Author: Christy

Another fun Halloween has come and gone. Here’s how it happened. First things first, we had to figure out something to do with the library for the night, especially since we got this nice write-up on Tuesday. We decided to take the books out and replace them with some dry ice. We also covered the light with red tissue paper for a nice effect. Of course, we had to test out the dry ice first — the kids’ favorite part.

It really was fun for the whole family.

When it finally started to get a little dark we put it in the library.

It was very hard to get a good shot of it, but hopefully you get the idea.

Next up: trick or treating with the Heffs!

My friend Julie and her family (and her neighbors) joined us as well, and about 6:15 we were off.

One of my favorite moments was when Finn got a Pixy Stick at one house and asked Julie what it was. He was sure he wanted it, even though he had no idea what it would be. She told him it was like “sugar sand” and he was sold.

The boys’ “hand bags” filled up pretty quickly.

After a long loop around Topeka and Atchison we were finally home.

The spider web looked great, especially with some additional lights and the jack-o-lanterns.

The kids enjoyed handing out candy on our porch while the grownups had dinner.

Later, more dry ice fun ensued.

Finally, it was time for bed. Ezra wrote a note to the Candy Fairy who would come to take most of the candy (they kept five pieces each) and replace it with something else good. Here’s Ezra’s note, along with the Candy Fairy’s responses.

And the loot she brought.

Of course, this morning when the boys discovered it, Finn lost his mind because he thought he was leaving the five pieces for her and the rest of the candy was for him to keep. Um, no. You’re totally missing the point of the Candy Fairy, Finn. But Ezra generously offered three of his pieces and Finn snapped out of his meltdown pretty quickly. Now they’re at school with the rest of the sleep-deprived kids on a major sugar crash. Good luck to their teachers!

Last night we finally got around to carving our giant pumpkins from our trip to the farm a couple of weeks ago. Ezra had long ago decided on his design (a bat from the booklet that came with the set of carving tools) and Finn set about drawing his (a scary man). As usual, Papa was on pumpkin duty.

Ezra went an alternate route and cut off the bottom of his pumpkin. Then he had some exploring to do.

Finn’s level of concentration was unparalleled.

Ezra enlisted Bruce’s help to cut out his design.

When Ezra’s was done, he couldn’t wait to try out the black light he chose at the farm.

Finn and Bruce, meanwhile, continued to work on his pumpkin.

Finally, it was done.

Here they are all lit up.

Then Bruce had an off-the-wall idea to light them on fire using rubbing alcohol.

Needless to say, the kids loved it.

The boys took a while deciding on their costumes this year. At first, Ezra wanted to be a Hattifattener and Finn wanted to be a vampire, so we were looking at homemade costumes again this year, which is a bit of a problem since I’m creatively-challenged and Bruce has been working very long hours. But in the end, they both decided they wanted to be bats, so Amazon’s extensive inventory let us off the hook. Here’s a preview from the other day when they wanted to try on their costumes.

Note that the hat barely fits Finn but fits Ezra just fine.

Last week Aveson had an odd day off — Friday the 12th — so some friends and I took our kids up to Underwood Family Farms for pumpkins and general Fall fun. Cari and I carpooled and stopped at In n Out for lunch before going to the farm. The kids got hats, which the boys loved. Ruby, on the other hand, was having none of it.

First up, as usual, was the always-fun combine slide.

The play area in general was a big hit.

Then we moved on to the animals.

And the giant hay pyramid.

Kelly, Mark and Olivia now joined and we headed for the corn maze. Here are the kids checking out one of the not-very-helpful maps along the way.

(Cari’s caption: Children of the Corn.)

Finn finally got frustrated and thirsty, so we found our way back to the start and headed for water. I think everyone else eventually found their way out via the proper exit.

After a rest and some water, there was renewed energy. For the tractor.

And the measuring stick.

All the kids wanted to ride the “cow train” so we headed over to await its arrival. There was some pre-ride entertainment.

Then they boarded the cows.

Pretty fun ride!

Finally it was time to head to the pumpkin patch. We couldn’t coax Olivia into this photo, unfortunately, but we got the other four.

Ezra and Finn got to pick out a pumpkin each. Ezra did the heavy lifting.

And then we took some photos on the giant pumpkins.

And here’s a contrast — Ezra at the same pumpkin patch at seven months old and seven years old.

We took the summer off but started up woodworking classes again two weeks ago. We now have the Bannings as hosting partners, so the first Fall class was at their house. Sadly, I took no pictures at their event but it was very successful — the kids made little cars and a good time was had by all.

I was much more on the ball Friday afternoon when the class was at our house. Project number 6 was stools.

