I need to work on getting back to doing this more. So, since last post I mentioned a wedding. It went beautifully and I wish them a successful marriage. The only small issue with the wedding is, who holds an outdoor, sunset wedding, one mile away from the Wisconsin border, in NOVEMBER? Yeah, it was a little cold but at least is was short, sweet, and to the point. We sat next to several of Nick's pledge brothers and had a good time. Cory's poor girlfriend was not used to this weather, born and raised in Arizona. So the open bar was a friend.

For Thanksgiving, we drove out to my parents again. This time with two kids and both dogs. Simba and Myra had their beds in the back of the truck since Nick got another canopy/topper thing. They handled it very well and didn't take too long to settle in. Ben and Ayla did sleep a decent amount, but we also had Nick's old laptop with several DVDs to help occupy their time. I think I listened through Cars 2 at least 4 times before I actually saw it. Nick didn't get a deer this year, but it'll happen soon enough. It is kind of interesting on which parts of deer hunting are the most anxiety inducing for us. Nick is ok up to the part where you have to handle the deer because he's not sure how/what to do when field dressing and processing the deer. Me, it's the part before it so I tell him we've got it covered. We had a nice visit with my parents and my sister and her family. Ben really liked playing with his cousins.

I have joined the smart phone populace. Now all I have to do is try to smarter than it. On a side note here I should mention that the night before a trip is not a good time to get new toys. Nick got them the night before we left for my parents' house and still had some packing to do. We were up a little late. Also on the funny side, Nick tried surprising me. I say tried because I figured out that my phone wasn't working. I called ready to yell at someone and the CSR realized that I was talking about a different phone than his screen showed I had. There are some quirks and what not to figure out but in general I'm liking it. Outside of the games and apps, although I'm having fun with the dog teaser one (Alex hates it), it is nice to have a phone that actually works. By the time I got my smart phone, my old one was randomly turning off. A little bit of a pain especially when your using it at the time. So anyone know of any cool apps I may have missed?

Christmas is upon us in force, we're almost done with our shopping. We bought the gifts for my sister's children while we were out visiting and left them with Grandma. So we save on shipping and get out of wrapping.

The children are letting me know that I've had enough time on the computer.

OY, that's all I can say right now. Halloween was fun and the kids got their candy, pictures will follow. The next event for us is a wedding in a little under 2 weeks that will give Nick and I a night away since Grammie is coming out to watch the kids and dogs.

The dogs, now that's one I'm grumbling about a little bit right now. I waited a little too long in scheduling Myra's surgery to take out the puppy factory, so yeah she went into heat Halloween also. Thank God we kept the bigger size diapers from Ben and the fact that Myra doesn't have a tail. She is currently running around with an honest to God baby diaper on. Apparently Ayla has something against Myra wearing one because the two doggie diapers I bought the first night she has taken off her and I haven't found them yet. I also learned that while vets will fix a cat in heat most will not do a dog in heat because of increased risk. So we get to deal with her first (and ONLY) heat then wait 30 days after the bleeding stops before we can get her fixed. If I ever get another female, their first stop will be the vets to get the factory taken out.

I feel like I'm almost ready to take the first of the written exams for my certification and it looks like I may be able to do them at Purdue. I still have to make contact to make sure I'm ready it right, but that makes one more thing taken care of. I still don't know which route would be best for the practicals, since doing the school and timing it right would put me in South Carolina in the summer.

Onto the pictures--------

Ben's preschool had a little party on Halloween. This face was just too funny not to share. Yes, Ben decided he wanted to be a policeman for Halloween.

Having his snacks.

Ayla got to go since I didn't want to take time from my amount at daycare. She did really good and got some treats. I was so impressed that she had a Capri-Sun and didn't make a mess!

Our little lamb...........

Who wanted nothing to do with the head thing. So she got pigtails instead.

He loved his walkie talkie. Ayla wasn't too sure of what was going on.

Off we go. I'm going to have to talk to Nick about shooting angles.

A successful night. The funny part was we came home because Ben was done, Ayla wanted to keep going!

Today, alone, Ben has gotten a hold of the sugar container again. Proceeded to throw it all over his room, sister, and Simba. Of course, Simba just got a bath yesterday.

This one requires a bit of back story, we have several guppies in our 55 gallon tank, one of which is pregnant. So we have her in a floating breeder tank. Ben caught her and put her in Ayla's little toy kitchen thing. Luckily he had added water so she wasn't in imminent danger but still.

Surprising to me is that none of this has to do with Myra, the Pembroke Welsh Corgi, that just joined our family.

Until the next episode(s)........................