Almost Halloween

Henry's class had their Halloween parade yesterday morning. That's the principal there at the front.
Somehow I missed getting a shot of his pal Sonali, who was dressed as an iphone, and his pal Rachel who was dressed as a tub of purple play-doh.
Here he comes!
Cutest little dinosaur I ever saw!
Clara was very excited to see her famous big brother.
Sharon joined us to watch the parade and she snapped this photo of me and Clara.
Clara was very interested in this little baby dressed as a piggy.
We're heading to a little Halloween party this afternoon. I was in charge of the fruit salad. I thought this looked pretty good.
But the eyeballs made it even better.
Marshmallows in fruit salad? Well, it is Halloween! Also...I kept trying to think up a funny joke about ghost poop. I don't know...

Pumpkinfest!

I have felt very much like a working mom this week. Monday was beautiful, so with the day off for Columbus (hero or not? discuss.) we spent some time at the Botanic Garden. Tuesday night I met went out to dinner with the parents of about half of Henry's kindergarten class. I don't think I really fit in with the crowd, but it was nice to get to know some people. Wednesday was running Henry to his sportskids class. Thursday was an extra day of work, having traded with my co-teacher. Friday was dropping off freshly-baked cupcakes for the bake sale at Henry's school, then library with Clara. Today was a little bit of housework and then volunteering at the Meadowbrook Pumpkinfest. Here are some pictures from this morning's festivities:


Pardon my weird face. It was dark in there with a strobe light.
That also explains Henry's monster eyes in this picture.
Clara and I were trying to look like Mr. Bones here.

Portland

I just realized there might be some folks out there who would like to know what we were up to last weekend! Mom was here to stay with the kids and Pete and I flew out to Portland to visit Ellen and her family and to attend Sarah and Orion's wedding. We had an awesome time!
Here's cute little Gretchen. We had so much fun with her!
We went to Toast for dinner first thing!
This was a delicious beet salad with hazelnuts and horseradish dressing.
This was some sort of fried squash, salami, Brussels sprouts salad.
Friday morning we met up with Rob and Carrie.
After dropping Carrie off for her nail appointment with the ladies we spent some time bumming around town. Of course much time was spent at Powell's.
And a little time was also spent at Rogue.
Friday night was an open-invite pizza party after the rehearsal. We hung out and played a little darts.
Ellen came along and looked cute in her polka-dot maternity top.
Saturday morning meant another breakfast at Toast. Gretchen was proud of her umbrella.
Here are some toasters.
Here's my fancy brother before the ceremony Saturday evening.
And here's the beautiful bride.
The wedding was truly beautiful in every sense. I felt very fortunate to be a part of it.
I was also impressed by the cake.
And the venue wasn't bad either.
The next morning we spent a little valuable time with Gretchen before having to head home. She was a great hostess! She even put on her Iowa shirt to be twins with her pal Pete.
After three nights away from the kids we were pretty happy to be on the plane home. We had treats from Toast and presents from the shops to bring home to share.
Thanks to Ellen and Don for putting us up! And to Orion and Sarah for getting married! XO to all!

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I'm not sure why that video is all wackadoo. I tried to fix it, but it doesn't seem to have helped. I'll set it up as a new post if I'm able to make it work.

Fluh-fly

I love the way Clara says "butterfly".

Happy Marshmallow Day.

We celebrated a bit early this year, as we'll be away from the kids next weekend and marshmallow day just isn't the same without the kid who conceived it.
This year was the first time we built a fire to roast the marshmallows. It was a good call on a drizzly day. Anna seemed to enjoy the experience, though she only took one bite of the finished s'more.
Sharon brought jumbo marshmallows. They were big and delicious.
Join us in the celebration! Eat some Lucky Charms tomorrow or throw some mini-mallows in your hot chocolate.

Trying to keep the momentum going...

We've been trying to take advantage of the nice weather. Yesterday we had lunch outside, which we hadn't done for a long time...mostly because of the wasps.
We also went over to Wagner Farm for a quick visit yesterday afternoon with Helena and the kids.
Henry liked this Jersey named Buttercup. He enjoyed jumping up to say Hi to her, and from the looks of this first picture I think she liked it too.

Here's a little calf named Sprint. He's 2 months old. We got to watch him drink from a big clown-sized bottle.