Merry Christmas!

(Click to enlarge)

Happy Halloween!

The costume parade was not the only thing we did this year to celebrate Halloween. This year Erin said we could have friends over and carve pumpkins. We were very excited. Especially DJ who always want to play with knives. So we gathered up some pumpkins and friends and got to work.

Ooo so many to choose from.

We each picked a pumpkin and started gutting. D.J. dug right in. Erin said she should have made us wear our rain coats. We got a little messy. Jesse saw the mess and decided that holding the pumpkin was just as good as carving it.

Num...guts!

Erin made us sort the seeds from the pumpkin slim. She said she would bake the seeds for us later. I estimate that we got 9 cups of pumpkin seeds! We will be eating them for the rest of our lives!

I decided to carve a traditional Jack-O-Lantern for Halloween. They are my favorite. Erin helped me.

A little more off the side...and perfect!

D.J. wanted to do something a little more modern. So out came a stencil, a knife, and Paul, who helped D.J. with a Felix the Cat. It come out really well. But don't tell D.J. that, or we'll never hear the end of it.

D.J. I think that knife is a little big for detail work.

And Jesse, well...Jesse just held the pumpkin, saying something like, "pumpkins need love, too."

It's okay pumpkin, I won't hurt you.

I think Jesse needs a vacations. Too much work. Eventually we figured out that Jesse just didn't want to get dirty nor play with knives. Which is okay. We had plenty of friends around to help carve. And the results were awesome!

Happy Halloween!

In the end we had 7 pumpkins carved. For some reason Erin said we couldn't play with knives by ourselves. So from left to right is the names of the humans that helped us on each pumpkin: Erin (owl), Angela (spider), Savita (small pumpkin), Erin (traditional), Vijay (Trick-or-Treat), Paul (cat), and Amol (undetermined). Thanks everyone!

On a sadder note, this year while carving pumpkins I got injured. I was playing with the candles and got burnt. But it is a good lesson learned to be careful around the holiday times. Because being injured is no fun. Hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween!

Hiding Out in Sherwood Forest

Jesse as Robin Hood

Our next entry into the Halloween Costume Parade is Jesse. Jesse is going as Robin Hood. But don't be mistaken, Jesse wants to be sure that everyone knows we are talking about the "newer" Robin Hood from the BBC TV Show. Jesse really likes that one and was sad when they canceled the show. As Jesse pointed out, no need for a funny hat. Apparently, the BBC Robin Hood is way cooler. Sheep...who knows?

Anyway, Jesse found out that the sheep are on detail for handing out candy this year to the kids that come to the house. So Jesse of course was very excited to be able to hand out chocolate gold coins to stay in character. Jesse, you are a character. Thanks for joining the parade and sharing your wealth...even if you stole it from Erin.

Jesse's favorite horror movie is Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Yes we tried to explain to Jesse that that wasn't a scary movie. But the sheep insisted that guys in tights are scary. I guess you can't argue with that. At least we can't. Don't believe us? Well take a look for yourself.

Halo Reach

Erin came home from work today and said she had a surprise for us. Said something about how Summer was almost over and that she knew we would be crawling the walls soon. But she said we would have to wait for after dinner to get it. Of course, D.J. couldn't wait. And of course, D.J. drug Sheepy into it. They went snooping in Erin's purse; and what did they find?

HALO REACH!!!

Erin brought home Halo Reach! And on release day, no less. And out it came from her purse. Have we sheep told you lately that we love Erin?

OOO...bonus spartan recon helmet...what ever sheep needs.

D.J. started to put the disk in the Xbox when Erin walked in front and threw up her hands. She said, "Well if you're going to play video games without even eating dinner than you might as well set up the new Xbox 360 I bought."

OOOO...shiny.

New Halo AND new Xbox!? Have we sheep told you lately that we love Erin!?

We'll we pulled the Xbox 360 out and took a look. It is SOOO COOL! As we were looking at the new improved Xbox I swear I heard the song from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Very monolithic...if it starts singing Daisy, I'm out of here.

