Happy Halloween!!

Eli as Tigger. He understood that he was supposed to bounce and growl. Awesome.

Emeline took being a ballerina very, very seriously.

Cowen's stellar costume is entirely due to his Aunt Kami's awesomeness. Aunt Kami felt sorry for nephew Cowen because his mother does not care about Halloween, and therefore made little effort to procure Cowen's desired costume--that of Indian. In fact, Cowen's mother made him call Aunt Megan to find whatever leftovers she happened to have in her dress-up box.

Instead, Aunt Kami sent Cowen a little package. It contained the shirt that Kami made, the headband Kami made, the feather, and the shoes that Aunt Kayli unwittingly contributed. (Thanks, Aunt Kayli!)

Timothy made the bow and arrow and wrapped the fabric around his legs for some sort of breeches effect, and also did the make-up. Allow me to reiterate, I don't really "do" Halloween. But, thanks to Aunt Kami, Aunt Kayli, and Dad--Cowen looked awesome!

Miriam elected to be a Mexican girl. She's been reading the American Girl doll books about Josefina.

On the way home from Grandma and Grandpa Young's, the van broke down. Yep, on the freeway. Timothy managed to pull over and then he walked to a nearby gas station to call his dad, who came and took us home. We left the van, thinking we would call a tow truck the next day.

Then, at midnight, I answered a call from the police saying we had two hours to get the van moved or we would pay an impound fee along with a tow fee.

So Timothy got up and called towing companies and went somewhere (I think he took the key to the tow people, or something, I was asleep). I think he made it back to bed by 2:00 am-ish.

Long night.

Followed by a morning of candy eating bliss.

And a bit of letting Patsy in the window. Not allowed. Neither is eating downstairs. Grr.

Did you notice that the children were up rather high. Maybe you didn't because maybe you didn't realize that the window in the picture is at the top of Cowen's room. Timothy spent all day Saturday putting together new bunk beds.

The bunk beds were free. Awesome. Our neighbor's daughter donated them to us (along with three bags of clothes for Emeline--nice). Numerous hardware type pieces were missing, along with the ladder, and who knows what else. All I know is it took Timothy a long time to jerryrig everything to get it to work. But, he's talented, and eventually it all came together. He even made a new ladder.

Since the arrival of the bunk bed, all my children want to do is play in their "clubhouse" and growl a lot.

I'm not sure what they are playing, but man, I loved playing on bunk beds when I was little. Best. toy. ever.

And no, Eli is not sleeping downstairs yet. First we need to procure a mattress and put a doorknob on the door.

Baby isn't going to arrive for another four months. There's time.

PS Timothy and I watched Leap Year. LOVED IT. The accents alone make it worthwhile. Add in grumpy leading man who says "ijiodt" a lot and shakes his head and mutters "give me strength" AND does a mocking jig, and Amy Adams, and it was near perfection. Timothy said, "That was good, for that kind of movie." High praise from Mr. Movie Critic. I really liked it. Watch it with someone handsome soon. You won't regret it.