a bug family

What cute little bugs!

Our Lady-fly

(she wanted to be a ladybug but looks more like a butterfly)

Our little bee, more like hornet!

complete with stinger

Our little butterfly-so sweet.

Trick-or-treating at Grandma Carol's

Trick-or-treating at Grandma Bev's

Pixie Lily

Sweet little Lily was a beautiful butterfly for Halloween.

I must say, the cutest ever.

We love her so much, she is such a happy baby.

I can't imagine our home without her.
Hard to believe that she is 3 months old!

how do you like your pumpkin?

the annual carve-a-thon was held.

we had a few visitors.

and, we had a blast!

Bayli had her friend Shae over to share in the fun.  Shae was the most excited about removing the guts.  Bayli hated touching them.  Shae pretty much gutted both of their pumpkins-thanks Shae!

Bayli's cat pumpkin

Shae's traditional pumpkin

Chase didn't care for gutting the pumpkin either.  Mom did most of his.  But he did like playing with the bowl of seeds after they were out of his pumpkin.

Chase couldn't wait to get the face on his pumpkin.  He kept trying to feed it seeds.  He loved it so much, he kissed it and chattered at it.

Grandma and Grandpa Dixon came to join in the fun as well.  Grandma played with Lily (much appreciated) and Grandpa carved the pumpkin we shared with him.  He probably wouldn't tell you, but Halloween is secretly my dad's favorite holiday-at least I think it is.  He gets so excited about the Trick-or-Treaters.  I am surprised that he has never made a haunted house.

Jed got home late, we insisted that he carve a pumpkin.  Reluctantly, he agreed.  He used power tools to torture his poor pumpkin.  The job was done in less than a minute.  I am sure that he will do that again next year.

My pumpkin was the very last to get done.  Isn't that always how it is?  I figured that I didn't need to do one because I had already done three (the kids).  But, everyone insisted.  I was in such a hurry that I didn't realize my pumpkin was upside down.

 Chalese joined the fun as well.  She was such a wonderful helper, that we decided to keep her as a pumpkin.

spiders are the key to a merry home

i am totally convinced that bribery is my key parenting tactic.  not the best approach, but effective with a little man called chase. 
my latest temptation to getting the boy to do what i ask in an efficient and timely manner, is decorating spider cookies.

 this is typically what went on prior to the spiders:

"chase, go pick up your legos and tinker toys."
"NO!!!"
"do you want a time out?"
"NO!!!"
boy starts picking  up legos, well maybe 3 of the hundreds scattered on my floor.
"Chase!!!" (angry mom starts trying to break out)
boy begins a half-hearted attempt to throw a few legos into the bucket from 6 feet away.
*breath, breath...you don't want to scream, calmly remind him again what will happen*
"Chase, if you don't pick up the legos, you will get a time out and the legos will get a time out."
boy throws legos straight into the air, letting them fall like rain, rather hail.
"TIME OUT!"
boy kicks and screams, wakes the baby in the process, and has to be put back in timeout about 4-5 times before he stays there. declaring, "no nime out! yeyos!"
most of the time the process repeats and he gets another time out.
SOOO exhausting!!!

but now, with my latest tactic, clean up time is amazing.
so, yeah, i am bribing him with sugary goodness and 5 minutes of oreo bliss.  but, it is effective, for now.  the results are much quicker.  and the process of clean up is smoother.  no yelling  or time-outs involved.  all involved parties are happier!

at least i will get a gold star for helping the kids to craft and use their imagination that day, right, RIGHT?!!! (threatening fist held up)

jutht call me cletuth

When Bayli was 2 years old, she had a nasty collision with the floor.  Not her knee, not her elbow, not her butt, her mouth! 
Her gums were purple and bloody for days.  We knew nothing good would come out of that darn face plant.  Her tiny tooth was wiggly and in bad shape. 
We anxiously waited, through the months that followed,  to see what would become of that tooth.  We watched it change from a purplish hue to brown then gray.  And there it stayed for about three years.  It was inspected regularly by us and her dentist.  We were amazed that it held up as long as it did.

