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This past Saturday, when the temperature soared into the upper 60’s (hey, that’s really high for my neck of the woods in November!), we took the time to clean out our garage. We tossed out a bunch of broken toys, organized the toy bucket, swept out the tree worth of leaves, and got the bikes hung up.
In the midst of the cleaning, Noah found his kite that we had bought several months ago. As it was a breezy day, we decided it was time to take it out for a spin.
Well, we have a few trees in our front yard, so we had a bit of a kite-flying malfunction.
 
Andy to the rescue!
 
 
 
I’m pretty sure Andy knew he couldn’t actually get the kite down! It helped having him at a different angle as I pulled at the string when the wind started blowing the kite so we could pull it down.
Needless to say, we changed kite-flying locations. To the park!
Caden even joined us!
Despite Noah being scared the kite would fly away (even after reassurances that kites are made to fly in windy conditions!), we had fun!
I wish I could come up with some way to have my fifteen minutes of fame like Melissa Rycroft (without going on a lame show like “The Bachelor” and getting my heart ripped out by some loser!) so I could be a contestant on “Dancing With the Stars”.
I’m watching the show from last night, wishing I could samba and jive my way across a shiny dance floor with Tony Dovolani or Mark Ballas. How fun would that be?
And the workout? Come on! I can only imagine why my legs would be like after being on the show! Of course, they won’t be longer, but maybe leaner?
Sigh. A girl can dream, can’t she?
I’m going out to dinner tonight with some of my girlfriends from the neighborhood (two of whom have “defected” to a nearby suburb), so Andy is in charge of dinner for the boys and himself. He decided waffles would be a good idea, and then he decided to make them from scratch. So with laptop at the ready, and trusty Caden by his side (soon followed by Noah), Andy embarked on waffles from scratch.
Sifting.
Look at the determination!
I had a taste-they’re yummy! What a resourceful and talented hubby! He actually makes the best pancakes in the house as well. We’ll leave breakfast to him! Except eggs. I like mine better!
This was the temperature today:
Keep in mind that I live in southeastern Wisconsin, and it’s November 8.
N-O-V-E-M-B-E-R 8!
We’re hanging on. Just like these apples.
Just like these leaves.
Hanging onto bare feet. (The second shot is to prove these pictures are recent!)
Knowing that thick socks, boots and slippers are just around the corner, making camp for the next 5 months or so. Knowing that those apples will fall to the ground, only to be buried by a thick blanket of snow in a few short weeks. Knowing days at the park will be replaced by indoor play, cabin fever, restlessness.
Hoping for sunny days to help fight the winter blues. Hoping for packing snow to build great snowmen. Hoping for hills covered by snow for sledding.
But today, we’re hanging on.
A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to go with Noah on his field trip to the pumpkin farm. I took pictures of the kids: petting a snake (ick!), feeding the goats (ick!) and playing in the loose hay (fun!). But I also took pictures of pumpkins. Lots and lots of pumpkins.
And one of my favorite pumpkins of all time:
We were invited to our friends’ house for dinner tonight, and were very excited to go. Unfortunately, I think Caden has another round of pink eye, and I didn’t think it would be the best thing to let him run around with their kids. So just Noah and I went, leaving Caden to have a special night with Daddy, including pizza for dinner and watching “Cars”.
Noah had a great time running around with his buddy, Kylie. They were very busy the whole evening, and there was a lot of whispering and giggling at the dinner table. Kylie has a fair share of dress-up clothes, and she and Noah made “magic shows”. Kylie would say her magic words, and Noah, the frog, would hop up. It was pretty cute.
 
