Happy Halloween

Finally the spooky day is here and Mother finally finished the costume....

Doesn't she look sweet? Of course, the way that she has fought the costume and kicked her basket wasn't so sweet, lol! Her favorite part is the shoes. She loves the shoes and wants to have them on at all the time. When we put them on her, she actually twirls and stomps her feet. Her least favorite part is the cape....

I will show Jake's Darth Vadar costume tomorrow. He has a cool red light sabor and keeps walking around saying "Luke, I am your fah-ther ".

Today we put our bags for Scouting for Food. Oh my! Was it a lot of work in the rain. Only Jake and one other boy showed up in our den and we had to cover 400 houses. Next Saturday, we get to pick up the food. But it will be worth it to help feed the hungry this Thanksgiving.

In a couple of hours, the fun will begin and all hollow's eve begins... Boo!

Tooth update

Jake's tooth is doing a little better. The antibiotics must be kicking in because the swelling is going down on his gum. He went to school today and felt okay. Yay!

Tomorrow is my first classroom party. We are feeding them lots of sugar and doing a fall craft. I hope the craft will go okay. I have worked hard on creating each kids a kit. We are making Faux Stained Glass Fall Leaves to put in windows. You use construction paper, tissue paper and contact paper. Wish me luck tomorrow!

Poor boy!

My poor Jacob woke up last night in a lot of pain from a toothache. He has a couple of cavities. One of them is abscessed and needs a vital pulpotomy or baby tooth root canal. We went to a children's dental chain last Friday and did not feel comfortable with their treatment. A good friend recommended her doctor

I am so glad we took her advice. We already had an appointment today for a consultation. But Jake's toothache did not improve at school so he was sent home. The office took us in early. They actually let me come back with Jake. They had windows with bird feeders in front of every window for you to look out at during your exam. We saw so many birds! They weren't the least scared of us. They also had flat screen tv's to watch hanging so you can easily see it.

This dentist is just a regular family dentist in a small house down the road from us. Not the supposedly kid-friendly place we went to last week!

The dentist came out and did some really cool magic tricks for Jake. Even I was impressed. So Jake is on antibotics to get the swelling down and using prescription strength pain killers at night. They really want him to get at least 4 days antibotics in him, but if it gets worse, they will proceed with the root canal. Poor poor Jake!

So keep him in your thoughts and prayers this week that it gets better and they can do the procedure next Thursday as scheduled. It will be less painful that way...

Things to accomplish this week...

Random thoughts before I go to bed tonight about the second half of the week...

Finish Laura's costume
What to do with this last bowl full of apples?
Finish up craft project kits for Jake's classroom fall party
Decide Halloween dinner menu
Sew those pillows shut already, lol!
Pamper myself somehow just once this week
Go to the library and select one read aloud book for family time (thinking Ramona Quimby or maybe something deeper like Follow My Leader, hmmmm...)
Put up my ring of ghosts outside, Boo!

First Scout camp...

We survived our first campout for cub scouts. Well, at least Sandy and Jake did. We figured that since Laura hasn't been sleeping through the night well lately that we really didn't want to anger 2000 people at 2 am, lol! So Laura and I left in the afternoon to go enjoy bubble baths and nice warm fluffy beds....

It was a very rainy and the wind was very gusty. There were a few broken canopies and some camping items blown over that day. We all got soaked. But Jake earned his archery and bb gun shooting beltloops. And he got to emboss some leather. Laura had the time of her life running all over the place. Let's just say her new white jacket will probably never be white again ;) That girls sure loves exploring nature.


We met interesting people at the camp and now that we know what it is like, we can really look forward to future scout camps. There was a lake and pirate ship. There was a castle to explore. A nature center. Canine Unit Dogs to learn about. Obstacle courses. Dog food sling shot contest. All kinds of fun boy stuff! :)

We are thinking of getting a bigger tent and a canopy so that we can go on a family camp-out this spring. It will be fun to camp out just as a family. :)

Savor the season...

"Oh, the Lord is good to me

and so I thank the Lord.

For giving me the things I need,

the sun, the rain, and the appleseed.
Yes, the Lord is good to me"

--Disney's Johnny Appleseed

Hmmmm.....My house smells so cinnamon apple-ish! Nothing says fall like crisp fresh apples! We went to Charlottesville to an orchard to pick apples and have been enjoying them ever since. I'm talking apple pies, apple butter, applesauce, apple dapple cake, apple slices, caramel apples... We are regular Johnny Appleseeds.



I do have to say so myself. My apple butter is pretty darn good this year. I used Macintosh apples and they just came through so sweet and good. It will definitely will go good on biscuits this winter and in apple butter spice cake. :)

Here are some photos of the kids picking apples:

Autumn joys...

Nothing like apple butter simmering on the stove top to let you know that autumn is the best season of the year. My house smells so cinnamony-sweet. Yum!

We picked these apples in Charlottesville one weekend. It was a lot of fun, but a lot of work. Pushing strollers on a side of mountain isn't the easiest thing I ever did, but it was worth it. It was great family time and of course, we are enjoying the harvest.

Oh, what a beautiful morning...

I love my new mattress! I highly recommend to anyone who has back pain or stiffness and has an old mattress to go ahead and put out the money to get one. Whew! I am waking up feeling so much better. I have more energy and my mood is much better. (At least I think so... Sandy and the kids might say otherwise, lol)

I hope to upload some photos tomorrow. I have gotten so behind, but I have so busy with cub scouts, room mother duties and life overall, the blog was put on the back burner.

Today's game plan is to clean the house. This evening is a special tradition for me and Jake. While Sandy is in class, it is pancake/movie night. We have done this tradition for a long time. We immediately change into pjs after school and work. Then we have a hearty dinner of Fluffy pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs. And then we sit down to watch a family movie. I am not sure what tonight's feature is as my Netflix has not arrived yet. We might download the Legends of Sleepy Hollow, but that might be too scary...

Well, the vacuum is calling my name and so are the 3 basketfulls of folded laundry to be put up.