Pumpkin Pie

My little helper likes pumpkin pie.
A few weeks ago, my husband was given a BUNCH of small pie pumpkins by a local farmer. After baking and pureeing one pumpkin, I found that each pumpkin yields me about two pies each. That's a lot of pies. We have at least 10 pumpkins, and I've baked about 6 pies so far. Six down, fourteen to go. So we've been busy. I've been able to bake and store a few pumpkins worth of puree in the freezer, and it seems to bake okay after freezing.
Fortunately, we love the pies.

Kisses in her pocket

As I posted before, Sasha has this cute thing she does when she says goodbye to someone. She gives them an extra "kiss" for them to put in their pocket and take with them. Usually this is for my husband when he leaves for work in the morning.
Yesterday, she noticed the sweater she was wearing had pockets on it. I was in a silly mood, and gave her a kiss and told her to put in in her pocket. She gave me a quizzical look and asked me, "Now I can go to work?!?"
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Vanity

I know I still have to at least post about Sasha's third birthday and her party, which occurred almost a month ago. But I wanted to share this picture of the vanity table set that Sasha received for her birthday. Her grandma and dad built it for her and it's quite cute.
She also received many costumes and children's play make-up, so that she can play dress-up. Yesterday, we finally got the vanity set with storage bench moved into her room and she is able to play with it now. In the picture above, she is brushing her hair at her vanity table.

Winter?

Apparently they don't believe in autumn in Montana. One day a few weeks ago (and every day before it), it was sweltering 90+ degrees. Then overnight the chill set in, and we've been getting snow. I think we did get a day of autumn, so Sasha got to jump in the leaves:

Like I said, we barely had a day or two of "autumn". This is what we have now:

Sasha wants to play in the snow, but we don't quite have all that she needs to safely play in the cold and stay warm. She has her boots and jacket, but we still need to get her some mittens and snow pants. Once we get that, I think my little girl will live in the snow.
Here we are putting our child to work:



Okay, we let Sasha play outside for a few minutes. She insisted she wanted to shovel the way she saw her big sister do it when we demanded Cassie shovel our sidewalks.

Heart

This cute little exchange occurred between Sasha and her dad.
Sasha was examining the pockets of her father's jacket.
Sasha: Dad, what's in your pockets?
Dad: Nothing, they're empty
Sasha: Put something in them!
Dad: Okay, how about you put a kiss in my pocket for me? That way I'll always have a Sasha kiss with me.
Sasha puts a kiss in her dad's jacket pocket.

Then later, my husband told Sasha that he was happy he had her kiss in his pocket, because he had her kiss by his heart all day at work. She grabbed him by his collar, pulled him close, and gave him a kiss on his heart.

That time of year again

First day of school for Cassie. She started her Sophomore year today at her new school. I hope that she does well and makes a ton of new friends.
Fortunately, she joined the volleyball team, and they've already been practicing all last week, so Cassie got to meet a few girls there. She didn't make the varsity or junior varsity team, but she did make their "C" team, and she's happy with that for this year. So far she's having fun with it, and I'm glad for that.

Speaking of Cassie, the neighbors have a kid that's a month older than her. When he first met her a month ago, it appears he was smitten with her. He was her shadow, following her around everywhere. He broke up with his girlfriend (but lied and told Cassie that his girlfriend broke up with him) and asked Cassie out. Cassie wisely said no, and eventually found his constant attention smothering. She's been avoiding him, and he went back to his old girlfriend again. (This was the same kid that accidentally shot me with a bb gun the other day, lol).


And here's an amusing pic. Neighbor boy pulled up a lawn chair and stalked...er...I mean camped next to our fence in the hopes of seeing Cassie while she was avoiding him. This was our view outside our dining room for a week.
Thank goodness school has started again :)

Wtf?

