Happy Halloween!!!

We had trunk or treat last week, so that explains how I have pictures of my kids costumes already.  The kids were nice enough to decorate our trunk for me :)

Kelsey's was pretty easy.  She is a dancer, wearing one of Kaitlyn's costumes from her time as a ballerina.  Also, her "Come Hither" face is pretty great!  Thankfully, it was an easy one to do!

Kari decided to be a doctor for halloween.  This one was pretty easy too.  We ordered scrubs and a stethoscope and we were done!

Dylan wanted to be something from Star Wars.  And we just so happened to have a costume from last year.  Done and Done!

And then there is Kaitlyn.  We made her's after some looking around.  And it doesn't really have a name.  Just an archer.

But they loved their costumes!

And I am sure they will love walking around and getting (more) candy tonight.

Minus the candy tax, of course :)

Happy Halloween!

Anyone Up for a Game of Polo, Eh What?

A few weeks ago, we got to go to our annual polo match.  It is actually a fundraiser for the Boys and Girls club, and the tickets would be waaaaaaay above our pay grade.  Except they hold the match on hubby's boss's property, so he provides tickets to employees and their friends/families at no charge.  Because it is for the Boys and Girls club, they have plenty of fun things for the kids to do.  Like the bouncy house!

And the big slide!  

This one was slightly better than the one at Flat Rock Days because it wasn't as hot and was easier to slide on.

The girls chose to go wait in line for horse rides.

I think it is fairly safe to say that have inherited their father's love for horses.

The younger three also got their faces painted.  Though it didn't last a super long time because it was decently warm outside, and the kids were hot and sweaty :p

This year we brought Mandypants and Josephine with us.  And in true polo match form, Mandypants was excited to wear her hat :)

After we ate the catered lunch, we sat down for the main event: The Championship Polo Match.  I wouldn't normally put my feet up when we are around other people, but the ants were pretty aggressive that day, so I didn't want to leave my feet where it was easy for them to get to.

Half time is a race for the polo balls.  When they go off the field, the officials often don't take the time to go searching for them, but provide new balls instead.  If you are fast enough, you can get one of the discarded balls.  Kari and Kaitlyn have balls from previous matches.  This year, Kari was determined to get one for Dylan.  Unfortunately, it didn't work, but, they still had a good time.

Half time is also the traditional time to go stomp the divots, so there are adults on the field as well.  Hubby was really going to see if he could help find a ball, but he doesn't mind stomping the occasional divot if he comes across one.

Also at halftime, they provided some entertainment: this parachuting guy!

But the thing everyone liked best was plane.  The boss's brother is a pilot, and he does some cool tricks.

But everyone's favorite is when he buzzed the field.

We chose to leave after halftime.  It was still a pretty warm day, we'd eaten lunch, and the kids had played their hearts out.  

I feel quite lucky and/or blessed to be able to go do this every year.  It's quite a cool experience!

The Many Faces of Kelsey

I had my camera out one day.  And I took a picture.

 And for some reason, it turned into this.

 And then this.

 And it just seemed to progress from there.

 Until I ended up with several pictures of Kelsey.

 Making odd faces.

 And being kinda cute.

 And very silly.

 But certainly very Kelsey.

Because...  what would I expect otherwise?

Happy Birthday Old Man!

Back at the beginning of September, the old man got even older.

 For multiple reasons we couldn't celebrate on his actual birthday.  But, the good news is, as you get get older, the actual day doesn't really matter.

 So he blew out all the candles, had cake and icecream after pizza, and enjoyed spending time with family and friends.

 But it was kind of an entire weekend of celebrating.  We got to hang out with daddy as he went to look at guns, went to the humane society to hold puppies and kittens, went out to lunch at the place with fire (hibachi grill) and hung out to watch football games.

Sometimes, celebrating life is all about doing the small things you enjoy and relaxing a bit.  No big celebrations required.  Happy Birthday Old Man!  I'm continually grateful you were born.

Bustin' Clay Pigeons

Sunday morning came, and we had a few things we still wanted to do.  The menfolk had to finish one field.  And then we wanted to shoot some stuff!

Safety first!

And then we busted out the clay pigeons.  Hubby grew up shooting skeet, so he is a decent shot.  You know.  Kinda ;)

While all the kids came, and they all have shot the shotgun before, they don't appear to love it all the time.

