halloween

So. Here it is. The Halloween post. Our kids had a great time. There was a church party, a school carnival, and then a whole lot of trick or treating. Brandon's family joined us for trick or treating because our neighborhood is perfect for it. The weather was amazing--warm enough that no coats were needed, since the costumes were pretty warm. And there was a full (or close to it) moon hovering right in between the mountains. It was so much fun to walk around that the plastic pumpkins were full by the time we got home.

Elsa and Henry were Jedi Knights. Not any specific Jedi, just Jedi. Elsa refused to be anything too girly--no Leia or Amidala or anything. Will wanted to be a Jedi too, until he tried on the robe I made for him, and then he immediately wanted it off. But, he was obsessed with the hand-me-down Buzz costume from cousin Brenna. It didn't matter how sweaty he was, how much of a hikey he got, or how much the elastic was cutting off the circulation to his feet--he was keeping the Buzz costume on.

The Halloween fairy came again and left a watch for Henry, slinky dog for Elsa, and green plastic army guys for Will. They were all thrilled, and the Halloween Fairy has gotten a little fatter this week.

It was a delightful Halloween all around.

Oh yeah, Henry and Elsa had to be something curriculum-oriented for school. So, Elsa had to be an Egyptian/Cleopatra and Henry was a skeleton. Like the last-minute costumes? These were done the day before with $1.50 in ribbon and a few pennies worth of masking tape. It was a little ghetto, but it worked. And don't they look happy?

first camping trip

Here are my favorite quotes from our first family camping trip back in August:

Henry (while roasting his hotdog on a stick, which took a little longer than expected): Is this fun?

Will (first thing in the morning; only the two of us were awake; there was rustling in the bushes next to us): What was that?
Mom: There's some kind of animal in there. What kind of animal do you think it is?
Will: A bear.
Mom: Uh oh. What do you think the bear will do?
Will: Maybe he'll come out and say, "Hi. Can I have some chips?"

Elsa (on a walk around the little lake/pond): Look there's a little hole. I wonder what lives in there.
Mom: I don't know. What do you think it is?
Elsa: I think it's zombies.

And, this is why I'm not super anxious to go again, although I'm sure I'll be dragged out next summer anyway:

she's finally six!

Little Elsa Loie Lou finally turned six. I say finally because I have been mistakenly telling people she's six for a couple of months now. She suddenly seems to be so old. It makes me a little sad, because she really is so young still.

She's brilliant and determined. She has a champion attention-span. She has her own mind and is not easily swayed. She truly enjoys life--every bird and flower and blade of grass gets noticed by Elsa. She laughs easily and finds humor in many things--especially William lately. She is so loving and gentle when she's not sword-fighting and wrestling with her brothers. She is consistently content and happy. She is completely wonderful and makes my life so much happier.

school's in session

Time to play catch-up again. I wrote this back at the beginning of September, but I had some picture issues. There are more catch-up posts to follow, as soon as all picture issues are resolved:

The kids have been back in school for a few weeks now. They are all loving it. Elsa was a little nervous upon arrival at the school. But, she warmed up after about 30 minutes, and was really happy about it when she came home.

Check out those long skinny legs!


The best smile a nervous Elsa could muster.

Henry's class got straight to work. That's him front and center.

Will also started preschool 2 days a week. I love Miss Wendy, and she seems to have already worked her magic on him. She actually said she's so grateful for him because he is an example to the other little boys by tracing his letters the way he's supposed to. Go figure. He sits and traces and colors neatly in the lines and does all kinds of things I can't get him to do at home. I'm so impressed. Maybe he'll turn out all right after all.


It is a little lonely having Henry and Elsa gone all day. And, I forgot how crazy the evenings are during the school year: doing homework, going to cub scouts and flag football and dance and meetings. But, busy is good I guess, and the kids seem happy. Goodbye long summer days.

mmmmm . . . cortizone cream

I was getting the kids ready for bed a little while back, when I heard the following coming from Will in the bathroom:

Aaack.

Yuck.

(Spitting.)

Yucky.

Aaack.

I went in to dicover this:

going back west

We took a slightly longer road home from Minnesota to go to Mount Rushmore. That part of South Dakota was crawling with bikers because the day we were travelling through was the first day of Sturgis (this huge motorcycle rally, in case you haven't heard.) We stopped at Wall Drug on the way there, and it was one of the most bizarre places I've been.





Mount Rushmore was way more amazing than I remember it being when I was a child. Not that Mount Rushmore itself had changed, but it seems like there wasn't a museum and fancy walkway and stuff when I was little. And, I think I just appreciate the enormity of the undertaking a lot more now. It was well worth the extra hour or so it added on to our journey. And, the Black Hills area is gorgeous compared to the rest of South Dakota (and all of Nebraska, sorry Nebraska).

the land of 10,000 lakes and 16 cousins

We were in Minnesota for about 3 weeks, and I hardly took any pictures. We spent a lot of time stripping off wallpaper, sorting through boxes, installing light fixtures, and painting at my mom's house. The kids had a blast playing with cousins. They went to chutes and ladders (the sweetest park ever), went swimming, played lazer tag, drove bumper cars, played miniature golf. We went to Valleyfair for a day, and Henry was brave enough to go on most of the big rides, and even Elsa was brave enough to go on the Wild Thing:

We didn't take any pictures of the above-mentioned events or of a lot of the cousins. We were just too busy enjoying ourselves, I guess. We did take some pictures at the zoo. My favorite part was the butterfly garden, or the grizzly bear doing a backwards shimmy into the water.


And, we finshed up the trip by checking out Amy's new digs in Mankato.

So family, if any of you happen to have pictures of our trip, please send them to us. It was so good to be home for a while. The kids were not happy to leave, but Christmas will come soon.

going east

We made the long drive out to Minnesota this summer. We've never braved it with the kids before, but we felt up for the adventure. We tried to keep the journey entertaining. Here are some of our favorite moments:

Ice cream and tanks at the Museum of Retired Military Vehicles (that wasn't the official name, but you get the idea).








Elsa and Will very excited about sharing the creepy hotel bed.


And, the Winter Quarters temple near Omaha, Nebraska, which was amazingly beautiful but completely unphotographed. This lovely sign was in the next closest town though:

our own private bean museum

Brandon's friend from high school arranged for us to have a private animal showing at the Bean Museum. It was pretty sweet. I've already posted a lot of reptile pictures, so I'll skip the snake and lizard. But, I feel the need to prove that we were all brave enough to hold the tarantula. Will was the first, and he didn't hesitate one bit.

climbing the trees at great grandma and grandpa's

I really liked these pictures from our trip to visit Brandon's Grandma and Grandpa down in Price this summer. Will's face is a little chocolaty because he quickly discovered the bowl of Hershey's kisses on Grandpa and Grandma's counter.