Halloween 2011

Happy Halloween!

For several years now, we've had our friends the Reddicks over to Trick or Treat with us. This year we added a few more friends to the mix. The more, the merrier right?

We had a total of 9 kids, all representing Sanctuary Church, pounding the pavement of our subdivision.

We had to fuel up ahead of time of course

Mom-mom is still here. She stuck around just long enough to participate in our Halloween hijinkery (points to the person who names which TV character made up that word).

9 kids, not a single one looking at the camera. But man, they sure are cute.

These two are long time Trick or Treat partners.

Notice how no one got a picture of the gimp parked on our porch handing out candy? Oh well, I swear I was there!

Thankfulness Tree, part Two

Last year we made a Thankfulness Tree with Rachel and Joshua, and then never got around to making our own. I wanted to rectify that this year and make it an annual fall tradition.

It's pretty simple. Just take some tree branches from your yard, strip what is left of their real leaves, and cut some purty ones out of paper. I just happened to have purty scrapbook paper, even though I don't scrapbook.

The kids helped me come up with ideas of things that they are thankful for. I love their responses. Charley very clearly said "cereal with milk and sugar"....his favorite meal.


It makes a pretty fall piece for our new art table......
...which is actually just our old kitchen table moved to a different spot! Now it will be perfect for doing arts and crafts and someday homework.

And we are the proud owners of Mom and Dad's cherry table. The are re-doing the layout of their kitchen and offered it to us. It's in such nice condition that I had to go searching for place-mats. We're not used to eating on such fancy furniture! It was custom made when I was a kid, using cherry wood from our family farm.

Not Winning Any Blog Awards

I know, I know. I'm horribly delinquent on blogging. But my foot hurts. Ouch.

A bad excuse I guess. It has been a busy and eventful week here and there's lots to post pictures of. I will, I promise!

I'm getting around okay. Only two more weeks of non- weight bearing on my foot and then I can walk on the air cast. I've been bearing a little weight here and there...shhhh, don't tell my orthopedist. Mostly because my scooter gets caught up on carpet and my crutches are too far away.

The good news is that the pain is much more minimal.

As a side note, I got a piece of my hair colored teal. Pretty hip and cool right?


And I've gotten to sing at church on Sunday for the past two weeks which has been a real treat. We park my scooter onstage and I crutch it up the front steps, while hoping not to fall make and fool out of myself in front of the entire congregation. And it's been really great. Singing through adversity!

Marty McFly

See a resemblance?

Family Tradition

At the end of every tomato season Jeremy makes ragu (Not to be confused with marinara, like the Ragu brand you buy in a jar. No way man.)

Take a bunch of these...

Add some of these....

Plus lots of other things like carrots, onions, garlic and wine. Let it simmer on the stove for 10 hours like this....

Until it turns into this....

Thick and flavorful meat slurry. To be served with pasta or potatoes, or on a sandwich. Whatever you want.

Eat some, freeze some. Super yum.

Just Like the Movies

Can you tell that we watched Judy Moody last night? These are Tessa's words, dictated by Mommy directly onto the sign for her door.

We Miss Grammie and Grampie

That is all.

Fall on the Farm

Last weekend while the G's were still here, we headed down to the farm. I hobbled myself to a chair on the front porch where I stayed all day. The men folk did some target practice. The kids rolled around in the leaves and played outside all day. Mamaw fed us turkey dinner and apple cake. It was awesome.

I was there, there's just no photo evidence.

Catchup

Sorry for my extended absence. I guess I've had blogger's block. It's not to say that there hasn't been alot happening around here, I just haven't had the inspiration or energy to sit and write about it. Plus I'm spending most evenings upstairs after we put the kids to bed...so once the computer desk becomes free from Jeremy's work day, my day is done as well.

So let's see....

-Me and Greased Lightening have been fairing pretty well. Maneuvering the house is tough, fighting my own bullheadedness is tough, and showering is a complicated endeavor entirely.

-The G's had a great time here, were a HUGE HELP and have sadly returned home. They did leave some pie and casserole in the freezer.

- Of the new fall shows I have to give major thumbs up to The New Girl and Pan Am. They are both great. I give one thumb up to 2 Broke Girls. Two thumbs down to Terra Nova and The Playboy Club.

-My foot and calf are both small and gelatinous. They freak me out.

-Fall weather has finally settled in and it is beautiful. Cool breezes, open windows.

Here are some catchup pictures....

The curlers are irrelevant to the costume. She was just letting me curl her hair. But we have Halloween costumes!

Super boy and his super dog. Well not his....Grampie's. By the way, Grampie read Charley the book "Hallowiener" so many times that he has it memorized. He can recite it on command.

Pre- church breakfast at Sophia and Tessa chose oatmeal and fruit. What a healthy girl. Jeremy and I split gyro omelet and extra crispy hashbrowns. A little less healthy. But hey, we split!


