A Handy Halloween!

Joseph's Halloween party at school.

The beautiful Sommer as Ariel and Handy Manny

Watching Charlie Brown Halloween AGAIN!

Not the happiest dog in the world. She makes a beautiful Cinderella, though!

Here I am as Kate in my reversed mullet

These tools don't talk.

Manny's gloves also keep his little fingers warm!

I'm especially proud of the hat!

We didn't "Payless" for these boots. A whopping $27 with tax! It completed the outfit, though.

This year Joseph wanted to be Handy Manny. I went to the costume store to check out what they had but was pretty disappointed. I opted to sew Joseph's costume this year. I waited until the very last minute because it has been so crazy here with Joe coming home and all. I should have started a lot earlier since I've never sewed with jersey cotton before. I'm a pro at satin (many symphony dresses) and regular cotton but the tshirt-type of cotton was something that I've never experienced. It came out really nice and it didn't take too long to sew. I'd say it all took about 2 hours. Painting the hat, surprisingly, took a lot longer than I thought it would. Also, when purchasing the paint, I noticed the name of the shade was "scarlet pearl." I didn't realize the "pearl" was craft-eese for "glitter." It looked like a cross between Handy Manny and Richard Simmons. Joseph didn't seem to mind.

Aunty Abby and Uncle Jeremy's House

Best Pals

The Beautiful Couple

Tractor Time

Look at this CHEESE!

Double Feature: A Bee Movie and Monsters Versus Aliens

Joseph missed his Daddy so much!

The Vests

Seriously Delicious Food

Noodle Time

Nothing like a couple of good starches!

Getting things warmed up with a little Sake

Joe's turn

Here's Abby trying to protect Brody from burning himself on the grill.

Brody is trying to catch the Zucchini in his mouth.

Pals forever!

Joseph and I went to Groton, Connecticut to visit Dad while he was at school. We stayed with our friends from the USS LA and had a blast! Jeremy and Abby are that couple that everyone loves and tries to emulate. They are consummate hosts and entertainers with a genuine warmth and charisma that attracts good times. I don't know why I was so surprised that Brody and Joseph got along so famously! They both love cars and trucks and running around. Little, eh hum, I mean Olivea is such a young lady! I remember when she was just a little infant! To see her talking about Hannah Montana and playing her DS is just incredible.

Groton is just as beautiful as I remember. I've only been there twice before, once in the Spring and again in the summer. It's lovely in the autumn. We visited a pumpkin patch and picked some apples.

More Mora Happiness

While my sister, Sondra and her husband, Patrick visited us here in Washington I was obligated to take them to Mora's Iced Creamery. It was unbelievable, as usual. The autumn scenery made it a beautiful afternoon!

Ice Cream FUN!

Joseph received more love in the mail recently! Nana sent Joseph a card for Halloween! Joseph was so tickled he asked me to take a picture of him with it! Accompanying the card was a generous gift card for Target- our new favorite store. Joseph had a plethora of items from which to choose but eventually decided on the Play-Doh ice cream shop. He's been making sundaes with sprinkles and cherries. Thank you so much, Nana!

Auntie Mary's House

Mary and Claire

Joseph and Claire

Joseph and Jack

Claire and Joseph

Claire and Jack

Poor single child, Joseph

My dear, dear friend Mary invited us over to her house on Bainbridge Island. It took a long time to get there but it was absolutely worth it! We went over at about 3pm and Joseph played nonstop! I know that he really loved playing with Mary's children, Jack and Claire. It's so funny because I had heard about them since the first day that I met Mary on August 17th. To finally meet them was really special. Jack and Joseph are only a month apart in age but Jack can actually read really well already! No doubt he'll be a literary genius just like his mom.

Letters

Joseph and I have so busy lately with work and school. We still love it over here even though the weather recently has been a complete mystery. Only a week into the autumn season and it's down to 44 degrees in the middle of the day. Burrrrr! In the shade I feel like I'm in a freezer but in the sun, it's nice and toasty.

We got a card from grandma in Hawaii and Joseph loved it! He's been wanting mail lately and it was nice to hand him something that was actually sent to him by someone other than the bank. We read it over and over and over and over and then put it on the wall.

I enrolled Joseph in Kumon Jr. a couple of weeks ago. Taryn's cousin's son attended and was accepted to Punahou and even though that's off the table for us, I thought a little enrichment couldn't hurt. I initially wanted him to attend the math and reading sessions but I'm lucky this kid sits still for the reading assignments! Perhaps in the future, we may consider adding the math sessions. His teacher's name is Joy. She's very patient and gives him a lot of praise which I think is essential for student success. He sees Joy on Mondays and Thursdays and the rest of the week we work together on "homework" assignments. He seems to think it's fun. If it ever turns into a negative experience, I think I'll take him out of it.

Joseph said that he doesn't want to be Handy Manny for Halloween anymore. Great. I've already purchased everything for his costume! Even the construction boots from Payless! $27.00 right there down the tube! He wants to be the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz. They learned about it in school. I think I'll be Dorothy and Joey can be the Scarecrow. And Emi can be Toto.

Hmmm... Today we went to the Supermall of the Northwest. I think that's what it's called. I needed to return something from Ann Taylor (buyer's remorse) and I got some cute stuff from Nordstrom's Rack for my trip to Connecticut in a couple of weeks. Joseph played at the "Christmas Tree" playground mall and we shared a pretzel together. It was fun!