enjoying the final fun days of fall

it is nearly winter (in fact i am writing this while enjoying the view of our snow covered yard... and to think last time i wrote it was sunny and warm!) but we are soaking up the remaining fall time while it's here. after the leaves were raked up, we decided to go have a jump. it was cold and somewhat wet (not a great combination especially for frolicing in the leaf pile) but james certainly was unaware and having a blast. sean... well, we walked through the leaves hand-in-hand once or twice, but he didn't seem to enjoy it when i laid him down in them... oh well, maybe next year. seriously though, no sooner did we get our group shot in the leaves, then the leaf picker-upper came by while we were out! so, we climbed the tree and had front row seats for watching the giant leaf vacuum in action.

i have also captured some more luscious photos of my princess phatty. she is quite the cheerful chubster. james and sean are quickly becoming her favorite entertainment, and they love having an easy laughing audience. she is getting a loud voice, which i hope you can witness on the picasa videos (you'll have to double click on the slideshow to find the movies i made.)

oh! and our eldest is really growing up. he has a girlfriend!!! james and isabel are as close as they come (said his teacher at his PT conference.) i was lucky enough to witness them in action as they played in the snow on the playground (again, you simply MUST check out the videos on picasa!)

happy halloween!

october flew by, and as i am writing this, the windows are all open and i am listening to the birds singing happily in 70 degree weather! you can't beat south bend for curve-ball weather. anyway, halloween was a blast. we had fantastic weather then, too, probably to the detriment of poor seanny's elephant fur... he did seem to get a little overheated about an hour into trick-or-treating and so we headed for home. we were happy to have little tootsie roll, claudia, and her "mad men" parents with us. james really got into the spirit of things this year and was running from house to house and both he and sean seemed to think that they had to finish all their candy as they recieved it! 2 houses into it and sean had chocolate fangs drueling a nice brown onto his elephant chin strap. a week ago i honestly don't think my kids could've given you a straight answer as to what candy is... oh boy, can they now! jeanne was a trooper in her little hand-me-down pea-in-the-pod costume (thanks aunt katie!) just wish i had thought to bring a bjorn or stroller with us. i'd forgottwn how heavy they can be when they're asleep!

the other pictures are of sean and mr. kitty. he is a stray neighborhood cat that is in love with sean and will follow him anywhere. they have a blast together, but, as cute as it is, i still hate cats. mr. kitty has taken to sitting outside our window all night just meowing, wanting to come in, i assume, but, man, does that sound get grating.

oh! and i need lots of props for my pumpkin this year. it is an image of our house and while not the best representation of my work, i did it with freaking salad tongs and nothing else!!!! i thought the boys would help me at least dig out all the goo inside it and help make some yummy pumpkin seeds, but no sooner do i have the paper covering the table, the shirts off the kids and the top of the gourd cut off, then sean takes one look at the mess inside and starts crying and i force james to just at least touch the fun slimy stuff and he, too, says, "i don't think i want to do this, mom" and proceeds straight out of the kitchen. SO, needless to say, i ended up having all the fun by myself at naptime. ENJOY!