That's What Friends (or the mothers of friends) are For

Thursday, I got a package in the mail...a little package...that made me very happy!

Thank you, Pammy. :) I will have to make sure baby Rausch gets a colts burp rag thanks to you. :) (uh, it will be a "fancy" burp rag...you know, for "show"...no Indy baby would really spit up on the Colts)

Pumpkin Carving

Our garden gave us a LOT of gourds and pumpkins. We have about 10 in our front yard. Steve has been dying to carve them for a while, but we haven't found the time. Last night, we started the carving before it was too late.

Steve gets pretty serious about the carving. Triangle eyes and a half moon mouth just won't do in our house.

The first is a wildcat, our school mascot. It is now in my classroom scaring the first graders.

Then there's the cyclops. Everyone needs a cyclops pumpkin, right?

Apparently, everyone HAS to carve a pumpkin each fall so I had to carve something. I decided on a more girly pumpkin with a W and spirals....created by a drill!

3 down...7 more to go....

I would have never thought...

...I would have a giant dog.

(who now weighs 108 lbs.)

...I would have a garden full of pumpkins and gourds.

(notice the recently painted doors)

...I would live in the country...with trees galore.

(thank goodness for leaf blowers)

...I would have TIME to write a post while teaching first grade!

It's amazing! I have time and energy to blog. Teaching first grade is great, but my (naughty) class wears me out. I must say, it's getting MUCH easier, and now that I have been away for 4 days, I kind of miss the little boogers.

My school closed for 3 days because of the swine flu. Around here, pretty much 1/2 of the people you know have it or have had it. Luckily, Steve and I have not been sick...yet so I am just enjoying the time off. It really makes me miss summer.

As I said, first grade is going well. Conferences are soon. I dread the long hours, but I am looking forward to sharing successes with some parents and having some pretty serious, much needed, talks with others.

Last weekend we had a wedding in Indy for one of Steve's fraternity brothers and then a shower for Karla. I hope Karla posts her pictures (or Pammy's) because I forgot my camera.

Here are some more pics of Moose. I don't think he'll ever be one of those GIANT danes....but he sure does seem giant to me.

(haha....good thing he's still scared of me..well, a little scared)

(he's certainly taller than me)

(Moose thinks it's great that we put all of these new balls in the yard for him to play with.)

*This post is for Pammy! Thanks for pushing me to blog. :)

Why I Haven't Blogged in Four Weeks

1. Summer is over...
2. ...I am back to work.
3. I am now teaching FIRST GRADE.
4. I'm too tired. (Why? See #3)
5. I'd rather read what other people wrote on their blogs.
6. I haven't stepped foot in my craft room since school started.

All excuses aside...life is great...and one day I will get back to blogging. Until then, wish me luck in first grade (I am going to need it) and enjoy other people's blogs. :)

New Creations

Here's some new stuff I made one day while Steve was killing bees.

Veggies

This year, we helped Steve's mom in her garden. I guess you could say it's "our garden," but, let's face it, she does MOST of the work.

We have so many vegetables in our garden including TONS of tomatoes....check out the big one above!

Sooo, I have frozen about 20 bags each of broccoli and green beans. I have also frozen peppers and snow peas as well as homemade salsa and tomato sauce.

We also picked blueberries and strawberries and bought a bunch of peaches to freeze.
We have even dried a bunch of tomatoes in the dehydrator to make "sun-dried" tomatoes. They are awesome!

My freezer is packed! I am a little more excited for winter knowing that I will have all of this great (and free) stuff in my freezer.

Fun With Moose

Moose has learned that when the tv turns off, it's time for him to go to his crate so he hides.

It's not easy for him to hide. See his tail and a paw?

When I see this I think, Maybe he could sleep here all night instead of being in his crate. Nahh, I am not going to risk it. He's bigger than me! He could eat my house!