Happy Halloween!

 Today we celebrated Halloween. Joshua was super excited about going trick-or-treating. Clara was also excited. She wasn't sure what it was, but if Joshua wanted to do it, she knew it had to be good.

They were pretty much ready to go as soon as they woke up from nap. But first we had to eat dinner and get in our costumes.

Then they were really ready to go, but it wasn't quite time yet so I appeased them with candy. Hannah says, "This is the best holiday I have ever heard of!" as she eats a piece of candy.

Cousin Benjamin came over with Aunt Julie and Uncle Andrew and we all went trick or treating together. I let them eat a fair amount of candy and they all had a super great time.

A Lot of Catching Up To Do

When the guys from our old couples' Bible study created our own spin-off group a few years ago, we met every other week, or close to it.  But since then our lives have all gotten much busier, and over the past year it's probably dropped to every couple months.  But this summer has been especially bad, and until tonight we hadn't met since May.  So we were glad to be able to find a time, even if only three of us could attend.  We ended up talking for a long time, as although not much significant has changed in my life in that time, both Jeremy and Nathan have had some notable events happen in their lives.  It was exciting to hear about all the great things happening to everyone.  We really need to try to find a way to meet more often.

Like a Scary Ghost

Today Joshua had his Halloween party at school. He got to wear his costume and sing some songs and he also got treats and made some crafts. His main craft was this scary ghost. He was showing us how it moved.

Here he is impressing Clara, who is sweeping and eating a pretend brownie while watching him. She is a multi-tasker. And our dress code is toddler-casual which means half an outfit is fine.

A Golden Delicious Opportunity

Joshua loves apples, and he has loved them since he was very little.  This morning he was downstairs with me while I was getting ready for work.  I needed to go out to my car for a minute, and when I came back in I saw that he had taken the opportunity to get the helping tower, push it over to the side of the kitchen island closest to the fruit bowl, climb up on the helping tower, grab an apple from the fruit bowl, climb back down and then up to a kitchen chair, and take a seat at the table and begin chowing down on his apple.  It was a little disappointing because he clearly instantly started his plan of action as soon as I walked out the door, knowing that it probably wasn't an approved activity.  But when I came in and asked him what happened, he told me exactly what he had done (he's always honest about his actions, so far anyway).  If he would have just asked me, I would have let him do it, but he must have thought I wouldn't have gone for it, and thus had to take matters (and thus the apple) into his own hands.  Oh, and it was actually a Honeycrisp apple, but I couldn't resist the play on words with Golden Delicious for the title of this post.

It Does More Than Store Stuff Under Beds

I cleaned out part of the garage today, and I ended up with a spare under-bed box (it was obviously not under any beds while in the garage).  I brought it in so I could later take it to the basement, and it was an immediate point of interest among the kids.  Joshua, naturally, decided the best thing would be to hammer it.  So he immediately ran to get his toy hammer and construction hat and began pounding away.  When he took a break, I flipped it over, and Hannah felt compelled to crawl in it.  But then she seemed to think she was stuck in it ans was not pleased with the scenario.

Clara was somewhat less interested in it, and instead just moved about the house looking even cuter than normal, somehow.  Here she is taking her animals shopping and then later trying to steal a drink of my water from my glass.  This girl is ridiculously cute.

Made-Up Games and Outdoor Movies

My dad was driving through town today on his way back to Minnesota and was able to stop by to see the kids (and, well, me and Meghan too, I suppose). One of the more fun games I play with Joshua is where he tries to throw a ball down the stairs to the basement while I try to defend against it. Joshua wanted to play this game with Dad, so they played several rounds of it, with my dad mostly successfully defending the goal. But every athletic endeavor carries some risk, and at one point while playing defense, he took a ball to the face.  But he shook it off and didn't need any time on the Disabled List and kept on defending.  After that, Joshua decided they should have a sword fight with the pool noodles (they are not actually used for the pool but were a car-ride activity for our trip to Florida).  Joshua thought all of this was super fun and laughed uproariously the whole time.  Even though it was a short visit, it was really fun and we made the most of the time we had.

