Pre-Halloween

The week or so before Halloween is full of fun events.  The semi-final football game was the Friday before Halloween, so the drill team did a creepy dance to a creepy song about a doll.

 

 

Just before Halloween is also the band concert.  Sam was a flute playing witch, and did very well at the concert; solo part and all.

 

 

Next up, our family Halloween party/ Happy birthday party for Tylenn.  Nineteen candles put out quite the glow.

 

 

With yummy snacks and a few fun games everyone seemed to have a great time.  In the food relay Sam and Miki started their teams.

 

 

Sam wasted no time in swallowing her worms whole.

 

 

Melanie chose to chew her food well.

 

 

Jill went as fast as she could

 

 

JD didn't hear that we were allowing the use of hands, and Avina dove right in.

 

 

JD took a little bit of time.  He was having a hard time swallowing the "worms".  We finally had sympathy and didn't make him finish the rest.

 

 

And Kyler took care of the leftovers.

 

 

This is what teenagers do when games don't involve food.

 

 

Spinning a spiders web was a fun activity.

 

 

Another game that we didn't get pictures of was one planned by Miki.  She did such a great job of being "in charge".  There were still a couple of carnivals to go to, but the big night was quickly approaching.

I'm amazed that MuShu is still with us.  Completely surprised that we were able to raise a baby kitten without it's mom from such a young age.

 

  

 

 

I'm amazed that Miki found a way to get this flower to stay on MuShu even while she was playing.

 

 

I'm amazed at what this kitten will let these girls do to her.

 

And, I'm amazed at the life and love a pet can bring into your home.

 

Mine is the last birthday celebrated for the year in our house.  Kay always takes the girls downtown and lets them each pick something out for me.  Each gift was so thoughtful; Sam (with joint effort from Skylor) knowing I love sunflowers picked this picture.  Jill found a willow tree statue of a person holding a dog.  She picked this one because she "knows how much I love Max".  And Miki choose a magnet that reads "Mom  The recipe of a loving family came from you".  Life is great!

 

 

And it just keeps getting sweeter.  This fall Kay harvested his first batch of honey.  Notice his only protection is the hat... he's learned his lesson. 

 

smoking out the bees

 He endured 8 stings from his bees, and he's probably lucky that was all.

 

clearing the bees with the air compressor

 

Apparently bees don't like you stealing their honey, and if you plan to do so you need a little bit of protection.  Maybe Kay didn't watch enough Winnie the Pooh growing up.

 

 

He used the air compressor to blow the bees off of the frames, and then he'd put them into the wheel barrel to bring into the house.

 

 

There were thousands of bees, and somehow a few of them managed to get inside of his hood.  At one point he came running into the house trying to get away, but he wasn't fast enough.  A few of them followed him in, and they were ticked!  I've never seen such angry bees.  We did manage to swat them with the fly swatter, and Kay was the only one to get stung.

 

 

Bees are smart.  They knew where their honey was and they were following it.  It took a little more effort to get the frames into the house than I thought it would.  But we did it, and Kay started the process of extracting the honey off of the frames.  Jill was intrigued with the whole process.

 

Eventually all of the honey was extracted and cleaned.  When the process was finished we ended up with 25 lbs of honey, and it is delicious.  Not too bad for the first year.  Next year Kay will be getting a beekeepers suit for his birthday.

 



Fall Family Pictures

Family pictures 2012.  These are some of my favorites:

 

I love feet!!

Love Our Girls!!

 

The End.

Fall has been here for awhile now.   It's got to be the best time of the year.  When coming home from taking our fall pictures in the mountain the moon was just coming up.  This picture doesn't do the colors justice.

 

I love a fall that lingers, giving us time to squeeze in as many outdoor activities as we can.  This will probably be the last weeny/marshmallow roast of the season.

 

 

This seemed like the perfect time to try a rolo stuffed marshmallow. 

Jill

Sam pulled a curious George and gave her hand a break from holding the stick.

 



Miki

 

Fall evenings are the best.

 

Kay and Miki

MUSHU

Mushu has survived.  Somehow she's survived my lack of knowledge in the abandoned kitten raising department.  Thanks to google I learned what to feed her.

 

 

For the first few weeks of her life she ate the following 4x a day:

8 oz evaporated milk (2 parts milk- 1 part water)

1 tsp vegetable oil

1 drop vitamins

2 egg yolks

1 tsp corn syrup

 

Once I learned this she was one happy little kitty.  She's about 7-8 weeks old now- from our best estimate- and has out grown her formula.  She loves the fancy feast turkey and chicken.  She's at an entertaining age of jumping, running, pouncing and lots of playing.

 

This is a spot she likes to sleep in.  It's a wig, and she's the white dot in the middle.

 

Here she is in her "launching" position as Miki calls it, getting ready to pounce.

 

Mushu has found a place in our hearts.