Introducing Anna Karenina

I would like to introduce the newest member of our family. Anna Karenina. One day while Ryan was in Las Vegas my cousin was at my Grandpa's birthday dinner and brought a couple kittens she needed to get rid of.         

Don't worry, I did not commit the deadly sin of getting a pet without my husband's permission. I called him and he gave a slightly reluctant "I guess" Hee.  

 So here she is in all her cuteness. She also is very accepting of Bella's torturous behavior. Bella's slowly learning as you'll soon see how to play with the kitty without loving her to death.

When I asked the kids what to name her Jaden came up with the clever name of Cat while Bella preferred Kitty. Yes they are super creative. She seemed too sophisticated for a Fluffy or Snowball, so I spent I night thinking about it and came up with Anna Karenina

 Anna Karenina is a character of Tolsty's. I thought it would be the perfect name for this kitty for several reasons.

She is pretty and irresistible.

She looks a tad bit Russian if you ask me. 

She's a cat so she's bound to be at least a little crazy

and most importantly it is to remind us to get her fixed before she runs off with other neighborhood cats making more kittens. 

Trust me it's funny. ;)

Bella has a hard time NOT picking up the kitty.

 Every once in awhile Jaden will get a turn holding her.

 Bella likes to wrap her up in her blanky like a baby.

 This is her trying to take the kitty to bed or "Night Night" with her.

Here's some video of the kids playing with her. Please don't turn us in for animal abuse, she's learning. ;)

 See everybody just chillaxin.

 Okay so she doesn't always seem terribly happy about all the love.

But she's a sweetheart and puts up with it.

 Anna lives in our garage, but comes and meows at the door to come in so I do let her in,  and the kids play with her until I'm certain she's ready for some peace and quiet again, but either she gets over the abuse or she will just put up with anything for the warm house, cause she keeps coming back to the door to be let in again. After the kids go to bed I bring her in for some slightly gentler play. 

I also knew Ryan, despite his aversion to cats has taken to my little Anna. We were making dinner Saturday and Ryan snuck a piece bacon to give to her. Oh yeah. He likes her. ;) 

Welcome home Anna, We're happy to have you. 

Happy Halloween

We had a great Halloween! I started with some fun lunch. I draped string cheese over hotdogs to make mummy dogs. The kids loved them. Then we had a jack-o-orange. 

 When daddy got home from work it was time to dress up. Here is my handsome vampire and spooky kitty.

 Throw in a dinosaur and a witch and we have a very scary house.

 First stop Grandma Potter's, but alas we beat her there. So time for a few random photos

 Trick or Treat! Doesn't Jaden look thrilled. He was so ready to move on.

 Look the elusive happy black kitty!

 The whole scary family!

 We stopped by Grandma Yancey's and Aunt Natalie's for some treats then home for a spooky ghost dinner.

 Then on our way to home made doughnuts at the Huff's mmm yummy. Then it was trunk or treat time. 

 It was cold and windy but many came out to brave it. The kids ended up with TONS of candy. More than enough to last till Christmas!

Happy Halloween everyone!!

PUMPKINS

The title is all caps because pumpkins are terrifying. Don't think so? Remember this from Pumpkin carving 2008 yes well pumpkins are horrifically scary. From their ooey gooey guts to those scary teeth and sharp orfaces. Jaden is still uncomfortable with pumpkins. He kept telling us these weren't real pumpkins. We are unsure of what a real  pumpkin is but apparently they are really scary!

So before we get to the process, here are the final pumpkins. Can you guess whoes is whoes? Seriously guess. I'll tell you the answers at the end.

Here is Ryan's OOZ pumpkin. Using some gooey slime from Jaden's preschool goodies bag he placed it on the pumpkin and we all enjoyed watching it ooz down the pumpkin. I know we have and odd sense of entertainment. 

 But seriously, who can resist touching this. :)

 Pumpkin carving time! Unlike her bro Bella has no problem digging into that ick!

 Last year Jaden wanted nothing to do with the pumpkin carving tradition. Remember pumpkins are SCARY. So hoping to include him I got this crafty pumpkin kit. Now we have something to work with.

