The model train room takes shape

• Graph paper for planning the train setup: $3
• Three sheets of plywood, 2x2's and 1x4's, and a gallon of paint: $75
• Two boxes of screws: $5
• Having my son tell me "Your dad would have been so proud of you for building this table, Mommy!": Well, you know

Cannon Beach

We haven't been to the beach since July 2006. It's even more fun with Cassie along. Not to mention having Claire and James on the ditch-digging crew!

Cousins

Eric is the Santa wanna-be; Emily and Ethan are the gingerbread artists.

Reindog

You have to put up with a lot to be a pet in this house.

Girls are as sweet as cookies

I titled this post "Girls have cooties," but Ethan STRONGLY objected (he thinks cooties are stupid) and edited the title for me.

He dressed himself today

I probably would have paired the striped sweater with some khakis and a plain t-shirt. But the pants with orange stripes and the flourescent yellow tie-dye shirt...also an interesting choice.

Borrowed baby

We had nine high school students plus one baby over last night. Shockingly enough, Ethan found the baby even more interesting than all the pretty girls. After we had some trouble getting the little one to settle down, though, he announced that he is "definitely not ready" to have one of his own. Whew.

Grandma's new kitty

Jan's mom protested for a while that she wasn't ready, but before we knew it she had a name picked out! Meet Mrs. Miniver! (She's calling her Minnie.)

Doggie playdate

Practice, practice, practice

Ethan's class has been working on their performance for months and today was finally the concert! Here's a not-great clip I took. Notice that I couldn't figure out how to turn the camera off?

Longer singing clip

And a few pictures from the "Instrument Petting Zoo" as well.

Under the sea

After celebrating Cliff's birthday at the Spaghetti Factory (Happy Birthday, Cliff!), Stacy and I took the kids to the aquarium, leaving David and Cliff to wander aimlessly through the rainy streets. The octopus feeding was a highlight...Ethan was calling it "incredible."

Happy Howladays!

Ethan and Cassie showed off their Halloween threads downtown (it was a ZOO and most of the stores ran out of candy). We were home by 5:30 to greet our little visitors and have supper, but no one came. I stayed home (too sick to take any more) while Cliff took the kid and dog around to the neighbors...still no trick-or-treaters. We eventually got one, a little Queen of Hearts.

By the way, we grew one of the vegetables on the porch. The sad-looking pumpkin. Too small to carve.

Preparations

First, you have to go to the pumpkin patch. It isn't quite as much fun posing for pictures as it was when Ethan was a little pumpkin, but he and Cassie were cooperative. The best part was watching the parents with their big cameras and tiny babies propped up against pumpkins. I wonder if they have any idea how fast the next seven or so years will go.

Next, you have to carve it. Ethan got a whim to have a grim reaper pumpkin (hey, at least it's relatively nonviolent) so I told him to Google it. Apologies to whomever we stole this idea from. The carving was a Man Thing this year; I was too busy making Cassie's "saddle." She will be a mighty steed tomorrow. Ethan is getting another use out of his knight costume. Pictures to come!

Fall leaves

With some of our friends, Joyce, Steve, Thomas, William and Gabrielle, we, um ("don't put 'um'; it would be funny if you did") made a big pile of leaves and jumped in at the same time. The leaves were softer than water. You flew right through them when you jumped in. We kept burying each other in the leaves. We moved to make a new pile three times. We also played a little chase. We had lots of fun at the arboretum.
--dictated by Ethan

Maize Maze

It really isn't October without a trip through the corn.

Fall festival

I do love the face painting! Possibly this is the first kid in history to ask for "a brown house." I was really here to paint high school kids' faces, but they were mostly in costume and not that interested. We have about 40 pictures of the little girl in the red/yellow jacket because I asked Ethan to hold my camera for a few minutes.

Very Welchy

Notice how the extremely cute husband is even cuter after washing a pan full of grapes? Just imagine how adorable he'll be after scrubbing all that baked-on juice off the stovetop! (A girl can dream....)

Update: Calling it a night at 45 quarts. Still more grapes in the garage. Did I mention how much I hate grapes?

Tom

I especially enjoyed the Cole Porter and the occasional glimpse of the singer's American accent. You can sing Cole Porter to me all night, baby. Or Gershwin. The second encore was Gershwin, and it was lovely. Shoot, he'd probably sound good singing highlights from Starlight Express.

My child

This is how I know we're related--I keep having to drag him out of a book!

Also, the window seat is finished. (Remember? I promised to paint it. Next project: the front door.)

Size matters

Ethan has loved wearing this shirt that his cousins brought him back from Disneyland. It turned out to be especially appropriate today because his Sabbath School class lined up from tallest to shortest, and guess who was shortest? Then the 15 biggest kids in his class ganged up on him for a tug-o-war! (Don't worry about him getting a complex; he loves being the shortest kid in the group.)

Another thing dogs are good for

We're hanging up the Swiffer....

Gettin' friendly

If we're lucky, this newfound friendliness (let's be honest--it's all about the colder weather) will eventually extend to the dog.

Rooks Park walk

Bennington Lake in the fall

The Walk to d'Feet ALS

Just two things to say here, really.... (1) The Spokane volunteers for ALS are AMAZING! It was an honor to spend a day with them. (2) This is a really, really stupid disease. Let's cure it, already.

Oh...I thought of one more thing. (3) Bummer that my camera batteries died so early in the day, because I was having a blast face-painting, and the kids were ADORABLE, even after my so-so attempts at artistry! (Can I help it that they want crazy stuff like cheetahs, blue racecars and red convertibles? Couldn't anyone ask for a heart or a daisy?)

More Walk to d'Feet ALS