Crab Shack and Halloween: or yes, I'm still here...

Yes, yes, yes. I'm still here. I'm one of those pregnant ladies that is awesome at what used to be called false labor. That's the one where you have nice contractions four or five minutes apart for hours on end, and then they stop. However, seeing as Monday is the actual due date, I'm thinking there will be a baby sometime in the next week.

In the mean time, remember when I said you'd all be pleasantly surprised if I posted anything? See? Aren't you pleasantly surprised.

A few weeks ago, our neighbors, John and Deb, treated us to dinner at a local crab restaurant, Dave and Jane's. I'd offer the link, but it's not working today. Anywho, there were all you can eat crabs and Rich was mighty, mighty excited.

Atlee discovered there was also fried chicken to be had.


And of course, the crabs.

Greeley thought the mallets were pretty nifty.

Shea mostly wished he'd brought his DS. He didn't realize adults could eat crabs for two hours.

And last Saturday as you may recall was Halloween. Rich and his friend, Travis, took our kids and Amy's two around the neighborhood. When they got home, there was the traditional candy trade. Trinity ended up with like six Milky Ways, so she was pretty psyched.


Happy belated Halloween! If you don't hear anything for the next few days, it either means Emerson is finally here or that I just didn't feel like posting.

We interrupt this blog to bring you Braxton Hicks contractions...

So, um, yeah. I'm not really updating anything around here lately. Please don't take it personally. But the camera is way upstairs and I'm way downstairs and do you know how difficult stairs are lately? Do you? So, if I get around to posting anything we'll all be pleasantly surprised. If you are one of the three readers that I don't have as friends on Facebook, drop me a line or a comment or something and I'll just add you there. At least then you'll get status updates.

Where I Break Into Song and Sing the Circle of Life...

For those of you who didn't see the obituary on Facebook, Acorn the Rabbit has passed on to the great warren in the sky. I put the girls to bed on Friday evening and checked on the rabbit as was my habit. (I'm a poet.) Unfortunately, the rabbit was a tad bit stiff and immobile.
So, I hauled the cage out of their room and put it on the front porch. Rich was on his way to DC to pick a friend up from the airport, so I gave him a casual sort of heads up call..."Um, when you get home don't be surprised at the dead rabbit in a cage on the front porch."

On Saturday, he and Atlee dug a hole. The stiff bunny went into the hole. Well, she went into the hole once and Rich realized she wasn't going to fit. Atlee mentioned to him that "Yeah, Acorn got really fat. It's a good thing she's dead so she didn't hear me call her fat." After the hole was enlarged a little, she was laid to rest.

Today's Sunday. My younger sister came up to visit and we took the girls to a pet shop where Atlee spent her every last penny on this:

We had discussed that it should be a mini lop, but once more I somehow have ended up with a full size rabbit. At least this time I know it's a baby and is going to get bigger. She's debating names right now- we'll keep you posted.

In other news, if you didn't get the Facebook Rabbit Obituary, perhaps you didn't get the status update about Greeley cutting her own hair this week. Amazingly enough, the safety scissors did cut her hair. They don't cut anything else. Rich was pretty impressed with the results:


Now, where was I? Oh, yes, "The circle.... the circle of life...."

Packing for the Hospital.

We're getting close enough to having this baby, that I've started to think about what I need to pack for the hospital. You know- clothes for the baby, clothes for me, that sort of stuff. The girls have other ideas about what I should bring though.


I've decided that waiting to have a baby is a lot like waiting for Christmas. It seems like the day is forever away. Weeks and weeks ahead of you.


Then, all of a sudden one morning you wake up and go four weeks? Is that all the time I have to get ready? Wait. In one week, I will have a fully developed human being just hanging around inside me?

And, so at some point you pack for the hospital. It's actually one of the few times Rich and I get to spend a night away from the kids.

I'm thinking it won't be the most romantic evening away from the kids we've ever had.

Perhaps I need to rethink what I'm packing here.

Acorn's Deluxe New Digs.

Do you remember when we first got Acorn? She was so cute and little. I could almost believe she was the dwarf rabbit I thought I had purchased. She seemed to fit in her cage alright. But then...


then Acorn got bigger. While her ears may say dwarf rabbit, I don't think the rest of her body says it so much. So, the cage she once fit so nicely into became a little small.

So, I started plotting and planning a great big Acorn condominium. I found a layout online I liked and brought it to my carpenter husband. He told me it would be approximately $50.00 in materials. I quickly added another $25.00 in my head, because you know those carpenters. They never keep to the original bid. (I kid, I kid.)

Anywho, I told Atlee she should shell over $25.00 out of her allowance to free Acorn from the tiny, always poop filled cage her existence had become. Atlee played hard to get. Shea heard me telling the story and forked over $1.50 for the Acorn fund. ("Mom, your story of the rabbit's plight touched me.")

So, that's where things stood around here. Convincing a five year old to do chores so that I could take the money back and convince my husband to build a rabbit palace. But, then? Then Freecycle answered my prayers with this...


Once Rich cleans it out, it will be an outside refuge that Acorn can not even begin to imagine.


If you are not familiar with Freecycle, I encourage you to check it out. You have to have a Yahoo account, but that only takes a moment to set up. I've managed to pass on lots of odds and ends to folks who needed them.... and scored the ultimate rabbit habitat. With like five pounds of food too!

Apples, Petting Zoos, and Hay Rides... Oh My!

Remember Amy? (Hint: She's the friend who took all three kids so that Rich and I could shack up at Herr's Tavern overnight last year.)

Her daughter, Trinity, recently had a birthday. The birthday party was at Showvaker's Evergreens. Atlee was looking forward to going for- oh- about a month before the actual day.

When we got there, the first thing Greeley found was a duck and pump station. Water and rubber duckies. She was in heaven.

All of the kids enjoyed the corn crib. Instead of a sand box, it was a big box of corn kernels. I still have corn all over my family room floor from three kids taking off their socks and shoes when they got home. Atlee rolled around in this like a pig in mud. That's why you can't see her in this shot. She's actually lying down in the corn kernels.


There was a petting zoo, which Greeley enjoyed.

Turkeys that aren't on the Thanksgiving Table. Yet.

She also enjoyed driving the train.

It's not quite a smile, but it's not quite her usual glare either.

All the kids enjoyed the hay ride. Except Greeley, who spent much of the ride with her hands over her ears. The tractor was a bit loud, I guess. That or she was tired of the sales pitch to come back and buy our Christmas Tree there. Hard telling.

The hayride stopped so that all of the kids could do the apple sling shot.

All morning long, from the time we got there, Rich kept asking, "Where's the apple sling shot?" "Have you seen the apple sling shot?" He perhaps enjoyed it more than the kids.


Note the chocolate frosting remnants on Atlee's face from the cupcakes. The party tent was in the corn maze. I don't have any pictures of the kids traveling in the maze, though. They all seemed to have a good time. The adults all came out looking like they needed a cocktail or two. Happy Birthday Trinity!

The Problem with Home Improvements.

The problem with home improvements is that, of course, as soon as you get a beautiful brand new bathroom door...

the four unreplaced doors off the same hallway look that much worse.