Decorating Halloween Cookies

This year the kids (especially the boys) seem to be extra excited for Halloween. The boys ask me several times a day if it is Halloween, and if they get to go trick or treating. They have been packing their pumpkin buckets around for days. So on monday I made sugar cookies in halloween shapes and we decided to let them decorate them for family home evening. They were so excited all day. They couldn't wait to decorate their own cookies. They kept calling them "boy" cookies. They had tons of fun icing them and putting on sprinkles and candy corn. They probably would have used the entire bottle of sprinkles on one cookie if we would have let them. We made a huge mess, and they were sure to tell me about it and tell me I that I needed to clean it up. It made me laugh. The last two days they have asked if they can decorate more cookies, so I assume it's safe to say they had a good time.

Antelope

One day last week we were driving down the highway just a couple of miles from our house and we saw these pronghorn out in the field. We didn't know there were any this close to us so we thought it was pretty neat. We had to take some pictures just so we could prove that we actually saw them. They are not the best pictures but you can at least tell what they are.

Cutting Firewood

We have spent several days out in the hills cutting firewood for the winter. The kids like to go and play while we cut and then they help carry and load the truck. They get so filthy but they have a good time. I usually strip them down at the door when we get home and put them straight in the tub. They dig in the dirt and find big sticks to play with. We have been lucky enough to avoid any major catastrophies. We took the dogs on the last 3 or 4 trips and they had fun. The boys chased them around and everyone got pretty worn out. Railey likes to find trees she can climb up in and hang out.

The boys and their puppy dogs

Rob cutting up a tree

Boys hangin' out in the back of the truck

They found a good tree on this day

Taking an apple break

My Crazy Crew

Railey and Robby chillin' in the tree

Deke And Savvy

In the last couple of months we got 2 new puppies. They are both Mountain Kerr's. They are bred to be hunting dogs, but also good family dogs. They are great with kids. The first week of September we got Savvy. She is the lighter blonde one. Then the first week of October we got Deke. He is the brindle one. We had him picked out for over a month but he wasn't big enough to bring home yet. They are both very cute. They have been a lot of fun. The kids absolutely love them, so much in fact they sneek out of the house whenever they can to play with them. (Ranger especially) I wasn't sure I was ready to have more animals. Mainly because I didn't want to have anything else to have to take care of, but I caved in the minute they got home and have loved them. It helps that we have a big back yard that is all fenced in so they have room to run and play. They seem to really enjoy each other too. They play all day long, and cuddle up together to sleep. I hope they will be good dogs for our family for years to come. It will be exciting to see what they can do hunting. Both sets of their parents are good hunters. Savvy already loves to tree our cat and will not leave him alone if he comes around them. He tends to stay in the front of the house now. He doesn't really care for the dogs. He would rather sit on the other side of the fence where he feels safe.

Deer Hunting

This year we had the oppurtunity to get a handful of deer. Rob and I both drew the antlerless tag for the area where we live. This year if you happened to draw that tag, they gave you two tags, so we ended up with 4 doe tags and then Rob also had his buck tag for the muzzleloader hunt. We filled all the tags. We were able to kill all of the does within about a quarter of a mile from our house. It was nice not to have to drag them forever. They were all in a place where we were able to back the truck right up to them, and then just toss them in. Then we were home in just a minute. I'm not exactly sure where he got the buck. I didn't go with him on that hunt. We were very happy to get the meat. (Even though I was sick of cutting it up by the time we were done) We bottled all the does and did burger and steaks out of Rob's buck. Rob shot a pretty nice buck. It was good sized.

Back to School

Railey started back to school last week on the 19th. She is now in 2nd Grade. Its seems like she was just starting kindergarten. She kept saying she wasn't ready for summer to be over and go back to school, but we went to back to school night and the minute we left the school she was very excited to go back. I think she was a little nervous because she is going to a different school this year and she was concerned she wouldn't know where to go. They have had two different elementary schools here but this year they combined and did some changes. They now have a preschool, kindergarten center at the one school, and then 1st-4th grade at the other school, and moved the 5th grade to the middle school. She felt comfortable at the one school after having spent the last two years there but now is in the other. We made sure to walk around so she would know where to go. She rode the bus to school on the first day but wanted me to follow it to the school and walk her to her classroom. So I did, and as soon as she got to class she said she was fine and she would see me after school. She got Mrs. Farrell for her teacher. She was excited about that. She knew who she was from school last year. After she got home from school that first day I asked her if she was able to find her way around and she said, "oh yeah, I'm totally fine, I know where everything is now." It kind of made me laugh. All nervousness was gone.
I took Railey school shopping by herself this year. We left the boys at home with dad and spent the day with just the two of us. It was a lot of fun. When shopping with the boys we try not to go anymore places than we absolutely have to. It was great to go to lots of different stores. We could just jump out of the car and head in.....and not have to unbuckle, buckle, unbuckle, buckle, unbuckle a million times with all the carseats. We found some cute stuff for her. We went and had lunch at Cafe Rio. She made sure to rub that in her dad's face when we got home. It was a good day. She commented several times how much fun it was not to have the boys with us. I was glad to have been able to spend the day with her, and have it be a day just for her. We need to do that more often. She is growing up way too fast.

Otter Creek

Rob and Railey took a trip to Otter Creek this last week to go fishing. They wanted to do something else before school started. They didn't have much luck with the fish but they had a good time anyway. Railey was a little disappointed they didn't catch any fish because the last time they went they caught quite a few and she actually caught more than dad. But she was pretty happy because she got to drive the boat all by herself. Since they didn't have any luck with the fish, she got to drive it around for quite a while. She thought that was pretty cool. She kept telling me how good she was at driving. She even told me to call her "Captain" because that was what Rob had been calling her. She thought all the birds, especially the cranes were really neat. So I guess you could say the day was a success, even though the fishing itself was not.

At the end of each fishing trip you always have to show what you caught (or didn't catch)