Two Posts, One Day

TWO POSTS!!
How is that possible? You ask.
Aren't you neglecting your parental duties?
Do you have nothing better to do than blog all day?

Yes, it is true that I am posting twice in a day...in a relatively short amount of time.  Yes, it is true that I do have better things to do than blog all day~ which I have been doing by the way (the other things, I mean, NOT the blogging). 
HOWEVER...I have Edda Bear Anderson (Ella Blair/Blaire- sorry Linds I'm not sure if there is an "e" at the end or not) at my house today and she is keeping Annaliesse quite occupied.  Well, she was until Katie Claire came home. Now Katie Claire is keeping Edda Bear quite occupied.  Soooooo while I have a little free time I am going to take advantage of it.

Today Katie Claire had a book character parade at her school.  I went and it was cute. I know, I know, you're thinking "just post the pics and being done with it". Spare us the whole monologue.  I would, but where's the fun in that?  :)

So last week - and by last week I actually mean the Friday BEFORE fall break- KC brings home her newsletter and following week assignments like she always does. I glance at them and then set them aside.  After all, there will be a whole week before I have to really think about what's going on AFTER fall break. 
Fall break comes and goes...pretty quiet and uneventful.  We don't go anywhere or do anything much and we certainly DON'T think about school!

Sunday night, on our way home from church, goes something like this:

KC: MOM!! My parade is tomorrow and I have to dress up like a character from my book!
Me: Katie Claire! Surely it isn't tomorrow...that sounds like a Friday kind of thing.
KC: No it IS tomorrow!  And I HAVE to dress up!
Me: What book do you have?
KC: A book about giraffes and a book about tigers.  I want to be a giraffe.
Me: There is no way I am going to find a giraffe costume at 9:30 on a Sunday night!! Nothing is even open!
Some brilliant person remembers Walmart is open...maybe it was me who remembered...I don't know.
We stop at Walmart and I manage to find a tiger mask, a tail, and some orange and black striped tights. 
When we get home I check to make sure that this thing IS actually tomorrow...
What do you think?
If you guessed NO then you are correct...or maybe you just paid attention to today's date and when I mentioned above that I went to her character parade today :)
Not only was the parade NOT going to be "tomorrow", the guidelines also stated that there could be no masks- yeah, I know, wait it gets better...AND that it had to be "homemade".

Soooooooooo...long story short- who am I kidding it's a long story :) I take back the mask and tail and buy some face paint and orange fabric (I'm gonna keep the store bought tights and they'll just have to get over it).  Go home and sew orange stripes onto a black leotard. I do make a tail, per Daddy's request, but forgo the tiger ears.  I have to admit that it turned out much better than I anticipated.  She looked pretty cute in her first homemade costume.

See for yourself!

No, I didn't serge the edge of the strips.  Yes, they are fraying. No, I don't really care.  How many times will she wear this again anyway?!

We She had issues with the tail.  The issue being that she didn't want one!

 

This is why I do not include "makeup artist" on my resume!

Yeah, I know, zebra stripes and tiger stripes.  You can never have too much animal print?  Or can you?

There was an adorable Cat in the Hat costume and a Chef Mickey but since I don't know who the kids are nor do I have permission to post pictures of their kids, you'll just have to take my word for it!

Into the Maddening Crowd

It's that time of the year.  The one where we rush out into the maddening crowds trying to find something for our children to wear so that they can go door to door begging for candy.  The one where we spend a small fortune for a costume that they will wear ONCE. at night.  in the dark. 
Every year I put it off until the last minute as though the day isn't going to actually come.  Then I hurry around at the last minute scrounging something up.  Yep, e-v-e-r-y year.

I have recently decided that perhaps it isn't all my fault.  Yes, my kids tell me months, even a year in advance what they are going to be for Halloween.  Yes, I have plenty of time to make it happen.  Yes, by nature I am a procrastinator.  But...

My kids are wishy washy.  Indecisive. On the fence. Vacillating. Waffling. Wavering.  However you choose to word it the bottom line is THEY CAN'T MAKE UP THEIR MINDS.  I know they can't help it...it comes honest.  A little from me and a little from their Daddy.  You should see us trying to decide where we should go to eat or what we should do for fun as a family.  But that is a whole other post that I won't get into right now!

