October is for costumes... and pink.

Heidi, a ballerina

Hannah, you're 2 - you get to wear the chicken costume this year.

The children frequently paint themselves with mashed up and watered down chalk

the pink brigade stopped by the house of a neighbor with cancer last week

nice leash

A picture of summer and fall

Sorry, I have lacked in the blogging department lately. Just too busy living I guess. Summer was fun. School started. Here are some pictures.

School started in the beginning of August, but I took these pictures today.

Yesterday we played in the sink with bubbles. The little ones had a blast.

Joe and Hannah like a change of pace for breakfast time location.

I love when the kids all play together. That happened a lot this summer.

This is our honorary dog. He walks by, we feed him treats and pat his fur, then he goes home. We have a good relationship. His "Mommy"made these aprons for the girls.

My birthday cake tasted as good as it looked. YUM.

Aubrey had a piano recital back in August. She did very well.

It was a hot summer... You notice there are no garden pictures here. There is a reason for that.

I made smoothies one day and Heidi got impatient for her sluggish purple smoothie to flow into her mouth - so she tipped it all the way up...

My latest project

Those of us opposed to the term "redneck" for our inventions call it "rural engineering". We are working on a little project in the bathroom; the hole in the wall was too unsightly. Now we have the hole fixed and something I think I could claim as modern art on the wall of my bathroom. Probably not up to code.

April

April was ... eventful. First, our seedlings were growing out of their pots and ready to go to the ground. Definitely our best plants yet. So green and healthy. We fixed the beds up with some horse manure and made them a cozy nutrient rich place to live.

We planted 15 tomato plants in three beds. One of the beds was newly dug to expand our garden empire.

General conference was loved by all. Here is Hannah during one of the prayers during one of the sessions.

Brian and Joe crashed together in a "man nap"

Hannah the princess is sitting on the tailgate of Joe's tow truck. We were pulling her around with the jump rope while she rode and laughed.

Spring weather in Oklahoma...

You've seen our beautiful plants, now see what else mother nature had in store for us in springtime. Sure spring brings a thriving garden and occasionally, some serious wind. Watch what happens when they compete!

Limbs from the neighbor's tree everywhere!

We managed to save our wee little tomatoes with a clever Teepee before the hail hit.

The small divits in the ground? Hail. Fairly big. Think quarters.

This is the carnage from our oak tree. It broke off and fell in a very strong wind (about 90 mph) and we hear the thud just outside our bedroom window. It was a big branch!

The neighbor's tree didn't do so well either.

This neighbor's tree had a hard time too.

The backyard neighbor's fence wasn't feeling to up to it the next day...

Our garbage can got a bit knocked around.

Our greenhouse suffered a large gash and several smaller gashes from the hail but its still standing! YAY!

Lots of people lost pieces of roof.

The neighbor across the street had the misfortune of having far too many old cedar trees near her yard. One took out the corner of her shed and the nextdoor neighbor's fence. Another took out her beautiful glass greenhouse. Another broke in half and hangs suspended above her backyard gate. I'm glad her house was ok.

By the way, the neighbor next door is not too happy about the cedar in her yard which destroyed her fence.

The shed got a little bumped around.

We were just so happy we were all ok. Everything got cleaned up after a few weeks and life has gone on.

Piano Performance by Aubrey Jean

Today Aubrey performed at the local Composer's Workshop meeting playing two original compositions by her piano teacher.

She sounded as beautiful as she looked.

Just pictures and a special treat too!

Annddd.... a little treat for all you Joe lovers out there - This is the young man during a lecturing exercise during family home evening in January. ENJOY!