Happy Halloween!!

We had a very busy Halloween today. Both boys had parties at school and of course both boys wanted us to be at both parties. We managed though!!

First we got to Logan's party and they were headed out to recess... Burrrrr. It was cold here today. Here is Logan on the swings... ooops I mean The Hulk on the swings =)


Then here's The Hulk, just hanging out on the play ground... Apparently when you are The Hulk you automatically stand this way =)

This is the newest way to play tether ball. I love the look on his face!

I love this shot!

This is what you do with that pesky face mask when you are in class and trying to be respectful...

Pin the face on the Mummy!

This is the end result =)

Ben's class didn't play games... they got down to business and ATE! Then they listened to music then it was time to go home!! Yea for me. I'm not feeling well, so am not in the Halloween mood this year.

Here is Hubby. He had a good time at the parties too! I think in this picture he is trying to think of a way to wrestle that pixie stick from Ben's grasp... good luck!

Then later this evening my Mom had a Halloween party at her house too! Yea! We didn't have to go out trick-or-treating this year. I love that =)

On our way to the party...

We saw a penguin on vacation there... this was the CUTEST costume!!

Logan loved it too...

Everyone had to dress up... Doesn't Angus look thrilled to be a Bumble Bee?

I wonder what he is thinking here???

This is what a tired Bumble Bee looks like. She is my little sister's puppy...

We hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!! But I'm very glad it's over. LOL

Videogames

Video Gaming is serious business around our household. I'm not kidding. These boys of mine take it very seriously.

If Hubby is playing one of his shoot 'em up kill 'em games and I step in front of the TV... HOLY MOLY the world, as we know it, is ending!!! "Move!! Get out of the way! I can't see what I'm doing."

Now me, being me, I simply MUST stand in front of the TV at least some of the time while he is playing. I guess I'm a sucker for the drama =)

If I need to talk to Hubby or ask a question while he is playing... good luck. It's as if I, the boys and the house don't even exist any more. It's all Hubby and the Game. Geesh!

The little boys spend more time deciding which guys to be when they play their video games.

"Dead Pool, Dead Pool!! We haven't tested his powers yet!" yells out the 6 year old. The little boys will pause the game to switch around guys. Apparently that's the most fun part. They do it constantly when playing Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones. Now they have a new one with the Marvel Characters in it. Don't ask me the name of it! I don't know the first thing about playing these silly boy games =)

Hubby has a very hard time playing with them. There is usually A LOT of fighting and bossing and yelling. And inevitably someone will come tattle tale. Usually one of the little boys, but every so often it's Hubby. Holy Moly. Everyone is 7 years old when they are playing video games.

Thank goodness I have a rule. The only time video games are allowed is on weekends and then only for an hour each day. I really couldn't put up with this for much longer than that! I think I would pull all my hair out and end up in an insane asylum, wait that may happen to me anyway!!

I've Been Booed!!

I've been booed today by One Wired Woman!! I'm so excited to be included in the Booing!! Thank you =)



Now, this is how Blog Booing works. Go to as many friends as you want and tell them they've been "Booed!" Have them link back to your blog to pick up their Halloween Picture and tell them to "Boo" their friends. Then, put the picture in your side bar, so everyone knows that you've already been "Boo-ed" and they can send the picture to someone else.

Overview!

1. Take the picture and put it on your sidebar.
2. Tell people they've been booed.
3. Link back to who booed you!

Have fun and head out there and Boo someone!!

Superheroes and 7 year olds...

"We're Super Heroes, not Dumb Dumbs."

Benjamin Schroder

This is Hubby... are you sure you're not dumb dumbs??

Learning the superhero stance.

This is the 7 year old teaching Hubby.

Sometimes I wonder...

Hands

"My hands are green..." Hubby says.

"Weird!" that's me. "Did you touch anything with marker on it?"

"No." Hubby says.

Weird...



The first thing I notice about a man is his hands. I love working man hands. Sometimes dirty, definitely callused. These hands can build a house, pet a dog, drive a truck and trailer, hug the boys. These are strong man hands...even if they are green.

