Missed Opportunity!

UPDATED!!!

As I was writing out my last post, I looked out the window to see the snowplow driver taking a potty-break next to his snow-plow. I didn't realize what he was doing quick enough so I didn't get my camera out for a picture. So I don't have that to share.

Sorry.

UPDATE: I went out and got a picture of the aftermath. At least that one spot is clear of snow. Enjoy!

That's What He Said!

SP: Mom, I can't read curse-writing.
Me: Curse-writing? That's good, you don't need to learn anymore curses.
SP: NO! Not curses. I mean to the twisty writing.

NT: Mom, I need you to do me a flavor.
Me: A flavor?!?
NT: NO! A favorite.
Me: A what?!?
NT: Will you just help me get my pants on!

It's possible my kids don't think I'm as funny as I think I am.

Atypical Migratory Patterns

Last night I discovered this duck roosting in our Christmas tree.

This morning, I found it nesting in the fridge.



Is this another example of effects of global warming??

There Must Be Some Toros in the Atmosphere

I just got back from the grocery store and the current temperature is 5 degrees. The weather forecast was calling for a low of 12 but then the clouds all cleared out and it got cold. I so deserve a hot chocolate before I go to bed!

It's Hard Not to Laugh

NT repeats everything he hears. Unfortunately, the Mister does not always watch his language around the small boys. He also tends to make alot of empty threats towards the boys when he wants them to do something, i.e. "Go get ready for bed or I'll...", "Clean up your toys or..." or "Get dressed before...". Our little mockingbird hears all this and files it away for future use. So every now and then, NT makes threats of his own. To SP when they are playing, "If you don't give me that toy, I am gonna to pour water on your head!" To me at dinner time, "If you make me eat this, I'm gonna to lick your eyeballs!" I try to keep a straight face and explain that isn't an acceptable way to talk to each other. Sometimes he struggles with finding the appropriate threat and it goes like this - "If you make me go to bed, I'm...I'm... I'm gonna...Argghhhh!"

Recently, he pulled a real gem out of the file. During a brotherly power struggle, I hear - "I'll beat your @$$!" SP immediately comes running, "Mom! NT said he'll beat my @$$!" NT comes strolling after, cool as a cucumber, "Yep, I did." I had to take a minute to compose myself before dealing with that one but I think he now understands that he shouldn't say that. At least, that's what I'm assuming since he tells me at least once a day, "Mom, I shouldn't say I'm gonna beat your @$$."

I'm so glad we don't have to worry about that anymore!

Things NT Likes...

"Warm milk what's warm."

"Hot Cocoa what's not warm."

Brothers

Sometimes I marvel at what good kids I have. Despite the fact that they tease each other like crazy, they also are very kind to each other.

As we know, NT likes to do things that he shouldn't. The other night, he was trying to hide behind my treadmill and tripped - scraping his chin and bloodying his lip. I pulled him out and took him to the sink. SP saw the blood (which always makes him worried) and took off upstairs. As I was holding the wet washcloth to NT's lip, SP came back with the bandaid he had got to help his brother. I love that his first thought was to do something to help out!

Yesterday, I went to the grocery store after dropping SP off at kindergarten. At the checkout, they sometimes give out Smarties to the kids. When they offered a Smarties to NT, he politely asked if he could have one for his brother also. He then gave it to me and asked to put it in my pocket for when SP got home from school. When SP got home, it was the first thing NT had to tell him!

Here we have NT helping SP up the hill because SP has his cowboy boots on

This is SP helping NT across the stream because the water was too cold for NT

Blackjack!

$21! That's what it took to fill up the truck today. I can't say enough about how excited I am about the current gas prices.

Bears Love Crack

The boys were exceptionally good the other day and I told them we could go get an ice cream cone. As they were eating ice cream, I browsed the newspaper and commented on the interesting things. Suddenly, SP pipes up and says, "You're right, Mom. We should go see the crack bear." The WHAT?!?!?! Cannot compute - need more data.

