Happy Birthday Oscar!

Can you believe he is a little boy of five?

We had a lovely celebration yesterday at the Museum of Discovery with 10 or so of his friends, including Pat Reeves, and Poppa and Grandma. Oscar was delighted to be in charge of everybody! He got lemon cupcakes with blue frosting, as he requested, and everyone's lips became pleasingly blue.

Then we had another celebration at his school this morning, and more present-opening this evening, with smoothies for dinner. He was a happy boy at bedtime!

los hermanos

a little more Edie

John was possessed and did a magic dance to Iron Man to keep his siblings safe. It's a universal impulse!

Edie always sucks her thumb like this, it's a two-handed activity.

Edie Jean is a string bean!

Literally off the charts.

Tracing on a sunlight lightboard

Happy Halloween!

The boys were very happy in their costumes. I considered painting their faces but realized they would only use it as a source of sadness. Oscar was a scary ghost elephant who said "Boo!" to everyone, and John was a bear, duh. Edie, nominally, was a cat.

We all went trick-or-treating, even Edie! It was a cold night, but there were a ton of people out, and nearly every house had lights on. Everyone was very friendly to the boys. John only fell a few times, usually when he was backing up so the front door could be opened.

They got SO MUCH candy! It will take some serious work for it to be eaten in any reasonable time, say, before Easter. But I have faith that it will happen. All eaters welcome.

We have been:

Playing in the leaves

Sorting all the laundries (yay Columbus day!) (Also I think we keep Columbus Day as a holiday because it comes right after the end of the federal fiscal year, and the federal employees involved in that all really want a break.)

Chillen with the babbies

 

Making bread! This is what happens when you leave the sponge to rise while you go to the farmers' market. Good thing I thought to put it in a bigger bowl just in case! No bandaids ended up in this bread, and we've been eating a LOT of toast.

The vans not beat

More Oscar at school

Here are some more pictures of O at school....I don't know what hes is doing in them, you'll have to ask him!

Wait....what is happening here?

Camping with Eric

Eric Westra, that is. His family has a cabin near the Red Feather Lakes, which happens to be about 10 minutes from the Mount Margaret trailhead. Ricky and Oscar went up there a while ago and had a great time, and this weekend Eric W. and our whole family went, including Sue and Lloyd and Marky Flash! The RV even got an outing!

The aspens were all shades of yellow, it was the perfect moment for leaf-peeping (I can't believe I remembered that some people call it that!). And it was a little cold, and a little rainy, but not too much. Just enough  to justify drinking hot chocolate when the boys came back inside, and having a toasty fire in the Franklin stove. It felt like a real adventure.

But first, some domestic photos.

Find the cats (there are 2!) 

 I put Edie on the floor for tummy time and she fell asleep. I liked the way she looked like just another object on the floor, although I don't think the photo really captures how I felt about it.

 Please observe Oscar's excellent photo pose. He perfected it over the weekend.

 The lichens were off the chain!

 Oscar really liked these roots. They were the only ones we encountered on the trail.

 John kept singing "We will rock you!" in his most growly terrifying monster ("monstener") voice.

 Stout Cortez!