Tragedy Strikes Our House

Since 2006, our house has dealt with the illness of our furnace. Every winter it stops working and starts again. It generally requires 5 trips by the heating guys before it would run again. But, tragically, this morning someone came and was unable to revive it. So, on Monday, this member of our family (a very frustrating and annoying one at that!) will be replaced and upgraded. It is sad, but our furnace has lived a good life. Maybe now, we can all sleep through the night and not be awakened by cold toes and frozen fingers. Rest in peace--especially all weekend since we will no longer give us heat.

Toy Story Trance

Since Daddy picked up Toy Story 3 on Tuesday, this has been the scene at our house.

Aren't they cute, though??

Bennett's Baloney

Last night, after Ryan came home from hunting, he was playing with Bennett and growled at him like a dinosaur (he seems to love dinosaurs these days--especially Rex from Toy Story). All of a sudden, Bennett puts his hand up by Ryan's face and says "no, we're not doing that right now!" And the way he said it so matter of factly made Ryan and I just bust out laughing!

Happy Halloween!

WELCOME TO OUR JUNGLE!

For this years costumes, we decided on a safari theme--Bennett was a tiger and Landon was a giraffe. Since I have a major distaste for the holiday, I picked these easy costumes up at Old Navy--they're warm and very little effort! As you can see, Bennett was letting that lower lip hang out--although he did let us put a little football paint on his nose. (Later, he let Jake, and only Jake, put on some whiskers :-)

First stop--Aunt Kelly's. The night before the boys had mixed up some cupcakes. So, it was time to frost, decorate, and enjoy!

Stop two--Grandma and Grandpa T's. Landon was very interested in what the holiday was all about. Thanks so much for the nice gift bags!

Bennett was helping Grandma T pass out candy to the trick-or-treaters, although he needed a little coaching on the appropriate number of candy bars to give to each one! (It is not necessary to give each one 4 candies :-)

Stop three--Grandma and Grandpa R's. Thanks for all the yummy treats!

Stop four--Great grandpa R. It was a quick stop as the boys were reaching their limit, but it was nice to spend even a few minutes with great-grandpa! Thanks for the candy and the apples! Bennett ate his entire apple in the car.

We arrived home around 7:00 (we left around 2:30--whew!). As Landon and I worked on supper, Ryan took Bennett in the wagon to visit a few neighbors. He was starting to get the hang of saying "trick or treat" and both boys seemed to enjoy wearing their costumes and visiting family.

As for Ryan and I, we did some early Halloween celebrations. The Friday before, we accepted (me, excitedly, and Ryan fearfully!!) Kelly and Jakes invitation to head to a haunted nature walk after enjoying dinner together. We had some good laughs, but it certainly wasn't the scare we were hoping for (I'm sure Ryan was relieved!) So, we headed to our downtown area to visit a haunted building--we enjoyed that and then spent the rest of the evening gawking, gasping, and gapping at the costumes being sported by the local college students. My favorite--Cleopatra. The worst by far--Ms. Panda Bear. The boys spent the night with grandma and grandpa and Ryan and I enjoyed some adult time with family. We all had a blast!!

Pumpkin Carving

Unlike last year when Bennett refused to take part in any way, shape, or form to help carve our pumpkins, he got his hands dirty and helped scoop out the goo. Landon wasn't very interested in what was happening but came over for a quick peek. In the end, mom and dad did most of the work, but the end result was fun! Ryan had found a pattern kit for Winnie the Pooh characters. Bennett selected Eyore and Pooh for our patterns this year. Even though it was a lot of work, we enjoyed our finished products.

Family Photos 2010

One beautiful Sunday afternoon, we decided to get dressed up in our Wisconsin gear, called Kelly, and drove to a nearby marsh area to take our family photos (to be used for our Christmas cards--I wanted them taken before all the leaves disappeared--but yes, I have made, printed and stuffed all my Christmas cards already!!!!).

Kelly scoped out a few really good spots and we got to work!

One of my favorites! If you look closely, you can see the fishing bobber in the tree.

Our sweet boys and best buds!

Despite this being Kelly's first effort with her newly acquired "fancy" camera, I think she did an awesome job! We appreciated all the time she spent with us that day and all the time she spent editing the photos!! It was a fun afternoon and she captures some wonderful family moments!

Thanks, Kelly!