At last, the patio we’ve worked so hard on for the past couple of months is complete. Of course, there’s a few finishing touches that need to be done such as spraying off all the sand and stone dust and putting all the furniture and grill on it. I’d say we’ll be able to have our first official barbeque by tomorrow night. I’m just so giddy with excitement to finally have this project finished.

As you can see, there’s still a lot of equipment to put away and such, but I just couldn’t contain my joy and wait to snap some pictures. Here’s the overall layout.

And from the other side.

The view of the opening to the yard and of the fancy columns.

And the magical steps. Ok, they’re not magical, but, man oh man, were they tricky to build. Of course, Mike did all the work, but I felt his pain as I watched from the sidelines.

Don’t worry, I’ll post pictures again once we have it all cleaned off and filled up with our outdoor goods. Join us some time for a barbeque. Consider this your official invitation.

I’ve been tagged again by Courtney S., and I swear this is the last one I’ll do. Anyone that wants to participate can, but I won’t force it.
Here are the rules:
1) Post the rules on your blog.
2) Answer the six “8″ items.
3) Let each person know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. (so not doing!)

8 Favorite TV shows (Sara asked if cancelled shows count, so I will count them.)
1. Chuck
2. Psych
3. Monk
4. Burn Notice
5. 3rd Rock From the Sun (we recently discovered it’s been airing on TV Land Prime)
6. House
7. Arrested Development (it’s been cancelled but we have the episodes on DVD)
8. Seinfeld

8 Things I did yesterday
1. Got the girls ready for school
2. Walked Annie to the bus stop
3. Drove Mimi to school
4. Worked out at rec plex
5. Pulled out frozen items from freezer for Mike’s foil dinner (he went camping)
6. Talked to Janet
7. Went to Burger King with girlies for dinner (a treat for us since Daddy was gone)
8. Took advantage of a free movie rental at Family Rental and rented a movie to watch with the girls

8 Things I look forward to
1. Halloween and all the candy I’ll get to eat (I’m a bit of a sugar addict.)
2. Finishing patio (Hopefully, today!)
3. On or around November 16th (I’ll explain later.)
4. Making the roman shades for the other rooms of the house
5. Mike mowing the lawn (It hasn’t been mowed for a couple of weeks since we’ve got all that patio junk scattered around the yard.)
6. dinner
7. For the girls to go to bed
8. To enjoy a movie rental with Mike tonight

8 Favorite Restaurants
1. Oceanaire (fancy and expensive seafood)
2. Maggianno’s
3. P.F. Changs
4. Fuddrucker’s
5. Steak ‘n Shake (Can you tell I like burgers and shakes?)
6. Outback Steakhouse
7. Lido Pizza (a local place in College Park, MD…the best pizza ever)
8. Luigi’s Pizza (a local pizza place here)

8 Things on my Wish List
1. That my kids will grow up and find as much happiness as I have found (stole this from Sara, but I feel exactly the same way)
2. That the girls would learn to clean the house and do it without my asking (ha, ha)
3. To have a live-in cook and housekeeper (I know this will NEVER happen. I don’t even know that I could allow this to happen even if we could afford it. It’s a control thing.)
4. To finally settle somewhere to live and stay and live happily ever after
5. To one day have a flourishing photography business with my own studio (this can’t happen until both girls are in school full days, and it may never happen)
6. That I would stop getting junk mail (electronic and paper)
7. To get a vacation sans kids for more than just a couple of days preferably somewhere warm and beachy
8. That none of us will get sick this winter

Apparently, I misreported what Mike shot out in SD. In actuality, he shot 1 doe with his bow and 2 antelope does with his rifle, and his friend Matt shot 1 doe with his bow and 1 doe antelope and 1 buck antelope with his rifle. The deer were shot out in Vermillion on Matt’s turf, then they headed out west by the Black Hills to get the antelope.

On their way out there they passed the center of the United States, so some pictures were taken there.

Here are Mike and Matt proudly displaying their antelope.

Immediately upon his return to Wisconsin, Mike put all us Hawley girls to work with grinding up the meat from his prizes. A few years ago Jake was kind enough to gift us with a meat grinding attachment for the Kitchen Aide, and it works fabulously. It took us the rest of Monday and most of Tuesday to finish all the grinding. I calculated that each package of ground meat had anywhere from 1 to 1 1/2 pounds, and we ended up with about 56 packages of meat. Therefore, our freezer now has anywhere from 56 to 84 pounds of meat (this isn’t including the deer meat we already had which was given to Mike a couple of months ago). Mike had also pre-cut out all the meat appropriate for steaks. On Tuesday night I cooked up some antelope steaks after marinating them in red wine for a bit. Let me tell you, those pieces of meat were very tender and succulent. I’d liken them to eating New York strip steaks. YUMMY!

Here’s what our deep freezer looks like. The middle row is what we already had. The top is the ground meat, and the bottom row has all the steaks. I’d say I won’t be purchasing any red meat for some time.

