The Pre-Halloween Brothers....B & W

Halloweeennnnnnn Tradition I'd say....

So, as you may remember in years past us folks here in the woods have had a Halloween get together of sorts....you know, campfire, candy, beer, no costumes except for the under 3 crowd. That sort of thing. See our FIRST gathering here....
http://www.fultmeyer.blogspot.com/2009/10/q-why-didnt-skeleton-go-to-see-scary.html
Well, each year I seem to be more and more inclined to do it BIGGER! Yep, BIGGER skeletons, BIGGER ghosts, YUMMIER scary food, DELISH drinks, you get the picture.
So this year, with my two kiddies 3 and under I was.....welllllll......
yes....
SCARED!!!!!
How in the heck did I have time for a Halloween gathering that was supposed to be, (in my mind, no one else really cared I'm sure!!!) BIGGER...SCARIER.....YUMMIER!!!!!!!!!
And then....5 days ago....
I sent the email.
The invite...
To all our neighborhood.
Yep those same lovely neighbors with the gorgeous houses, delicious food and drinks, etc!
And....
I HAD FUN!!!!
Yep, officially the best and most wonderful party planning experience I've had is this one.
Teaches me I think I'm MEANT to have a Halloween Party EVERY year! I think so! The few very piss poor pictures of the party follow :-) But I'll have you know this little soire included GHOSTS.....DEMONS PEEPING AROUND TREES!.....SKELETONS!........SCARY SEVERED HANDS RIGHT SMACK DAB IN THE MIDDLE OF OUR DINNER TABLE!!!!
And it also included, great conversation that can only be had around a campfire! I love that!
Happy Halloween To All and To All a GOOD NIGHT!!!!

Drink Table, "Bone Juice, (Margaritas with orange salt/sugar mixture), Spooky Red Wine,  "Maker's Mark Whiskey". "Bat's Brew Beer",  and Hot "Spider Cider"(not pictured)

The party table awaits its guests! 'Spider Fruit with Bloody Yogurt Dip" as well as multiple other spooky delicacies awaiting the neighborhood! And our  walking pumpkin with legs at the end of the table held our Party Soup!!! Perfect!

Mama with a cow on her back "Oh Honey, Your Yeti hat just does it for me...!!!!Or maybe it's that ghost behind you?"

The Halloween Riverbend Party scene, complete with a beautiful warmish Fall night and nearly full moon with a faint fog rolling in. Perfect!

If Only???

If only I had 8 more hours in my week.....

Then these beautiful apples, which are 1/10th of our tree's bounty, would be made into apple sauce, juice, apple pie, and apple butter.....

If only I had 8 more eyeballs on my head.....

 This poor Talin Baby, perhaps would not have gotten the rooster beating he did :-(
Yes, he is smiling well in the next photo but his mama sure was traumatized by the whole bloody mess, &^%$#% Rooster. "Nomorecockeeedoodledoo" Soup coming up next week thanks to Grandma Gloria!

And yes, T baby persevered quite well, maybe a nice scar to show for his rooster battle at age 1 but not much more....!"

 And Maybe If I Had Eight More Hands, I could make Winter Squash Pies, Bread, Pancakes, Cookies, out of THIS!!!

But, I DON'T!!! Have 8 of anything really. Except ideas. And those ideas once in awhile server a purpose! Like last Friday, in taking the boys to the local Blue Lake Pumpkin Patch. Yes, despite having tons of pumpkins ourselves, pumpkin patches are still cool for this overworked though continually holiday stimulated Mama.....

 And VERY Cool to these little kiddos...complete with hay rides, hay bail mazes, and special treats...they are the full shabaaaanggg! Definitely more then I had as a wee one growing up. Must be the country air up here!

Yep, Sometimes it's just SO good to start looking at what you HAVE, right in front of you, and STOP looking at what you don't have...like those EIGHT extra hours...eyes...hands....:-)

A Fish Frenzy Update for all those Salmon lovers....

"MMMMuuuuaaaahhhh, Love you too Bright Salmon you!!!

Two VERY Happy Boys!

Salmon-3 Year Old Discussion....."So, you just go pooopooo whereever, in the water...no underweah? No potty??" Salmon----"Yep! My life is grand!, 'Cept I'm gonna have my one girlfirend here in all my life and that's my end!"  Forrest---"WHAT!!! No more Flower girl friends! Only One and that's it for you! NO WAY!!!! MaMAAAA, Theese Salmon can't have TWO flower friends!" NO WAY MAMA!!!! and....1 minute later....."MAMA! I gotta tummy oweee, yes, I've gotta go pooopooo!" MAMA-----"Okay, Forrest, Yes lets GO, Thank you so much for telling me!!!!" we walk up the rocky hill from the fishing spot on the beach, happening to be Dr. Palmer's beach, my BOSS, supervising physician, flatulence lover of them all!!!. Forrest-----"WOW mama that was a HUGE juicy pooopoo!" Mama---ehhhh yeah Forrest. I guess better on the dirt on the rocky beach in front of my bosses house instead of in your pants???I think????" Needless to say a very BIG hole was dug with a handy dandy drift stick for that infamous poopooo...with lots of huge rocks on top. Betcha can't say you ever did that to your bosses house!!!:-)

 

 

 

And....that sums up my life right now, oh, YES, except add a 17 month old newly beat up by a rooster. I think they can write books about this stuff!!!

