Happy Halloween!

Halloween is always so fun. Here are the pumpkins. Ali and Eli did theirs themselves, Jake was creative director of his, and Logan didn't feel the need to do his own, but helped where needed.

All ready to trick or treat!

We did things a little differently this year. Ali and Logan invited their friends Charlotte and Isaac (who are conveniently brother and sister) over. They played Dungeons and Dragons, ate dinner, and then went trick or treating. Eli went out with both Jake and Jason early in the afternoon, as well as with the older kids when they went out closer to the end of the evening. Everyone had a great time.

Halloween Party

Halloween snuck up on me this year, and so we didn't have much prep time for our Halloween party. We kept it simple and kept the numbers small, and still had a great time! Here are the kids with their guests/friends:

Ali's friends' parents are still very Covid conscious, so they stayed outside during the party. Just as well with a houseful of crazy boys!

I asked my friend Josette (Jake's friend Scotty's mom) to stay and be the food hander-outer. We had so few kids that I actually probably could have done it myself, but it was fun for me to have a friend there too.

Traditions are fun!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Since I turned 40 this year, we decided to make an extra big deal about it. We rented out a movie theater (since I love to go to movies!) and invited 18 friends to come watch "Dear Evan Hansen." Kind of a weird movie for a celebration, but I thought it was so good and loved the experience!

Jason bought these decorations and had them all up my birthday morning. It was fun to celebrate. I love birthdays!

Bakers

Ali wanted to make brownies and she let Chef Jake help: win, win, win!

Happy Birthday Eli!

We had so much fun celebrating our silly, smart, social Eli. He is such a joy and we're blessed to have him in our family!

In Person Concert!

It's so nice that this school year we're getting back some of the things we've been missing, including in person band concerts! Ali and Logan did great playing the clarinet and tenor sax!

Jake Swim Lessons

Jake took swimming lessons for a couple months and still won't put his face in the water. Sigh. He got better at back floats, and he's awfully cute, so there's that. 

Bulls Game

These three got to go see a Bulls game with their Dad. The Bulls won by like 40 so that made it even more fun. 

Just Because

Logan decided to buy each of his siblings a little something he knew they'd love, just for the fun of it. And he knows them well, because they all LOVED what he chose for them. What a cool guy!

Eli asleep

Sleeping Eli is almost as entertaining as Awake Eli. At least once a week there is a great sleepwalking story I get to share with him, and sometimes he's sleeping in such funny ways I need to document it, like this night where he'd pulled his arms into his shirt making him look armless! Asleep or awake, he's awesome.