Tagged

I knew it was coming. I couldn't avoid being tagged forever! I just wish I had something more interesting to share. As I understand it, I'm supposed to look in my 4th picture folder at the 4th picture and share it. I had to laugh when I saw what it was. It's documentation from Derek's science fair project on evaporation. He was trying to determine if color had anything to do with how fast things evaporated.
Now, see if you can top that! I'm tagging Sarah, Leah, Crystal, Jodi, & Geri. If you haven't already done this (and if you dare), post your 4th picture from your 4th picture file. Have fun!

Halloween pictures - a little late!!

This year we decided to carve only one family pumpkin rather than one for each child. To help ease the transition, the kids decorated their own construction paper jack-o-lanterns while they took turns helping with the carving.
The costumes for this year: Derek was a vampire, Dustin was Draco (complete with a Slytherin snake), Brandon was Obi Wan Kenobi, and Kaylee was a cowgirl. This was taken just before the trunk-or-treat at church.
For Halloween night, Dustin decided to be Mad-Eye Moody.
This is a water bottle that Brandon transformed into a bat one afternoon. Kaylee's class had done a similar project, turning theirs into pumpkins with orange colored water, and he wanted to have "a cool water bottle" too. I was pretty impressed with what he was able to do all on his own!
Emily and Dan were here for Halloween night and went trick-or-treating with us. This is Caitlyn as a ladybug.
Here is cousin Jeffrey as a very cute dog. We all had a nice and relaxed Halloween!

Red Ribbon Run

Yesterday was the “Red Ribbon Run” here (a race held primarily for Elementary school children in honor of drug free awareness – or something like that). All of the kids ran this year in their own age groups. It was raining off and on, so some of them got to run in the rain. Derek & Dustin ran a mile, while Kaylee & Brandon had half mile races. Dustin was elated that his time was about 15 seconds faster than Derek’s (7:31 vs 7:13). Kaylee did really well on her half mile, too, especially considering how out of shape they all are (she was 5 minutes even). Brandon either tripped or was tripped when he was finishing up his first lap and spent the 2^nd lap in the first aid tent getting a bandage. He still managed to run into the home stretch with the stragglers, but we were a little bummed that we didn’t get to see how he would do for the entire distance.

Derek after his race - it was raining through most of it.

Brandon (in red) before his tumble. It wasn't as dark as it looks.
Kaylee coming into the home stretch.
Dustin sprinting to the finish line.

Building with cards

Derek and Dustin have both taken an interest in stacking cards lately. Last Christmas we got Derek a book and about 100 decks of cards. Every now and then they pull them out and practice. They are slowly getting better at it! It's a shame that they always have to tear down their work when they are finished, though.

A quiet moment

This is the kind of thing I just love to see. These three get along quite well together when they feel like it.

Farewell to Houdini

This is the kind of scene you will no longer have to worry about encountering when you visit our house. Houdini has officially been adopted by a new family, so we are snake free for now!

Random quote from Dustin

We were on the way home from a soccer game yesterday when Dustin said out of the blue, "Before you know it, I'll be able to drink out of two straws with my mouth closed."

There was silence as I tried to process what on earth he was talking about. Once it clicked, it really made me laugh.

He's about to lose another tooth, thus creating two symmetrical holes on either side of his mouth. Apparently this is a moment he's been waiting for.