Happy Halloween.

From the Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit, Tweedle Dum, and Alice.

We had a couple of spiders stop by.

Maddie and I decorated for the big day.  Better late than never.

Maddie's Locker.

I went to school to serve breakfast to Maddie's reading class, but stopped by her locker first.  How do these kids get in and out of their lockers when they are only a couple of inches wide?

Outside the Salvation Army Family Store.

We were just leaving Target

during a 20 minute downpour.  Wouldn't you know as soon as we pulled out of our parking spot, the rain let up.

Treats for teachers and bus drivers.

And one big chocolate mess.

Bat Cave.

Storytelling.

We attended a fun campfire storytelling event tonight at Meadow Farm.  The fire smelled wonderful and the stories were told to us by two Colonial costumed ladies.

Just need a Coke

and breakfast is ready. 

We picked out six pumpkins instead of our usual four.  Whole Foods had a great selection.

We love the ice dream cones.

Waiting for Jordan to finish up with her Key Club meeting.

There is a lot of beauty on campus.

Handmade.

Burning our handmade candles from the festival last Saturday.

One A'maize'ing Festival.

Kicking off Henrico County's 400 year anniversary.  This girls enjoyed making cornhusk dolls, embossing leather, learning how to dye cloth with items from natural (i.e. flowers, nuts, and even dead bugs), and also hand-dipping candles. 
I am totally in love with the hipstamatic app on my new iTouch.

First Middle School Dance.

The thought of going to the dance was more fun than the actual dance was.  They called for a ride home 40 minutes after I dropped them off. 

Taken with my new iTouch loaded with the hipstamatic app.  LOVE THIS!!

Equipment Malfunction.

I'd be okay to never again be reminded of the life-threatening complications that can occur even with good diabetes management.

Everyone loves a parade!

Warriors Homecoming 2010.  Key Club float.

St. Paul Cathedral.

There is no good place to get a photo of the entire building.  This was the best we could do - Jordan snapping photos out the window as we drove toward it.  The interior is beautiful.

A storm's coming in.

We were sure we'd get caught in a nasty storm.  However, it didn't even rain on us.  This was the sky over White Bear Lake as we left Grandpa John's house.

That's so Maddie.

At the St. Croix River.

Let's get this party started!

Just waiting on a few others!

Early Birthday Gift.

She really, really wanted a regular-sized stroller for Hippey and Clickady. 

Love that Ice Cream Man!!

Three generations.

We love these self-portraits.  It's great to have Grandpa home - finally.

How many quarters do you have?

Feeding the meter before we headed up to Grandpa's room.  Maybe we should have called ahead?  He was released a few hours earlier. 

Art in the Park.

We had to pull over to check out this park.  There were plenty of sculptures, but this one captured our attention.  There are all sorts of trash items embedded in this guy.  His eyes are old hub caps and there are keys, bottle caps, tiles, shells, rocks, etc. all over his body.  I don't know if the park has a name, but it sits across Marion Street from Sears (off of University) in St. Paul.

Motley Crew.



They have a lot of fun together even though the ages range from eight years to nineteen years.

On the way home from Ikea,

Jordan caught this from the passenger seat.

If there's going to be an injury . . .

it'll happen to her.

What a life?!

Her specialty.

She may grow up to be a chocolatier.

Sweet Corn.

Haven't had much of it this summer out of courtesy to Jordan.  She's still wearing braces and can't eat it unless she wants to pop a bracket.  We drove by this stand on the way back from the Rochester Hobby Lobby.

Did I scare you?

I'd be scared if I saw that creeping around the house!

Good to the last drop!

We've had watermelon everyday since we got here.

At the park.

It's way too hot today to run around.

Who doesn't love the ice cream man?

Buster's Cabbage

Figuring out the puzzle.

We brought Grandpa John a puzzle thinking it would be fun for him.  Turns out all of his visitors take a turn trying to put the jewel ball back together.  Maddie and Tom can usually get it the rest of us don't have the patience.

Buggin' Jilly.

Jilly is up most nights wanting attention from anyone who will give it.  Whenever we see her sleeping during the day, we wake her up in some annoying way (just like she does to us).  This morning Maddie climbed up on Jilly's cushion and obviously irritated her.

Just hanging around.

Jordan loves to climb trees.  She used the fact that I didn't take any pictures yet today to climb this tree outside of the rehab hospital where grandpa is recouperating.

It runs in the family.

This is Sebastian's best gangsta pose.

I don't know these people.

Okay . . . maybe I do.  Shelby and Rachel doing their best modeling pose.

Do you see what I see?

That little guy was eating my almost dead plant at my front door.

What's wrong with this cat?!

She did this for several minutes with Jake's shoes today, but she does this same thing with other athletic shoes.

Out Building.

A visit with Grandpa John.

He's out of the hospital again and back at the rehab center.  As you can see, Grandpa has a full house tonight.

Old Neighborhoods.

The Sorcerer's Aprentice.

We attended an early screening of the movie and were pleasantly surprised at how good it really was!  This picture shows the kids goofing around in the back seat of the car after the movie.

Val's Garden.

Rachel and I spent the evening with her friend Val.  Val has a gorgeous home and a beautiful garden.