A Haunting

I took the littles to their very first haunting.  A family up off Mill Plain did up their yard with spooky things and a maze. They did a fabulous job for just being in the yard.  I heard one of the guys telling other people how he has worked for 15 years at pay to enter haunted houses. 
The little woman was not scared a bit.  The little man was in too much of a hurry to be scared or maybe he was scared and just wanted to hurry through it.  There wasn't really anything too spooky. 
One little story...the littles got ahead of me and in between us one of the workers came out of the shadows and followed them.  Now he did not scare them and I did not scare him, but it was an exact repeat of another haunted house I have done.  And that one I did scare the scarer because he wasn't aware of me being behind him.  This time the man must have at least been aware of me. 
Now they can say they have been to a haunting. I'm amazed at how much effort this family put into this.  I think next year the little woman will be old enough to go to a theatrical one, but the little man will have to do something else. 

Fall Festival

And the year keeps rolling by.  The school had their fall festival tonight.  I managed to get one kid to eat some dinner there.  They had pizza.  The kids got to dress up in their Halloween costumes.  The little man looked pretty cute as a vampire and the little woman looked fabulous as a devil.  Josie, from our street, was an angel.  So her dad took a picture of each girl looking over his shoulder.  Bet that is a cute picture.
They played games and won tokens, traded tokens for prizes and visited with their friends.  Every one was well behaved and are now settled in and quiet.  A good night was had by all. 

Birthday Wishes

We rushed home so we would be there when Chad arrived.  We beat him by about five minutes.  He brought balloons, cards, and candy.  Inside each card was a nice gift card for the littles to pick out their own gift and Chad hinted a bit that part of the card should buy some clothes.  He understands how fast kids grow and are always needing clothing. 
We had a nice visit with him.  I told him how much we appreciated him, Ky and Gina in our lives.  Next time it is our turn to make a trip up there to see them. 

A Happy Heart

When we got home I had a message from Chad.  He is coming down tomorrow to deliver some signs.  While here he wants to see us and give the littles their birthday presents.  How special is that?  And I don't mean that sarcastically. 
He goes out of his way to remember when their birthdays are and to give them gifts.  Basically the only one of their extended family that does.  And he isn't really related to them, although his son is.  I know that family is really important to Chad.  The connections were important to me at one time also, but after so much effort that wasn't in any way reciprocated...I quit.  Except for Chad, Gina and Ky. 
So my heart is happy that he is going out of his way to connect with the littles.  Our circle is so small and it helps having them in our lives. 

Family Dinner

We all went to Pat's house for burritos last night.  They were delicious.  We had a dutch apple pie for dessert.  Was suppose to be apple crisp, but my apples had a big mishap.
For a bit of time I had my mom.  We talked about some current things in my life and she told me I needed to cut my hair.  Great minds think alike.  That was the only advice she offered.  She just listened and asked the right questions and made the right comments.  It was nice having her when it seems like she has been hiding a lot lately.  That made my heart happy. 
The little man was ungrounded from the game at Pat's house so they played after dinner.  Two weeks is a long time, but he didn't complain at all.  Maybe it helps not living at Pat's house and only seeing him on weekends anyway. 

Busy Busy

I woke up and realized we are going to have a couple of busy busy weeks.  First I'm back to work my normal weeks of four days.  They have school.  Then we have girl scouts on Wed with their Halloween party.  The little man has a field trip to the pumpkin patch on Thursday and then Thursday evening is the Fall Festival at school. 
We hit the weekend with the little woman really really wanting to go to a haunted cemetery.  Haven't quite decided on that as the little man is still only six.  Then we have her birthday and Halloween.  They have been working on their costumes and we will have pumpkins to carve. 
Hopefully  keeping us busy keeps us out of trouble. 

A Little Adventure Downtown

We took advantage of the lovely fall day and went downtown to check out the new Waterfront Park.  We had lunch at Warehouse 23.  I thought the prices were pretty reasonable. 
After lunch we walked along the waterfront so we could go out on the walk out over the river.  The littles got a kick out of it.  They also loved meeting all the dogs down there.  There was a place you could get down by the water if you were brave enough to traverse over the rocks.  Some of those rocks were wiggly.  Did not stop the little man at all.  The little woman was wearing her boots and they weren't as secure so she did not make it to the bottom. 
Once we had looked at everything and talked about the condos and apartments being built there, we made our way back to our car.  Moved it so we could go to the park at Esther Short Park.  Farmer's Market was still going on.  And the first thing we saw was mini pumpkin decorating for free.  So each little had to do that.  They held onto the mini pumpkins for us while we played.  They also gave kids boo bucks to spend at the market.  Just imagine how excited my littles were when they discovered those boo bucks could be used for cotton candy.  I got a bag of cranberries and big bag of apples.  Later it kind of struck me that those guys at that stand really did not charge me enough.  But we are going to enjoy those apples in a crisp tomorrow at Uncle Pat's house.  I also got a cat nip toy for Sunset, who LOVED it. 
It was a great adventure and every one was mostly behaved.  We never expect perfect behavior because that isn't ever going to happen.  Small mishaps we can handle.