I got shot in my arm by a neighbor kid with a BB gun today. Ouch! The part that scares me though, is that if I was not on our swings with Sasha at the time, the BB would have hit her in her head instead of my arm. Fortunately, it was just my arm, and it was just a bb gun.
The story goes like this.
Sasha and I went outside to play. We were content to sit on lawn chairs, but I kept hearing a strange sound coming from our playset. It sounded like someone was either throwing rocks at it, or it sounded like it was raining an occasional rock onto the playset. I couldn't quite catch what was going on, as the intervals between when it happened was over 5 minutes between each time. There didn't seem to be anyone around, so I walked over to the playset to investigate after about the fourth or fifth time.
Sasha is my little shadow. She followed me to the playset, and since we were at the playset, she wanted to play. I couldn't find anything wrong with the playset, no explanation for the strange sounds, and dismissed it as maybe my imagination.
Sasha demanded I sit on the swings and swing with her. I enjoy swinging with her, so I complied. I sat in the blue swing closest to the slide, and she sat in the red swing next to me.
We were having fun, playing and swinging. We stopped swinging and we were just sitting still in the swings. The swings are comfortable to sit on, and I enjoy just sitting on the swings while reading. I read a book for a little while.
Then suddenly, BAM. My left arm hurt like heck. I looked at my arm and there was a red mark where I got shot by something. I wasn't quite sure what. I screamed and realized that the noises I heard earlier were probably bb gun shots from the neighbor kid (a friend of Cassie's, honestly a good kid), and that he shot me. I yelled loudly to my husband in our house, "Ow! They shot me!". But Jon couldn't hear me since the house was closed up so I ran up to the window of the room he was in and yelled for him. Then I panicked because Sasha was still at the swingset, so I had to run back to get her the heck out of there.
Jon, fortunately, didn't hear the "They shot me part", or he probably would have come out armed. He took Sasha, still unaware of what happened. I wasn't exactly stopping to explain. I was livid.
I marched myself out the yard and to the neighbor kids two houses down. The neighbor kid was laying on a mat, in a prone supported position, with his bb gun. I yelled at him, "Hey! You shot me!"
He looked at me horrified. I showed him my arm. He seemed really surprised and confused. I looked at his setup. He was laying down, bb gun pointed toward our yard. Between him and the yard, there was a target, some trash cans and boxes (he lined them up to catch the bb pellets), and then some bushes obscuring our playset. Well I guess he thought his trash cans and boxes would catch the bb pellets after he shot them. Unfortunately, it wasn't working. Either his aim was off, or something was wrong with his system. He really did think that his trash cans and wooden boxes would prevent the bb's from going beyond his target practice.
I felt better knowing that at least he didn't intentionally shoot me. My arm hurt, but it was just a bb, not a real gun. It'll heal.
The part that scares me, however, is Sasha. If I was not in that swing, my wound was at her head level. I was DIRECTLY between her and the incoming bb round. If I was NOT sitting at that exact spot. If I had said, "No sweetie, I don't want to swing today. You can swing by yourself like a big girl", she would have been shot in her head/eye level with the bb pellet. And that would have done a lot more damage to her than to my arm.
That's the part that pissed my husband off. He was very upset and went over to the neighbor's kids house. He talked to the kid's mom and told her she needs to take away his bb gun. She said she would take care of it immediately, then the neighbor kid came by our house a few minutes later to apologize again (presumably under his mother's orders).
I know the kid was sorry. He truly was. For that, I feel bad that he probably got in trouble. I still can't seem to calm my husband down but he's very protective of Sasha.

Catering in the middle of nowhere

My mother-in-law owns a restauraunt, and she frequently does catering as well. Sometimes she has to go to some odd locations. In this particular case, she was catering for a dog show for a bunch of sheep-herding dogs, and it was held on a ranch out in the middle of nowhere. She invited us to come out for an hour or two to take a look at the scenery. So when I saw that covered wagon sitting out there, I just had to take a pic.
The grass was quite tall, but Sasha didn't mind. She and Cassie searched the grasses for all sorts of strange bugs.

Cassie posed with some grass :P

Mud

After a good quick rainfall, we stepped outside to do some yardwork. Sasha couldn't resist the puddles. Oh she got so dirty and it took a bit of restraint on my part to grab the camera instead of snatching her out of the mud.




This puddle was in our front driveway. The high school is across the street.

Curses!

When we speak, we have to be careful what we say. Sasha hears and remembers everything, and she'll repeat it all eventually.

A week ago, Cassie was teasing her little sister. Sasha was getting frustrated and angry. She glared at Cassie and exclaimed, "Cassie! You're pissing me off". She then spent the next few minutes scowling and repeating, "I'm pissed off".

A few days ago, Sasha was following me around the house as usual. I went up to the master bedroom for something, and along the way, Sasha found her favorite pair of pink flip-flop shoes. "Holy Crap! There's my flip-flops!", she exclaimed loudly.

"Holy crap" is one of her favorite phrases. We never know when it'll come out of her. I can't help but laugh when she says it, even though I know it's so wrong. She sees the reaction she gets out of people and it makes her do it even more.

