happy halloween!

The kids are out with Paul trick-or-treating. This year it is my turn to stay home and answer the door.

So here they are: Indiana Jones and a bat, on their way out (and Underdog too).

Yesterday afternoon we carved the pumpkins. Kestrel did the shorter round one, and Cooper did the taller, thinner one. Kestrel did all the carving herself. Cooper drew the face on his, and did some of the carving, but needed a little help. Today after school we had fun decorating the front of the house.

It's getting busy now (I write about 2 words and the doorbell rings again), but I'm having fun answering the door. I just made this one girl's night because I knew right away she was Tracy Turnblad. Then there was the werewolf whose trick-or-treat bag was as big as one of those yard waste bags (probably was one, but at least he decorated it). Too funny!

not bird, nor plane, nor even frog, just little old me...

The other day I made my first dog costume. Meet Underdog.

Our dog trainer had a Halloween party last night. The kids really wanted to go so we had to make a costume for Harrison too. Kestrel came up with the idea of Underdog, which I thought was a really funny idea. Kestrel was a bat (a costume she designed and I made) and Cooper was Indiana Jones. The kids had fun. They had a fire pit out back where the kids could make s'mores. Lisa, the dog trainer, took us to her barn so that Cooper and Kestrel could see her two horses. Kestrel asked if they could groom one so she took one of the horses out of the stall and let them brush him. Cooper kept saying "I never brushed a real horse before!"

We'll get pictures of Kestrel and Cooper's costumes on Halloween. They want to take Harrison trick-or-treating. We'll see how that works out.

This morning Cooper wanted me to take a picture of him with Harrison, so here it is:

happy fall!

Paul took these pictures a couple of weeks ago on his phone when we went to a local pumpkin patch to pick out some pumpkins. The kids have so much fun running around the patch trying to find just the right pumpkin. We think we found three great ones. The plan is to carve them later this week right before Halloween.
As you can see, it was still nice and warm then. The last few days it's been much cooler.

big and little

We we arrived at Debra's house we found a surprise: they had a new puppy, a Miniature Australian Shepherd named Nicki (who joined their good dog, Socks). Nicki is about 9 lbs, and Harrison is over 125 lbs. right now. The loved playing together and it was so cute watching them.

some new pets?

Just a few more pictures of the kids at the Museum of Natural History, on the Stegosaurus and Bear statues. While we were in Cleveland we also had a fun time hiking, had some great meals and a nice time visiting with everyone.

cleveland visit

Right now we are driving home from a few days in the Cleveland area where we got to spend some time with Paul's sister Debra's family and Paul's mom. The kids have a blast spending time with their cousins. This picture is in front of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

off to play hockey

Paul and Cooper just left for Cooper's first hockey practice. Paul got him all decked out in his hockey gear before they left (minus the helmet and skates, of course). He looked so cute! We'll let you know later how it went.