Carving Pumpkins

Happy Halloween!

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Jaren's preschool went to a Farm/Pumpkin Patch for a Field Trip.

They each got to pick out a pumpkin.

We got to feed the goats. There were also horses, donkeys, pigs, bulls, long horn, chickens, turkeys, and geese..in no particular order :) And we got to go on a "Hay Ride."

It was a fun couple of hours!

Jonah's Camp Part 2

Jonah took a roll of film at camp. Only a few of the pictures turned out. I guess that's what you get with a cheap disposable camera, poor lighting, and an inexperienced photographer. :) Oh well. A few weeks after the boys got home, they sent these professional photos home and said, "either pay for them or send them back." I think they make a lot of money that way. I wasn't planning on buying them, but once having them in my hand and seeing them, it was hard to say no.

I turned this one to black and white. I thought it made it look more rugged. :)

If they had a parent go with them, a photo was taken of them together.

This was the group of boys Joe was in charge of. The teachers thought highly of Joe and how he handled tough situations. I recently went to a Parent Teacher Conference and heard again how much they loved Joe and how well he did with the boys.

Below are pictures from the disposable camera...

1. A cool looking flower
2. There's an owl in this picture somewhere

3. A picture of Dad that actually worked ok

4. His teacher

5. A friend

6. A friend playing tetherball (a highlight)

Geckos

I can still remember the first time I saw a gecko in our apartment when we first moved here. I was both frightened and amazed. Eight years later, when I see one crawling up the wall or scurrying across the floor, I'm not so alarmed anymore, and I think they are cute. Jaxon calls them "Yuck-o's" He used to call them "Deck-os."
We've caught a couple, to observe, but mostly our cat Jamaica gets to them first. The other night I saw one in our family room. It gobbled up a spider that was hanging out up in the corner. I've heard they are good for that, so I just let them be. They are only about 2 inches long.

Here's a close up, and the next picture shows how small they really are.

You can barely see it up there above the curtain.

Oh, and we also have squirrels and rabbits in our yard. Those are fun to watch too. It almost feels like we live in the wild.

Texas State Fair

The State Fair. We have only been once since we moved to Texas. It is pretty expensive, but the kids get a free ticket at school. I think it's a trick because the kids have a free ticket, which gets the paying parents there.

In addition to the corn dogs, turkey drumsticks, funnel cakes, and other common fair food, each year they have a contest to come up with new fried foods. In the past it has been: twinkies, snickers, Coca-Cola, cookie dough, etc. This article was in the paper telling about the winners for this year. CAUTION: Just reading this might clog your arteries!!

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CHICKEN-FRIED BACON-- Really, are you going to go to the fair and not try it? It is what it is: a wide slice of bacon, breaded and fried, with a side of ranch (yes!) or honey mustard. It won the best-taste award. Bonus points for being easy to share, which is good because something bad might happen if you eat a whole order

FRIED BANANA SPLIT--Oh, man. Tell your compadres it's too messy to share, then eat the whole thing yourself. The fried element here is balls of banana and honey peanut butter, all buried under caramel and chocolate syrups, peanuts and more. It was named most creative.

TEXAS FRIED JELLY BELLYS --Imagine, if you can or want to, fluffy balls of funnel cake batter hiding a scoop of Jelly Bellys. Each ball contains a different flavor. Buy an order for the kids – they're not too messy and are easy to share.

FERNIE'S ALL-AMERICAN FRIED GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICH-- Panko coating adds crunch to this basic grilled cheese. Tomato soup stands in as dip. It's good but lacks the outrageousness factor.

DEEP FRIED S'MORES --The original is stunning in its simplicity. Battered and fried, it becomes transcendent, the flavors melding into a fabulous, gooey whole. Don't burn your tongue.

FIRE & ICE --The buzz here is the topper of whipped cream frozen in liquid nitrogen. But do you really want hard chunks of smoking whipped cream on top of your dessert? The fried pineapple ring is a yummy base for strawberries, syrup and the curious banana-flavored cream.

FRIED CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES --These are more like chocolate-filled donuts. The filling is made with dark chocolate, which seems oddly sophisticated in this setting.

CHOCOLATE-COVERED STRAWBERRY WAFFLE BALLS --Big strawberries, dipped in chocolate, battered and fried? I could eat a lot of these – given a plate and fork. But they're served on a tiny stick. Mine went spinning after each bite. Proceed with cautious abandon.
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If you want to know all the food that's available, here's a link to a list of even more, including "Crispy Fried Cantaloupe Pie" http://www.bigtex.com/foodlocator/

It was fun the year we went, but we will not be attending the fair this year. My bank account and arteries have already thanked me.

Camping Boys

Jonah had 5th grade camp this week. Joe "got" to go chaperone. They were gone for 3 days and 2 nights. They had fun. This is after 3 days of camping, walking, canoeing, walking, archery, campfires, playing, walking, sleeping on cots, and walking. Jonah didn't like the walking, and the funniest part was Jonah had Scouts on the day they got home. Do you know what their activity was? They went on a 3 mile 'hike.' ( not many places to hike in Texas so they walked from the church to a nearby park and back) Jonah slept very well that night! Jonah took some pictures with a disposable camera-I need to get them developed and see what fun things he took pictures of.

My hubby after 3 days of not shaving :)

True Texan??

Balloons

There was a balloon festival near our house this weekend. We were able to see them from our house and saved tons of money.

