Getting Ready for Halloween! 2009

Treats for The Trick or Treaters!
I made these while at last week's retreat.
Super easy!
Since we are at the end of a long driveway,
and in a very rural area, our visitors are far and few between.
So they get special goodies

Materials Used:
Top Note Die -SU - used with the Big Shot
Punched shapes: all SU punches
(scallop and 2 circles)
Patterned Papers - Dream Street
Black card Stock: SU
Bags: SU

I also made these goodie bags!
The Black bag is from a Cricut Die - THANKS Paula!
(I spent most of the retreat getting to know my Cricut!)
Supplies:
Jenny Bowlin Halloween Bingo Cards
Dream Street Patterned Papers
Black Tulle

*** Most of the Halloween supplies came from an awesome kit ***
Here is a Link

Peace Sign Made at 6:30 am!

Groovy Bell Bottoms Made at 7:30 pm
Love the Red Velvet!!!!

The Hippy Chick
Standing in front of our 'new' Piano!

Sigh...

So the other night, Wednesday to be precise, after I got home from work, and after dinner, about 7:30 pm, my darling children informed me that 'we' had to get their costumes made/together/finished for school the next day.

Nothin' like a fast deadline. And yes, somewhere in the back of my itty bitty brain I knew the date was coming, however, I thought they were big enough to do it all on their own! HA!

Bedtime is 8pm over here at Casa de Sexton, and, in order to get said Children in bed by 8:00pm the 'we' turned into a mostly 'me'. I managed to get the Bell Bottoms done for Sami and a mask done for Jake. Next morning? 'Mom, I need a Peace Sign!'.

Double double sigh.

Sorry, Jake did not dress up for a photo shoot before running off to school! He packed his costume. Which, basically, is a cape and mask. He's good to go as long as he has a cape.

Tonight, Friday night, we will do the downtown Trick or Treat, and tomorrow evening will the annual Drive through the Hood to visit neighbors far and far between!!!

(After the Boise Market... crazy...)

Have a great Halloween!!!

A Beautiful Pumpkin Carving Fall Event!

Classic Barn with a REAL Great Horned Owl

The Maxwell's Classic Farm House
This place is so beautiful!
And that table was the pumpkin carving center
The Maxwell's grew some pumpkins and invited
all the neighbors and kids over to carve
press cider
drink
eat
and be ever so merry...

Apple Cider!
We brought a box of apples from last week's pickin'

Sami Sharing the Bounty

Sami Showing Us How it's done!

Gathered Around the Cider Press
At Our Friends, the Maxwell's
The rock area is the stone 'danger zone' around the fire pit.
Dangerous, because it's not easy stepping!

Jake and Sami's Pumpkins
There were more... About 4 babies, and another orange one.
I hate to tell you the horrid outcome.
Sami and Jake got off the school bus on Monday
and found a massacre
Our chickens apparently love pumpkins.
The pumpkins were rescued from a near death experience off our front porch
and are now indoors.

Lou, Snoozing By The Pumpkins!
The Maxwell's Front Porch

When Men Carve Pumpkins
Power Tools.
Gore.
Notice the big pumpkin in the foreground? It is eating a smaller
pumpkin, and has 'pumpkin guts' around it's teeth.
Oh those men.

The Outcome of the Men Carving Fest

Last Sunday turned out to be a fabulous day!

It was a beautiful fall day and I had grand plans of washing windows and catching up on fall cleanup. But at 11 am I was still deep in computer work - beta testing a 'new' program my husband wrote to track our sales and deposit data.. (Insert bottle of Ibuprofen here and Note: Three days later I am still Beta Testing that #(*$ program!!)..

Then, our neighbor Pam, who lives about five miles away (that's a neighbor in our area!) called - 'Hey, are you guys coming over to pick pumpkins?'.

Oops.. I forgot about the invitation to take the kids over to pick out pumpkins... 3pm.

Pam did some sweet talkin'.

'We will be pressing apple cider,
The Kids can Carve their Pumpkins, while we just hang out,
I'm making Potato Soup (it's potato harvest time over in our area - EVERYONE has buckets of potatoes in their storage cellars!)
And.. adult beverages will be served.'
Can you bring some apples??

Hmm... Just bring apples? In exchange for pumpkins, dinner, beverages and a boat load of fun?

Heck Yeah!

So.. the windows are still dirty, the data and deposits are still not done, but as I tucked Sami into bed she said it all...

'Today was a GREAT Day!'.

Oh Yeah... Thanks Pam for making it a wonderful one!


Side Note:
Tomorrow is the day I leave on my scrappy vacation, followed by the Sexton Family Reunion... My photos still have not arrived!! ACK!
And not one thing is packed...
Oh well!
I'm sure it will all work out... :)

Life Happens When You Are Making Other Plans!

