Getcher finger outta yer nose dammit!

Hard to resist posting this one!!

Alaskan Thanksgiving

This year we went to the Shaw's for Thanksgiving. It is alwasy a fun time. The kids were outside most of the day, so I never really had to worry about them getting into trouble. The Sparkles ran around with the Shaw's dog Minnie, and was pretty pooped out at the end of the day. One of the best things was sledding down the driveway. As you can see we all got in on that action. Mary LOVES sledding!

Bill bringing Mary up the hill.


Nancy going down the hill with Mary.

It's getting dark, but you can see Bill, Clara, Sparkles and Mary headed in for supper.

This is Mary bonding with Minnie. There was a huge bonfire in the back yard to help keep the sledders warm.

This is the beautiful pumpkin pie I took.

Halloweeeny!!

So, this Halloween I thought I would try something different. After a 2 year hiatus from the "Big Bash" I decided to do a hayride for trick-or-treating. Nobody told me it would be about the coldest Halloween night in about 90 years. Sabrina said that it was about 5 deg. at her house before she met us. If I had been paying any attention at all I may have bagged the whole thing. As it was. Suki had the foresight to bring hand warmers for the kids' pockets. She said it was her hubby Cass' idea, but really... could that be true? The kids had a great time. And I even hitched up the trailer by myself. Well... actually I had to call Bill once for pointers, and I had minimal to align the hitch right. I was pretty proud of myself though. I usually try to stay out of Bill's way when he's doing all those manly things. But I digress... on to the rest of the party.



This is always popular. Instead of bobbing in water, they have to "bob"in the air. It is pretty funny. After about 2-3 minutes I let them use their hands to catch the apples. Then, they get to dip them in caramel and sprinkles.

Here are some of the kids on the hayride. It just didn't look as cold as it was. They didn't care... the scent of candy was in the air!!


This is my barfing pumpkin. You can't see it, but there are candy corns and m&m's sprinkled on it. It was a surprisingly quick carving job. I loved it!! I wanted to do a flaming pumpkin this year. It is when you soak a roll of t.p. in kerosene, stick it in the pumpkin, and then light it. I just didn't want to do it with out Bill and a fire extinguisher for back-up. Next year though, especially if we can finish the fire pit.


Bill and Clara carved their pumpkins earlier in the week. Bill's is the one with the hatchet and knife sticking out of it, and Clara's is the happy one. Hmmm.... what could this say about our family? Maybe that Clara is surprisingly well adjusted given the sick humor of her parents.

Well I realized that I did a really poor job of documenting the kid's costumes this year. I guess that is what happens when you are the hostess with the mostess!! I was even pretty proud of my own. I don't have any of Clara or me, and only one of Mary. And, without me, Mary's costume doesn't make sense. Clara was some kind of dog turned into a witch. I didn't really get it. Mary and I were the Raven who stole the Moon. It is a Native American myth. I made a really great raven mask, and a simple fleece moon for Mary (easy for diaper changing).

Fall Fun!!

Well, we had a really cool and wet Summer, and now Fall is upon us. As you can see, it has snowed. These pictures were taken about the middle of October. The snow is here to stay. It is a little dissapointing. I was hoping that the weather would stay mild for Halloween. No such luck!! It is always a challenge getting costumes to fit over snowpants and long underwear.

I asked Clara to watch Mary for a little bit so that I could get dinner started. Imagine my amazement that she actuallyl dressed her up and took her outside to play!! What a great Big Sis!!

This is Clara and Leah sledding in the road. It is amazing that they can get any speed up because it is pretty flat. They had a really good time though. On really good days, and with a look-out, they can sled all the way down our driveway and into the neighbor's back yard. I guess they didn't. want to go to the effort though, and just played in the road.

This is why I can't keep my house clean!!

It seems like no matter how hard I try, something just keeps getting in the way of my progress towards a tidy home.

I feel like I have a system: 1.Put toys in container, 2. Wheel container out of the way, 3. Vacuum up all dog hair and snack bits and 4. Relax.

Well, I think Mary's system seems to work better than mine. Her's is to: 1. Wheel container into the middle of the floor when Mom's getting the vacuum out. 2. Keep an eye out for Mom while dumping the contents of container out on the floor. 3. Get into container, and 4. Relax.