She's said a few other bad phrases, but they're usually immediately after someone else says them. At that point, we can scold the original potty mouth.

Moving update

We have successfully moved to our new house. I was without internet until it got hooked up today, so now I have a lot of catching up to do.
I will start with pics of the new place. All pics expand when clicked.

Cassie's room
My mother-in-law used to be an interior decorator. Here's what she did with Cassie's room. Cassie's room is the only finished room in the house so far.


Living room
Living room and you can see the entrance to Cassie's bedroom off to the left.
We lost our entertainment center in the move and got rid of our tv, so uh, we have nothing to put in here yet except the sofa, chair, and tables.


Guest Room
We had four bedrooms and only need three so this is just a guest room in case we get visitors. For now, just a twin bed and some spare furniture.
This room is actually green.


Sasha's Room
Curtains are temporary and will be replaced soon.
Sasha's bed, armoire and her toy box/bookcase in her new bedroom


Master Bedroom
Master bedroom. We repainted it because it used to be yellow. So we painted tan and we're going to decorate with navy blue.
The french doors on the left side are the entrance to the master bedroom office. the middle door is to the master bathroom. And the white doors to the right are to the closet.


Den/Computer Room
Downstairs den. We will line the wall with our computer desks. Then Sasha will have a play area off to the right side.
There is a wood burning stove in the foreground of this first picture.
I hate the wallpaper. It has ducks and cattails. I will get rid of it someday. I don't mind the blue paint at the bottom.

A view of the den/computer room that shows Sasha's play area. This room is HUGE.
Dining Room and Kitchen
This is our new dining room. We have not finished painting. The house previously had seriously ugly wallpaper and we are getting rid of that. So ignore the walls for now as they are unfinished.
Kitchen View 1- from the dining area looking towards the kitchen
Kitchen view 2- The white door goes to the laundry room.
Kitchen view 3. You can see two stairwells here. The stairs on the left go UP to the master bedroom, and the stairs on the right go DOWN to the den/computer room.


Backyard
Sasha enjoys her new yard. It's actually bigger than it looks as the yard extends to the right quite a ways in front of and beyond the garage. Here she played with her pool on a hot summer day, but that playset behind her is a lot of fun too.

Moving Day

Deja vu, hey?
Today is moving day. We're moving to our new home. It's supposed to be a very hot afternoon so I hope we get the worst of the moving done before we get scorched.

Moving again

I know I've been slacking since we moved. We've officially been in Montana for a month now. I didn't take any pics of the house we moved in to, but it appears we will be moving again very soon. Maybe next week?
I love our apartment, but we got an amazing offer that we just couldn't refuse. Sasha has been here a while already and has made a ton of friends with the locals. One particular fan of hers is a regular at the deli (my mother in law's restauraunt), and is the president of a bank chain. Well he has a house in town here, one of several he owns. He likes to control the people he lives next to so he bought the neighboring houses and rents those out to people he likes. One day he asked my mother in law what we were paying in rent for the place we are living at now. She told him and he offered us the 4BR 2BA 2 Car garage house next door to him for an extra $25 a month. He said Sasha needs a yard and a playset to play on. (We have NO yard currently as we are above a store).
The people that live in the house currently bought a house of their own, and they had 2 children. They put a huge playset in the back yard. It's like one of those dream playset, and retails for over $2k at costco. The yard is fenced.
The house itself is amazingly nice. It has more room than I know what to do with and the kitchen is a dream. There's even a jacuzzi in the master bedroom's bathroom.
So yeah, I guess we're moving. The current residents just moved to their new home this week and the place we live at now was only a month-to-month lease so we are now free to move. The current landlord understands.

Camping trip in Wyoming

We went on a camping trip for the 4th of July weekend. 4 days in the Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming. We were invited by my husband's mom. So the trip consisted of my mother in law, her her husband Les, his daughter Jocelyn, her husband Levi (they are expecting a daughter in November). And of course me, my husband, Cassie, and Sasha. Oh and their dogs Doc, Jet, and Jack.
My husband's parents have a really awesome camper, plus they took along a tent and their horse trailer.
The drive was very scenic. Here are a few pics from the drive (click to enlarge any of them).
Check out the pic I took of this mountain pass we took in Wyoming, and we were only half way up. Chief Joseph Scenic Highway, Wyoming:

Suicidal Chipmunk on the edge of a sheer drop-off overlooking a very curved and steep road. Chief Joseph Scenic Highway, Wyoming :
And on to the camping. Here's our campsite one morning. It rained almost every day and oscillated between hot and cold temperatures. It was rainy this particular morning and Levi is cooking our breakfast on the grill.
Sasha didn't care about the rain. As you can see she had her swimming pool and she spent several hours in that when it got hot.
Some views from our campsite. This is the river view from our campsite. Pretty.
And the view from our campsite of the opposite direction. My husband Jon went hiking and climbed to the summit of the hill pictured here. (This is an HDR photograph, my very first!)
We went hiking and this is one of the HDR pictures I put together of a view along our hiking path.