Our annual trip the pumpkin patch in Martinsville turned out with some great pictures as always. That's why we love that little farm so much. It's just a farmer's yard in the middle of the country. No crowds, lots of pumpkins, perfect picture backdrop and supporting our local farmer.



Wonder how we got this shot when I can't walk or stand? Movie magic people, you'll never know.

Frankenfoot and Pie

Things on the home front are holding steady, and improving every day. Grammie and Grampie arrived from Boulder last week just in time for Jeremy to go on a business trip. Since I was still on bed-rest at that time, they had some work cut out for them taking care of both me and the kids. I have to say they are FABULOUS caretakers...they are fun and willing to help, as well as very good cooks. Do you think I could convince them to move in?

Even more hours spent sitting on my butt in bed since my last blog post, doing much of the same thing. TV, naps, occasional crafts, and caring for the smurf village. Then yesterday was big 2 week post- op appointment. The doc was very please with my incision, my x-ray and prognosis, and he released me from bed-rest.

Look out world. I'm hobbling back into reality!

So still no weight bearing for 6 more weeks, meaning life isn't exactly about to get alot easier. So far it's not too bad. Really the big challenge is figuring out how to maneuver things like the stairs, getting into the car and not tripping over sleepy golden retrievers.

I'm alot more lucid than I was a week or so ago since I'm taking less pain meds, so I suppose you'll be hearing alot more from me on here and FB. Note that I said MORE lucid...not totally.

Here's a random sampling of update pictures.....
Frankenfoot.
I had 12 staples on the top of my foot and 6 on my calf. They took an x-ray before the staples were out and these along with the 4 permanent screws inside, made the x-ray tech exclaim that it looks like I 'fell in a hardware store'. Yup.


More fun with nail polish. Polka dots!

Last week Jeremy picked up 10 pie pumpkins just to use whenever, so we have a stockpile. You know in case of a pie-free apocalypse. The G's made us one tonight, yum!

I love the autumnal still life in the kitchen.

And I love this thing, my new best friend. I just got it this evening but I can already tell we are going to be very close. I can get around the house SO easily. Any suggestions on what I should name my scooter??

Hanging with the Fam, Post Surgery

Hey it's me, the blog author! Didn't you like Jeremy's post the other day about life post- surgery in our house? Good job keeping the blog alive!

It has been crazy indeed but honestly not that bad. My surgery was one week ago today which means that I have been in a bed-ridden foot-elevated-above-my- heart state for a week, with one more week to go. Half way baby! (well half way to crutches and wheelchair, which surely will prove to be much harder...so perhaps I shouldn't celebrate yet)

Everyone knows I'm good at being lazy so that's no problem, but it still does get boring around here. I've watched all of the new fall shows, read a little, and played on my iPad alot. Now that I'm coming out of a drug induced stupor a little bit, I'm hoping to do more crafts and fun stuff in the week ahead.

During the day the kids go to school or friend's houses. (THANK YOU friends who are babysitting), while I sleep and chill. Then in the evening we all have dinner up here, thanks to a handy dandy card table Jeremy brought up, and hang out together.

Tessa and I also started reading A Wrinkle in Time a few days ago. It's a 'big book' and pretty much over her head, but at the same time she likes it and having a big book makes her feel special.

Last night I tried to lead the family in some exercises. Jess had helped me find upper body workouts for handicapped people and I thought the kids might like to do it too...you know 'fly', and 'box'.

Man, between Charley running around naked, Tessa dancing and stopping for water, and Jeremy's incessant complaining about how out of shape his arms are...it's a surprise we even got through it.

Charley prefers to exercise naked. Because....he's Charley. My kids really love nudity.




Tessa and I tried to do some nail art. Mine are supposed to be clouds...see it? Tessa had pink polka dots that mostly smudged up. Nail art requires much longer drying time, hard for four year olds.

I got Jeremy a 'thank you for emptying my chamber pot' gift (one of many I'm sure). He loves Sriracha!


There's the dinner table. We don't typically watch TV during meals at all, but who can resist when you're already laying in bed? Reruns of the best show on TV.


This is my virtual Smurf village, which I really really love. I mean really. You have to build the town, plant the crops, keep the Smurfs happy and healthy, and move things wherever you want them. I love that it gives me something to 'care for' and feel important. And the kids like it too.

Charley calls them Narfs. So every time he greets me, it's....Hi MOMMY! How you? How me NARFS doing?


The Narfs have several games within the game. Charley does the hammering one.

And Tessa does the painting one.

And that's what we've been doing. I'm hoping tonight or tomorrow that Tessa and I can attempt making scarves out of old Tshirts. So I'm in alot of pain, and I'm bored, but I'm also blessed. Trying to enjoy my family and my constraints the best I can.