BOO!

G wanted to be a skeleton for Halloween.  I had a feeling it was going to be a cold one this year, I'm glad I listened to my feeling.  I found, about two months ago, a sweatpants/shirt combo at Old Navy and scooped them up.  They were a little bit big but they also glow in the dark.  I figure one cancels out the other, right?  To be clear, G actually wanted to be a real skeleton, like anatomical with bones and all that.  He specifically didn't want to be the scary kind of skeleton because he doesn't like being scared and therefore didn't want to scare other children.  It's so nice to see some compassion out of him!

We went to Zootown to take him trick or treating.  I did his make-up in the car and got him dressed after picking up a pair of long johns to go under the sweats.  He thought he was soooooooooooo awesome.  I stopped the makeup where you see above because I knew that it wouldn't stay on anyway so why get all technical with it?  I was right, he rubbed it off in no time.  

We went to a neighborhood that sits up above town and they got their trick or treat on.  He would tell people, after they gave him candy, "Happy Halloween," then he'd pause and yell, "BOO!"  Hahahaha, yep you're a scary dude G!  After just shy of an hour G said, "I'm done."  We gave him a few chances to change his mind.  He said he doesn't need candy anyway since it's not good for him and then declared, "Let's go get some pizza!"  He had his first Book-It coupon so we did that.

When we left Pizza Hut G said to us, "Okay I'm ready to trick or treat some more."  Uh, no.  It was after 8 pm and so we headed home.  We had to make sure we were home in time to trick or treat at Uncle Ron and Aunt Ruth's house anyway.

It's Nana time

My mom came over for over a week so that I could go hunting with E without having to take G with us.  YES!  Alone time with my husband?!?  That's craziness.  G of course adores his Nana so he was happy to have a lot of time with her (and Diesel, natch).  

She was wonderfully brave and she even schooled G while I was gone.  At least I know I'm not some kind of short-tempered anomaly, he really is a pain in the arse when it comes to school, she admitted that.  But just like me, she made him do it anyway.  He told me he likes Nana as his teacher better because she's not as mean as me.

We took Nana and the dogs to the creek to look for special rocks.  It was chilly!

Do you think he knows how lucky he is to live where he lives?  Someday he might know.

G and I took the dogs for a walk behind the house.  It's my favorite light of the day.

Little stinker only poses when threatened nowadays.  I can't even bribe him.

Ed started to take down the trampoline for winter but he got sidetracked.  He only got the safety net off.  Well who needs the safety net?  Not G.  Oy.

Thanks, Mom, for spending so much time with G so I could go kill something!  I really appreciate what you do for us!

If we do this right...

G loves to read.  He can't read yet but he loves to read.  Makes sense, right?  He loves to be read to but if we're not available he'll still just sit with a book and flip through the pages as if he's absorbing every word silently.  It's one of those things that I love about him.

As he's starting to learn to read I'm blown away by how the process progresses.  I have watched a lot of firsts with this boy but watching him figure out how to read is fun.  A lot of fun in fact.  I can see the wheels clicking and if it's a sight word I'm impressed he remembers it.  If he sounds out a word I'm impressed.  My heart swells when he reads a word I don't have to help him with.  It's so cool to watch his brain developing like this.

If we do this schooling thing right I think he will be a bookworm.  He already checks out books at the library that are way above his age group.  He can't read them independently yet but he chooses his own subject matter and we read them to him.  His world is going to explode once he can read to himself.

“Nothing can supply the place of books. They are cheering or soothing companions in solitude, illness, affliction. The wealth of both continents would not compensate for the good they impart.” 
― William Henry Channing

Brave boy!

It's a good thing that his evil face is as adorable as his regular face.

See? Adorable!

His front right bottom tooth has been loose for awhile now. He instructed me tonight, "Okay just pull it out." I said, "Okay let me get the pliers." That's when he ran from me screaming, and he hid under his bed.

I found him and we had a chat about how it wouldn't hurt and I showed him using my own teeth how I would do it. He was dubious until I told him that Grandpa Alan pulled the majority of my baby teeth just this same way. Thankfully Nana was here and she could back up my story. 

So he sat on the counter and took a few deep breaths and squealed when the cool metal touched his mouth.  He changed his mind, then changed it back.  Then said, "Just do it!"  And he actually let me yank that thing out. "Oh that didn't even hurt." Yeah, I know it buddy!

So look what we did! 

He kept freaking out about "all the blood," and I had to remind him that each time he's lost a tooth there has been some blood but that it stops after just a few minutes.  He forgot to check after a few minutes but as you can see in the picture, momma was right once again.

He decided after we pulled the tooth that he needed to be in full doctor garb.  Thankfully he has the dress up clothes to do that!  He wanted to "retach" the tooth back in his mouth because he's, "Not ready for all these growed up teeth."  It's okay, bud, mom's not ready for them either.  Unfortunately his plan didn't pan out, mostly because HE LOST THE TOOTH AGAIN.  I found it and put it away for later.

Whew, this growing up thing is tiring for this child!  He crashed early and was snuggling with me.  I'll take 'em where I can get 'em!  

He worked really hard on his letter to the tooth fairy, once mommy found his missing tooth. Instead of trudging along in his handwriting book I suggested we take our handwriting time to write his letter to the Tooth Fairy. I also needed a sample of his handwriting to send to his teacher for 1st quarter. Three birds, one stone! 

The Tooth Fairy wrote back to him:

Unfortunately the tooth fairy is a bonehead.  

She grabbed the wrong package and put it on the porch.  

