tHe MaKiNg of GoRdOn aNd HeNrY

The boys have been a bee and a pumpkin:

*All I remember is how hard it was to get them both outside for a picture...then I couldn't get a picture together without at least one crying...notice how they took turns above.
They have been scarecrows:

Pirates:

And trains:

They had so much fun as trains last year...that the boys decided to be trains again...but they chose different trains. BIGGER trains...Henry and Gordon. My friend Heather's boys are going to be Thomas and Toby so we thought it would be fun if all the boys were trains.

We found two great long boxes at Costco.

Then Geoff was creative at folding the boxes to make them angled a little bit.

Then came the fittings.

The painting:

More fittings:

The assembling and decorating:

More assembling and decorating:

Almost done! Here is Henry's glued face drying:

And while the boys woke up and saw this:

I saw this:

Those faces made it so worth it!

Getting a better look at the finished products:

Time to get dressed! Here are our little engineers sitting next to Gordon (blue) and Henry (green):

They are so much taller this year! My brother's old overalls were HUGE on them last year and fit just right this year. And my old overalls were a tad small on them last year...and didn't fit this year...so I bought a pair at Goodwill.

Trying to get a picture with one of my little train engineers:

Ready to get some candy!

Lining up with their friend Thomas (so so cute):

For some strange reason, J decided to use Gordon to "fire" at everyone...hmmm...maybe no more helicopter IPAD games....

W ready for Henry to be in the car. And to eat some candy.

Back to the roundhouse!

Skunked

I believe I had said in a previous post something about going after that skunk. Well, I didn't really mean it. But Katy took it to heart. Very late on Friday night I was just crawling into bed when I heard one of the dogs whimpering loudly. I asked Geoff to go check on them...and I heard him groan and say that the dogs got skunked...for the third time for those of you keeping track. And then came the burn-your-nose-eyes kind of smell. It is amazing how it even penetrates through the walls!

We must be getting smarter though because we had a large unopened bottle of hydrogen peroxide and I made up the de-skunking concoction while Geoff inspected the girls. Katy was the only one that got hit...and scratched on her nose. Which means that she actually had contact with the skunk. Before we just assumed they had been sprayed through the fence.

So I called our vet (since 25% of skunks carry rabies even though they may not act like it...it can just be in their blood) just to see if Katy needed a booster shot. She just had the vaccine in the last 6-7 months so she is OK. And even though it was late and cold...Geoff proceeded with bathing Katy in the mixture and it worked amazing compared to the first few times. Getting it off as soon as possible is key.

Then Geoff said he needed a flashlight to look in the back yard for a dead skunk...which hadn't even crossed my mind. I will spare you the details. But I will just say that Katy fared better than the skunk this time. Poor cute little thing.

The boys helped Geoff bury it in the field. RIP little guy. RIP.

:(

Park & ScArECrOw RoW

We met some preschool friends at the park Thursday after school and I couldn't believe how well the boys played with the other three boys.

I just got to sit back and watch and visit with another mom. I remember a friend in Florida telling me a couple of years ago that she felt like she "had arrived" as a mother when she could sit back at the playground and just watch all the action happening. All I could think is they are getting so big.

Here is J being "chased" by "sharks" around the park.

The weather was AMAZING and I am glad we took the chance to drink it in because it turned cold and rainy the very next day. In fact, the weather is forecasting a chance of SNOW showers on Monday!!

But we braved the windy and verrry cloudy and wet weather for a costume parade and Trick or Treating downtown on Saturday. Due to the chance of lots of rain, we put the boys back in their "Arggh Pirates" costumes so their homemade painted cardboard costumes didn't get destroyed.

Trick or Treating at the shops downtown:

Check out the cutie cutie pumpkin...oh those dimples!
Their T or T partners:

Heading out after getting a balloon of course.

It was fun, crowded and a little chilly...but the rain held out until the evening. I have to mention "Star Wars" team that was there. Their costumes were amazing. I have to say...I am not a Star Wars person but the Storm Troopers and Chewbacca's (please excuse any name misspellings) costumes-WOW. "Chewy" looked like he stepped right out of the movie.

Here is W watching the Star Wars characters pose for pictures with kids. Oh, I wish I knew what he was thinking.

Their group made an R2D2 scarecrow for the scarecrow competition. I must say it was pretty cute.

And finally, I started baking our favorite chocolate chip pumpkin bread recipe...the first four loaves for some new neighbors and the boys' teachers....then two more with egg replacement for the boys (they were just as yummy by the way) and now some more baking today!

Fall is here!

Katy and Bear

Our sweet girls. They are best friends and partners in crime. We adopted them from a shelter in Mountain Home, Idaho in 2004. First Katy, then Bear just three days later. They are both 6 1/2 years old. We named Bear...but Katy was already named. We didn't like the name for her at all at first...but it has worked for her. She is such a tomboy that most people always assume she is a boy.

We have lots of nicknames for Katy though...

K to the T, Katia, Katy Legs, Katy Lady, Roo, Katy Katy, Brown Eyes

Loves: food, running, playing ball and keep away, nibbling on people's faces, small animals of all kinds.
She loves to jump up in the air to catch balls (especially the plastic squeaky-kind)...I caught this photo of her just as she caught the ball the other day:

She has trouble letting go of the ball though. Geoff and I can get her to let go if we hold her collar. Then she drops it. So I told the boys to do that because they get frustrated that she won't let it go. But she has their number. She knows that she still outweighs them by about 30 lbs. W tried and tried to get her to let go of the ball the other day.

And tried:

Let gooooo!

But no luck.

This picture looks photo-shopped. Because of the angle she looks HUGE.

They love going on runs. Katy and Bear each have their side on the stroller. Katy on the left and Bear on the right. They don't get to go on as many runs as they used to...and they let me know it. If they see the boys and I heading up the hill with the stroller (even if we aren't going running)...they actually start howling...and I can hear the howling all.the.way.up.

And here is Bear. Baaar. Bay Bear. Bear Bear.

FAvORiTe thing. Belly rubs. All day long. Belly rubs.

She also likes wiggling on her back and shedding insane amounts of hair.

Can you see all the cotton-looking hair on the grass. Our yard is COVERED when Geoff brushes the girls. We should really go into the pillow-stuffing business. Katy is even worse. They have to pretty much live outside because the boys are still allergic to dogs.

Bear thinks she is the alpha dog. But I am not sure. She also love to eat. And she loves to keep Katy away from playing ball or playing keep away.

Katy and Bear enjoy the wildlife here. They have become intimate friends with skunks...and they like to bark at the jack rabbits and foxes. And recently, there have been more deer in the area. Two days ago I looked out the window at sunset and spotted a fox leaping to catch something. And not far away from the fox were two large mule deer. Katy and Bear finally spotted them and sprinted off the deck and down the yard barking. The deer just stopped what they were doing. Look at Katy and Bear for a bit. Then continued to nibble on the grass (or whatever they are eating) completely unphased.

We found a 1/2 dozen mule deer in the lot next to ours last week.

The mule deer remind me of Katy because they have long skinny legs and large ears.