Happy Halloween!

Here they are - A WWI Flying Ace, a dragon, a clone and an opinionated 2 year old.

Samuel learned a new phrase for this special occasion. It only took two rounds of "treaters" at our door for him to catch on to this great game. Instantly he disappeared, grabbed his pumpkin and the next time the doorbell rang he ran to the door, turned and faced me and said "trick or treat" with the group. He was bitterly disappointed in his mother's unwillingness to cooperate is this most exciting game.

Sunday Best

I guess this is the best I can expect after a five hour church day. At least they're smiling. Samuel loves the suit but refuses to wear the tie. Andrew was wondering... when Sam's suit gets bigger can he wear it :-)? Fortunately I found a sport coat buried away and Andrew is wearing that and an old Joshua tie. He seems to be happy.

If you look really closely you'll notice that Joshua is in socks. He ran in the house so fast and changed that he missed the, "We're taking pictures" announcement. However, I wanted a picture of our beautiful Japanese Maple.

Thanks Grandma

We found ourselves in a PJ bind tonight. Fortunately Grandma had sent us some new ones. Thanks!

HELP!!!

So one day I was in the kitchen doing dishes and I hear a little, "Help!!" I look over and Samuel had gotten himself stuck in my stock pot. At first he was really scared - but when he figured out that I would save him it became a great game. I had to take the "trap" away after the fifth or sixth rescue. I wasn't popular, but I'm getting used to that.

Bubble Wars - Thanks Grandpa!!

The boys had a great afternoon having what they called a bubble war. Thanks again!

Please note - it's OCTOBER 15

You are not dreaming (or nightmare-ing) that's really snow and it's STICKING!! I can hardly believe it. I actually don't mind snow, as long as they don't cancel school for the stuff. Anyway, apparently we are skipping fall this year and heading straight into winter. I'm glad y'all didn't choose this autumn to come leaf peeping.

Along with winter comes the need to heat. I was aware that rain (it's snow, not rain) was on the way and so the whole family pitched in and we've got a good stack inside ready for the weekend.

Samuel LOVES hauling wood. There was a brother in our ward who sent out an emailing asking for help with his wood and I almost sent Sam - he's that good. The kid doesn't get distracted and is distraught when the deed is done. In fact, he sneaks out of the house in order to run over to the wood pile to get more wood.

OH!! The torture!!

Pack Meeting

Joshua officially received his Wolf badge last Friday night (although he's been finished since May). We had Pack meeting at our house and had a great time. Since there are only 4 Cubs in the Pack it wasn't a big deal to have them and their families for a simple bbq and meeting. Here's Joshua pinning the "Mom pin" on my collar.

Joshua with Bro. Jones.

I personally love the stocking feet - you can't do that at the church building.

Snakes and Intruders (or are they the same)

So, it was cold enough here yesterday that I had to break down and light a fire. It was 61 degrees in the house and Andrew and Samuel were frozen. Out to the woodpile I went. As I lifted the first logs of the season I discovered 3 or 4 baby snakes hiding out under the wood. Anyone who knows me well knows that snakes are not my friends. I don't like them. I acknowledge the need for their existence and am grateful for all the critters that don't continue on in this life because of them, but I still don't like them - at all. Starting around midnight I had horrifying nightmares about snakes in my woodpile. Usually I can just tell myself, "It was just a dream, it's not real." However, this time it was real - there really are snakes in our woodpile. So all night long I have been dreaming about these snakes. It was a very disturbed sleep and poor Adam had to put up with my jumping out of bed and starting awake all night. That is until he heard some very suspicious noises from outside. He went to the window and told me to dial 911. Four people were standing outside our house. One of them was walking around to the back, they were all dressed in dark clothing. Flashbacks to last fall when a guy walked up the basement stairs into our kitchen raced through my head. I called 911 and they sent out the police. Adam and I huddled for a minute or two just watching these people imagining the worst. What did they want...we're totally outnumbered...will the police get here in time...sshh don't be to loud, we don't want them to take off before the police get here...should we have bought a gun last fall...even if we had, one against four isn't good odds...

Then we hear - "It's Alexia!" Relief flooded our systems. We ran downstairs to let in Alexia and her friends who had stopped on their way up to Maine for a little rest. We actually knew they were coming but had totally forgotten about it - things don't make much sense at 4am. We greeted everyone as they entered. I had stayed on the phone with 911 and was able to tell them right away everything was all right. I saw the police cruiser pass by as everyone filed in. We were safe the whole time but despite that sleep has not come easily to me this night. I'm a little wound up while exhausted at the same time. I decided to come do something productive instead of lying in my bed waiting for sleep to come (it probably would be riddled with snakes if it did come, snakes and intruders, one in the same :-)).