Smell My Feet

The boys made it home just in time for Trick or Treating! Count Julian came along, too~
"Spook"y~

Father/Son (and Friend) Camp

Scott, Charlie and Sam just returned from Father/Son camp. Charlie was especially excited, because his friend Isaac was able to come from NC with his dad, too.
The weather was a lot milder than last year. And of course, the boys loved all the activities (paint ball, archery) ~
I am including the picture someone took of the poop Elliot stepped in. Hilarious.

Life is like a box of chocolates.

Scott was Forrest Gump for his work Halloween party today~

A Policeman, a duck and a spook walk into a bar...

Scott took the kids to Lombard's Halloween Fest this afternoon. After many false starts (Michael Jackson and Elvis to name a few) Sam decided to be a policeman after we saw a cool costume. Mary has had her mind set on being a duck for a while. I found a size 12 - 24 months one for under $10 at Kmart, and thought it might fit. Even though is was obviously too small, she really wanted that costume. And Charlie is a spook. When he told me what his plans were, I hesitated, before asking him what a spook looked like to him. I was relived when he told me it was a character from a book, who acted like a sort of "good" grim reaper~
Mary believes that every photo shoot must include a "silly-face" shot~

Rocket Man

As part of his study about astronomy, Charlie assembled a rocket and launched it with the Greenhouse today~

Pendragon

After many months of patient waiting, Charlie finally has a Chinese Water Dragon. He chose the name Pendragon, after King Arthur's father. Mary is pretty excited~
Welcome to the family~
Charlie is thrilled. It was more (of everything - time, money, etc.) than we were expecting, but worth the smile on this guy's face~

B is for Beer

While on a walk tonight, Sam, Mary and I were playing a game were we named something beginning with each letter of the alphabet in each of the following categories - animal, fruit or vegetable, boy's name and girl's name. So "A" was African monkey, apple, Adam, and Annaliese. When we got to fruit or vegetable for "G" Sam said, "Guinness. No, wait, that's a beer."

Go Mustangs!

We went to see Jack (who just turned 18 on Monday!!) play in one of his last senior year games~
Go-Rita-Go!
Littlest cheerleader~
Big Jack~
He's tough. I can't believe the first baby I fell head over heels in love with is an 18 year old, senior in high school~
Little and Big~

Bread of Heaven

For the first time, Mary and I made our church's communion bread for this Sunday~
Here's 1/3 of the finished product~

The Art of Thinking with Sounds

Every year Wheaton College offers a free concert for children. We're always really impressed~

Sears Tower

Yes, I know it's the Willis Tower now. But just like the place where the White Sox place will always be Comiskey, and Pluto will always be a planet, the tallest building in the United States will always be the Sears Tower~
It was our first time taking even the boys (we had a tiny bit of sticker shock) ~
But there is something indescribable about looking out on our little corner of the world from this vantage point~
Charlie and Mary didn't want to step onto the glass observation block, but Sam did (briefly) ~
And Daddy~
Very, very cool~



I like this one because you can see the tower's shadow~
I didn't realize that they had lots of fun Chicago history stuff to look at on the observation deck, too~
Yo~
The reigning, and future, jazz trumpet greats~

We walked around a bit, and then had lunch at Pot Belly. It was a perfect day - and I was glad Scott could join us in the middle of the week.

Scarecrow Festival

Grandpa had the great idea of visiting St. Charles' Scarecrow festival today. He also wanted to take the kids to Colonial Cafe lunch~
He knew they would love their "kitchen sink" for dessert ~
And love it, they did~
We drove into downtown St. Charles, and joined the masses checking out the scarecrows~
Give blood (Mary got 2 units) ~
We love Shrek (and Donkey)~
I think this is supposed to be Don Quixote~
Get along, little cowboy~
Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?
God bless America~
Toothless Joe (I don't really know the Blackhawks guy who got his teeth knocked out) ~
In addition to scarecrows, there were plenty of others things to keep the kids entertained, like the Legos~
And the Camaro (look closely at the driver and passenger) ~
It was a lot of fun, and everyone was really tired by the time we left. The boys caught a second wind, though, so we could play Apples to Apples after dinner :)