This year they have changed their sweet little minds at least a dozen times.  Katie Claire has vacillated between Auburn cheerleader, the bloody Scream character, a vampire, a clown, a tiger, and Mario.  Annaliesse has waffled between an Alabama cheerleader, a vampire, a witch, a unicorn, Luigi, Belle, Cinderella, a gorilla, a fairy, a genie, and Snow White. With all this fickleness what else can I do BUT wait until the last minute?

The good news...We have finally decided- or at least narrowed it down to no more than 2 choices- on a costume.  
Even better news...It only comes once a year and it's almost over!

Sorry, you'll have to wait until next week to see the final outcome!

It's That Time of the Year Again!

Saturday, October 15 marked the beginning of the 2011 hunting season.  For any of you with husbands who hunt you know what that means...life as a single parent. 
Trent had actually gotten to where he wasn't hunting quite as much as he did when we first married.  Then Mason reached that age. The age where all he does is eat, sleep, breathe hunting.  For him it really doesn't matter what kind of animal he hunts.  Big or small he loves it all - no, I didn't mean for that to rhyme but it's kinda cool that it does :)
Now that Mason is so into hunting Trent has pretty much caught his second wind with the whole hunting thing and most Friday evenings and Saturday mornings/afternoons I don't see much of them...except to see Trent asleep on the couch after he gets home from hunting.

Mason killed his first deer in third grade with a rifle.  He started hunting with his bow either last year or the year before and he only killed one (well, half of one since he didn't make a good shot and Trent had to shoot it again).  So this past weekend was pretty exciting for him.  Friday evening he shot a doe and Saturday morning he shot a 5 point.  It was his biggest deer yet!
For those who are appalled I won't really apologize because we do actually eat the deer. It doesn't go to waste.  For those of you who are appalled that we eat the deer...Have you ever tried it?  It's much cleaner and healthier than beef!  We really do like it better.
Anyhow, here are some pics of his doe and buck.

This is the doe that he shot Friday evening.  It was his first bow kill all by himself!

This is his first buck killed with a bow. It is also his biggest buck- a 5 point.  We are trying to teach him to be selective with the bucks he shoots but for a 13 year old who has only killed does and a couple of spikes I guess this seemed pretty big to him. :)

The next picture is one of him with his very first deer.  It was a spike...although at the time he shot it he thought it was a doe.  When he found it he realized it was actually a spike.  He was 8 1/2 years old.  Look at how young he looks.

Now by comparison...this is the kind of bucks his daddy shoots.  Of course when he was Mason's age I'm sure he was probably excited to shoot the size deer Mason kills.

And just because I'm posting hunting pics...Here is one of Mason with the ducks he killed during last year's youth duck hunt.  He enjoys duck hunting a little better than deer hunting.  I think it's the challenge of hitting a flying target.

For the record, I don't condone needlessly killing animals (except maybe field mice that want to try to sneak into my house to get out of the cold...and poisonous snakes...or poisonous spiders).  Usually once Mason gets us a deer or two and gets a deer for one of the teacher's aides at his school I am very particular about what Mason and Trent shoot and what they plan on doing with it.

In about a week or two I'll have a freezer full of venison! 

Official Diagnosis

Well the diagnosis is in...walking pneumonia...I had a pretty good idea it might be.  Hands went on me last Tuesday night and I did feel better for a day or two but the pain that has been in my back and chest along with this ridiculous cough led me to believe that it was probably walking pneumonia- I get that the way Grace gets Strep Throat- when the wind blows just right :).  Some times I have felt ok. Other times not so great.  This week has been pretty bad.  Maybe I'll be able to get rid of it now and enjoy the rest of the week with the kids. :)  Hope everyone else is doing well!

Virtual Vacation

It is Fall Break for the kiddos and we are NOT going anywhere, nor are we doing anything interesting this week. We are "resting" and "recovering"...well, I am "resting and recovering" from some kind of upper respiratory nightmare.  Since I have nothing interesting to share right now I decided to take a virtual vacation to the beach- aka Summer Beach Pictures I Never Posted :)

This was one of the first pictures taken of KC and one of the few that she cooperated in.  For some reason beach pictures aren't the highlight of the trip for her :)

Notice the band on Mason's wrist? Well, maybe you wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't pointed it out :) He refused to take it off because they were going back to the pier to fish that night after beach pictures.  I decided I would rather deal with wrist bands and get smiles than fight it and end up with grumpy subjects.  I also didn't fight him -too much- about the sunglasses.

This doesn't happen every day but when it does I am happy if I have my camera with me.  See what letting the kid leave on a wrist band and sunglasses can do!  Good call on my part :)