Geese!!

My Mom got these beautiful geese a couple of weeks ago. I finally made it out there with my camera and got some really gorgeous pictures of them! Enjoy... A picture is worth a thousand words...






photo above is one of the geese hissing at the dogs...



I love these white feathers around this one's beak.

The flapping of wings after warning the dogs.



This is a close up of the water droplet dropping off his beak.




There are two boys and two girls. The boys are quite a bit bigger than the girls are. They are mostly friendly, but don't like the dogs at all. Sometimes they will flap and hiss a little at people but they really don't mean it =) Pretty cool birds!

On our way to town today...

Boy did I get an ear full on the way to town this afternoon! All 3 boys had stories to tell =)

First Ben decided that,
"We should call our wee wees (I'm sure you can guess what that is!) worms... get it!?"

Yep, that's my son! I'm very proud. One day both boys told me all the different names for their 'stuff'. The one that sticks in my brain right now is, cranberries... Oh man!!! I laughed and laughed!!! I can't wait to tell them all about this when they are older and introducing me to their girlfriends =)

The next story came from Hubby...

He is telling me about picking up the boys from school. They took a little time and went to play on the playground. I was home shampooing the carpet and so he wanted to keep the boys out of the house for awhile. Such a thoughtful Hubby!

While playing a little boy came up to Hubby and asked, "Are you Ben's daddy?"

Hubby said he was...

Then the little boy said, "You're cooler than my daddy!"

Hubby says, "Oh, I'll bet your daddy is pretty cool."

Little boy says, "Well he's a little cool, but you're WAY cooler!"

This totally made Hubby's day! Sheesh, now look what I'm going to have to put with =)

Last comes Logan.

We are almost home and I hear a little voice from the backseat...
"Is Barack Obama an alien?"

Well... how to answer that one!? Of course I assured him that he is not an alien.

(On a side note, I don't like either Obama or McCain. I'm a Ron Paul supporter.)

We have a winner!!

I am happy to announce that we have our first winner!!

Feeth has correctly guessed what the picture is of... Here is the whole picture! These are the brightest and most fun socks!! They are really meant to be worn under cowboy boots. They actually stay up on your leg instead of slowly rolling down as the day goes on. But as you can see I wear them however I want to =)

Feeth you can email me your mailing address and I'll get your little prize right out =) Thanks for all the guesses girlies! I'll post another photo on Friday and we'll start all over again...

I'm in a Funk today...

I was woke up by Hubby this morning. He had the cutest little smile on his face! And then he hit me with...

"We can't make our house payment this month..."

Sigh...

So I find myself in a Funk. I have eaten two packages of the powdered sugar donuts this morning. Yuck. They don't even taste good!

I have been sitting here thinking outside the box. What if we sold all the farm animals and got an Airstream??? It could be Hubby, the boys and the dogs, oh and me! We could pile into our "house" and drive around North America. Sigh...

It's a very scary thought that we could loose our house.

What to do!? Good thoughts sent our way would be VERY welcome. Any kind comments would really help too. =)

Oh! I wanted to repost the picture from below. I'm having a little contest. This is a small part of a larger picture. The first person to guess what it is gets a little prize!!

What oh what could this be??? It's such a mystery!!

'Old' Men Playing Basketball

Every Sunday all the long winter, we make the 35 mile drive to Missoula, so my Hubby can play basketball, or 'Old' Man Basketball (as I call it!).

This year their team is called, 'Elbow Room'. The Elbow Room Health Club is sponsoring this group of guys to play on the city league. Just to be clear, this is the Elbow Rooms logo...

The Elbow Room Health Club is a bar =) I thought this logo was pretty ingenious! It made me laugh...

So at these basketball games, the guys run up and down the court, red faced, huffing with their hair (if they are still blessed with hair) plastered to their heads with sweat. My Hubby loves to come running up the bleachers to try to hug me... yuck!

