Serving Rice for Halloween

 Matthew wanted to be a Minnesota Viking for Halloween...

 Not just any player though...

 He wanted to be Sidney Rice

 Dread locks and all

all went well until he met up with his arch nemesis AJ Hawk from the Green Bay Packers(AKA Carter McCutcheon)...then it was on! 

 We also carved our pumpkins yesterday... 

 Mike did a silly cyclops 

 Matthew did an angry puker 

 Mine was goofy Portis

 Then I found out how odd my men are. Mike and Matthew had to sort the candy and tally how much of each thing they got.  Unreal how they are so much alike. I don't know about any of you but I never sorted my candy. I guess if I had it out in the open my brothers would steal it so I always hit it. I remember hiding it in the freezer behind the frozen Antelope meat several years in a row(true story...nobody touches Antelope meat)

Happy Halloween:-)

A short visit with Grandma and Grandpa

 Amazing picture I took right? Just kidding. My Father in law took this in Montana and sent it to us. He is a pretty good photographer too. 

 He and Grandma made the 3 hour trip up to Malta to see Mike and Matthew as they waited for the train to pick them up after Antelope Camp.  

 Grandpa and trains just go together. Grandpa worked as a switchman for the railroad for 30+ years. He retired a few years ago. He showed Matthew how to tell how old a train track was and a few other things. Matthew and Carter have really been into train track "scraps" and Mike said Matthew darn near wanted to empty his suitcase and fill it up with all the "scraps" he and grandpa found...

Oh, I should also mention that he is really into rocks(has been since he could pick one up) Mike did the camp laundry when he got home. I walked by the laundry room one day to hear him saying .....ohhhhh....ops...what the heck...yuck... I peeked my head in to see what was causing such a fuss. It turns out that Matthew had filled his pockets with rocks...turtle scales...and lastly a huge handful of antelope hair:-0

 Mike asked Matthew what his favorite thing about antelope camp and he said "seeing Grandma and Grandpa" This actually make Mike proud. We love how much he loves his G&G.

Thanks for sending these Bob.

My little scientist

 Matt asked me if he could try breaking one of his rocks in half today.  I said "no" at first. Typical mom..I pictured smashed fingers and blood.  Then I realized this was silly...so I said "go ask your dad" Dad said "you need safety gloves, goggles, and pants on" A few minutes later Matthew appeared ready to go. He looked so darn cute. 

 He began chipping away at his rock. Yes grandpa..that is a railroad spike he used!

He did manage to chip it in half. 

Oh and here is a funny conversation we had a few weeks ago

Matthew: Mom, I think I want to invent a new computer when I grow up.

Mom: Oh yeah?

Matthew: Yep...and it will be better than a Mac(he knows I love my Mac)

Mom: REALLY???

Matthew: Just so you know you won't be getting one for free...Maybe a discount but not free.

Well we will see about that!!!

Gratitude...and a few tears

There are many things in this world that I don't understand...

I don't understand cancer...

I don't understand...

I feel change coming...it is creeping up on us like a shadow. 

Just when I think that I am okay with the idea of a different school..a different house...a different zip code...

I see these smiling faces in my rearview mirror

They lost Jenny's mom...their "Nanna" a few years ago. I kind of think that the loss they suffered was more a piece of their own mom than anything. Jenny is the strongest woman I know and yet I know she still needed her mother. Jenny's mom crosses my mind at least ten times more than my own mom. 

 Tonight I kidnapped the faces that I have grown to love as if they were my own children and took them to McDonald's. There was many motivations for this. One being that this is always a HUGE treat for them and the gratitude they express is enough to last me a month. 

Secondly, I want to get in as many memories as I can with them while I can. I am sure life is about to sail us away from them...when they need us most.

Finally...

Mark's mom and dad are staying with the McCutcheon family. I wish I could say that this is a normal everyday...just because visit. It is simply so much more than that.

Mark's mom was diagnosed with lung cancer (she has never smoked in her life) and she is being treated at the Mayo. 

Today was the day she got the diagnoses and treatment plan. It was a long hard day for being an adult...

side note: Hannah actually eats shots of ketchup! I thought my boys were ketchup fans...

It was the first day in a long time where I wished I could just be eight...

I could eat at McDonald's and laugh with my friends and not have to think about grownup things..

like Cancer and moving

Okay...I just realized that I turned the cutest ..funny pictures into a cry session. 

I am tempted to change my post but I need to blog this for me.

Springbrook Nature Center

Mike came back from AC with two wants...1.) to learn more about photography. He had a blast shooting a camera instead of a gun and wished he could have a redo after seeing his photos(for the record he did really amazing! I will post some of the favorites soon) and 2.) To find this place he had passed on the train up in the cities. He figured out this morning that it was a nature center and we drove up and explored it. It was a really cool place. We all had fun. We probably ran into about 30 people and seriously only two of them did not have a camera. Everyone was on a photo shoot.  It was fun shooting with Mike despite our very uncooperative subject...who now has two cameras pointed at him. These are far from my favorite pictures but I still like them. 

Today was a very fun day. 

  a sweet old man walked by as we shot this. He was laughing at us and said "poor buddy...you must be the most photographed kid in town!"

 we even saw a snake

Want to go Jenny???