Then, one day, after she had returned home from school, her tooth looked different.  It had a darker hue to the end of it, a purplish color.  She told me that it felt like an ant was biting her in her mouth.  I inspected it.  The back of her tooth didn't look so hot.  There was a pinkish/yellowish substance coming from a whole in her tooth.
I thought, "Oh crap!  I worked last night, have had no sleep, Lily is grumpy, Chase just went to bed, now this!"

So we called the dentist.  They wanted to see her little mouth right away, like in 20 minutes.  So, I scrambled to get everyone into the car, find someone to watch Chase, and talk Bayli through what might happen.  It was an exhausting time, and we were definitely late.

Bayli was a rock-star.  She has to be the toughest little chicca that I know.  She patiently waited as they went through the motions of xrays, inspections, and more waiting.
The news was as I expected, her tooth was going to need to be pulled.  We had caught it before any infection had set in, but it definitely needed to come out.  The nerve was making its way out of her tooth.  No wonder she thought that a bug was biting her.
I had prepared her on the way telling her that the  tooth most likely was going to have to be pulled.  She kept telling me, "maybe they will just cap it, with one of those gold caps."  I think she really wanted a gold cap.  Some bling in her smile.  Silly girl.

She was amazing as they topically numbed her gums and then injected them.  She didn't flinch once.  When it came to the tooth pulling, Bayli whimpered and fought back tears.  I fought back tears for her as well.  Nothing worse than seeing your baby in pain and being unable to do anything about it.  She only took a few moments to gain her composure when it was all done.  She was eager to look at the tooth and the space in her mouth.

She will probably be toothless for 1-2 years.  Her replacement permanent tooth looked pretty cozy tucked up in there.  We will get to hear her whistly talking for longer than most, how exciting!

Bayli was so funny the rest of the afternoon.  "Mom, my nose and cheek are still numb and puffy."  Jed and I had a good time making her smile, knowing that one side would remain droopy.
She kept singing, "All I want for Chrithmuth  ith my one front tooth!"

And now, the poor thing is nicknamed Cletus.  (She has dad to thank for that.)

pumpkin mahem

One day I found two pumpkin seeds.
I planted one and pulled the weeds.
It sprouted roots and a big, long vine.
A pumpkin grew; I called it mine.
The pumpkin was quite round and fat.
(I really am quite proud of that.)
But there is something I'll admit
That has me worried just a bit.
I ate the other seed, you see.
Now will it grow inside of me?

(I'm so relieved since I have found
That pumpkins only grow in the ground!)

Last year we had a serious infestation of squash bugs.   They wiped out the majority of our garden including the pumpkin plants.  We resorted to purchasing pumpkins.  Which we didn't mind too much at the time.  (It has always been a tradition to go to the local pumpkin patch and pick us some pumpkins.)  After Halloween, we composted said pumpkins to increase the fertility of our soil.

After last years woes, we decided not to attempt to grow pumpkins this year.

But, to our surprise, we found some sprouts working their way through the garden.  They had come from the pumpkins we had purchased.

The sprouts came up much later than everything we had planted.  We seemed to have missed the influx of squash bugs.  We crossed our fingers, in hopes that we would have success through the season.  

As the season went on, we watched our garden grow.  And with the growing, the pumpkin vines crept further and further.  Soon, we were worried that the rest of the garden would become overwhelmed by the pumpkin vines. 

Then, the wonderful torturous summer weather declared mayhem on our garden.  The winds came, knocking down the corn.  The rains came, water logging everything.  Then, the HAIL came.  It destroyed everything in it's path.  Peppers became holy.  Tomatoes and corn were bruised.  Leaves of all kind were destroyed.  

Our poor pumpkins were still green.  Their leaves now tattered.  They had pox marks from the decimating hail.  It looked hopeless.

As we assessed the damage, we were hopeful that the few leaves that remained, would beat the odds and continue to aid the ailing gourds.  

To our surprise, they continued to grow.  There were more pumpkins than before the storm.  Our vines  flourished.

Nothing is better than growing a crop of tremendous pumpkins.  Everything homegrown has a much specialer countenance to it.  Even the kids seem to understand this.  Bayli and Chase are so proud of their pumpkins. They checked on them daily in the garden, now they check on them as they grace the porch.  

I can guarantee that we will be composting pumpkins again this year, in hopes that we have another successful crop next fall.