Hi all!
Well, we seem to be over the flu so on to the next adventures, right? Sorry, no creative goodies to share yet! But Wednesday through Saturday morning I'll be crafty heaven:)

We have an action packed week coming up:

1. Sami's last Volleyball Game is tomorrow
2. I'll be in Boise with Jake tomorrow (yes, missing the game - sigh)
3. Monday I dash to La Grande for deliveries
   
4. My car and my hair have appointments on Tuesday! Looking forward to one, not the other
   
5. I pack on Tuesday for TWO trips!!! One is my scrappy retreat, at a campground, and the other is a family reunion with the Sexton side. There is a HUGE party for my Mother In Law's Birthday, in another state! Rumor has it we will be square dancing!!!
   

I have a list of projects I HOPE to make while I am gone! Oh fun fun fun! This is when I get the majority of my Christmas goodies done... :) I'm dreaming up all sorts of things!


Most likely you won't hear from me for a while.. so, I'll leave you with two gems from our ranch life below!

Bunnies

The Adventure sof a Ranch Wife

Take Care!
And happy day to all of you...

The Popsicle Diet, Markets, and Rants

Sami's BFF Helps with our Apple Picking!
(yes, my grass does need another cut!)
(And this girl was up until midnight - doing fun stuff)

Dick And Sami Compare Favorite Apples
(She was un until Midnight - doing fun stuff)

Jake!
Hi cute boy!
He was not up doing fun stuff.
Nope. He was home, doing boy stuff.
It must be rough, being a boy.

Friday Night Market
Was Take Your Family To work Day!
In our house, that is!
Sami was awesome!
She can count change back very well!!!!
And this photo is before the temps dropped about 20 degrees...
OH.. That lady asked if I was Sami's Grandma...
OUCH!!!
That is the first time it has happened!
Concealer, anyone? Help a girl out??????


**************

Before I get to the popsicles, First let me share another 'what the heck was I thinking' moment...

Wednesday I 'filled in' as the volunteer manager for the Baker Market. I had a bazillion other things to do - like, get my meat pre-orders ready, but what the heck. I needed some 'good girl' points. And I froze. I was not dressed appropriately for the winds that picked up and blew over our snow covered mountains and came across us.

And, I witnessed something that bothered me... One of the vendors was selling goat milk (illegally) out the back of her car...The car was parked right were the customers should park and I could see everything!!!!! She would meet customers and take them to her car, and then return and take their money. I told my husband. I have not shared my concerns with the Board or the PAID manager yet. You see, I am their black sheep right now. Besides, one of the milk shoppers was the Board President. Great. What bothers me? The sale is illegal in a Farmers' Market setting. At the farm? Perhaps it's legal. I don't know. However, Just like selling meat, goat milk is regulated by the USDA. I guess if I have to be legal, everyone else should, too...

Another thing that really bothered me? Her business has a Christian Name. And it really bothers me when 'I'm a Christian and I will tell the world' people do bad things. It really really really bothers me.... Anyway.. I am saving this discussion for a board meeting... No doubt another 'Black Sheep speaks out' meeting.

OK.. Thanks for listening... Now onto the 'crazy world of Andi' again! (BTW - this should be slowing down soon! At least I keep telling myself that!)...


Friday, I did a market in Pendleton. Ot was our last one, and to celebrate we did a 'take your family to work day'. Yep. We all went. And froze our patooties off. First we stopped in La Grande and dropped off a bazillion preorders! We were hopping!

Saturday, since I did not freeze enough the night before, I did a repeat performance at the Baker market. And froze again... Really really froze. And there were only 2 vendors. Hello? Why bother? We cut out an hour early... Brrrrrrr!

During this time, Sami was enroute playing volleyball. she had to catch the bus at school at 8:15am...

Then, I met my 'day job' boss. You know. The place I work 4 hours a week? We loaded her car/rig with all our Crop Til' You Drop Night supplies for that night's crop.

So, that night, Sami, me and her BFF Hannah went to the Crop and I worked until Midnight. Score! An 8 hour day! That's 2 weeks worth of a paycheck for me!!!! But, too many people told me I looked really really tired! Oops!

Hannah Spent the night.

We slept in until 7am!!!!

We had Big Dutch Babies for breakfast.. Yumm..

Sunday we picked apples.

We picked plumbs.

And, we cut firewood.

I also made a HUGE pot of Chicken neck stew...

And then...
Sami started throwing up at 5pm. Every 30 minutes or so, until 10:30 pm.
Not fun...

You know the type of throwing up I mean, don't you? The kind that makes bodies shake when they are done? And, they can't breath during it because it's a combo of gag/choke/convulse during the process?
Poor little body.
We had a system. Kleenex, Bucket, wet towel. And repeat trips to the bathroom...


Yes, this all happened last night!
I slept on her floor.
And today, she is so much better!

And on the Popsicle diet. An all fruit one that is staying down! Yeah!!!

And, I have a huge headache...

I might need a popsicle, too...

Thanks for listening!!!

EHWCMD6 The Classroom Color Challenge

The Colors To Use

My Card

Here is my entry for the Color Challenge hosted by Sharon Harnist. I love these colors!!!


Now, if you want to see Sharon's wonderful card, and the RAK that accompanies this challenge, click the link above. Oh my gosh.. Did you see those papers????? Dreamy!!! And how about her snowflakes? And, the card stock!!! I got lost in Ellen's Store earlier... Sharon's challenge got me way sidetracked!!!

