Backwards Day

This week is Red Ribbon Week at the kids school. They have been talking about being drug free! So, throughout the week, they have had different events. Wednesday they were supposed to wear red. Today was backwards day for Gracie. So, we put her dress on backwards, and put her pig tails way up front. Here she is....Backward...


And forward...sort of...

TJ's class didn't do that today, but he was cute anyway, so we took a picture.

For me, this week has been Customer Service Week. We have had different events all week as well. Today was crazy hat day. So, I found TJ's ears and wore them. Gracie took my picture so I could share it. The Engineering group was also in charge of treats today, so I made some caramel fondue with apple slices to dip. SOOOO YUMMY!!! I love home made caramel fondue.

Stay tuned for Halloween pictures. Happy Halloween tomorrow everyone!!!

The Fake Candle

Gracie is quite the crafter. She loves to make stuff....and a mess....all the time. The other day, she found an empty paper towel roll. She had seen me use some tin foil the day before, and decided it looked like something fun for crafting. So, she cut and colored and taped. Pretty soon, she presented me with "the fake candle". She wanted a picture of it, and I obliged. It has 2 "wicks", and a nice base.

Pumpkin Carvin

Tonight we carved pumpkins. Tony left for work about 6:30 and the kids and I got down to business. The kids had 2 pumpkins each this year. Which means more goop for me!

Gracie actually enjoys the goop now. Here she is digging in...

TJ on the other hand can't stand the stuff. He has an intense gag reflex and was gagging the whole time I was trying to take pictures. Just check out the look on his face.

He finally decided that maybe covering his eyes would help.

So Gracie dug in clear to her elbows,

and TJ decided the scoop made it semi manageable.

Soon he'd had enough and I ended up cleaning out his 2 pumpkins and "helping" him carve them. Like on the help...on his part. lol It took us 1 1/2 hours, but we finished 4 pumpkins. Here is Gracie and her two that she did all by herself. The one on the left is a cat and the other is a face.

And here are TJ's two. A cross bones pirate and howling wolves.

Here they are on our porch.

And here are just a bunch of shots, trying to get a good one. Some were so cute, I couldn't delete them. Interesting how the light goes cooky in pictures.

My cute kids

I was ready for a new wallpaper on my computer. So I took some pictures of the kids on the way to school Tuesday. Gracie is really starting to get into the hair & accessories stuff. She'd wear makeup if I'd let her. She is carrying a purse a lot now. Growing up way to fast! TJ is all boy. He loves being outside at all times. Kind of like his dad, I hear.


Gracie is 8 and TJ is 6.75. HA! Seriously, he wants to know when he will be 7. So I told him he was 6 and 3/4. Dang....is that possible? :(

TJ's Door

I have a fun new toy called a Cricut. It cuts paper and vinyl. I mostly use it for scrap booking, but I am doing some small vinyl projects. One day while I was scrappin' TJ wanted me to cut something for him, so I decided to tackle a project I had been contemplating. I let TJ pick colors and the pictures. Here's what we came up with for his door:

The m is a little crooked, but hey...I think it turned out pretty good. I'll have to reposition the m. Shouldn't be a big deal. They are supposed to be re-positionable and removable.

Stay tuned for Gracie's Door. We are waiting for our purple vinyl to arrive.

Tony's Project

Tony and his Grandpa have been looking for an old truck to restore. Tony was searching the other day and came across one on ebay Motors. He made a bid and won. So, he now is the owner of a 1949 GMC pickup.....that needs a lot of work. Him and his Grandpa are both excited about the project and what will be. So, the truck was in Missouri and needed to be picked up. Grandpa headed down there Wednesday morning and got back yesterday afternoon. We went up there to check it out. Here are the pictures:

Corn Maze

Friday was kids day at our house. Or so you would think. Tony went to work that morning at 9 and the kids and I cleaned up the house a bit and did a little laundry. It was UEA, so they didn't have school. The Corn Maze opened at 1:00. We decided we'd get there as it was opening. They have lots of fun things to do at the Maze. There is a pen with goats. There is a little area with sand and toys to play in it with. They have a little maze made out of straw bales, and a corrugated pipe for a slide. One of my kids favorites however, is the corn bin. They take tons of corn kernels and through them in this shed. Then the kids bury themselves in the corn and play around in it. We usually end up taking some corn home with us, in socks and pants pockets...and even pants sometimes. LOL So, here they are in the corn:

After they had enough of that, okay actually I have to tell them they've had enough of it, we went in the maze. This year the maze went along with the all important vote coming soon.