Misheard lyrics

Each night, I sing a song to Sasha as part of our bedtime routine. She usually chooses between Twinkle Twinkle, Mary had a little lamb, 5 Little Monkeys, the ABC song, or a few other songs.
Yesterday she was playing in her bedroom and singing to herself. I smiled. It was Mary Had a Little Lamb. Then I heard her version:
"She made the toilet laugh and play."
Oops! I can't quite figure her version out.

She has a bunch of funny little sayings. I wish I could remember them all. I don't know where exactly she picked up the phrase "Close the gate man", but I've been asking around as to the origin where she picked up that phrase. I'm sure it must have a story.
Her favorite things to play lately are Tea Party, and Doctor. She has a little doctor set and enjoys making each of us play the patient while she injects us with her syringe, listens to our hearts with her stethoscope, hammers on our knees, and takes our blood pressure with her toy sphygmomanometer.
There is a school playground a block away, so we take her to that for a few minutes each day. We can't stay long. Although I do slather each of us up with sunblock, the sun is very harsh and still manages to burn us quickly if we don't take care to limit our sun exposure. My husband is burned beyond lobster right now. I prefer to avoid sun damage on myself and on my kids.

Oh and Sasha really does have a huge fan club. At my mother-in-law's restaurant, there is a group of ladies that go there daily in the hopes of Sasha being there. They all absolutely adore her. They make special crafts and presents for Sasha. Sasha knows them like family and hops into their laps the moment she sees them.

Move Complete!

We are now official residents of the beautiful state of Montana.
We rented a u-haul truck, and had movers come to help us with packing, loading the truck, and cleaning the apartment. Long story short, they sucked at all except loading. Because they did such a horrible job at packing, we had to abandon some much needed furniture to make room on the truck, and they charged us overtime because it took them so long. Their cleaning skills sucked too.
But we made it safe and sound. The drive was very long and we had to spend two overnights in hotels along the way. I am very glad we made the trip safely though.
We got the truck unpacked, thanks to the help of my mother-in-law and her husband. She also helped us unpack. She is very talented at organizing and decorating, so it's starting to look really nice here.
The apartment is bigger than I imagined. I can't believe how huge it is. One of these days I'll have to get some pictures up, but I can't do that until I find my card reader.
Anyways, just wanted to quick post an update that we are safe and busy. Internet just got hooked up about an hour ago but we don't have a computer desk anymore. My husband will have to build that, and an entertainment center for us too.

Oh, I almost forgot. Sasha was so happy to see me and I was so happy to see her too. I cried like a baby and held her in my arms when we were reunited for the first time, and she held me so hard and wouldn't let me go. She and I have been nearly inseparable since and thankfully no damage to our relationship with the 2.5 month separation. She is LOVING her new apartment and bedroom.

It's almost time

This might be my last post from Illinois! The BIG move is this weekend, and things are getting hectic, if they weren't already.
Tonight I will be reunited with my husband, and I look forward to that. I miss him terribly. But no time to relax and say hi, as we have a ton of work to do in a very short time period.
I really really hope this move goes well. That we arrive at our destination safely with all our belongings. Prepare for the worst, and hope for the best. I am nervous and I know there is no rest for me for at least a week. I now look forward to the day that I can hug my family and maybe even relax in my new home.

Cassie, meanwhile, has a little last minute adjustment problems. She had a crush on a boy in her woodshop class on since October, and he finally asked her out on the last day of school. He didn't know she was moving. They've spent a little time together yesterday and the day before, and are now "in love". All along, she's looked forward to the move, but now she has a lot of hesitation. I know she will miss her friends and her new boyfriend, and I do feel for her. Alas we've already moved things forward and there's no going back anymore. I hope she will be okay. She and I have gotten very close the last few months alone together and I love her very much. I want for her to be happy. I want everyone to be happy. But I don't think there's much that can be done anymore.
We're moving forward and I have faith that the move is good for everyone in the long run. Even for Cassie.

