Halloween in photos

Halloween 2011 has come and gone for our house. Here it is for you in pictures. For starters, not a bad picture of the group in costume, so they may not all be looking at the camera but no one is crying!

Our sweet Brie Brie as a fairy, not her choice but daddy's. She was not humored but the hat and it did not last long! She is posing with her pumpkin Pete carved for her.

Maggie (aka Cinderella) giving me a quick cheese before a grumbled "can we go already!",posing with her Ghost pumpkin that says BOO.

Makayla getting a picture in her Belle costume beside her witch pumpkin.

PJ the dragon! Did I mention he has two pirate costumes, a fire fighter costume and then got the idea he wanted to be a Dragon and would not give up on it. So thanks to coupons he was able to get a Dragon costume that he LOVED!!

Let me tell you it did not take this little 20 month er to figure out trick or treating! She kept right up with the big guys and did not let any steps stand in her way.

As soon as we hit the next driveway she would start saying "trick or treat" and by the time she made it to the door she was on to "Thank you" very sweetly. By the end she was not only saying "Thank you" it was then quickly followed with a "welcome" as she would turn and start to run to the next house. The little ones and I did our street with everyone and then the big ones went on to more houses and we stayed home handing out candy. Brie did VERY well, she was shy of the dressed up adult goblins but she would just hug our leg until they were by and then proceed.

PJ and his haul.

Brie is so enjoying her collection.

Maggie was very proud of her stash!

Makayla was thrilled with the number of peanut butter cups she was able to collect.











We will see how many have sugar plum fairy dreams after eating their candy tonight. I am hoping for an uneventful and peaceful night! Good night my friends and family and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Carving pumpkins

Sunday was a afternoon of carving pumpkins. Each of the kids were quite impressed with the pumpkins insides. Pete and I helped them get all the insides out, something I thought as a child with my teaspoons was the most difficult part of the process. I rarely got help and I could not ever get it cleaned out very well. OK so funny story here in the second photo. I was trying very hard to get Kayla's cleaned out and had just told her not to wipe her hands on her pants. Well I hit a soft spot in the pumpkin and a pile of mush came shooting out and hit Kayla in the cheek and then landed right on her pants! click on the photo and look at Kayla's face, HILARIOUS! I almost peed my pants laughing so hard, she however did not find it as funny. I forgot to mention the junk flew out and not only hit Kayla but myself and the computer table behind me!

PJ's pumpkin wins unannounced "best pumpkin". Pete became creative with the gourds that we were given by friends for PJ's pumpkin. The little ones and I sat outside after their trick or treating and that pumpkin got a lot of comments and suddenly PJ became very proud and possessive.

Auntie treats

When were at my folks Auntie Jacie brought treats for the kids. They all love their puppies and books! Auntie Coke sent treats home and they enjoyed those last night. I love Brie's hair! She pulled out her piggy tails. At any rate thank you to the Aunties for thinking of the kids, they enjoyed the goodies!

Melody

So this story of Melody dates back to October 12th. My friend was in from out of town and this kitty usually does not like strangers! However Miss Laurie did not get the normal hissing, hair raising response from Melody, she received lots of rubs and sniffs. I explained this is not normal. Later Kayla came to me and stated that something happened and the cat could not sit down. I grabbed the cat and put her in the laundry room(her normal time out area) until later when I would have a chance to look at her better. After the kids were in bed I let her out and watch her, Makayla was right she would not sit. I pushed around on her bones and got no reaction, so back to the laundry room for the night and I will check on her tomorrow. The next day her behavior became even more bizarre, meowing funny, brushing against anyone and following us everywhere! A light bulb turned on in my head and I remembered the first "Heat Cycle" was to be between 5 and 6 months old. This kitty was 5 1/2 months old, so Laurie and I looked it up on google and read: heat cycles can last 7 to 10 days and will repeat every 2 to 3 weeks. WHAT??? oh I could not have this going on and so I called the vet straight away and they had an opening for a spaying surgery the next day!! yea for me, back to the laundry room for the feline for a few more hours. Dropping her off at the vet was a trip as well, she HATES them ( and that is a word I rarely use). By Sat. when I picked her up I think feelings were mutual between staff and my cat. She obviously got stitches from surgery and they would have to be removed. I asked, may I take them out and without any hesitation two staff looked right at me and in unison said "YES", and "Good Luck!" So my niece brings along her fearless 6 foot 5 inch husband who says "no problem!" ha I thought as I and Jill tried the night before and had NO LUCK! Let me tell you he grabbed that kitty and a few snips, growls, and bit attempts later they were out! THANK GOD! I owe Eric a HUGE THANK YOU for braving my kitty and helping me do what I thought was the impossible. Here is a picture of Melody not long after the removal just chilling out with her shaved belly exposed and the look of "no worries".

Visitors

So I have a fantastic niece who is also a photographer! She visited this weekend with her family and camera. Our guys went to the movies on Friday night. Then Jill and I shopped till we dropped on Saturday. On Sunday we went to a lake and park nearby for a photo session. God love Jill for her patience and flexibility! We I am sure were not the easiest to photograph between 4 kids and parental opinions, she was wonderful! We now have to decide what and how many to order! I have until midnight Nov. 14th!! At any rate we owe a HUGE THANK YOU to Miss Kristine and all her talents. We are very happy with our results and look forward to sharing them with all of you! This is a sneak peek of our fun. Jill and I have seven kids between us and my top three parallel hers with in 6 months or less. It was a very fun weekend for all the kids had a blast playing. I do not think we had one fight or problem with any of them the whole time. Here is a line up of the kiddos, except Brie who was asleep. I think we will have many more photos like this over the next 18 years!

Soccer Finale

Soccer season is over for Fall 2011. To be quite honest it is a relief to look ahead this week and not have soccer at all. Kayla seemed to finally be getting it over the last few games, isn't that always the case. She did enjoy playing soccer with all her friends.

Kayla played goalie most this season and really did a good job with the title. She was not afraid to dive after balls or reach right in there between all the kicking to get the ball.

One of the parents had trophies made for the girls. Kayla was very proud of her trophy and herself this season. Way to go #8!!

a visit to the folks

Pete was asked to come and speak at a youth rally in my hometown. It was a perfect excuse to go visit the folks. I realize this is not the cutest picture of Brie but the story is sweet. She tried to get my dad's attention from the other side of him but he was in a conversation and not paying attention to her. She walked away, looked at him, huffed and walked right back over to him and stood right in front of him pleading for his attention. He got the hint, looked at her for a brief minute and that was all she needed, off she went and that was it! funny little thing that Brie!

Mom had collected bread again and we headed out to feed the geese at the lake. It was a bit windy and the geese were not easily accessible, though we did try several times without success.

I thought this picture was just to sweet to not include it. PJ was requesting Brie to hold his hand and they were trying hard together to figure out just how to hold hands. They were both delighted when the got it right and off they went.

Since the geese were not interested in our bread the kids made their own fun throwing rocks. Little Gabriellie could keep up with the best of them this weekend and was not going to miss out on the chance to throw something! I cannot count the number of times the kids went back and forth from the lake to the rocks!

Here is a quick picture with grandma and some monkeys in a tree!

Kayla is always up for striking a pose. She is just growing up so fast! Love that little lady!