Amy and Her Mom in a Haunted House

Happy Halloween!

This is one of the funniest videos I have seen in a long time.  Amy is a writer for the Ellen DeGeneres show and she hates Haunted Houses, so of course, Ellen sends her to one each year.  This year Amy's mom joied her. I've watched the video over and over...just to enjoy a good laugh! Hope you get a good laugh, too!





Finished Patio...

A few weeks ago, we finished our patio...right in time for the nice weather. We have really enjoyed it!


The original patio is the curved area where Moose is laying down. There are steps that come down to the lower fire pit area. I will plant flowers and such in the mulch area...that's a lot of flowers.

Here's a shot from the steps...you can go to the fire pit or...

take the path down to the bridge and into the woods. I opt for the fire pit each time!

The fire pit area...perfect size to fit 6 or more adults around and room for kids to still run behind us! The wall is great for the kiddos to sit on...need to get some new patio furniture!

To the left of the fire pit is an open area...we would like to put a small low table there with a few chairs. That will have to wait until next spring! You can also go to the "upper" level by another set of steps on the left.

The left steps lead to a path and then to the original patio.

We also built a small retaining wall up by the house which will also need foliage in the spring.

A picture looking back on the path towards the fire pit.

It's been a great area to hang our this fall.  Can't wait until next spring to enjoy the area even more!

Please Pray for Me to have Patience...

Sam has a recorder...I know...

We have listened to hot cross buns more than I have heard the word, "Mooooom!"

When he does this...it is like water torture...

Even Moose looks at me like, "Seriously?"
Sam called me in the room the other day and said, "Look...when i play my recorder, Moose tips her head to the side!"
That's not a good thing, Sam.

Rock and Roll...

We "dug" out the Guitar Hero gear the other weekend...the boys rocked out! Jason actually got it all out and hooked up...and then went outside to do some work. Why didn't I go out to join him? It was 7:00 at night and I really didn't want to do yard work at that time due to the fact that I wouldn't be able to spot any critters or creatures that may be wondering about! So I went downstairs and cursed Jason's name for over an hour while listening to this...

Feel it, Sammy!

Bring it home jack!!!

I think this kid has the possibility of causing me a few problems in the future...

Moosie May...

It has been five weeks since Moose's surgery. She continues to heal and has her good days and bad days....

She has been able to be outside more often and loves it...unfortunately, the deer are easy to spot due to the leaves being off the trees. That is what got us in this mess in the first place!! She is very alert when we are out...as am I!!

You can see that her incision is looking loads better! There is still one spot that needs to heal completely. Look how the swelling has gone down, which is great! That allows her to use that foot more often.

Here she is walking on the pads of her feet! Yea!! A couple of weeks ago, her foot was turned under and that was not good! We go on short 5 minute walks 2-3 times a day. After walks, she is ready to be off her foot...bless her little heart!

See how she runs!! She can go pretty quickly as she holds up that front left foot...part of her adapting to the use of that leg. At times, she will walk quickly without lifting that leg up! Another good thing. She is also starting to do stairs...showing up on the top floor without a sound. Sunday she was laying in Jack's room...he had climbed into bed with us and she couldn't find him...just laid in there waiting for him (*sigh*) or she was scouting out one of his monkeys that she could get a hold of!!

A Break...

I am going to take this week off of blogging...I know, I know, you will miss me so!!  But, I have unexpectedly decided this is the week I am cleaning out the house!  Sunday and Monday I actually finished opening boxes in our storage room from when we moved..TWO YEARS AGO!!  Going through ALL scrapbook stuff...UGH!!  Cleaning under the beds...DUSTY!! Raccoons drinking out of our fountain...take a snake with you!! Sam has tournament football games...BRRRR!!  Will be back on schedule next week...until then...

Sam had a football game on Sunday...his pants were very grass stained!  After the game he asked, "Mom, can you Cascade these?"
I am so excited...he knows I am a stain fighter!!

Moose Update...

Haven't shared about Moose lately...had a big milestone, so thought I would update everyone. At this time, I feel as if we get her to a great spot and then the game changes and we are back on strict rest and she feels bad again. Last week was a hard week for Moose. i do not know why, but she wasn't herself, her foot hurt, she wouldn't walk on it and she stopped eating for a few days (worryworryworryworry.) This weekend she took a turn for the better and was starting to be the old Moose again! On Wednesday morning she actually showed up in our bedroom, which is on the second floor. She isn't suppose to do steps and hasn't even tried...but she was so proud of herself...she panted and panted with that big grin of hers! And so the story continues...