Our neighborhood association does a good job of hosting different fun events. Today was a new event they hadn't done before, as they hosted a family movie night. It was held in the parking lot of our neighborhood pool with a large inflatable movie screen. The girls were still napping, so I took Joshua in our wagon.  They had s'mores available, so Joshua got to roast his own marshmallows, though he was a little intimidated but intrigued by the fire.  We ate the yummy treat, and then the movie started, which was It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.  They also had freshly-popped popcorn, so Joshua chowed through a bag of it while watching the movie.  He hadn't really seen Peanuts before, so I tried to brief him ahead of time on Snoopy, Woodstock, and some other characters.  Incidentally, I later realized Woodstook (along with Peppermint Patty, Marcie, and probably others) hadn't been created at the time of that movie, so they aren't in it.  After another s'mores break, they started Hotel Transylvania, with the idea being to have one movie for littler kids and one for bigger kids.  It was dinnertime at that point, so Joshua and I skipped the second movie and headed home.  It was a fun event, and we'll probably try to do it next year, probably adding Clara to the mix.

Chopstick Assistance

Tonight Jason and I had date night. Peg and Ron were nice enough to watch the kids. We decided to do sushi. Here I am smiling, but only on the outside. Because I am very hungry but all I have are chopsticks. I am terrible at using chopsticks. I can't make them go. I think it's a dexterity issue. Jason has shown me multiple times. I can't do it. I especially can't do it with somewhat slippery dumplings.

Here I am smiling from the very depths of my soul because the waitress brought me baby chopsticks (the kind with the rubber band) that I could use and I was able to eat some dinner. Despite the happy resolution, the restaurant was okay but not great. I greatly enjoyed the dumplings and noodles (I really loved the noodles. I had never had them before. They might be my new thing) and the tempura rolls were good if you like tempura which I do not. I was very disappointed in the tuna rolls which are normally my favorite. I am glad we did sushi and we had a fun date night, but I think we probably would choose a different sushi restaurant next time.

Enchanted Forest

 Last year, we went to Deanna Rose as a fun pre-Halloween activity with Grandma and Grandpa. We had fun, but it is $8/person for anyone one or over so that would be a substantial investment for us this year and we didn't think it was *that* fun. So we decided to try The Enchanted Forest, which the city of Lenexa puts on for free. This year the kids are a baseball player, referee, and cheerleader. There were some other options I was personally more excited about, but Joshua is old enough to be excited about it now, so I went with the thing I thought he would love most.

Grandma and Grandpa again were able to come with the kids and we all went to Sar-Ko-Par park. 

The parking was a bit tricky and it was a little cold, but we had a really good time and this is perfect for little kids. We didn't even do the add-ons like hayride and bounce house this year because the shiny lights and atmosphere were enough for our kids at this age. I think we will definitely do it again in future years.

Good Food for a Good Cause

Well, not necessary food of good quality or good nutrition, but definitely food of good taste.  Joshua's school program (which is part of the church) was having a fundraiser tonight at Culver's.  20% of the cost of any purchase would be given back to the school.  We decided to do it, so we took our crew of five to Culver's for our dinner for the evening.  Culver's is famous for their butterburgers (I think the butter description is for the bun, not the meat, so it's a misleading name, in my opinion) and for their custard, so we indulged in both, though Clara went with the less dairy-heavy option of a rootbeer float, and Hannah ate chicken, because that's what she loves.  I do wonder about the efficiency of such a fundraiser.  If they said, "Hey, we're raising money for some additional school supplies and educational stuff for the classrooms, and we'd like each family to give $20", I would probably do that.  Instead they probably got six or seven bucks from us based on our purchase.  But I suppose there are other people who wouldn't donate extra but would go to Culver's, so I don't know.  Either way, it was fun for us to go out and know that it benefited our little student.

A Nice Day For a Bike Ride

Today Clara was feeling completely better and we had arranged for Halie (our nanny who watches the kids twice a week while I work) to come later than normal just to make sure Clara wasn't sick. We took advantage of the time by going to ride bikes for a bit. Clara really needs her own bike. She likes to insist that Hannah's bike is hers (which it was, but now she is too old, though not too big, for it without adjusting the bike). Today Joshua wanted to ride his big bike so Clara rode his small bike for awhile. She can't really ride it because she can't even reach the ground while on the seat, much less the pedals, but she walks while sitting on the bar. Joshua is really improving on pedaling, though he still needs a little push sometimes. Clara decided she wanted to push him after awhile. Luckily, he only needs a little push to get going so she could provide it.

