Leaves and ghosts and other things

Well, Nathanael comes home tomorrow night. He's been gone since Wednesday to Minneapolis for the Big Central barista competition. I was able to stream the competition on the computer yesterday, and it was almost like he was here with us, so I left it on all day.

That makes 13 days this month that he has been gone. I don't like it. 

We managed to keep ourselves busy, doing some of the following things:

*We took a walk almost everyday. The weather was lovely, and it helped pass the time after naps. Most of our walks were to the high school where we watched the band, the football players, played in the sand at the end of the long jump, ran around the track, or played in the baseball dugouts. Or any combination of those things. 

I coached Ezekiel on leaf play. He didn't know he could jump in piles of leaves!

*I multi tasked and combined Atticus' 8 month photo shoot with the leaf walk. I'm looking forward to combining all of Atticus' monthly photos into a collage.

He didn't love it. I had to work hard to get a smile out of him.

*The only, and I mean ONLY good thing about Nathanael being out of town is not cooking dinner. Ezekiel and I enjoyed a number of frozen Trader Joe's dinners. 

*On Friday, we went to the Howells to play. On the way home, I was fretting over our lack of Halloween costume for Ezekiel. I decided to stop at Costco and just look, not expecting them to have anything left 6 days before Halloween. Lo and behold! They certainly had barely a third of their previous collection, but we found the perfect costume for Ezekiel, and for only $10! Costco, you really came through for us. Here is a sneak peek at it. 

He loves it!

*This week, Atticus has mastered the single step we have in our house. He barrels right over it, and huffs and puffs his way up it. I feel that a few new character traits have emerged that this event has highlighted. And they are:  DETERMINED and ADVENTUROUS. We'll see how my observations pan out. 

*We returned to the library! I don't think we have gone to the library even once all year. So when Ezekiel asked why we never go to the library anymore, I felt like a flarky mom. I forgot how much fun it is to take home books that are not your own. 

*In the final news of the week, Ezekiel drew these and handed them to me. It is one of the first times that I have been able to recognize his drawings. He's so festive and artsy, I love it.

ghosts!

*Did I mention how excited I am about Anchorman 2? Well, I am.


Peace, love, and leaf jumping,
Misty