Trimming the Tree

This weekend finds us finding, gathering, and trimming the tree at my dad's house. I'm sure it will be nothing like this! ;D

See you soon!

It's a Wonderful Life, Menagerie Style

Happy Thanksgiving

It's late November and that means Thanksgiving is right around the corner (actually two days from now) and although the implications of our people coming to the New World were not very good for our native brethren, my family takes this time not to celebrate the horros of the past but to gather together and give thanks for the things that have gone right over the years and to look toward a better future.


On that note, enjoy!

Hey, Mae!

The weekly segment where Mae tells us a joke (with a varying degree of success) and we laugh (sometimes inappropriately).

Episode 1: Cleanly Rabbits

Girl Scouts... On Ice!

 

The girls participated in this year's Girl Scout Ice Skating Party at Line Creek Skate Center with their regional council and several girls from their troop. All seemed to have fun and really clean up their skating skills a lot since the last time they went.

 

Waiting for the Bus

Jas with Autumn Foliage

Trick or Treat

 

Halloween was busy this year! The girls each had tutoring that afternoon, so I picked them up, ran them home, placed pumpkins, fixed their make-up, got them in costume and all of this before Jas got home from work!

Each girl picked her own costume this year. Mae wavered between "Monster Bride" and "Dead Alice in Dead Wonderland" most of the night, while Miranda pretty much stayed with "Demon/Devil Princess." We spent the evening in their old neighborhood and ran across friends that they hadn't seen since school ended last May. Both had a great time and made away with tons of candy!

When we returned to the Poisoned Waterhole, we noted there was a haunted house being held around the corner, so Jas and Miranda went to investigate while Mae and I got her cleaned up and ready for bed. By the time they got home, Mae and I had read a book and were hunkered down in bed! Miranda says she wished she hadn't gone. Although it was fun, she'd fallen and skinned her knee at the end and got tired of people jumping out at her. Mae wishes she had gone and promises to try it out next year!

The Daring Duo

Somewhere between Nightmare before Christmas
& Alice in Wonderland with a pinch of Bride of Frankenstein...

Oh those eyes...

Happy Halloween!

Day of the Dead Cookies

In Honor of El Dia de Los Muertos, the fam decided to decorate some delicious skull shaped cookies! I couldn't find a skull shaped cutter anywhere in Kansas City, so we made one out of steel flashing. I created the die line and procured the materials, dad helped shape the cutter and the girls and I made the dough and baked the cookies.

Then, Jas and I put the initial frosting layer on. We chose to use royal icing because I really wanted to be able to draw on the cookies rather than pipe the features on. Then, I decorated the cookies using roled fondant for the flowers, edible markers to draw the designs and a little help from my girls!
I think they turned out pretty good!

Originally, I'd planned to serve them as snacks for the Girl Scout meeting because it was to be held on El Dia de Los Muertos, so I created some nice handouts to go with them explaining the holiday with a color-&-cut skull mask on the back for the girls to play with. However, the meeting was moved at the last minute, so the cookies ended up being eaten by us and taken to work!

C'est la vie, no?

Pumpkin Carving Fun

Mae's Pumpkin

Our family has several traditions associated with Halloween. Yet none are as anticipated as The Carving of the Pumpkins! May went with a sort of Jack the Pumpkin King approach, where Miranda stayed with a sort of lost imp kind of pumpkin. Both had lot's of fun and made interesting luminaries for our driveway!

Miranda's Pumpkin

Mae Hard at Work

Pumpkin Massacre (Yes, it's unplugged here!)

Miranda "Changing" her concept

Meat Smoking Madness

Stoking the Fire (Double Exposure)

A Day in the Life

Miranda & Cat

The Big Guy Turns 39!

Happy Birthday, Jas!

Waiting for the Bus

Rainy Day Puddles

A Day in the Life

Talk to the Hand...

Limes...

Mae loves limes...

Good Old Golden Rule Days...

First Day

The girls' first day of school was a bit different this year. First, it was an earlier start to the day but about an hour, yet a later start to the year, by about a week. Both girls are taking their lunches this year, so that was a new routine to get used to, and they are now bus riders, something they'd only had a taste of earlier in the summer during Summer Journey.

Still, both girls were excited and claimed to have had a wonderful day.

 

 

After Midnight...

After midnight at the Donut King on 210 Highway... Because sometimes, when you've been moving heavy stuff all day, you need a break!

Just a Little Creepy...

Mae drew this for me in the middle of the night the other night. I was awoke by a little girl standing by me telling me that she'd drawn this picture for me. Thrusting it in my face, she stated "See? He's a demon and all these guys are dancing around him... I gave you extra paper so you can make up the rest of the story yourself..." I was groggy with heavy sleep and, in that state, was totally creeped out by it.

Then, two days later, Mae did this creepy sleepwalk thing that totally had me convinced she was posessed for about 3 days, until I realized that she was just my silly, ill-temepered goober! :D

Still, kinda creepy... No?

~H

A Company Lunch

Friday was Jas' company picnic at Faulkner's Ranch here in Kansas City, MO. This was probably the most fun the girls had partaken of at one of these functions (they are usually held at the ball park) and the change of venue was a really good fit for family fun. The day was spent hanging out with family and enjoying the country with ponies to ride, bunnies to pet, food to eat, lines to zip down... it was a full day!

 

Mother's Day on the Farm

Mother's Day was really nice this year. The weather was nearly perfect and no real rain to ruin shoes and muddy clothes.

My little group met up with the rest of the family for lunch, then took a jaunt to the new property my aunt and grandparents are working over. There, we stumbled across a toad, an odd, underground chrysalis, and, after returning to my grandparents' farm, my grandfather working on his old tractor and a slew of sweet, yellow kittens!

Then we retired back to my mother's house where we picked strawberries, raided the pantry, and dined on the patio surrounded by bright, cheerful blooms!

What a great day!

~H

 

 

❣ My Daughter, The Dead Fish

My daughter being a "Dead Fish" last night at dinner.  Isn't she precious? ;D

Miranda Fish Series - Fish 1 - Variant 1

Miranda Fish Series - Fish 1 - Variant 2

Miranda Fish Series - Fish 1 - Variant 3