The rock star, leopard, and the leopard's dog all had an adventure tonight. Of course, no one wanted to wait for Mom to get cute photos ... so this is about the only one I got! We even carved pumpkins this year (and the roasted seeds were quite yummy).

OK ... so this is a "bad" picture (I don't like the harsh light of the flash) but the light is low and I haven't had my breakfast yet so my hands must shake too much for no flash right now. That's my excuse! ANYWAY ... I heard a funny noise and a grunt. I peeked into the other room and found this! Somehow this qualifies as comfortable ... maybe it's that whole "warm towels from the dryer" feeling? 

You Know You're In Oklahoma When ...

... when you can do bull riding at church! Not withstanding bags of candy, hours of games, and pumpkins to lug home in the car ... the kids got to be cowboys at "Family Fun Night" tonight! Click on the image to watch our little video clips.

Our little leopard started out with her cute whiskered nose (until we found the face painting booth). Slowly her costume ended up in my camera bag as her paws had to be removed for crafts, shoes for the inflatable rides and mechanical bull, the tail when walking in large groups (that would step on her tail) ... even the hood came off when it was time to race. But she SURE looked cute! 

A Day At The Zoo

Zoo Day

It rained and drizzled and was quite a grey day for a zoo visit ... but we really had a great time. I chaperoned and had two little girls in my charge who were quite a delight, so it was a breeze for me! Of course, there were a few hundred photos, but click on the link above for just a few highlights. We saw all kinds of animals. A giraffe was VERY close to us, a sea lion winked at us, and we tried to avoid monkeys because of a bad experience one of the little girls had with them.. And a rhino poo impressed all of us with the sheer amount! I didn't get good photos of the monkeys we did see, but they were doing some gross things so it's for the best. One little girl commented on their poo ... "It looks like french fries!"

Breaking through on the last game of the season ... they WHOOPED those Roughers, I tell ya! 

Is this a little version of me or what? Well ... ok, I don't do fingernail polish. And she doesn't shoot the game (just cheerleaders). But other than that, she's pretty much "Little I" as K calls her.

Just thinking lately ... It's so easy to bloom when things seem bright. All it takes is one person to shine into another's life. When the warmth of love turns one's face, it is the most humbling and empowering experience! Those are the easy parts of my thoughts, of course ... the flip side has me struggling with simply accepting and enjoying such a rich gift and wondering why it's so hard to see myself in the same light! Ways of thinking and being seem to creep in like weeds among everything that is familiar ... and you don't even realize they are there until you are uprooted and planted in new soil. Anyway, it's a challenge and an opportunity (with the opportunity being the easy part)! 

More clues ...

... but no home for our canine visitor yet. I thought I'd try to find out what breed she is. K said it looks like she has some bloodhound in her, and she has a distinctly hound-like bark (which sounds a little like a sea lion to me ... ORK! ORK!). She seems pre-programmed to "point" when some extra-special scent wafts by. Anyway, I went online and looked up bloodhounds first ... she's definitely not that! She's much too tall, lean, and doesn't have enough skin! So I looked up hounds in general and found that she looks like the "black and tan" Coon Hounds! No wonder she reminded me of a hunting dog. I guess they are "tree dogs" but I don't really know what that means yet! I suppose they hunt for things in trees ... like coons! The good things I learned (in case we end up as her family)? They are very calm in nature and make great family pets as they are very good with children. They supposedly live long lives ... 15 years!

Remember the lame excuse: "The dog ate my homework!" I always thought it was so silly ... until tonight. I heard some crunching and tearing and rustling. Miss Doggie Dogg seemed to think my daughter's school work was quite tasty!

A Day at the Fair

Little sister found a few fun rides ... roller coaster, teacups, and the very cool "Magic Carpet" slide.

Big brother tried his hand at some games. 

We finished the evening with a concert. I tried to see if my press pass could at least get me side stage (and I really would have uploaded photos to the paper) and told them I wasn't on assignment, but happened to be there and could take some photos for the paper ... but ... they already had a media event that afternoon. Amazingly there were people packed in THICK around the back!

My assignment on Friday night had me on the home field ... so I tried to grab photos of my neighbor's daughter and my cousin's son. I hate to admit, but I have no idea if I ever found my neighbor's daughter! I don't know her well enough to recognize her by her cheeks and chin! I might not even recognize her if I saw her somewhere other than in her yard! But I think I got my cousin's son ... once. It's almost like you see a face and it disappears! 

Recent artwork by my little one. In her words, "I made this in school. She gave me a star because I finished all of it. I wrote my name in cursive, but my mom erased it." I asked if it was the new dog we are STILL taking care of, and she said, "No. That dog is Countess." For those of you who don't know Countess, she is the infamous Houndini of Georgia who would escape in the most creative of ways, release her friends, and have doggie social parties all down the street before letting herself back in. The only trouble was that the neighbor's dogs wouldn't! I often times wished I lived on a farm where she could run and not be confined to a fence.  

My yard this morning ...

I've been a little under the weather for a few days ... so my first "revive me" activity was to take a moment this morning and take a few photos in my backyard.

Ingrid's Yard

Oct 5, 2006 - 22 Photos

The big family activity as of late? Taking care of an injured dog. I've been calling all sorts of animal aid groups and adoption organizations. Can you believe that NO ONE returned my calls? Those I was able to speak with couldn't help because there was either no veterinarian available or they were full to capacity. Did you know that most animal shelters have a 3-day limit for a dog to be claimed or adopted? WOW. I just can't do that - especially if the dog's family is on vacation or something! 

Birthday Time with the Family!

Social event of the week? A birthday party! Nothing beats that! It was fun to be with relatives ... especially to see my Aunt (visiting her daughter) who I haven't seen for years! The best part of the night, however, was watching the birthday girl lick leftover frosting from the cake tray. That girl has my heart!

Even my teenage son got into providing some after-party entertainment (notice the screen above).

The birthday girl's dad said, "NO PICTURES!" Do you think I could resist?

Good Cry of the Day

I am going through e-mail while getting kids ready for church and decide to check the addition to a blog to which I recently subscribed. WOW ... it shared something that is more inspiring than a lot of things I've heard: http://cjcphoto.com/can/

And while I'm here ... the blog is from a photographer I noticed from ShutterMom.com (a site which came up while I was searching for photo contests) whose work is WONDERFUL in my opinion. Her site drew me in first ... if you're the photo-inspired kind, you'll enjoy it! Dejah Quinn Photography

Little Visitor

An update to the saga ... the visitor is BACK! Last night, my son heard a knock at the door and answered it. He looked out and could see no one in the dark, opened the door to step out and WHOOSH! In comes Miss Doggie Dogg!

So far, everyone thinks she belongs to the same family ... so my son checked last night and they are still not home. So, we got some food, made some posters, and have a new little friend until we find her family!