Some October Highlights...

Nearly every morning after the big kids head off to school, Thomas wants me to play
"CARNATOR!"

We hop up onto my bed and pretend we are dinosaurs and battle each other.

We started playing
"CARNATOR" hmmm....maybe a year ago??? It's been so long, I can't remember!!! I know we used to play it at the old house all the time, so it has been awhile!

Playing "CARNATOR" came about one day when Thomas was at the stage in his life when he was transitioning from trains to dinosaurs.

One day, Thomas watched Disney's "DINOSAUR" movie. He was hooked!!! He watched that movie over and over and over and over and over again!!!
His favorite part of the movie is at the end when Aladar fights the carnator and the carnator falls off the cliff!

So one day, Thomas wanted to play "CARNATOR." We have been playing ever since! :)

Occasionally, we add a few variations. Thomas will be a T-rex, like in this picture above or he will be an egg, like in the picture below. Today he was a triceratops and he stabbed me in the guts with his horns and killed me...I was a carnator.

What a cute dinosaur you might think, but when he hatches, he's usually a mean t-rex ready to attack!

One morning he was a baby longneck and he rode on my back...I was Momma longneck.

Most of the time Thomas hatches out as a t-rex, which is his favorite dinosaur right now!






A week ago, Friday, we had a little predicament...Bella was up on our roof!!! The kids called me out to come see.

Sure enough, she was sitting on the peek just above the front door, right on the point!

Just imagine a black kitty sitting on the point above the door and you'll get the picture! :)

I told the kids that Bella would be fine and she'd be able to get down since she got up...at least that's what I thought!

The kids were not convinced and Andrew proceeded to pull out the ladder and put it by the window, by the door. He climbed up, but couldn't reach her since he was on our 6 foot ladder and Bella was up about 12 feet.

I was trying to make dinner and told everyone that if Bella was still on the roof when Edd got home we'd send him up with the big ladder.

Well, a short time ladder I took this picture...
When Edd got home, the kids swarmed him and they all told him their version of the problem, all at once of course!

Edd thought that Bella would be able to get down by herself, but the kids insisted that she couldn't and that she was scared because she kept meowing.

So Edd got the big extension ladder and up he went. Sure enough, Bella was one scared kitty!!! Edd scooted up the steep roof and grabbed Bella! Yeah!!!
She was rescued, almost..................................

PROBLEM!!!

How do you climb down a ladder one handed with a scared kitty???

SOLUTION ~

You climb down two handed! After tossing scared kitty down into the blanket anxiously awaiting below, which was being held by all of us to help break her fall.

Well, it sounded great!!! But the execution wasn't so great. Bella's fall was broken sure enough, but not by the blanket.

Instead, she broke her fall on my head!!! I was standing right below the corner that stuck out, which is where Edd tossed Bella down from. Only problem was that it was dark outside and I couldn't see the scared BLACK kitty falling right towards my face!!!

Luckily the damage was minimal...I had a split, fat lip and a cut on my shoulder where a claw got me and Bella had a crushed ego. She was really sweet, almost timid the rest of the night!


The next morning the kids had fun outside for a little while~they were trying to teach Mattie how to roller blade.

It was one of our first cool mornings, but the kids thought it was FREEZING!!! The raided the coat closet and went back outside!

It was only about 53 outside!

In a few weeks, the kids will think 53 is warm and will be playing outside without jackets!

Later that night, Edd and I ventured into New Orleans for a company dinner. I hadn't thought it was THAT cold, so I didn't take a sweater or a jacket with me.

When we got into New Orleans, the wind was blowing some and everyone was all bundled up!!! I had a few second thoughts, but I was fine...it really wasn't cold, just cool...it felt nice! :)

Edd and I had dinner at Brennan's! One of the guys working at the refinery was having his farewell dinner. He and his family are heading to Canada for their next assignment.

Edd and I got to New Orleans a little early so we had a chance to walk around. It was pretty fun! We saw a couple who had just gotten married just before they went and marched in their "second line parade!" I think that's what it's called. We were about a block away from their parade, but could see the umbrellas! We also looked in some windows at a few different art shops...pretty amazing stuff! :)

As we walked up to Brennan's, we saw the same guy playing the trombone, who we'd seen on the 4th of July!!! I think he was even in the same spot!!!

Once we were in Brennan's, I over heard a cute old couple speaking FRENCH! I thought that was pretty cool!!! That was the first time I'd heard anyone down here speak French!


A week ago Sunday, was FREEZING COLD!!!! It was 42 outside and in my book that is COLD!!! In fact, out of all the places where we have family living, we were the coldest!!! The crazy thing was that SLC and Boulder, CO were the warmest that morning!!!

When we got home from church, Mattie took my picture! If you look closely, you can see the red line on my lip from Bella! Just below my left front tooth.
After we ate, we all put on warmer clothes and went for a Sunday drive.

Edd was hoping to find a really cool, typical Louisiana landscape for us to get a family picture.

We saw a lot of beautiful areas, some very typical...swamp area with big oak with tons of Spanish moss...but the lighting wasn't quite right.

When we got back to Madisonville, we went over to the Tchefuncte River and tried to get some pictures there.

It is so tricky to get 5 kids to cooperate all at the very same time!!! Thomas ended up being quite the clown! If you haven't seen Edd's picture of the kids from last Sunday, you should go check it out on his blog at http://www.eddzphotojournal.blogspot.com/ (look at entry Family Picture - Outtake #237 ) we were all laughing pretty hard after that one!!! It was totally a Thomas moment!