Trick or Treat!

Halloween is a holiday that I really don't care for. But the kids love it, so I  let them dress up and trick or treat, watch Halloween movies, and do crafts. Their costumes are usually a last minute thing that I find at  Goodwill or some other second hand store. I'm all about cheap! They get whatever I can find. But this year they  each had some money to spend and they wanted new costumes. We went to Wal-Mart  at the end of September when all the Halloween stuff came out and found some really fun outfits for them to wear. Both of the girls love the Monster High character and lucky for us they had plenty to choose from. Elizabeth chose to be Clawdine Wolf and Jocleyn chose to be Abby Abominable.  Ethen wanted to be everything he saw. We finally narrowed it down to 3: Buzz Light year, Woody, or Scooby Doo. He ended up with Woody. He loves his costume and wanted to wear it all the time. I let him a few times  too many and ended up having to sew  up a several holes in the seems here and there and  fix a  run in the back too. We weren't sure his costume would last till Halloween. He was wearing it out. Even the girls wore theirs a few times  as dress up. So I guess they were worth the cost since they are getting to wear them more than just on Halloween.

Our first trick or treating was 2 weeks before Halloween at our ward  Trunk or Treat.party. We went to a state park for the activity. I really like the idea of doing it during the day. The kids could eat, play, and trick or treat and not freeze  or worry about being out in the dark. It was a great activity and they got lots of candy.

Halloween was scheduled on Thursday the 30th from 6-7:30 pm  We joined a family from our ward, the Sessions, and went to a neighborhood that was packed with lots of kids and families. We all had a great time. And the hour and half was just long enough to go around a few blocks before it got dark and too cold. This year the weather was pretty good and the temperatures in the high 50's.  We couldn't have asked for better conditions. This neighborhood was very generous and gave lots of good candy. And several non candy like chips, restaurant coupons, balloons, etc.

On Halloween night, the college in town was doing Halloween event for families. You had to donate food or clothing to get into the event and everything was free to do. It was held in their gym. The gym floor held several bounce houses and lots of carnival like games.  The upper level was lined with dozens of business pouring out candy, coupons, and freebie items to entice  new customers to their business.   We spent about an hour down on the floor before heading up to the  trick or treating.  The kids had a lot of fun and we will for sure attend the event again next year.  

With all the candy from the three nights of trick or treating, we were able to refill our 40 lbs bucket  of food storage candy. The kids haven't had much of it and they will only get  2 or 3 pieces a week. Now I just have to keep myself from dipping into it while they are at school.

Clawdine Wolf

Abby Abominable 

Woody

Halloween crafts and goodies

I had the kids pick out some Halloween crafts for them to do a few nights before Halloween. Things to keep us busy during the Holiday season.   They each picked out a paper mache  shape to paint. They did a wonderful job. Elizabeth  did a witch with a cauldron. Joce choose a cat and Ethen wanted the  skull and cross bones. I picked out an owl and decided to cover it with scrap paper instead of painting. That same day they revived a Halloween care package in the mail from their Nana and papa with goodies and trinkets.  Thank you Nana and Papa, you always make our holidays so much fun!

|Some of the other crafts were pomp pomp spiders and Halloween character puppets. We watched several Halloween movies on Netflix too: Peanuts: "The Great Pumpkin", "Spooky Buddies",  and "Girls vs Monster",  All in preparation for the big night of Trick or Treating.

Pumpkin Carving

We were a little late getting pumpkins carved this year. We went to Walmart and let the kids each pick out a pumpkin, and one for  Scott and I.  They picked some pretty big ones too. They wanted even larger, but my rule was if they couldn't carry it, it was too big.

We spent one evening finding the designs that they wanted carved on the pumpkin. (Depending on what I thought I could carve) Elizabeth  chose Olaf from "Frozen", Jocleyn picked an owl, and Ethen wanted Curious George.  He loved watching Curious George Halloween Boo Fest on Netflix so he had to have him. I think we watched that movie at least twice a day for 2 weeks.

The next day we printed the temp lets, I then had the kids  tape them to their pumpkins and poke holes on all the outlines. That took a good deal of time. The next day I carved them. It was a lot of work, and had I had the right tools to actually carve with it may not have taken me so long to  get them done.  I did carve one for Scott, but I didn't get a picture of it. We wanted the Star of life.. I turned out really cool. 

Our pumpkins sat inside the house for the next couple of days. My battery candles were out in the garage and I never  got  around to getting them out.   So sad to have never seen them glowing out on the porch. They would have looked really cool.  There's always next year right?

Jocelyn's Birthday party

 Jocelyn chose  "The Littlest Pet Shop" as her theme for her birthday party this year. And this was the hardest theme to plan for. I was not able to find very many ideas or products bases on this theme. I really had to make up my own or use puppy and kitty themed ideas to  get games and decor. 

