Pumpkin Patch, Harvest Carnival, and Halloween Prep

Miri and a friend from school, having fun in their annual pumpkin patch visit.

Picking a doozie.

Bean bag toss at the Harvest Carnival at Aleaha's school.

Whack-a-Ghost, such fun!

Aleaha loved it too....until she broke the whacking stick. Woops! Kid doesn't know her own strength....

Face painting is always a hit.

Fantastic miniature Snow White.

She was very happy with her horse.

They earned a bunch of trinkets, including these awful things. Uck.

Here's proof that I really did let them work on their own pumpkins.

Pumpkin guts. Yum! (well, it is for the piggies, anyway!)

Aleaha was disappointed that hers (on the left) didn't look as "funny" as she was picturing in her mind. Ah, not the last time the dissonance between one's vision and one's reality will cause trouble.

Fall Visit to the Mountains

We made a fast trip to EO to pick up a new horse (more on that soon!), so we have a few pics to share. We ate twice at Rooster's, which proved to work out great - got in and out with a trailer, they were open when we needed them (can't say the same for McDonald's! grrrr), and the food was tasty and reasonably priced. So it all worked out. Traveling with hungry kiddos is a challenge, so we need good rest breaks!

GrammaBon got them new R-Up sweatshirts, which were immediately put to good use! The weather was amazing....crisp, chilly mornings, but the bright sun warmed things up. Of course, I made them look directly into the sun for the picture, so all you see are squinty-faces.

This was a big curiosity we saw on one of our walks. It's a toadstool mushroom, upside down, nestled in the branch of a tree. WHT? GrammaBon releaved that the elk are known to toss them around like playthings! Totally makes sense....horses have similar play too.

A group of 5 wild turkeys turn up each evening, and they were right on schedule! GrammaBon had just mused that it was about time for the gobblers to show up, and about 2 minutes later, they paraded through the yard and into the meadow on their evening route.

The weather began to turn, and Sunday night brought a dip in the temp. Monday morning there was a dusting of snow! (photos courtesy GrammaBon)

What a nice trip it was!

Domestic Divas

Miri looooooooves "psketti and meatballs"....so in order to fulfill her request for a weeknight indulgence, she agreed to help make the meatballs. (Mommy loves having another trained-up sous chef! And check out the fancy dress and necklace. You'll see a theme with these girls....)

And Aleaha was an outstanding helper to get ready for the Tea Party -- she mopped the floor! Lemme tell ya, this was not an easy job. She did great, and we were done just in time. (Gotta love a girl who can get the mopping done AND keep her dress nice for the party....lookout June Cleaver, she's one pearl strand away from showing you up!)

Let's Have a Spot of Tea

We took a quick opportunity for a tea with Gramma Patty and Holly recently.The girls dressed up and learned a little bit about required manners....more training is required.

It's always so fun to bring out the pretty things and have a few delights.

Must do this more often!

Critter Update

Daddy put up a nice barnyard light. (THANK YOU!! )Weensie, Teensie, and MamaLlama helped, of course. That's Weensie there, right behind Daddy...."I got yer back, man. And if anything yummy drops out of our pockets, I promise to take care of it." They nearly went up the ladder after him.

The eternally curious horses had to be cordoned off to the other end of the barnyard and kept busy, lest they try to climb that ladder too.

And not to be left out, here are the pigs, enjoying bags and bags of "egg-corns" (acorns) that Aleaha and Miri had gathered. Yum! (They aren't the Seven Dwarfs anymore!)

Cats, Cats, Everywhere

 I haven't blogged much about it, but that one little gray kitty who walked on the scene turned into three little kitties! The gray kitten who appeared one day in August seemed to replicate itself, when "another Smokey" appeared alongside him the next week! She was named "Cinder," and pink and blue collars will quickly used to help us tell the difference. And then, while on the four-wheeler one evening, Chris saw another cat down near the highway ditch. Oh no! Clearly, he was a brother, and they were happy to all be united again. He became "Black Jack", or just Jack. They are quite the team.    

They sleep together, but Jack is especially mischievious.

I was trying to get them all to look at me for a picture, so I was making kissing noises. A nanosecond after this picture, Jack had jumped  up on my shoulder!

Smokey caught a snake. You gotta make your own fun 'round these parts. (Now, I would have prefered that he caught a mouse....)

In the car

We needed to take a car trip, and we negotiated that Miri would take a nap in the car. She complied! It wasn't a long nap, but it was helpful.

Her vampire sister had a bad case of The Sillies that day.

A Lovely, Too-Short Summer

It's time to say good-bye to our nice weather and batten down the hatches for winter. We still have many chores and projects left to do outside to be ready, and it's sometimes hard to look up and see the beauty that's right in front of us. Last night's sunset and "fingernail moon" was a great reminder.

Silliness

Dancing kiddos. Self-enternainment in Home Depot.

Out of the fog

Caught the fog, just as it was being cleared away by Mother Nature.

Miss Aleaha Update

She lost the second upper middle tooth, so she's now totally a gap-toothed, stringy-haired, hillbilly kid!

Fortunately, her lost teeth haven't impacted her ability to eat (she was already picky to begin with), or take spelling tests, or practice the piano. So, her other current hobbies are not threatened.

Miss Miri Update

Helping stomp down the cardboard recycling (apparently silly grins help the process).

Having fun with bestie Emily at school.

She has rediscovered her loved RaggedyAnn dolly. Hooray for Raggedies!! (And thank you again to my Godmother, Trudy, for these amazing, hand-made, personalized gifts!)

Thank Heavens she is still napping....such sweetness when she slumbers. (If only it lasted longer!)

 

Helpful Girls

We made beef stew on a weeknight ....possibly only with help from expert soud chefs who are able to yield certain kitchn tools safely. Hooray for the help!