Visitors

Our friends came to stay with us a couple weekends ago.  They arrived Friday evening to lots of happy yelling (Henry and Walter are quite the welcome committee).  Saturday morning, Randy and Nate went to the range and then joined us at home for lunch.  On Friday we found out Walter had another double ear infection, so when he requested Ramen noodles instead of chili or soup, I didn't think much of it.  Turns out all the other kids ended up wanting the same - so I guess we could have spent $2 and fed all 7 of them instead of making chili and homemade soup!  It was a successful weekend: the guys were able to hunt, the kids had a ton of fun being together, and we all enjoyed a little down time.  A few of us even squeezed in a couple of games Saturday night.  We're so glad they came but just wonder how the time flies by!

 

The young guys spent a lot of time playing football together.  The cold drizzles didn't seem to bother them at all.  It was fun to watch them (from inside the warm house).

 Tough Guy poses

Melanie and Brooke were making bead jewelry.

Play dough fun

Our friend, Ben, and his dog joined Nate, Randy, Melanie and Dottie for an afternoon of hunting.  They brought home 4 birds.

Ben's daughter came and spent the afternoon playing with the our kids.  They were very busy!  We finished off with rock painting.

Dottie sat outside the kitchen door waiting...she knew the birds were in the garage waiting to be cleaned and she was ready for any chance to get in there!

 

 Getting ready to hunt on Sunday afternoon.

And then there were none!  Henry and Parker bonked into each other while playing football and out came Henry's other front tooth.  He ran into the house looking so sad and when I asked him what was wrong, he opened up his mouth (which alarmed me a little because it was pretty bloody) and then held up his tooth.  Over the last few days he's been practicing different words that are tricky to say without front teeth. 

There were four little boys who were starting to show some wear and tear so we turned on Looney Toons to let them relax while the car was getting packed up.  They went through a loaf of banana bread, a big bowl of watermelon and a few other snacks while they laughed together.  Before we knew it, they were heading home - the time went so quickly! 

q

Family

 

 We think this picture of Dottie is so funny.  The boys think she looks like a robot dog from the wild west.  What a puppy!

Mimi Erin's Birthday

The first week of November, Henry had two days off from school for parent-teacher conferences.  After our conference on Wednesday, the boys and I hopped into the car and drove to Grandma and Grandpa L's house to celebrate Mimi Erin's birthday.  We're thankful for both of the mimis, so we're glad when we get to celebrate with them!  After a yummy dinner, there was...

 

Present opening:

Walter was the efficient assistant-present-opener (he may have been a little too efficient). 

A Massive Wrapping Paper Roll Battle:

 A Few Pictures with Mimi Erin

Another Battle:

A Photo Session By Henry:

Cake and a round of "Happy Birthday"

 

A Sleepover and Late Night Movie:

Unfortunately, there were naps on the drive in so Mommy was very tired but the boys were much less tired.  We paid dearly for that nap time over the next few days!  Grandma and the Mimis spent some time with us while we watched the movie.

 

 

Front Tooth

On October 30 Henry lost one of his front teeth.  It had some major wiggles the week before and we had even tried getting it out a few times.  He got off the school bus that day and took a bite into his snack and there it was!

Driving to the Harvest Hoopla

Here are the last of the Harvest Hoopla pictures - Grandma took these on the drive there...looks like there was a little excitement in the air!  When they got home we dumped all the candy together and it filled a large Tupperware bowl - Yikes!  (This did help us save money when it came to buying candy to hand out on Halloween.)  Grandpa reported that Henry declared the Harvest Hoopla a "boy's paradise!"

Things couldn't get much better because after filling their pumpkins with candy, Grandpa and Grandma treated them to dinner at DQ.  I love that you can see a red goggle outline on his forehead from the canned hair coloring.  What scares me a little is that I can see Henry at 16 when I look at this picture...

 

A few days later Dad took them out trick-or-treating.  Grandma was kind enough to take a picture of the guys together when they stopped at the house.  They were planning on going to our church's trunk-or-treating the next day, but they decided they just wanted to stay home and relax with Dad.  



Harvest Hoopla

The weekend before Halloween, one of the local churches held a get together with fall themed games and candy for families.  Grandma A called on Saturday morning and asked if they could take the boys...which put me into high gear because we didn't have costumes ready yet.  Henry decided weeks earlier that he wanted to be a mad scientist and then Walter decided he better be a mad scientist, too.   Thankfully, we located a few a Dad's old shirts and converted them into lab coats (Thank you hot glue gun!).  We ran to the dollar store and got goggles, hair gel, and spray-on hair color.  The hardware store had a few pairs of kids' gardening gloves that we thought could double as mad scientist gloves.  We made it back home just in time to do their hair before Grandma and Grandpa picked them up.  There are a still a few more pictures to come...

 

 Isn't this how all mad scientists pose?

(Walter prefers the down-on-one-knee for pictures lately)

A little out of focus, but with Grandpa and Grandma (and my dying summer flowers).

 And with Mom - I was told to scream and look frightened...

Laundry Basket

If the boys aren't available, Dottie follows me around.  A few days ago, she followed me down to the basement laundry room.  When I turned to grab some clothes for the washing machine, I found her getting comfy in the laundry basket.  She actually does this all the time - finds a good spot and snoozes while she waits for me to finish my work - thankfully she always chooses the baskets we store our drop cloths, rags, and paint clothes in!  It's slightly mortifying to post this picture because our basement was a mess (which was a vast understatement!).  I'm happy to report the mess is no more which has left Dottie slightly confused as to where her spot went... 

And then Walter came down and had to get in the picture, too!

Walter & Dottie

From past posts, you may have figured out that Walter loves to have his picture taken - especially with Dot.  A few times a day he says, "Mom, take a picture of me and Dottie!"

 Curled up in between the pillows on a school morning.  She waits for Walter or Henry to get dressed and hop back into bed next to her for some cuddle time.

 

 Dot's other favorite spot for napping (and squirrel watching - they drive her crazy!).

 Sometimes we have to remind him that she needs to breathe while being hugged...she's loved.