Now in other news. The other night while Mike was still out of town we (or I) decided to go to Luigi’s Pizza Kitchen for dinner. It’s touted as having the best pizza in Kenosha. On the way there I turn into the side parking lot. It looked full to me (I didn’t realize that the side parking lot connected to the front parking lot), so I exited out onto a residential street to turn around to go into the front parking lot. Here’s the conversation between Annie and me that proceeded:

Annie: Where are you going? Luigi’s is back there.
Me: I have to turn around to get back to other parking lot.
Annie: Oh.
Me: Wait a second. How do you know that Luigi’s is back there.
Annie: Remember, Mama, when we tried to eat there one time, but it was closed. We ended up eating somewhere else.
Me: ?!?
Me: {A few seconds later and starting to laugh.} How would you remember something like that? If I recall, that happened when we first moved here. I didn’t even remember that.
Annie: {Shrugging.}

Another time where Annie never ceases to amaze me with her memory and remarkable sense of direction was on the way to a birthday party for one of Annie’s classmates. We were just exiting the highway.

Annie: No, Mama, you’re turning the wrong way.
Me: I am? No, this is the right way.
Annie: No, it’s back the other way next to the mini golf place (we went there for her birthday in August).
Me: I know, it’s this way.
Annie: No, it’s the other way.
Me: {After a couple of minutes of driving and realizing that Annie was correct, I turned around.} I guess you were right, Annie. Mommy needs lots of help when driving, and I’m glad I have you for that.

Then another time. Driving home from the grocery store and approaching a stop sign. We have 2 choices: we can either turn left at the stop sign and then turn right into our neighborhood’s back entrance, or we can go straight through the stop sign and turn left into the front entrance of our neighborhood.

Annie: Mama, go straight. That way is so much faster.
Me: {Flabbergasted.}

Here we are at Luigi’s. I just had to get some pictures of the girls because this was first time since having kids that I could sit in a restaurant and not have to constantly be answering kid questions, scolding, cleaning up drink spills, forcing squirrelly children into their seats, or just going out of my mind in general. My babies were totally focused on drawing their pictures for most of the time. It was pure paradise.

Friday brought a busy schedule of events for the girls and I. Both of the girls had field trips at pumpkin farms, and I attended with Mimi. Annie was sad that I wasn’t planning on going with her. I told her it was because I always went with her on all her preschool field trips, and this was Mimi’s first school field trip. She was fine with it after I explained it that way. Although Annie is going through this very egocentric stage where she gets her feelings hurt quite easily when someone other than her gets a compliment or affection. For instance, if I kiss Mimi’s boo-boo, then Annie will say something like, “You don’t love me anymore?!?” She even pulls the “You don’t love me” card when I’m scolding her about something. It’s tiring, I tell ya.

Anyway, back to the field trips. I don’t have many details about Annie’s adventure other she got to go on a hayride, pick a pumpkin, and go in a “corn pool”. Apparently, the corn pool was a large, wooden box with dried corn kernels in it, and the kids took off their shoes and played in it. That sounds kind of relaxing, actually.

Since I was with Mimi for her field trip, I have a lot more to tell and pictures, too. This was Mimi’s first time on an official school bus, and she was quite excited about that event.

I was amazed at how much they had to offer at Green Meadows Farm.

The tour guide started the kids off with a pony ride. Mimi wasn’t that enthusiastic about this because she’s been there, done that. She made sure to tell Farmer Kim, our tour guide, that she had already ridden on a pony.

Farmer Kim next took the kids over to Chloe the Cow, and each child got a turn to milk her. Mimi was more than willing to give it a try.

The farm had tons of animals to visit. The kids were allowed to pet and sometimes chase and pick up certain animals. There were donkeys, pigs, llamas, turkeys, goats, chickens, chicks, bunnies, and kittens. Needless to say, a lot of hand sanitizer was used throughout the day.

Some of the animals seemed to actually like the chaotic children running at them. A couple of them gave Mimi a kiss, namely Dolly the Llama and Mr. Goat. Unfortunately, Mimi was willing to reciprocate each time.

Many people commented at how brave Mimi was about picking up the animals. She went for it every time with much gusto.

After lunch break we went on a hayride. The next stop was to pick out our pumpkins. I wimped out and made Mimi and I pick small ones so that I wouldn’t be stuck lugging around heavy objects. Mimi was fine with settling for just a small punkin, like herself. Finally it was time to head home. I was so tempted to nap on the bus ride home, but I figured I better stay awake at least until the car ride home.

