In the Spirit of the Season

Since Halloween is only one month away, we got out the decorations today.As you can see, some people had Halloween on their minds.

The decorated mantle and some proud kids.

Jim and the girls in the "hot tub" figuring out what to do with the hole.

Some goof balls looking through the very dirty deck.

Hot Tub Removal and Stuff

On Monday, we bid a fond farewell to the hot tub. It wasn't holding water anymore (a big leak was somewhere) and one of the pumps was completely shot, so some big guys came and hauled it off. Before they left, I took a picture of the bottom to show Jim how rotted out it had gotten.
They took the pumps out before they moved it. I guess this makes it lighter? It still took 3 guys to move it--and they knew what they were doing. The hole is empty for now. We are going to patch it with decking, but there may be another hottub in there someday....

In other news, Annalise figured out how to remedy her boo-boos herself. Who knew that one kid could need so many bandaids?

And the toliet paper holder also must have been hurting.

We are finishing up the last of the cherry tomatoes. These chimpmunks must be storing them for winter.

Purdue vs. ND

Last Saturday, we headed up to West Lafayette to take in the epic battle of mediocority of football in the state of Indiana. Otherwise known as Purdue v. Notre Dame.Here we are waiting for the game to start. It was a cool evening, but the rain missed us and we were pretty comfortable all evening. If it wasn't for the drunk ND fan spitting on us the whole game, it would have been perfect.
As you can see, we have a great view of the action. Purdue's d-line was pretty good--something we hadn't seen yet this season.

Unfortunately, they were no match for the Laser Rocket arm of Notre Dame's current (and overrated--in my opinion) quarterback, Jimmy Clausen.

And in the end, Purdue blew it. But, it wasn't a total blow out. Between this game and the recent Ohio State/USC, I think I'm giving up watching the Saturday night game. At least Florida State lost.

The end is near

The girls and I went out to check the garden this afternoon. It looks like we are coming to the end of tomato season. I picked just 4 romas out of the garden and everything else out there is pretty green. The good news is that the radishes, lettuce, and chard are growing nicely in this cool weather. The girls picked the grape tomatoes. They are closer to the house and I think the brick keeps them warmer at night. We may get a few more off this plant. The yellow pear is looking pretty dried out so it will probably get yanked soon too. Evie also spent some time identifying butterflies in the yard. Really, there are only 3 we consistantly see, but every now and then, we see something unusual.

Annual Report--Shlee is 3.

Annalise visited the doctor today for her annual check up. She weighs in at 29.8 pounds (40%)and is 37 inches tall (50%). She did great at the visit listing all her fruits and vegs that she eats and telling about how she poops on the potty. The doctor checked her out and pronounced her healthy. On the way out, she got her flu-mist for the year. Oh, and he checked her giant forehead and said she was in the 400% for forehead space.

Doing our Part

After a busy weekend of Grandma and Grandpa Taller visiting (which we took no pictures ...again), cleaning house top to bottom and getting a nice nap, I headed outside to work on painting Annalise's bedframe that may actually get completed by the end of the month. Just as I was opening the can of paint, two little neighbor kids came walking up the drive way with a big box. Turns out they had buckeyes and remembered us drilling holes in them 2 years ago! They asked if I would drill holes again. As I stood there with my paint can, Jim poked his head out into the garage. I said, "kids, I'm busy right now, but maybe Mr. Taller will drill some holes for you." Mr. Taller obliged. Evie and Annalise came outside with their stash of buckeyes too.
Pretty soon, there were a few more kids....

And then more kids. Most of them hung around to string the buckeyes on some twine I found quickly in the garage. It took Jim a good part of an hour to drill holes. He said that his legs went numb from sitting "criss-cross applesauce"--indian style.

The finished buckeye necklaces. We needed this buckeye love last week!

In related news, Evie kept herself busy while Annalise, Mom and Dad took a nap this afternoon. She spent an hour and a half cutting pumpkins out of a brown bag, cutting eyes, noses and mouths into them and hanging them on a string. She also made these attractive pumpkin glasses.

Never wake a sleeping Shlee

Annalise has been on the boarder of not taking naps anymore. But, on school days, she is wiped out so I make her lay down. In the interest of keeping bedtime consistant, we wake her up after about an hour of sleep (although, tonight, she has been in bed for 45 minutes and has been out 6 times with every excuse in the book). This is how she looked when we got her up today. She was soaking wet with sweat and none too happy with mommy. I tried to capture how wet she really was, but then she got mad at me and threw a tantrum on the kitchen floor.
Tantrum.

It was just really hard waking up today.

The white team--through the eyes of Annalise

Annalise decided that now that she is three, that is plenty old enough to operate the digital camera. So here are her shots of the game. A shot of Evie out on the playing field.
Up close of Dad.

While the game was going on, there were 4 F16's flying in a holding pattern to do a flyover of the Colts game. I think this is what she was trying to capture. Nonetheless, it was a clear day.

The grass was looking good. And, she was wearing her shoes on the right feet.

A pretty decent shot of Dad.

And some soccer action. Too bad Evie was playing on the OTHER field.

A less than flattering shot of mom--who wasn't paying attention to the game and busy chatting with another mom.

And a shot of the sideline. It's all action when you cover a kindergarten soccer game.

The White Team

Evie is playing soccer again this fall. This season, she is on the white team with no mascot. Mascot or not, they are much better than last spring. Evie has improved, but still collapses in a heap if something doesn't go her way. Here are some of her finer moments from this past weekend. A typical swarm of kids around the ball.
Evie in motion.

Soccer isn't very fun for everyone. Especially when the concession stand is closed because we were the last game of the day. So we took turns playing with Annalise on an empty field. She will be ready for soccer when she turns 4.

At the end of the game, everyone was tired.

Happy 3rd Birthday Annalise!

Our little Annalise woke up this morning as a 3 year old! All she wanted for her birthday was a pink bike with a pink horn. Mom and Dad were so excited to give it to her that she was riding it before breakfast.
The breakfast birthday tradition in our house is a pancake in the shape of your age. "3" is a little hard to make so we all ate 3's for breakfast.

Hey--there's a hole in this 2!

Later in the day, when all the big kids came home on the bus, we had a party for Annalise. Do it yourself ice cream sundaes were the menu.

Here's the birthday girl with some of the big girls.

And later, a pic with all our guests. We had lots of fun and are glad you all came!

The Brays joined us for dinner and cake. Uncle Jay read some books to the girls while dinner was being prepared.

And then the cake time. You can't really tell in this picture, but this is Annalise's butterfly cake. Pink wings, Twix body and M&M's decoration.

She blows out the candle.

The very proud 3 year old! Happy Birthday to our Shlee-Shlaw.

Annalise's First day of Preschool

Today was the big day for Annalise. Her first day of real preschool all by herself!The before pictures. She has new shoes (purple of course) and we had to dig through the drawer to find a shirt with a butterfly because her two favorite ones were dirty.
She was so excited!

Our baby isn't a baby anymore.

Even in the drop off line, she couldn't contain her excitement.

And there she goes! Mom had a quiet morning doing some errands and chores. When I picked her up, she was so tired, but wanted to stay up to tell me things. After 5 trips out of her room at rest time, she finally settled down for a nap.