We invited 10 girls to her party and we had 6 come. It was a good number to have over.

We were planning on doing the party inside, but it turned out to be such a nice day we ended up taking some of the activities outside.

The party consisted of playing a few games, eating lunch ( while watching an episode of little pet shop), and doing some crafts.

Crafts: decorated animal bracelets, painted animal ceramics, little pet shop coloring pages

Games: Pin the hat on Zoe,  Fishing games, Puppy bean bag toss, pet adoption

Each child was able to bring home a small plush animal that they adopted, a small little pet shop toy from fishing, a painted ceramic, and a doggy bag with treats. Jocelyn recieved many little pet shop toys to add to her collection of toys, some coloring books, books, and money. It turned out to be a great party.

 Here is our dining room and kitchen decorated for lunch

We played several games out on the patio

 And they did crafts out in the grass by the patio

At the end of the party we had cupcakes  while she opened her gifts.

Happy birthday Joce. Your growing up way to fast. Love you

Hocking Hills State Park

A few weeks after moving, we had the privileged of  having some friends from Erie come and visit us for a day.The Augustynak Family.  My friend, JoBeth, found a state park on line that was about 30 minutes from our house. We planned to go hiking and have lunch at the state park for the day. The day was grey and a little drizzly, but it made for nice cool hiking weather.  It was a great adventure. There are six hikes that one can take around the park to see beautiful landscape and area history.  We began our hike on one of the most popular  hikes called, Old Mans's Cave. It was really fun. Lots of waterfalls and lots of cliffs and climbing stairs.

 Old Mans Cave

 Here's Elizaabeth, Allysa, and JoBeth coming down into the cave

 Can you say "Stair Master!" So many stairs up the cliffs.

 One of the waterfalls. Not much water right here, but people say that it's really impressive when they get a good rain.

 Scott and Ethen standing on the bridge over some waterfalls.

 Our second hike was to cedar falls. This was a very quick hike, only about 1 mile.

We took our lunch break between our hikes. We probably walked ago  2 or 3 miles that day. 

We would love to come back again and do some of the other hikes. And some of the locals encourage us to even go back in the winter time to see the water falls all iced over.  It is such a beautiful area. I am really sad that we did not find this park when we my parents were here. They would have loved it. So the next time  anyone comes to visit, this a must do if you like outdoors and hiking.

Country Living Accents

I have posted these pictures on Facebook so some of you may have seen these before. 

Each day that we have lived in this old farm house, I have begun to find some of it's hidden treasures. Little details that are not obvious and grandeur.  I pass by them almost un-noticed. But they have called my attention and I have found some very wonderful accents that make this home the vintage farmhouse that it is. These things were common  in it's era, but are unique to our modern living.  

 There are many more I have yet to photograph. I am in no way a photographer.  Usually my pictures are crap. But I have found that the camera on my iPad takes some pretty good pictures. And I am  very happy with the way these came out.  

A "Domestic"  Treadle sewing machine. This machine is beautiful and timeless. The wooden desk top and  hand painted  design is timeworn, eluding to it's many hours of  utility and handling. 

Sewing machine drawers. This machine only has four of the six drawers. One missing on each side. What I love about the draws is the rich dark wood and the ornate brass handles. These stand out against the black ironwork in which it is incased.

 In the upstairs bedroom you will find a this "Corban USA" skeleton key lock with a white porcelain handle. The lock is thick and cold looking. I love the stark white porcelain handle against the black lock. It's not very apparent in this photo, but  you can peer through the key hole and see into the other room.  

This door some how reminds me of the Liberty jail in Illinois, where Joseph Smith and others where held before his martyrdom. 

On the old barn down our lane, you can find weather worn metals and woods that have stood steadfast through the years. There is nothing special about the barn itself, but it's rustic colors stand out against the faded and deteriorated boards.

  I love the metal hinge and the texture of the wood.

This skeleton keyhole and doorknob  is on the outdoor kitchen building. A little run down block building with and old antique stove inside. Which I would love to go into and photograph, but way to gross and dirty to enter. What I love about this pictures is the old peeling paint in contrast to the drastic rustic color of the metal. It's been very weather worn and neglected.

In our living room, a small door leads to the space under the stairs. It has rich dark wood with wonderful wood grains running throughout the planks. I love the ornate latch and knob. 

Bales of hay are every where. The kids and I watched a farmer cut down the field of grasses and wild flowers. It sat for a week or so to dry out. The clippings where then gathered into rows for a large tractor to collect  the hay in large one ton round bales. These swirls of hay created a very interesting pattern. Layers and layers of grainy wisps.

Cast iron hanging utensils. These were found out in the old barn down the lane.  They are dense and heavy. They look so primitive, yet stylishly decorative.

