First Annual Rogers' Pumpkin Launch

A new tradition has been born! It was relatively nice today--or at least dry--so we took the jack-o-lanterns and other pumpkins to the deck. With a good heave from Ken, they quickly met a smattering on the ground below while cheers rose from above.

Up... up.... up!




















Crash!

Trick or Treat: Version 2009

The cherubs were eager and excited as usual for the annual sugar celebration. It is still hard for me to get used to having trick-or-treating be a car-based activity, but the boys have it down. This was Lucy's first real go at it, and boy did she like it! She kept saying "more can-ny" as we went from house to house. They made out like bandits; you could see the sugar levels start glazing over their eyes as we progressed.

Falling Beauties

Today was glorious; It was one of those beautifully sunny, breezy, warm fall days. We spent lots of time outside this afternoon. Daddy and Papa Denny hauled wood under the close supervision of Owen and Mitchell. Lucy and I checked out the pumpkins, then helped finish up wood work. We did carve a few pumpkins--no, wait, check that--I carved two pumpkins. Mitchell helped scoop guts out of one itty bitty thing, Owen protested the texture of it all, and Lucy just wanted me to put the guts on her scooper without her actually putting her hand in the pumpkin. After like 2 eyes were carved, they all ditched me and the pumpkins for a trip on the tractor to get more wood. I have never heard of such a thing! Kids, not wanting to carve pumpkins!


After the wood was done, the boys did frolic (aka wrestle around like dogs) in the leaves. Lucy liked to carry handfuls of leaves around and throw them in the air.

H1N1 vs. Mesick

Oy.... What a whirlwind these last few weeks have been. Last week was unusually stressful at work, as I was notified that very soon (exactly TBA) I will be switching to teach Special Education students at least half of the day at school because of my previous training. Not ideal in timing or situation, but we will roll with it. My brain though, is having a virtual field day with stressing/wondering/ coordinating worry about all the unknowns in the upcoming switch. With that has come much less sleep than normal. Combine that with the influx of germs at school... you get the picture. Last week the absentee numbers in the district were up; up enough to have canceled school for Monday. I came down with whatever bug this is Saturday, and wound up calling in sick today. Apparently so did over 40% of the elementary school! There were only 9 of 24 students in my class today. The middle school and high school also had high numbers of sick kids, so they called off school for the rest of the week. Let's hope that allows me to recover more fully and help our kids avoid the bug.

All that being said, we had a brief stretch of dry weather today so the kids actually got outside for a bit.
Mitchell: reading nicely, doing well on spelling tests, and enjoying swimming lessons with Miss Mary. He will be a character from Star Wars: the Clone Wars for Halloween.

Owen: Also enjoying swimming lessons with Miss Mary, who is super neat and awesome according to Mr. Owen. He will be a ninja turtle for Halloween. He is also prepping for his upcoming puppy party for his 4th birthday.


Lucy: Favorite words/phrases lately--"by my self", "backwards" (as she walks backwards), and "trouble". She loves dragging chairs or the step stool around to get into whatever she wants. She is also able to reach things off of the counter.... hence, the aforementioned "trouble". She will be a monkey for Halloween.

Stomping through October

New boots arrived today. Kids promptly tried them on and kept them on, through dinner and right on until bedtime. Very funny. Humor is good after a week like ours. Long stories short: multiple kids out at school with swine/H1N1 flu so they shut us down for Monday to help people recover, and massive job changes for me lie ahead. More news to follow as I am informed and digest the information myself.

PS: As usual, the box that the boots arrived in was good for fun too!

Frankly Speaking

We had a blessing of Dad's headstone at the cemetery at 9:30 this morning. On the way there it was this glorious sunshine filtering in through the fog. And while very chilly, it was a truly beautiful morning, especially after having clouds and rain almost everyday for the last few weeks. We gathered around, and Father Joe as usual captured the sentiments perfectly, reminding us how truly lucky we were to have Dad in our lives, and how he still lives on in us today. Many thanks to the friends and family who shared in the ceremony with us today.

Monkey Business

Miss Lucy got to celebrate her birthday with a fun crowd Friday night. She got very excited when she saw all the gifts headed her way. She was WAY into opening presents, but still let her brothers get things started for her. Making things even more enjoyable was the fact that as she opened the numerous outfits adorned with monkeys, she ~insisted~ that she wear them at that very moment. Needless to say there were several wardrobe changes in the midst of the wrapping paper extravaganza. Likewise with the toys; she had to play with them right away. It was delightful.

^Outfit change #1 ^

The evening was capped off by Chinese food with the out of towners and an ice cream buffet, as requested by the birthday girl.

^ Outfit change #2 plus the toy ice cream set to complement her real ice cream desert.^

The boys loved getting to see all the family, but Uncle Matt and his fancy phone (with all the games on it) made a big hit.