Brian got each of his daughters a pumpkin to carve for Halloween. It's a good thing he did because every time I went to the grocery store there just wasn't room in the cart for three big pumpkins and I just didn't get it done. Brian has to go to Tucson tonight for training tomorrow through Wednesday so he will miss Halloween with us. This is the first year I can remember when we were not together on Halloween. After church we ate dinner and then cleaned up the kitchen so we could get it messy again with pumpkin seeds and guts. Brian helped each of the kids choose the design they wanted off the Internet and to carving they went.

Here is everyone still in the early stage

Breanna was in charge of the tunes. Brian was lucky enough to get to scrape the insides of all three pumpkins. His arm was sore when he was done.

Nicole chose a cat inside another pumpkin.

Ashley chose a cat inside a moon. Her design is the one printed on the paper, just enough is covered so you can't see it all. Breanna's is the one on the computer screen.

Breanna chose an owl. And this year we will not be displaying them outside overnight because we don't want the javelinas eating them until after Halloween. Last year the javelinas got the pumpkins the first night they were set out.
Last time Brian went away from an overnight training there were 12 javelinas in the front yard making all kinds of noise. They had broken open the cat food storage container and were eating the cat food. They made a big mess on the front porch and ruined the container.

Brian did a good job getting these done for the girls. He left to Tucson and won't be back for a few days. I have homework do tonight which includes a test.

Let's go visit the cousins

Brian has out of town training on Halloween so we needed to celebrate the holiday early when everyone was available. We decided to go visit the cousins whose town was having a Halloween carnival on Saturday night.
The girls had a lot of fun hanging out with their cousins. Brian and I were put to work helping in the fishing for candy booth. The perimeter of the football field has different families hosting a carnival game where kids can win candy. Ashley won a fish by getting three rings on jugs. We already had a gold fish in a little bowl, I don't think we need two. It's nice that the girls have cousins who are close to their age that are so fun to hang out with.
For costumes this year Breanna was an angel, Ashley was a vampire and Nicole was a devil.

Two-Eyed Pantyhose

What do you get when you fill a pantyhose with soil and seeds, followed by gluing on two plastic eyes?

This cute guy!

This little guy is nestled in one of my flower pots, I think he is adorable. Ashley made him at school this year and has been very diligent at keeping him watered.

Fairytale Court

Breanna was in another play at Eastern Arizona College. This time the play was titled Fairytale Court. Bre was the Bailiff in the first half of the play.

We got her a gun, holster and badge from the dollar store in a police office play set. The gun was bright orange when we purchased it and Bre took it outside and gave it a few layers of black spray paint. Easy costume this time.

Safford Salsa Festival 2011

The Safford Salsa Festival is a big deal in this area. Most of the mMexican restaurants have samples of their salsa for people to try. For $3.00 you are given a tray of chips and you can get as many 1oz. portions of different restaurant's salsa to taste test which one you like best. The salsa we liked the best this year is from a Mexican restaurant we don't even like to go to, who would have thought.
Three hot air balloons were set up on Main St and they would go off at random and light up the whole street. At the end of Main multiple vendors set up tents selling their goods. The weather was perfect for an evening stroll with the family.
Around the Safford City Hall a stage was set up and different performing groups and soloist entertained the crowd. A good time in a small town was enjoyed by all.

Let the school year begin

Usually when the school year starts I am sad to see my kids leaving for the day, not this year. With me working and them being home alone most days the house has been in a daily upheaval. I am excited to be able to gain control of the mess they leave behind their every step.
The girls are also excited to start a new chapter in the life. Breanna will be starting 8th grade, Ashley 3rd and Nicole 2nd. Each kid will be at a different school so I will have 3 different schedules to keep track of.

The photo will all the 3 girls is the only one I got of Breanna. She didn't want me to take individual photos of her. She is going to wish she would have allowed me to when she grows up.

Nicole is striking a pose as only she knows how.

And Ashley was playing the big girl today. She didn't want any help with her hair or clothes. She can do it herself, thank you.