D.J. of course still couldn't wait to play.

READY!!!

But Chris pulled out the instructions and explained that we needed to set the box up before any of us could play.

We need to plug it in first.

Plugging the box in meant that some sheep had to brave the dangerous mess of cables behind Erin's computer. So Sheepy and I nominated D.J. since D.J. was too busy gnawing on the headset cord to be listening to us.

I'm scared!

After D.J. plugged in the cord we were off and running. Time to set it up. Our first language wasn't on the Xbox but Erin told us to pick English. She said that Xbox doesn't support Baaa-ing.

OOO...pick that one it's got pretty letters.

And then we got to a page that asked us if we wanted to have any game restrictions.

Quick, select skip before Erin comes back!

Unfortunately, Erin had never left the room. She always seems to be around when we don't want her to be and never around when we really need her. How does that work?

We were all ready to game when...NO INTERNET CONNECTION! What was that about!? I had to crawl under the desk and check it out this time.

Fix it, Jesse! Fix it NOW!

And of course, I found that D.J. had unplugged the router while he was back there plugging in the new Xbox. You know what they say; Never send a lamb to do a sheep's job. But I fixed it.

Ya, green dots!

And then D.J. said, "Out of my way, I want to play!" But Erin stopped us again and said, "No you have to transfer all the content from my old Xbox to my new one." And she said something like, if we had just waited and ate dinner she would have had it all finished in no time at all. But with all us sheep it was going to take longer. She obviously doesn't understand that we are helpful. Silly human. So I took the controls and Chris and D.J. took over the hardware.

Ready!

And finally, D.J. tossed the disk in the tray when Erin wasn't looking. We were off. Erin said something about cleaning up the mess we just made.

"Clean all this up before we play?" Ya right.

But I didn't hear her because I had my headset on. The opening scene looks good.

Oooo....shiny.

Well if your wondering where us sheep will be for the next few weeks, you can be sure to know we are on Erin's Xbox. Someone else will have to hold down the blog while we are gone.

And to all those Halo fans out there; we hope you enjoy Halo Reach. Not that you have time to read our blog. We all know your standing in line at your closes game store waiting to buy it at midnight when it goes on sale. We'll see you in the game lobby!

Short Deep Breaths

We made it to the airport and flung open Justin's suitcase. The poor sheep were alive, but barely. They were suffering from heat stroke and dehydration but after a little First Aid and water they were all better. Good thing sheep have better recovery rates than humans.

Drink more fluids...but stay off the carpet.

I think everyone learned a valuable lesson today. Don't get caught in a suitcase for more than 48 hours. Remember when you get stuck in a suitcase your human has no common sense to guide them. Only you can prevent human stupidity.

We're Coming!

We had just finished playing some Xbox when we decided to see what was going on online. And we found Aerin's distress post.

Sheep 911, what is your emergency?

Erin told us everything would be fine but she knows nothing. We have to move. So we are off to go save Aerin and Taylor.

Everyone in and buckled?

If you read this, Aerin, know that help is on the way. Stay strong!

Dirty Laundry

With all the new house guests, we have to up the chores around the house. Ewww, I know. But there are so many in the house now and they all have been in the attic for so long. You can't believe how dirty these toys got just laying around. So Erin's mom showed up to help us out.

We had piles and piles of laundry, and the washer and dryer were just not going to get to it all. Erin's mom showed us how we could speed up the process. And I think Erin figured out how to use the record button on her camera just so she could have proof that we sheep do know how to clean.

Remember this moment people, because it is not going to happen again for a very, very, VERY long time.

Henry Ford would be proud.

Well, we got all the clothes cleaned and dried. And more important, we found a use for Erin's salad spinner. Poor thing never gets used; like Erin would ever make a salad.

