One thing I never thought I'd hear.

The family is driving home together. Eliza is exhausted and wanting to be back already. Abby encouragingly says, "Eliza! Look, there's the dump! We're almost home!"

It's true. Warms my heart.

A birthday for the Dad

When November comes it brings Daniel's birthday!! The kids and I had fun planning some fun birthday signs, gifts, and a little dinner out with some friends. Eliza insisted on him wearing the hat (she had been wearing it the two days previous with great anticipation).
We took Daniel out to dinner at a pizza buffet place (Tazino's) with a few friends. I decided to do the real number of candles this time, instead of faking it like we sometimes do for ourselves. Wow, what a glow!
Daniel surprised us all by blowing every candle out with one quick POOF! I completely missed the shot, so this is a reenactment.
Happy Birthday, Daniel! We love you more than we can express in one day!

Halloween 2010

I am sneaking this picture in the Halloween post. Across the street from us is this huge farm--acres and acres of corn. It's been fun to watch the combine come and harvest. There's Andrew out riding to get in on the dusty action. If there's something Wisconsin does right, it's the fall. What a mild, gorgeous season we have had!! After failing twice (going at the wrong time, rain) to get pumpkins at the pumpkin farm down the road, we opted for the ones in the box at the grocery store. It was still surprisingly fun and there was some thoughtful picking!

Here we are in character with our Jack-O-Lanterns.

And here are the kids in character with their costumes. Eliza is Rapunzel (she pronounces it, Reepunzel). Abby is "Sleeping Beauty." Get it, her pageant sash says "Beauty" and she is in her PJ's. All she wanted to wear was pajamas for Halloween so my friend came up with this brilliant solution. And Andrew is a Jedi knight. A reuse of a Yoda cloak I made him 2 years ago.
Trick-or-Treat!!
We trick-or-treated in Richfield and the houses are pretty spread out. Many of the trick-or-treaters we saw were sporting vehicles (be it a truck, SUV, Hummer, or smaller four-wheeler) with a trailer full of kids! Some had hay bales and the works. This one was even equipped with a grill in the trailer!! It was hilarious and they were having a great time! What a way to ride around the neighborhood!
Sorting and trading.
The glow...

And, voila! It's November!