Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! We didn't have many trick o' treaters this year, but these are a few of the one we did have!
Now, we wish we had doubled and tripled their candy!
I guess there weren't too many houses handing out treats this year - has the economy problems hit Halloween? I was happy to fill up my gas tank for under $20 today.

Rebecca's friend canceled her party, so Hunter came over to help us celebrate here. Rebecca had to dress him up.....

All the kids decorated luminaries for our driveway. Of course, a scary theme.

Rebecca in her pumpkin shirt and black lipstick. She helped the others roast marshmallows over a little grill and make smores.


Tony greeted everyone at the porch. I told him not to scare the little kids too much - they would be afraid of Santa come Christmas time!! The porch had a rug with bubblewrap under it that popped when they walked across. We also had scary music/sounds playing. Damien handed out candy - he was inside the door and didnt wear a costume. He had dressed up as someone from the "70s" for school that day.

We had our usual Spooky dinner! Here are our bloody fingers! (White asparagus with a little ketchup).

Here we have bloody worms! (Spaghetti).

And here bloody eyeballs... (meatballs with olives).
A new treat this year was "mummies" (Weiners wrapped in dinner rolls).

We also had "ghosts" (Meringue cookies - they didnt get dry enough and were rather sticky).

And that was our nice, scary dinner with a few extras. Wish you were here to enjoy all our left over candy!

Goodbye to Family Pet- Tribute to Teddy

Our black male cat, Theodore Bear Keating, was hit and killed by a car last week. He was only 7 months old, but big - 8 1/2 lbs. He would have been a big cat at full grown. We all took it hard - the first time the kids can remember losing a pet - but especially me because he had picked me to be his person and went everywhere I went. He was the only male cat out of four in our house (he does have a big brother who lives outside). He was bundle of love and I've never had a cat like him. I hope that some day we will be lucky enough to have a cat with his personality.

Here he is with Rich at about 4 weeks - just after we found him and his sisters in the woods behind our house.

This is how he liked to sleep - tucked in the corner of my chair in my lap. He was maybe 3 months old here. Already big!

Another baby picture - before his eyes turned YELLOW!

Here he is with his sister, Tiger Lilly. She loved Teddy, as you can see. She misses him too.

Teddy had the shiniest hair - hard to capture in a picture. I said it looked like Elvis' hair.

Below is a picture of Lilly and Teddy, drinking together. She wanted to drink, eat, sleep, potty only when he did. She is finally getting in the habit of making her own schedule without him and starting to eat a little more.

This was the last picture we took of him just two days before he died. I had come upstairs to do a little reading and he decided to take a nap on my magazine. He is sleeping with his own little "Teddy Bear". We buried it and his toys and a snack with him. We also put in a dozen dried roses. Teddy loved roses and tried to eat them every time I received or bought some. I had a bowl of dried roses on display and he would steal one and carry it around. They all went with him. The boys helped Rich bury him in the back yard near the woods.

Everyone should have the pleasure and enjoyment of a loving pet. May each of you be blessed with the unconditional love of a pet in your lifetime!

Happy Birthday Damien!

Our youngest, Damien, turned 13! Wow, how time flies! Seems like yesterday he was crawling around in diapers. They grow up so fast!

Since his birthday is in October and relatively near Halloween, he usually has a Halloween cake. This year it was a black cat! Everyone wanted the candy corn around the edge.



Blowing out 13 candles takes effort!

He was excited about his presents! Big brother, in the background, can't wait until his birthday in December!