You can see her entire leg now...the vet took the bandages off on Wednesday. She is on strict rest for a few days...only outside for bathroom breaks! I think she is bummed, because she was feeling so good...(i think she rolled her eyes at me while taking these pictures!)

A close up of her paw. it is still swollen, but nothing like it was! Unfortunately, while it was swollen in the bandages, her foot curled under (of course the Dr. has never had this happen before...(welcome to the belding family!) So we are trying to get her to use the pads of her feet again. I think this will be a long haul, but she has come such a long ways in just three weeks.

Here you can see her incision. The plate runs from the incision to about an inch or two above her claws. She can no longer swing her paw back and forth. So in some ways, she needs to learn to walk with that leg again.

Here you can see the difference between her good paw and her healing paw.

She often puts her healing paw on her good paw...I think she is hoping her good paw will send walking vibes to her healing one!
Please send Moose healing thoughts...she could use a few at this time!

Oh - she finally got a good bath. She hasn't had a bath since she hurt her leg almost two months ago!! She smells better and feels so much better to pet..the water looked like a mini saylorville lake...NASTY!

Happy 10th Anniversary!!!

Last night, a bunch of "us girls" got together to celebrate our friend's 10th anniversary of being cancer free! She fought breast cancer 10 years ago and won, so we thought it would be fun to surprise her with an anniversary dinner!


She had no idea and it was such fun to see her reaction when she realized what was going on!

Cheers to you, Bonnie!!

A fun picture of the girls together!
Here's to Bonnie and many more years of fun, happiness and health!!

It Works!!!

To me, this is just too good not to share. Sam comes home each weekend, after his football game, with grass stained pants.

This picture is taken after pre-treating the pants with shout and then washing with bleach..still pretty dirty and stained.

The same with this leg...except it has a nasty grass stain. This is what it STILL looked like after washing!!!

Someone shared with me to soak stained whites in a bucket of Cascade, using the regular dish washing soap (the crystals.) Here are Sam's football pants soaking in the bucket. I really didn't measure the soap or soaked the pants for a specific time. Just winged it.

The FB pants have pads, which made the pants want to float to the top, so I had to weigh them down with a bowl full of water!!
After soaking for a few hours, I dumped all of it in the laundry and washed as usual...

And look at that!! Shiny white...no stains or grass stains! Sam was pretty excited!!!

Sam spilled chocolate pudding down the front of this tee. I had washed it three different times...pre-treating with Shout and then washing with bleach. I had yet to get it out. I soaked it in Cascade, washed as usual and viola! Clean shirt!!
I will definitely be using that magic potion again!!

A Day at the Pumpkin Patch...

Yesterday the boys didn't have school (Columbus Day) so we thought it would be the perfect day to head to the pumpkin patch.

We went to Center Grove Orchard in Cambridge...it was amazing with LOADs to do..stayed for almost four hours!

We started out in the corn pool...

Jason helped the boys out a few times!

 

Jack did a corn angel...isn't this place HUGE!!!

Next stop, the giant jumping pillow.

While Sam was jumping, I noticed that he needed some new socks!

Jason tried his hand at jumping into the hay maze (who knows why)...just a few scratches and "bloody marks" as Jack calls them!

There's a giant slide which was great fun for the boys.

Everyone tried their hand at lassoing...

Drove some IH trucks around for a bit...(Go big red!)

Milked a practice cow...Look at Sam's tongue hanging out, but he got her going!

OH NO!! Our dear Nanny is a female goat...how rude!!

Nasty troll...

Next to last stop, the corn maze.  The boys couldn't wait to get into the maze...it took some time to get through it!  it was getting pretty warm out by this time and we were all starting to drag a bit.

We were pretty excited to FINALLY find the end of the maze! (Check out how dirty Jack's shirt became!)

Last stop, pumpkin patch. Our pumpkin finding was very successful!

Since we had a wheel barrow, we had to walk back to the orchard instead of riding the tractor ride.  On the way back it started to POUR!!  We all ran under a tree for a bit of cover, but still got soaked!  At least it cooled us off a bit and washed off a layer of dirt! 

Can't wait to share photos of the big pumpkin carving in a couple of weeks...we all know how Sam just loves to carve pumpkins!! While walking to the patch Sam said, "I did pretty well last year with carving pumpkins.  I took out some guts before I gagged!"  It was a true milestone for him!