Farm House in Chillicothe Ohio

The Brower's Farm House

 When we found out Scott was able to begin his 3rd and 4th year clinical rotations at a new facility in Chillicothe Ohio, we were so excited.  But this information came quite late in the semester, which meant we only had about 12 weeks to pack up our house and move. Scott was so busy studying for his first Broad exam, we were unable to take any time to travel down and find housing for our family.  Our only two methods for finding housing was to contact members in the new ward and looking on Craigslist (It was not very promising.) You never  know what you might get. But the Lord was watching out for us and guiding us to who we needed to meet to find a place for us to come to. The Bishop put us in contact with his first Counselor, Doug Brower, who happen to have  a farm house that needed to be rented. The idea was to move into this farm house to at least get us into the area after which we could start to look for a home. We have been hard pressed to find anything that will work for us. It's either too small, too much, or too far away.  

As we have started to settle into this home, we have found that we are really enjoying the place. It was not ideal,only having one bathroom, no dish washer, no close neighbor for the kids to play with, and far from town. But these few inconveniences have melted away and don't seem to be so important. The drive into town is beautiful, and doesn't seem so long now. The Borwer's live down the road and we take the kids over for play dates once a week. Doing dishes by hand has been almost relaxing; a time I can ponder and think to myself. The bathroom issue hasn't been too bad, yet. Still wish there were two.

The house has so much room,  we are not on top of each other,  and tons of playing space outside for the kids. And of course the kids are so excited to have two black and white cats that kind of came with the house. This place has grown on all of us and we think we would like to stay for a year or two. 

The Farm house was build in 1869 and sets on about 35 acres of land.  The house has 3 large bedrooms, two upstairs and one down stairs, a large kitchen and dining room area. A mud room with a washer and dryer. There is a fire place  in the living room. The front porch is a separate room that we are not quite sure to to do with since we do not use the front door. It's barred closed. There is a spare room that is open to the kitchen, living room, and bathroom.  This is where  Ethen sleeps so that he is down stairs near us.  There are two large barn down the lane towards the front road.  Behind the house is a huge two car garage. To the left of the house is a large hill with a place for camping. A picnic table and a large fire pit. It's a wonderful view from the top of the hill. 

The house needs to  be washed, the shutters repainted, some holes in the siding to be filled, and weeding. 

I took a pictures of Jocelyn standing outside the front of the house.  Lots of weeds that need to be pulled on the side patio. Then the next picture is the back of the house where the kitchen and mud room is. The third picture is the view down the land to the front road, where the two barns are.

The really old barn is a great back drop for pictures, so we took a few while my mom and dad where with us.   They turned out great, but I  hope to get some more to update our family pictures. 

For now we are excited to live in the Brower's Farm house.  Don't think we can get any closer to living down on the farm and country living. (Unless we end up getting some chickens and cows! O'my)

Goodbye Lake Erie

Thought I would get some pictures of the kids down on the lake front before we moved. I have loved living near the lake and will miss it dearly. There are two light houses here. One is on the outer peninsula and this one is in the bay.  

 Ethen's new found talent. He can cross his eyes.

 Being silly on the Dock

 The Coast Guard  patrolling the harbor.

Dad & Me

Here's to my wonderful dad! With all the moving, unpacking,  and site seeing that we did while me parents where with us, I forgot to do a Father's Day celebration while he was here.  He did get his card the few weeks earlier, but I was really wanting to do something when they were with us. Even though we didn't get an official celebration in, my dad knows that I love him! And I LOVE these pictures of the two of us! I don't have many of just me and him since I have grown older. So these are pretty special for me to have. 

I really miss being close to my parents and being able to call him when we need something. He can fix, mend, repair, build, or rig just about anything we  needed.   He has always been so thoughtful in giving/sacrificing time, money,  and talent to helping others. The best example of serving others  as I was growing up.  With each move we have had, we couldn't have done it without my dad's help, or my mom either.  He is there for us even  though we are cross the country at the present time.

Love my dad and proud to be his daughter!  Your Awesome.   Miss you all the time.  XOXO

Father's Day

This year for Father's Day, I decided to go all out for Scott and really try to make it a special day for him. He has been working so hard and has been so stressed out from  all the study he deserved a day fill with things that he would enjoy. We did a BBQ theme Father's Day. The kids made handmade cards.  I bought him a small BBQ, because I know he misses  being able to cook outside. I got together a basket full of BBQ items like: hot dogs, seasonings & sauces,  BBQ flavored snack foods, and Cooking magazines. I Even found these really awesome BBQ decorated cupcakes on pintrest to make. They turned out really awesome. Scott was very impressed with the cupcakes.  He doesn't impress easily either, so  I deserve a pat on the back  for sure.  It was a very nice day and it was a good break for Scott to spend some time with us to celebrate him. We love you Scott!!