Happy Halloween

Summer took all the pumpkin carving pictures, including the one below.

Rachel isn't really mad, she is just teasing Summer by being photographically uncooperative :)

I like the contrast between their expressions.

Michael was so excited to be a frog, I had a hard time keeping him from hopping during the picture taking.

Heather and Kelly - pioneers

Gwen - cowgirl

Michael - frog

Naomi - fairy princess

Stray...

You've heard of stray dogs...

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and Stray Cats...

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but have you ever heard of a stray CHICKEN?!?!?!?

Yep, we have adopted a stray chicken.

She just showed up in our yard a few months ago and moved in.

It happened at a fortuitous time, since we lost three chickens to what I'm guessing was the bird flu (have you ever heard a chicken hack and cough?) and so it was nice to get an addition to our little flock.

The girls christened her Snapdragon.

Stan says she is a game hen.

Here she is with Daisy and Buttercup, the extent of our poultry :)

Ruth Parker Jewelry

A friend of our family is building her jewelry making business. Lauren has impeccable taste and I love her sense of color. She does a wonderful job of combining old and new to make beautiful jewelry.

Here is link for those of you who like pretty shiny things or for those of you who might be buying Christmas presents for someone who likes pretty shiny things...


Ruth Parker Jewelry

She even has a weekly giveaway and a new one went up today (just for you Alyssa).

Ode to Gwen

This evening, Summer and Heather wrote a song about Gwen, to be sung to the melody of "For the Beauty of the Earth."

For the beauty of Gwen's hair,
For the moonbeams in her eyes,
For the rubies of her lips,
For the roses of her cheeks,
Gwen thy lovely face we praise.
Please don't stomp away in haste!

Michael is Five

Happy Birthday Michael!!!

...and, yes those are tea lights, because I was prepared as usual...

Sunday Afternoon

Not today, but on a recent Sunday afternoon, one of the girls made a cookie ice cream pie.

It was delicious.

We needed a walk after we ate it, so we went to a local park with a small lake.

We saw an egret and...

...some obese geese.

Naomi is so glad her Dad picks her up and carries her. What luxury!

Mermaid Hippopotamus

Rachel is taking a ceramics class this year in school and made this mermaid hippopotamus :)

Monsters

Kelly is getting ready for Halloween...

getting in the spirit of things...

drawing monsters!

Stuff

Rachel convinced Naomi to let her curl her a hair a couple of weeks ago for church. Too bad I didn't get an after picture...


It is nice for Michael and Naomi to have a reader at home with them during the day, especially right after we get home from the library with a new stack of unread treasures.

A few people have asked me what I am doing about my toes since I broke my back and the answer is nothing. They are going unadorned. With brace on, I can't really reach to shave my legs very well, much less paint my toes. One of the girls shaved my legs for me once (she's still traumatized by having to put shaving cream on them and won't do it again) and Stan has a couple of times, but mostly, I am going around as the wild woman of Borneo.

I have to admit, I can't get that worked up about it. On the other hand, I was very excited when I saw a doctor five weeks after the accident and was able to take the neck part of my brace off. Then, I saw another doctor a little over three weeks ago and he told me I could stop sleeping with the brace on. It has been so lovely to sleep without it!

I am slowly feeling less pain, but not nearly as quickly as I would like. This whole experience is a lesson in patience :)

Anyway, back to my toes. Stan has been keeping my feet in good shape, buffing and lotioning them, and would be willing to paint my toenails. My daughters would be kind enough to do it also (as long as it didn't involve shaving cream), but I have gratefully declined. So much of the enjoyment I get from painting my toes is the artistic part, I have been fine with putting off having decorated toes until I can experience the whole shebang. I have painted my fingernails a couple of time, but since I hate the way chipped polish looks and I used my hands for washing dishes instead of my feet (and aren't we all grateful for that) I always go for something subtle (boring!).