A Toy Story Halloween

Last year for Halloween, we decided to do a family theme for our costumes, so we were all superheroes.  This year, we went with Toy Story.  Joshua was Buzz Lightyear, Clara was Jessie thw cowgirl, and Hannah was Bo Peep.  But it was a family theme, not just a kids theme, so I was Sheriff Woody and Meghan was one of the aliens from the claw game.  Meghan made Hannah's Bo Peep costume from scratch, which was very impressive, and she made much of Clara's costume and her costume.  I put together my costume from a combination of different sources, including constructing a pull-ring for my back, like Woody has.  Woody is a cowboy, which means he needs cowboy boots, which meant I had to find a way to acquire some.  After failing to find super cheap ones (or any ones at all, actually) at Walmart and Kohl's, I opted to buy some used ones off Craigslist, which I will eventually re-sell back on Craiglist later.  I am pretty proud of our costumes.

In past years, we have stayed at home for the first half of trick-or-treating to hand out candy before we headed out for the second half of the evening.  This year, things were a little different.  Game 4 of the World Series was tonight, starting at 7:07, so we headed out earlier than normal in an effort to be home by the time the game started.  Pretty much all of Kansas City seemed to operate under that same plan, as there was a flurry of early activity and then a pretty big drop-off by the time the game started.  We got home in time to see the game, which the Royals won, putting them up 3-1 in the series. We had a really fun Halloween (and an extra happy one thanks to the Royals), and it'll be interesting to see if we end up doing another family theme next year.  Meghan and I hope to, but at some point the kids will probably want to branch out on their own, so we'll see.

Happy Halloween Eve

Today the kids got to wear their Halloween outfits to school and we had festive food (mummy dogs, ghost bananas, and kitty litter cake) for dinner to celebrate Halloween. The kids are totally excited to go trick or treating tomorrow.

Cake Prep

Saturday is Halloween. For Halloween I usually don't really do a lot for food because it's always such a rush to get out the door and trick or treat. However, this year, Halloween is on a Saturday so I plan to do festive food on Friday and then do our customary quick pizza on Saturday. So today I am making this cake. Joshua really enthusiastic about helping with clean up and pretty much got it everywhere. He's a kid who loves cake.

Reading with Benjamin, and some Esky Magic

The Royals are in the World Series again!  It's been a tense run through the playoffs, with multiple classic Royals comebacks, but here we are facing the Mets for the finish the unfinished business from last year.  Last night was Game 1, and Julie and Andrew invited me over to watch the game at their house.  Before the game I got to spend some time with Benjamin, including reading him a couple books.  He loves reading and books and already having people read to him.  After he went to bed, Julie, Andrew, and I watched the game, and what a game it was!  Alcides Escobar opened the game with an inside-the-park home run,   The Mets went ahead, and the Royals looked doomed, except they're never doomed, and Alex Gordon hit a homer in the bottom of the ninth against Jeurys Familia and then won in 14th with an Eric Hosmer sacrifice fly.  It was a thrilling game, and one the Royals needed to defend home field advantage in the series.  Jacob deDrom and Noah Syndergaard are up in the next two games, so the Royals still have their work cut out for them.

Until Next Year

 Today we went to Deanna Rose for what will surely be the last time this year since they close on Saturday for the year. It was a shorter visit this time, but we still had a lot of fun.

 Joshua just loves the tractors. Hannah really isn't good enough at pedaling to do them yet as they are pretty hard to do. Even the other kids struggle a bit, but seem to really like them anyway.

After that, we fed the baby goats. We rarely feed the baby goats as the adult goats are cheaper and the kids seems to enjoy it more, but this time they were excited to feed the goats bottles, so we did that. These goats were pretty aggressive and obviously used to being fed. Clara and Joshua really enjoyed it, but it was a bit much for Hannah. 

I feel like we didn't go to Deanna Rose as much this year because we went to the pool all the time in the summer instead, but it's such a great place to go that I am glad we got to visit one more time.

PowerPoint by Day, Lobster by Night

My new job is going well so far, although it's mostly been training.  I spent my first week in Boston (well, technically Waltham) at SE Bootcamp, and then I had a week at home, and last week I was here in Boston again for Sales New Hire Training, so there are people here from around the world.  It's been fun to get to know some of my new coworkers, even though I won't deal with most of them on a daily basis, as many are in different departments or countries.  Here we are at the Red House enjoying exactly what we should be enjoying: lobster.