Toy Story

The other day Erin insisted on going to a horror movie. I mean a really really horrific movie. You know the one I'm talking about. The scariest movie ever made...Toy Story 3. O the horror of it all, leaving toys in attics and at day care while their human goes off to college and...and...and...make it stop! Ok, it did have a happy ending, big woop.

It did get me to thinking about all the toys Erin had before she moved to college and got us. I mean I always envisioned Erin as an "adult." You know what I mean? I mean I never thought of the fact that Erin probably had toys and even stuffed therapy animals before us sheep. I guess I just never thought of it. What kind of childhood and toys would create such a human as Erin? *shutter* Little did I know that I was about to find out.

Well, was I in for a surprise when Erin opened the door one day to see boxes and boxes of her old childhood toys sitting on our step. Apparently, they found out somehow that Erin had bought a house and is starting to settle down. And when children grow up and get a house of their own, their toys leave the attic of their human parents and move back in with their human.

Anyway, Erin had a lot of stuff. At first, it didn't look so bad. I mean just a few boxes, right? how bad could that be? We do have a big house.

What do you think is in all these boxes? Presents for me?!?!?!

D.J. always thinks there are presents. But I told the others that the boxes were full of Erin's childhood. To which they both cringed but I told them it probably wasn't all that bad. I mean only a few boxes. But then things started to crawl out of them.

Run for your lives!

There was chaos everywhere! Barbies started crawling out of boxes, music boxes started playing warped princess melodies, baseball cards smashed up against the side of the clear boxes just staring at us, and then a flood of stuffed animals came. There were so many... I knew Erin was damaged but I had no idea she had a whole team of plush therapy buddies trying to fix her for years. And apparently there were even more that hadn't made it.

Remember when Erin's 1st sheep showed up a few months ago? And Chris was so upset that there was a sheep in Erin's life before us? Well...that little 1st was on a scouting missing. Checking up on Erin and seeing if her new home was suitable for the rest. And now that everyone else is here, the 1st was in charge of negotiations.

We'll give you the upstairs closet and poke holes in the boxes so you can breath. And you can come out every other Tuesday of the months that have a blue moon.

We're still working on the living arrangements, but Erin told us that everyone was staying so we better learn to get along. She also said, that each of us sheep could have one of her childhood toys to play with. So we forgot about the old therapist and ran off to find our toy!

D.J. jumped right in without ever looking around. A cool blue Rainbow Brite car was exactly what that little sheep doesn't need. But then I didn't get to pick out D.J.'s toy. That sheep didn't even care that the car came with a passenger.

Buckle up hot stuff. Let's see what this baby can do!

Chris wasn't as open minded as D.J. but was still very popular with the ladies.

Hehe...ok ladies...your both pretty but I think there might have been a little misunderstanding.

Poor Chris spent most of the day hiding from the girls that have been locked in a attic for 10 years. I tried to tell Chris that the ladies just needed a little attention and then all would be good. Sheepy should have taken my lead.

More tea, ladies?

See? I made some new friends and then found my toy. Erin's trumpet. Oooo...I just know I was going to be great. Watch out Louie, here comes Jesse. I did my own rendition of "Hello, Dolly!" and waited for the tip jar to fill up.

Hello, Dolly! This is Jesse, Dolly.

My tip jar did fill up...unfortunately it was filled with a trumpet mute. Ok maybe I need a little bit of work before I can compete with Louis Armstrong but I didn't think I was THAT bad.

So I went upstairs to practice some more and I found Chris, who had found the prefect toy. Chris had picked Erin's bats. Said something about being able to defend against all the hostile women that were out there. O Sheepy...

Sorry ladies...I'm off limits.

In the end I think we were all pretty happy. We all got "new" toys to play with, the toys got to be played with, and some of us even made new friends.

O but wait...I almost forgot about the 1st. You see the 1st was missing someone very special to him for the last few months. That's right, the 1st was reunited with Little Bo Peep. Bo Peep had been looking all over for her sheep. She was the one that lead all the other toys to Erin's house. She crossed the boring planes, climbed mountains, and after 1,820 miles of tracking, found herself on our doorstep. Along with all the other toys who followed her.

