Tricks and Treats around the house

Lots of fall festivities and fun around the house.

We tore down some shelves in our kitchen and the whole family participated in the demo... fun!!


We painted and I finally put up the Ceaser recipe I've had for months




We've had lots of comfort food





The weather has been so nice, I've opened the windows a few times in the morning to air out the house

Halloween mantle... we have a really long mantle that is difficult to decorate. It always looks cluttered and over done when I finish with it. I wish I could be a minilamist, but I just keep adding accessories (junk) and don't know when to stop.




We had a little pumpkin carving fellowship over the weekend. INDOORS!!! I threw down the drop cloths and covered the table in craft paper and we went to town







It was so much fun!

Hoot had a tailgate party at his school for spirit week. He found the smashing booth and went to town


Libbie wanted to bring home a new puppy. She was so cute. I could have brought her home, but Lambert would have killed me!

The girl has a mean arm and winds up like a major league pitcher


She liked put put too


If there is a face painting booth to be found... Hoot will find it


The packaged arrived today and the kids had a ball... they know... it's gonna be good



Thank you Granna!!







AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST>>> Hoot thinks these plastic rubber bugs are sooo much fun. he leaves them all around the house to scare his mother and sister. I think this little fellow is by far the creepiest trick we have around the house. Happy Halloween.. enjoy your week.

Tiny Feet

Libbie has the sweetest little feet ever... Well... Hoots are still pretty sweet too. When we met her in China I could not believe how tiny her feet were. I have shoes that probably won't fit her until she's 18! Her little foot is in a size 5 with her braces. If she were able to walk without braces she would only be in a size 3-4 at best. One of the common conditions of arthrogryposis is tiny feet. I love to rub her legs and feet after a bath and she enjoys it too. She is very ticklished and her feet are very sensitive, but she loves her feet rubbed. We've been on the surgery waiting list with Shriners since June. We are so thankful to the Shriners for taking such great care of our family. The Shriners are a wonderful organization that truly gives back to the community in a BIG BIG financial way. We have been blown away by what we have learned about the Shriners. I was hoping Libbie wouldn't undergo her first surgery until after her birthday and her first Christmas home... BUT... we received the letter last week that states Libbie is scheduled for surgery in late November. We visited Shriners yesterday and learned all about the upcoming surgeries... not fun. She will have surgery on her left foot first because it's the more affected foot. Libbie will have external pins that will be tightened after 6 weeks when her cast comes off. At that time they will put the left foot in a boot, mold her foot for a new AFO and perform the surgery on her right foot!! For 12 weeks she can not bear weight on her feet. This is going to be tough on our busy bee. I am so thankful that the pins will be under the casts so we won't have to worry with bumping them. Thank you Good Lord. The goal of the surgeries is not so that she can wear point shoes for ballet... but that her foot will fit in normal shoes with AFO's. Our doctor also told us that she will be able to walk barefoot for a couple hours a day while at home. This is awesome news, because at this point she can't walk at all without the AFO's. I know the procedure is going to be difficult, but I think about the freedom she's going to have once it's all over and that brings me comfort.

The Grizwalds

We are officially the Grizwald Family. Last Friday we decided we would take the family to Dewberry Farms out past Katy. I charged the battery to the camera, dressed up the kiddos, packed the little red wagon,and we made our way to the pumpkin patch. We were ready for some fun on the farm and we were in hot pursuit of pumpkins!! Dewberry Farms has become an annual family outing. However, we usually go on Sunday afternoon. On our one hour (or so) voyage Libbie bit Hoot's finger (almost off). Why was his finger in her mouth? one might ask... good question. They can't keep their hands to themselves while buckled in their car seats... It's a constant nagging game and this time Hoot lost... we pulled over (in a not so great part of town)to take a look at his throbbing purple finger, and have a serious discussion with the chomping doll. I flashed to the scene from National Lampoons Vacation when the Grizwald family pulled over in the ghetto and Clark said, "Rollem up!"at the sound of gun fire. It was only a matter of time before we heard gun shots, but we promptly got back on the road to avoid any drama. Once we got on the farm to market road (where there are no gas stations or fast food restaurants) Hoot demanded that we stop before he tee tee'd in his pants... we were in Nowheresville... Lambert pulled over and Hoot proceeded to tee tee on the side of the road while Lambert took photos from the drivers seat... NICE!!! Finally we were back on the road and almost to our destination. As we approached the farm, I noticed there weren't miles and miles of cars in line. How great is this gonna be I thought... beautiful weather, no lines, great photos... as we got closer I realized the parking lot appeared empty... It was almost 5:0PM... "They must open at 5" Lambert said out loud... we pulled up to the LOCKED gate and just stared at the empty park... I flashed back to NLV again... The Grizlwalds finally made it to Wally World and the park was closed... I wanted to pull a Clark and cut the lock on the gate and go right in. I called the farm and a very nice lady informed me... the park closed at 3:00PM and would open again Saturday morning! ARE YOU KIDDING ME???!?!?! We sat there for a long time dazed and confused. Hoot was yelling from the backseat... "closed... are you sure?..this is the worst day ever. what are we going to do now? can we come back? I could see the rage in Lambert's eyes... we sat very still and silent. He is a planner. We rarely do things spur of the moment. He prepares and thinks things through. He almost always has a plan B... I wanted to say, "what are we going to do now Sparky?" but I wasn't sure he wouldn't kick me out of the truck... There was no plan B.. we had been in the truck for almost 2 hours at this point. The kids were on each others nerves and on our nerves. The only thing that was missing was the dead grandmother strapped to the roof of our truck. We got back on the road and headed towards Houston. Lambert recovered and truly made the best of a bad situation. We stopped at Houston's BEST Pizza place and then found a local pumpkin patch. Happy weekend from the Grizwalds!