Thanks Sharon!!!



Card Recipe:
Patterned Papers: Crate Paper and unknown
Card Stock: Stampin' Up
Button: Autumn Leaves
Ribbons: Stampin Up and Basic Grey
Letter Stickers: Making Memories
White Pen: Uniball Signo
Hemp: Craft Supply

Thanks for looking!

EHWCMD3 - In The Classroom Challenge - Halloween

EHWCMD3 - Halloween

I created this card for one of the WCMD challenges over at Ellen Hutson's The Classroom (see the WCMD blinkie over on the left side?).

The challenge is to create a Halloween card, inspired by Becky Olsen's class which used Sticky Back Canvas. The challenge is open to using any thing you see that she inspired... So, I lifted her card design!

Here is a link to Becky's Class

Did you see her card? Isn't it yummy??? All those goodies are up for grabs in a RAK!!!

My card recipe:
Patterned Papers: Prima
Adhesive Embellishments: Making Memories, Heidi Grace
Stamp: G Studios (black cat)
Gems: Hero Arts, altered with orange Copic Pen
Ribbon
Scallop Punches: Stampin' Up (border, and scallop).


Thanks for looking!
And Thank You Becky for the super design!!!!

The Weekly Recap!

Last Friday's Tea Party

Jake's Version of a Rockin' Tea Party
He invited his Backugan

Sami's BFF's Version
Hannah invited all the littlest Pet Shop Critters

The Hostess in the Background
That girl rocks!
She actually baked brownies!
And heated up Apple Cider.
Tea Cups? The Real McCoy.
** we love Auntie Alice! ****

Friday Night Power Outage
The dudes lighting our indoor backup cooking stove
OH! And the woodstove is crankin'!
Just in time for the power outage...
2 hours worth.

Cub Scouts - Learning About Pollution and Waterways
That's my friend Wendy!
She's my SU demo and I am her Cub Scout Leader Assistant!
We are going to be roommates at my annual Fall Scrappy Retreat!!!
Only 2 more weeks!!!
OH.. 2.5 weeks.


Jake taking his rock collection assignment very seriously!

Snake River View from Tasty Tuesday Drive

Volleyball Star
Braids curtesy of me!

Volleyball Star!

Our Friend, Denise!
Saturday Night Dinner!!!!
Boy we had fun!

My Dinner... Chicken.. (ours)
Jerked Chicken.

Sami - Showing Her Leg of Lamb Dinner (ours) as well as her cheesy look

Jake Showing His Lamb Merguez Sausage Dinner (ours)

Not to be out done, Jake's Cheesy Antics during dinner.. At a Faboulous restaurant.
He actually had walrus tusks most of the time. Two straws were waving back and forth.
Do your kids do this when you go out? You know, in public?

At least he is wearing a button down shirt.
For crying out loud! Where is his mother?
Oh.. She was too busy drinking a glass of fabulous red wine (((ZERBA Vineyards, Walla Walla)) and having a blast with adult conversation!

Dick and I and my friend Denise were totally imerssed in food tasting, wine tasting and talking!

Such a fun night...

My Favorite Dish?
This is a salad, made with beets and other fun stuff.
It was a close #2 to the lamb riblets (ours), but I did not get
a photo of those babies!!!

Chef Merlyn and the Sexton Family
Merlyn owns Foley Station in La Grande, Oregon.
OH.MY.WORD!
This man is a majician...

OK.. As usual It's full steam ahead.

Thought I would share some 'in the life' photos!

Monday: Helped with Jake's Cub Scout Troup Field Trip. They went to Wolf Creek Reservoir to collect things, see pollution and discuss what pollution does to the water.

Tuesday: Tasty Tuesday Run... My first stop is usually a reststop just over the Oregon/Idaho border... I love the view of the Snake River out the back side... Gorgeous! Note: This place is pitch black when I drive on Saturday's!!! I 'blow through' about, oh, 6am!


Wednesday: It's a blur! I know I worked, and did something.. OH yeah! That's it! The school open house!

Thursday: Delivery to Foley Station for Sat. dinner, and some other deliveries. And work.

Friday: Help Vollyball girl with her ensamble. Game Day. Then meat stuff. OH.. And our power went out for 2 hours during dinner making time! What the????? It was actually 'nice'. We ended up all reading books after dinner by candle/lantern ligh

Saturday: Oh you know.. Up at 3. Leave at 4. Boise. Drive home in a snow storm.. Just a little one. Empty car, get ready for awesome dinner 30 miles away! OH.. And Sami had to catch a bus to Joseph, Oregon for her Volleyball games... HELLO!!! Dick had to leave here at 6:30am to get her to the school... AND, they had snow in Joseph!!!

WCMD? Uh, no... I have not had a chance to participate in WCMD! But, my big plan is to get all the challenges done at Ellen Hutson's Classroom! Seven... And I will have to get them tackled after I go do a meat run... I'm leaving in oh, 30 minutes! Um.. make that 15! OOPS.. Now 5!

Gotta run!

Thanks for listening... you know I do this to actually use for my scrapbooks and 'what the heck happened' journals, don't you????

XO