This picture is taken from upstairs. The kids were really excited and running from room to room and shouting out how many balloons they could see.

There were quite a number of them up in a big cluster.
On Friday the wind was blowing in our favor and all the balloons started heading our way. On Saturday and Sunday none of them even came close so we were glad we got to see them on Friday!
This was taken from our kitchen window Friday night as we ate dinner.
This safari balloon landed just across the street in a vacant lot. A friend that lives in our neighborhood called and said that there were 2 landing close to her house.

This one was heading our way.

This was also taken from our kitchen window.

It continued over the side of the house was flying right over our backyard.

It was close enough to get a closeup of the people inside.

This one is a pirate one.

The Moon

This is what I saw this morning when I woke up and looked out the window.The moon was so bright. The picture doesn't show the brightness and beauty of it, but it was a great thing to wake up to.

Hurricane Ike

Ike veered to the East so we didn't get the severe weather that some did,

but we got a lot of rain and wind.
Singing in the Rain. The boys had fun playing out in the rain

Almost Twins! :)

First day of Preschool

Jaren started preschool yesterday. He will go 2 afternoons a week at the high school for their Child Development class. He has been so excited to go. He can be very shy though, and I was worried that he wouldn't want me to leave. We got ready, packed his snack and juice in a lunch box, got his backpack and away we went.

I was preparing myself for drama and crying and pulling a clinging child off of me. We went in and he found his cubby, hung up his backpack, and reached up to hug me. I picked him up and hugged and kissed him, and set him down. He said goodbye to Jaxon and walked right in...without looking back. I just stood there thinking, "That's it??" I got a little teary. I stood there not knowing what to do. After a while, I thought, "OK" and Jaxon and I left. I guess I should be happy that he went with out the drama.

Tour

A family from our ward invited us to go with their family on a tour of McDonalds. It was a lot of fun, and very interesting. I thought it would be a short tour, but ended up being a little over an hour. The tour guide was a corporate guy that was so good with kids. He was enthusiastic and lots of fun.

Raiding the pantry.

We learned that McD's sells the most coke, potatoes and apples in the world. The coke and cooking oil are "deposited" into big tanks in the building like a gas truck would fill up a petrol station; weekly. In the fride and freezer, we discovered frozen square eggs, margarine in detergent-style jugs, and mayonnaise in caulking tubes. ???

After leaving the -10 degree freezer, the glasses fogged up

The best part was at the end when we all got a free ice cream cone or sundae!

Bathtime Toes

There is nothing cuter than wrinkly toes after a bath!

Ok, maybe wrinkly fingers are right up there too!

Vacation Pictures

I finally got the pictures posted on my Picasa site. I have captioned most of them, and figured I would just post a link to that one so I don't have to do it twice. We had so much fun and there are tons of pictures! It was so nice to be able to visit! We miss our family and friends already!

http://picasaweb.google.com/Jen.Reed6

First day of school!

YAY!! School started this morning! Jacey was nervous but seemed excited too.


She popped up as soon as her alarm buzzed. Here is a cute picture of her on her first day of 3rd Grade!

Jonah wasn't as excited. I think he was VERY nervous. He couldn't get to sleep last night. He was laying in bed stressing about today. He wasn't as enthusiastic as he got up. After I told him that he could either go dressed or still in his pajamas, he got dressed. He wouldn't wear his backpack for the picture, but I'm just lucky he would let me take his picture. This is the best he could do in his mood. :)
I hope they are having a good day! I keep wondering what they are doing and how things are going.

Jaren and Jaxon have been having a great day! They have been playing and helping me unpack and we are getting some things done. It's a little bit quieter, but not by much since Jaxon is the noise maker :)

Jaren starts afternoon preschool on Sept 8 on Mondays and Wednesdays. That will be even more adventurous. He says he's excited, but I am thinking he's going to have a little bit of Separation Anxiety. We'll see!

Fun Trip

We had a great vacation to Utah! We had tons of fun with family and friends! I took tons of pictures. I have piles of laundry to do.. oh, if only life could be a continuous vacation :)

Pictures coming soon!

My Birthday!

I had a nice birthday. Joe traded my birthday for our closing day, so he didn't get the day off.

The kids and I went to an afternoon showing of "Horton Hears a Who" at the Dollar theater.

It was a good movie, and Jaxon even seemed interested for most of the time. I was worried that he would be all over the place, but he did pretty good.

We went out to eat after Joe got home from work. We went to Chili's. We don't venture to restaraunts very often with kids, because by the time we order and sit and wait, they are ready to go, and they are getting out of their seats and trying to escape by the time their food comes. They did a little better this time, and I would be willing to try again some time in the future.

We came home and had Angel Food cake and strawberries and whipped cream for dessert. It was an all around good day! I don't feel very much older though :)

The Move

We finally got moved in! We have been here a week now. I really like the space and dislike it all at the same time! One thing that I don't like is that when the kids call me or are arguing I have to walk all the way across the house, or all the way upstairs to find them. I'm definitly getting my exercise though.

Here are some more pictures of the move:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Jen.Reed6/Moving


We aren't unpacked yet, and we are off on our other adventure tomorrow, and then school will be starting soon! Hopefully I will have more time then.

Here's a link to pictures of our UNPACKED house..
http://picasaweb.google.com/Jen.Reed6/NotQuiteMovedIn

Jen