Here we go with the awkward family smiles...


This is the only decent photo I got and it's blurry



Libbie pulled at her pigtail while we were eating and broke the band... she also managed to get oil in her hair so it was really looking cute once it was time for photos... I don't know what she's doing, but this was her pose for the evening. I had to work with it.




He physically can't make a normal smile upon request... it's not in him





The pumkins were beautiful. it was so hard to choose.. We had 10 minutes as they were closing!!


These were the tools I purchased to carve our pumkins.


Lambert came home with this...


Hoot begged for ear protection...SAFETY FIRST :)


Then he put on his ninja head gear..


We were looking good when we decided to carve our pumkins.. Libbie passed on the pumkin guts... she made a princess instead.

We're having a pumkin carving party with friends tomorrow so we'll have more pumkins to display.

One Word Wednesday

BETTER!!!!!

Buckle Your Seatbelts

I've been away far too long. Much randomness to post! Getting ready for Halloween. Hoot wants to throw a neighborhood party...

I do not....


We'll buy more pumkins when we visit the punkin patach this Friday!!! Love love love pumkins of all sizes shapes and colors! I did pot the mums in the planter...


Dad and Karate Kid hanging the spiders!


hoots first time on the big ladder


They're up... were ready


Lights on!


We've been practicing with our costumes... Hoot is set on jumping from his tree house... which is way back on the side yard) to scare neighborhood children (which we don't usually have ANY treaters) when they come to the door. We usually go to a church fall fest or to another neighborhood to trick or treat. Our neighborhood is old and doesn't get a lot of traffic. Never the less Hoot is ready to scare some unsuspecting kiddos! PS... he's not wearing eye liner... I just got carried away in photo shop and haven't gone back to edit... hilarious...




Hoot has always loved having his face painted!!

The Doll is getting the hang of it...

Can't beleive she let me carry her when daddy was present... this doesn't happen often...



She still loves her daddy!
The following are the events that happen EVERYTIME I ask my children to smile for the camera... she is as bad as Hoot




He's always made this weird creepy smile when asked to pose... not good

This is her response to "SMILE!!!"

she looks away from the camera as well


I have better luck with the backside.. I love this little dress

We took Libbie to have her ears peirced last weekend... she has no idea what's about to happen...

doesn't she look relaxed??? They were soo good.

My AMAZINGLY WISE friend KIM (a peanut) told me to have a lollipop on standby and as soon as they pulled the trigger to put it in her mouth.. look what happens next...


It's almost in her mouth.... hang on

All done!! We wiped away two aligator tears and she was over it... my mom couldn't watch and kept waiting to hear her scream.. she never made a sound... the tears came, the lollipop was inserted and the tear ceased... Kim...you are awesome. I acutally purchased a bag of charms lollipops at Wallgreens... they were cheaper than buying two individuals... After Libbie had her ears pierced a sea of kids lined up to get theirs done. I must have passed out 6 lollipops to ill prepared parents...

We haven't had any problems with her ears.. she's never tugged at them or complained. They are precious!
I told you we've been practicing with costumes... Our home is villian proof with these two heros hanging around...



They like to fight each other too... notice her sword...


thats all for now folks... I had to catch up and now I'm heading to bed!

Computer Crashed AGAIN!!!

I've tried posting this a couple times. I have no photos to post :( because our computer is down again. I started this post a couple days ago.

It's feeling like fall today in Houston. I can't pull the sweaters out, but I didn't break a sweat drinking my coffee on the front porch today. The fall decorations are out, the halloween costumes are purchased, and we are ready for fall! We made a trip to Dallas over the weekend and it was too cold for Hoot to swim... sign that summer is officially OVER! I can't wait to share the treasure I found while shopping in Dallas. The little shop I found is called The Red Shed.. they have a blog too http://www.redshedantiques.blogspot.com/ We nosed around there garden as the shop was closed... I stumbled upon the sweetest two seater swing... I called Monday when I got back home and purchased it over the phone. they are going to hold it for me until I can pick it up...(story of my life) I can't wait to get it home. My sister and I took a long drive around the lake and I longed for a lake house. I sooooo want to be on the water some day... for now I can dream.

We've had virus after virus with this PC and can't seem to keep it running for more than a month or so... may be time to trade in.

Hope you have a blessed weekend. I have many photos to post when I get my old PC back!