Freaky Friday

Every day at the hospital new rules rise up like bread dough.  The latest is the low census rule.  If you're offered low census you can say yes but know that if you're called before 7:30 am you will have to come to work and work someplace in the hospital that needs a warm body.  I'm waiting for the day I can make cookies in the cafeteria!  Anyway, today they must have been fully staffed so I have the day off...a Friday to make it a longer weekend! Great, because I  have plenty of projects to complete because family is coming in next week to celebrate an early Thanksgiving feast with us.  I'm on call Thanksgiving and that weekend so we're gathering early.  To my surprise Jack told me to grab the camera this morning and check the outdoors..

Footsteps on the deck....footsteps and paw prints on the SNOW!  Having snow in November isn't unusual around these parts but he thought I would like to click a pic of the first one of the season.

Yep, it's here!

After the sun came up I took another shot because it probably will be gone by noon as the temps rise and the rain falls instead.

Fall wreath on the door...winter snow on the steps.

A little more than frost on the pumpkin this morning!

Nothing prettier than a flocked pine tree and a warm welcome from our home to yours! Enjoy your Friday and I hope it's really not freaky at all!

Time Flying Backwards

Yes, it was the time going back an hour weekend.  I don't like this time change. I know everyone says they can have that extra hour of sleep...or whatever you want to do with it.  For me it just makes me more tired.  At work when it's 2 o'clock and my body says it's really 3 o'clock I'm so over the day.  I just read that there are more heart attacks with this time change than other times of the year.  Not sure if that's gospel so don't quote me.  I hope everyone used their time wisely. I hope everyone felt an hour younger.  I really hope some day this changing time thing goes away!  After getting home from our vacation it was catch up time. (Since I'm talking about time!)  It was good to get back into the routine of our daily lives.  Jack and I both had off Wednesday so we took time to visit our son Phil's new shop.

He manages the Safelite Auto Glass in Mansfield.  He's turned it into one of the most successful shops in the state.  The headquarters is in Columbus so he has more pressure on his shop than those in other states.  We're proud of him and so glad he could move from the previous place that was way too small!

Nice job Phil!  Wednesday night we went our son Jack's home to join them in Halloween fun.  We missed Phil's girls trick or treating since we were in Portland and Ashland always does that the Thursday before Halloween.  So we went to Jack's and I walked with Cameron and his Mom as he went trick or treating.  I was a bit perplexed at his costume. 

What? I asked him why he was a care bear...was he broken hearted care bear?  Heck no! He told me he was a video game character and I wouldn't know that since I don't do video games.  After I stopped laughing, we headed out.  He was mistaken for a girl at most places.  He would then lower his voice down when he said "trick or treat" and watch the peoples expressions as they realized he wasn't a girl. It was pretty funny.  Anyway, he had fun and so did I!  Even though I only worked 2 days this past week I was ready for the weekend.  It's gone too fast, even with gaining an hour.  Back to the grind tomorrow.  To end this special time blog, here's a few leaf peeping picks from my walks in the cemetery with Arnie.

Nice colors..

Amazingly big trees!  We've had tons of rain and wind so it won't be long before all the color and leaves have left us.  I enjoy the month of November...the quiet month before the rush of December.
A time to remember all our blessings and a time to be very thankful for them! Have a good week!

Vacation Post

How 7 days can fly by so fast is beyond me, but it sure did on our trip to see Craig and family in Oregon.  It was a really nice trip, a bit different from the other ones we've taken out there.  Usually we go in the summer when the kids are out of school. It worked out better to take this trip in the Fall so we just went with the flow of their daily lives.  I kidded them that we wanted to see them in their natural habitat!  There's all the typical things like school, music lessons, dance lessons, Boy Scouts and church activities.  I think I'd forgotten how much we used to run with our own crew back in the day!  I'm just going to post the pics that captured some fun moments.  The kids are growing and changing so much and it was great to spend this time with them. We really miss you guys!

It was nice to see Fall colors as our trees have been slow to change this year.

We ate breakfast at this cute little cafe.

The inside was adorable and the food was really good!

Hey Craig and Jack!

Across the street from the cafe was a barn that sold produce and many cutesy things for the home. They also had chickens and goats out back! Craig and Amy had fun feeding them!

Jack walked around and enjoyed the Fall atmosphere.   We went to a harvest festival at Sophia's school.  She was able to dress up in her Halloween costume.

She was a huntress with a bow and arrow! As all school festivals go there was lots of kids and noise! But it was very well organized and I enjoyed seeing her school and her friends.

Candy corn face paint anyone?  On Saturday we took a trip to the Roloff  pumpkin farm.  I don't know if you watch "Little People, Big World".   This is their famous home and pumpkin farm.  It was really fun and all the people there were so darn nice!  I got to meet Amy Roloff:

She posed for pics with tons of people.  I just happen to be the first one there that day!  We also saw Matt Roloff and his son Jeremy and also Zak's son and wife.   I didn't take their pics however...don't know why.   My daughter-in-law and the girls and I took a wagon tour of the place.   Pretty impressive what they've done there.

