Vivian LOVES Elmo!! She hears the theme from Elmo's World no matter where she is in the house.

I mentioned we got George back this weekend. The family did a wonderful job training him. George was a pretty calm horse for being green and the training helped his demeanor even more. Eric and I spent some time with him on Sunday.
Eric rode first and George was behaving....well enough. At one point, the saddle began slipping and Eric dumped off the side. This freaked George a little - ok, a lot. The horse takes off running. He misses the turn headed back to the barn and must have contemplated jumping the fence, but what ensued was a slider into home base-however not very graceful. He breaks the fence (which is an electric rope, basically), is up on his feet and at a dead sprint for the field. Eric is still lying on the ground, but moving. I call out to him to see if he's ok and he, well, kinda answers me. Hey, he was moving, ok!! I go after the horse, who has stopped just across the pond. I approach him as he waits for me. At the same time, the kids +2 are running out of the house, yelling. I'm not paying much attention to them, only to yell back."Shhhhh Don't spook the horse!" To which they reply....."Dylan cut his hand and is bleeding!!" Once I get George by the bridle, I turn to see that Eric is up and walking and the bleeding wound from friend, Dylan's, hand is only a flesh wound.







My turn out was a little less dramatic.

A family from the cowboy mounted shooting circuit has been training George for the past couple months. On Friday, Eric and the kids traveled to their house in North Central Ohio to retrieve George and take in some pheasant hunting. You read right.

I was concerned that I made the choice not to go....the baby, her naps, the 2 hour drive, the weather, etc. I figured the kids would get cold/bored and sit in the house all day. Soooo not the case. They were out there hunting and loving every minute of it.


Ally. She ain't no girlie-girl!!

The group.

Um, yeah. I can't tell you if I'm proud or mortified.

Ally designated herself the official pheasant carrier. Eric said she cradled one and while petting it said, "It just looks so lifeless." I asked her later what she meant by that. I kind of expected a philosophical answer like she had just seen it flying and now it was still. She said, "Well it's head just kept flopping around all over." She's a maniac.

They came home from this trip with souvenir pheasant feet and blood all over their clothes. Their instructions were to.. ..go ahead and tell Mom how much fun you had...in VERY LITTLE DETAIL. Thank God.

*Oh, and about 20 yards from their destination, the wheel fell off the trailer!! They were able to scrounge enough parts to get it back on for the trip home. The rolling turd came through, I guess. I have never felt more hillbilly in all my life.

Thanksgiving at the Schreibers. Eric has taken over turkey duty for the past few years. He found a recipe on the Internet called "kickass turkey". We've been making it ever since. YUM!
*Notice Boo - you can't actually see the drool on his chops, but it's there.

The boys helped me out. Jay was in charge of the mandolin (I KNOW!! At least it's not a sledgehammer) Max was in charge of grating cheese for the turnip gratin.(recipe from pioneer woman's website). Oddly enough, Max grated his finger and Jay came out of mandolin slicing unscathed.

Even Gracie and Boo enjoyed the holiday!

I can't even tell you why Max fell asleep on the stairs. All I know is that he hasn't done this in about 9 years. Kinda sweet.

Ahhh.....ok, I feel better, now. Sorry about that bah humbug stuff. It happens every year. Thankfully I'm able to get myself out of it, thanks to the dedication of my wonderful and generous friend, Kim. She "made" me take steps to enjoy Christmas a couple years ago. Baking cookies, "Elf", candy cane cocoa, watching the kids enjoy the season, these are the things Christmas is all about anyway.

Before we get wrapped up in the Christmas holiday, lest we not forget Thanksgiving. OF course I am thankful for my family, friends, health, country, etc. Here are a few more obscure things I am thankful for:

1. Ellen Degeneres (because she makes me laugh every day)

2. The smell of horses ( not the shit, but their, ya know, horsey smell)

3. The brief time I had in my life when I could stand in line at the grocery store and NOT rock back and forth. Noticed I had really just stopped doing that before having Viv.

4. Ponytail holders

5. Grapes. Ok, what the hell, fermented grapes. Hee Hee Hee.

6. Odor eliminator garbage bags

7. Peroxide and vinegar (although I haven't tried them together). Who KNEW you could clean so many things with them!

8. That reminds me...occasionally an actual HELPFUL email comes my way. So, the Internet would be another thing I'm grateful for.

