October

Out of order, but Alisa started a preschool co-op. Six girls and five moms... she is loving it! Here is a picture of their Halloween parade and party. They sang a cute song, made witch suckers, and got to dress up. Alisa was, of course, the little mermaid. Thank you, grandma Seaman, for the wonderful costume.

My turn to teach about the five senses. Having fun finger painting with pudding.

Brookie being sweet and enjoying the attention from her adoring fans (the preschool girls just eat her up even though she continues to be pretty crabby a lot of the time).

A few weeks before Halloween, we got together at my mom's to carve pumpkins and make homemade caramel apples. Seriously, I will never buy the packaged caramels again. It was DIVINE. And so, so bad for you. Once a year, right?

Unfortunately, my dad and brother were hunting and didn't make it in time. My dad did shoot an elk, so I guess the hunting was worth it.

Serious work on the pumpkins. Scott carved both of them, with the help of the kids. Jake insisted on a vampire on one side and a ghost on the other.

Alisa next to her happy pumpkin, looking a little scary herself.

Treston's ojitos. Love that kid. Love his mom. Josh did come in time to carve a "cah" [truck] for Trey.

Brookie eating caramel apples.

Finished pumpkins.

I took the kids running, something I try to avoid because I am a wimp and they are heavy in that double jogger! It happened to be a freezing, windy morning and after 2 1/2 miles, Brooke's screams were reaching insane decibel levels and I high-tailed it to the warmth of the car.

Alisa ready for preschool.

Jake's school had a fall festival fund raiser (has anyone had to jump through hoops to get your local grocery store to donate anything? It's crazy!). The kids dressed up and won a these lovely black, semi-burnt cupcakes. They were thrilled. The cupcakes were not very appetizing. I prefer homemade frosting, but that's just me...

Brookie looks like she has a broken leg. She doesn't. I got three kind of plain onesies at Old Navy and spiced them up. This ruffled one ended up looking a little clownish, but oh well.

Thanks Grandma Seaman for the costumes. Jake was Optimus Prime, Brookie kept saying "mow, mow, mow" on the way to the trunk-or-treat, and Alisa was thrilled as Ariel or Barbie mermaid, whichever she felt at the moment.

Jenni and boyfriend... hot 80's prom date.

We revived the oompa-loompa costumes for the occasion, since we hadn't worn them in Flag ever. My pants were a little see-through, so I wore Scott's long john bottoms under. I was toastie all afternoon.

Look at that tail!

Kelsi was also the beautiful Little Mermaid, although I'll spare everyone the semi-seductive pose we caught her in! She insisted we take a head-shot-only picture.

Tarah and Josh had us over for pork tacos and some fun on the 31st. It was yummy. Thanks!

"I memo!" Thrilled to be Nemo.

Boys vs. Girls mummy wrap game.

Guess who won? Even when someone's booty kept pushing me around and messing me up!

Budding photographer. I have about 30 of these:

A few more of these:

And these little gems:

I was cooking some turkey sausage to make lasagna last night (squeezing it out of the casing). Alisa was really curious, got all excited and says, "Hey! that looks like poop!"

Well, I guess it kind of does. How appetizing.

Brookie now says "kisses" and "lub-ooh" (love you) and all kinds of things. She does have many more happy moments since she started CRAWLING a few weeks ago (at 15 1/2 months old). She is well on her way to walking so I'll keep you posted.

Jake loves school, loves his first grade reading. We have had a few funny instances. He goes to a pretty diverse school. A few weeks ago he came home and asked me to help him draw a cross. A cross? What kindergartener draws a cross?

I also had a choice phone call on my cell phone from ANTONIO, who is in first grade, who is ARMANDO's brother (in kindergarten). I had to kindly ask Jake NOT to give out my cell phone number, thank you very much. You can talk to Armando and Antonio at school.