Raking Leaves

SO much to report I last spoke (wrote). When I awoke on Friday I did what I usually do, sit down at the computer and check my email and then take a look at the weather. The rain was coming and I was so darn sick of my kids turning on the tv and turning into glazed donuts while sitting in front of it that I quickly bundled them up and scooted them outside for a morning of

fall fun. There has been a giant stack of branches from the summer wind storms piling up next to the strawberry patch waiting to be burned. Ok, so it has been sitting there for no less than 4 months but for some reason I felt it just HAD to be burned today. So we lit it up. And Hadley grabbed the bag of marshmallows for our mid morning fire. My mom showed up soon after the flames started to tame down and we collected more branches for the fire. My mom is, in addition to being a cat hoarder, a fire maniac. I swear it is the primary reason she and my dad bought mountain property and set up a house there so that she and her neighbor could cut down and burn things. She speaks of it like a job. "Well, we gotta get up there early so we can get alot of that stuff burned that we drug out last weekend." So you should have seen her get to work on my fire when she drove up. I had been picking up sticks one by one and depositing them on the fire but she immediately suggested I get my big rubbermaid cart and fill it up so she could really give the fire some fuel. So while Techno Sue burned I raked up a big pile of leaves for the girls to jump in.

It didn't take too long of the screams and laughs for the goats to hear all the fun and they came running up from the horse pens. Typically I leave them out during the day so they can graze on everything the farm has to offer naturally. I didn't have enough foresight to realize locked up goats require expensive horse hay. And because of our like/hate relationship that is hard for me to swallow. So imagine my delight when they ran up and started munching on the leaves. Of course, this sent Hadley nearly over the edge that they were eating "all" the leaves and she wasn't going to have any too jump in. However, despite the goats eating "all" the leaves we still managed to get some fall leaf photos.

We got a lot of burning done before the rain arrived but there was still time for Grandma Betty to give the girls a ride in the wagon.

And as if this wasn't enough fun for one day?? Halloween dress up was still to come! Doug wanted to the girls to come into the clinic so he could see them before we headed down town. As soon as Kate awoke from her nap we started preparing the girls for the big event. I curled all of Hadley's beautiful golden hair and applied glittery make up. Then we slipped on her sweet little dress. She looked adorable. And next for Kate. Dear sweet opinionated Kate. How could I have been so dumb as to think she would actually wear something that wasn't a dress for Halloween? I purchased what I thought to be a darling little outfit on ebay for WAY too much money. My friend had a brilliant idea. Offer her two costumes, one she surely will hate (a scary bird) and then the butterfly costume. It worked like a charm....UNTIL I actually slipped it on her. Believe me, you have seldom seen a meltdown like the one she offered up. It was SO bad I didn't even get to see the entire outfit on her cute little bod. I got the suit on and then the wings and then she started really flailing and I knew we were in deep do-do. Thankfully grandma Betty came to the rescue. In one of her shopping adventures she had purchased a dress not unlike Hadley's only in pink and that is what Kate became for Halloween. So you wanna know the next problem?? HADLEY wanted a pink dress since Kate had one. Ugh. Will I ever win?

So after a trip to Doug's office and then a round of trick or treating down town we headed over to Auntie Karen's to stop in and say hi before we hit her neighborhood. Although Kate was very good at staying close to us when we were downtown the wild coyote pup surfaced at the residential trick or treating. She darted in and out of the road, running and laughing in sheer delight that we were all pulling out our hair trying to manage her. She exhausted me and Betty and Hadley screamed like she had a knife in her back every time Kate headed for the road. It was less than relaxing and we made a short cut back to our point of origin but before arriving we hooked up with our friends Ashleigh and Tara and then Christa and the boys. Unfortunately, shortly after they arrived the rain started coming down and the girls got cold and wanted to call it quits. I have to tell you my favorite Halloween image, towards the end of our rounds Kate collected her goods (candy) from the home owner and then just plopped down on their steps next to the woman and started eating her candy. She was done and it was time to start reaping the joys of her harvest and she wasn't leaving for anything. lol.

And as Hadley, Kate and I drifted off to sleep Hadley said "Good bye October, see ya next October!" It's been a good one.