Candyland

One day a package arrived at our house. The outside of the box was decorated with cute drawings of a crow and pumpkins and the entire box had a feeling of fall.

The kids broke it open quickly and out poured treasures previously unknown to my children. Candy corn - - - they had never eaten it before. (Have I been depriving them?) Pez dispensers! What? Candy comes out of it every time you push this head? Amazing! And then something else.....a candy necklace!! At first, they thought stringing orange beads was the game itself, but then I let them in on the secret..... you get to EAT the necklace AS YOU WEAR IT!!! They couldn't believe it!

Mosely and London wore theirs proudly for days, munching a bead every now and then. London's original plan was to eat one bead a day until Christmas. In about three minutes, however, Bergen was sporting an empty elastic band around his neck.

The box was a huge success - the kids loved it and the Little Willow looks so cute in her little orange striped shirt! (And I ate the rest of the candy corn.)

Thank you Nan Sally!!! As the kids say, "You're the best!"

The Cupcake is a Man

The Keigley kids love cupcakes.


I think it is because Kevin often tells them this silly made-up story about a time when he used to be an ankle-biting cupcake himself. That's right. I typed that correctly. Kevin was a cupcake. Who bit ankles.



London named his stories "The Cupcake Is A Man" and Kevin is currently working on illustrating a copy of his tales.



So we decided to make some cupcakes.






We made them from "scratch". (What does that even mean?) We used real cocoa and flour and all that great stuff. It's actually an infamous Polly Boone's Mom recipe that I have loved ever since Polly Boone shared said cupcakes in class oh-so-many years ago.






We made the icing from the same "scratch".



And then I let the kids color and frost the cupcakes all by themselves. Hmmm. See the results. Heavy on the icing, but tasty nonetheless.

Alexander and The Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Okay..... the title is overly dramatic. But then, I think I am overly dramatic. And I am pretty sure I have five children who are..............ummmmmmmmmmm............ overly dramatic.

What can I say?

Today, at the lodge, as I was standing within almost arm's reach of Bergen, I said, "Come on, son. It's time to go." And, amazingly enough, Bergen did not argue or say no. In complete obedience (what in the world??) Berg came running to me. The only problem was, between he and I stood the open tailgate of a truck.

Down goes Bergen. Hard.

Fortunately, the tailgate missed his eye......thank the Lord and he recovered within a few minutes. Jane cleaned up his eye - because I am bad with blood. (Thanks Jane.)

So that was today.

Sigh.

Ira Sleeps Over

Last weekend the Joersz family traveled in our direction to spend a few days with us.

We got really excited about company coming and we even cleaned the house ---- it lasted about a day. (sigh.)

Although we were sad Emma and Jon didn't arrive in time for Survivor and The Office viewing/bonding, we understood and were happy to see them Friday morning. We ate lunch and headed straight to our favorite orchard - Skytop. (I think I deserve some commission from those people. Or free apples. I'd take free apples.)

We picked apples, ate dougnuts...you know, the things you do on fall days at an orchard. Beckett and Piper enjoyed their backpack rides and Colton, London, Riley, Mosely and Bergen had fun picking and eating apples and playing on the playground. Bergen fell from the trapeze rings face first in the dirt after shouting to me, "Look at my flip Mommy!" This time it was only a bloody lip. Hmmmm.

After dinner we enjoyed a little campfire with s'mores - I don't think Cole likes chocolate. What in the world??

When kids crashed out (Beck and Piper shared a room - so cute) we watched the latest Indiana Jones flick. It was....exactly what you would expect.

Saturday we enjoyed the zoo, more apples as snacks and a tasty lunch at Copper Canyon Grill. Oh my --- spinach nachos were delicious. The kids all behaved well - and it's a good thing because we adults were terribly outnumbered!

Thanks Jon and Emma for spending two days with us...for enjoying our noisy wild house. Next time you come you may just get your own room, instead of having to sleep on the floor in the living room!!

Abe Lincoln Grows Up

Riley has been reading a book written by Carl Sandburg about Abraham Lincoln. (Yes, of course it is for school.)

Last weekend a Lincoln celebration was held at the home of Sandburg, who won the Pulitzer Prize for his biography about Lincoln.

Since Sandburg's home place is in nearby Flat Rock, Riley and I headed north for the good times. We listened to another Lincoln biographer talk about conspiracy theories concerning Booth and enjoyed a concert by a fiddler/banjo player creating Civil War time tunes. We checked out the goats and listened to a couple play their hammered dulcimers. The best part, however, was listening and watching an Abe Lincoln impersonator - John Mansfield. He was great. Very Abe Lincoln-ish!

Actually, one of the best parts may have been the incredibly delicious barbecue we ate after the celebration down at Flat Rock Village at Hubba Hubba's Barbecue. Oh My!!