So I start asking more questions - what crack bear, where did you hear about a crack bear and so on. He keeps telling me that I told him about the crack bear, I talked about going to see it when we first got to the ice cream place. Finally, it dawned on me - he was right. I had talked about going to see the crack bear - if by crack bear you mean CRAFT FAIR. Apparently, when I saw the ad for the craft fair and mentioned going to see it, SP heard crack bear. He didn't answer right away because he needed a little time to decide whether or not he really wanted to see a crack bear. Seeing a crack bear would give me pause too!

Christmas

As SP says, "It's the best year of the season"! I love Christmas! We got a little snow in the night so NT is convinced that it is Christmas today. He has been telling me for weeks that "once the snow comes down off the mountains, then it means it's Christmas."

We did decorate the tree last week so I suppose Christmas can come anytime now. It's just a little short fiber optic tree so DH was a little dismayed at the amount of decorations we put on the tree. He tried to make us stop, but the kids wanted to make it really pretty. Wasn't he suprised when he came home the next day and saw the snowflakes we made to go on the tree!

NT gets a little mesmerized by the lights - he wants to have the lights on every moment that he is awake. Too many times I have walked into the living room to discover that he has closed the blinds, plugged in the lights and is happily sitting next to tree with shiny eyes. When he notices me, he shouts out in his defense, "It's dark, Mom!" And then when it really gets dark, he gets disgusted that it's already dark again. Good thing we have Christmas lights to help us through these short winter days!

I also put up the porch tree - the one DH threatens to throw away every year because he thinks it's too "Charlie Brown". See how cute it is? What kind of Grinch would threaten to throw away a Christmas tree!?!

For My Sister!

My sister loves my photography. Back in the days (oh, so long ago!) before I got my camera, my mother would occasionally allow me to use her camera to photo-document family gatherings. Mostly, because she would forget she had a camera and so I would take it from her purse. My sister has always been so supportive of my photography skills. She especially admires my work with a particular subject which I focused on in my early learning days.


And so it is for her that I present these morsels of photographic delight! I hope you all enjoy and are as appreciative as she will most certainly be!

SIL and sister's feet

Brother's feet

Father's feet

Another SIL's feet

Mother's feet

Sister's feet

Another brother's feet

Another SIL's feet

My feet

Mutant Turkeys

We had a little playgroup activity at our house the other day. We made little marshmallow turkeys. I made these last year with the boys and they liked them so I figured the other kids would have fun with them. I tried to make the turkey bodies while the rice krispies mix was still too soft so the heads kept falling off but we finally got that figured out. The kids decorated them however they chose. Most did the standard turkey, but a few got creative.

One little girl did this "princess" turkey - notice the little marshmallow crown!

However, my son apparently decided to go a different direction, resulting in this :

It seems to be some sort of scorpion/stegosaurus/turkey mutation which he then used to attack the other turkeys. Especially the princess one.

I Lied, Spiders Died

I recently had the chance to spend a little time at the ol' homestead. While there, I stayed in my old room. Being there brought back many fond memories as well as some not-so-fond memories - including one that features a flaming spider.

Growing up, my sister and I shared a room. She was six years younger than me and it was her job to kill any spiders who made the mistake of venturing into our room. She generally did a good job - until one fateful night.

Apparently, the spiders were aware of our quest to keep our room a spider-free zone and decided to challenge our resolve. So they sent a champion to confront us. There in the window sill he sat. Large, black, hairy and terrifying. And my sister quailed in terror. She REFUSED to meet the challenge! So in desperation, I grasped for any means of defense. On the dresser sat a can of spray glue which seemed to be the perfect solution. Shortly, that eight-legged menace was covered in a thick layer of glue.