Lots of pumpkins but we didn't buy any there...a bit pricey!  Then we took off for Top Golf.  I had never been there before.   I'm not a golfer but I did hit a few balls out at the targets.

Craig in the resident golfer although Sophie likes to play here too.

She did pretty good!

Last night was pumpkin carving and they did a good job!  Very serious work here!  Took off early this morning and got back around 4 this afternoon.  We're tired but so glad we made the trip.

We love this family and can't believe how big the kids have gotten.  They are really good kids who study hard, enjoy family time and love to kid around and just have fun...we miss you all already!

Blog Break

We're heading out to visit our son in Oregon.  We fly at the butt crack of dawn tomorrow and I'm sure the next week will have some blog worthy moments to share.  I'll miss trick or treat here with our other Grandkiddos but I'm looking forward to seeing Taylor, Katie, Sophia and of course our son Craig and my sweet Daughter-in-law, Amy!  It's been a year since we've seen them and kids grow and change so fast.  It's hard to have them so far away.  Anyway, our son Jordan is taking vacation time to house and dog sit while we're away so don't try any funny stuff....he's a good shot!  Plus Arnie is a killer!

See you in November!

No news is good news as they say, but it makes for no blog news.  Not so good I say!  Nothing spectacular is happening except the everyday busy that fills the calendar and our time.  Again this year our Fall leaf color is slow in arriving.   The most colorful spot right now is the cemetery where I walk Arnie!

I'm hoping the rest of Ashland gets some color for me to photograph. Cemetery shots can be a bit dreary even though it is that time of year for scary places.  Except I love cemeteries!  I go here almost every day with this little guy who got a good grooming today...Thanks Jack for taking him.  The Barker Shop does a nice job but they are very disorganized...drives us a bit crazy.

Arnie was happy to get home!   I worked late today and I was glad to get home too.  I'll end with a sunset from the other day.

A week ago it was 86 degrees...this week has been chilly and tonight it will drop to 30de.  We went right into Winter weather with snow flakes coming on Sunday.  My Hydrangea decided to finally get more blooms...oh well, see you in the Spring pretty flowers!  Night all!

Something Wicked..And Funny This Way Comes!

I guess I should say something "wickedly funny" comes to the Pines every October.  We gather as a crazy family to have a bit of Halloween and Fall season fun.  The food is always yummy if not a bit scary..

Looks like a murder happened here!

Ouch..a bloody finger this way comes..

The eyes have it..blood shot or with spiders..your choice!

There were sweeter and sillier things on the menu too.  I didn't get a pic (surprising, I know!) of our rootbeer floats in scientific flasks, or witches fingers on a platter..  The rootbeer floats were fun to see foam all over the place like a bad experiment.  Yikes! After everyone was full I gave the kiddos some work to do.

A Fall harvest word search.

Then some pumpkin decorating...no cutting involved with these...Nice Rae Rae!

A cousin pumpkin showdown..The little cutie on the end is Rae and Lexi's  half sister, Aria.  She's so sweet and we enjoyed having her visit with us today and join in the fun!

I had a bucket full of funny disguises to pick from.

Even the grown ups joined in..well at least Phil did!  He loves Halloween like his Mom!

Summer stopped by on her way to a wedding reception.  When it was time for her to leave she said "I want to stay here!" But she had to go and I was just really happy she stopped by.   All too soon everyone took off for home.  Full of food, fun and goody bags with sweet surprises.  This is a tradition that has changed over the years as the kids have grown. We change up the menu and do different activities but  I hope we always take time to gather together just to enjoy each other's company.

Lexi, I wish I could jump for joy too! It was great!

Have a wickedly fun weekend everyone!

Happy Birthday Rae!

Holy cow, it's October 1st!  I love this month and to start it out we celebrate my Granddaughter's 10th birthday.  Addy Rae is such a sweet, fun, happy little girl and Saturday we went over and helped her and a million of her little friends celebrate.   Her theme was Hollywood stars.

We walked the red carpet that had her name and all her friends names.  Cute idea.

Rae slides into being 10!  When I was growing up we only had those birthday games or a sleep over.  Now it's an event with all kinds of stuff to entertain the crowd...like this ginormous slide.

Throw in a few friends and you have a 10 year old pileup!

Her sister Lexi was there to enjoy the fun too.

Her Dad and PawPaw Jack grilled the hotdogs. 

The girls lined up and filled their plates with the tons of good food that Rae chose for the occasion.   After eating it was time for the gifts.  Rae is so much fun to give gifts to because she loves everything and anything and is so gracious and thankful.  Here are a few pics of her expressions after opening her gifts.

Surprise!

Delight!

Joy!

And even tears when she got a gift she had been asking for.  Oh to be 10 and find life so amazing.

Happy Birthday dear Rae Rae!  We sure love you!