Halloween

The week before Halloween, Mary and Stephen went to a party given by Mary's orthodontist (with braces-friendly treats, of course). Audrey was going to go, but she didn't like the decorations, so she and I didn't stay. Mary is a zombie and Stephen is a Transformer. Audrey is a black cat.



The kids each carved a pumpkin. Mary didn't like scooping out the pumpkin guts, but she did most of the work on hers. Audrey designed her pumpkin's face, but I did the cutting.


While we were carrying the pumpkins to the front yard, Audrey tripped and fell on top of hers. She cried a lot, but we were able to rebuild it with duct tape and toothpicks, turning it into a mummy Jack O'Lantern.
Audrey had a fever on Halloween, so she didn't get to go our trick-or-treating. Mary and Stephen went out together, and Mary shared her candy with Audrey. Audrey got all the braces-forbidden candy, and half the braces-friendly candy.

Lucy pics

When Lucy gets kicked off the couch, this is where she likes to sleep:

The basement opens up

They knocked out the wall that blocked the view from the stairs to the sliding glass door, so now you can see the whole space. Same view, two different days:

Basement remodel

The vision:



The reality:




Here's what it looked like before demolition started:



In just a couple months (we hope), the chilly toy pit will become a great hangout. It'll be a school room, craft room, media room, sleepover party room -- in other words, a flexible rec room. With a heated floor and a doggie door, and better storage. And the closet under the stairs will still be a secret clubhouse.

On our honor

Here we are in our Girl Scout uniforms. Mary is a Junior this year, Audrey is a Daisy, and I'm a Daisy leader.

Lucy's new trick

She's moved up from just catching crickets. Now she's managed to catch a squirrel. When we first got her, I made a dog toy by tying a piece of yarn around the handle of an empty half-gallon milk bottle and dragging it around for her to chase. I had no idea I was teaching her how to catch squirrels. Now we call that game "squirrel on a string", and it's her favorite game. 

Audrey's new trick

Audrey called me into the computer room because she needed help finding the Disney Fairies website. She had typed "diznefarez" into the Google search window, but didn't get any matches. Better not leave my credit card laying around, or she might figure out how to order "diznefarez" toys and movies.