For the first time we had a full house, which amounted to 23 kids (20 making stools) and 18 adults. It started, as usual, with Bruce’s instruction.

And then they were off and sawing.

Or marking and drilling.

And laughing. This is Ashlyn and she was cracking up at Bruce who kept spelling her name wrong. He’s so silly.

There were lots of screws, which were kind of hard to get in. But they persevered!

And, finally, painting.

Ezra decided on another form of decoration.

And here are some of the final products.

Then it was time to eat, drink, and be merry. The kids played until pizza arrived.

Then ate a boat load of pizza.

And watched Ezra perform some crazy stunts in the backyard.

Or maybe he was just looking for a quiet place to eat.

Whatever the case, it was a super fun party and a great way to celebrate a Friday. We are blessed to have such a fun group involved in this project.

Oh, one more thing. Ezra and Ruby reprised their dual story telling with a couple of new scary stories. Couldn’t have been cuter.

After everyone else had gone home, they went up to the reading porch and read for Finn. Super cute.

It’s been almost two weeks since I last posted, so I’ll play a little catch up here with some random photos.

After a bath the other day, Finn wanted to comb his hair. Ezra decided to help him smooth his hair down further, and then said, “You look very handsome, Finn.” It was a surprisingly sweet moment.

After a fairly long hiatus, the costume boxes have made several appearances lately. Here is Ezra’s hybrid police officer/Batman costume.

Legos are also a daily source of entertainment. Here are the boys and Jack after school one day.

A couple from Finn’s soccer game last weekend.

Here’s one from Finn’s soccer practice last week. His coach does a great job of making it fun for this group of five year olds. This is the crab game.

Ezra also had a fun time at Finn’s practice — making angels in the grass.

I volunteered to help with picture day at school yesterday which gave me the opportunity to spend a little time in both the Kindergarten and second grade classrooms. It was great to see the teachers at work — what patience they have!

First up were the Kindergarteners. Very cute, somewhat rambunctious little humans being asked to wait in endless lines. Ms. Jessica is magical with them. Here they are in the first line.

I just love this picture of Finn and Sylvia.

To pass the time, Jessica had them practice their smiles, which became face-making. Here is happy:

And sad:

Finally, they were corralled into three perfect rows and ready for their class picture. Hopefully the official photographer caught one where they are all looking forward. I did not.

Then they did individual photos — here’s Finn.

And, alas, more waiting.

At least they got to go right to snack recess time next, so they were happy.

At this point I excused myself to go to Ezra’s literacy class (and advisory). There was about a half hour before it was their turn for pictures, so I tried to help out a bit in the classroom. Unfortunately, Ezra’s group was over in the math/projects class, but it was still fun to see what the kids were writing about in their journals.

Soon enough, Ezra and the rest of the second graders in the green group came over and we headed down for pictures. It’s much easier to wrangle seven year-olds! Here’s their group shot.

And Ezra’s turn taking the individual picture.

Between this crazy face and the fake smile the photographer was encouraging, I’m not all that enthused about how these photos may turn out. But we’ll see!

I’m out of chronological order here, but on Friday we in some parts of California were lucky enough to see Space Shuttle Endeavor come through on its way to its final home at the California Science Center. It was a much-anticipated event and many viewing areas were packed. One of the flyby spots was JPL so some friends and I decided to go near there to Devil’s Gate Dam. Bruce joined us during his lunch break and a ton of other people were there as well. It was great to hear the gasping at the first glances of Endeavor; it was such a majestic sight. Here are a few of my photos.

In that last one you can see people up on the hill across the freeway from JPL. People were everywhere!

Our friend Aaron chose Griffith Park as his vantage point. He is quite a photographer and his photos are amazing. Here are a few.

It was a remarkable event, well worth the two-hour wait in the sun. We look forward to seeing Endeavor close up at the Science Center!

The day for the long-awaited trip to Legoland with Scott (planned when Scott and Dietmar were in Belize with us) finally arrived. We took the boys down there, dropped them off with Scott, and fun ensued. He sent me pictures all day long so I have some images to share.

First, of course, the boys had to scour the map to make sure they picked the right places to go.

One of the first choices was to go on safari and see all the Lego animals.

They also got their driver’s licenses and drove some cars around.

Slow and steady …

For lunch they had the usual theme-park healthy fare.

Seriously, that is a giant rice crispy treat.

They got to hang out with R2D2.

And Chewbacca.

And they saw Lego San Francisco. Wow.

They came back exhausted, full of stories, and carrying two new giant Legos to build. Ezra said it was the best day of his entire life. Finn promptly passed out on the ride home.

Thanks, Scott!