Still working on the trip....in the meantime...........

I am behind so I thought I would do a picture blog to catch up on the happenings of the last month or so.





Dad and Landis had a cooking class. My sullen son and my cheerful daughter.



Our 1 of three trips to the pumpkin patch. Landis discovered a goat, Teilee discovered her love of hot dogs, momma discovered a caterpillar, and Daddy fed a noisy donkey.









Then Grandma Lee and Papa came for a visit. Nick and I took the night off to indudge our alter egos at a happenin' costume party. The Maverick and the MILF, and yes Ms. Palin (1984) won funniest costume. The next day the Madson elders joined us in a journey to the oval for a peek at the next President of the United States. Teilee found the horses to be a main attraction but was excited when she finnally spotted Obama through the binoculars. There he is between the pedestrian sign and the tree on the left.








After all the excitment subsided Teilee was able to get back to teaching Landis acrobatics.



We finnally carved pumpkins at about 5:00pm on Halloween. Momma made a spider and Teilee carved a pumpkin entirely on her own. It was a gorgeous monster. Then Nick headed to work at 5:30. Oh how sad the kids were to have Daddy miss out on Trick-or-Treating. We surprised them when Daddy showed up at 6:30 pm. He had to make an appearance at work and then was allowed to take the night off. Teilee was so excited, it made the holiday extra special.
Fortunately Landis fit perfectly in Teilee's old monkey costume so I only had to make Teilee's costume, which I finished that morning. She insisted on being a white octopus, I think I pulled it off! Although for much of the evening, Nick or I carried her prop because it was a little heavy. Landis learned quickly that he could unwrap the suckers and continued through the evening to magically appear with candy in his mouth. It was neat watching both my 5 year old and my 2 year old say 'Thank You' and 'Happy Halloween' every time they were given candy. On what is a very gimme, gimme type holiday they were so polite and respectful. Whew! Teilee says she would like to just stay home next year and give away candy. I don't know if mom and dad are okay with that. We like getting candy, our neighborhood is very generous:)


That evening I came home and went to our neighbors house to decorate for a party I was throwing the next day. For two years now I have been wanting to throw a surprise birthday party for my friend Delta. Her birthday is on the 30th of Halloween so it works out perfectly to have a costume Halloween party. We called it a Surprise Belated Birthday Boo Bash, and invited all of Delta's friends. It was great meeting them and hanging out. Delta was shocked and I was worried. Knowing she is not a fan of surprises I knew there was a chance of not making it through the night alive:) We all wanted to let Delta know how much we love and adore her and I think we achieved the message. Whether she liked it or not we celebrated her 40th birthday in style. Although Grant had to be the most stylin'!
Here they are the buxom bathing suit beauty and the pretty parting pirate. Happy Birthday Delta!



I had to include this picture. This is the benefit of throwing a party at someone else's house. I was able to do all the prep while being unconcerned about the massive mess at my house (including the huge pile of laundry in the background).


So that was our October. Well actually that was only two weeks in October! A fast fun two weeks and I am exhausted. My health, my mind, my body will need to recover but it was all worth it! Happy Halloween and el Dia de los Muertos to everyone! Also congratulations to all you Obama supporters. I don't know about you but I am feeling really inspired, excited and hopeful. As Bob the builder says "Can we fix it? Yes We Can!" YES WE CAN!