ANOTHER black eye

Katie went to a Halloween party the other night and had a great time. The next day I noticed she had a black eye! What?! Turns out there was a clown at the party with a flower that squirted water. She ducked the water and hit a table. Ouch. My sweet baby girl now has a green eye.

Evan & Friends Love Letters

Evan tenderly kisses the page while his friend Grant applies lipstick.

Grant's careful application. Lookin' good...

Max has a bit of a better form. Has he done this before?!

Their signed, sealed and eventually delivered letter.

Evan had a few guys over the other night to hang out (ended up spending the night, but that's fine too). JD was gone hunting with Derek and so all the other kids got to invite someone to hang out with that night. Evan asked if some girls could come over to play games with them too. I'm okay with that as long as I'm around. When they invited the girls, it turned out they were having a volleyball team party at a family friends' house. They were disappointed to miss the boys, but had to stay. Since Alexis had invited the younger sister of the v-ball party over, her mom Nikki, brought her as well as a message to Evan and his friends from the v-ball girls. It said how much they missed the boys, wanted to come over, etc. The boys got it in their heads to send a message back, but sealed each message with a lipstick kiss (with my $20 lipstick, thank you!) Couldn't pass up sharing these photos of dumb boys. Teenagers...

Alexis' Family Party

Yay for me! 11 years old.

Opening her favorite gift: an iPod.

Waiting for the cake...

We always do a night just with our immediate family for each of the kids' birthdays. Big extended (coming next week in Seattle) and friend parties are fun, but we like a quiet one just with us to celebrate that kid and enjoy cake alone.

Katie's Mad Soccah Skillz, y'all

A friend of ours sent me these pictures of Katie playing soccer this season. Her last game is Saturday. I never realized how much she sticks her tongue out! She's a good little player and very quick. It's her favorite sport. Of course, she's a great basketball player too (awesome guard), so I hope she continues to do both for a while. The other day she asked me to put her in dance. I have to admit that she is incredibly graceful and athletic, so she'd be great at dance too. Might let her do it. Still mulling that one over. Alexis said the same thing. Sporty girls!

New Family Picture

Arrgh. Just realized that our family picture on the website is over a year and a half old! We need a new one taken. Everyone is bigger and older! That's not necessarily a good thing for some of us... I'll have to call my friend, Kyra, the photographer and herd the animals together for another photo op.

Derek's First Buck! (more graphic pictures)

Venison, anyone? 'Cause I got A LOT of it...

What are the chances?! Derek, now 15, got his first buck on the weekend after Evan got HIS first buck. We are delighted that the competition is OVER between the two of them. Derek's buck was taken in the same county (and nearly the same area) as Evan's was. Evan and his group saw Derek's buck last weekend, but missed him several times. It is also a black tail and is a 4 x 3. Needless to say, Derek is perfectly giddy about it all. We will go ahead and mount these antlers too (in a European mount, for those in the know), but not the whole head like Evan's. Derek is convinced he'll get a bigger one another time. Sheesh. This stuff is expensive! There goes the PS3 for Christmas!

As for JD, he still has his own tag to fill, but his greatest joy was seeing his boys get their first bucks. He's so proud and happy. He's still going to try a little hunting on his days off though! :)

Well, I'm off to the taxidermist and sporting goods store with another severed head for counting antlers and mounting. I can only hope for my good fortune of attracting more men on the freeway with this head. Good times. Once the boys can drive I'm sending them for tampons or something equally grotesque for them. It's only fair.

Evan's first buck (might be graphic pictures!)

Evan's first buck.

Evan and our friend, Cody, who spotted Buckzilla for Evan first.

Evan in the pickup after dragging Buckzilla out of the canyon with Cody.

Buckzilla finally is home.

Older brother Derek rushed out to see what he missed this weekend. "Oh man!"

Well, miracles never cease! For the first time since we left Ohio (11 years ago, in case you wondered), my family has brought home wild game. JD took Evan over east of the mountains last weekend and with the help of our friends, the Reynolds, found the boy a giant buck. It is a black-tailed deer and has 6 x 5 antlers (you hunting people know what this is). It was Evan's first rifle hunt and the only time he's carried a gun or shot one. First shot and apparently the shot and buck of a lifetime. The boys were over the moon when they got back Saturday night. It was all Derek could do to not throttle his brother for getting a buck before him. He was happy and jealous all at the same time. I tried to warn Derek ahead of time that this was a big buck, but don't know if he really believed me until he saw it. He said, "You got Buckzilla!" The local sporting goods store does a contest for the biggest buck and so far Evan's got it. Everyone told us we HAD to mount it, so I relented and took it to a taxidermist so Evan could have it. It will NOT be hung in my house other than Evan's room (behind the door). He will take it when he leaves home for good. I will not store it.

I am not entirely fond of this whole hunting thing, but realize my guys dig it, so I stay quiet. My patience was tested when after it was skinned, I had to haul the body and head to the butcher and taxidermist. Apparently it will be good sausage and jerky. Driving around the county with a severed head was a little Godfatherish, but it certainly got me lots of attention from the men around town. Thought I was having a good hair day or something until I realized they were ogling the antlers in the back of the truck and not me. Lots of honks and waves though.

JD is taking Derek out today for the weekend. We can only hope for our luck to continue for Derek!...