Pumpkin Pleasures

Sitting here staring at my swollen ankles so I thought I'd might as well put some pumpkin pictures on this here ol'blog.



Worcestershire sauce, a bit of butter, seasoned salt. Really good pumpkin seeds! Worcestershire though, who would have thought?

The two oldest girls did their pumpkins all by themselves this year. Paige did most of her own as well. Penny's pumpkin was carved through the combined efforts of Jason and I.

Reese and her Angry Bird.

Paige's was supposed to be a cat. She got a little enthusiastic and pulled out an extra chunk which makes the cat either look pregnant or like a cow.

 Hailey and her Angry Bird.

Penny and Brobee. We have a little obsession with "Yo Gabba Gabba". She started to cry when Jason was cutting up the picture of her buddy Brobee. She was happy with the finished product...until Brobee's face fell off. Then Jason nailed Brobee's face back on and all was once again well.

Oh and the swollen ankles. Like that? Me neither.

A Princess and Her Dragon...

Missing Out

A week ago at nearly this hour my mom passed away after a two year battle with lung cancer.

I actually miss her more today than I did a week ago. I keep forgetting that I can't call her to tell her that:

after almost four months it finally rained,

Hailey broke her ankle last Saturday,

our stubborn chicken finally resumed laying,

we caught a tiny little toad on the porch,

my tomato plant has a tomato and plenty of flowers,

her newest grandchild is growing well--I can no longer fit into most of my clothes

oh, and my iron count dropped and I'm taking nasty iron supplements but that's probably the reason I'm so tired, can't catch my breath and keep having heart palpitations. You were right about that, Mom!  

All of these things she would have loved to know and it makes me sad that she's missed out on hearing these little bits of news from our life.

Just these little snippets of news that even I will hardly remember as time passes by.

She's missing our lives, one moment at a time.

However...

Today in the car we heard the song "Better is One Day In Your Courts"

"Better is one day in your courts than thousands elsewhere"

And I know that's true. So it helps. A lot. Because I know that nothing compares to where she is at this very moment.

And that makes me smile.



Mom, Age 7

Fall 1979 (with me)

1980 (with me)

(with me)

(with my sister, Heather)

2002 (with Hailey)



Great Wolf Photos

September

September was so much fun. It wore me out but we enjoyed a much needed change of pace after being locked in the house for the Summer of Extreme Heat and Misery.

Besides the excitement and terror of the The Great Fire Evacuation, we also got back into the swing of AWANA and soccer.

Soccer has been fun so far. I was sort of dreading it because last season was a little crazy and I was struggling to live thru the first trimester of pregnancy. This fall, God has smiled on us and blessed us with practice just one day a week for both Hailey and Reese AND their practices are at the same time! Can't beat that! I'm glad that girls are playing again. They are both finally "getting it" and while no one in this family has ever scored a goal (including old Mom and her several seasons played as a child), the girls are really enjoying playing and I'm happy to have them doing strenuous outdoor exercise that does not involve me ;) 

We were fortunate enough to be able to attend Homeschool Day at Seaworld. That was a pretty neat experience. The girls got to feed the dolphins (everyone's favorite) and we got to see a lot of exhibits and a few educational shows. I am super grateful to a friend and her family for helping out extensively with my brood of girls and our bag lady stroller. The trip would not have been a fraction of what it was without them.

We ended our month of fun by spending a few days at Great Wolf Lodge. We are blessed enough to have managed to take a family vacation every year and it is usually to North Padre Island, just south of Corpus. This year we decided that it would be a bit much for the giant pregnant woman to do the beach thing so we opted for a different route. Probably a good choice as four days at the beach and all of the packing/lugging/dragging/etc tends to wipe me out on a normal year.

But man oh man. Great Wolf looked like a lot of fun! I was sad to sit there like a stranded whale while the rest of the family went down water slide after water slide (ok, minus Penny but she had a fabulous time too).  But hey, I got a break from cooking and cleaning for a few days so what's not to like?

The two older girls got their initiation to Scary Rides when dear old Dad took them down the craziest water slide at the resort right off the bat. He's a big baby when it comes to rides (me too, we are perfect for each other--eternal bench sitters at amusement parks) and he said the slide scared him to death. He couldn't even act brave for the girls who reportedly whimpered the entire ride and afterwards found me and were in tears, vowing not to ride anything else the entire time were there. After a brief counseling session (for Jason too), everyone decided to stay away from that particular slide and to let Dad (chastised as he was) try the rest of them first.

Happy Birthday to our Birds!

Happy first birthday to Butterscotch, Blackberry, and Melody! Thank you for all the wonderful eggs you've provided for our family. And for the garden beds I don't have to worry about tilling. Or the plants in the planters I don't need to water (because you know, they were dug up months ago).

Happy four month birthday to Sally and Olive! Ok girls, we're waiting for you to join the egg layers!