Pumpkin Carving Party

Our friends the Hansons have hosted a pumpkin carving party for years, always inviting us.  This year I decided Joshua was old enough to do it, so I took him and Clara. We stopped to get a pumpkin on the way (the selection was not ideal).  At the party there was a lot of great food, including a delicious pumpkin cheesecake that Clara couldn't stop eating, which is how you know it's really good.  Then we carved the pumpkin.  Our pumpkin had been commandeered by someone else, but Jason had an extra one that he lent to us.  I asked Joshua for his input on the design, but and chose various facial features from the other ones that had already been carved, and I dutifully drew the outlines on the pumpkin.  I then cut out the top, and removed the innards.  Joshua really enjoyed using his hand to dig out the goop and throw it in a pile.  It was disgustingly awesome to him.  I then cut out the face, and he helped me carve.  The resulting face looks more surprised than scary, but were happy with it.  Joshua also enjoyed exploring the premisis, where he found a helmet that he thought was a football helmet (it wasn't), and what he thought was a couple dog bones, which Jason informed him were actually deer antlers.  Joshua was really pumped about both findings, and especially about combining them into a single horned-helmet thing.  We had a great time, and we'll definitely plan to go back next year.

Raking with Dad

Jason was gone this past week and Joshua was super excited when he came back. He really really wanted to rake with him. Joshua's favorite activities are usually physical and useful so raking fits the bill. I am not sure we have quite enough leaves that Jason would have raked except Joshua was so pumped about it. They had a fun afternoon raking.

The Leaves Aren't The Only Things Changing Color

Our house has needed to be painted for a couple years, and this year we decided to bite the bullet and do it.  We struggled for a long time to determine the right color.  The original color was sort of a pale orange-beige.  It looks like a normal light brown here, but it wasn't.  It wasn't bad, but it was different enough that we were worried if we got the same thing, it would be too bright or too orange or something if it were a fresh coat of paint.  So we knew we wanted something different.  At this point almost all houses are some earth tone, with probably 90% of them being brown.  We looked at a lot of shades of brown, and either they were too similar to the neighbors on either side of us, or they were a gross shade or too dark.  There is a house on the street adjacent to ours that was a nice dark gray. and one next to it that was lighter gray.  Our first house was light gray before we painted it, and it was kind of a depressing color, so I didn't want to go that route again.  But I liked the darker gray one.  I found out what color it was, checked the swatches and found that it was actually more of a brownish-gray, called Porpoise.  Meghan was on board with it too, so that's what we did, using Faith Painting to do the work.  The front door and garage door are accent colors of a bronzetone, and the trim is a nice snowy white.  The main color is not quite as dark as it looks in the picture, as the shadows are on it, but we are really happy with how it turned out.

Glad to Live in a World Where There are Octobers

Sometimes I am not that thrilled with Kansas City's climate. In the summer it's not bad, but I am always deeply jealous of my family in Florida who have beaches close by since we have nothing. The winter is way too cold and sometimes it snows and again I think, why don't we just move somewhere nicer. However, there are certain months that make me think I could never leave. Spring is awesome here, early summer is pretty great, and I actually really enjoy December because it's usually not that cold, but cold enough to feel really Christmasy. However, October is probably the best month. It's usually pretty nice outside and the leaves turn colors and it's just awesome and pretty much makes everything else worth it.

 The kids also really enjoy this time of year. Today Joshua raked a pile of leaves to jump into. We don't have a ton of leaves on the ground yet, but enough for some fun. Hannah immediately wanted in on that action.

And they decided Baby would also enjoy jumping. She seemed to enjoy it about as much as she enjoys anything.

The Five Senses

This week we were learning about ourselves, and especially our five senses.  On our bike ride in the park, we looked for things that were hard, soft, rough, and smooth. Joshua was really excited about hedge apples, which are both hard and rough.

We smelled different scents. Joshua was fascinated by the smelly stick that was cinnamon.

As a treat and a way to engage all our senses, we made some popcorn. We listened to it pop, smelled it while it was cooking, saw it being put in bowls, touched it when we picked it up, and finally tasted it.