So, we got lost for a while in there. There are 3 mazes. 1 is closed except at night, when it is haunted. The first one we went in to, we did really well on. The kids had been there on field trips with the school and they knew which way to go in the first one. The 2nd one however got us all turned around, and we ended up coming out the in. Oh well, at least we came out! Gracie was disappointed that we didn't get to go in the haunted one. In previous years we have been able to go through it in the day, and see the stuff, just not get screamed at and hear the noises that come out at night. Maybe we'll try it in the dark some time.
Here are Gracie and TJ making their way through the maze:

It was a constant battle to be in front, but I did get them to walk together for a bit.

Here the 3 of us are amongst the corn stalks:

After we had made our way through the 2 mazes, the kids took a ride on the cow train. They are right behind the driver. She took them for a little ride and took them in a few tight circles, which they think is a blast.


Then they took some time to play on the logs, and ropes:

And pose for a picture in an old wagon:

They even have this slide they have made. You slide down a bunch of PVC on rods. So the PVC rolls. Quite bouncy, but the kids love it. Here is a video of the 2 of them going down.

Last we loaded up on the pumpkin patch wagon, to go get some pumpkins. I didn't take a picture of their pumpkins. That was dumb, but here they are on the wagon:

After we got pumpkins, we headed to the Bluebell store for our traditional Ice Cream stop. Every year we have gone to the Maze, we have stopped at the Bluebell Store for ice cream afterward. TJ & Gracie got Superman ice cream, and I got Brownie ice cream. YUM!

We went home then and hung out for a bit. Then we went and saw Beverly Hills Chihuahua's.

Way cute and funny show. The kids talked about it all the way home and said they were going to fall asleep thinking about it, so they could dream about it.

Update

I've had several people ask me what happened to me, because I hadn't blogged for so long. Sorry to keep you all in suspense. It's nice to know that people actually read my blog. Thanks.

So, we had a pretty eventful week last week. As I was packing clothes Friday the 3rd, getting ready to go camping, TJ ran in to the room I was in. He was totally panicked, and on the verge of crying. He told me, "I swallowed a magnet!" "You what?" "I swallowed a magnet." So, as I continued to get the story out of him, here is what unfolded. He told me he swallowed one of those rattlesnake egg magnets. Okay, I don't know if you have seen those, but they are big elongated egg shaped magnetic rocks. My eyes popped, and I clarified...he said it was like that but a square. The light went on...only a few days earlier one had fallen out of his pants in the dryer. It's about 1/2 inch square and 1/4 inch thick. He wasn't choking on it. He said it was all the way down in his belly. But he was scared. I tried to calm him down and I tried to call the pediatrician. Wouldn't you know it, they were gone for the day. So, I called Poison Control. They have a list on this kid probably by now. Anyway....they assure me that the magnet itself won't poison him or anything, however, the complication with magnets are this; if he has swallowed 2, or anything else the magnet can attach to, they get worked into the intestines and linked to each other, pinching the intestines off and the blood supply. "There have been several deaths caused by this." Okay, if you're a mother, you know what I was thinking. HOLY CRAP! They ask if I'm sure it was only one. Well, he says it was only one, but I don't know for sure. And has he swallowed anything else that the magnet would be attracted to? I have no clue. ER here we come!

So, I loaded the kids up and called Tony. We went and checked into the ER. TJ was so scared he wouldn't hardly talk. He just clung to me and rested his head on me. They took an x-ray and that magnet lit up like a Christmas Tree. They brought us a copy of it and said that they thought they x-ray machine was making it look a little bigger than it was. "No, it's that big." "1/2 inch?" they ask. "Yes, 1/2 inch square, 1/4 inch thick. It's pretty big." Well, they told us to watch him. We had to search for it when he went to the bathroom. If he didn't pass it by Sunday afternoon, we were supposed to bring him back for another x-ray.
See that big white square? That's it. The white circle is a snap on his hospital gown. That big square is inside his stomach.

This is a picture of a similar magnet. The one inside TJ is a bit bigger. These can be found inside those rock bins at tourist spots, where the kids can fill a bag of rocks. Well...this one is magnetic.

So, we finished packing and went hunting. So much fun to be a parent when you have to be on potty watch. TJ was so embarrassed.

We came home from camping Saturday, because it was snowing and muddy.

I got the stomach flu on Sunday. 1 am I woke up sicker than heck. No details will be given. I slept half the day and moaned the rest. Tony had to take TJ to the ER for the follow up x-ray, because we hadn't found the magnet. The x-ray showed it to still be in his stomach. It hadn't moved out. It's just rumbling around in there. They told him that if it still hadn't passed by Tuesday, we needed to take him to his pediatrician.

