Happy Halloween!

We've had quite a bit of preparation for Halloween around here.  It's been very exciting!  Luckily, our wwoofer was here to help and carved many of our pumpkins grown by Jerry.  The boys love cleaning out the pumpkins and dreaming up scary faces to carve in to them.

This was the day of the party.  Dry and sunny and warm!  Our blue heron supervised while we made several hundred trips from the house to the barn.

Some worked harder than others...

The donated decorations came together nicely.  Bev n' Dan came to help in the morning.

This was how we lit the driveway to show people where to go.  My night shots did not turn out but it looked great.

The barn was cozy with food table and hay bales to sit on.  We didn't need it though, it was such a lovely night and the fires kept us warm.

I am not sure how many people came, but there were lots!  I took the kids in to the very dark woods to hunt for candy... it was very dark and the flashlights seemed to go missing.  Most of the kids had no problem searching through leaves and sticks and pumpkin guts for candy.  They found the hand and the foot and didn't mind the dead lady in the tree above them.  Good fun!  I was so impressed by the number of adults that dressed up, I didn't know who some of them were.  They all brought delicious things to eat!  I think we'll do this again next year.

 We decided to run around outside in the dark a couple of nights ago.  Had to try out various Halloween items.  This one's pretty scary...guess who that is!  This was my workout for the day, chasing Clive and David while Zuke kept jumping up on me.  I don't know if he just wanted to play or was protecting Clive and David.  He didn't like my mask at all!

SEAL!

No, not really.  It's Zuke swimming!  He really is part Newfoundland now.  Loves swimming!

Awww, isn't he cute?  Trying to shoot mommy.  It's so rewarding having boys.

Fun at work

Yet another sunny weekend!  We are all preparing for our first Halloween party.  The boys built a super fire pit for everyone to sit by, while the big burn goes on in front of all of us.  They are very excited, I hope everyone has fun.  We had a bit of a practice run Saturday night and well, the boys are happy just running around in the dark with their flashlights.  Hopefully the adults are as easy to please.

 As I made apple pie, the boys decided to copy me with their play dough.  This was fun. David said "I'm gonna take a long time to roll this out just like mommy." Do I really take that long?  I brought out the frozen apples to thaw a little bit and they were a hit!  Who'd of thought frozen apples could be so yummy?

Aaahh, the finished product.  Who's that elf?

Exhausting work.

We get a little more wind up here, so some days you just have to fly a kite.  David ran for a good hour flying this kite.  I am happy to report that his toes have almost completely healed, no grafting needed. phew!  Now we need a soccer ball.

Thanksgiving

As usual we were rushing to get to Cindy's for dinner yesterday, so, of course my camera never made it.

We had a fantastic dinner, I ate all of her stuffing and she commented that there wouldn't be any stuffing leftovers and I said "What did you expect?" eyeroll.

It was a beautiful day.  We went for a walk to the beach after dinner.  How lucky to be able to let all of the kids run ahead and not worry about traffic.  I love it here.

Today is rainy and gray, David is still asleep and Matthew and Clive are playing together nicely.

We'll see if anyone drops in today.  I hope to get some pies made and perhaps hang some pictures finally!
We're still moving in and figuring where things should go.  Happy chaos.

Fall

October is here and the warm weather still shows up in the afternoon when the boys get off the school bus.  Then, we run around building forts and finding what good things are growing to eat!  Still some grapes and yummy apple pears, and yesterday we cracked open some nuts.

 Speaking of nuts, this is Clive hiding behind a tree branch.  Can you see him?  Isn't he clever?  This is where sawing and hammering goes on, I hope I don't see a tree falling soon.

 Yesterday we got 24 eggs.  I believe that is a record!  The ladies were on their game (eggs)!  Cornflake and I are still working it out.  I don't think my heart beats quite so hard during our encounters now.

Our wwoofer goes home today.  She has been so nice to have here.  Matthew adores her.  We will miss her and think of her every time we fold paper and make sushi!  How will I manage without that extra pair of hands?  Matthew needs to learn how to prune....fast.