9. Elmo. 'Nuff said, right?

10. Coffee, chocolate and Johnny Depp

I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving. Eat, drink, and be merry. I know I will!!! :)

*Sigh*

It's a struggle every year. I want to be festive. I really do.

Why am I such a bah humbug?!?!

Whoever said money won't buy you happiness, never had 3+ kids with Christmas lists. One of those kids had his list made out long before Halloween. They've never had to explain why even Santa can't bring you the $200 item on your list, which, by the way, includes 12 other items. My dear hubby's solution seems obvious, right? "Well, we'll just have to come up with 3 or 4 items and they'll have to be happy with that." Uh....ok. So, since Santa brings 3 gifts each year, that leaves.....one, maybe two presents to open Christmas Eve???!!! Yeah, it's more obvious he's never had to do the Christmas shopping, organizing, hiding, or budgeting. ARGH! Yes, we will cut back even more this year, blah, blah, blah. I'm even considering reaping the savings on Black Friday. EEK!! I'm not quite that desperate ...yet.

Oh! And want to know what's even MORE fun this year?! Christmas shopping with an 8 month old baby with a rigid nap schedule! ............(yay.)

Inner scrooge, you persistent bastard, one of these Christmases you WILL go down! I WILL be filled with joy, dammit!!!

And so it starts.................crawling...walking...the urge to move. Actually, Viv has little interest in crawling. She does, however, want to walk!! She's been trying to pull herself up lately. She usually is crawling up ME as I sit on the floor with her. She has gotten herself to her knees, mostly. Today, she got herself all the way up on her feet via the couch.


"NOW what do I do?!?!" The reason she is crying is because the only way down is to, basically, fall. OR, she can wait for mommy to come pick her up. It's a shame mommy is too busy taking a picture. WAH!!!!!!!!........

Viv loves being outside. (Especially with Max)

Apparently, she loves grass, too!! :)

Too tired to even lay down.......:)

Ohio State can suck it.

I had high hopes. OSU fans (in general) are obnoxious, so I usually route for whoever is playing against OSU. Don't get me wrong, I happen to love some OSU fans - some great friends and wonderful acquaintances. However, we've lived in many big ten states and one SEC state. We have never strayed from our Iowa roots. We have not become gophers, bulldogs, badgers, or buckeyes. I had high hopes for Iowa. They had a rookie, freshman quarterback and they came to play. They gave it a great shot.

GO HAWKEYES!!!!!!!

Vivi loves the dogs. Boo likes to lick food off her face and Gracie, well, tolerates the baby. This is as close as Gracie likes to get before she gets up and walks away. Viv's idea of affection is to grab and pull, so I don't blame her :)

Ally

Jay

Max

Our neighbor is an artist and told us about the local art studio's November show. It's called "Through the Eyes of A Child". I told the kids to draw/create something for it. I didn't have to twist their arm :)


Last night was the reception, so we went to see the kids' artwork displayed!!

So, while the grown-ups were partying, Viv was "lights out". Actually, since I had been awake since 4:30 AM, I was lights out, too. I laid on the couch and watched "Music and Lyrics", while Viv slept. The partying was done by JON, while KATE stayed with the kids. Hmmmm...sound familiar????

Mark was "Michael". You can't see his wings in this picture, but it was a great costume.

Some memorable costumes from Wright's Halloween Party:


LOVE it!

Rock of Love

I.... don't even...know, but it was hilarious.

Dawn on Uno

We're Jon & Kate plus 1/2 of 8.

Another Halloween down.

I think we're making some slight changes in the Halloween costume department. The kids just had to have the jester costume, the Ashoka costume, the alien costume.....then decide they no longer like said costumes and we end up rifling through our stockpile to find some kick-ass costumes WE ALREADY HAD! Anyway, Max started as a jester and ended up a 60's greaser. Al started as Ashoka (Star Wars) and ended up a witch. Jay started as an alien and ended up a military guy. It's all good.


Viv is wearing the costume my sis gave me. Both her girls wore it and it will be interesting to compare photos.

Pretty cool witch.

I WISH this was our mustang!

Oh yeah, masks are outlawed. You can't see and they get all sweaty......