. He says he has another on top that's getting ready to come out. We shall see.

Note to self: must pay the boy for the second tooth.

Indiana State Fair 2010

This year at the state fair was "the year of the big." At least that's my version. The technical version was "the year of the pig." There was a huge (25 feet) sculpture of the famous "American Gothic" by Grant Wood. I thought this was pretty awesome. This year we bought $15 unlimited ride wrist bands for the kids. Best $30 we spent at the fair. They totally got their money's worth. This was their favorite "ride." It's actually just a giant slide. I couldn't even begin to count how many times--in a row--they did that thing.

The "bee ride."

This was an "Indiana Jones" obstacle course. The first time through, K got scared and we thought we were going to have to go after her. But big brother C came through and helped her out. Sometimes................

C was more than willing to sit with this bear and pretend he was scared. K was not so willing. So Daddy sat with her. He's scared; she's sucking her thumb. (at least Daddy wasn't sucking his thumb)

This was a huge sand castle. Again--the year of "the big."

This entire thing was made of cheese! That's a lot of cheese. K would have been in heaven.

The kids loved these horses! C's horse actually "cried" (aka: whinnied) when C left. So cute. But I'll take a dog; thank you very much. Not a horse.
Isn't Ham cute? All made out of cans. Oh the patience of the people who made this!

A huge! pumpkin carved to match the "Gothic" people.

The over sized cow and container of ice cream.

Not sure why C wanted to take his glasses off. And I love how K's face is all scrunched up.

Playing in the rain

One day this summer, it started raining while the kids were outside playing. Since it wasn't a thunder/lightning rain, I told them they could stay outside and play in the rain. At first they looked at me like I was crazy. But then they got the hang of it pretty quick. And they had a blast.

Kids at work?

Back in August, Daddy's work had a "bring your kid to work" day. C was the only one old enough to go. Daddy was asked by his work to take pictures so I was able to get some good pictures of my kiddies. Pays to know the photographer.

I'm not sure what all they did--cuz I wasn't there. I know they took a tour, did some experiments, looked in a microscope, looked at the germs on their hands, and ate lunch. C had so much fun. He didn't want to come home. K is already looking forward to when she is old enough to go.

Fall soccer season 2010

C's soccer season has ended. It's hard to believe it's over. It seems like it went really fast. He played 10 games. But poor guy (team), they didn't win any. Well if you ask him, he says he tied some, but I don't remember that. Either way, I can safely say that he didn't win any. He played so well though! He made many goals. After the first practice, his coach asked Daddy "He says he's never played. That's not true is it?" The only playing he ever did was with Daddy in the backyard. It was so much fun to watch him. At the last game, the coach (very unceremoniously) handed out medals.

Next year, Daddy will be taking C's "professional pictures" I think this is an awesome picture and it didn't cost me $40!

This is the coach and the coach's son.

C's next to last game (last Saturday morning) it POURED! We haven't had rain in over 2 1/2 months and it decides to rain during his game. Two weeks before it had sprinkled overnight and they cancelled his game. But this--this they made them play in.

Doesn't he just look cold and wet and miserable? Poor guy. K and I sat in the car. Daddy was under the umbrella. C played all 4 quarters. When he got to the car, I wrapped him up in a blanket. He got home and took a hot shower and then ate a hot meal and drank some hot cocoa. Thankfully he didn't get sick.

Daddy took most of C's soccer pictures with our new camera. We had over 150 pictures to look through. They were all so good and I could have posted so many more. But I've spared you. You're welcome.