I told you I would always find you and love you.

It's nice to see that Erin had good role models in her life. Hopefully she was paying attention and will always find and love us like Little Bo Peep.

Roll Over

Every since we moved into the new house Erin has been getting a lot more junk mail. And a different kind of junk mail. When we rented, Erin would get tons of applications for credit cards. She used to take everything out of the envelope, write in black sharpie "Please take me off your mailing list. Thanks, Erin" on the order form, then she shoved everything (including the original envelop) into the prepaid return envelop and dropped it in the mail. Thus, Erin was able to support the Post Office and get her name off the mailing list. Pretty simple, effective, and costly to the junk mailers.

Now Erin is getting a higher class of junk mail. But I would say the most disturbing junk mail that is coming in is all the applications for life insurance. Who knew owning a home was so dangerous? Well, ok I can see why. Higher class junk mail isn't the only new phenomenon of home ownership. I mean, Erin is actually using the fireplace. And if you seen Erin use a fireplace you would know why she is getting so many life insurance applications. (Shhh...don't tell her we are requesting more information to be mailed.)

Anyway, let's get to the point...if there is any. Erin is not sending the junk mail back. Instead she is hoarding all her newspapers and junk mail to use for kindling for her fireplace for next winter. Which means we are starting to get closets full of junk mail.

So to help out with the clutter, I decided to make Erin some newspaper (and junk mail) logs. First I went to the internet to investigate how you should go about making a newspaper log. And I found all these "log rollers" which were super expensive. Not to mention super worthless (or so the reviews said). And then I came across a nice simple instruction video on how to make CHEAP paper logs. And as a extra added bonus, to relieve some stress. So I gathered the supplies and the troops and we were off.

I put Chris in charge of organizing and wetting the papers. I figured with Chris being the oldest should have some good organizational skills that could be put to work. Unfortunately, Chris wanted to read all the junk mail before passing it into the tub.

Ooo..half off toilet paper and pizza!

Once the papers were all wet I got to beat them with a hammer and then roll them on a pipe. I got this job because I have all the muscles of the group. And because I don't trust D.J. with a hammer nor a metal pipe.

Squishy

Once I removed the the log from the pipe I moved it to the drying rack with D.J. (Don't tell Erin I used her cookie drying racks for this.) D.J.'s job was to make sure the logs stayed on the rack to dry. Basically, D.J. kept trying to crawl into the water tub and splash around. So I was hoping I could keep the little sheep on the rack to dry off so that I didn't get yelled at by Erin for bring a wet sheep into the house.

Stay...Stay!

Overall, I think we had a pretty good assemble line going on. Henry Ford would be proud.

Look, no bottle neck!

And when it was all said and done we had 10 logs.

Burn, baby Burn!

Ok, Erin did comment that it took us all day and that it might not have been as efficient as originally hoped. We did only produce one log every hour. But when you consider all the union breaks we had to work in, I thought we did a good job. And we still were able to sleep, watch movies, play on the net, and all the other fun stuff we do on a Saturday at home. I even think Erin washed the dishes.

Now all we have to do is wait for the logs to dry and Winter to come to try it out. Stay tune!

All Tied Up

As you all may have noticed, I don't go on as many adventures as Chris and D.J. do. Some have speculated that it is because Erin doesn't want to take me out. Some have said it is because she doesn't love me as much as the others or because I'm overly plushy. But the truth is I am a home-body and I don't want to go on all those silly adventures. Nope, this sheep is simple.

I like to...well I like to...quilt. Yes I said it. I like quilting. And I'm not going to hide it anymore. The other sheep make fun of my crafty ways but I don't care. I like to post on the blog too and my adventures just happen closer to home. So from now on, get ready for Jesse's Notions (if you didn't get how clever that is look here. Yes you're going to have to learn up on your quilting terms.)

