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

Winter is Coming...

First Snow of the 2015 Winter

This has been a day loooooooong coming, America.

Today, for the first time in their lives, my daughters experienced the glory of a First Snow.

Sure, they've been in snow before, but they don't remember any of it (it was Christmas 2010, so the Cannonball was 2 1/2 and Abby 6 months old.)  Ever since the weather began to cool off (around mid-September, thereabouts), they've been asking about when the stupid snow will fall.

And today it did.

Of course, since it's been in the upper-40s/mid-50s range for weeks now, the ground is still fairly warm, so the likelihood of any snow actually staying on the ground is slim-to-none.  Still, forecasters initially said we'd get about four or five inches of snow throughout today, and - believe it or not, considering it is Michigan and all - they were right.

And so, I present to you now the girls' First Snow of the 2015 season. . .

We came up from the basement this morning and I saw the first flurries start to fall, so I told the girls and they promptly lost their shit.  After a few minutes, I started recording (still pissed I didn't get that initial reaction, though.)

Suited up and ready for snow (can you tell she's excited?)

Once the neighbor kids saw that our kids were outside frolicking in this stuff, they rushed over (and YES, Abby is eating the snow off my car.)

Troubleshooting one of our pre-lit Christmas trees.  I got this one from the Midland Community of Christ Church, which is closing its doors and consequently getting rid of a ton of stuff.  Mom didn't think this would work, but it totally does. . . so now our family has a fall-back/secondary Christmas tree for the Holiday season.  BOOYA.

Abby relishes in the fact that snow is edible.

Kris, fashionable as always, ventures forth into the cold to converse with our neighbors across the street.

Shoveling snow off my car is a collaborative activity.

(still eating snow.)

Time for the telephoto lens. . .

They'll hate the snow come February.  I keep tellin' 'em.

She has a possible career in window-washing ahead of her.

Only kids can pull of hats like this.  If I wore this around, I'd probably be arrested.

The kids try making their very first snow/grass angels.

Garland.  Keepin' it festive.

God's dandruff.

Snow on Ivy Lane

While other more 'Michigan-y' kids might make Snowmen, or other such works of art, this is what MY Florida-bred kids came up with.  Go figure.

- Brian