October Leftovers

Good evening, readers.

This was a pretty decent October, to be honest.  Kris and I managed to stay married for ten years, we threw a successful, catastrophe-free, larger-than-expected Halloween party, and none of our kids found syringes in their Halloween candy.  We celebrated a few other notable accomplishments this month, too:  Susie got herself a new roommate, Abby scored her first soccer goal, and we had ourselves our first snow of the winter season.

. . . okay, so that last one's not all that awesome, but you'd think it was from the reaction it got from our kids.

Here we go. . .

This is what Susie does whenever she sees someone enter the office, where the pigs' cage is:  she'll bit onto the cage and rattle it like crazy.  It's her way of begging for food.  Not that she has to beg, either - she always has food in her cage.  She's just a fat-ass.

While researching guinea pigs, we kept seeing the same advice throughout various online sites:  guinea pigs are social animals, and you should have at least two of them in a cage.  Well, we kicked the can down the road for awhile, but finally, after about two months, we caved and picked up a second pig.  We had to drive all the way out to the Pet Smart in Mt. Pleasant because all the pet stores in Midland, Bay City and Saginaw carried male guinea pigs, and Susie's a female.  We do not want baby guinea pigs. . .

Meet Fuzzy, America (yes, the kids named her.)  See the Miller Lite box there, to the left?  We had to divide the cage while Fuzzy got used to her new environment (and to keep Susie - who easily outweighs Fuzzy two-to-one - out of her face for awhile.)

Roommates.  Susie chased her around the cage for the first half hour or so, nipping at her and staking her claim over every inch of the cage, but I guess that's pretty typical.

America, you get what you deserve.

No, it's not ours (THANK GOD) - it's my brother's Jeff's upcoming new addition.

Enjoying some outdoor dining while the weather's still tolerable.

Another dreary day of soccer 

The single, greatest, sports achievement in Hough family history.

Photo courtesy of Abby.  Of course.

One weekend we drove the girls out to a Halloween City in Saginaw to look for last-minute house decor for our upcoming party (for whatever reason, there were no seasonal Halloween stores to be found in Midland this year - who knows why.)  Our girls love running around in these stores (as do I.)

Abby wanted to get this, because it looked like this disgusting, disfigured head had Fuzzy in its mouth.

Absolutely terrifying.

Abby wanted a picture of her with this hat on, because we wouldn't let her buy it at the store (I ended up getting it for her once Kris took the kids out to the van, just to hold onto for Christmas - who doesn't love R2-D2?)

While Kris was out in Denver for her work conference, she went to a presentation in her hotel that featured a keynote speech by that one Pakistani girl that got shot in the head, Malalalalala (. . .or whatever the hell her name is.)

Decorating the house for the upcoming Halloween party

Painting pumpkins from Grandma's Pumpkin Patch

Fuzzy's a big fan of climbing.  Susie couldn't get her fat ass up onto anything if she wanted to. . .

Trying out some pics in front of the photo op backdrop we picked up for the party

We bought the girls some new bedding for the upcoming winter this year.  Since they'll be getting their own bedrooms in the next house we buy (hopefully this winter/spring), we're not so concerned with matching bed sets anymore.  Plus, with the falling temperatures, they needed comforters.  Abby picked out this Star Wars set (which was cool that they actually had Stars Wars stuff in girl colors - you almost never see that.)

. . .and of course Alayna wanted Shopkins.

One of the nights where I had Parent/Teacher Conferences at my work until, like, frickin' 8:30pm, Kris let the girls carve one of the pumpkins I picked up at Jack's the previous week.  As you can see, the kids are big fans of the gutting process. . .

Scooby Doo.  In dachshund-form.

Changing leaves

First random snow of the season. . .

. . . though, to be honest, it was more of a snow/slush/rain that disappeared in a matter of hours, due to the warm temperature of the ground.

I'll go out with a few teachers from work once and awhile on Fridays to this local dive bar in Shields called Hill's Tavern.  As you can see here, they have a pretty strict ordinance for patrons upon entry.

Another Pinterest task Kris decided to tackle for Abby's Halloween school party:  'ghost' juice boxes.  I f***ing hate Pinterest.

Watson's favorite winter hang-out spot. . .

- Brian