This was Josephine's first time shooting his new shotgun.  I'm not sure we have been the best influence on their family.... I'm not saying he bought the shotgun because of us, but I will admit he didn't have one BEFORE he went shooting with hubby....

I sometimes wonder why the kids come, if they think it is loud and they don't like to shoot.  However, they DO like to collect things: spent shells and unbroken clays.  They would wait eagerly on the side until the range was clear, and they run around grabbing everything they could get their hands on.

Pop is also a pretty good shot.  He likes to say that he has been shooting his guns for so long, that they don't have any misses left :)  If you look in the tree line, you can see the tiny bit of orange that is the clay.  I actually have 3 action shots where you can see him shoot, and the clay bust into a million pieces.  But when I put them into a GIF format, the quality was so poor, it really wasn't worth it :(

I tried once, but didn't love it.  Mandypants tried too.  A few times.  But didn't love it in the end either.

I'm telling you, the kids love to collect things! 

Towards the end, Mandypants gave throwing a shot too.

Funny story: She was throwing, and in the middle she noticed that I was taking a picture, stopped mid throw, and posed.  Whoever she was throwing for waited for an extra few seconds before he noticed she wasn't throwing.  And then we all giggled.

It wasn't extremely hot, but it was a fairly warm day.  And we shot for about an hour.  When Kelsey took off her ear protection, her ear was all red, and her head was all sweaty.

I guess there are prices to pay for being safe :)

Burger and Fries

Small interruption:

Over the weekend we celebrated our 11th burniversary.  Last year was our big decade mark, but we were slightly busy with a daddy in the hospital.  Things for Kari aren't a very big deal anymore.  Her grafts all look great, thanks to many hours of massage and many bottles of lotion.  The doctors gave us permission to stop the massage therapy several years ago, but also told us that the more we did it, the better the scars would look, and the longer we could go between surgeries.  Since Kari was old enough and responsible enough, we turned over the massages to her, and she has been doing her "rub downs" ever since.  Not always every day, and probably for not nearly long enough.  But since we don't actually HAVE to do them anymore, any massage is better than no massage.  She has had a few decent growth spurts (in the last 2 years she has grown almost 9 inches and gained over 30 lbs).  But, so far, her grafts seem to be keeping up with her.  In the next few years, we'll have to keep an eye on her as she goes through puberty (I know, I know.  I can her it now.  "Mooooooom!")  because she has a skin graft across her chest.  And while her hand still looks pretty good, she may benefit from a release to allow slightly more flexibility.  I suppose we'll see.  But, for now, we are grateful, as always, that Kari is here and with us.  And while they haven't been heavily involved in our lives for several years now, we are still extremely grateful that we had the Shriners to help us, when things could have been so, so much worse, and so, so much more difficult.  We are still grateful for the prayers from then, and the many since then, that made our burdens easier to bare.  And for the help that came from many directions, and in many forms, that helped us get through a time in our life that could have been so much harder had we not had faith and love in our lives.  

So here is to the Shriners, who continue to proved medical advice and assistance.  To you, who helped in more ways than you'll know.  And to Kari, who is doing great!

Hot Wheels and Fun Times

 Our friends were nice enough to bring their other toy back down as well.  And, not only that, but they were nice enough to let other people drive it.  Whaddya think?  Did Nana have a good time?

 It certainly looks like Dylan did!  I love how, whenever anyone comes back from a trip, their hair is all blown back!

 Don't worry.  No people were actually harmed in the making of this blog post.  Munchkin did not actually get to drive the Polaris.  But the picture is cute :)

 Kari, however, DID get to drive it.  Her "Uncle" Josephine took her out a few times, and she pretty much loved it.  Again, she thinks she is hot stuff.

 My one real complaint (aside from the fact that it is expensive, dangerous, and requires storage somewhere) is that there isn't a windshield (yet).  So you tend to get dirt and bugs in your face, or branches that whip you when you go by.

Thanks to our friends generosity in letting others drive it, I would guess there may be another vehicle purchased similar to this in our future.

Which is not to mention this little go cart.

 I don't remember the whole back story, but it has been broken, and waiting at Pa's house for repair for a while.

 Pop was nice enough to purchase a new motor for the thing, and all we need is a new throttle cable to make it run.

 We brought it home so we could paint the rails and maybe re-upholster the seats while we wait for the throttle cable repair to happen.

 And then, look out!!!  That mile long, dirt road will become the most traveled dirt road in the whole county!