Growing-Up Gunnar

In the weeks since Gunnar turned two, he has gone through a couple of transitions. First, he left his highchair to join us at the table in a booster seat. He seemed pretty dissatisfied during meals and being right with the rest of the family seems to have helped.

Right on the heels of departing his highchair, Gunnar left his crib. (Well, he'd actually been leaving his crib for quite some time. That was the problem!) I took apart his crib and moved in the toddler bed. He looks quite happy in this photo, but I think the bed kind of scared him the first few nights. Maybe he felt more secure with those crib bars surrounding him. We're all still adjusting to the new bed and sleeping routine, but are slowly seeing progress and hoping to get a full night's sleep soon. At least the new bed makes the picket fence look great.

Halloween Spookers, Stingers, and Spellers

Here are our scary Trick-or-Treaters before venturing out Saturday night:

Adah went as a vampire, Gunnar a bee, and Maggie a witch. In the post title I was thinking “spellers” as in, Maggie’s a witch; witches cast spells. But, since Gunnar was a bee, I guess it could apply to him, too!

After a few false starts at other Halloween events I was unsure about how Gunnar would do, but he happily put on his costume and enjoyed walking from house to house with his sisters. He even said, "Trick-or-Treat!" (Or, maybe it was "thank you." They sound a lot alike.) At one house Gunnar even appropriately stopped to smell the flowers.

This year, instead of handing out candy, I decided to give out glow-in-the-dark bouncy balls. Damon didn't think it was a good idea, but all the Trick-or-Treaters exclaiming "cool!" let me know that I'd made a good choice. I ordered 144 balls and we RAN OUT! Luckily, we had anticipated that and bought some candy Saturday morning. I bet we had 175 Trick-or-Treaters.

Once our kids were finished, we left the house and headed up to "Pumpkin Lane" where some people from our church carve about 100 intricate Jack-o-lanterns. We didn't take our camera this year, so sadly have no record of the funny Dwight Schrute, John Wayne, Hannah Montana, or other impressive pumpkins.

This year even Damon and I dressed up. We went to a party the week before Halloween. Damon went as swine flu and I was a battery. A wise young man told me a made a good AA. I told him he was smart to not call me a size D. I got lots of mileage out of my costume at all the events for the kids (storytime, school parade, etc.). I even wore it Trick-or-Treating. It didn't get me much candy, but I know where the kids' bags are. ha ha

We had a fun Halloween and were very grateful that the rainy weather dried up in time for Trick-or-Treating.

Adah Dusts Off Her Acting Shoes

Adah again participated in her school's annual Missoula Children's Theater production. This year the elementary and middle school kids put on "The Princess and the Pea." Adah was cast as a dust bunny and enjoyed hopping around stage and getting to know her fellow actors and actresses. "I really love those silly leprechauns," she said. "I liked it when they danced and said Riverdom wrong. (They said Riverdance and started dancing.)"

Auditions were Monday afternoon, and after a couple of rehearsals the cast was ready to perform twice on Friday to their schoolmates and once on Saturday for parents and the community. Adah spent much of her birthday afternoon at rehearsal, but didn't mind a bit. She can't wait for the MCT truck to return for next year's play.