She meant to grab the package with the awesome pogo stick that has been sitting in the back room closet.  Instead she grabbed the package with the replacement red light saber from Uncle Mongo from G's birthday.  You know, the one she was saving for when one of the other light sabers died.  

He opened it and was like, "Hey, don't I already have a red light saber?  How did the Tooth Fairy not know that?"
The Tooth Fairy is psychic you know.
Uh, the Tooth Fairy was dang tired last night by the time he finally went to bed, she kinda blew this one.  Oops. 

A day including pumpkins

Chillaxin' in the school room, just busy learnin' about the world.  

This is G's friend Tickety-Tock.  He's the timer we use for handwriting and reading eggs.

Well since it was my bright idea to get pumpkins I guess it's fitting that I have to cut them open, dig out the guts and carve them.

G did pick the designs.  I cheated and printed out templates.  I've never done it that way before.  Magically they came out looking a heck of a lot better than when I did the free hand.  Ha!  G was quite pleased with my work!

That was cutting it close! 2013 edition...

Man oh dear we left it basically to the last day we had to shoot something.  E had to get back to work and my babysitter (my mom) was leaving.  We did something odd and didn't even leave to go hunting until about noon.  And we managed to find this guy and his ladies.  I really, really, really wanted a buck this year.  I don't know why, it's the man side of me I guess.  But I told E to take the shot because my angle was just too odd and I didn't want him to get away.  

E dropped him in his tracks and I took off after las chicas.  They got away from me but only because the only shots I had would be sending bullets downrange in E's direction and I'm too nervous to be doing that.

Luckily after dressing out that big body little antlered beauty above (and leaving him in the snow a few miles up the road I found a couple more deer and decided to take a nice fat bodied doe.  Yep, another doe for me.  Can't eat the horns anyway, right?  But look at those horns.  They're so CUTE!  Like travel size shampoo I just wanna carry them around in my pocket because they're so mini and cute.

They were about the same size body wise, nice and big.  Lots o' meat!

E got skunked on finding his elk but it wasn't for lack of trying.  He wore himself out looking for one and found absolutely nothing.  We only heard of two elk being taken this season up here.

The creature in his natural habitat.  If he's in the mountains and clad in camo he's a happy man.

Damnit if he hasn't rubbed off on me.

nice, kid

G hates handwriting.  He hates it, hates it, hates it.  He has never been one to color or write or draw, etc.  He does it for school because he has to but he resists it.  The other day he took it upon himself to write out his whole name.  And then he drew a picture of himself!  Awesome!

Later in the evening G brought me a box that had been dropped off.   He then proceeded to tell me about his drawing.  See the little dude to the left?  That's him when he was a brand new baby.  See the fatty with boobs to the left?  Yeah, that's me after I just had him.  "You drew me with boobs?"  "Yeah, and all your baby fat!"  Gee, thanks dude.  Maybe I don't want him to be the drawing type.

We were snuggling on the floor and he asked me if I wanted to get married. I said I was happy with who I am already married to. He said well he wants to get married and I asked him who he wants to marry. He said God. I told him that wasn't really possible but that someday far, far away he'll meet a lovely girl who is perfect for him and she'll be kind and sweet and he'll love her very, very much. He said, "Like you, mommy?"

Yay for a C!

http://www.today.com/moms/report-card-joy-dad-weeps-joy-sons-passing-grade-8C11436327
This just makes me happy.  Good on that dad for giving an honest reaction.  Awesome.
And it again tells me that this homeschooling thing is great.  Because every little success that G has, I have the opportunity to react in a way that bolsters his learning.  I love having it happen right in front of me!

passing it down

E's 16 year old grandson, Tim, came down to hunt this last weekend.  He lives with his mom, his dad having been killed before he was born.  E doesn't get to spend as much time with him as he'd like but this is one thing they make sure to do together.  You see, Tim is like a younger version of E, in looks and in thirst for hunting.  It's obviously in their blood.  

I tagged along in the backseat of the truck.  We went up to the Beaver Ridge lookout first.  Not a single animal to be seen.

Did you spot them both?  Though Tim blends in fairly well E wins this game of hide and go seek!

G was especially to have Tim here.  Because G loves visitors of any kinds.  Tim is patient with G because he has two younger siblings.

I love fall in this area.  I love hunting in the fall in this area.

Well good morning to you, sunshine!

It's been a very strange hunting season.  The weather has been so clear, without storms or even clouds of any kind.  The moon is big and bright and the critters are up all night feeding and bedding down during the day.  That makes them a lot harder to find!

One day we saw FIVE moose, two groups of mom & calf and one lone gal.  Strange to see so many and they weren't all that far from each other.  But we can't shoot moose (well, with a gun anyway).

Talkin' about knives or some crap like that.

HOT GRANPA ALERT!  HOT GRANDPA ALERT!

Finally on our way home one morning something on the hillside moved.  Tim and I both hopped out but he had the better angle.  And I didn't want this deer anyway.  So down it goes.

E is a master at field dressing a critter, that's why I let him do mine every time.  Yeah, that's why.  He didn't like the way Tim was doing it so he had to school him.

I took off on a walk by myself while the guys were dressing out the deer.  I think I made it about 3 miles before they finally showed up wondering how I got so far.  It was quiet and serene and perfect.  Tim's mom came and got him and all his deer.  I think he left pretty happy with his time here.  I don't know, he's a 16 year old boy so I can't really tell if he's happy or not.  Regardless, E was pretty proud of the grandson.  I hope E is still hunting when G is 16 so he can learn from him too!