Horse Manure Park

 We had a fun-filled Halloween evening.  Here are some pictures to share... Last Friday Ava dressed as a witch for her school Halloween party ...and for Halloween night, she was a leopard.  She even slept with her whiskers still painted on. Neil was Mater from the movie "Cars."  I've never seen him so excited! Ready for tricks and treats!  As you can see, Neil just can't contain his excitement. A little sampling of our night out... We stopped by the police department, where McGruff was there in person. We also stopped at the fire department.  My boy was obsessed with the fire trucks. One of the homes in Baxter is famous for going "all out" for Halloween.  With a front yard like this (this is just a small part of the display), it is no wonder this is a popular place!  The street was packed with trick or treaters. We had a lot of fun on our little Halloween outing.  Now for Thanksgiving... and snow, which they sa...

Yesterday was a chilly, blustery autumn day, but the sun was shining brightly and it was a great day to carve pumpkins.  I caught some nice light coming through the dining room window and snapped a few pictures of the action: It's pumpkin carving time! Pumpkins guts are always gross, no matter what. No, she cannot contain her excitement.  Really, she can't. My boy on a sunny October afternoon. Showing little brother the ropes to pumpkin carving. Touching pumpkin guts for the first time.  Eeew! Ava decided to try to carve her own pumpkin.  She drew the face and started cutting away. "Stop taking pictures, Dad!  I'm trying to concentrate!" It got a little messy, but she didn't give up. Her first, official did-it-all-by-herself jack-o-lantern. Neil and Mommy

Last night was pumpkin-carving night... Attempting to get everyone to look at the camera at the same time (a difficult task)! Mesmerized by pumpkin guts. Off comes the top!  Neil is much more interested in the corn. Cool!   Big sister being silly. Gross... pumpkin guts. Captain Caveman A couple of days earlier, in my attempt to play Mr. Mom, Ava and I made Halloween cookies... Yes, the cookies and icing were all homemade... just ask Ava, who is decorating her Halloween "cookie snake." Enjoying all the hard work Cooooookie!!

I ended up not taking very many pictures on Halloween -- in fact we had to get a picture of Neil and Ava together in their costumes this morning.  Oh well, I think everyone had fun.  Here's a couple pictures for the record...   Getting beautiful... Ava the Mermaid posing by a goblin (no that's not Neil in his costume) The Mermaid and the Goldfish...

Carving pumpkins on Halloween morning!  Grace was scavenging for bits and pieces of pumpkin.  She found the "guts" rather appetizing.  Weird dog. Ava was making "pumpkin pie" while mom's artistic talents were put to work. Ava's third jack-o-lantern and Neil's first one!  (Notice Ava's burn on her top lip from "smelling" the cookies on Thursday night.  I don't think she'll do that again soon...  at least I hope not!)  I'll post some trick or treat pictures tomorrow.

We’ve had a whirlwind of activity here over the last couple of days. Let’s see if I can catch up. First, here’s a little something to jot down in my notebook of life’s lessons: second opinions are a good thing. On Friday afternoon, Bob Ryan and his business partner (who were recommended by Jon and Charlotte) came out and looked at our roof. Actually, a better word is they examined our roof for over an hour and they traced the leak to a damaged air vent. They actually crawled up inside the rafters and found wet insulation and an obvious point of entry, so they were almost 100% positive this was the source of the problem. They also said our shingles needed replacing (which I knew), and recommended that we call our insurance agent and have an adjuster come out. We have nothing to lose, that’s for sure. The best news is they said our sheetrock did not look damaged at all, so nothing inside the house needs to be replaced. We have an ugly water stain, but no permanent damage. It’s not...