17 month Talin baby-----eeeerrrrr Talin toddie???

Yep, not so much a baby any more, though in comparison with Mr. Forrest, he is still very much the baby of the family. I suppose this is how it is with Child #2. He is getting more opinionated, more mobile, (i.e. lets climb EVERYTHING!!!), is currently on a sleep strike, and has become the early bird once more, loving the 515-615 am wake up time no matter what day it is. 430 even happened once. Sheesh, he would make a mighty find rower wouldn't he??

He is transitioning from the two naps a day to one nap, which makes for some grouchy nights as he struggles with the whole sleep deal. He is also a very light sleeper currently, waking up several times a night, due to mucho molars coming in, or who knows what. I can say that I am currently pretty exhausted with it all, and hope this come to an end soon! A little benadryl (under his dose per weight but enough to get him a bit sleepy)/Tylenol cocktail before bed seems to help a bit at least with the first half of the night. Yep, we do indeed drug him up. I figure some solid sleep, at least once in awhile, gives us ALL a healthier and happier mind and body!

T baby has also become quite the jabber monkey. He'll hold conversations with you in his Talin talk and it is pretty funny. His words include "dye dye" for Bye Bye, "ewooo" for Hello, and of course his beloved "nana" for Banana. He continues to love to sign all done, bye bye, more, and now milk has become a new one once in awhile. He makes us laugh all the time and is quite the little busy body with his physical abilities and jabbering. He still loves walks, often showing us the baby carrier as his way to ask us to take him on a walk. He loves to walk himself too now, and can do so quite easily. He is still one of the favorites at his daycare and more often than not has great days. "We miss Talin!" I hear a lot when he has days off!

Brother relations have been better. Mr. Forrest does SO well now one on one. He is almost like a new kid, conversant, super smart, very easy going, and talking better daily. When with his brother though this leaves him most of the time and they BOTH have been hitting, swatting, and kicking each other. Ugggh. It starts already! They do have awesome moments though where both will play great together, and even if it does involve ear piercing, (though happy) screams, and their crazy tag games running around the dining room table we usually let it go on, as it is just so nice to see both of them enjoying eachother!

The big 1 1/2 years old is just around the corner! At this point with Forrest I was already pregnant with little T baby! Crazy!!!

Happy Shower Day cousin Sara!

The ladies plus one cute baby boy!

Yummy shower treats, everything was so delish and beautiful! A "wine" theme complete with small bites of Bride to Be Sara's fav foods...:-)

 This past weekend I was lucky enough to be able to attend my good cousin Sara's wedding shower! I am going to be a bridesmaid in her wedding in a month and helping her celebrate her shower day was awesome. I am so happy for her and her husband to be Adam.

Can't go wrong with good drinks, Sangria on the end of course :-)

Beautiful shower guests Aunt Carol, cousin Coty, and sister Megan

Bride to Be Sara on the left opening gifts with sister Amy, who did a fabulous job planning this beautiful shower!

Being at home, even if only for less than 48 hours was really wonderful. Talin eased all my fears and did GREAT with my parents in a new environment. He loved exploring, LOVED all of the kindergarten class treats my Mom brought home for him from her classroom, and seemed to do just fine with Granny, Grandpa, and Aunt Megan while his Mom spent time at a great dinner at the Yard House with the bride to be and the rest of the wedding party. The Yard House is a fabulous place and we had a great time treating Sara to a special dinner out!

Having a blast at the Yard House...the entire Sara Stevens Bridal Party!!!!

First attempt at using a spoon with Granny :-)

Raking the horse shoe pits with Grandpa!

 And, I couldn't really end this post without saying SOMETHING about the *&%%& $#6%^ air travel that Talin and I had to endure. Delays, flights cancelled, the whole nine yards. But we persevered thanks to some nick of time guidance from dear sister Megan, (who is amazing I might add!) I will stop at that, and just add fun pictures of T baby playing away in the airport, all smiles. He did SO much better than his Mama with this frustrating travel weekend. I owe him a huge thanks for making me remember to smile throughout!

One thing United has going for itself, a kiddie play area!!!

Just hanging from the banister Mama, don't mind me!

Mama bleary eyed after a near no sleep night, and little T baby passed out, finally on our final flight. Home Sweet Home!