The Bumble Bee

Isn't he adorable?

Dressing Up For Candy

I don't think we ever did anything for Halloween before last year. When we moved into this neighborhood last year we noticed everyone out on the streets 'trick or treating' so we raided the costume box and went out, too. This year Derek is out of town so we raided the costumes again and headed out. It was about 70 degrees and a beautiful night for a walk. It actually ends up being a way we meet a lot of neighbors and some of the older folks 'ooh and ahhh' over the kids. Here are some pictures from tonight. Luke was by far my favorite in his little Bumble Bee get up. None of the pictures did him justice, his chubby cheeks were sooo cute in that soft fluffly thing.

While Derek Is Gone

Derek is gone three nights this week so each of the older three kids get a chance to sleep in our room while he is gone. Leah was first, then Jack, tonight is Anna. Both Leah and Luke were put to sleep on Derek's side of the bed but when I got back there to go to sleep both of them had managed to scoot over to my side instead. I think Anna can manage to stay in her spot tonight. This is Leah the other night when I went back to bed. Sadly, I don't know what that white stuff is on her face... I wonder what she got into when I wasn't looking!

Reading

These are a couple of Anna last week during some reading time for her. She isn't the natural reader that Jack seems to be, but she's really taking to it. She picks up books to read for fun on her own-- something we were hoping she would end up doing! It has been a lot of fun to watch her learn and grow in the last years and I'm looking forward to the next years with all of them.

The Party

We had a bigger party for Anna's 6th year than we'll normally have. We wanted to do one for her fifth year but had just moved to AZ and didn't have enough friends nearby. This year was wonderful and most of her wonderful friends were able to come. They played, played musical chairs, had lunch, opened gifts, broke the pinata and of course had the cake and ice cream. It was wonderful!

Luke's favorite gift... the box!

Getting a little blowing help from Micah. He confessed later that he was actually only able to blow on her hair... but he tried!

It was hard to see what was going on with all the interested kids!

Birthday Breakfast

We went out for the traditional Birthday Breakfast on Saturday, the day of Anna's party. We went to the downtown Chandler area again, she requested the same place as last year and wanted to dress up again. Downtown Chandler is like 'Old Town' Chandler. Not a big area but their attempt to revive the district. We walked around a little afterwards to check out the row of fountains and monuments that runs in front of the public buildings there. It was a wonderfully cool morning... we even had to whip out the long sleeves!

Playing Ball

The older kids have been playing more baseball now that the weather is cooling down. Jack is really good at hitting, it seems, and gets a number of 'home runs' into the pool or on the roof. Luke surprises me by how much he seems to play ball, too. He loves to pick up the bat and ball and go out and hit it around... more like golf than baseball, but the best he can do. I guess it is the influence of older siblings. I don't remember Jack starting that early!