Chapter 417

Happy Chaos Never Dies Day on November 9th!

Nitro wishes you all a happy fall. Cats being creatures of habit, Nitro not excluded, he likes to walk out and hop up on this stump each walk and survey his kingdom from 18 inches aloft. How is it that cats come up with these crazy routines...and stick to them? It seems I can't make a routine out of anything.

Speaking of cats, we were at a Jaguar meeting in Bellevue this week and we "noticed" this real jaguar just lounging on the railing above us. Perhaps he'd look better if he were perched on the branch of the tree he was stuffed for. But here, crotched on this railing overlooking their bedroom, He.Just.Plain.Looks.Creepy.

Friday afternoon Reagan (and family) came to visit. Reagan knows this house as if it were her own and always heads out to "her" toy room like she owns the place. Carissa and her friend, Eileen, find this ironic that during their reign, they were not even allowed into this room!

Thrift store adding machine tape makes for cheap fun in the back yard during the summer. Reagan wanted to go outside so she could play with the roll of adding machine tape she found. Guess what? At the G's house we don't have to wait for no stinkin' summer to play with adding machine tape!

 Reagan like to keep things at a brisk pace when visiting the G's. She seems to think she has to do it ALL every visit. As she gets older, we add more activities into her lineup and she has to work/play faster to get it all done. She loves to feed Nitro and she's very good at it. Although Nitro hates The World, he's been very tolerant of Reagan. Now that she can produce food, she's definatly moved up on his list of Folks to be Tolerated.

Bear, with his itchy skin basically needs to wear a cone 24/7. This little hemorrhoid cushion-style donut works well for the smaller flare-ups. It was low on air so Bob and Reagan pumped it up so Bear was assured to have the least comfortable night possible.

Then a card game, complete with rules and properly taken turns, before bed.

 The next day we had to paint rocks. Rocks have become a staple project around here. After they've been painted, then she designates them "keepers" or "hiders". Only Reagan holds the rule book as to how these decisions are made. While I focused on just one trapezoidal-shaped rock, Reagan was in mass production mode and painted a lot of rocks using lots of colors. While we were painting this time, I showed her how to mix two colors of paint and create a third. This turned into a mix-it-all-together-and-paint-Grama's-plates marathon.

I painted the sailboat rock and Reagan painted the "base" coat for all the others. I painted a design over her base coat to create a final project we both worked on. Although I don't have any painting skills, practicing on several rocks now has improved my skills a teeny bit. Well, that and getting a decent brush. I see now that there is a difference between a better brush and the 12 brushes for $5 variety pack!

Reagan had herself a nice lunch in her chair watching Daniel Tiger while her mom took a nap. I "rested" in the next chair and each time I'd start to snore, Reagan would ask me if I was ok. If I didn't answer, she'd keep at me until I was awake enough to answer her properly. 

Bob vacuumed the leaves off the yards and patio, but left the lower yard. As you can see, ten minutes after he left the top yard, the leaves are already starting to fill in.

Reagan made a quick drive through the house before she left to make sure she hadn't left anything.

Someone got a new jacket on the after-Halloween clearance sale.

Reagan seems to have a love for horses. Although big things, loud things, most any things scare her, she sure wasn't afraid of this horse she had a nice ride on...a very BIG horse at that!

Everyone loves shopping with a friend.

Reagan chose her own Halloween costume direct from her dress-up box. I made the pirate apron and the Minnie hair bow a couple of years ago for her dress-up box. 

Pumpkin carving in the kitchen. I bet there was no throwing of seeds and guts like there was at our house!

Proud pumpkin owner.

The happy orca-creature-tree family.

Auntie Kyanne, being the best auntie ever, trick-or-treating with Reagan in downtown Poulsbo.

Have a good week Everyone!