Some of the players are younger, college aged guys and some of them played ball on college teams in their younger years. One guy that played on their team last year was a local News Caster on the T.V. That's some pretty exciting stuff, huh?

I have to boast that my Hubby ranks right up there with the college guys as far as athletic prowess =)

A quick shout out to my cousin who recently moved to Florida... of all places!! Here is the TALLEST and most HANDSOME man!! I know you miss seeing him =)

This weeks opposing team was pretty good at both offense and defense and as I sat on the bleachers at half time, my Hubby's team was behind 18 to the other teams 30!! But as is the norm, Hubby's team bounced back in the second half to win by 4 points. And as usual it ended up being a pretty exciting game!

I'm mostly alone in the bleachers, my boys are usually off playing or being obnoxious, running around on the bleachers with their cowboy boots on. Great, huh! But I cheer and clap as loud as I can all by myself. I'm happy to report that the last two games, the Mom of one of the players on Hubby's team, came and cheered with me! We do the best we can.

I've been threatening to get a cheerleaders costume and some pom poms...

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I can't resist posting these photos on my Hubby's post. I took these last night. Angus was being soooo cute trying to get Hubby to play fetch.

(As I'm typing this I can hear my two boys wrestling in the next room. There is a lot of 'POW', 'BAM', 'WACK!' and then I hear....

"You son of Odin!" coming from my 6 year old, directed at my 7 year old. Please.... I'm surrounded by Super Heroes. Hubby's superhero name is "HAWK MAN". Oh yes, this is serious business around here...)

Angus

Some would call this face adorable, sweet, kissable, angel-face, the-cutest-face-they've-ever-seen. I've even heard people say "He's too cute to be real!" I would have to agree with all of the above, after all I let this little man sleep on my face sometimes. And I don't complain at all!



But my husband calls this cutest little face, annoying...

For some reason my hubby does not find it cute and adorable when he is sitting on the couch, trying to watch a movie and he feels this...



What Angus is trying to convey, using his Jedi Mind Trick or awe inspiring mental powers, is that he would really appreciate it if my Hubby would throw his little ducky toy for him.

Angus LOVES to play fetch and will play all through a movie, if my Hubby would just kindly throw the damn toy for him. Unfortunately sometimes Angus's Jedi Mind Trick doesn't work and he is force to softly go "whooof" or "rrrgrreeerrr" and when he does this, he wrinkles up his top lip. This I find totally irresistable, my Hubby does not.

If the look, the Jedi Mind Trick and the quiet persuasion all don't work, then Angus will pick up the ducky and squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, until my hubby looks at him, sighs and throws the ducky.

Personally I don't see what the problem is....



_________________________________________________

On a side note... I have just been wondering if I am writing all this so I can enjoy reading it, or if there are actually people floating around out in there cyberspace. So I thought I would start a little game. If there isn't anyone out there, then I'll always be the winner, which doesn't sound so bad!

I'm going to post a small part of a picture and you have to guess what the picture is of. I think it sounds wonderfully fun =) The first person to guess, gets a prize. (Now remember, we are trying to sell our house, I can't guarantee that the prize will be brand name or anything, but it will be cute!) I am going to do this once week, for awhile and see where we are!

You can put your guess in the comments located below each daily post.

Oh! I'm going to only blog on the weekdays for awhile while I get my things together for a possible move... But feel free to comment anyway! I'll still be checking in on the blog.

Onto the picture!

Good Luck!

The Good Luck Chuck Girl

My cousin calls me the Good Luck Chuck Girl. Have you seen the movie called "Good Luck Chuck"? It's pretty funny! The girl in that movie always has 'interesting' things happen to her. She trips and falls, she spills food on herself. You know, stuff like that! That's me.

The other day I asked my hubby to help me bring in the Angora Goats. These particular goats are a little on the wild side. They bound and leap at the end of the lead rope, making it very fun to lead them from one place to another. So he said he would help! Thankfully, it's quite a site watching me "lead" these two goats around =)

We got them to the pen they spend the night in. Craig's phone rang, I unhooked my goat from the lead. I went to unhook his goat, he is still on the phone... his goat turns towards me and.... BANG! He head butts me right in the face. Somehow I'm unhurt, but knocked flat on my butt!

