Halloween

We carved our pumpkins this week. This is the finished product in order, Dustin's, Eddie's, Kaila's, and Kelli's pumpkin.











Ethel was Eds little pumpkin! She loves to eat the seeds and pieces of pumpkin that fall on the floor.






Kaila's pumpkin pi! (its a math thing)










Kelli and her batty pumpkin.
















Eddie and his coyote pumpkin!




And Dustin and his traditional pumpkin!

Hunting Weekend

Eddie and Ed got home this afternoon from their first hunting weekend. Unfortunately all they saw was a squirrel and a rabbit. This is Eddie ready for his first day of hunting. He was so excited about going. He said he had a good time. Maybe new time he will get something.

4 Wheeler and Hunting Weekend

We bought a used 4 wheeler to use at the hunting camp. Of course we all had to take turns riding/driving it. It is really easy to drive and two people (even 2 adults can ride on it).





Kaila got her ride after she got home from St. Louis.












Eddie liked to drive it, but almost dumped Ed off the back end.





This weekend, Ed and Eddie headed to the hunting camp to hunt for the first time this year. Eddie was so excited about it. That was all he talked about. I sure hope he gets something or at least sees something. The other guys at the camp have got 3 deer and 2 or 3 wild boar. There have been sightings of bear and turkey too.
I will post after this weekend if there is anything to report!

St. Louis Trip

Kaila and I went to St. Louis this past weekend with the high school band for a Bands of America competition. (as usual, the pictures of out of order!)


This is the Gateway Arch with the Old Cathedral in front of it. I would have loved to get into the Arch and go to the top, but the only day we had to do any site seeing was Saturday and unfortunately Obama was in town!! We were among 100,000 people walking the streets. I think my friend and I were the only people not going to see Obama. We just wanted to see the Arch. Even the church was closed that morning because they didn't want all those people in it. However, later that afternoon we were able to get into the church and actually went to mass at 5:30. Tried to get into the Arch after that, but it closed at 6pm.


We arrived in St. Louis on Thursday afternoon. On Friday we all went to a local all boys Catholic High School to practice. It was a beautiful campus and the boys there, when they heard there was going to be girls tried to come and watch the practice, but could not stay long! They practiced for about 2 hours and then went to a local mall for lunch.







Kaila is in the purple shirt and blue pants.











This is Kaila and I with the Edward Jones Dome behind us. The band and color guard was getting ready for their performance that night at 7:30.



Kaila and the guard marching into the Dome for the preliminary competition. The band did a great job. There were 56 bands from all over competing. They took the top 14 bands for the finals. Unfortunately, our band came in 15th. They missed 14th place by 0.85! Very sad. This was one of the best performances they have done according to the band director. The judges score sheets had many good comments on them and alot said see you in the finals.














This is the steeple of the Old Cathedral. The church was built in 1831. It is the first Cathedral west of the Mississippi River. Very beautiful inside.

All in all, we had a great time, we were tired when we got home, but getting back into the swing of things!

Bands of America Competition

Kaila and I are heading to St. Louis, MO this weekend. Kaila is leaving tomorrow from school on charter buses and me and another band/guard mom are flying out tomorrow evening.

It will be a busy weekend for us. On Friday the kids will practice and perform in the prelims at 7:30pm. On Saturday, the kids will go to Six Flags and at 4pm that afternoon will find out if they made it to the finals. If they make it to finals, they will perform again that evening and then the awards ceremony will be later that evening. There are approximately 52 bands there from all over the United States. Only the top 14 make it to the finals! Sunday morning we all head back home.

The friend that I am going with and I are not going to Six Flags, so we are going to try and see some sights like the Arch and the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis (it is the worlds largest collection of mosiac art). The kids will be performing in the Edward Jones Dome that is home to the St. Louis Rams football team. It is also the place where Pope John Paul II celebrated a mass not too long ago. It was the largest indoor gathering ever held in the U.S.

Wish us luck! I will post pictures when we get home on Sunday.

Rocky Bottom Hunting Club

Ed joined a hunting club this year. He has spent the last several months getting everything ready for hunting season. They have 700 acres that they can hunt on. Ed has two tree stands to hunt from. There are 11 guys who belong to the club. There are 6 campers set up down there, ours included. This weekend, Ed and I went down. It was the first time I saw it.
This is a picture of the smoker they built to smoke their kill.


This is the "club house". It sits out near the road. There are beds in it and a small kitchen. The people who used this land as a hunt club before us, used this as their place to sleep. At one time it was a small county store. The trees on this property are planted in rows and from what I understand it was once a cotton plantation. There is one other house on the property and several chimneys.





This is the back of the other house. The floor in this one is rotted out so you cant go in it. At the back of the house the guys built a place to skin the deer. There is a sink to wash and some lights to see in case it is dark.





This weekend was primitive weapon season. This is a picture of the wild boar that one of the guys got. No one else saw any deer, but the same guy that got this boar, saw 4 bear this morning walk right passed his tree stand, 2 cubs, mama bear and another one that were 50 yards away!








This is one of the two tree stands that Ed and Eddie have.

































This is the HUGE fire ring that is shared by everyone. Behind the fire ring you can see another camper and one of the chimneys on the land.



















There as a water leak there this weekend, so Ed and Fred are trying to find the leak. I love this picture with the sign that says "kids at play"!
Several of the guys spent several hours fixing the leak, and when we went to bed at 11pm last night, it still was not done.



























Ed put up a pole with a light on it and some electric outlets. It makes it alot easier to see at night!



























This is our camp site. Ed put a deck on it because the ground is pretty muddy when it rains, no grass. With the camper set up all the time, it is easy to get everything ready when you get there. Only takes about 15 minutes instead of an hour!

This and That

It is only Wednesday and we have had alot happening here.

Today it rained alot! 1.5 inches. We have not had rain in 18 days and the lake is still down 1 foot 4 inches from full pool. Every little bit of rain we get is great! Tonight we saw rainbows over the house. You could see the whole thing and double at times. It was really pretty. These pictures do not do it justice.





The other night I was upstairs getting ready for bed and heard helicopters circling around the area. I didn't think too much about it, just glad it was late and the kids were not outside playing. In the morning I got an email from our neighborhood that said there was mentally unstable woman lost in the woods behind our house. When Kaila was getting on the bus in the morning, several fire trucks, police cars and ambulance went racing down the main road our subdivision. They had found the woman at the Trout Hatchery. She was okay.


Last week I took Kaila to the eye doctor because she failed her vision test at school. Today she got her glasses. I think they look very nice and she says everything is so much sharper now.

Next it is Kelli to the eye doctor (she failed her vision test too) and me. My arms do not seem to be as long as they used to be! I guess that is age catching up with me! Eddie thankfully passed his vision test at school!

County Fair

We took the kids to the fair on Sunday afternoon. It was a beautiful day. Kailas friend went with us.

Ed and I are riding the ferris wheel.







Kaila and Eddie rode the Ion (spin you around really fast and up in the air)












Kelli and Eddie rode a couple of rides together.










I rode a ride with Kaila and she kept smushing up against me!








Kaila and Katelyn on the ferris wheel.

Boy Scout Camping

Eddie, Kelli and I went camping this weekend with the Boy Scouts. It was a beautiful weekend for camping. We were in the tent and thankfully it was not too cold at night time. Ed and Kaila drove the motorcycle up on Saturday evening to have dinner with us.

We retired several flags and this is a picture of Eddie cutting the flag apart before putting it in the fire.




Here is Eddie folding the flag the correct way.









Eddie was the one to put the last piece of the flag in the fire.









He the boys are learning different ways to tie the rope.









Eddie practicing his marble skills.