Halloween 2007!

What a great night weather wise for Halloween! Wow...no east wind, no rain, and it wasn't cold! Amazing for an Oregon October Holiday.

Halloween brought the Harding family the traditional Halloween "Spooky" meal! We had vampire blood (aka Jello) as well as Pumpkin gut stew (aka Chili with cornbread and grated cheese).

We had 135 trick-or-treaters, between 6pm-8:30pm.

Mr. Incredible...hung out with the high school kids tonight!
Goofy and Leopard Girl handed out candy to the kiddos.

And our fine carved friends welcomed our guests.

Happy Halloween from the Hardings!

NICOLE GOT FIRST!!!

Nicole got "1st Chair" today in Symphonic Band! She is so happy! And we are so proud of her! This is the text message that I got today on my phone at work confirming her phone call.

Pumpin Carving!

This weekend...among everything else...we did some pumpkin carving!

Amanda loves the "guts" of the pumpkin!
Nicole, on the other hand, does not!
Nicole's Pumpin! Notice it is the largest! She had to make sure she got the biggest pumkin this year, because normally she doesn't. But she does tend to always get tall, thin long ones!
Amanda worked hard to carve this one!
The girls couldn't believe that Grandma had never carved pumpkins before...even when she was growing up! So, as she watched this weekend they carved her one of her own with the face she wanted!

OUR LIVES ARE A MESS...

LITERALLY!!! Okay...several weeks ago, you'll remember my husband tore out everything in the girls bathroom...pictures of the progress on that to follow. So, if that wasn't enough...we started having problems with "odorous house ANTS!" Although, we didn't know that they were that kind of ant, so we kept spraying for little tiny ants...and they kept coming back and bringing first all of their family, then all of their friends....and then quite frankly anyone they could find they knew to move into the Harding kitchen. Finally, this last week my parents said, "CALL an Exterminator!"...and we did...and they paid for it! Thanks Dad and Mom! Anyways, in order to find out what kind of ants we had they asked that I catch two or three and "squish" them between my fingers and thumb. If they smelled like formaldehyde or cleaning fluid...they were odorous house ants and multiplyed when you sprayed for other types of house ants. So, to get rid of them we needed to entirely clean out every cupboard in our kitchen, wipe them down with soap and water and leave them empty so the house could be sprayed and then "bombed"! So, we have been living with empty cupboards for the last 5 days. The dining room table is now the pantry, spices, and cups. The kitchen table is now the dishes. The coffee table is now where we keep the pots and pans, baking trays, etc. The laundry room is taking whatever else we need to store. And the microwave is where we keep the bread, cookies or anything open we don't want to find ants on. My parents brought over their card table...and as you can see this is where we shared our meals together today.

Closeness at the table!
Notice the dining room table...aka the pantry behind the girls!

Okay...so now we have a torn up kitchen...waiting to see if they are coming back (which I guess usually happens!), and a torn up bathroom. So, we are sharing our master bathroom. I forgot how blessed I was to have two bathrooms!

So, as you can see...the walls are painted, and the bead board is up. There is a new shower rod and curtain. There is a new light fixture and the wall has been repaired where the medicine cabinet was, and the medicine cabinet was moved to a new location. The cupboard is in the midst of remodeling still.

And today, the tile floor went in! It still needs to be grouted and sealed. Hopefully within another couple of days we will at least have another shower and another toilet! This was Rob's and my first tile job. I think we are doing good.

Thanks to my mom for helping with work related stuff, and thanks to my dad for mowing, edging and racking leaves in my yard today.

This was just a peek into how the Hardings have been living! Stay tuned for the next edition to follow.

Pumpkins & Apples!

Family Photo!
Rasmussen Farms - Hood River, Oregon
Nicole & Amanda
Pumpkins & Gourds

The family!
Papa and Amanda!
Thanks Dad & Mom aka Grandpa and Grandma...

We had a fabulous day! Thanks too for lunch at Pietros!

REYNOLDS WON!

Okay...so when you have a daughter in the HS Marching Band...you end up going to football games. Now, I hate to be cold and wet, and did I mention that I hate to be cold? And, did I mention that I hate to pay to be cold and wet? Anyways, nothing makes it worse than when your team never wins! But...tonight Reynolds WON! And we won against Central Catholic!

Our band geek daughter!
The marching band!
Don't these hats look so cute on the kids?
Nicole and her cousin Lindsay.
Did I mention that we won?

My Metro-Sexual Freak Husband!

First I must admit that I know it has been awhile since we posted anything to our blog. We have been recovering from several family crisis...I'll name only a few. My nephew ran away from home (he has returned and is actually living w/his mother now), my husband was diagnosed with a heart condition (we know have this under the careful eye of a cardiologist!), Nicole was thought to have Diabetes, but now they think that her Hypoglycemia is just way worse and want us to see a Endocrinologist, and everything we touch seems to break or everyone wants our money, and this adoption process is long, hard and tedious!

Anyways, as if this isn't enough....look at what my husband, the one I call "My Metro-Sexual Freak Husband", started at 10 pm the other evening while I was doing real estate at home! (Not to mention the fact that he was hopped up on Mt. Dew and watches entirely too much HGTV!)

Where the mirror and cabinet drawers with all the girls stuff used to be!
Where the tile on the wall use to be, and his half started half finished paint job! (BLUE is the new color...actually I am being corrected as I type...it is not Blue the Freak calls it Periwinkle!)
The meticulous plan drawn out on a spiral notebook?

Apparently we, and I really mean "the Metro Sexual Freak" decided we were remodeling the bathroom and going with a, and I quote, "Martha's Vineyard, Beach Cottage Look!"

All the girls and I want to know is...will this be done before the girls go to college! Nicole reminded him tonight that is only 2 1/2 yrs!