Now I need to go get myself ready for work. Hope things go well for them today.

Sisters Camping

 With school about to start again for the kids Ester got her sisters motivated to take our kids out camping. Ester and Rachel drove to Safford in the RV and picked up my three kids and headed up Mount Graham. I had to work that day and wouldn't be able to make it until the 2nd.
On the way up the mountain Ester's RV side storage compartment door opened up and Breanna's bag and folding camp chair were lost. Ester didn't realize it until they were all the way up at the camp site. She called me to let me know that I needed to bring Breanna some more clothes. After work Brian and I took the little blue car up the mountain to see if we could find the bag, no luck.
There had been several rain storms up on the mountain (nothing down in the Gila Valley) that made the road a mess to drive in. It was slow going because the road was so bumpy. That wasn't so bad when we were going up because we wanted to go slow and look for the bag. But on the way home it was dark and it seemed to take forever to get back down the mountain.
Bre's bag was never found. The bag she was using I have had since high school and I loved that bag. It was the perfect size for going on an overnight trip. Not to big or small and sturdy canvas so it could be smashed flat when not needed. She also lost a few pairs of pants that we had JUST purchased her for the new school year. She wasn't supposed to bring new school pants camping, but I guess one needs to look beautiful when they are camping. She also had a couple books that were lost. She needed to take a few in case she had time slow down and needed to entertain herself. She also had the flashlight, bug spray, sunscreen and glo-sticks. You get the point, everything she needed was in the bag never to be seen again.
I called the Forest Service office in Safford and they transferred me to someone who transferred me to someone who transferred me to someone, and then they hung up on me before I got to ask if they had seen the  bag. I was going to call back on the next day when things were not so difficult for them but never got around to it.
With Brian and I bringing up fresh supplies Monday night (Aug 1st) they were able to proceed camping without a problem. Actually I was glad I came up because I was able to help the girls get in warmer sleeping arrangements. They were naive and unbelieving about how cold it got at night up on the mountain because it's still over 100 degrees off the mountain. They ended up not sleeping warmly that night anyways because it just got so cold. The next night wasn't as cold and they were fine.

I showed up Tuesday afternoon after work and met them at Riggs Lake. This is what I found upon my arrival.

Can you see the little tiny boat off in the distance? My two little kids are on that boat and Breanna was off somewhere with the cousins. They were so far away. Ester brought up a little boat and life vests and the kids had a blast swimming in the lake. We all stayed out there until it got dark and the mosquitoes started coming out and the temperature started dropping fast. I brought up Kentucky Fried Chicken for dinner so that made dinner easy.
Right as the sun was setting we had a man show up with his two young daughters. He said he came up the mountain to go camping but the last night was so cold that he wasn't going to stay another night. He wanted to see Riggs Lake before he headed home. He started talking to us girls about how beautiful the mountain was and different places he has visited and how beautiful they were. He asked us if us three sisters were camping with our kids alone, without husbands. He was in awe that girls would want to go camping on their own. To us sisters we never had really thought about how unusual that really is for a mother to take her kids camping while the husband stays home.
I slept in Ester's RV for the night and we stayed up late until the night, ok it was early morning before we went to bed. It was better than the last time we went camping together and we stayed up until the horizon was starting to lighten up, singing dawn.
Tuesday the 2nd was Rachel's birthday. We spent the day down at the Lake. Everyone spent the day either fishing, boating or swimming in the lake. Here is Nicole out in the middle of the lake. I am zoomed in on her and no the water is not green, it's the reflection off the trees that makes the water look green.

She would swim out into the lake trying to catch the boat so we could hitch a ride. We never did catch any fish. There was no way we would have caught a fish with the amount of noise 10 kids make playing.

Below is Ashley drying off after she took a swim. See the water is actually normal blue.

The kids swam and walked all around the lake. I feel sorry for anyone who was actually out that day trying to catch a fish because I'm sure they were spooked.
I needed to work Wednesday so I took the girls home with me Tuesday night. It had a fun time and it was nice to catch up with my sister. Next year girls.