The Bunch Have a Rainy Cold Halloween!

Yay! Girls placed 2nd in their division and played hard for 1st and just barely came up short.

Well, we were blessed more rain AGAIN, but this time we got a nice drop in temperatures to go with it. Our yard is so saturated it literally can no longer absorb water. There are puddles of stagnant water every where. Of course, several businesses still have their sprinklers going off because apparently 29 inches of rain in three months just isn't quite enough.

         During one of these last rain spells, we had to go to the store. As we were turning the corner to get onto the highway, my daughter noticed an almost frozen soaking wet chicken in the ditch. Yep, in the country you find stray chickens instead of stray dogs. So of course, the immediate (and some what dire need I might add) of getting groceries came to a halt and a chicken rescue mission ensued because "we can't leave Speckles in the rain". Yes, my kids had already named the mangy half dead hen. The poor thing was so cold and wet she literally did not even try to move when my youngest daughter went into the ditch to retrieve her. This was a good thing since we were on the side of a major highway and my kids would have been traumatized to see her crushed before their eyes. Back the 15 miles to the house to try and get "Speckles" warm. The first couple of days she did nothing but lay down and eat. It has now been over a week. She is still in quarantine for 3 more weeks,but she has made what I consider a full recovery. She is feisty, her color is back, and she hates being in her carrier. In order to give her a play area, I enclosed the bottom of the kids trampoline in chicken wire and we give her daily play time. She has actually laid a green egg for us, which tells us she is a hybrid because only 3 types of chickens lay colored eggs and she is NOT one of them. I will let you know how her introduction to the other hens goes. The other girls are a bit bossy so it should be interesting.

Sadly, rocking a chicken in the house seems totally normal now.

Kids playing with Speckles in the "play pen".

This year I had decided the kids were too old to go out trick or treating (at least the youngest two, the older ones haven't been for awhile) so we decided to have a family fun day. L planned it all out with carnival style games, Halloween themed food, and shows to watch. It was really fun. We really LOVE the Netflix series Merlin and have watched all the seasons through about 3 times now. It is a good family show and that is hard to find now. The girls went as Merlin and Guinevere from the show and T was Link (the main character in Zelda). Maisy was a jack-o-lantern that L spent about 3 hours making for her. It only lasted long enough to take a picture and barely then. Maisy is NOT a dog who enjoys dress up!

Pumpkin painting time.

I was really into it.

One of L's many fun games.

D won first place in the painting contest, according to the judge....HIS SISTER... I call Nepotism..my smiley face was awesome! 

All the entries...

Bowling game..harder than it looks...I won!!!

Super fun day.

This was hard too because the balls can bounce back out if you throw them too hard. 

L's mouth snack: apple slices, peanut butter, and marshmallows.

Being silly and having fun.

Link, Merlin and Guinevere

  

     

     

Maisy would not sit still for her pic

Our Halloween themed stuffed peppers...it actually was kind of hard to cut out the faces.

Our son and his girlfriend.

One big family again!

My eldest baby just had his 25th birthday. I can't believe it. Time goes by soooo fast! He is now a full year older than me. We took him to celebrate this milestone at the local Mexican food place, which is fantastic. I was worried I wouldn't have options to eat out in the country, but our Chinese place and Mexican place are awesome. L also made him a honeybun cake at his request and we spent some quality time together chatting. We don't see him a lot so it is always enjoyable when he can visit for  a bit.

Our trip time is finally here! We are so excited. We love Branson. We must because usually I don't allow us to visit the same place twice. There is too much to see to just go to the same places over and over again. I think part of the reason I love Branson so much is it reminds me of my childhood and visiting my grandparents for the summer at their lake house. I hope my kids will have fond memories of all our experiences together. They won't remember stuff we bought them, but they should always remember what we did and we have had lots of wonderful experiences (and a few bad that we laugh about now).I have either instilled a love of travel and exploring or made them hermits who never go anywhere in their adult life. I guess we will see.

 Happy Thanksgiving to ALL!