Happy Howl-o-ween!

Every year, Michael and I have a Pumpkin Carving Contest. Visitors at our home are able to vote for their favorite pumpkin. Our first year, Michael surprised me and had a little trophy made for it. So he and I pass it back and forth as we each take our turns at winning! You still have a few hours to come out and vote!

Teenage Mutant Pumpkin Turtle and Surprisingly Scary (look very closely on the wall behind 'Boo')

Last year, Deacon was 'Flower' the skunk

I have never seen, nor, smelled a skunk so sweet!

This year I got to come up with not one, but two costumes! I decided on........

Deacon as a fireman and Finn as his little dalmation!

We LOVE these traditions and look forward to them every year!

Costumes...and a confession

Monday's w/ Michael

Last night, we had our 5th Annual Costume Party. Here are the pictures of the couples:











Michael & Jane as Popeye & Olive Oyle





Clint & Amy as Popeye and Olive Oyle








Joel & Erin as Dean & Holly (Erin's parent's wedding)

Rachel & Nathan as the Pillsbury Doughgirl and an Oven Mit

Jessica & Nick as .... um.... Cowgirl and Ostrich jockey.

Jenna & Andy as Little Orphan Annie and Daddy Warbucks

Sarah & Klint as Raggedy Ann and Andy

As always, we played some games. Guys vs. Girls. The first game we played was Lighthouse Lookout (the larger version of Dutch Blitz). It was brutal. The final score after 2 rounds of Lighthouse: Ghouly Girls 51...Ghostly Guys 1! The guys would have to make up a lot of ground on the next 2 events. Next we sent everyone out on the good deed for the night. We went to homes to collect items for A Friends House and Dove Harbor. (To find ways you can help visit http://www.afriendshouse.net/ and http://www.doveharbor.org/.) The teams had 40 minutes to collect as many items as possible. The guys were assigned south of 100N and the girls were north of 100N. The guys staged a dramatic comeback, collecting 83 points to the girls 37. (We had previously assigned the items different point values. For example, a laundry basket was worth 5 points, a canned food was 1 point). This made the game extremely close heading into the last event: Encore. Again the guys gained ground, singing 12 songs to the girls 9. The final score:

The Ghouly Girls won by 1 point!!! Congratulations girls! We'll get you next year.

Jane had the house decorated perfectly for Halloween and had a deliciously spooky meal for us. Thanks again, Honey, for all the work you put into it. I know I had a great time and I'm sure everyone else did too.

Make it a great Monday!

Oh, yeah, I have a confession. On Saturday I had to run into Walmart to get a few items. While I was there, I picked up a few extra items: a laundry basket, toilet paper, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and lots of canned food. I conveniently left these items at my parents house. That was one of the first stops the guys made as we were gathering items for the collection. I didn't have 50 points worth of stuff, but I probably had over 20. But it still wasn't enough. I also saw Jenna and Amy at Walmart that day. I'm just glad they didn't look to closely at my cart!

Guys want to have fun too!

Monday's w/ Michael

Jane's last post talked about parties she has done for my cousins: a princess party, a tea party, etc. Well, I decided that I wanted to have a guy's party. I wanted to do something rugged. I wanted to do something manly. I decided on Paintball!!!

On Saturday, eleven of us headed down to White River Paintball in Anderson. I haven't been to an actual paintball park in a long time. It was really nice. They have 8 different fields and we were able to play them all.


Our Fearless Group - Klint Fiechter, Clint Gerber, Calvin Isch, Greg Isch, Joel
Drayer, Seth Fiechter, Nick Fiechter, Andy Stoller, Joe Leman, & Shawn Leman

I'm happy to report that there were no serious injuries and everyone seemed to have a great time. Hopefully, I will be able to turn this into an annual event!

Speaking of annual events, Jane had her annual sleepover with my cousins on Friday night. I'm sure many of you picked up on their theme from Jane's previous post: a fiesta!

The Beautiful Senoritas - Kayla, Lauren, Mari, Alivia, Jane & Nina

The girls had a great time. Jane picked them up and they went to El Camino in Bluffton (yes, they were dressed like that in the restaurant). Then they came back to our house and made some pottery, wrote notes to girls in Magdalena, broke a pinata and watched Beverly Hills Chihuahua. We even found Manzana (an Apple flavored soda popular in Mexico) in Ft. Wayne. I think I enjoyed it more than Jane or the girls. It was always a highlight of our Spring-break mission trips to Juarez.

So to the guys on the paintball trip, thanks for coming, I really enjoyed it.

