Halloween 2011

I realized that I never posted Halloween pictures.  I guess blogging hasn't been a priority lately.  Well here they are-- it's nice to remember life before the winter, not that I'm complaining about winter, but I like the green grass and flowers . . .

Anya in her Laura Ingalls costume and Talmage as Mario. 

 This is the the front of our house.  You'd think that someone as creeped out by spiders as Aaron is wouldn't make a giant spider web on the front porch.

 Here are our pumpkins all lit up.

 

We took this picture of a deer eating a bush in our backyard.  That's when the deer were a novelty.  Now they are so common place that we don't run for the camera when we see them.  I actually want to chase them out of the yard when I see them.  They come munch bushes outside the window and keep scarfing on my compost.  One morning the kids were freaked out by what they thought was a porcupine in the backyard that turned out to be the top of a pineapple one of the deer stole from the compost and than realized he didn't want it.  One good thing about these deer is they seem to look both ways before crossing the road.  I had a stand off with one on the road one morning.  I thought I'd wait for it to cross and it just kept standing on the side of the road looking at me.  I finally gave in and drove on.  After I passed I watched it in my rear view mirror check both ways and than cross.

First Violin Recital

Talmage had his very first violin recital today.  He was so excited to wear the tux Grandpa Hymas and Grandma Tina gave him for his birthday.  He looked so composed while playing but when he sat down after his solo he asked if I could see his knees shaking.  He did a great job.  He has only been playing since September but is learning fast.




At the very end of the recital Talmage's teacher had all of her students that felt comfortable playing an orchestral version of Up on the Housetop come up and play together.  It is the first time they played it together-- ever.  None of the other first year students wanted to play.  So that is why Talmage is the only little one up there with all the big girls.   I love that he was even shorter than the bottom part of the girls stands.

He enjoyed several compliments on his tux (with tails).  He plans on wearing it again on Tuesday for his school orchestra concert and then again at a nursing home on Thursday where he'll have another recital.  Busy, busy boy!

Talmage's Baptism

Talmage was baptized on Sept. 3rd. He had been counting down the years since he learned to count. It was a great day for him and was fun to have family here for the baptism and then for a lunch/birthday party after.

Our family before the baptism.

Talmage with the four Grandparents that could make it. My dad and his wife Tina came up from California for Labor day weekend. Aaron's parents came up from Syracuse.

Here's the whole group. Stephanie (Aaron's sister) is in the front with an oh so cheerful Anya. Vicki and Larry are behind Stephanie and Anya. Then there is Lindsey (Aaron's sister) between his parents, and her new husband, John, behind her (they came down from Idaho). And Berry (Larry and Vicki's son) is the one all the way on the left.

This is Talmage's cool birthday/baptism day cake that Annette made for him. She does such a great job with cakes! Not only did it look really cool but it tasted great. Good thing Tina was staying at our house to help us eat all this cake.

Happy Birthday Anya

Anya just had her 6th birthday! She is in Kindergarten, she lost her first tooth, and she has her own chicken. She's pretty much satisfied with life right now. For Halloween she wants to dress up like Laura Ingalls so we started figuring out a costume in September. By the time we got a pattern and fabric this costume was getting pretty pricey so it became a birthday gift also. I worked super hard on it all week and she loves it! I'm still critical of it but she's happy so I should be too.Here she has it on over her school clothes.

I have been reading the Little House series to Anya, at her request, and she loves it. She already wanted to be a" farmer's wife" when she grows up and now that she's learning all about living off the land she wants too be a little farm girl.




Anya has been doing a great job taking care of our 3 chickens and she was super excited to where her Laura costume out to collect eggs.



I'll need to do a post about our chickens sometime soon. But for now I'm going to pat myself on the back for actually making a new post. Hmm maybe an ice cream reward is a better idea!

Beyond Excited

Talmage's birthday is coming up in a couple of days and I am so excited. He is finally, after years of asking, going to begin learning violin. We have it all set. We've rented a violin, I have a super teacher lined up for lessons at an affordable price (Aaron is much relieved), and with her encouragement I have him set to start orchestra at his school this year. We thought he had to wait until next year but with the mention of his soon to be violin teachers name the orchestra teacher gave him special permission to start a year early-- but Talmage doesn't know any of this yet and I am going crazy not being able to tell him the exciting news.