Fall Pumpkin Harvest

We went back home to Michigan this past weekend and did a little fall yard work. On the agenda was harvesting pumpkins. I wish I had pictures of everyone actually in the patch but at the time it was thundering and the rain was picking up. We ended up with 18 Jack O'Latern pumpkins of varying sizes this year. One pumpkin is not pictured because mice decided it would be a tasty treat and really ate some huge holes in it!

My daughter claimed this one. She may need to fight the grasshopper for it!

The rest of the harvest. Some are pretty scarred from mouse bites (just a little added extra character!).

The grasshopper wanted his/her closeup. They are pretty big this year!

Overall a good pumpkin season for us. I brought a couple back to Chicago, one for us and one for the little boy who loves our Emma (the bulldog).  Their family is on a very limited budget and they will love it.

Have a great day!!!

Hugs!

Kim

Sad News

Morning! I have sad news...last Wednesday our Cocoa passed away. She had been diagnosed with cancer in December and given 6-8 weeks to live but she made it almost 8 months! She fought a good fight with only maybe 7 really sick days over the last 2 months. Tuesday she spent the day running, playing, barking, eating and plain old enjoying life! I won't go into the details of Wednesday but it wasn't good...she passed away at home, which I am happy about. She waited to pass away until my daughter had left to apply for a job and I had gone to get a neighbor to help me. She was the best dog! We are all incredibly sad! We will miss you Cocoa!


In other news...my son is home for a week from Oklahoma! He has lots of plans, of course! He is going to re-mulch for me though! :-) My daughter has an interview at a Detroit charter school on Thursday...she is excited! Hopefully, she will get the job...it would be good experience.

Next week is our 25th wedding anniversary so we have lots of things planned to do in Chicago. I will be taking lots of pics to show you plus before and afters of our apartment...I've been picking up things to make it feel more like home. When we first got the apartment we didn't plan to do much with it because we thought our house would sell and we'd permanently move to Chicago. The economy has made that very difficult so now it's time to make the apartment our home away from home. I love the things I've found and can't wait to see them all in place!

Hope you all are enjoying the last weeks of summer...our pumpkins are almost all orange and the leaves are starting to change here!

Hugs!
Kim

The First 2009 Pumpkin Update

Hello! Here we go...the first pumpkin update of the season! Saturday we decided to buy some of our vegetable plants. They sell out quickly at our favorite nurseries. Here are the pumpkin seedlings, you should see how much bigger they are already!

I bought a pretty Gerbera Daisy for me : ) Wanted the patio to have something pretty for the graduation party this weekend. It's suppose to only be 60 degrees but it is suppose to be sunny too. Maybe some people will want to be outside.

Next up we have the girls! Emma is hard to capture in photo, she really wants to see what the camera is up close and is almost always trying to get it. But, here she is sitting with the hubs...


And here's the old girl, Cocoa! She is 4 months post-op from her cancer surgery and 2 months past her given prognosis of passing on. She had other plans! I hope she sticks around for a long time but I do know that most dogs die within the year of this diagnosis (cancer of the blood vessel walls). I'm just glad she has beat the odds so far!

Tomorrow, I will be getting real busy with the graduation party prep. I hope you are all having a great week!

Hugs!

Kim

TA-DAH!!!

TA-DAH!!! Here it is!!! It no longer has falling apart issues!!!! Hurray!!! Last week, I headed up to my DD's bf's grandma's to make pine cone wreathes with bf's mom, grandma and great aunt. We had so much fun. Each of us collected bits of nature to add to the wreathes for a couple of weeks, bought our wreath forms and headed to Grandma O's. They have always used Liquid Nails to adhere the bits of nature but this time we all had issues with the bits falling off. Eventually, we got it all to stick! :-) Hope you like it!

Hanging on my covered front porch. It still needs to be sprayed with gloss but I had to see it hanging! (Click to enlarge)

From This:

Cute little pumpkin baby!

To this..orange goodness!

To this creepy spider with web!!! (DD's pumpkin)

To this scary monster (bf's pumpkin)!!!

To these yummy roasted pumpkin seeds! Soooo good!

The weather is back to being pretty and warm-ish! Oh so happy! I think it should only snow on Christmas Eve! Realistically, this is Michigan but I will enjoy the nice weather while it lasts!

Hope you all enjoy your Thursday! Hugs!!!

Kim