As always, popcorn is a huge hit in our family, though Joshua doesn't look that thrilled in this photo. He was much happier than he looks since popcorn was his idea for a "really special snack" and it happened to be on my list of things to do this week anyhow.

Similar to the smell jars, we talked about the five main tastes we have and tasted a representative flavor from each. I know umami is a little bit controversial as a taste, but I think most people consider it one at this point and since I do want my kids to cook, they should know about that anyway. We did salt, sugar, unsweetened cocoa, lime juice, and soy sauce. Joshua is so sensory seeking. He liked them all except the soy sauce. I knew he overall liked way darker chocolate than is normal for a child, but I was surprised he didn't hate the cocoa. Clara liked the lime juice best. And Hannah liked the sugar best, as did Joshua if pressed to pick a favorite.

We had a fun week doing various activities and learning about how our bodies receive information about the world.

Parks and Burns

Today we had a play date in the park after school with one of Joshua's friends from school. The kids all had fun, except it ended up being the worst playdate ever because while we were having our picnic, Joshua was messing around near the fire pit that, unbeknownst to anyone, had been recently used. Of course, I do always tell him never to go near any fire pit, but he didn't take that one to heart since it didn't look hot. He touched some of the ash in the pit and burned two of his fingers. It wasn't a terrible burn as burns go, luckily, but it was still a burn. So he spent most of the play date crying really loudly and going to the bathroom to rinse his fingers. We would have left immediately, but our doctor didn't reopen from lunch for awhile so we had some time to kill. I actually regret taking him to the doctor because he started feeling better by then and their assessment was basically "Yep. It's a burn. Don't pop the blisters". Which though I don't have a medical degree, I had actually already made that assessment and since our doctor is not super close, it ended up taking quite some time to go do that.

Joshua is a trooper even though he did cry a lot. In between rinses of his fingers, he learned how to do the monkey bars. Who does the monkey bars when their hand is burned? But he was really proud because he had been working on it for awhile. Clara couldn't really deal with him doing it without her, so she learned too. And then when we got to the doctor, she thought she should be examined as well because she had some pain in her hand from doing it so much. I explained to her she didn't need a doctor and she would be fine after nap, but she seemed like she thought I wasn't taking her seriously enough.

The next day, we went back to the park, though it wasn't a play date this time. I just wanted Joshua to have a positive experience so he wouldn't think of this as the "burning pain" park. He spent most of his time perfecting his monkey bar technique.

But it was so nice that we spent a long time there so we had time to play in other parts of the park too and also went on a bike ride on the trail. 

I didn't get a good photo of him wearing it on his bike ride, but this is Joshua's new helmet. He is really excited about it. His last helmet was broken and also barely fit his head so it was definitely time for an upgrade and this is a very popular style among boys his age since it combines mohawks and dinosaurs.

Playing in the "Rain"

This week the weather has been glorious. We have sod in the backyard where AT&T dug up our yard and we are hoping it doesn't die so have been watering it with a sprinkler. Since it is not cool at all (high of upper 70s or low 80s every day), the kids have really enjoyed this. They really like taking their umbrellas out there and pretending it's raining. Hannah actually stays dry this way. The other two get soaked and only pretend to avoid the water.

Our Little Star

Clara really loves dancing to songs in movies or to music and is just such a little performer. Here are two recent examples. On the left, she is talking on her phone (actually a remote) while dancing. She also loves to pretend to play the guitar, particularly with combs and likes to pretend almost anything is a microphone. She gives fake interviews and everything.

This is her building, which is not that notable except she is building a microphone so she can sing. She has been asking to start ballet and I think we are going to give it a try. I am not very excited about my girls doing dance as I prefer them in sports and I don't want to do multiple activities at the same time, but since she brought it up on her own and she has asked multiple times and she spends her life performing, I think we are going to see how it goes.

Hannah's First Day of School

Today Hannah is going to school for the first time ever. She is going to go on Friday mornings for the rest of the year. Jason is taking her because she often cries when I leave, but not when he does and we want her to have a positive experience on her first day. She has really blossomed in the past few months and not been as shy and been a lot more excited to do things in a group. So we think this is a perfect time for her to start school and think she will really enjoy it. One nice thing about a multi-age classroom like we have at our preschool is that Hannah will be in class with Joshua and Clara so I think that will help her feel comfortable right away.