September- The ABC's

The month of September has kept us hopping. This year Makayla gets done with school at 2:20, but because Hailey is now in upper elementary grades, she gets out at 3:10. This is an evil plan by the powers that be to keep you either a) driving/walking/biking back and forth to school all afternoon, or b) an opportunity to play on the school playground without having to take turns.  Makayla and I have been doing all of the above.

In September, we pull out the white boards to a) practice spelling, and b) draw pictures of our sister. Makayla made Hailey's hair black so I would know it wasn't a self-portrait. Thanks, Mak. 

Hailey, Makayla, and I ran out and got this little box that contains a) popcorn, or b) Popcorn. Yep, the answer is b.

When I was a kid, we kept our Popcorn in an 4" x 6" wire box, more or less. These days Popcorn needs a palace, put together by a Grandpa.

You might suppose this is a palace for a) Ms. Popcorn, b) Mr. Popcorn, and c) all their little Popcorns, but nope. I think all Amy is willing to take on is just Ms. Popcorn.

Popcorn and all of her trappings cost a) more than my first house, or b) more than my first car. Correct! The answer is c) all of the above.

Makayla is making a) an egg white facial mask, b) practicing breaking things, or c) making her dinner--raw cookie dough.

How rude! 

She's making Grandma's Incredible Chocolate Chip Cookies for her classroom birthday treat.

Still and all, you know she's going to see if it's good enough to eat.

Hmmm.

I knew it!

Around the same time, Makayla a) became a swimsuit model, b) took a bath, or c) had a pool party.

 Actually, it was a double birthday party for Makayla and her little bday buddy across the table.

 It's pretty amazing when you can have a birthday pool party in September in Montana without having to a) shovel a path through the snow, and b) break through the ice first.

That's a cute birthday girl.

 This is the big 007 birthday for Mak.

Happy birthday, Makayla! 

This month, we had all kinds of sleepovers with a) this cute kid from the ward, b) my sister-in-law, c) my sister-in-law and her hubby, d) a friend who needed a place to stay while getting his house ready for sale,  e) Stan's cousin, husband, daughter, her husband, and 3 kids,

and f) my favorite bed-warmers. Fortunately, a) they mostly didn't all come at once, and b) I have now vacuumed all of the spiders out of the basement bedrooms three times. They tend to take over when no one goes downstairs on a regular basis.

I also spent the night at the cabin twice, once with a) the young women, and again with b) the adult women of the ward. What happens at the cabin stays at the cabin so I'm not at liberty to tell you the adult women are wilder.

I looked out of the window one insomniac-al night at 3 am and saw this puzzling sight on my darkened driveway which is a) a message from the mafia, b) what happens when you forget to look over your shoulder while backing up, c) an escape attempt by my tomato plant, or d) a wacky nightmare. 

Actually, the mystery was solved when my neighbor told me she was on her way home late at night and saw a deer trying to take the whole plant home with her. The deer got spooked when she drove by, and left her efforts behind. See that silver pole? The darn deer managed to not only pull out the plant, but also the sprinkler system.

I decided I'd better can the tomatoes before she came back. I pounded out 12 pints of salsa and 36 pints of spaghetti sauce.

 Mark came to town to visit Grandpa, and I took this picture of some of the Jones boys a) listening to a lecture on keeping up with the Joneses, b) waiting for dinner, or c) practicing their synchronized smiling.  

 Top row: Cameron, Stan, Kent

Bottom row: Mark, Grandpa, Cliff.

We went to the store to a) practice our Gumby moves, or b) be the first in town to get our Halloween costume.

Yep, we did b.

Makayla is the Snow Queen. Did you notice how her costume matches her hair? If you didn't, she'll point it out every 3 or 4 minutes. If you did, she'll STILL point it out every 3 or 4 minutes.

I hope you noticed the skirt has a hoop-y thing that holds the bottom in a perfect circle. If you didn't notice, Makayla will also point that out in between hair-matching comments. 

 Hailey is using gloves to hold Popcorn because a) she renamed the hamster Snowball, b) she's making a fashion statement, or c) the darn thing nipped her.

Yep, we're talking c here. A quick lessons on scooping Popcorn up rather than grabbing her around the tummy ended the nipping and the gloves.

These two finely dressed girls with a camel backpack on are a) getting ready to cross the plains, b) preparing to sit through a 3 hour church block, or c) at the Rubber Duck Ragata.  I hope you've clued in to the fact that the correct answer is always the last answer.

Amy works for a non-profit that does two fundraisers a year. Rubber Duck Ragata is one of them. You can buy a rubber duck and race it to win prizes.  We missed that because we were at church, but we got there in time for playing Fish.

Why would a fish give you a coloring book? More importantly, why does Makayla's hair look like Grandma didn't comb it this morning??

 Amy provided us with this gourmet food. I'm sure they're duck meat, right?

 They had a record year this year, with lots of fun activities like 

duck decorating.

 I've taken to taping my oven shut because a) I'm on strike, b) I want to keep Hansel and Gretel from escaping, or c) my oven door doesn't shut anymore.  Since the answer is c, I've purchased a basic oven from Lowe's, which will be here in 5 weeks. Oh, the joys of living in Montana!

Hailey had fun this month by a) having her wisdom teeth pulled, b) pretending to be in a coma,

c) pretending to be dead,

d) submitting to being tranquilized.

Yes, it's that last thing. Hailey had gotten her ears pierced, and no one noticed the back piece to her earring had worked itself into her earlobe. No one noticed when the skin grew over it. Someone did notice when the earlobe got all red and puffy, but it wasn't Amy or me. The school called to point that little detail out.  Hailey had to go to the ER (the only place they would tranquilize a child). Unfortunately, the tranquilizer didn't work and they ended up holding her down while giving her a numbing shot into her earlobe and removing it. HOWEVER, about the time she got to my house, the tranquilizer FINALLY kicked in and she turned into a Zombie for the next three hours. 

Stan got a new haircut when he a) decided to try something new, b) missed while mowing the lawn, or c) forgot to set the blade in the right place on his cut-your-own-hair Flowbee  and took a life-changing swipe down the center of this head. Sorry, I'm not going to tell on him, but remember the correct answer always comes last. I must confess, I still giggle when I spot him for the first time every morning.

Our little house remodel is a) almost done, b) never going to be done, or c) somewhere in the middle. Sigh.

We just keep having other landlord emergencies, like having to paint the fascia in two minutes on the duplex so the new rain gutters could be installed by the roofer after the old ones were destroyed by the last hailstorm.

Our neighborhood has all turned over and we are now swarmed by neighborhood children who a) think we're the entertainment mecca of the neighborhood, b) are planning to sue us for $1.1 million dollars when they break their arm falling off our swing set or trampoline, c) love to come play with the grandkids, or d) all of the above. Yeah..... It will all be over soon when the snow flies.

Can October be far behind?