Locust Creek Covered Bridge

These are the adorable bats I was telling you about. They live in the middle of the covered bridge we only noticed that they were there because a few woke up and started to squeek.

I can almost close my eyes and picture how this bridge really looked when it was over water and people used it for travel. Now it has been moved from it's original location so that people can enjoy it for many generations.

Picnic and the Locust Creek Covered Bridge

Locust Creek is a somewhat local covered bridge that we visit every few years. The kids enjoy walking down the path, checking for bats, and visiting the creek at the end of the trail. A picnic basket, blanket, and knitting finish off the day in comfort.

Our most amazing find while on the trail to the creek an arrowhead! We will be doing some more investigating to figure out who may have left this behind years and years ago.

How to spend an unusually cold Fall day?

I was spending the day grumbling about it being so cold outside and the wind howling at the windows when I looked around and realized that I should be thankful for this break in our usually hectic lives. Typically I spend my Saturdays running here there and yonder until I am completely exhausted. This particular Saturday was a different story, Thomas stayed in all day and kept me company with lots of purring, daddy built a roaring fire,

I knit and knit and knit until my sweater was completed,

and I made home cooked broccoli cheese soup and home made bread. The day was much better when I started counting my blessings.

By now you may have noticed that the kids are nowhere to be found (I promise that I didn't lock them in the closet for the day) they were across the street at their Grandfathers house visiting. My favorite blessing for the day silence even if it was just for a little while.

Fall Tour Leaf Play

Our families favorite part of Fall, the falling leaves! My personal favorite are those first few trees that turn red or orange early in the fall. I enjoy every season for it's beauty and change in routine but I believe that Fall is quickly becoming my favorite time of year. I Would love to hear what you think what is your favorite season and why?

Poosey Fall Leaf Tour

Darling Daughter and Darling Son had a wonderful day enjoying the drive through fall foliage tour. We stopped many times along the way to take pictures they were such great sports!

This is the Panther's Den according to the information packet this is a locally well known landmark. When Poosey was an active community over a century ago, this place was used for weddings, family and community gatherings, picnics and "Sparking" or courting. The Panther's Den's legend has it that a child of an early pioneer was attacked and killed by a panther. The animal was tracked to this small cave and killed, hence the name.

The cave as they call it was just an indentation in the rock face.

This lovely picture was the beginning of our tour.

Hand in hand we stroll along

Brother and sister by chance

Friends by choice

~mom

How could I resist?

Welcome puppy Ares (who could resist that adorable little face) How do I begin to describe the path that led me to this beautiful face? In May a tragedy struck our home like non we had ever weathered before, Sammy our loyal and loving pug left our world to be in doggy heaven where he would always have love and he wouldn't feel any more pain. I still cry and get weepy when I think about how much I miss him. At that time I said that I would never have another pug because I just could not replace the best dog I had ever had the privilege to own. Boy was I wrong every where I looked this Summer and Fall there were pugs, pugs in commercials, pugs in e-mails, pugs in calendars, pugs at the park, pugs in books, (you get the idea) and every time I saw one my heart said "I want to love that baby, take it home and give it all the love I used to give to Sammy" how could my heart be wrong. We began our search by looking at rescue shelters for a pug puppy that was in need of love and care but were unsuccessful. As a last effort I decided to check the classified adds in the Kansas City Star newspaper. In the very last add there was a listing for two pug puppies who were 7 months old that desperately needed new homes because their current owner could no longer care for them. After speaking with the owner we schedule a meeting to pick a puppy, long story a little shorter we decided to adopt both of the puppies. The story gets better so hold on! Darling son is in Pug Heaven with two babies to love~

The ride home with the puppies was uneventful as they both quickly fell asleep. When we got home the realization of the puppies deprivation was becoming much more aparent. These adorable puppies had not been socialized or handled well, they cower and run at the slightest movement from anyone, do not recognize their names or respond to calls or whistles. The person we rescued them from told us that they were well loved and played with daily by herself and her daughter unfortunately I do not think that was the case. We are working extra hard to build a trusting relationship with the newest members of our family, I will let you know how it goes.

Oh yeah I told you that the story got better, DH's sister came over and told us that at Boo Fest up town a person was selling pug puppes out of a box at Citizens Bank. We were at Boo Fest and went right by the place she said they were sitting at, had we been presented with the opportunity we would most likely have purchased a pug puppy. I believe that fate has played a hand in making sure that Ares and Samuel Zeus came to our home instead of us getting one of those puppies just the day before. I am praying that with lots of love and attention that both puppies will become well socialized members of our family.

Halloween and a Tutu tutorial

Every year for Halloween I try to choose costumes that fit my children's personalities but they don't always agree with what my has chosen. This year, I think that they chose very well (with a little help from mom)Darling son dressed as a ventriloquist He received many compliments about his unique choice.

Darling daughter finally decided to be a ballerina! Every time we took her picture she would strike a dance pose. I made her tutu out of a piece of elastic and a few yards of tule fabric. The Tutu was very easy here are the steps.

1. measure your child's waist then cut the elastic a few inches larger (the extra inches make room for growth)

2. overlap the elastic until it is 1/2 inch less than your childs waist measurement sew several times back and forth to reinforce your seam.

3. cut your tule into strips that are approximately 2-3 inches wide and double the finished length you would like plus 2 inches (example if you want the tutu to be 12 inches long cut your tule into 26 inch long strips)

4. Tie the tule onto the elastic keeping the ends as even as possible.

5. a new tule tutu will lay much more flat but a few time of wearing it will help it poof out!

6. when the elastic gets too tight just carefully rip out your seam and let out the elastic as needed

ps. I used a yard of each color tule.

The preschool parents did a great job and the kids loved the party!