Politics and Pumpkins

Here's what we've been up to this week...

Who knew political activism was so much fun!?! After being obsessed with the signs and bumper stickers for the last few weeks, Owen finally asked "What IS Prop 8?"

Our experiment - much better than carving, lasts longer, costs a lot more...

Happy Halloween!

Bikers, Zombies and a Cat Lady - oh my!

We had our annual Keeler Family Halloween costume party this weekend.

I love this tradition! Everyone dresses up - even Mimi and Grandad (check them out this year!)

You may not know what Chris and I are dressed up as unless you watch a certain tv show which comes on Thursday nigths. Some people got it right away, others needed a little explanation.

We have had some really creative costumes over the years. This year I think the awards go to Crazy cat lady and renegade girl scout.

We usually eat dinner and play some games and it always includes a spooky story told by Mimi. Chris was entranced by his mom's storytelling.

Indiana Jones taking down a Bad Guy.

Jenni made adorable owl cupcakes!

We love belonging to such a fun family! Thanks to the Burnetts for hosting another great one!

My first bus ride, and oh yeah, I went to the Pumpkin Patch

Owen had his first official field trip last week to the Peltzer Farms Pumpkin Patch. What was he most excited about? Riding the bus...go figure.

I got to go with him as a chaperone. We had fun finding our way through the corn maze, visiting the farm animals, and picking out a pumpkin to take home.

By the end we were hot and tired but it was a fun day!

Our scary Halloween house

I love all holidays and feel an intense need to decorate for every changing season. The kids love it too and get so excited on decorating day. I pulled out 4 boxes of Halloween stuff this year. And if you know me at all - you know it's the cutesy smiling pumpkins type of stuff - no skeleton hand candy bowls here! Our kids are far too wimpy for that kind. Shortly after decoration day - Shelby had a hard time falling asleep one night. Chris immediately blamed me and my "scary" decorations. "How do you expect someone to sleep when the house is full of skulls?" I guess he doesn't appreciate them as much as the kids do.

Another thing I love about fall is baking. We've already had pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin pie, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, apple strudel, apple crostada, apple cake ... it's just the beginning of the 3 month long holiday eating frenzy! Now, if the weather would just cooperate we can begin to celebrate properly. I would like to be able to wear a sweater some day soon.

Surprise!

My dad really loves his birthday. This year we actually pulled off a great surprise birthday party for him. Unfortunately, in order ensure that it was really a surprise, he spent most of his birthday feeling neglected and unloved by most of his children. We had to pretend that we were just too busy to get together for his birthday. By the end of the day, he was just depressed. I think he got over it when Mom (acting like she was taking him out for his birthday dinner) brought him to Johnny Carinos where there were 24 of us waiting to surprise him in the banquet room. We had a fun dinner - then we came back to our house for a "chocolate extravaganza" in his honor! Happy Birthday Dad - we love you!

I want to run!!!

It figures ... I go and spend most of my life trying to avoid any type of physical exertion then when I figure out that I really enjoy sweating and look forward to getting up early out of my comfy bed to go running of all things - I actually lose the ability to do it. How's that for irony! I have been recovering from a "sports injury" for the last THREE weeks. For once, it was more than just getting hit in the head with a ball (my head is a ball magnet), I pulled my hamstring playing soccer. Why was I playing soccer? Why was I trying to run down a teenage girl? I don't know the answer - all I know is that now I can't sit through 3 hours of church and I can walk but for some reason I can't run at all. It's thoroughly depressing. I run with some friends on Saturday mornings - last week they ran NINE miles while I was home probably eating a donut or something. I will never be able to catch up!