Varmint.

We've dealt with our share of animals here in our neighborhood...primarily the raccoons that terrorized our corn and the foxes that chase the rabbits that love our grass. This post-Halloween, though, we encountered a new one. The way fat squirrel. Yes. You read that right. We have an incredibly fat squirrel plaguing our doorstep. Literally. This is what I found this morning:

There are two other pumpkins not pictured that have holes in them as well. There are seeds all over my front stoop. It looks like we've been blowing these suckers up (which I'm sure the boys would be in favor of, lol). Yesterday, there was only one hole. And I actually caught the varmint in the act. At first, I thought it was a small raccoon. Honest...it was about the right size. Upon closer inspection, though, it was just a way fat squirrel. Really. 

I didn't manage to get to a camera fast enough to show you him gorging himself but here's a look:

This is not your ordinary squirrel. See him over on the fence? Here's an enlarged view (sorry, not a great pic...you can click on any of these to make them bigger):

This poor fellow has been gorging himself all around the neighborhood it turns out. My neighbor swears she saw him with an entire mini pumpkin in his mouth the other day. I guess maybe he's trying to stock up for winter or something and is making due since the ground is covered in snow and not nuts? Whatever his reasons, apparently our pumpkins are no longer safe... ;)

Inkblots

Just a quick post with an art project the boys and I actually tackled last month. :) Inspired by the book Inkblot, by Margaret Peot (awesome book!), we tried our hand at creating some of our own...carefully spreading a tarp first and working inside cookie sheets (cookie sheets are so very handy for art projects!). The boys enjoyed their ink dropping and folding so much that eventually I had to join in. 

After creating a number of pieces each, we set everything aside to dry and I pressed them under a stack of books for a few days to flatten them out. The following week, we tried out adding colored pencil to the works (the examples in the book are fabulous!). In the end, here's what we came up with:

These are Micah's. The top one is entitled "Chicken vs. Bear" (though the chicken is on the right) and the bottom one is entitled "Evil Wall." (And, yes, he was making his evil laugh the entire time he was coloring that.) Next, Asher's:

 
Asher titled the top one "Monster Face" and the bottom is, of course, "Sebulba's Podracer" (from Star Wars: Episode I). And Noah's:

The top one is entitled "DNA"...the brown one is "Fat Old Toad" (though initially all three boys were calling it "Poodle Poop" LOL (imagine it turned 90 degrees)), and the one on the right is "Rebit Frog." (Yes, Noah refused to use colored pencil, preferring to use just regular pencil.) And, here are mine:

 
I didn't give mine titles. ;)

And that was our first experiment with inkblots. :)  

Eleven.

Did you read that?! Eleven! My Noah is eleven today. Sigh. He's growing up:

(No, we haven't taken our Halloween cobwebs down yet. ;) Yes, they got covered in snow last night and this morning as we got our latest installment of snow.)

As many of you know, Noah's a bit fond of technology (to put it mildly, lol). He's particularly a huge Apple fan right now. He actually was trying to find a shirt like this to buy himself (but couldn't find any kid sizes) because he likes the tribute logo so much. (I custom ordered one on a kid sized shirt for him.) For his birthday today, after archery in the morning and then lunch at Three Margaritas (so he could have a huge burrito), he wanted to go to the Apple store in Boulder. He's been saving up and finally had enough to buy himself an iPod Touch:

The salesperson was so impressed by his Apple loyalty (he was wearing his new shirt of course) and the fact that he'd saved up on his own to buy this and the fact that it was his birthday...that she actually gave him a discount (the "cool kid" discount, she called it). Yup, she obviously knows a lifelong customer when she sees one, lol. 

And now he's sitting in the family room playing with his new toy while his brothers watch over his shoulder jealously and anxiously await his decision to go put together the new lego set they got him. :) Good day.

Now, in keeping with a tradition I sometimes remember, lol...here are eleven things about my Noah:

1. He takes great care with his appearance and was recently overheard giving his brothers a hard time about the fact that they didn't "match."
2. He is, in many ways, the most like both Nathan and me.
3. For instance, he eats all his burgers and sandwiches in a circle like I do. :)
4. He's also geekly taken with science and technology like his father. (I have no idea if geekly is a word but you know what I mean, lol.)
5. He is the most level headed of the three boys, most of the time. He's also often the most reserved/shy of the three.
6. He's incredibly patriotic and brand-loyal.
7. He loves beef. A lot.
8. He prefers to read non-fiction but has recently begun reading a Star Wars book since his brothers seem to be enjoying them so much. He also truly gets a kick out of history.
9. He loves swim team and archery...and PE and playing tag.
10. He also enjoys playing the piano and recorder, especially Christmas or Star Wars music. ;)
11. He is incredibly responsible and attentive to detail. I honestly can't recall a time that he's lost or damaged even a piece of a toy or game.

I could go on, but that's eleven. :) Happy birthday, my Noah!

Halloween.

Though I know many people who are doing gratitude projects this month (listing something they're thankful for each day and that sort of thing), I'm not tackling that personally/officially. But. For today, let me just take a moment to say that I am thankful for the lovely weather we had yesterday...60s and sunny all day, making for a mild and wonderful trick-or-treating night. 

Here's what our house looked like:

After dark, we also added strobe lights and our motion activated skeleton that talks at you (though I think Nathan turned off the talking in relatively short order, as it's annoying, lol). Asher and Noah lobbied hard this year for flying ghosts and talking zombies but the cobwebs are about as far as we can push Micah. ;) (Micah, in case you don't know, is terrified of things that talk at him and most things Halloween, lol.)

And here are my trick-or-treaters (in their costumes before dark for this picture and then impatiently waiting for night)...

Asher's on the left and is Jengo Fett (the "base model" for the clones in Star Wars) and Micah is Boba Fett (Jengo's "son"). Yes, we ran into visibility issues after dark...ended up making the boys carry their helmets between houses. :) And, yes, Noah chose not to trick-or-treat this year. He claims he's getting too old for it and also just, honestly, doesn't really like candy. He stayed home with Nathan and helped hand out candy to the 90 or so trick-or-treaters that came to our door.

I didn't dress up like last year but was still in the Halloween spirit, wearing (among other things) the top and tights you can see in this picture (sorry, didn't take a new picture this year). I added my Jedi cloak from last year for one more layer when I took the boys out and about. (I'm quick to volunteer to take them around on the years like this when coats aren't required, lol...it'll be Nathan's turn next year when it's inevitably snowing, right?)

And now we settle in for the snow storm coming through tonight, and thus ends this year's obligatory Halloween post. ;)