One more bit of pumpkin news....

We surprised the kids on Halloween with news of our own little 13 week pumpkin! The picture below is funny because the emotion in each of their faces says a lot. Sela told us she had been praying for a baby for a long time. Nina is so excited and wants to hold it first (if it's a girl) and Rollin isn't too sure what to think. Thinking of him not being my baby in six months leaves me a bit melancholy, but I think he'll love a little sibling. We shall see!

Halloween Fun

Our traditional Halloween meal is usually chili and cornbread but I just made chili last weekend for our church fall festival and I was not ready for chili again.

Then I saw Darcie's skeleton picture and just had to make it! I had so much fun with it! I first thought I'd do it because it was sooo simple. Then I got a little bee in my bonnet and decided to try a new spaghetti and meat sauce recipe. And wouldn't homemade breadsticks be good?! I used my regular bread recipe and the sticks worked out great and they looked like bones because they were knobby on the ends. I haven't made spaghetti sauce with meat, well ever! My energy has been low and I had my blood checked and found my iron levels to be very low. I'm trying to eat a little red meat to play catch-up and it wasn't so bad! It was actually very yummy! I kept the kids out of the kitchen and then brought them in for the big "reveal!" We had fun eating the intestines, bones and fingers and toes!

After dinner, we were off for the highly anticipated trick-or-treat. We all went and Zig even picked up a bay cow along the way (little Michael). It was a fantastic night and we bumped into lots of families we knew. Rollin was a greedy little goblin going in for triple dips. I was mortified but since he is so little everyone thought is was cute or at least indulged him. He came home with twice the take as the girls. And he guards it with his life. After they did their sorting and trading, they crashed and I wasn't far behind.

Let's Carve!

We got busy last night on the pumpkins and had these three beauties done in half an hour. I know, it looks like we spent days! Lighting the pumpkins up is my favorite part. Cleaning the mess not so much...but the kids were quite tidy this year and we left lots of guts in the pumpkins!

Halloween Festivities so far...

Halloween is pretty much a multiple week celebration. I'm not sure how I like that, but it is what it is. I love fall and I do get pretty excited about Halloween, but it's the steady flow of goodies that can become a bit much. But whatever...only one more day to go!

Zig and I went to Wendy and Dave's Halloween party a couple weekends ago and it was very fun. Great company and who doesn't enjoy the newlywed game?! We certainly didn't win. We did not disappoint with another year of lame costumes, but at least we made it!

The church party was at the Christmas tree farm again which I think is wonderful. It makes for a very low key atmosphere and the kids love it. Rollin was very assertive when it came to the trunk or treat...I'm a bit worried about Friday night!

Nina had her preschool party today. Lots of volunteers as always and not too crazy or overwhelming. More calm then what I remember from past years. Little Rollie was included and even behaved like a good preschooler. He's entered a bit of a "stage" lately for lack of a better word (where are you Darcie when I need a what to expect from your two year old book?!). Lots of sticking tongue out at mommy, growling, and calling me rude and mean mommy for such horrible offenses as wiping his face, clothing the child, or trying to pull him off from standing position on top of the very high monkey bars. I feel so very warm inside when he yells out "YOU'RE SO RUDE, MOMMY!!!" in the grocery store, playground or wherever. A true proud parenting moment, for sure.

OH, and how can I forget, if I happen to hit a tiny bump in the road, it's "DARN IT, SHOOT!" He gets very irritated that I can't control the road conditions. I can't win.

These little incidents happen on a daily basis right now, but as always with Rollin, there is lots of laughter and tons of cuddles and sweetness. Thank goodness, it helps me shrug off the other behavior, or at least try to.

The girls ran in the Great Pumpkin Run for our school district. Nina snuck in again and raced with the kindergarteners. She did much better than last year and finished in the top third of about 80 kids. Sela ran her little heart out and came in 5th place of about 70 kids. Rollin tried to kill himself the whole time jumping down the bleachers like all the big kids he was admiring.

Sela and Nina decorated pumpkins at PCC last weekend. It was very fun because there were so many fun little items provided to embellish the pumpkins to their hearts content.

We attempted meringue ghosts for family home evening and they came out very cute, vaguely resembling ghosts and tasted yummy. The thing we haven't done yet is carve pumpkins. I've got to psych myself up for that one! Where's my energy drink?

Just the boys

Zig, Eric, and Rollin had a little outing last Saturday. It had been in the works for weeks so Rollin was looking very forward to it. He blew mommy a kiss and off they went. They had big plans...first they went to a metal scrap yard to look for some specific thing for the fire pit. On their way they happened to find Rollin a free bike on the side of the road. Eric must be a good luck charm. He was SOOOOO excited and just loves his "new" boy bike. He told our neighbor at the bus stop this week "I have a big boy bike now and I don't have to ride the bunny bike anymore!" In the afternoon, they drove to Issaquah to see a tree house that had a suspended walkway kind of like the one we want Eric to build for our tree house. They took lots of pictures and brought back some great ideas. Then they headed to the Harley Davidson store where who knows what they were up to. But they all had fun and were in great spirits when they came home. Rollin's favorite word is now is "mocercycle."

So long little buddy!

The house across from us just sold and our wonderful neighbors, Dana and Michael, are moving to their summer home on Orcas Island. We are so sad to see them go, especially since Rollin and Michael have become just good little buddies. Rollin is very outnumbered in our area, like all neighborhoods we've lived in, and Michael was the lone male and just happened to be his age. We are happy they were able to sell their home, especially in this real estate climate, but they will be missed.

We did hear some good news about the new family. They apparently have three children and either have or plan to have horses. We have no idea what ages they are and believe me, my kids will be scoping the place out as soon as the moving van pulls up!

Favorite Zoo Exhibits

Nina played a little hooky today at my urging and we met our wonderful new friends, Ketsy and Rune Hendershott, at the zoo! A more perfect zoo day there could not have been. Sunny skies, no crowds, and oh my, I was able to pet my new very favorite animal, an african pygmy hedgehog! We are all fond of hedgehogs in this family and we have a little copper hedgehog sitting in our yard, but such a close encounter today was just really unexpected and so cool! Ketsy and I lined up with all the four year olds for our turn to pet the little hedgie. They are so prickly but cute as ever. That and seeing my next favorite zoo animal, a baby gorilla cuddling its mama, and I was a happy zoo patron. The kids literally ran themselves ragged. Towards the end of the day, and we stayed ALL day, Nina started tripping on her feet and Rollin took a big fall and added another goose egg to the right side of his head. The third this week.














I wished Sela could have been with us, especially for hedgie and the red panda, but she had a lot going on at school today. Wednesdays are her music days...she starts with piano at 7:45 and has choir after school until 4:15. She loves Wednesdays and doesn't seem worn out like I would be when she gets home. She is very hungry though so I make sure to have the snacks ready!

EXHIBIT A: Roaring child in tree. Whose crazy kid is that??!




























EXHIBIT B: Children impersonating monkeys





















EXHIBIT C: Little Posers