Carving Pumpkins... They're Smashing!

Okay, we didn't really smash our pumpkins.  I just always wanted to say 'The Pumpkins are Smashing!'  I'm kind of weird that way.  Tom and the boys finally got some pumpkin carving in - last night - one day before Halloween.  Things have just been so busy around here, that's the only time we could fit it in.  And because I've been working, my creative level is 'nil' this year.  Poor Winston had to settle for a frog costume that was just a bath towel with a frog head on top.  Yeah, that was about the extent of what I could come up with this year.  Thank goodness he's only 9, and he doesn't really care too much.  Although tonight he asked me why I didn't finish his costume.  What???  Anyway, here's a few pictures of the older boys and their creative processes...

Keaton, making the first cuts.  What will it be?

Preston being very serious and

estudious (is that a word? And did I spell it correctly?).

Yeah, get all those seeds!

It's all about the precision.

Keaton's masterpiece... what is it?

Yeah, it's the Green Lantern, awesome!

Dad had to take a funny picture...

this one's pretty funny alright.

TA-DAH!

  Preston's 'Rose', Winston's 'Baby Vampire',

Tom's Cyclops and Keaton's Green Lantern.

The green glowsticks make the lantern look cool,

but I think we need more glowsticks.

fzz-fzz-'POP'

Winston's latest masterpiece... with sound effects!

Two houses with lights shining.  I love how he shows the range of the light shining out from the fixtures.  I'm assuming the lightbulbs on the house on the right are burning out - both at the same time - thus the sound effects... fuz-fuz 'PoP'.

It's kind of fun seeing what Winston will come up with on paper.  He never shows them, or explains them to me.  He just leaves random pictures laying all over the house.  I just happened to notice this one as I was gathering pages to throw away.  I'm always rewarded when I take the time to interpret what he has drawn.  Sound-Effect Art... kinda cool.

This week with the Moores...

Busy, busy, busy...

here's a little bit of what we did this past week...

 Construction has begun on the new Chicken Coop!

Winston provided Tom with LOTS of help and advice.

When he wasn't playing with the Dog.

Then we celebrated Tom's "Haddy Brethday"!

See,  4 + 4 = 44!

We had a special lasagne birthday dinner -

and a birthday danish for desert!

Hello Keaton.

Winston enjoyed the sour-dough bread.

We started getting some of the apples prepared...

...to make crockpot applesauce.  

YUUUMMMMMM!

My attempt at taking a picture of my 'good-lookin" boys

for posterity.

(Thanks for the rice-crispy-treat-in-the-teeth smile, Keaton.)

And to top the week off, the boys are making Sunday Dinner - homemade pizza, yay!

Matthew's special day!

We were lucky enough to get to have Matthew here

for his birthday this year!

The birthday boy and his ghosty cake

So cute!  Katie did a great job with the decorations!

The kids showing Grandma something.

Adorable little Jude.

Very lovely Victoria.

Darling Kamille.

Cutie-pie Hannah with Jude.

Keaton helps himself to home-made pizza.

Mmmm mmmm mmmm!

Everybody's ready!

Just a few more pics!

We heard there was cake!

Matthew, we're so glad you spent your special day with us!

Buzzzzzzz....

We are busy as bees around here.  The school has me working for the next two weeks.  That's great, just not great for the blogging.  I don't know how much blogging I'll get done so I thought I'd drop an update.  We really enjoyed having Mom and Katie and the kids visit last weekend.  We also had Nels and Rachel's family here for a day, it was great to spend time with them too.  We got to have Matthew's birthday here - hopefully I can find time to post pictures soon.  We also went to the apple orchard and picked apples.  The kids got to make fresh cider too.  It was a lot of fun.  As luck would have it, Winston is sick while I have a work week.  He gets to spend time with Dad today, and rest up.  The other boys are going, going, going.  And with that, I better be going, going, going too!

Surprise Surprise!

I was called in to sub for two days last week.  On the first day, after getting home from a CRAZY day with grade-school kids, I was just settling down to the computer with a Diet Coke.  Then Winston came walking in and said "Mom, Grandma and Grandpa Chick's here."  I knew Mom was coming the next week, so I told Winston, "No, Grandma will be here next week."  To which he promptly replied, "No, they're here now - on the motorcycle."  Okay, that was enough to convince me - 'motorcycle' being the magic word.  Sure enough, they popped in for a surprise visit on their way to visit Nels & Rachel's family.  We had a great visit!

Not long after they arrived, Winston shang-hi'ed Grandma into playing 'Pirates' with him out by the barn.  He was the Captain and she was the First Matey.  They had all kinds of adventures, swordfights, getting away on the motorboat and looking for those 'Bad Knights' who burned down their village.

But mostly, Winston had Grandma swabbing the deck.

When they got ready to leave, Winston loaded up on his 'Motorcycle' and was ready to follow them out.

We look forward to more surprise visits!