I had a hold of his collar and he was leaping and bounding about, with me holding onto him, sitting on my butt, wearing a skirt, in the goat poop. Craig is still on the phone. I reach up and try to unsnap the lead and BANG he head butts me again! By this time my bottle fed goat, Thistle, is trying to help me by climbing all over my back.

FINALLY Craig gets off the phone. He is just standing there and I hear, "That goat is kicking your ass." Real calm like. Here I am laying in the goat poop with one goat leaping and bounding around and one goat climbing all over me, trying to head butt the offending goat. I am laughing so hard that I couldn't have gotten up by myself even if I tried!! Still Craig is just standing there...

Apparently men don't offer to help in situations like these unless the damsel in distress actually ASKS for help. I think it might have something to do with the Feminist Movement, women are equal and all that =)

So I'm the Good Luck Chuck Girl but I say it's alright, life would be so boring around here if it wasn't for me and my antics!! Everyone sure does enjoy watching me with the animals, eating or just trying to walk from one place to another. There is always something to see!!

Selling a House is Hard To Do...

Today our Realtor brought out some other Realtors' from the company that she works for. They went through our house and gave her a list of things that they would improve to help us sell our house. The hard part is hearing that the very thing that I'm so proud of about my house, is the thing they would change =(

All my rooms are painted bright cheery colors. Our living room is sunshine yellow, with a wall of spiced pumpkin. Our bathrooms are lime green. Our boys' room is Caribbean Blue. Very beachy and bright! Our bedroom is purple =) In the dark, overcast winter my house brings me such joy. I'm so sad that the other Realtors' didn't appreciate my color pallet.









At the same time I understand that to sell the house, I need to let it go. So, if we need to paint it, to make it more appealing to a new potential buyer, then we will. And I won't get teary about it!! No way!

I will just plan to paint my new house bright cheery colors!! There is always a silver lining if you look hard enough...

Kids are so much fun!

My Boys, Ben and Logan

Driving home from Missoula last night was an absolute hoot!

I just love how the boys pronounce some things. Like emenies (instead of enemies) and maizageen (instead of magazine).

On the way home Ben, our oldest at 7 years old, was reading us his jokes from the back seat. We were asked the questions, then he would wait and see if we could guess the answer. Craig answered some correctly like,

"What kind of dog is the best at telling time?"
Answer: A watch dog!

and

"What do prisoners use to call each other?"
Answer: A cell phone!

Logan, our youngest at 6 years old, was feeling very sad and teary eyed because he couldn't guess any of the answers and Daddy was 'winning'. So Ben started whispering the answers to him so he could get some 'points' too.

The next question was
"Why did the teacher have crossed eyes?"
Logan called out the answer: Because she couldn't control her pupilis (pronounced pup-il-is)

Craig and I laughed and laughed because of course it was supposed to pupils =)

Kids are way more fun that T.V.....

Oh and guess what I learned in Kindergarten this morning!? We were learning about the letter 'B'. The kids and I were talking about what words start with the letter B. Bat, Ball, Bus and then the cutest little boy called out "BEER!" I said "Oh, yes. Very good." Then he proceeded to get a little more detailed. "Beer makes you strong." He said. I said "Who told you that?" (knowing full well!!) and he proudly said, "My Daddy, he says Beer makes you strong and sometimes it makes you drunk."

See... Way better than T.V.

Continuing To Realtor or Not To Realtor...

We did decide to go with a Realtor. It was a tough decision, one we took very seriously. We interviewed several people, then sat down and did a Pro/Con list. In the end, the reason we went with the gal we did is because her website had the most information and she had the best online advertising, of all the people we talked with. (It's my personal opinion that if you aren't strong online, the you can't compete. After all, I do most of my shopping online!) I also felt very comfortable with the Realtor we chose.

