Gene the Pumpkin Man Loves Orange

Sunday Phil, his mom and I went to see Gene the Pumpkin Man to pick out our pumpkins. It was super windy & cold, but we still had a great time. Gene sure does love orange, he has several giant metal pumpkins & even an orange car!

We found exactly what we were looking for. Once we had made our selections we went back to Phil's mom's house for our annual Halloween pumpkin carving event. This year might be even better than last. We had delicious food & good company.

Here is Gene's barn.


Pat is attempting to pick up this ginormous pumpkin... and yes Phil is pulling a little wagon!

I got angry and kicked this pumpkin in... (just kidding, it was already smashed)

Here we are with our Halloween hats and scary faces, getting ready to carve our pumpkins.


The final product, we are masters. Phil got creative this year and ventured out from the traditional jack-o-lantern face. His pumpkin has glasses & eyebrows! He also did an MSU pumpkin.


Even Tula got dressed up for the occasion, but she was whooped by the end of the night. (or maybe she just hates me for putting a costume on her... can't tell).

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner... FINALLY!

Saturday we went to my sister’s house in Ann Arbor to “tailgate” for the big rivalry game Michigan vs. Michigan State. Finally after many long years of waiting and some questionable calls by the officiating staff, MSU pulled it off. It was tense up until the very last minute. Grandma nearly disowned the Spartans & Phil had to keep Aunt Laurie from having a heart attack, but we all survived and emerged victors!!! YIPPEEE!!!!

The tailgating part was very fun, although sort of cheating since we were indoors and got to use real bathrooms. We had A LOT of good food and got to watch the game on TV. There was bean bag toss (which I refuse to call by its real name… corn hole) and ping pong during the breaks to keep everyone entertained too.

Thank you to my wonderful sister & brother (-in-law) for hosting us.

Here are Nate & Phil showing off their "skills."


Uncle Jeff pretending like he doesn't know them... good choice.


Phil & Aunt Laurie (before her almost heart attack).

My Nephew, Chicken Little

Friday night Phil, Jon & I road tripped it over to Detroit to visit with Phil's brother, sister-in-law and OUR nephew. It was a short stay, but we had a great time.

The little guy has to wear glasses & sometimes a patch to correct his vision and I think he looks like Chicken Little with his glasses on. They don't seem to bother him, he was still running, jumping, playing and spinning all over the place. He has a lot of energy!

Here he is building a tower of blocks with his dad. Which he proceeded to knock over once it was taller than him.


This is Chicken Little in his favorite toy... a cardboard box with stickers on it. It is a multi-use toy and hours of fun!

House Projects

This weekend Phil and I recruited some of our family to come help us with our addition. We conned them into coming over by telling them it was going to be an easy day of painting with a free lunch. And then we threw in some ceramic tiling too! Aren't we nice?

They were all awesome and worked really hard. We got basically all of the painting done (bedroom, bathroom & hallway, including ceilings!). And we got the tile laid by the front door & the whole tiles laid in the bathroom. This week Phil & I (ok probably more likely Phil) will finish up the bathroom cutting the tiles necessary & grouting.

We were so happy to get as much done as we did! And so quickly. Thank you to everyone for your help, you are AWESOME!

Here is Phil's mom showing off her lovely painting skills.


Annie (this room was a light celery/minty green even though you can't tell in this picture).


Here is my dad supervising the tile workers.



Here is the tile all laid by the garage door!


Next project weekend will consist of laying wood floor and hanging trim! I'll send the sign up sheet around later.

Visit with an old Flan

Last weekend I spent Saturday night hanging out with my college friend Amy and her daughter Juliana at their new house. It was very exciting to see their new house which is sooo perfect for them. It even has a laundry schute that drops laundry from upstairs through the ceiling of the basement. So cool!

Anyways, we did a lot of catching up and I got to see how big Juliana has grown. She is too cute and looks just like her mom.


Here are some pics from the night.


She's showing me her swimming goggles.


Mom & daughter.

Drywall is fun

My wonderful husband Phil has been working very hard on our new bedroom. You know how I know this?...

Here's my proof.... isn't he cute!