We had a fun time over there, as we always do when we get together with our good friends.
This week was a free choice for photo subject over at Beth’s You Capture site. We were lucky enough to get a pass for a behind-the-scenes tour at the zoo again this year, so I’m going to share photos from our tour this past Sunday.
I love the flamingos. I also love this picture with the fall leaves in the background-it just seems off to have these Caribbean Flamingos in the midst of fall in Wisconsin! (Do you know why flamingos stand on one leg? They have very small vasculature in their legs, and they tuck their leg up to warm it up! You learn something new everyday!)
This is Digger, the Grand Cayman Blue Iguana. They’re endangered, and very rare. But we’re lucky enough to have one in our Aquatic and Reptile building. I think he’s really cool, and I love his spikes and his wrinkly skin. But I really don’t ever want a reptile in my home! (Turns out he lays on his log all day long because it’s heated!)
We have two new baby tiger cubs at our zoo. They were born in July, and only recently made their public appearance. Just yesterday our county executive announced the names of the little girls, after a contest was held. They’re Tula and Nuri.
We also have a red panda at our zoo. I love this little face!
We are really fortunate to have such an amazing zoo in our backyard. It’s one of our favorite places to go on a nice spring or summer day.
Go ahead and check out what other people decided to capture this week!
Now that Halloween is over, apparently it’s time to get all things Christmas out on the shelves in stores: Christmas candy at the grocery store, Christmas trees, wrapping paper and ornaments at Target. The Christmas music will probably start shortly on the radio.
It also means that it’s time for the influx of catalogs. I’m apparently on either one comprehensive mailing list, or numerous smaller mailing lists because I get tons of catalogs. I do my share of online shopping, but it’s not like I order several times a month or anything. I’ve been getting kids’ catalogs and toy catalogs for a few weeks now, and the boys love looking at them. Over and over. And over.
They get all sorts of ideas. Many are not so appropriate or realistic. But they enjoy it anyway. And I like getting ideas for gifts without having to drag them kicking and screaming out of Target or Toys R Us. So bring on the catalogs.
…that Obi Wan Kenobi rides a three-wheeled scooter wearing a red fire engine helmet, pulling tricks?
And he also likes to play street hockey on our driveway with Andy and a hockey stick that’s way too long for him?
(Like the new rounded edges? I think they’re kind of fun!)
It was a big weekend around here. It’s Teacher’s Convention, so Noah had Thursday and Friday off. Caden had Friday off. Noah’s birthday was on Thursday, when we had his birthday party. We had our families over on Friday to celebrate. Then Saturday was Halloween.
Seeing as Halloween falls 8 days after my birthday and two days after Noah’s, it’s hard for me to transition and really get into the Halloween proceedings. I’ve never really liked Halloween. It’s kind of freaky. After spending 6 years in Madison, having experienced what is now called “Freak Fest”, I think I got more turned off of Halloween. But seeing how excited the boys get about dressing up and getting out to trick or treat, I can remember how it was to be their age, and I can get into it enough to make it fun for all of us.
As if we didn’t have enough sweets and junk food around our house, the boys had to head out to trick or treat around our neighborhood on Saturday afternoon. And seeing as it’s Wisconsin, the weather had to cool off just in time to get outside! So our Clone Commander Cody and Obi Wan Kenobi had to wear stocking caps and multiple layers under their outfits.
We went down the street to meet up with our friends Maddie and Katie, (who sadly moved to a new house today. Noah and Maddie used to be in the same classroom at school, but they’ve moved into a new district. But luckily Katie and Caden are still in school together.) and then the kids ran off to hit up a few houses. Andy even got a treat from one house-a cold can of Miller Lite, with a can coozy!
 
 
Then we met up with our friends Matthew and Sophie who we don’t get to see very often, so it was a real treat.
 
Maddie and Katie headed back home and we set off with Matthew and Sophie to see our friends Ethan, Molly, Peter (all siblings), and Rob over at Ethan’s house.
Then it was time to head home, stopping at a few houses on the way back. We saw these cheaters on our street. It’s an SUV with the back hatch open, pulling a trailer with hay bales so the kids could sit in the back.
The kids had a great time, and I enjoyed seeing all of the costumes. And now the boys have more dress-up clothes! Now, bring on Thanksgiving!
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