We had to scrap the family costume this year because the only costume Josh would wear was a black dog, we think because he really likes our neighbor's black dog. Unfortunately black dog costumes aren't interesting enough to make it into today's Halloween stores, so I had to make his ears and tail. I'm nominating myself for Mother of the Year for dragging out my sewing machine (which hasn't seen the light of day in years), reading the entire manual to relearn how to use it, making a pattern for ears, cap and tail and then actually making it in time. Thankfully Josh wore the cap with the ears for the whole party--I would have been really mad otherwise!
Molly went as Emily Elizabeth from Clifford, and Josh refused to even consider being Clifford. Chris and I raided our closets and dressed as hikers. Not too creative.
I had to blow out Molly's hair with a hair dryer to get the Emily Elizabeth hair puff. Unfortunately it didn't last long once it started raining.
The kids enjoyed the annual hayride, which involves riding up and down the street in a trailer pulled by a lawn mower.
I tried to get a picture of Josh with Gracie, the black lab that we think inspired his costume, but Gracie had had enough of people for the day and was not interested in posing for a picture. We took a picture with Gracie's co-dog, Remy, instead.
We made a pinata for the neighborhood party this year, and it took all week to paper mache, paint and put tissue paper on the thing. It lasted about five minutes at the party.
Here's the mob of kids rushing the felled pinata:
It started raining at the end of the party, so Josh and Chris went home to hand out candy and Molly and I trick or treated with a big umbrella. It was Molly's first time trick or treating, and she had a hard time leaving with just one piece of candy. One of the kids at the party came up and told me that Molly was stealing everyone's candy--I'm not surprised!
A lot happened today, but here's the most important: We took the kids to our next-door neighbor's wedding (she actually invited them), and at dinner Chris told Josh to "sit proper." Josh yelled out "ly," as in Chris should have said, "Sit properly." Josh was right.
A glimmer of hope that my genes have somehow influenced one of my children! I was so proud.We also talked a lot with Josh this evening about marriage, as he thought Laura was marrying the church at first, then he wanted to know if he, I, Molly and Chris would all marry the church. I told him that Chris and I were already married to each other, and one day he would marry someone else. He fired back, "Are you going to have another kid then?" I told him not to worry--he would not easily be replaced, especially when I'm in my 50s or 60s. Yikes.
Here are some pictures from the wedding, which the kids enjoyed other than the realization that they're really going to miss our neighbor.
This is why we are bringing the portable DVD player and setting it up under the table at the next wedding the kids attend. This was less than a minute after we arrived at our table. 
We waited a loooong time for them to cut the cake, and in the meantime Molly pondered the brownie we had brought for Josh.
Still waiting. . .
Josh was really into taking pictures tonight with the disposable camera on the table. When the cake cutting actually happened, Josh surprised us all and bolted over to the cake and snapped some pictures. I was standing to the side laughing at his boldness; I'm not sure if the other guests were amused. Maybe there's some photojournalism running in his blood too.
Molly is starting to enjoy dressing up, and here's her latest "look." The red nose is from preschool, where they also gave the kids giant butterfly necklaces and clown hats to teach them their colors. Not sure how all of that worked together.
Molly likes to dig around in my drawers for dress-up items, and her ensembles usually include a few headbands, a bracelet and a purse or two. It goes well with her new penchant for exclaiming "I'm not crazy!" and galloping in circles around people she likes.
On an entirely different subject, I'm also including some pictures from Josh and Chris' camping trip Saturday night. They have joined Y-Guides, which is similar to Cub Scouts, which means this is the first of many father-son outings. For me, it means learning to sew patches on the very expensive leather vests that were sprung upon Chris at a recent dads' meeting. Chris and Josh are still working on their Indian names, another Y-Guides requirement, and we are still open to suggestions.
They didn't catch any fish this time, but Josh enjoyed learning to use his new fishing pole. They abandoned their campsite early Sunday morning because Chris had only brought one sleeping bag and it was 39 degrees.
at least in our world! Josh lost his first tooth last night after much complaining, looking in the mirror and wiggling of the tooth. We think he finally wrenched it out on his own after he went to bed, and the he literally lost the tooth in his bed somewhere. I put a dollar under his pillow last night, and he decided that the money must have jumped out of the bed.
This morning he announced to everyone at the bus stop that he now has 19 teeth, as opposed to 20.
We had to scrap the family costume this year because the only costume Josh would wear was a black dog, we think because he really likes our neighbor's black dog. Unfortunately black dog costumes aren't interesting enough to make it into today's Halloween stores, so I had to make his ears and tail. I'm nominating myself for Mother of the Year for dragging out my sewing machine (which hasn't seen the light of day in years), reading the entire manual to relearn how to use it, making a pattern for ears, cap and tail and then actually making it in time. Thankfully Josh wore the cap with the ears for the whole party--I would have been really mad otherwise!
I had to blow out Molly's hair with a hair dryer to get the Emily Elizabeth hair puff. Unfortunately it didn't last long once it started raining.
The kids enjoyed the annual hayride, which involves riding up and down the street in a trailer pulled by a lawn mower.
I tried to get a picture of Josh with Gracie, the black lab that we think inspired his costume, but Gracie had had enough of people for the day and was not interested in posing for a picture. We took a picture with Gracie's co-dog, Remy, instead.
We made a pinata for the neighborhood party this year, and it took all week to paper mache, paint and put tissue paper on the thing. It lasted about five minutes at the party.
Here's the mob of kids rushing the felled pinata:
It started raining at the end of the party, so Josh and Chris went home to hand out candy and Molly and I trick or treated with a big umbrella. It was Molly's first time trick or treating, and she had a hard time leaving with just one piece of candy. One of the kids at the party came up and told me that Molly was stealing everyone's candy--I'm not surprised!
