Playhouse

Fixitman built a 2 story playhouse for his brother while we were in Idaho. Of course the camera ate most of the pictures. But it has a overhanging balcony, flat shed roof, a window on each side and a ladder on the side. The exit on the front of the balcony is for a fire pole. As soon as it was partially built, it was hard to keep kids out of it, they kept coming out to play in their play house. We have heard that after it was finished and we left, the kids slept out in it every night for a week.

Fixitman's work

One of the many projects Fixitman was working on while we travelled was to create this lights display.
I prefer my purple house. And my parents said I wouldn't find a guy who would let me make my entire house purple. All purple Christmas lights on the house and trees inside. Pretty fun huh?

Train show

For Trainboy's special birthday outing, Fixitman took him to a local train show and then to Chik-fila afterward. From the photos it looks like they had a great time!

Grabbers

Here are the boys with the grabbers Fixitman built for them today with Dinoguys help. He had seen something similar on Cyberchase and wanted to make them, so with some scrap wood and brads, Fixitman fashioned them some. Pretty awesome. :)

See-Saw Fun

What happens when you get to Home Depot for kids craft day and they are out of kits? (ie you arrive too late in the morning?) In our house, it means Fixitman decides to build a see-saw out of scrap lumber in the garage.

Thanks hon, the kids love it. :)

Animals & more

Today we ventured out into the world again for a tour of a pet store and learned all about red bellied tree frogs, geckos, birds, mice, rats, ferrets, fish whose eggs are dyed to make them glow, turtles...good times we had. I forgot the camera unfortunately.

Better times may have been at the marble slab next door where dinoguy tried bubble gum ice cream with blueberries...and loved it! Trainboy stuck with m&m's in his. :) Then races on the sidewalk and playtime at the park. (It is pretty cold here finally...only gets to 50 during the day, and 20's at night...with a cold wind all the time.) It was a long day, full of adventure and friends.

Fixitman was very disappointed after climbing under the house to discover that the pipes are buried in the ground and he can't insulate them after all. Oh well. At least the water heater has an insulating jacket. Now he can dream about how much insulation to add to the house. (Our room is apparently uninsulated above and beneath.)

We discovered yesterday that Dinoguy enjoys watching Good Eats with me. Too bad the DVD's are so expensive. He is fascinated by the show, and watches intently, demanding I read any words on the screen as well and asking questions and making comments about things he hears. It really is an awesome show.

Horse riding and other fun things

We went to a park day with friends and also to their house to ride their horse. H wasn't really interested, but L was excited. He was very excited, as were many of his friends.

DH bought me a punching bag on Craigslist, it is a lot of fun. :) What a great way to relieve tension! The boys also like to beat on it, I usually only get short turns.

We were given a train table by a friend, and H loves to play with his trains on it. He is getting to the point where he'll leave them without a fit, but when it was brand new? Woo!

I spent last week doing a Weekend Cookbook challenge, which you can read all about on my food blog: Duff ABC's. During that, we had a minor crises when the microwave rice cooker I have decided to try and start a fire.
Several days of cleaning, spraying and airing out later and the carcinogenic smell is mostly gone (except for the shelf that the microwave was on, and I think it will need repainting. (What the rice cooker originally looked like: here)

I am so excited for Thanksgiving! We are having my family down to visit and DH's sister's family too. I love cooking for a crowd and preparing a big thanksgiving feast! It is a great holiday!

Not just for the food though. I am really blessed in my life with a wonderful DH, amazing wonderful kids, a nice place to live, plenty of food to eat, the opportunity to stay home and be with my kids, a big & loving family, a car, DH's good job, the gospel in my life...when I go to count my blessings, they seem innumerable. I love thanksgiving, for the chance to remember all these blessings and see how great life is.