This Years Costumes!

   Another Halloween has come and gone.  What a blast.  

We were all ready for 

soak in the hot tub after our crazy night!  

Captain Underwear, Camber Ape-Woman 

(thanks, Garlicks for the brainwashing!)

Fatman Jake & Injun Brave Lindsey

Bang Bang Shootum Up Emily and Willie Nelson.

What an adorable couple.

Pirate Em   arrrggghh!

She looked pretty awesome!

Jack-O-Lanterns

Tradition!!!  TRA-DI-SHUN!!

We love Halloween!  We carved the pumpkins last night, carefully saving those precious seeds to roast!  We will share our finished masterpieces with you!  Can't wait to see all of your spooky creations and costumes.  And as a teaser, I have just received my revelation for the costume I will don tonight as I cook the Spudnuts and party with family & friends.  My revelation came via the Today Show and I can't wait to start preparing!!!

oooohhhhh! pumpkin guts!

(We miss Brady, Dani, Liam, Davis, Janell & Troy!)

No kdding!  Jake found this monster of 40 lbs and only had to pay for 30 lbs of it because that was as high as the scale went!  It turned out very nice!!

I carved for Mark (on the left) because had a rumbly tummy.  My choice was a snowman.

I will add his beanie and scarf tonight.

Look, Liam -it's a scary aw-pump!

 Grandpa starts laughing his head off every 

time he thinks of you saying that!!!

Great job, Camber!!

Lastly, we have Emily's who is munching a poor little jack-o-lantern and Jake & Lindsey's 

giant masterpiece, "frank".  Happy carving everyone!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

VICTIM # 3

I am struggling with scaring my Victim #3

(Miss Camber) I successfully got #1 (Miss Emily) - and #2 (Dr. Mark)

as I hid in our master bath and came growling at their feet.  Emily jumped out of her pants and I thought my life was over as Dr. Mark came swinging his fists at me, ending his attack pouncing on me.  I haven't never laughed so hard in all my life.  Well, this morning I donned the mean gorilla mask and hid near Camber's closet, waiting for her to return from her shower. I was foiled as she saw me poised and ready for the attack in the mirror! grrrrrrr.

Quickly thinking, I decided I could get her if I hid in the cereal cupboard!  As I enlisted Mark in helping me remove the contents of the cupboard - I soon realized I wouldn't fit into the lower shelf area. Drat!  I would have to remove more boxes and lift the shelf up as I somehow crammed my 47 year old body into the small area.  Now the waiting.  It is very hot and cramped in our cereal cupboard  and there isn't very much air in it, either.  She finally comes for breakfast and doesn't want cereal!  Mark does his best at coaxing her to get some, or at least a granola bar!  No luck.  Finally, as a last attempt, Mark askes her to grab a granola bar from the bottom shelf as he was looking for the car keys...she opens the door and sees my foot. Man!  No scare at all.  I did get a good laugh out of her, but no scare!  I am holding out, however.  The day is young.  Stay tuned for an update on Victim #3.

Me, realizing that I was no how going to fit - no how, without removing more stuff!

Leaf Pixies!

Early this morning, two sleepy-headed little girls knocked on our front door.  Aunt Leisa got to spend the morning with Janey & Abbie while their mom & dad went to a wedding.   

Did we ever have a blast! We watched Tinkerbelle while we had a tea party - ran to the park to swing and then had the greatest time jumping in the leaves, 

which there are no shortage of around our house!!

I haven't seen two little girls jump and squeal and laugh like that for a long time!!

Thanks for a perfect morning girls!! 

Love,

Aunt leisafirth (because that IS my name, you know!)

Enjoying the splendor of Autumn

Last week we enjoyed one of our last suppers out on the deck. 

 Jack frost will soon be moving in. We sure love our backyard!

Davis would be very happy to know that we really harvested a bushel of Peaches off our little peach tree!  They were tasty.  There isn't much that we can grow in our shady, deer-tromping yard, so when we get to harvest fruit or veggies - we feel like real farm people.  

A favorite tradition!!

Disneyland

Disneyland really is a happy place and we sure enjoyed ourselves!  We spent 3 long days walking our legs off between the two parks and loved every minute of it.  Camber & Emily were pretty little the last time we were there and California Adventure was just being built.  We enjoyed our share of the magic!

So one of Leisa's VERY favorite rides was the Toy Story Arcade.  Even though she never came out with high score, she couldn't get enough of it.  She honestly wants one in her back yard!

We were some of the lucky ones who were given Dream Passes on our 2nd day!  What a treat, a fast pass to every big attraction in Disney & California Adventure!  It pays to be in the right place at the right time!  (We happened to be walking by the Wishing Well next to the castle.) Since we already had wheelchair privileges on the Disney side, we went in search of the perfect little family of 4 to share them with.  It was really neat to do this.  

We loved the short wait that day in California Adventure.  

That meant several rides on Toy Story Arcade for Leisa!!  

With the economy these days we are coming to the realization that we may spend some of our twilight years as "welcome to Walmart" greeters - well, that has become a thought of the past!  We now know we can either model (see above photo) for Disney ads or be disney sweepers(see photo below) instead of Walmart greeters!!  What a job!  Grandpa Mark let his little secret out of his crush on Mrs. Incredible so Grandma Leisa would definately have her hands full keeping an eye on him although she could play the fairy Godmother - hmmmmm that could be really fun...chasing him around with a magic wand! 

Leisa fell in love with this dress - she wants one just like it! Really bad.

No kidding.

Such cute girls!

This photo is included for the sheer enjoyment of all Firthlings who can forever have the memory of their mother wearing a bag on her head as she rode splash mountain.

Great memories made!

To see a few more photos, you can double click on the slideshow at the top - this will take you to Picasa.  Click on photos and then Disneyland and then slideshow.

Halloween Spooks!

Stay tuned for more frightful delights coming soon!

Swiss Raclette Dinner

We are lucky enough to have wonderful friends who have shared trips and traditions of the Swiss Culture with us.  One of our favorites is the wonderful Raclette Meal. It consists of boiled potatoes, tiny gerkin pickles, pickled onions, various grilled veggies, prosciutto & the Raclette or "stinky cheese" as our kids call it.  

Everyone sits around the grill and places slices 

of the cheese in little pans.

While you wait for the cheese to melt you prepare your 

potatoes and grill meat & veggies.

Here is some yummy cheese sliding onto Jake's potatoes.

It's a meal that can traditionally last for hours while you visit 

and enjoy the great company and food.  

In Switzerland they roasted big wheels of the cheese on a special grill 

and then scraped the bubbly cheese off with a knife.  

Our green grapes made a pinkish grape juice that was a great 

addition to the meal. 

Coleman gets ready to chow!

We had a great time sharing this with the Jacklins and everyone was a 

good sport to try something new!

For dessert .... Grandma's Joans Devils Food Cake!!  Abbie Loved it!

Nail Party & BB Guns

Time for some halloween nail painting!  The boys had fun shooting the BB Guns, although rumor has it that Camber got 10 perfect shots in a row!!

Home Brewed Grape Juice

A friend of ours gave us 15 gallons of juicy little grapes.  We decided to try our hand at making grape juice.  It was a process for sure, but fun. The Jacklins were up for a visit and were willing to help us pluck the grapes off the vines. As Grandma Reta often said, "Many hands make light work."  :) The 15 gallons yielded over 4 gallons of sweet juice.  Thanks for your help, everyone!