A Better Morning than Afternoon

Today our day started as normal. We went outside and enjoyed the beautiful fall day. I know I will be tempted to pack up and leave this state in three short months because I do hate winter and every year I think fond thoughts about Texas all through January and February, but I think all the other seasons, which I really love them all for different reasons, make it worth it. Joshua was interested in the leaves, both because they are at eye-level and we have been talking about autumn and they are starting to change.


Unfortunately after nap, things took a turn for the worse and Clara woke up not feeling well at all. She was super pale, even more-so than normal, and was gagging and just wanted to cuddle. Poor girl. We put her to bed early and hopefully she will be okay in the morning. She had a day last week where she didn't feel well at all in the afternoon, but ended up totally fine the next morning after a good night's sleep. We are hoping it is similar and doesn't turn into the flu or anything.

Dirtying Up the Sunday Bests

Some people in our church dress up very formally, with some men even wearing suits. That's not my style, maybe because I'm from a younger generation, or maybe because I grew up in less formal churches, or maybe because I just prefer more casual clothes.  Still, I will always wear a collared shirt, though I always wear jeans with it.  Meghan is usually dressed up to a similar extent or even nicer with a dress.  And we try to do the same for the kids.  Joshua's often in a collared shirt, and the girls are usually in dresses, often matching dresses.  While we are careful to avoid staining their outfits, we don't worry too much about dirt, since it washes out.  So today after church when the kids asked to play outside, I took them out without changing their clothes.  Joshua and Clara happily played in the dirt for awhile, and later the girls swung together, no one caring about the cleanliness of the clothes (though in the end, the clothes didn't even actually get dirty).

Date Day: A Big Shovel, Chipotle, and Whiffle Ball

Today was a date day for me with Joshua.  We went out through the garage, and on the way out he noticed a shovel.  He has played with small shovels before, and he thinks they're the greatest things ever, so I think he could hardly believe the glorious gigantic shovel before his eyes.  I told him we needed to go, but he kept telling me he wanted to play with the "big shovel".  It went: "Joshua, we need to go."  "No, Joshua want play big shovel." over and over.  I realized my plans for the day were kind of loose anyway, so I decided why not let him play with the big shovel.  So I got it out for him, and brought him over to the mulch in front of our house and let him go to town (fortunately I'm not one of those guys who's super picky about his landscaping).

We then went to Chipotle for lunch.  Chipotle is just about the tastiest food you can get in a restaurant, yet somehow Meghan doesn't appreciate its brilliance, so I thought this would be a good opportunity for us to have it.  Joshua had a quesadilla with rice, beans, and chocolate milk.  We then went to the new sporting goods store in town, Academy Sports + Outdoors.  Joshua enjoyed seeing all the different types of sporting equipment.  I tried to buy him a mini soccer ball that was on clearance, but he said he didn't want it.  That was disappointing.

It was a beautiful day this afternoon, so we went to the park to play with some sporting equipment (though sadly, not a new mini soccer ball).  I brought several types of balls, but Joshua only wanted to play baseball, of course.  So we spent our remaining time with him slugging whiffle balls across the open grassy area in rather impressive fashion.  He also wanted to use the bigger kid bat instead of the short stubby one that they make for little kids.

I, too, happen to love whiffle ball, so I couldn't resist taking a few hacks myself.  Apparently, though, the balls were not made to be hit by adults.  I crushed a few deep into the distant green grass (and a few not very far at all.  Give me a break, I'm old.), only to notice that I had put a giant dent in one of the balls.  The dent was centered around what should have been my first clue that it wasn't made for me: a label saying "Little Tykes".  Oh well.  After we were out of time (Joshua really did hit the vast majority of the time, not me), we walked back to the car over a rock path that the city of Olathe decided to spend a ton of money on when building the park.  Joshua loved the big rocks and threw many of them as we walked along even though they probably weigh not too much less than he does.  It was another fun father/son day.

Not Quite Picture Perfect

I scheduled our family portraits for today quite some time ago with Rebecca, who also took our pictures last year. We had planned to do them around 5 this afternoon. Unfortunately, it was very likely to rain at that time so we had to move the session, but luckily she had time at 8:30 this morning. Though that is a bit early for us to be somewhere, we got up and went to Heritage Park to get some photos in the beautiful and sunny (but cold) fall weather. It seemed to go well and I think we got some good ones, but by the end of the session Hannah was pretty much over it.

We did get two sneak previews from Rebecca so far:

This is Hannah in better spirits with Jason.

And this is us as a family. I am excited to see the rest of the pictures when they are ready.