 Workin' hard over there.

 Now there is a scary pumpkin a boy can be proud of. 

 Okay so did you guess? The kitty is Bella's, to match her kitty costume (Daddy may have helped a tad bit), You saw that the small 3 eyed monster is Jaden's. Mine is the one with the super cool hair and glasses, and Ryan always throws in the traditional scary pumpkin that gives my boy nightmares. Oh and a sneaky peaking Bella at the edge, cause the kids MUST be in the picture. Hee.

 Yay for scary pumpkins!!

The Dinosaur and the Cat

No it's not a title to a cutesy children's book., be prepared to be scared! Cause you are about to see the most ferocious dinosaur to grace this planet in millions of years. . . . 

or possibly the cutest! Ack I love him so much! My mother made this costume for my big brother when he was about Jaden's age, yeah he was probably kinda cute too, anyhow I can't believe how much work this would be to make. So cute! I'm glad it kept well too. 

 Before Jaden's Halloween party at preschool I thought we would give the leaves at the church a try too. Cause we just LOVE those leaves! Is it just me or has this kid gotten super good at posing for photos or what?

You may be wondering where Bella's collage of  kitty cuteness is. Well see all of my photos of her were like this:

 She was one sad kitty. My mom also made this black cat costume for me when I was little. .:) Bella was just starting to get really sick. I took her to the doc. on Sat. and got her all better for Halloween. So don't worry you'll see a pic of a smiley kitty later.

And because I just couldn't resist:

AHHH The Giant Jaden Dinosaur is Destroying the CITY!!!!

Hee. More Halloween fun to come.

Make Like a Tree. . .

Who doesn't love to play in the leaves?

Fall Fun

We've had so much fun this month I really love the craziness of October. Here's just a few things that we've been up to. 

Made these fun candy corn cookies! I found the recipe and tutorial at Kathie Cooks Yummy!

We had the kids pictures taken but I'll do a whole separate post on that one later. :)

 I went to not one, but TWO super Saturdays! at ours we made these lovely pictures. I love how it turned out. The next week I went to my Mom's where I sat in at a wonderful cookie decorating demonstration by my good friend Bre from Sugar & Spice & all things Iced . Fantastic time!

Ryan got a call from a guy out north of Idaho Falls saying he has a tree we could use for firewood if he wanted to come out and chop it up. So I came to help, He chainsawed and I loaded them into the truck. . . well ya know the one's I could actually lift.

Saw this great tutorial for a Halloween wreath at Our Best Bites and decided to make my own. Yay for me actually utilizing my vast blogging resources I check continuously and rarely use. Hee.  Anyhow, I think it turned out super cute!

 I decided to host a Paparazzi party. My friend Jana is a consultant and so I had her come over to my house. I don't usually host product parties, but the paparazzi jewelry and hair accessories are no more than $5 each which means I COULD BUY STUFF!

Here's my snack spread: Candy Corn cookies, candy corn, zucchini  bread, and raspberries with icing, oh and carrots, just in case your boring. . . I mean dieting. ;) And the fun Halloween tablecloth I borrowed from my wonderful mommy. 

 Wish I actually took pictures at the party. Doh. Anyhow we had a pretty good turn out and I got 4 items for free and then had to buy a couple more. Such cute stuff. I already want more. (sorry about the terrible picture. yikes)

Here's the birthday card I made for my Mummy. :) Hee I also got her some black and orange fingernail polish so we could be nice and seasonal. :)

 Jaden spooky crafts I SO love Halloween time. 

Of course there must be a few shenanigans going on. Ryan left for Vegas for work and so I'm juggling the two kiddos on my own. Bath time is always fun. Bella decided she was done so I got her out and dressed. turned my back on the girl for half a minute and she climbed back in the bath fully clothed. Yup and change again.  

Lost that dang blankie again!! searched the whole house before Bella remembered where she put it and pointed at the pumpkin. You have got to be kidding me!! Okay fine it IS kinda funny.

And then of course there's this pleasant surprise. I uploaded the pictures the computer and saw several rows of this. I'm just happy my camera is still safe and sound. Silly girl.