Monday I was still not feeling great, and of course my stomach was so sore. I also had a headache like you wouldn't believe. So, I stayed home from work. Gracie stayed home to "help" me. Once my headache finally went away, we scrap booked a little. And I caught up on my House episodes. TJ went to work with Tony, so he could be "observed". He had fun hauling rocks. He came home about 3 and Gracie went with Tony to haul 1 more load.

Tuesday, Gracie went to school, I went to work and Tony and TJ went to work again. Still, nothing. We were told that he would need to have a scope done to remove the magnet. However after spending Wednesday morning waiting for that to be done, they decided that it wasn't necessary and, we have now been told to wait for a month, and go in for another x-ray. If it's still not out, then they will decide what to do. They told us to quit looking for it, because we probably wouldn't find it. Au contrair....they do not know me. I would have found it, if it was there. But, hey, I don't want to look so I'll just wait for the month and check out the x-ray.

So, thus the reason for the lack in blogging. Life is crazy. Don't you love it? So, I have caught up on my blogging posts. There are several. They are not all on this front page, please make sure you click the older posts link at the bottom so you can see the rest.

Happy blogging!

My Man

1. The rules are posted at the beginning

2. Each person answers questions about their sweetheart

3. At the end of the post, the person then tags four people and post their names; then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment, letting them know they've been tagged.

What's your husbands name? Anthony Kim Olsen "Tony"
How long have you been married? 11 years 12 in January
How long did you date? 3 months 'til we were engaged...11 until we were married. It was torture
How old is he? 32 for 2 more weeks.
Who eats more sweets? Tony definitely
Who said I love you first? Hmm...I think I did
Who is taller? Tony
Who can sing the best? Umm...neither one of us are any good.
Who is smarter? Him I guess, as far as history and world events etc go. Me when it comes to electronics. :)
Who does the laundry? me
Who pays the bills? We do it together
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? me
Who mows the lawn? What lawn? Maybe next year he will.
Who cooks dinner? me
Who drives? him if I can help it
Who is the first to admit their wrong? me, pretty much always
Who kissed who first? he kissed me..hee hee that brings back memories
Who asked who out first? He asked me
Who wears the pants? Both of us.
Now I tag: Jennifer, Francine, Kasi, Lindsay- Have fun!

Elk Hunt

The Elk Hunt started Saturday October 4th. We went up the mountain Friday night. It was COLD!!! We got the camper leveled, and put the chocks under it to keep it from moving. The ground was pretty wet and muddy. As we started to jack the camper off the truck....it slid to the side. Luckily the jack was out a ways, and it landed on it without anything to eventful. We placed a log under it and jacked it up higher and got it back on the truck and resituated.

After the camper was set, Gracie was chomping at the bit to ride one of the horses that the friends we were hunting with had brought. She got to help saddle up this little pony and take a ride on her.

Of course TJ wanted to ride too.

The next morning we woke to more wet rain soaked dirt and a chill in the air. We loaded up in the truck, no way were we going out on 4 wheelers. It immediately started to rain. Rain turned to snow quickly. It didn't take long for the snow to stick. First snow of the year! Ugh or Yipee....you decide. The kids thought it was neat. As far as hunting goes, it's not very fun to tromp around in. We didn't get out of the truck much. Of course the potty break was inevitable. We bundled up and got out at the Pole Creek Campground. Here is Gracie all decked out in Hunter Orange. Those dots.....snow!!!

Here is Tony's truck with beautiful pine trees and the outhouse in the background. Again, all those white dots are snow:

You thought I was joking didn't you. Check this out!

Makes for a pretty picture.


Say hello to TJ!

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Here I am, hurrying to get back in the truck. Eww, look at the mud on the back of the mirror. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy!

Me and Gracie got back in the truck while TJ and Tony tromped around in the mud & snow a bit.

TJ loved it.

Tony thinks it's pretty cool, because that mean snowmobile season is coming!

On the way back to camp, the snow didn't seem to want to let up. Remember the train set up? The truck, camper and 4 wheeler trailer. We did the same thing on this trip. We were a little nervous about being able to pull everything out with the ground being so sloppy. We decided we better get a move on and get back to camp and head home, before we really got stuck. Here is the road on the way back to camp.

And behind us:

Check out the frost and snow on the windshield.

TJ still thinks it's cool:

So does Gracie.

They didn't want to go home. But we talked them into it. By the time Tony and I got everything loaded and ready to go, I looked like I'd just gotten out of the shower, my hair was SO wet. We slid a little trying to get out of camp, but we made it. Whew!