And to Jane, thanks for once again providing a wonderful evening for the girls.

Make it a great week!

Girl's Just Wanna Have Fun!

For the past 5 years I have had a tradition of having a 'themed' sleepover for Michael's older girl cousins: Kayla, Alivia, Lauren, and Mari. I think they look forward to it and I KNOW I do-maybe sometimes more than them!

The first year was our Princess Party. Everyone came in their Princess gowns and we just had a 'ball'!

The second year, we had a Tea Party. I have a husband that would do anything for me, or anyone else for that matter and he made the girls feel pretty special by being my chauffeur and picking them up in our limo (the Volvo). He had the white gloves, glasses, and hat. Such a great sport! My niece McKaelon was in town so she was able to come to this party.

The third year we had a Sock Hop. I dug out my poodle skirt from middle school choir and off I was to pick up the girls. I surprised them and we went to Arnolds in Decatur. The whole restaurant was glued to the windows as they watched all of girls walk in in our poodle skirts!

The fourth year we had a Nancy Drew Mystery Party. The girls and I met Detective Malone at Pizza Hut so he could give us our special Mission. We had to find the Masked Armadillo because he was thought to have stolen Madame Fitzpatrick's pearls. After going on this wild goose chase and finally coming back to our house to talk about everything we had figured out, Detective Malone was here waiting for us. As we were discussing the case with him, the pearls fell out of his coat pocket! Case solved!

Detective Malone


Detective Malone's Sidekick, Little Malone

That brings us to this year. Tonight. But I will make you wait to find out about that until later. Though, if you find yourself eating at just the right restaurant in Bluffton tonight, I don't think you'll miss us! Hasta luego!

Sports Quotes, Volume 1

Monday's w/ Michael

For Christmas last year, Jane got me a Sports Illustrated daily calendar. Every day, I read a different humorous quote from the world of sports. In June, I started saving some of my favorites. I hope you enjoy them.

Jack Haley, Chicago Bulls rookie center, on his NBA debut, in which he played one minute and didn't score: "I'll always remember it as the night Michael Jordan and I combined for 52 points."

Torrin Polk, University of Houston receiver, on his coach, John Jenkins: "He treats us like men. He lets us wear earrings."

Sean O'Grady, USA Network analyst, noting that many boxers go without showers for days before their bouts: "Talking to a fighter at a weigh-in is like learning to swim. You have to remember to turn and breathe, turn and breathe."

Chuck Nevitt, North Carolina basketbal player, explaining to coach Jim Valvano why he appeared nervous at practice: "My sister's expecting a baby, and I don't know if I'm going to be an uncle or an aunt."

Marquis Weeks, Virginia safety, after returning a kickoff 100 yards against North Carolina: "That was just instinct. Kind of like running from the cops."

Mike Cameron, Mets outfielder, dismissing the problems caused by the sun at Shea Stadium: "The sun has been there for 500, 600 years."

Weldon Drew, New Mexico State basketball coach, explaining the Aggies 1-3 start: "We have a great bunch of outside shooters. Unfortunately, all of our games are played indoors."

Joe Barry Carroll, Golden State's 7-foot center, on what it's like to grow up tall: "As a kid, I was big for my age. As I got older, I got big for anybody's age."

Tony Graffanino, Kansas City second baseman, on the last-place Royals performance this season: "I've never been on a team where everybody stinks."

Evidently, Graffanino has never played for the Cubs! :)

Make it a great week!

Random Pictures II

Monday's w/ Michael

Well, I was planning on listing each of our puppies individually, but I haven't had a chance to take their pictures yet. So, I'll just include pictures of various puppies and other random pictures.

Some of the puppies coming out to play!



Three of the puppies playing "Follow the Leader" with Deacon.

Deacon is tired of playing "Follow the Leader".

"Whew, keeping up with that kid makes me thirsty!"

"Ah, now this is more like it!"

Grandpa Reinhard won Deacon a doggy that won't bite.


The puppies aren't the only animals that are growing around here.

The chickens and the ducks seem to be doing really well, too.

On an entirely different note...many people have brought us meals since we had Finn. (And a big "THANK YOU!!!" to everyone who did so). One of those meals included cupcakes.

I ate 3/4 of a cupcake and decided to give Deacon the rest when Mommy wasn't looking. Do you think she noticed?

Who knew one bite of cupcake could make such a mess!

"Hmmm....maybe if I eat my veggies, Mommy will let me have a bite of her cupcake too!"

Make it a great week!