So today we got busy de-personalizing our house. That's been so hard!! I'm taking down our family photos and the framed drawings that the boys have made.

I'm having some of my flower pictures blown up large to put up where the family pictures were. (They won't be ready until next week, so for now the family photos are still up!)

We have spent hours going through our papers in the office and reorganizing. We have a mountain of boxes that we have to figure out where to store in our sheds outside. I'm thinking that before we actually move, we need to have a massive garage sale... EVERYTHING up for sale!! Lighten our load before we go on to the next thing.

The house we are planning to build, where ever we end up, will only be about 900 square feet. A LOT smaller than what we are living in now. I plan to really cut down on the stuff we have and Simplify, Simplify, Simplify!!

Here is a link to our online house tour that our Realtor, Nicole Jones, from Exit Realty, did tonight! http://www.exite-listings.com/etour.html/TOURID/17254 Enjoy!

Sometimes I sit...

Sometimes I sit and watch my chickens. Whenever I do this I am so relieved that they are the size they are. They relentlessly go after the grasshoppers (cheer the chickens!) and all the other little bugs. They tip their heads and look with their golden eyes. When they spot one, tiny and hard for me to see, they pounce. And man can a chicken fun fast when she is after her next meal!

If chickens were as big as dinosaurs, we would be in serious trouble. Chickens don't chew their food you know. They don't have any teeth. Instead they grab the bug, tip their head back and swallow. Imagine if this was you. Instead of a grasshopper, the giant chicken grabbed you, tipped her head back and Swallow! Down you go! They are so serious about their job that I feel certain, if they were giants, they would peck right through the roof of a house, to get to the meal inside!!

Thank God chickens are small...

Dear Mr President

Dear Mr President,

Thank you for approving the $850 Billion dollar bail out! Whew! What a huge relief that is for us here in Montana. We find it reassuring that our government will step in when we have screwed up financially and need some help.

I have a small corporation that is need of some financial help. We just need a small amount to get us out of debt. Only $1 Billion dollars. Yep, that should do it. We are planning a weekend in Los Vegas, pending the $1 Billion dollar bail out, so we really hope you see things our way. We could REALLY use a vacation after all the stress of almost losing our farm.

Also my husband has a corporation as well. He has employees in his corporation, so he could use a little more bail out money, more like $2 Billion dollars. We feel that this is a drop in the bucket compared to those poor souls in Wall Street. We are confident that you will see things our way. You have been such a boon to those in need lately.

Thank you for your time,

Mindy Schroder
The Ladybug Farm
(This is my corporation that needs bailed out, we are close to losing our farm, so please make the check out to 'Mindy Schroder'. Thank you.)

Puppy Time!

We had ourselves a little puppy time last night and I had to get some of it on film. Our German Shepherd puppy's ears are so funny right now, I couldn't resist a couple pictures of him!

Bishop is just 3 months old right now and pretty goofy looking. He is so HUGE that he trips over his own feet all the time. When he does, he usually falls down, then sighs and just lays there. It's all so much work!

Then Angus was pretty intent on getting my hubby to play with him too. He brought over his favorite toy (at the moment anyway) and threw it to him. My hubby picked it up and held it hostage for a little while. This drove poor Angus CRAZY!! He just sat there staring up at it...

Then he sprang into action!!


(This is all I got... my camera was offended that it had to work in the darkness of the house. It was NOT very co-operative!)

Then Angus sat and stared at Bishop...


Then he pounced!!

It was so funny when he would pounce on Bishop, but he was moving so fast that I had to have my hubby hold him for a second, so the slow moving camera could capture it.

It's amazing to me how big Bishop is! This litter of German Shepherds were born when Angus was just 3 months old. Angus was bigger than the puppies, but just barely! Then as the puppies grew Angus was right in there, wrestling (when the German Shepherds were just barely walking) and sleeping in the big puppy pile. It was a funny site. All these German Shepherd puppies sound asleep and then one little alien in there all fuzzy and definitely NOT a German Shepherd =) Now Bishop TOWERS over Angus. Sigh... time does fly!