Dad is busy!

Above is a picture of the new bed and toybox/bookshelf that my husband has built for Sasha. And here is Sasha checking her new bed out.

Everything still needs paint. The bed and toy shelf will join the armoire in Sasha's new bedroom once we get moved in. Move in date is less than two weeks away.

Meanwhile, my husband has been painting the new apartment. Here is a before and after shot, still in progress:
Before
After
I did not like the yellow and that yucky brown that it was originally.
Now it's not done, because actually my mother-in-law is going to do some rag-rolling to that blueish grey wall. That's where you take a rag and stick it in paint, then blotch it on the wall in a pattern. So the blue wall will have white rag rolling done over it and it will probably look something like this.

Less than two weeks and our family will be reunited again. These next two weeks will definitely be busy though.

Miss Fix-it

Sasha has seen her grandma, grandpa, and dad doing a lot of 'fixing' lately, and it shows. She found the nails in the window screen at her grandma's house, and promptly grabbed her toy hammer.
"Don't worry Dad, I'll fix it," she announced to her father and went to work.


And here are a few pictures of Sasha at the new apartment in Montana:


Talking to grandma.

Armoire

So I previously mentioned that Sasha is getting her own bedroom in our new apartment. Sasha's dad and grandma are busy getting the new place ready! The apartment has 2.5 bedrooms. Sasha gets the "half-bedroom", which is actually perfect for her. It's small but that's fine. It's not closet sized or anything rude like that. Previous tenants used it for an office. It cannot officially or legally be considered a bedroom because it has no windows and no closet. When I look at the floor plan, I wonder if it wasn't once a part of the master bedroom.
Anyways, it's perfect for Sasha. It will be her very first bedroom. She will want to be close to mom and dad, and the room is right there next to the master bedroom.
My mother-in-law is a very talented former interior decorator. She will be decorating and painting Sasha's room as a very special project (Yay!). The theme she has chosen is pink and green. So far she has purchased a pink and green rug, and a pink and green bed comforter. She is going to repaint the walls.
Sasha's new bedroom has no closet, so an armoire is needed. Sasha's dad and grandma decided to build one from scratch. Here is Sasha posing with her new (unfinished) armoire:
Sasha poses with her new (unfinished) armoire.
So far I think it looks great. Here is a second picture, this time look on top of the armoire. Grandma has it partially decorated. You can see the pink and green theme in the choice of decorations. The bunny in the basket even has green and pink clothes.
I believe the armoire will be painted green and pink in accordance with the theme but I could be wrong.
There are also plans in the works for grandma and dad to build Sasha's bed, a matching toy box, and also a bed for Cassie.

New Apartment!!!

Okay now this is finally starting to feel real. Through much networking, my husband and mother-in-law in Montana have found the perfect new apartment for us. They are there now, getting it ready for move in. Security deposit is paid. Moving truck and movers are scheduled. Everything is set for an official move.
The apartment
It is a two-and-a-half bedroom with a nice spacious one car garage. The half bedroom is a small bedroom attached to the master bedroom, and it has no windows, so it technically cannot be considered a real bedroom. The half bedroom also has no closet. This is perfect for Sasha's first new bedroom of her own.
Kitchen, already being tested by Sasha and Grandma.
A double sink! Oh how I have missed these seemingly normal sinks! Our current sink (inset bottom right) just has one well in it and it's so hard to properly wash dishes with only one sinkwell. I look forward to having a double sink with a sprayer again! Oh how simply amused I am. (Ignore the mess, they're painting)
Dining room. Nothing fancy.
Woot! A really big kitchen pantry!
Living room.
Master bedroom, 2 closets. I like the way the window is set out like that so I can set maybe plants or something there.
Sasha's first bedroom! Note no windows, no closet and it's a bit small. It is considered the "half bedroom" and is right off the master bedroom close to mom and dad.
Laundry room! Grandma has purchased us a washer and dryer set as a housewarming gift. I'm so happy.
Cassie's bedroom. Huge closet!
Uh, bathroom. Nothing extraordinary. Apartment has only one bathroom. It's bigger than our current bathroom and I think I'll have to put some shelves above the toilet for shelf space.

So there you have it. Home sweet home. There is no yard, but that's okay because it's Montana and there's plenty of outdoors. The apartment is actually above a store/boutique and the landlords are super nice. The apartment is a block away from the grade school, 4 blocks away from the high school. It's in walking distance of everything I could possibly need to include the grocery store, bank, and post office. I'm really excited.