Happy Halloween

This Halloween we enjoyed all the usual festivities:

we carved pumpkins...

we decorated a haunted house...

and the kids dressed up to go out trick-or-treating.

This year our neighborhood also had our First and Last Annual Chili-Cookoff. Everyone brought out a crockpot of chili and a side-dish. We stayed out all night (well, at least until 9:30). We let the kids run around in the dark and in costume (AWESOME), and we roasted marshmallows by the fire (just incase they didn't have enough sugar from their candy). It was a great night.

The Scream Gave It Away...

Amazingly the loud boom from upstairs didn't tip me off to the catastrophe that had just happened...but the scream that followed was unmistakable! "Nathan fell and is bleeding," Alex came running down to tell me. Well, hopefully it won't be that bad. Hopefully it won't interfere with going to The Blaze (an event with over 4,000 carved pumpkins that we bought tickets to a month ago...which oh, by the way, we needed to leave to in an hour). Hopefully this will have a quick-fix. But...the scream. Oh, I have a bad feeling about this...

So, here is what happened: Nathan fell backwards while in a chair and hit the back of his head on a train table. He got a cut that bled and bled (typical head wound). We finally got the bleeding stopped, and I started debating in my head whether we should take him to the ER, or all of us go to The Blaze in spite of the injury (sometimes it is hard for me to admit there needs to be a change in plans). Well, in walks Andy from work, down to the kitchen where he sees Nate with his bloody shirt and a bloody towel that we had used to stop the bleeding. "Do you think," is all I could get out. He looked at me and said, "He needs to go to the ER. Put a new shirt on him. I'll go right now." And thank God for his voice of reason. The poor kid needed four stitches. Good job, Daddy.

On the down side, both Nathan and Andy missed The Blaze. (Brittany, Alex and I still went.) But Nathan was brave for the Doctor (he gets braver each time I hear the story), and Dad and Nate got McDonald's on the way home. Not exactly how I had planned the night...but is it ever?

Some of the carved pumpkins at The Blaze.

Our brave little Nathan and his poor head.

NFL Sunday: the Meadowlands

Andy wanted to get Alex NFL game tickets for his birthday (well... specifically a Jets game to see Favre). While researching the plan, a unique opportunity presented itself...

Laura's cousin Bobby from NJ was asked by his father-in-law (Lorraine's dad Sam) if Bobby wanted tickets to see the Jets play the Kansas City Chiefs... and Bobby called Andy to see we would want to see the game. Andy politley said "yes", hung up, and ran around like an excited 5 year old... then he told Alex, who then jumped up & ran around like an excited almost 7 year old (more maturity than Dad). Alex & Andy drove down to meet Bobby and Sam who took a train to a station near the stadium & they all drove into the Meadowlands (the seats also came with a great parking pass!). Alex got to see his first NFL game (Andy's too, but he tried to play it off) and experienced the following

• The great Brett Favre (nevermind the interceptions or the fact they beat the Chiefs in a game KC could've won)
• The great Joe Namath and the rest of the 1968-69 Super Bowl #3 Jets returning for a half-time tribute show
• Seeing, hearing & interacting with the entire Meadowlands Sports Complex, to include 80,000 tail-gaters & crazy Jet fans (good, bad & ugly) to include the ultra-loud sound system, jumbo screens... and the fireworks everytime the Jets scored
• Eating a hotdog, nachos, cotton candy, popcorn, soda, ice cream & a pretzel within a four hour period... not bad for a 1st grader
• Watching dad sacrifice a month's paycheck on the health-food choices of the day... oh, and a $30 hat to keep the sun out of Alex's eyes
• Such an event with great family & amazing friends... as the corny commercial line is building... I'd say PRICELESS!

J-E-T-S JETS! JETS! JETS!

Raingutter Regatta

Alex is in his first year of Cub Scouts, and he loves everything about it. He sits down with his Tiger Cub Handbook and truly studies it. It's awesome! He feels like he is in the Army for kids. (He keeps talking about how he will get to go camping like Daddy.)

Thier first big event as a Pack was the Raingutter Regatta (a sailboat race down raingutters). Alex got to build his own model boat. He did our hearts proud when he chose to decorate it with a Jayhawk theme. It is so gratifying to know all of our brainwashing is working. Rockchalk, Jayhawk!

Unfortunately, most of the race the boat wanted to lay on its side (like in the first picture). For the second race Dad made some adjustments to the sail and it seemed to work better. Either way though, Alex had an awesome time! ScoutMaster Wally would have been proud!

Football Saturday

There is nothing better on a Saturday in the fall than lots-and-lots of college football games. Alex is interested in the different conferences, rankings, best players, and who "we" want to win. Nathan really likes to reenact the plays before the replay on TV... and even in slow motion. Brittany likes to pretend like she's interested, until she can find a way to sneak out of the room (unless it's a BIG play for KU and Army). Laura loves to watch the circus between the TV, Andy screaming at the TV, and kids reacting to the chaos of the moment. Andy loves to surf the games and get everyone excited...

But it didn't take much to get everyone excited this last Saturday! Texas vs Oklahoma, Kansas vs Colorado, and Army vs Eastern Michigan were ALL on TV and they were ALL only 30 minutes apart from kickoff! Almost six straight hours of pre & post game excitement... add to that, the vaunted home-made Mack Nachos and "live" instant replays by the boys on the living room floor... that equals a great football afternoon. Of course, the girls just smiled and rolled their eyes... and loved the nachos. In the end, all of our teams pulled out victories... as well as seeing great highlights of some amazing upsets... and THAT is the fun of a FOOTBALL SATURDAY.

Belly Shot

This post is especially for my sweet sister, Kelley, and any others who are curious about my belly size. I am 28 weeks in this shot, or just over 6 months. Enjoy. :)