However, the spider council had chosen their champion well and he seemed undaunted by this handicap. My sister was still unable to attempt killing the spider on her own so we searched for another weapon. We finally decided on a can of hairspray and a lighter. Foolish perhaps, but in grip of panic, we decided that this was our best chance.

I had assumed that the fire would instantly kill this menace so you can imagine my suprise and fascinated horror as he suddenly regained his full speed and began running about the window sill. It was at this point we realized, that in the interest of the greater good - namely not burning down the house - we had to finish the creature off for good.

So you see, I did nearly burn down my house in the attempt to kill a spider. I hope that you will forgive me for not recalling this earlier. It is amazing what the mind will do to protect you from traumatic experiences!

Be Sensible

I hate for spiders to touch things that I might touch or use in the future. That's why I use my husband's shoes when I kill them. Or half a roll of toilet paper and run screaming to the bathroom to flush them. In fact, when I was pregnant with SP, I ended up with crutches and a knee brace for about a week after killing a spider.

See, for me, one of the gifts of pregnancy is advanced clumsiness. There was a spider in my bedroom and it wasn't very big. In fact, if I'm honest about it, it was teeny-tiny. I make it a practice to test my bravery in tough situations like those and force myself to deal with the situation on my own. So I calculated the distance from the spider to the bathroom, mapped out my course, eliminated any potential obstacles that might slow down my mad dash to the toilet, and then gathered up the tools of destruction - toilet paper. Once all the necessary arrangements had been made, I climbed onto the chair and, stifling my fear, squished the spider in the toilet paper. This is the point where my courage generally fails me and this time was no exception. I know that with the amount of toilet paper I use, there is a good chance that instead of actually squishing the spider, I have only provided a downy, cushioned resting place from which evil will strike when the time is right. That is why I have to run screaming to the toilet to flush it down immediately.

However, in all my careful planning, I had neglected to account for my graceless condition. In the process of jumping from the chair and sprinting for the bathroom, I twisted my knee and couldn't walk for a week. Because spiders are evil.

But, despite all the extreme measures I take to avoid contact with those dreaded creatures, I have never set my house on fire, like this man. Surely he could have used the neighbor's broom.

Mayberry

The neighboring burg hosts the "Pumpkin Walk". Some of the exhibits are so good. People put a lot of work into them and it is so fun to see what they come up with. Unfortunately, you only have my lousy photography skills to prove it! Here you go -

Noah's Ark

I loved all the animals, two by two, in this scene. So cute...

Misc

This one made me giggle - probably because poor Michael Phelps looks dead and the pumpkin fans are so excited about it!

Poor pumpkin dude had to have heart surgery, but he's still manged to keep a smile on. I think it would have been funnier if he was getting brain surgery! You can't see it very well in this picture, but the guy in front of the ER doors had to get a shot in the bum. The look of shock on his face was priceless! And then the guy on the crutches thinks it's all funny.

What group of heroes is complete without Indiana Jones?

Down on the Farm

Extra points for anyone who guesses all the identities!

Best Scary House Evah!

A local family has alot of fun with Halloween. We love this house. They just do it for fun so no admission. We love it. We only go in the daytime because it's a little intense at night with the lights and sounds and such. So I am going to share some pictures.

Scary Clown!

The Vampires

The Gravedigger

Skeleton Chandelier



The Entrance

They have a website with more pictures if you want to check it out:

http://www.deadsendyardhaunt.com/index.htm

More

It seems that I can only post 5 pictures per post so the next few posts are all pictures.

Scary Pumpkin Guys

This is the one that really scares SP - he has a few issues with werewolves

More scary clowns. The guy running the place told me the clowns scare him, but they have had so many requests that they added it this year.

The Creepshow!

A few more

Wraith

Bog People

Pumpkin Head

Medical Anatomically Correct Skeleton (they couldn't tell me which gender it was though.)



Pumpkin Spider

More Scary

The Welcome Party

Jack of the Lantern

The Vampires Again


Kill the Vampires!



And The Reaper