Happy Hallows

A local farming family put a lot of time and energy into creating Happy Hallows this year.  It really was old fashioned fall fun with a "corn" sandbox, lots of places to climb on hay bales, petting "zoo" with their farm animals, pumpkin sling shot, and don't forget the hayride for the kids to pick out their pumpkins.  I found it heart warming that this family invited people to their farm and took on such a huge endeavor.  I hope they made lots of money and had a great time hosting it.  I know we had fun.

There were so many fun activites but I think the best one was the Pumpkin Sling Shot.  Gene and Greta really got into it!!

Frogtober Fest - Fun times at Ft. Leonard Wood.

 You gotta love small town ingenuity.  There is a rock outcropping on the way to downtown Waynesville that is painted like a frog.  There are even frog crossing signs on the highway.  I can only imagine that The Waynesville Frogtober Fest was a "spawn" of the frog rock.  It was a couple of hours well spent enjoying the fall weather, the collection of local booths of odds and ends crafts, and the food stands. 

Gigi loves frog legs.  Gross, I know.  You can see the excitement on her face when she ordered her plate of frog legs.  I heard someone say they taste like a cross between fish and chicken.  I'll take her word for it.

I had to sneak this picture.  I adore this guy for sporting his farmer bibs and feathers.

Gene and I shared a smoked turkey leg.  It was yummy.  Not to worry, I didn't man handle it like Gene.  I picked at it like the dainty lady that I am.

Gigi and her "really Mom, another picture" look.  Beautiful

You don't see a cat walking through a fair on a leash everyday, do ya'?

Here is that same kitty greeting the "Are You My Mama?" Lama.  The cat owner told her cat to sit and stay.  Wow!  I over heard her telling someone that she was told as a joke that she couldn't train her cat to walk on a leash.  She said that six months later she had six or seven cats walking on leashes.  Her secret was "put a leash on a cat and walk in whatever direction it wants to go."  Genius!

Greta is lovin' the day.

Amazing!  A picture of me.  Gosh, I love those two kids.

This pic is for my friend Jamie.  She and one of her girls love owls.  These would be so easy to make.  I wish I could walk next door and make some with her.

Celebrating Fall with Homemade Licorice Carmels

It must be the refreshing fall weather that inspired me to make licorice flavored carmel.  I saw the recipe on Eighteen 25, a crafting blog, that linked to How Does She. 

This was the first time I ever made candy. 
It was surprisingly easy and am I ever glad that we didn't toss the candy thermometer when we moved. It barely escaped the chopping block.


These have just a hint of licorice.  Gene loves licorice and the rest of us tolerate it.  However, I have managed to tolerate about four of them already!!!  They are yummy.  Plus, I like to make special things for Gene every once in a while... it keeps him happy. 

How could I not love them? -sugar in every form and lots of butter-  The wrapping of each individual candy is sort of a pain but I am planning on bribing rewarding the girls when they get home from school.  If they help wrap the carmel then they can have one or two extra.

Leaf Origami

I stumbled across this picture and loved it. Greta had collected fallen leaves at the Thanksgiving Day parade and made an origami flower. I really liked the way the flower looked... it was one of the highlights of the parade for me. Don't judge! Some people don't like clowns and I don't care for parades... especially parades with clowns.

The Little Things

It is the little things that really make me smile.

If you think that you are witty, even if no one else in your family thinks you are, then you need to share your brilliance with the world. Or, at least with the unlucky few who come to your front door.

November's message was about thanks... and for a friend who I am so thankful to have in my life (however, she did leave me and move to Seattle). I hope she enjoys it.

I don't have anything for Christmas yet but I am thinking.

Buffalo Bob went camping!

It is a miracle... Gene and the family got me to go camping. I am literally the princess and the pea. I only like my bed sooooo... camping doesn't appeal to me. Or, I should say that camping didn't appeal to me. We went this past weekend and had a great time.

Keys for successful camping:

1. Have a designated camp song for the family to sing.

Ours was 'Buffalo Bob Only Ate Baked Beans'.

2. Have a fairly decent crib.

We didn't sleep in a tent but we came pretty darn close. Our tent was an A-Line camper. It was just for sleeping but that is cool since the idea of camping is enjoying the great outdoors. Here's a run down of the weekend.

For future reference...put down the support feet at the back of the camper before you and your spouse go to bed. It could hypothetically tip to one end since there is only one set of wheels and they are in the middle. I guess we didn't have the weight evenly balanced - adults on one end and kids on the other. I vaguely remember something like that in math class.

3. Pick your sight carefully.

We stayed about 40 minutes from our house. That wasn't by accident. I wanted to be able to come back home if I just couldn't take it any longer. The campsite was small - only 25 spaces. When we pulled in we had to do a recon of the entire camping area to pick the perfect spot for us - the one right next to the outhouses. I REFUSE to walk long distances in the middle of the night with critters to powder my nose.

4. Eat junk cooked over an open fire.

The campfire was the best part. We planned simple meals like hot dogs and hamburgers and lots and lots of s'mores. I bet we ate our weight in charbroiled marshmallows. The black crusty outer layer is the best part.

5. Have great weather with lots of fun things to try.

The fall weather was perfect, not too cool and not too warm (well, until it was 40 degrees on Saturday night - which happened to be the night we decided to pack it up and come home).

The First Evening:

Play with campfire. (The girls poked at the fire with sticks and threw everything naturally flammable in it while I nagged and fretted like a good Mom would.)

Eat s'mores.

Day Two:

Fish.

Play at Old School Playground. (Greta and I went for an adventure walk while Gene and Gigi napped. We discovered a great playground. This playground was old school - like I had when I was young. The slide was two stories high and it had a REAL merry-go-round that went so fast you couldn't stand up when it stopped. The girls loved it.)

The Second Evening:

Fix dinner while the girls and Gene went fishing again.

Eat more blackened marshmallows and s'mores. (Don't worry, I continued my constant nagging of the girls getting to close to the fire.)

Play laser tag and look for critters in the woods with our night vision goggles.

Day Three:

Go back to the old school playground.

Have a picnic.

Go Geo Caching. (Gigi is the champ when it comes to finding the micro caches.)

Evening Three:

Go home to sleep in our own warm comfy beds. (The weather continued to get chillier and we hadn't planned for such a cold night.)

The camping didn't stop there. On Sunday the girls and their friends played in the camper all day. We definitely got a lot of use out of that little camper we rented.

Creepy Crawlies

This was taken at Vander Veer Park last weekend. It was chilly enough that the dragonfly was slow and didn't want to budge.

It is amazing what you can find when you clean out the garage.

This Lovely Lady or gentleman was in the corner of the garage behind the tools. I'd guess there weren't many missed meals. It was as big as my fist... and slow.

Isn't life exciting!