Happy Thanksgiving!

For the bounty of yumminess we are about to enjoy, we are thankful.

For the last Thanksgiving meal prepared in this kitchen, we are thankful.

For the family and friends that will be joining us, we are thankful.

And for the joy that these two boys bring to our lives, we are thankful.

Plague Stricken

As a special treat last week, Travis brought home some nasty germs from work. He spent a couple of days quietly harboring them, feeding them, making them grow stronger before passing them to Ben and to me. He was kind enough to not share them to Ry. As a result, there was some of this:

Then there was some of this:

Finally, some of this:

I have to pass along my heartfelt appreciation to the clever people at Netflix who came up with the whole streaming video concept. It's brilliant. And, it allowed Ben to rest while Ry (who made up for Ben's lack of energy with 137% his normal activity level) was entertained.

Guitar Lessons

Ben has been wanting to start guitar lessons for a while. We decided to wait to see how the school year was going before over-committing him to another activity. So, once he settled into the weekly homework routine and soccer started to wrap up, we enrolled him in some lessons at Ethos Music Center. After his first lesson, he came home and showed us what he'd learned.

Ry wanted to get in on the action, too. Ethos does have some drumming classes, but they don't work with the school schedule right now. Besides, if I were to take him to those (they're parent/child classes), I'm pretty sure he'd lose whatever rhythm he currently has.

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After the Pumpkin Patch

Our trio of carved pumpkins illuminated the night. Briefly. Just long enough for pictures. After wrapping up Hall-Oween trick or treating at UP, we made a quick dinner stop for sushi (yes, we have a problem), and journeyed home to clean up and get tired Vampires and Bats to bed. In the time it took for me to light the candles, get the boys and the camera, people came to our dark porch asking for candy.

Anyway, the aftereffects of our night of hard work (we had sushi that night, too) are pictured below. Many thanks to Jen for joining us for our carving festival. We all enjoyed having you visit. Ben carved the middle pumpkin all by himself and did a FANTASTIC job. He didn't cut himself and the pumpkin is totally spooky.

Ry, not surprisingly, really enjoyed pounding the little pegs into his bat pumpkin. The lite brite of my youth has been reborn in a pumpkin carving kit. Thanks to Travis for picking it up even when I told him not to. Turns out it was pretty cool after all.

Sauvie Island Pumpkin Patch

Travis and I took the boys to the Sauvie Island Pumpkin Patch (my favorite) one day after school to pick out some good carving pumpkins and pose for the annual picture on the giant pile of pumpkins. It was a dry day, not too crowded and relatively warm. Spooky.

Travis and I also appear in a post - another rarity. The boys found a tie dyed pumpkin for Ben and a nice big round one for Ry. Travis hunted for good carving pumpkins and we filled our cart to nearly overflowing. Now if only I had that wrap around porch ...

Harvest Party

We were lucky enough to visit with Jason & Debbie during their stellar Harvest Party at their beautiful home. The boys had an incredible time running around, checking out the animals, choosing the perfect Cinderella pumpkin (all grown by Debbie) and eating really, really good food. Travis provided some home brew, which was pretty popular.

The view from their wrap around porch (talk about porch envy!) is really lovely.

The boys helped Debbie hunt for eggs - and Ry didn't break a single one!

The both got to feed the goats - I think this one is Harold (yes, the other is Maude).

We watched the sun set behind their classic barn,

enjoyed the perfect pumpkins,

ran and played,

and danced to the music.

Finally, we took advantage of the amazing decorations and some briefly cooperative boys and snapped this great shot.

Thanks for sharing your great home with us!

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

After attending most of Ben's field trips for the last three years, Ry finally got to go on one that was just for him. His class journeyed to Lee Farms for a trip to a working farm, some visits with farm animals (and cute puppies), and a picking the perfect pumpkin. It was a freezing, blustery morning but nothing that some fresh made donuts and kettle corn couldn't remedy. He picked a great pumpkin for himself and for Ben.

A fun, not scary corn maze guided the kids to the top of a platform which funneled them down a fun slide.

Auction Project

Each Year, TIS hosts an auction to raise money for special projects. This year, they're trying to generate funds for Books, Learning Resources & Technology. Good goals.

The boy's classes set to work creating an original work of art to donate to the auction. Ry's class made some greeting cards - 22 lovely cards suitable for presenting to anyone. Each child painted one picture and then drew an original, complete with title. Here are the pictures that Ry made. He even wrote his name on one of his cards

Ben's class took a different approach this year. Super mom Diane had the idea to present the kids in silhouette form doing what kids do best - running, jumping and playing. I enlisted the help of photographer extraordinaire Beth of Studio J Images. Nice to have such skilled family members, especially when they are so willing to help (and even donate to the auction!). Some people really are extra awesome. Since my description is a little abstract, here's images that show the process.


First, we took pictures of the kids playing and running and jumping and kicking and swinging and sliding. Lots of pictures. We narrowed down the choices and sent a few of each child to Beth. Here's the one I took of Ben:


She worked some voodoo magic in really record time and came up with this:




Fifteen times. Yes, that's right. One for each child in the class. Then she used a potion of chicken feathers, dog toenails and apple peels, said a few magic words and came up with this up with this:

A great local company (Plywerk) contributed a frame and print with their unique, green process and the finished product ended up looking like this:

I'd hang that in my living room ...