I took the kids to see the balloon launch for 4th of July. They loved it, although Will wanted to be held the whole time. (You would think such a loud kid wouldn't mind loud noises.)
Henry took some pictures of Brandon for promo material for the China International Children's Film Festival (I think). This one's my favorite, although not the one he chose. Brandon's film won for foreign animated short, by the way. Yea, Brandon!
Will getting sugared up on Pioneer Day.
First day of school. Henry looks so tired in all of his pictures. Elsa was a little nervous the first day when it was time for me to leave, but it wore off pretty fast. In this picture, she's just naturally posing like how my mom used to try to get me to pose in pictures when I was little. Somehow that's funny to me.
I caught Henry reading to Will on our unmade bed.
Will location scouting with Dad.
Playing at the park for cousin Brenna's birthday in September.
At the pumpkin patch.
Trick or Treat! Elsa was a queen (not a princess). Henry was King Arthur (not a knight). And Will was a knight with 2 shields because I wouldn't let him have a sword. Cousin Sadie joined us for the trick or treating. It was such a warm night, and a wonderful time was had by all.
As a side note, Happy Joe (the dog) got his first taste of being the Halloween Fairy that night. A friend of Henry's told him that if you leave your candy out in the yard the Halloween Fairy comes and leaves you toys in place of the candy. Elsa put the candy bags out in the backyard unsupervised, so they were in easy reach for Happy. He was one sick dog. I think there were only about 10 small pieces left when I found the bags.
Brandon went to Chicago to see his film at the Chicago International Children's Film Festival. Dave and Sarah were kind enough to put him up for the night. Thanks guys!
Well, I think that's about it for today. But here are a few of my favorite quotes from the kids that I need to write down.
Elsa: I don't like the airplane because it tries to put ghosts in my ears.
Elsa: Sometimes when I swallow, the food doesn't go down. It's like it's hanging on a bar in my throat. Milk never does that though, because it's too slippery to hang on a bar.
Henry praying: Thank you for a sister who is nice, a brother who is funny, a dad who is my best friend, a mom who is workful, and a dog who is really fast.
In the fall, Will got on a kick of saying "never" all the time if he didn't get what he wanted. As in, "Oh, I never eat cookies." Or "I never play star wars." So, we were in this endlessly long line at the Beehive Bazaar, and I was late to bring Elsa to school, and both Elsa and Will were hungry. But, I couldn't just leave the line because I had allowed them to eat this package of cookies, not realizing how awful it would be to try to pay for them. So, they were both whining, and Will said loudly, "Oh, I never am happy!" The lady behind me in line started laughing and said, "if only we were all so honest about our emotions." Then she heard me explain to Elsa and Will how we had to stay in line because we couldn't leave without paying for the cookies they had eaten. And then, that saint of a lady behind me told me to hand her the empty package of cookies and she would pay for them. She said, "Just take your kids and go. I've been there before, and now all my kids are at school and I can shop in peace. You can just return the favor to someone else once all your kids are at school and you're in my shoes." I was so grateful I almost cried. In fact, I think I did once I got in the car.
