Something Smells Skunky!

Success! We bargained with our little one and got him into his skunk costume without tears or incident. (M&m's are always a good convincing tool.) He looked soooo cute! I took him over to our neighbors and they thought he looked adorable!

We went to the Fun Fair at the school yesterday evening. The night was loud and sticky, but Bacon Bits had a great time and wore his costume the whole night. The librarian was there reading books (Bit's favorite stop), there was a "Go Fishing" wall, Cake Walk, coloring, and even a hot dog concession stand. So much fun for kids and parents!

Mr. Xenopus figured out, "Hey, if I wear a costume, people give me candy!"

Last night was a little crazy with an overly sugar-hyped almost-2 year old; he was wiggling and giggling all over the floor for no obvious reason.

Tonight is the real trick or treating for the rest of the neighbors to see him, but I think Mommy will allow less candy to be consumed.

Drift Wood and Pine Cones

I came up with a use for some of my drift wood pieces and pine cones. I've painted the pine cones in three different shades of green and tied a gray grosgrain ribbon onto them through a screw eye. I found these neat playing cards via etsy and added two different vintage papers to them and attached a gray grosgrain ribbon as well. Green is in ya know...and I'm loving drift wood right now.

So I made up a bunch of them and good news for you. If people don't fully grasp their coolness as much as I do, they may end up gifted to some of you. Now don't cringe, they're not that bad really. Best yet, you could always re-gift them next year.

I may or may not admit to having three currently hanging in my house. This could be because I needed to photograph them, but they do look good grouped together, and look good in a living room, kitchen, or dining room.

By the way, I was not silly enough to use those big type of pine cones that are all sappy and sticky---these are the cute little chubby pine cones.

Beef Jerky and Golden Pines

We had plans to head to the Big Lake yesterday. Mike's day ended early after some meetings, and the weather was quite nice, so we made the best of it.

Bacon Bits decided he didn't want to go to Lake Superior and told us he'd rather walk at the park and around our lake here, so that's what we ended up doing. We had an enjoyable walk at the park, but Bits walked around kinda lost in his surroundings. The swings are gone, the teeter-totters, and now the dock has been pulled in for the winter. Not much fun for a baby who always had lots of equipment to play on.

We went half way around the lake and had to stop for Bit's much requested M-nems (m&m's for the rest of you). Mike prefers Holiday, so we crossed US-2 and all ended up having a less than healthy early dinner at the gas station. Completely unplanned and verbally disapproved by Mommy; dinner consisted of doughnuts, chocolate milk, beef jerky, and pop tarts.

With our bellies full of over priced junk food, we continued our walk around the rest of the lake, and headed for home for baseball and silliness from a sugar-hyped baby.

*side note- In reference to the title, there's a pic. of some pines that change color in the fall. Ohh, also check out the pic of the hills, the clouds formed a similar hilly silhouette above.

Ooooo...Frosty!

This morning, the outside was covered with frost. Although frost normally means cold, it's different than waking up to a bunch of snow. Frost is sparkly, crisp, beautiful, and very much temporary.

You have to catch the really frosty sights before the sun is up long enough in the morning to warm the ground and melt it all off into plain, boring wetness.

Yes, it was cold this morning, but with frost adding a little beauty and the sun adding hope for a warm bright day, there will defintely be exploring to do.

Realization: I am not a Skilled Pumpkin Carver

Yesterday evening was family pumpkin carving night. Here's how it began:

The Baconator, after fierce competition among characters, chose Big Bird's pattern to adorn our pumpkin. These patterns come in a nice packaged kit with carving tools and a happy, smiling Elmo on the front. Very appealing to new Moms and Nanas.

Two slices with the toothy carving tool and the blade bends in half. After I straightened the blade back out, two more slices snaps it off completely from its handle. A little "Aaargh" from Momma and I grab a Chicago Cutlery knife. That did well enough to remove the stem cover piece.

Bacon and Daddy rolled up their sleeves for the gooey removal of the "pumpkin guts". With ewws and ohhs, Bits had a great time taking out the guts with the little kit's scooper.

I proceeded to punch little holes along the pattern which would not stay securely taped on. After all the little punches, I attacked the guide lines with a small knife. An hour or so later and a beak that was looking very odd. I gave up to defeat.The carving tool would have worked perfect for this (too bad its currently in two pieces).

With Mike's encouragement and a moment of quite reflection, I finished carving the pumpkin into a very nice, classic jack-o-lantern with two triangle eyes and a wide grin; very professional indeed.

The pumpkin was placed back on its resting spot on the porch and we all took a minute to admire it outside in the rain lit by two electronic candles.

Sandy Winter Boots

The snow melted throughout the day and has left our yard with with spotted slushy handfuls.

Mike had gone out later to finish shoveling the drive way and was visited by our elusive red headed woodpecker. Bacon Bits and I got to see him and get a decent snap shot.

After the driveway was clear, we took a brief drive into Ironwood and headed to Black River Harbor. What a perfect day it turned out to be. Just one degree cold enough to need hats and mittens, but perfect for an exploration up the beach. The snow had not hit Lake Superior and fall colors were still hanging around. Of course, there was much driftwood to be gathered as well.

Bits is truly a great little hiker; we traveled quite a distance along the sand and he eagerly and happily kept right along. Whenever we hit up the Big Lake, Mike and I revert to being little kids. I get excited with all my beachy finds, and he skips stones and sneaks big tosses of driftwood back into the lake whenever Mr. Xenopus is not paying attention.

We love escaping to the lake on these special weekends.

I Think It Snowed Last Night

Last evening we enjoyed more of those wonderful cotton ball snowflakes falling from the sky. Those little flakes turned out into 4 inches of snow on the ground.

This is the real deal people; this is not a drill.

We lost power shortly after Bacon woke up. Now normally the morning routine is Sesame Street or Thomas video for Bits as Mommy gets a cup of coffee (or two) in her system. Well, no power means no Thomas and, prepare yourself, no coffee. Needless to say, I was a tad bit cranky. It was cold and we couldn't turn on the heat with that silly electric thermostat, and it's very difficult to explain to a not yet 2 year old why the TV won't turn on.

To warm up and avoid having to try yet again to explain why we couldn't watch Thomas, I volunteered to shovel. It was quite and beautiful outside, and by the time I was done the power was back on and all was right again within our own little world.

Here's some pics. of what will soon be our everyday Winter Wonderland. We're off to see the Big Lake and maybe take some more driftwood; you can never have enough.