Happy Halloween!

carving pumpkins

dare I admit I forgot about this timeless tradition.
I did, forget that is.
until 3:30 this afternoon...
where a quick carving session began...
good thing the carver has a bit of practice in his past
and the pumpkins were soon turned into jack o' lanterns
all were happy and they were ready and waiting for the first trick or treater's to ring our door bell.

Halloween Fun Run...

Beckie, Cassandra, and Anthony along with several of Beckie's friends participated in this 5k run in St. Peter this morning.
Their group came in 7th overall. This was Anthony's first time participating in a race such as this, so proud of him for doing it and for finishing with a time of 35 minutes. What a kid! Their group theme was super hero's...so glad that his big sisters thought to include him.

Community Halloween Parade

Monday night was the annual community Halloween Parade.
Where the kids can trick or treat at local businesses.
A rather pleasant night to be outdoors (which means it wasn't raining)
a bit of a preview of the excitement set to arrive on Saturday.

Turkey Masterpiece

a project for Anthony's 2nd grade class.
a project that his three older siblings also did when they were in 2nd grade.
How fun it was to watch Cassandra (an expert at turkey art according to her) help her little brother with his project.
after a lot of gluing and a lot more nibbling it was completed.
Did you notice the lack of picture of the completed project...sigh. Totally forgot to capture that one.

our home

this past week has been filled with stuff like this.
Yahaira has been sick all week, a combination of many things but most of all just all around not fun!
Cassandra and Josh decided to get sick too...and finally the baby and kevin rounded out the week.
sigh...did I mention not fun? I was tempted to take the remaining two healthy children and myself to a hotel for the duration.
Things are looking better, several are now healthy, so far the original healthy ones are remaining so...I truly hope this isn't a preview of our winter season and simply means we are now done.

GoFish

This afternoon we attended a GoFish concert in Jackson, MN.
We have been fans of GoFish for many years. Thanks to Shirley who first introduced us to this singing group. I have watched my older kids enjoy concert after concert and now watch my little ones enjoy the same group time and time again.
The concert was filled with excitement and energy, there were balloons bouncing among the audience, a few showers of confetti and of course amazing music.

Where the Wild Things Are

took these wild things to see the movie Where the Wild Things Are this afternoon.
not sure if they loved the movie or the popcorn more.

raking leaves

2009 edition

picking apples

snow covered apples...
sigh.
because I thought we would have more time, or maybe I simply procrastinated a bit too long we ended up picking the apples from our tree on a chilly day this past weekend. A few were still snow covered from the snowfall the day before. In my quest to just get it done I am sure the method chosen to harvest those apples would draw stares (I resorted to grabbing branches and shaking them,which made the kids laugh as apples rained down around them) but I was a wee bit too impatient to wait for Kevin's way, (he would still be out there picking apples using that method)Beckie was quite helpful as she climbed into the tree to bring down some of those out of reach apples, Rosie was worried Beckie wouldn't know how to get down and kept asking her if she was going to stay up there forever. So the apples are picked, and now await attention, my plan is to freeze some and attempt to make applesauce out a few more. But for now my little ones are loving the abundance of fresh picked apples, love seeing them munch on an apple as they go about their day to day activities.

the end of tomato season

the snow and cold temps on Saturday, put an end to our tomato plants.
I'm trying to be sad that the constant, weeding, watering, and lately daily harvesting has come to an end, but I find
I can not generate even a wee bit of sadness. Because with the daily picking of course came the next step doing something with those tomatoes. One can only creatively eat fresh tomatoes for so long, before one's body starts to threaten to rebel, one can also stand to hurt friendships with the repeated request of taking just a few more tomatoes...please. So that leaves one with the fun (at first) task of canning or freezing those tomatoes (I did both this year) and yes I will enjoy these tomatoes well through the winter months but right now I just need a little space from tomatoes. So on Saturday we braved the cold to pick the remaining tomatoes and to clean the garden of all the dead plants. I tried not to be too happy that my tomato days are done for this harvest. I wasn't too successful.

9 kids and 1 grandpa...

you knew there had to be some silliness involved in this venture...

just had to share

a few photos of brandon and grace
from sunday. So loving that bottom one.

Is there a

christmas card photo lurking in some of these shots?
I think there is, of course it wouldn't be fair to share it with you just yet...
despite the fact that the view out my window is certainly Christmasy today.

the chair

In scheduling the photo session of the grandkids and my dad I knew one thing for certain I wanted some outdoor photos. He is such an outdoors person that it seemed fitting to put them in an enviroment he was comfortable with. Of course who knew that early October would bring 39 degree temps and snow. Thus the idea of the chair, a built in place to sit that wouldn't require anyone sitting on frozen tundra. (amazingly they were all troopers barely a whine out of any of them) My dad has a chair sitting by his front door, and when I wondered outloud to my sister if you could actually sit on it, she seemed to think it might be wise to not even test that theory so the search began for the perfect chair. It had to be old, and yet able to support each person who sat on it, I wanted it to be simple and yet not have a shiny new appearance, when my eyes landed on this chair at a local craft mill I knew it was the chair. Of course when I shared my "idea" with Nichole, she smiled and said "ok deb" (love how she get's my ideas and turns them into the most amazing photos) my kids looked a bit horrified for a moment and then realized it would be futile to argue I had an idea in mind. Loved how the chair looked sitting amongst the trees and grasses, so unexpected and yet it fit. Love how each kids personality shone through when simply asked to sit on the chair.

out door photo shoot...

ok, so they aren't in order.
I've tried, multiple times, and since it's driving me bonkers trying to get blogger to put them in the order "I" want I will just concede that this time technology is kicking my butt.
This represents one of many times when I have said to Nichole "I have an idea" and she just smiles and then goes on to capture the most amazing pictures, taking that picture in my head and turning it into magic. Yes she is amazing!