So my first project took a little more time then expected. But hey, it was my first one. So it all started back in February of 2009 when Erin's blue jean blanket that she made way back in middle school started to get really tattered and torn. I decided to make her a new one. And as luck would have it, Erin got invited to go on a quilting retreat (shut it).

So us 3 sheep convinced Erin that we should get to go with (a.k.a. we hid in the back seat until we were on the ferry). When we got to the secret quilter hide out we all got to work. I cut up a ton of jeans into squares and I told Chris and D.J. where to place them. Well...I tried to tell them...but its kind of like herding cats.

Rook to Queen...Check.

Once I got all those squares laid out I started drinking...um I mean sewing up all the squares. It took me a little while but I got the hang of it. You know sewing in a straight line with the sewing machine is harder than it looks. I said it just took a while to figure out the borrowed sewing machine (Erin forgot her foot pedal). Erin said it just meant that I was sobering up. Anyway...I got cracking and that is all that matters.

Vrooom...

It was going splendidly until I had to return the borrowed sewing machine. And then I found out the fossil that Erin owns was broken. Had to send it in and it took THREE MONTHS for them to find a replacement camshaft. So finally we got the sewing machine back and I was back to work. And in no time I got the top all sewn together.

Then next step was to do the quilting. Ok, I decided to tie the quilt. But I ran into another snag. Apparently no one in Washington knows what a quilting tie rack is. So Erin took me to Home Depot where we bought some 2x4s, staple gun, and some industrious C-clamps. O did I forget to tell you that sewing with jeans is like gorilla quilting warfare? Oops... In any case, we had to build a quilting rack from the bottom up. Chris and D.J. "helped" with this. I don't know why I keep asking for their help.

My head hurts all of a sudden.

Hold still...I got it right where I want it.

After a few Advil, bandages and tears we got the quilt rack constructed. And then we got the quilt stretched on the rack. And then those stupid sheep decided to use my lovely quilt as a trampoline. I tell you. They have no respect for what I make.

Look what I can do!

After Chris and D.J. stopped jumping on my blanket I wiped away my tears and put them to work. I must say sometimes it is nice when Erin comes home and starts yelling. At least when she is not yelling at me but those 2 trouble makers.

But in any case, I crawled under the quilt and D.J. and Chris stayed on top and we passed the needle through to X tie the quilt. It was a lot of hard work. but we got it done. I didn't know that quilting was so hard and expensive. I mean the chiropractic bills alone are enough to make you want to just buy a factory made quilt.

Ouch! watch where your stabbing that needle!

So it is summer of 2009 now and by this point I had the quilt top made and the backing tied on. Done right? Wrong. Now comes the worse part. Hand sewing the binding on. I HATE that part. But just as I was getting ready to do it, Erin goes and moves us. So my blanket sat in a box for a few months. And then when Erin FINALLY did unpack it she put it on her bed! I mean how rude! I told her it wasn't done but she just said she was cold and she didn't care.

So comes a full year and I still haven't gotten this blanket made. And then you know what happen? I got sick. Really sick. And Erin tucked me on the couch and let me watch tv all day long. And I got to use the blanket. I took this advantage to sew up the binding and all is done. See?

I made that.

Isn't it perfect?

The blanket didn't last long on the couch with me. No, it is back on Erin's bed. She says it is her favorite. I guess it was worth the work. Nothing beats a nice cozy sheep quilt.

Franklin is Sleepless in Seattle Part II

Any good ole sheepdog knows it's the proper thing to do to bring sumthin' nice along when you're visitin.'


John and Erin went to some fancy-dancy seafood joint for dinner. The sign said no dogs allowed, so they promised me and the sheep some leftovers.



What in tarnation is this stuff. They just keep starring at us!



We talked John and Erin into taking us out for ice cream instead.



Then it was Superbowl Sunday. Jesse fixed us up with some nice submarine sandwiches.



Then we watched the game. What was that ref looking at?



The fixins sure were good though.



And we made s'mores in Erin's fireplace. Made me homesick for the campfires on the trail.