Halloween Fun

Ellie and Felicia were the only two really around for pre-Halloween pictures. Bethany had gone to a friend's house for the night and I never even saw her in her costume. Sam and friends were running around the neighborhood, but finally did stop in before they headed out to get their loot !
Felicia and BFF Valerie are Thing 1 and Thing 2.
Sam as Jason and his friend Zach as Freddie Kreuger
The neighborhood kids pose for us before heading out for trick or treating !

WOW !! This is the biggest haul I've ever seen one of our kids bring in ! Of course, my most competitive child would get the most !

Pumpkin Carving

The only kid at our house that still gets excited about the pumpkin carving is Ellie. She and Steve carved three pumpkins together the day before Halloween.
Steve and Ellie had such a great time together. she was giggling the whole time, while pulling out the pumpkin guts !
Silly girl!

Ellie poses with the pumpkins !

school carnival

As so often happens at our house these days, not only was this the night for the elementary school's carnival, it was also the first dance for 6th graders at their middle school . Felicia and her friend Valerie are ready to get picked up and holding their admission ticket, which has to be signed by a parent.They were upset about missing the carnival, but the great time they had at the dance made up for that.
Ellie got dressed in her cowgirl costume to go to the school carnival, one of the most looked forward to events of the school year. The whole family is involved, because the middle and high school students love to come still and help.
Sam wore his costume so that he could volunteer in the carnival's haunted house. His costume is "Jason" this year, from Friday the 13th.
Bethany gets in on the action by attacking Sam's friend Alex with "Jason's" weapon
one of the first people we ran into at the carnival as it was starting was Ellie's "boy"friend, Walker. They were excited to see each other and spent the first half hour together.
There are games for the kids to play in almost every classroom. Parents, older siblings and teachers volunteer. Ellie played this game first because her teacher was the volunteer. The prize for playing the game is usually candy !
photo op with Daddy and Walker in the hallway
one of the highlights of the evening is the bookfair, held in the library during the carnival. Ellie chooses carefully, looking over ALL the books before making her final selection.

the costume contest is always popular, although we've never one. They parade in a circle , one grade at a time , and are chosen for cutest, scariest and most original.As always, fun was had by all. I even won spring softball registration at the silent auction ! Yay !

Homecoming, freshman year

Bethany Rose
Bethany and her friends have had a busy weekend -- Festivities started Thursday evening, when they gathered at a friend's house to make special t-shirts together for the pep rally the next day. Friday night was the homecoming game, after which Bethany spent the night with several friends at one person's house. She arrived home Sat. near noon, took a shower, rested, then went to her good friend, Rachel's house to get dressed and primped and eat dinner and take pictures with several of the same friends. From there, to the dance, then back to Rachel's house to sleep over. I am exhausted just writing all that ! I told her she needed to stay home Sunday, we wanted to see her face to remember what she looked like !!
When did this happen? She looked fabulous in her dress, which I found at the consignment sale I volunteer at for $8.00 !!! A bargain hunter's dream !
Bethany and her biggest fan, her Dad.
Bethany and her closest Cosby high pals. Such beautiful young women !

We were so happy to share in her joy and excitement of the first big dance in her high school years.

Pumpkin Patch

Well, today was a perfect day for visiting the pumpkin patch. I took Felicia and Ellie and Felicia's friend, Valerie. My neighbor took her son and Sam with her. We happened to be there at the same time, but not together. I got only one picture of Sam as we met in passing. He is holding all of the pumpkins the girls picked.

We took the hayride first thing and visited the patch. Afterwards, the girls did all kinds of things like shooting corn cobs from a corn cannon, sliding down a hay hill,watching the pig races, jumping in a moonbounce, going through the corn maze,the duck races, haunted house, seeing the live animals.
The pumpkins were plentiful and pretty. Well, not all were pretty. There was one variety there with dozens of warts all over them (bumpy ones). Nothing says fall like a pumpkin patch !




The favorite activity, hands down, besides the hayride and pumpkin patch , has to be the corn area. They take off their shoes and dive into 2 feet of dried corn, rolling, jumping, burying etc... So fun.

Oatmeal

As the weather turns cooler, I start to look forward to those meals that are filling and warm your tummy at he same time. For breakfast, my favorite choice is homemade oatmeal. It really doesn't take long to make at all and it is much healthier for you than the oatmeal you buy in the packets with the added sugar and fillers. I heat up 1/2 c. and water and 1/2 c milk combined in a small pot on the stove until it boils. Watch closely, because the milk will boil over quickly if not careful. Once that boils, add 1/2 c. quick cook oatmeal, 1/4 c. raisins, 1-2 tbsp. brown sugar (depending on your taste), 1/2 tsp. cinnamon and turn temp. down to simmer for only 1 minute. Remove from heat, pour into bowl and wait to cool before eating. This makes a single serving. Of course, you can add different things besides raisins if you don't like them, and sometimes I even add nutmeg with the cinnamon or apples with the raisins. The benefits of making your own are that is very inexpensive, healthier for you and you will stay full through lunch !

Cross Country

Here they come ! The girls of Tomahawk Creek's Cross Country team ! They were warming up before the meet. Unfortunately for Felicia and some of the other girls, they have gym class last period of the day and they did running in gym class today right before the meet. Talk about tiring !
This was cool; they got into this huddle and were chanting something moving side to side before the race to psych themselves up.
I love this picture because it looks like she's running all alone in the woods, but in reality, she's in between 150 other girls all running the same trail.

At the end of the race with her friends, all smiles and sweat !