Trick or Treat!

Austin was a fire elemental

Carson was a mage.

Griffin was a Tater-tot.... with katchup.

They are so goofy. Don't know where they get that...

 I had to get in on the action. This girl LOVES a good costume!

 I even got Lou into a costume... kind of. He was Forrest Gump.

We made it out to Lou's folks and they had a surprise for the kids. New puppy for Bella to play with!

Isn't Bella cute?! After that we hit several church trunk or treat parties. That was a first for us. We are usually so busy hosting the party and never get to go anywhere. I didn't take any pictures there.

We ended up at my Mom and Dad's house where Mom gave the boys each some candy and a small toy. Carson's were these cool finger lights. He wished he had had them for his costume! LOL!

Cook's Museum

Not many places can boast a free museum, let alone a city of 60,000. We are so thankful to be able to just pop in when ever we feel like it and check out the cool stuff at Cook's Natural Science Museum.

That thing is HEAVY!

Elephant leg bones

Gator bites

It's almost November...

Okay so this guy's taxidermy is a little off...

Towhee Nest and Eggs

The boys never get tired of this place and we always notice something new. Like this time Austin was interested in the live animals, Carson in the owls (thank you Guardians of Ga'hoole) and G wanted to touch EVERYTHING to see how it feels. My favorite stuff this time? The bird nests. So pretty! Just an FYI they took down the donation box so if you'd like to make a donation, you just have to give it to the lady behind the counter - awkward.

Halloween Fun at Cathy's

Oh, Blogger... WHY do you hate me? I have tried everything to get these pictures horizontal again and its not having it. Sigh. Here are the (sideways) photos from our Roamschool Halloween Party at Cathy's house on Tuesday.

I adore my girls! Cathy and Kaitlin went all out with decorations and even theme food... it was awesome! The boys love it at Cathy's house!

This guy keeps showing up at my house. His name is Bob and that schnoz makes his voice sound very nasally. He has a teleporter that he uses to trade places with G. He is one funny guy.

The Last Song

Yesterday afternoon was hard...

That is our church building. Well, what is left of it. It's such a shock to actually see what happened. While my husband, a trustee, was there for many hours last night and the wee hours of the morning, I still haven't seen it for myself. My kids are upset that they didn't know it was the last; last Sunday morning, last breakfast, last game of scatterball in the fellowship hall, last Christmas program. Assuring them that life sometimes works this way seems cruel. You aren't guaranteed to know it's the "last".

I dreamed of fire last night. It was consuming the furniture store my mom and I were at. It didn't hurt us, but I kept thinking of all the beautiful things that were destroyed and the things we had just left in an attempt to save each other. No one was hurt in the church either and that is what I am MOST thankful about.

When Lou returned home from the scene this morning I, uncharacteristically, woke strait up. I suddenly remembered the last song I ever help lead for worship. The thing our praise team had prayed and discussed just days before...

I'm Not Chicken

I'm not chicken. At least not yet. I have this not so secret desire to have a few roosting hens. Ones like this

 or this

And where would I keep them? In something like this...

Do I want chickens running all over my yard? Heck no. But I have always wanted to have a few chickens to makes some of these...

A girl can dream right?

House Update

Four weeks after putting the house in the market, we finally had our first showing today. I had teased Lou that since I was keeping the house up no one would look at it. If I let it get REAL dirty I would get the call. When I started getting sick I joked, again, that this would be the weekend it would happen. See? I'm psychic! Nah, me and Murphy's Law are just old friends is all. Thank the good Lord for a mother willing to brave germs and a husband ready to drop plans to help out. In about two hours we went from shameful to chic. It was killing me that those LAST little things that pop up still hadn't been done, but when we left the house looked as good as it's gonna get with all of us living here. The effort wiped me out, but I had the rest of the day to relax. Our Realtor said they liked the house and were planning on talking to their Realtor again on Monday. I guess that's good? No idea. I think the hardest part of all this for me has been letting go of my PLANNING. Can't stand to not know what is ahead and THAT my friends is LIFE. Ah, well. House sale as therapy, perhaps?

I did get off my butt for about 5 minutes this afternoon and made pumpkin cupcakes.They were sinfully easy. How sinful?

Put one 15oz can of pumpkin into a bowl of spice (or german chocolate) cake mix. Mix well. Bake in muffin tin at 400* for 20 minutes.

I kid you not. THAT easy. AND they are wonderful. Just to make illness a little easier I have my house clean, my kids gone, warm cupcakes and just finished a Rosemary & Thyme marathon. Now if I can just stop being sick and sell the house, life would be perfect. ;o)

Ah, cold season...

Sadly, cold season has found us despite the weather being almost 80* - AGAIN. Does is still count as a summer cold if it's not technically summer? I think it's making up for spring taking forever this year to arrive by summer never leaving. When it gets like this in the deep south, there is no fall. The leaves just give up on life, turn brown and throw themselves from the trees. The short rain shower we got last week has helped some - I did see a couple of trees with yellow and orange - but nothing like the beautiful autumnal color we have had in the past. I'm sure it will get good and cold before we leave for our family Thanksgiving at the beach. I just don't care for warm Christmases. It's hard to get in the holiday spirit if you can't even wear a sweater... but I digress. 

Today's list of things to do was greatly altered by being stuck in bed. Right now I'm listening to make sure the kids don't kill each other over the song program that they all have such wonderful ideas for (the last creation went something like "my butt makes me look fat"), planning meals/grocery list, updating my blog set up (I made that header myself!) and coming up with wonderful Christmas crafting ideas.

Our homeschool group's Mom's Night Out is tonight. It's a once a month thing and I have been counting down the days until this one. They offer a great chance for me to work on Christmas gifts without little eyes seeing and blabbing. Since tonight's is a no go for me, Lou has offered to handle the boys and I am going to hide in our room and get some stuff done.... or sleep. While I was looking for Christmas projects a while ago I came across a few awesome ideas. I think I hit a real winnero. Now all I need are scissors, plastic bags and a stick!

Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin

The nasty cold virus that has been going around hit there this week. Lou went down on Tuesday and I'm feeling less than fun today. Since Lou was home and we had no where to go I couldn't  resist some baking.


Take one can of pumpkin and make...

Autumn Spice Granola

• 7 cups old fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup flax seeds or wheat germ
• 1 cup nuts (I use walnuts or pecans.)
• 1 cup sunflower seeds
• 2 T. cinnamon
• 1 t. salt
• 1 1/2 t. pumpkin pie spice

• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin (not pie mix!)
• 1/4 cup cinnamon apple sauce
• 1 generous T. vanilla

• 1 1/2 cup craisins

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix liquid ingredients and pour over dry. (I usually measure and mix the liquid ingredients in a 2-cup measuring cup.) Stir until well coated.

Place granola mixture into two lightly sprayed 9×13 baking dishes. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes; stir and add craisins. Bake another 20-25 minutes or until evenly browned. Cool and store in an airtight container.

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!

Use the the other half of the can to make ...

Quick Pumpkin Pancakes

2 cups Aunt Jemima Original Pancake Mix (May contain traces of milk so use
caution)
1 1/2 cups Almond milk
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 t pumpkin pie spice

Mix all ingredients and cook on griddle until golden and cooked in the center.
Optional add ins: 1/4 c milled flax seed and/or 1 cup DF chocolate chips.

Hopefully, I will have enough left to not HAVE to cook again until I'm feeling 100% again.... or at least not so germy. :o)