Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween!

Have you ever heard of anyone dressing up as a zebra for Halloween? Not me! This was Colter's idea, and thanks to the wonderful world of Ebay, I was able to pull this off without having to learn how to sew. Whew!
Last year, Colter was a lion, this year a zebra, and he already plans to be a giraffe next year. I guess he has a thing for jungle animals.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Pumpkin Carving

It's pumpkin carving time! There won't be any regular old jack'o'lanterns at our house. Colter saw some kids carving pumpkins on Nick Jr., and they were making pumpkins featuring cartoon characters, so of course, Colter wanted a character pumpkin! It was a new experience.
This is icky, mom!
Swiper no swiping! I thought our pumpkin was very impressive. We're so talented. :)

Sunday, October 17, 2010

One Last Camping Trip

I've always thought that I would never be able to raise chickens for meat because I would never be able to butcher them. I thought I preferred to leave that messy business up to someone a little less squeamish. I was wrong. After tonight, I'm pretty sure I could totally kill a certain rooster. Pop off it head with a broomstick, chop it off with a butcher knife, twist it off with my bare hands, or any other method of chicken slaughtering, I think I can handle it now.

Ever since Colter got a tent for his birthday, he has been asking and asking to camp in our backyard in it. Well, the tent is pretty small for a 5' 7" woman, and the ground is pretty hard for someone who is accustomed to sleeping on pillow top mattresses, so I came up with the brilliant idea of taking Colter camping in his tent on my parents' trampoline. It was a brilliant idea! Trampolines are pretty comfy and the night was perfect for camping.
However, I didn't think about HIM. This future chicken pot pie and his infernal crowing!
I thought roosters were supposed to crow at sunrise, but I was wrong. This rooster anyway, starts crowing about 2 a.m. and keeps it up until sunrise! He's demented! Here Colter and I are in a tent on a trampoline in my parent's backyard, and this stupid rooster kept crowing and crowing and CROWING! AAAAAHHHHHH! I wanted to kill him.
Between my dad getting home in his noisy truck really late (fall harvest time), the rooster crowing, the cats crawling underneath the trampoline trying to figure out what the crazy people were doing, the hound treeing some animal, my dad getting up really early to head back to the fields, and my sister pulling away at 6 a.m. to go to work, I DIDN'T GET MUCH SLEEP. Needless to say, although Colter slept through everything, we will not be camping on the trampoline again any time soon.
Noisy Rocket the Hound Dog

Friday, October 15, 2010

Springfield Nature Center

We went for a picnic at the Springfield Nature Center with friends and went for a really long walk (too long for three-year-old boys! ) enjoying more of fall in Missouri. The nature center is a great place to go for some free entertainment and learning experiences.

Then, this evening at home we had this nighttime visitor. I guess the nature center followed us home!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Ugh...Lessons Learned.

‎Lesson 1. Colter still has a crazy gag reflex.
Lesson 2. When kids throw-up, sometimes they pee. But probably only when they're on your lap.
Lesson 3. Don't make Colter try stuffed pasta shells. :)
Someday I'll figure out what to do with my picky eater, but that day is not today.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Missouri Travels 2010 Part V--Lake of the Ozarks State Park


Before it gets cold, we were able to squeeze in one last camping trip. Originally, we had a big camping party planned; my mom, brother, sister and her boyfriend, aunt, cousins, my niece and nephews were all supposed to go with us. First, my mom got sick and backed out so that ruled out her, my brother, niece, and nephews. Then, my aunt who must not be able to function without my mother backed out, so there went my aunt and cousins. Fortunately, we could count on my sister and her boyfriend to still go, so since we have a camping-obsessed boy on our hands, we decided to go ahead with our plans. We told Colter we were going, we cleaned up the camper, we packed, and THEN at the last minute my sister backed out too!!!! GRRRRR. That's okay. Who needs a camping party anyway? We had a nice, quiet three-person camping trip and spent some time enjoying the beautiful fall colors WITHOUT my flaky family. So there. :)
COLTER QUOTE OF THE TRIP
Colter to John: "When I was your age, I used to wear a monkey suit and climb in the trees. There was candy in the trees, and I used to pick it."
Fishing from the camper?
Pretty fall leaves!
Handsome Men By a Funky Tree
So many beautiful colors!


Sunday, October 3, 2010

Cute Explorer Boy

Today, my husband, our cute explorer boy, and I went explored the local trail. Colter insisted that I document all the items that we found along the way. I took a ton of pictures of random natural objects! Here's a few.




Yay for family walks!

Friday, October 1, 2010

Growing Pains

Help! My toys keep disappearing. Mommy says I'm getting too big for some of my toys, and I suspect she's packing them away when I'm not paying attention. I can't help it if I'm growing! I want to keep all of my toys FOREVER! I want to have a room so stuffed full I won't even fit. Mommy's crazy! I'm not too big for this ride-on lion. My legs aren't so long that I can't even ride on it properly.... I'm not going to let her take it! EVER! It's mine!