halloween 2008

so here i sit. its oddly quiet considering how many kids live around here. only two have come.

rob has taken the kids out. i want to be by the door so i'm busying myself on the computer.

as you can see, i decided upon a 1940s type woman. my little button says "buy war bonds" so its

as apparent as possible (ya know...that i don't normally dress as i did in 7th grade...)

here are the kids--the joker and aerwyn

doesn't izsak look fabulous?!

ah...an elf w/out her ears (she didn't want to wear them even though rob made her some)

i got the whole outfit second hand. i lucked out totally!! i think it cost about $10-15!

ryenn's i made from my old jr prom dress that had been moved to the costume box in about 2000. It's been embellished w/ fabric from another faux velvet dress from that era and a shirt i used as mirthril when izsak was frodo.

all in all though. it is weird its so quiet and i'll be glad when everyone is back home. i now totally wish i went w/ them but i thought the door would be non-stop. next year i'll know better. course next year we hope to have a big party!

pumpkin carving

Fun carving pumpkins...look at sparky begging...

here they all are!

this is rob's. if you look close you can see the detail...some sort of monster/ork thing

this is ryenn's. it's crying...for joy apparently (that's what she said)

here is izsak's. it's Jaws....

and here's arian's.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN '08!

pet horrors

This is a flea. It is a nasty nasty thing and invaded our house. With the new pets, we switched to a vet nearby. This vet told me (at sparky's appointment when i complained about our flea dilemma) that washing a dog/cat before apply Advantage (the flea rx) doesn't let the Advantage work because skin oils are missing at that point. Washing a dog or cat anytime after also undoes the effects of Advantage. Oh my gosh! Advantage leaves this greasiness on the fur and we've often bathed Sparky the day after. How he never got fleas I'll never know, but I am very glad to have switched vets because our previous vet never told us this. So, I Advantaged Leo when we first got him home from the Humane Society and the next day washed him. So...I counteracted my measures to counteract any flea encounters. :) So, we discovered the kitties had fleas, which meant the dogs had fleas. Sparky only got them this weekend (post his grooming appointment). But the kitties. Oh poor kitties. They were big fleas and tons of them. It was soooo gross!!!! So terribly disgusting! Ah... but I didn't know the bit about bathing and Advantage, so I gave the kitties a bath and then put Advantage on. No good. So I readvantaged them yesterday (post Sparky's appointment) and learned that there is a tablet for dogs! Woo hoo!!! Much easier to administer on a large puppy than getting him to be still for the Advantage. I have boraxed/salted the rugs and carpets. Rob vacuumed the heck out of everything. I'm still doing laundry. Have vacuumed everyday and bought spray to make sure no eggs hatch. Sigh. It has been a creepy and horrendous experience that I'm choosing to share publically so you can all feel very sorry for us. :) Now...if only flea rx was a hell of a lot cheaper, all would be wonderful. :)

lone pine farms

today we went to lone pine farms

it is a huge farm 1 1/2 miles outside eugene

it is a great place for picking out the pumpkin,
but i obviously got distracted by other items growing w/ the pumpkins

look how huge this sunflower is. considering i have no eye hole on
my stupid digital camera (nor any film for the old fashioned one)

i thought i did ok.

here are the beautiful horses used for the horse/hay ride. the line was

too long...we opted to walk.

my kids off in the fuzzy, windy distance. i didn't know it wasn't in

focus until JUST NOW (thank you again to those of you

who have contributed to my camera fund)

ah...miss ryenn and her pumpkin. guess who really carried it back.

ah...izsak and his huge pumpkin. guess who carried that back...

actually rob carried izsak's pumpkin, izsak carried ryenn's, i carried rob's

and ryenn carried mine.

and there we are, off to the pumpkin patch wheelbarrow free. silly us.

it would've been so much easier. :)

But we had fun, just walking and talking and standing in the credit card/debit line for

FOREVER because its dial up there outside town.

next year we'll take cash.

Lucky for us though, it was a beautiful, mud-free day!

FINALLY!

ah...my son finally got his dog

after much patience and a some disappointments


we decided to adopt from the humane society

after complications of adopting a dog from aunt mandee

so here is Leo. a 10 month old lab. he's a handful already!

and so far sparky is ok w/ it...we'll see how it goes. :)