However, this wasn’t the end of our day. Our church congregation had their own pumpkin farm event in the evening which included hayrides, chili cook-off, s’mores, and pumpkin picking. Since I’m part of the activities committee for our ward, I had to purchase and bring 12 gallons of apple cider, arrive early to help set up, and leave after the end of the event to help clean up. I was also in charge of making and bringing marshmallow roasting sticks (I have a welt on my belly fat after pinching my skin between the handle of the pruning clippers…OUCH). Thankfully, Annie and Mimi were plenty satisfied to run around all night with all the kids in attendance so that I could focus on helping with the event. The girls and I were plum tuckered out by the time we got home. I had to sit each of the girls on the bathroom counter in order to brush their teeth while they were half-asleep, and they were not happy when I made them wake up long enough to go potty one last time before bed.

Overall though, we had a wonderful day and the weather was absolutely perfect for all these events–chilly but not too cold.

I know this is already a super, long post, but Mike wanted me to tell everyone that he shot 2 does with his bow while on his hunting trip in SD. His friend also got a deer and an antelope. So we’ll have lots of meat to keep us fed this winter. Don’t look down if you can’t stomach seeing an animal carcus.

As you can see we were up to elbows in apples again. This time the task at hand was to make [crab]applesauce. We ventured to Williams-Sonoma to purchase a contraption to make this mission a bit easier, and we finally settled on a tomato press. I was a little skeptical that the process result in an edible product, but, to my surprise again, we got ourselves 10 quart-size jars of a crab-applesauce. At first I noticed a bitter aftertaste, but after consulting our applesauce expert, Kathy Olsen, she recommended adding a dash of vanilla. And, whattayaknow, it actually worked. The sauce is a little more tart than traditional applesauce, but everyone in the Hawley home enjoys and devours it (one jar is almost empty so far).

Here’s Annie working her muscles to crank out some mushy crabapples. Notice the blue bowl on the left–that’s where the undesirables get spit out. We didn’t realize this would happen until it was too late, and apple vomit ended up all over the counter and floor.

Mimi was pretty good at working the machine, too. Honestly, I can’t remember why she is just in her skivvies.

Last week we had the opportunity to finally get a chance to venture down to Chicago. My dad was in town for the night to deliver Josh’s, my brother, furniture which was in storage in Florida for a long time. The girls’ got their first ride in a taxi cab. I feel so bad because I totally spaced getting pictures of my dad, Josh, and his new wife, Erin. We did have a nice time though.

We interrupt this post for a brief bit of news. The dog has decided that the chair/couch in our den is her bed. I was noticing it getting dirty and hairy from her dogness, so we put some blankets on the piece of furniture to shield it. However, that pesky dog managed to wriggle her way under the blankets which completely defeats the purpose of the blankets in the first place. Tell me again how I ended up with this dog?!?

Now back to talking about projects. When we moved into this lovely home we were disturbed by the lack of any deck or patio and wondered how a family could live in this house for 14 years without ever being able to grill or eat outside. Maybe they did, but it would be a little inconvenient. So Mike and I decided we would do something to remedy this problem by adding on a patio to the back of the house. Of course, this project has taken on a life of its own and is not nearly as simple (or inexpensive) as we planned it to be. In spite of that, we are making progress.

Step 1: We had to dig out the area where the patio would be and to dig down about 7 or so inches. Fortunately, Mike had some men from church come over for a whole Saturday to help with this daunting task. Thankfully, I didn’t have to shovel one fleck of dirt from the ground:)

Step 2: Once the ground was completely dry (we had almost a full week of rain), we covered the ground with 3 mil plastic sheeting.

Step 3: This was the worst step ever; we covered the entire area with gravel. It took Mike and me all of Saturday and some of Monday to complete this step. Let me tell you, shoveling gravel is a very intense workout which causes much soreness the next day.

Step 4: The gravel needed to be compacted, and we rented this wonderful machine to do that job. I loved this part because the machine does most of the work, and the operator just needs to guide it. Mike and I took turns.

Step 5: We put about 1 inch of sand and had to level it with a 2×4x10 and level on top. Notice how much sand is in the truck bed? Picture gravel instead and multiply it by 7 loads = sore arms, back, butt, and even obliques.

Step 6: Hooray, the actual laying of stone has begun. And what better way to start than with our circle of life (that’s what I’m calling it anyway since I feel like I’ve practically sacrificed my own life in order to get to this point).

Step 7: We almost completed the floor of the patio, but a few delays kept us from completing finishing. The stone cutter cutting only an hour into its cutting, so Mike wasn’t able to finish cutting the pieces to fill in around the circle. The place where we purchased all this stuff also wasn’t able to deliver the wall of our patio because their forklift broke. So we are at a standstill until a week and a half from now. Why a week and a half, you say? Well, I’ll get to that in a moment.

Lucy was taunting us all day by running over the sand and even lying in it. She is just so naughty!

The reason we won’t be able to pick up where we left off with the patio for a few days is because Mike is leaving us to go hunting in SD with some buddies. He’s been working hard for us around here lately, so I think he deserves this trip. Plus, he hasn’t gotten this opportunity since before starting endo school. The girls and I will survive, I suppose. We’ll actually stay pretty busy with our usual daily routines.