HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

These 8 deer came to have their Thanksgiving feast on our nice green grass.  The fence posts are keeping them on the old grass while the new grass in coming in.

 They don't seem too shy.

 Kelly came up on the weekend before Thanksgiving.  She also brought Alex, which was a great surprise.  I didn't know he was coming.  We had our Thanksgiving on Sat. evening when she arrived. I hope Sophie's face isn't an indication my cooking.

 Crystal and her family will be having Thanksgiving at her home.  Ryan's family and McKenzie Pittman and other friends will be there.
 Surrender your devices before dinner.

 Max even came for Thanksgiving.

 There were a few nerf wars. Addy and Sophie got to see Grandma Mary, their aunts and uncles and a brand new baby boy cousin. Kelly visited with her friends.

 Also, Kelly got a lot of "tax free" Christmas shopping done in good ol' Oregon. She wrapped them and loaded them in the car to go home.

They were here Sat. to Tues. and we loved every minute. Hope your Thanksgiving goes well. Oh . . . and while you're sweating in the kitchen on Thurs.; think of me relaxing, cause our Thanksgiving is done.

BOO TO YOU!

A yearly tradition, pumpkin carving at the Smiths.

 Dylan, Sophia and Addy have their pumpkins all done. Smith pumpkins in the background.

 Close up of the jack-o-lanterns.

 Here at home, Kevin carved this Frankenstein jack-o-lantern.

 The costumes:  Ryan and Crystal headed to a Halloween Party.

 But when they got there, the "hosts" were a little haunting and scary.

 Speaking of SCARY, Yikes Chris!

 No Halloween would be complete without the "candy-hander-outer".

 Another "candy-hander-outer" and a cheer leader and a football player.

 Sophia portrayed the "nerd" quite well, right down to the pocket protecter and taped glasses.

 Little cheer leader Payton "fit" right into this costume.

Dylan-Swat Commander, with all the real gear. He's his dad's boy here.

 Goodies for preschool.  What would Halloween be without vampire teeth?

 And, Kelly made white chocolate covered strawberry ghosts.  Too cute!

The preschool treat complete, and I'm guessing that project was a big trick.

 But the real trick of Halloween is that they got rained on.  That doesn't happen too often in sunny California.

 Hope your Halloween was filled with treats and no tricks.



OTHER OCTOBER OCCASIONS

Every year, at Bishop's Pumpkin Farm, Kelly has the kids stand and get measured. Addy, at 16, 5' 11"

 Sophie, at 11 1/2, 5' 10"

 Dylan, at 4, 3' 6"

 So what do you do with such a tall girl like Sophie?  She can run fast on the soccer field.

 She is just getting started with a Volleyball club. She has tryouts on the 11th.

 Here are her 3 friends that are also starting Volleyball and yes, they are all the same age.   YIKES!

 These 2 mamas and their babies think they own the backyard. But we are making some changes to the yard.  We added 85 yards of dirt to help raise up the sloping backyard.  We hope the deer will stay on the grass and not the soft dirt after the rains.

We loved unloading it like this.  Those dirt clods were huge and hard as rock. I could stand on top of them and they wouldn't even loose a little dirt on the edges.

At the end of the day, we had 23 piles of dirt. While we were at work for the next few days, Kevin took the tractor and smashed most of the huge dirt clods. They were like cement almost. I was amazed he could get it this smooth, but still not smooth enough for grass seed.

Our friends let us use their box scraper. It really helped smash some clods and level high and low spots.

This is as good as it gets, ready for grass seed.

 Kevin turned THIRTY on Oct. 21st.  On his last day of being 29, he and Jim went fishing at a private 12 acre lake.

 They caught 2 trout and 3 bass. 

 The big boy bass, 16" and 4 lbs.  No fish stories here.

 On his birthday, I made one of his favorites--ribs.  Sorry these 2 pics are out of focus.

 His new slippers.

 So the "old man" is 30 now. This past summer, in his younger years, he worked on a farm.  He drove this truck back and forth from the field to the warehouse.  It was filled with wheat, or ryegrass, or radish seed.

 In the early Fall, he drove this tractor with a harrow and roller.  Brought back good memories for me.  I drove this same setup when I was working for a farmer about 19 years ago.

Last few October occasions, Addy #10, played her first powderpuff game.

 She's on the left in center field.

 Payton got the Panther Pursuit of Excellence Award at an award assembly. We always knew she was a good smart and nice girl.

Wow, well that's a mod podge of Fall events and Halloween is just around the corner.

OWEN TURNS 4 ON OCT. 1ST

Sweet little 4 year old face getting ready to blow out the candle.

 Had his birthday at Bishop's Pumpkin Farm.  Great place! Lots of room to run, climb and play.

 His party theme was monster truck.

 His cake pop.

 Crystal made TIME CONSUMING cake pops for the party guests.

 Thanks mom!!

 Favorite part of the pumpkin farm, the train ride.  Owen is a train lover!

 Cousins, brother and friend party goers.

 Dylan gave Owen a matching backpack for preschool, name sewn on it.

 Day to day activity for Owen is preschool.  This field trip to the fire station was a favorite.  As you see in the picture, he can hardly contain his ENTHUSIASM.


 He also take gymnastics. This is a zipline in his class.

He continues to love Thomas the Train, his dog Coda, and his family. Happy Birthday!